Ben Waber reviewed For Profit by William Magnuson
A Great Tour Through Different Corporate Eras
4 stars
This is a great tour through different corporate eras in the West, beginning in ancient Rome and continuing to the present day. Each chapter focuses on a particular organization, with Magnuson examining it's unique organizational innovations compared to its predecessors. The last chapter does a decent job connecting it all together, but each case study is fairly disconnected from the others, leaving significant gaps in tracing the evolution of the corporate form. It's still a fantastic book, and it nicely contextualizes much of today's ahistorical debate on the purpose of companies. Highly recommend
This is a great tour through different corporate eras in the West, beginning in ancient Rome and continuing to the present day. Each chapter focuses on a particular organization, with Magnuson examining it's unique organizational innovations compared to its predecessors. The last chapter does a decent job connecting it all together, but each case study is fairly disconnected from the others, leaving significant gaps in tracing the evolution of the corporate form. It's still a fantastic book, and it nicely contextualizes much of today's ahistorical debate on the purpose of companies. Highly recommend