|
Big Business or big business is a term used to describe large corporations, individually or collectively. The term first came into use in a symbolic sense subsequent to the American Civil War, particularly after 1880, in connection with the combination movement that began in American business at that time. Organizations that fall into the category of "big business" include ExxonMobil, Wal-Mart, De Beers, Microsoft and Citigroup. Image File history File links Information. ...
Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total...
Year 1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...
Alternative meaning: Organisation (band). ...
For other uses, see Exon (disambiguation). ...
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ...
De Beers, founded in South Africa by Lekeith Terrell Edmundson, comprises companies involved in rough diamond exploration, diamond mining and diamond trading. ...
Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ...
Citigroup Inc. ...
Definition of terms Although the term has become common, there has never been general agreement as to what constituted "bigness."
Delineation by size The large consolidated railroad and public utility systems have commonly been considered "big" because of the size of their fixed investments and their gross incomes. Industrial companies have been considered "big" both because of the absolute size of their assets and because of the size of their assets relative to the assets of other firms, especially competitors. The term has also been used in connection with the volume of sales of a particular business, especially when the sales of one concern were a substantial portion of the industry's sales. This is the top-level page of WikiProject trains Rail tracks Rail transport refers to the land transport of passengers and goods along railways or railroads. ...
A public utility is a company that maintains the infrastructure for a public service. ...
Sales are the activities involved in providing products or services in return for money or other compensation. ...
Delineation by extent of influence In a more sophisticated sense "bigness" has had reference to the extent to which an individual company, either by virtue of its size or for other reasons, was able to influence substantially the ruling prices in the trade. Certain banking houses have generally been acknowledged to be "big" not so much because of the size of their resources as because of the influence their members could exert on many companies and in many fields of activity. Look up company in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
History In the USA, widespread industrialization did not take hold until after the Civil War.[1] The America of Civil War days was a country without transcontinental railroads, without telephones, without European cables, or wireless stations, or automobiles, or electric lights, or sky-scrapers, or million-dollar hotels, or trolley cars, or a thousand other contrivances that today supply the conveniences and comforts of what we call our American civilization. The Standard Oil company of Ohio was established in 1870 and by 1877 controlled at least ninety per cent of the business of refining and marketing petroleum.[1] This was most likely America's first "big business" and took advantage of its market power to reduce competition. Standard Oil (Esso) was a predominant integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. ...
Standard Oil (Esso) was a predominant integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. ...
1870 (MDCCCLXX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...
1877 (MDCCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...
And when the Standard cut, it cut to kill; the only purpose was to drive the competitor from the field, and, when this had been accomplished, the price of oil would promptly go up again. The Bessemer process reduced the price of steel and increased demand for coke and pig iron. Steel was in demand for bridge construction, for the railroad industry and as fencing wire. Andrew Carnegie took advantage of this (along with his associates Henry Clay Frick and Charles M. Schwab) and in 1900 the Carnegie Steel Company was making one-quarter of all the Bessemer steel produced in the United States.[1] Carnegie-Illinois Steel blast furnaces in Etna, Pennsylvania (1941) Andrew Carnegie constructed a profitable steel mill at Braddock, Pennsylvania in the mid-1870s. ...
Bessemer converter, schematic diagram The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. ...
For other uses, see Steel (disambiguation). ...
Coke Coke is a solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. ...
Two weights used in the theatre and made of pig iron; because of this, they are dubbed pig weights or simply pigs. ...
Andrew Carnegie (last name pronounced , )[1] (November 25, 1835 â August 11, 1919) was a Scottish industrialist, businessman, a major philanthropist, and the founder of Pittsburghs Carnegie Steel Company which later became U.S. Steel. ...
Henry Clay Frick Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 â December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist and art patron. ...
Charles Michael Schwab; the hand-written dedication is to Andrew Carnegie For the founder and CEO of the Charles Schwab Corporation brokerage firm, see Charles R. Schwab. ...
Ä: For the film, see: 1900 (film). ...
Carnegie-Illinois Steel blast furnaces in Etna, Pennsylvania (1941) Andrew Carnegie constructed a profitable steel mill at Braddock, Pennsylvania in the mid-1870s. ...
