Review by Booklist Review
Historian Landes profiles business dynasties from the seventeenth century to the present.\b Defining a dynasty as three successive generations of family control and success, he focuses on banking, automobiles, and raw-materials industries, with fascinating stories of families, including the Barings, Morgans, Fords, Toyodas, Rockefellers, Guggenheims, and Schlumbergers. The varied histories of these families from different eras highlight the combination of money, power, and kinship that inevitably gives rise to drama and passion with the passage of generations. We learn the important influence that culture in the surrounding societies plays in the development of these dynasties and the author's conclusion that contrary to conventional wisdom, the family firm today is not obsolete or inconsequential. Landes tells us, These tales trace the tangled histories of legendary lineages. . . . We can learn a great deal about business from these dynasties; moreover, these are extraordinary men and women, full of eccentricities and genius, and they provide a wealth of entertaining tales. Indeed. This is an excellent book. --Mary Whaley Copyright 2006 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Beginning as a work of economics, moving through soap opera and finishing as history, this book tells the stories of 11 great family businesses in Europe, Japan and America with at least three generations of family control. Observing that the vast majority of businesses are family owned and run, historian Landes (The Wealth and Poverty of Nations) argues that dynastic businesses offer a proven route to developing emerging markets, while companies managed by unrelated professionals and funded by public investors offer mostly bad jobs and slim profit shares to local employees. Even among the largest corporations, many retain significant financial and managerial involvement by the founder's relatives, and those that do perform better than the others. Landes's stories emphasize emotional life within these dynasties; he includes business details and general economic history only as context for family adventures and feuds. His emphasis is on how family considerations such as authority, love, trust, envy, marriage, adoption and succession determine the growth and direction of the business. While this may seem irrational compared to entrusting strategic decisions to specialized professionals selected according to talent rather than bloodline, Landes argues that family does a better job. (Sept. 25) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Economic historian Landes (history & economics, emeritus, Harvard; The Wealth and Poverty of Nations) offers a lively although very loosely organized analysis of 11 major global family businesses and the personalities involved in their successes and challenges. He defines "dynasties" as at least "three successive generations of family control," and he covers multiple generations of family businesses in banking (e.g., the Rothschilds), automobile production (e.g., the Fords and the Toyodas), and the "mining and working of raw materials" (e.g., the Rockefellers). Though he admits that managerial corporate structures run by unrelated professionals dominate the international business world, he points out that most businesses, large and small, are family-owned and run, that 90 percent of American businesses were family run as of ten years ago, accounting for more than half of U.S. goods and services, and that they now constitute one-third of those in the Fortune 500. He concludes that family businesses are especially important for underdeveloped countries because they offer reputation, stability, profit-share, and long-term reliability.This overview, complete with family sagas, is interesting, but readers who want more substance and structure could read particular biographies, e.g., Ron Chernow's titles on J.P. Morgan, the Warburgs, and John D. Rockefeller. Jack Forman, San Diego Mesa Coll. Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
