A Long Time in Making by James Nye
Based on company records and interviews, the book charts the history of Smiths Group from its beginnings in the Victorian jewellery trade to its current standing as a global technology company. It represents a story of transition from family-owned business, through paternalistic management to its modern shareholder-driven structure.
For historians of British business and economic history the author offers a masterly account of the transformation of a family firm into a professionally-run managerial multinational enterpriseIt is a tour de force * Alun Davies, Antiquarian Horology *
Conglomerates are deeply unfashionable and if one were assembling a manufacturing business from scratch, it would not resemble Smiths Group. Yet a fascinating new history of the £4.6 billion FTSE 100 engineer, which has divisions spanning healthcare, energy, airport detection, telecoms and components, makes a reasonably good case for the business staying as it is. James Nye argues that the conglomerate nature of the company has come to its aid over the years. * Ian King, The Times *
Dr James Nye has written a quite remarkable history of Smiths Industries (now Smiths Group), the last British manufacture, that eventually diversified into everything from autopilots to airport body scanners. * The Watch Nerd *
Conglomerates are deeply unfashionable and if one were assembling a manufacturing business from scratch, it would not resemble Smiths Group. Yet a fascinating new history of the £4.6 billion FTSE 100 engineer, which has divisions spanning healthcare, energy, airport detection, telecoms and components, makes a reasonably good case for the business staying as it is. James Nye argues that the conglomerate nature of the company has come to its aid over the years. * Ian King, The Times *
Dr James Nye has written a quite remarkable history of Smiths Industries (now Smiths Group), the last British manufacture, that eventually diversified into everything from autopilots to airport body scanners. * The Watch Nerd *
James Nye's first career was in finance and commerce, followed by a PhD in financial history at King's College London, where he holds a visiting fellowship in the Institute of Contemporary British History. He is also an award-winning historian of technology, with a focus on the history of distributed accurate time. James sits on the council of the AHS, and the editorial advisory panel of Antiquarian Horology. He is a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, and was the founder and principal sponsor of The Clockworks, a unique London museum, workshop, and library dedicated to the history of electrical timekeeping (www.theclockworks.org).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780198717256 |
| ISBN 10 | 0198717253 |
| Title | A Long Time in Making |
| Author | James Nye |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Year published | 2014-10-02 |
| Number of pages | 438 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |