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Studebaker: The Life and Death of an American Corporation
While the Big Three automobile companies came to dominate the industry, its early history was characterized by an array of competing companies. Studebaker's story is the chronicle of the life and death of an American automobile company where managements concept of "tradition" played a fundamental role in modeling corporate culture, rhetoric, and strategy.
Donald T. Critchlow focuses on how organizational philosophies, developed by successive managerial regimes, reflected and influenced corporate strategies concerning product development, investment policies, employee relations, and the allocation of resources. The upper management of Studebaker thus shaped corporate strategy within an institutional environment that embodied company tradition and responded to market forces.
Donald T. Critchlow focuses on how organizational philosophies, developed by successive managerial regimes, reflected and influenced corporate strategies concerning product development, investment policies, employee relations, and the allocation of resources. The upper management of Studebaker thus shaped corporate strategy within an institutional environment that embodied company tradition and responded to market forces.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
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February 20, 2022
Basically, this book is a biography of the Studebaker corporation, from the time in the nineteenth century when it was a band of five brothers moving to South Bend and getting into the wagon manufacturing business to the 1960's when it stopped manufacturing automobiles. Unlike previous books, it covers the whole story without trying to create an agenda. Like an automobile, the story of Studebaker is a combination of many parts.
The original set of brothers, descendants of a pacifist Christian sect, started making horse-drawn wagons and carriages in the mid-nineteenth century, eventually building major factories in South Bend, Indiana and developing a cross country network of dealerships to sell their wares. As might be expected, they had to hire not only workers but managers to keep things going. When the automobile started becoming popular, the company reluctantly entered this new industry, with the Studebaker family eventually eased out. The paternalistic culture started by the brothers did continue, and would in part lead to the company's eventual downfall.
Many factors led to the company's demise, mainly the fact that it could not compete with the Big Three, though the author also points out the fact that so many small auto manufacturers died in the 1920s and the shock was that Studebaker lasted as long as it did.
The original set of brothers, descendants of a pacifist Christian sect, started making horse-drawn wagons and carriages in the mid-nineteenth century, eventually building major factories in South Bend, Indiana and developing a cross country network of dealerships to sell their wares. As might be expected, they had to hire not only workers but managers to keep things going. When the automobile started becoming popular, the company reluctantly entered this new industry, with the Studebaker family eventually eased out. The paternalistic culture started by the brothers did continue, and would in part lead to the company's eventual downfall.
Many factors led to the company's demise, mainly the fact that it could not compete with the Big Three, though the author also points out the fact that so many small auto manufacturers died in the 1920s and the shock was that Studebaker lasted as long as it did.
Displaying 1 of 1 review