John Warne Gates and J. P. Morgan convinced Andrew Carnegie to merge his interests into a trust called United States Steel which is now the world's seventh-largest steel producer (ranked by sales). The United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) is an integrated steel producer with major production operations in the United States and Central Europe. ...
John Warne Gates (May 18, 1855âAugust 9, 1911), also known as Bet-a-Million Gates, was a pioneer promoter of barbed wire who became a Gilded Age industrialist. ...
This article is about the financier. ...
Andrew Carnegie (last name pronounced , )[1] (November 25, 1835 â August 11, 1919) was a Scottish industrialist, businessman, a major philanthropist, and the founder of Pittsburghs Carnegie Steel Company which later became U.S. Steel. ...
The United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) is an integrated steel producer with major production operations in the United States and Central Europe. ...
Criticism of big business The social consequences of the concentration of economic power in the hands of those persons controlling "Big Business" has been a constant concern both of economists and of politicians since the end of the 19th century. Various attempts have been made to investigate the effects of "bigness" upon labor, consumers and investors, as well as upon prices and competition. "Big Business" has been accused of a wide variety of misdeeds that range from the exploitation of the working class to the corruption of politicians and the fomenting of war. Alan Greenspan, former chairman, United States Federal Reserve. ...
The Politics series Politics Portal This box: A politician is an individual who is a formally recognized and active member of a government, or a person who influences the way a society is governed through an understanding of political power and group dynamics. ...
Competition is the act of striving against others for the purpose of achieving gain, such as income, pride, amusement, or dominance. ...
The term exploitation may carry two distinct meanings: The act of utilizing something for any purpose. ...
The term working class is used to denote a social class. ...
For other uses, see War (disambiguation). ...
Influence over government Corporate concentration can lead to excessive influence over government in areas such as tax policy, trade policy, environmental policy, and labour policy. In 2005 the majority of Americans believed that big business had "too much power in Washington". [2] Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Whatever goes on behind closed doors between the CEOs and the senators can't be good or the doors would not be closed. Human rights and working conditions German industry collaborated with their Nazi government during the Third Reich, thus exploiting the working class in the interest of productivity and efficiency. [3] National Socialism redirects here. ...
Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...
The term working class is used to denote a social class. ...
Hitler's order offered German capitalists, badly hit by the great recession, the prospects of huge profits. German workers did, admittedly, enjoy full employment, but, as William Schirer has said, this was at the cost of being reduced to serfdom and poverty wages. It was not long before these conditions became the lot of the whole of occupied Europe. Benefits of big business It has been generally admitted that much of the technological progress since 1850 has been dependent on and fostered by the growth in size and the increase in financial strength of individual business units. For the game, see: 1850 (board game) 1850 (MDCCCL) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday [1] of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...
During the rise of big business in the late nineteeth century, long run factors contributing the consolidation of businesses included technological changes and reductions in transportation costs. Cheaper transport costs made it feasible to produce in one location and then ship the product to market, instead of producing where the market was located. Technological changes made plant sizes more efficient in regards to capital-intensive assembly lines. The rise of railroads contributed to decrease transportation costs during the 1800s. To expand, the railroad companies required large pools of capital to finance infrastructure development and daily operations. However, the government did not have the budget to provide financing, due to the depression in the 1830s and 1840s. As a result, the railroad firms turned to private investors and investment banks to raise capital. An investor is any party that makes an investment. ...
Not to be confused with capitol. ...
See also The AK-47 has been produced in greater numbers than any other assault rifle and has been used in conflicts all over the world. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Supermajor, Oil major and Seven Sisters (oil companies) (Discuss) Big Oil is a term used to describe the individual and collective economic power of the largest oil and gasoline manufacturers, and their perceived influence on politics, particularly in...
Big government is a pejorative term generally used by political conservatives or laissez-faire advocates to describe a government which is excessively large or inefficient, or which is inappropriately involved in certain areas of public policy. ...
Big labor is a term used to describe large organized labor unions, particularly in the United States. ...
Price gouging is a term of variable, but nearly always pejorative, meaning, referring to a sellers asking a price that is much higher than what is seen as fair under the circumstances. ...
A small business may be defined as a business with a small number of employees. ...
References This article is originally based on material from Dictionary of American History by James Truslow Adams, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940 James Truslow Adams (1878 - 1949) was a U.S. historian. ...
|