Javascript must be enabled to continue!
Scale and Scope. The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism
Abstract:[8] In order to benefit from the cost advantages of these new, high volume technologies of production, entrepreneurs had to make three sets of interrelated investments. The first was an investment in production facilities large enough to exploit a technology's potential economies of scale and scope. The second one was an investment in a national and international marketing and distributing network, so that the volume of sales might keep pace with the new volume of production. Finally to benefit fully from these two kinds of investment the entrepreneurs also had to invest in management: they had to recruit and train managers not only to administer the enlarged facilities and increased personnel in both production and distribution, but also to monitor and coordinate those two basic functional activities and to plan and allocate resources for future production and distribution. It was this three-pronged investment in production, distribution, and management that brought the modern industrial enterprise into being. |