Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., was Isidor Straus Professor of Business History at Harvard Business School.

• * Introduction: The Visible Hand * Modern Business Enterprise Defined * Some General Propositions * Part I. The Traditional Processses of Production and Distribution *1. The Traditional Enterprise in Commerce * Institutional Specialization and Market Coordination * The General Merchant of the Colonial World * Specialization in Commerce * Specialization in Finance and Transportation * Managing the Specialized Enterprise in Commerce * Managing the Specialized Enterprise in Finance and Transportation * Technological Limits to Institutional Change in Commerce *2. The Traditional Enterprise in Production * Technological Limits to Institutional Change in Production * The Expansion of Prefactory Production, 1790--1840 * Managing Traditional Production * The Plantation--an Ancient Form of Large-Scale Production * The Integrated Textile Mill--a New Form of Large-Scale Production * The Springfield Armory--Another Prototype of the Modern Factory * Lifting Technological Constraints * Part II. The Revolution in Transportation and Communication *3. The Railroads: The First Modern Business Enterprises, 1850s--1860s * Innovation in Technology and Organization * The Impact of the Railroads on Construction and Finance * Structural Innovation * Accounting and Statistical Innovation * Organizational Innovation Evaluated *4. Railroad Cooperation and Competition, 1870s--1880s * New Patterns of Interfirm Relationships * Cooperation to Expand Through Traffic * Cooperation to Control Competition * The Great Cartels * The Managerial Role *5. System-Building, 1880s--1900s * Top Management Decision Making * Building the First Systems * System-Building in the 1880s * Reorganization and Rationalization in the 1880s * Structures for the New Systems * The Bureaucratization of Railroad Administration *6. Completing the Infrastructure * Other Transportation and Communication Enterprises * Transportation: Steamship Lines and Urban Traction Systems Communication: The Postal Service, Telegraph, and Telephone * The Organizational Response * Part III. The Revolution in Distribution and Production *7. Mass Distribution * The Basic Transformation * The Modern Commodity Dealer * The Wholesale Jobber * The Mass Retailer * The Department Store * The Mail-Order House * The Chain Store * The Economies of Speed *8. Mass Production * The Basic Transformation * Expansion of the Factory System * The Mechanical Industries * The Refining and Distilling Industries * The Metal-Making Industries * The Metal-Working Industries * The Beginnings of Scientific Management * The Economies of Speed * Part IV. The Integration of Mass Production with Mass Distribution *9. The Coming of the Modern Industrial Corporation * Reasons for Integration * Integration by Users of Continuous-Process Technology * Integration by Processors of Perishable Products * Intergration by Machinery Makers Requiring Specialized Marketing Services * The Followers *10. Integration by the Way of Merger * Combination and Consolidation * The Mergers of the 1880s * Mergers, 1890--1903 * The Success and Failure of Mergers *11. Integration Completed * An Overview: 1900--1917 * Growth by Vertical Integration--a Description * Food and Tobacco * Oil and Rubber * Chemicals, Paper, and Glass * The Metal Fabricators * The Machinery Makers * Primary Metals * Growth by Vertical Integration--an Analysis * The Importance of the Market * Integration and Concentration * The Rise of Multinational Enterprise * Integration and the Structure of the American Economy * Determinants of Size and Concentration * Part V. The Management and Growth of Modern Industrial Enterprise *12. Middle Management: Function and Structure * The Entrepreneurial Enterprise * American Tobacco: Managing Mass Production and Distribution of Packaged Products * Armour: Managing the Production and Distribution of Perishable Products * Singer and McCormick: Making and Marketing Machinery * The Beginnings of Middle Management in American Industry *13. Top Management: Function and Structure * The Managerial Enterprise * Standard Oil Trust * General Electric Company * United States Rubber Company * E.I. Du Pont de Nemours Powder Company * The Growing Supremacy of Managerial Enterprise *14. The Maturing of Modern Business Enterprise * Perfecting the Structure * The Professionalization of Management * Growth of Modern Business Enterprise Between the Wars * Modern Business Enterprise Since 1941 * The Dominance of Modern Business Enterprise * Conclusion: The Managerial Revolution in American Business * General Patterns of Institutional Growth * The Ascendancy of the Manager * The United States: Seed-Bed of Managerial Capitalism * Appendixes * Notes * Index

The Visible Hand is a revolutionary work. Business history in the past was largely about entrepreneurs—either as ‘robber barons’ or ‘industrial statesmen.’ Chandler shifts the spotlight from the promoters to the managers… The Visible Hand is a superb book—a triumph of creative synthesis.