Personality, Strategy and Structure: some Consequences of Strong Minds

Abstract

My view of business history has a strongly ‘political’ tinge to it. That is, I think that in looking at the way businesses develop, particularly those run by large corporations, one is looking at power politics in an economic landscape. Businessmen are often driven by motives which are by no means purely commercial. They seek power. They engage in rivalry. Their rivalries may be personal, or corporate, or both. The plans they make, though presented, for orthodoxy’s sake, as being aimed purely at the maximisation of profits, often have quite other ends in view as well. It follows that in business history, as in political history, we are concerned with the interplay between men and events, and it is equally important to understand both. Indeed I would go so far as to say that without having a pretty good knowledge of the people you are dealing with, you are unlikely to form a sound judgement of the things that have happened in — or to — their companies and their industries.