Business and management in Britain

John F. Wilson*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Charting the evolution of big business and management in Britain over the course of the twentieth century provides some fascinating insights into both the nature of these activities and the way in which they interact with many other aspects of a highly complex socio-economic environment. Starting with a brief insight into the nature of business and management in the late nineteenth century, a key feature of this chapter will be the vital importance of merger activity, precipitating the creation of multi-billion-pound business empires. Crucially, these influences would stimulate a demand for more sophisticated management structures, which in turn helped to persuade universities to develop management education, imitating especially the American practice of establishing university business schools as a major source of managerial talent. It is consequently unclear whether the way in which business and management had evolved was greeted with enthusiasm, providing a challenging conclusion to this chapter.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication20th Century Britain
Subtitle of host publicationEconomic, Cultural and Social Change
EditorsNicole Robertson, John Singleton, Avram Taylor
Place of PublicationLondon, United Kingdom
PublisherTaylor & Francis
Chapter10
Pages143-157
Number of pages15
Edition3
ISBN (Electronic)9781000828306, 9781003037118
ISBN (Print)9780367426576, 9780367426569
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30 Dec 2022

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