The Company

A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea [Modern Library Chronicles]

By: John Micklethwait, Adrian Wooldridge

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

In The Company, the largely unknown history of the joint-stock company is presented by the editors of Economist. One of history's greatest catalysts, the joint-stock company has dramatically changed the way human beings live, work, and conduct business. With companies now affecting the world on a global scale, it is more pressing than ever before to understand this driving force. A concise and entertaining Modern Library Classic, The Company is a fascinating listen with a reading from narrator Jonathan Davis.

©2003 John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge (P)2003 Recorded Books, LLC

Informative but a bit myopic

A useful read but the conclusion rings quite hollow given recent developments in the corporate world

unique history with a unique perspective

The Company is a must-read book for anyone enmeshed in corporate America (or corporate-anywhere) because it explains how we got here, as organization-man and why we are organized in the way we are. The institution of the stock company stretches back for a thousand years or more, but the recognizable roots are back in the 1600s and 1700s. Micklethwait & Wooldridge bring this otherwise dusty history alive for us, showing the reader that the organizational challenges we face today in a corporatist society are not new, and that solutions to problems we believe are unique to ourselves have been found in other situations and other eras. I felt that this book gave me great perspective on the organization I work in and about the organizations we regulate and serve. It was useful as an intellectual diversion but also as something I can use to help guide my work in my everyday job.

The prospective reader need not be wary of this being some very very long article out of the Harvard Business Review or a more popular business magazine like the Economist (where the two authors are employed). This book uses history intertwined with interesting anecdote to keep this story interesting throughout.

Not everything about this audiobook was perfect. This book may not have been ideally suited to be conveyed in audio form because of its density of detail. To help myself along, I borrowed the hardbound volume from the library, and skimmed it in segments interspersed with listening. I don?t think I would have read the book had I not encountered this volume on Audible, but neither would I have been able to absorb it to my own satisfaction without the crutch of the hardbound book. Others with more familiarity with the subject matter may be able to do without this crutch.

I recommend the book highly to those seriously interested in the institutions we take for granted that are all around us.

Strong Start Crappy Finish - Read Only Half

This author(a) bias is really annoying especially when interleaving Enron as a cautionary tail. I would have rated it higher for the early content as he describes the origin of the company. The historic lessons learned from the early Phoenicians, the Italians, etc are really well written. But each example lacks much depth. Once he start going deeper into a subject, he’s off again. There’s little reflection in this book. Each discussion is written totally independently of the next subject. It’s like the multiple authors of this book didn’t read each other’s work. At times it reads like a bullet point on historic events. At times like a well thought out essay. But less often. The author provides little insight to the modern era, eg Jack Welch’s GE or Drexel Burnem Lambert. It was really not worth mentioning. This goes for the latter 1/3rd of the book. It was totally not relevant. I think he should have stopped at the oil Barron’s or at best explain how the use of Junk Bonds was a new structure that would lead to either the strengthening of modern corporate theory or not. Honestly, he should have just summed the modern era up with management consulting as a digest on how the school of thought in business is consolidated. But even that is a major deviation from the premise. This isn’t a management book. I thought it was a treatise on the idea of the corporation. If this book is re-written, cut out the last half and start a discussion on DAOs instead as a global concept for a corporation. Read the first 1/2 and stop. The rest sucks.

An Informal & Interesting Read

I learned a lot from this book, it appealed to my interest in history and entrepreneurialism. I was looking for a book that covered the history of companies and this book opens the audience up to some insightful perspectives. It starts out great, though it tapers off a bit near the end.

Interesting, not great

A surprisingly entertaining view of what could have been a dry subject. I learned a few things, like what "limited" means when used after a company's name, and why that was so important in the development of the company as an institution. Not one of my all time favorite listens to be sure, but an interesting piece of cultural history. Companies are something that we take for granted--as the authors point out, most people work for companies--they are the water our economy swims in. It was fascinating to know how the concept of a company originated and the impact it has had on the economic development of the west.