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- Corporate Development During the
- Industrial Revolution
-
- The Standard Oil Company founded by
- John D. Rockefeller and the U.S. Steel Company
- founded by Andrew Carnegie. The Standard Oil
- Company and U.S. Steel Company were made
- successful in different ways due to the actions
- of their different owners. The companies differed
- in their labor relations, market control, and
- structural organization.
-
- In the steel industry, Carnegie developed a system
- known as vertical integration. This means that
- he cut out the middle man. Carnegie bought his
- own iron and coal mines because using independent
- companies cost too much and were inefficient.
- By doing this he was able to undersell his
- competetors because they had to pay the competitors
- they went through to get the raw materials. Unlike
- Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller integrated
- his oil business from top to bottom, his
- distinctive innovation in movement of American
- industry was horizontal. This meant he followed
- one product through all its stages. For example,
- rockrfeller controlled the oil when it was
- drilled, through the refining stage,
- and he maintained control over the refining process
- turning it into gasoline. Although
- these two powerful men used two different methods
- of management their businesses were still very
- successful (Conlin, 425-426).
-
- Tycoons like Andrew Carnegie, "the steel king,"
- and John D. Rockefeller, "the oil baron," exercised
- their genius in devising ways to circument
- competition. Although, Carnegie inclined to be
- tough-fisted in business, he was not a monopolist and
- disliked monopolistic trusts. John D.
- Rockefeller came to dominate the oil industry. With
- one upward stride after another he organized
- the Standard Oil Company, which was the nucleus
- of the great trust that was formed.
- Rockefeller showed little mercy.
- He believed primitive savagery prevailed in
- the jungle world of business, where only
- the fittest survived. He persued the policy
- of "ruin or rule." Rockefeller's oil monopoly
- did turn out a superior product at a
- relatively cheap price. Rockefeller belived in ruthless
- business, Carnegie didn't, yet they both had
- the most successful companies in their industries.
- (The American Pageant, pages 515-518)
-
- Rockefeller treated his customers
- in the same manner that Andrew Carnegie
- treated his workers: cruel and harsh. The
- Standard Oil Company desperately wanted every
- possible company to buy their products. Standard
- Oil used ruthless tactics when Rockefeller
- threatenedto start his own chain of grocery
- stores and put local merchants out of business
- if they did not buy oil from Standard Oil Company.
- Carnegie dealt with his workers with the same cold
- lack of diplomacy and consideration.
- Carnegie would encourage an unfriendly
- competition between two of his workers and he goaded
- them into outdoing one another. Some of his
- employees found working under Carnegie unbearable.
- These rivalries became so important to the
- employees that somedidn't talk to each other
- for years (McCloskkey, page 145). Although
- both Carnegie and Rockefeller created extermely
- successsful companies, they both used unscrupulous
- methods in some aspect of their corporation
- building to get to the top.
-
- The success of the Standard Oil Company and U.S. Steel
- company was credited to the fact that their owners
- ran them with great authority. In this very
- competetive time period, many new businesses
- were being formed and it took talented businessmen
- to get ahead and keep the companies running and make
- the fortunes that were made during this period.
-
-
- Terra Harnish
- Heather Rodgers
- Carly Wolfensberger
-
-
-
-
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
-
- Conlin, Joseph R. History of the U.S.: Our Land,
- Our Time. pp. 425-426. 1985.
-
- Bailey, Thomas A. and David M. Kennedy: The
- American Pageant. pp. 515-518. 1987.
-
- Latham, Earl: John D. Rockefeller; Robber Baron Or
- Industrial Statesman? (Problems in American
- Civilization Series). pg. 39. 1949.
-
- McCloskey, Robert Green: American Conservatism In
- The Age Of Enterprise 1865-1910. pg. 145. 1951.