The Corporation in the Twenty-First Century by John Kay

The Corporation in the Twenty-First Century by John Kay

A radical reappraisal of the nature and activities of business--what it is for and how it works

"A characteristically acerbic analysis of the archetypal organisational unit of capitalism."--Andrew Hill, Financial Times, "Best Books of 2024: Business"

Named a Best Book of 2025 by The Economist * Shortlisted for the 2024 Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award

In the world of Adam Smith and Karl Marx, capitalists built and controlled mills and factories. That relationship between capital and labor continued in the automobile assembly lines and petrochemical plants of the twentieth century.

But no longer: products and production have dematerialized. The goods and services provided by the leading companies of the twenty-first century appear on your screen, fit in your pocket, or occupy your head. Ownership of the means of production is a redundant concept. Workers are the means of production; increasingly, they take the plant home. Capital is a service bought from a specialist supplier with little influence over customer businesses. The professional managers who run modern corporations do not exert authority because they are wealthy; they are wealthy because they exert authority.

John Kay's incisive overhaul of our ideas about business redefines our understanding of successful commercial activity and the corporation--and describes how we have come to "love the product" as we "hate the producer." This is a brilliant and original work from one of the greatest economists.

Kay, John: - ohn Kay, writer and lecturer, was born in Park Royal, London and brought up in nearby Hammersmith. He attended a state grammar school in the West London suburbs, an area colloquially known as Metroland, made famous by the celebrated poet John Betjeman. After leaving school at eighteen, he began a career in banking, working for Barclays Bank in central London, a stone's throw from the famed Portobello Market, fashionable South Kensington and up-market Chelsea. After gaining an Honours degree in English Literature from the University of Reading, he later studied for a Master's at the University of Leicester. Having taught at a number of schools and colleges in the south of England, he retired early as Head of Department from one of the largest colleges in the country.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780300280197
ISBN 10	030028019X
Title	The Corporation in the Twenty-First Century
Author	John Kay
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Yale University Press
Year published	2025-01-07
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.