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2020-july.md

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July 2020

Tech

Life

A Brief History of the Corporation: 1600 to 2100

Article

  • Forces of human world:
    • Culture (least legible, but most powerful)
    • Politics
    • War
    • Business (most legible, but least powerful)
  • "There is no meaningful way for a businessman from (say) 2000 BC to comprehend what Mark Zuckerberg does, let alone take over for him"
  • Corporate form existed from 1600 to 1800 in the backdrop of mercantilism (organized around space, e.g. land and trade routes)
    • East India Company (EIC) balanced trade between West and East (trade history up to then had always been West importing more than East)
    • Successful in marketing but not innovation
  • Only after 1800 did technology play a large part (industrial revolution) (organized around time)
    • Productive growth: not zero sum!
    • "The Schumpeterian corporation was about colonizing individual minds"
    • Sailing was a craft; railroads were an engineering discipline (reliable and efficient)
    • "Move humans at the speed of technology instead of moving technology at the speed of humans"