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Role of Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Camegie
Andrew Carnegie and the Rise of Big Business
Was Andrew Carnegie a "Robber Baron" or a "Captain of Industry"?
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish American born on 25th November 1835. He was an ordinary person but then he succeeded in becoming an entrepreneur, industrialist and a businessman who made a great contribution towards the expansion of American steel industry in the late 19th century.
The book, "Andrew Carnegie and the Rise of Big Business" written by Harold C. Livesay, is a story of the Andrew Carnegie's role as a business man. Harold has done an extensive research for this book and has not only written about Carnegie but has also included lot of information regarding the history of America. This book chronically presents the events of Carnegie who was an immigrant and a poor Scottish boy who made his fortune in America and became the second richest man of the world. He was also an anthropologist; he not only made money but also gave a lot of it in charity. Moreover, he built libraries, museums and other cultural centers and gave numerous personal gifts for the establishment of many trusts. When he passed away, he had given away more than 350 million for people.
Despite all this work, many people consider him as the "robber baron" instead of considering "captain of the industry" because he used some unfair means to succeed in business. This paper discusses the two opinions of people by considering the facts highlighted...
There is no doubt in saying that he was also a philanthropist and he made a huge contribution towards the public organizations, for instance he created around 3000 public libraries. Moreover, he worked as an advocate of the "gospel of wealth" which was a program in which rich people shared their wealth and used it for the benefit of the society.
Carnegie has a "robber baron" image because he initiated "Carnegie Steel" and flourished during the (gilded) golden age. In order to be successful in the steel industry, he purchased all the processes for making steel, changed the business skills, focused on efficiency and used cheap labor. In short he brought classic capitalism approach and his policy was "Watch the costs; the profits will take care of themselves." He played an unfair game only for getting ahead of others and by doing all this; he succeeded in monopolizing the steel industry.
Despite above facts, it is also important to consider that Carnegie used his business for strengthening the economy. He knew how to use power and money for good. He was a very good business man with super rich business skills and his efforts really helped in controlling the American Steel Industry. At the time of retirement in 1901, he sold his company to a banker for 480 million and become…
Carnegie Andrew Carnegie: Robber Baron or Captain of Industry? Harold Livesay's biography of Andrew Carnegie portrays a man that can be called at once both a Robber Baron and a Captain of Industry. This paper will attempt to show how each title applied to Carnegie in his lifetime and how, in fact, the two titles (far from being dissimilar) may actually be considered synonymous. Andrew Carnegie's humble beginnings do not necessarily qualify him
This initial influx of labor gave the New Immigrants an opportunity to earn a wage and survive economically in the urban centers of the country. As the majority of these new yet rapidly growing businesses were located in major urban areas, the opportunity they provided New Immigrants of earning a steady paycheck drew them from the more impoverished areas of the world. In conjunction with this development, the exponential
rise of business and the new age of industrial capitalism forced Americans to think about, criticize, and justify the new order -- especially the vast disparities of wealth and power it created. This assignment asks you to consider the nature and meaning of wealth, poverty and inequality in the Gilded Age making use of the perspectives of four people who occupied very different places in the social and intellectual
Although they were considered as the bastions and foundation of America's industries and commerce, they were also considered 'models' of the gradually increasing social inequality in the country, having conquered and controlled almost all businesses in the country: railroad lines, oil refineries, and steelworks. They were also images of business owners who had subsisted to corrupting the government in order to win business contracts and biddings and conduct their
People like Andrew Carnegie and Rockefeller had reasons to justify their wealth and position. They subscribed to the concept of survival of the fittest and they felt they were the fittest. I remember that light came as in a flood and all was clear. Not only had I got rid of theology and the supernatural, but I had found the truth of evolution. 'All is well since all grows better' became
Firms with what organisational patterns are more likely to acquire existing firms? In what stage of internationalisation is acquisition more likely? Such research should not assume that such decisions are always rational. It may be that irrational factors are important at times. For example, it might be that the rush to acquire businesses in Europe prior to 1992 and to acquire companies in Asia in the mid-1990s reflected a