Inventing the Electronic Century: The Epic Story of the Consumer Electronics and Computer Industries

Alfred Chandler has organized the factual information of the key companies in the Consumer Electronics and Computer Industries during the second half of the XX century. The title of my review is a suggestion of another apropriate subtitle of this book. The subject is very complex, specially if we look at the technology involved. My major comment is: the author has a limited technical knowledge and this has limited the depth of his analyses, comments and conclusions. This does not invalidate the major conclusions that he has presented in this book. I think that it would be interesting to expand the story told in this book by studying/describing the evolution of the whole envinronment around these industries, including the engineering schools and research institutes that supply the brains to develop all the technology involved. The history of the electronics industry carry an important lesson, about concentration of skills and economic power in only one company (RCA). It was a good thing, while RCA was leading, but when it started to make major strategic mistakes it brought down the whole American Industry. The Japanese Industry used several companies to compete against American and European Companies, this created a whole envinronment, that included engineering schools, research facilities, several different companies where one could make a career and different ideas being tested and pursued at the same time. When you look at the capacity of inovation and development of new technologies of the japanese companies and their envinronment they were a lot more competitive. They created a competitive envinronment so agressive in Japan that western rivals were later decimated by them. The way American companies have managed the development of technologies should be better understood than is explored in this book. There is a pattern to be investigated, for it was in America that several technologies started, but there is a problem in the way this headstart is kept. Examples to be looked into: IBM dominance in computers, Xerox dominance in copiers, RCA in television (well discussed in this book). I think that is missing a description of who were the major brains and decision makers that lead those companies throughout this fast paced period. I would suggest that if we look at who are the persons making the decisions we would find important answers to the success of the Japanese. Example: what is the power and influence of the teams developing a new technology or products, what is the academic and technical background of the top managers in those companies, how do they handled investment decisions regarding product development, what is the philosophy pursued by them ... The lesson hidden in the history of the electronics industry is very important, when we look at the industrial policy in America in other industries, like Automobiles, where there is only two American Manufacturers, it is easy to see why Japanese companies are doing much better, th

Alfred Chandler has organized the factual information of the key companies in the Consumer Electronics and Computer Industries during the second half of the XX century. The title of my review is a suggestion of another apropriate subtitle of this book. The subject is very complex, specially if we look at the technology involved. My major comment is: the author has a limited technical knowledge and this has limited the depth of his analyses, comments and conclusions. This does not invalidate the major conclusions that he has presented in this book. I think that it would be interesting to expand the story told in this book by studying/describing the evolution of the whole envinronment around these industries, including the engineering schools and research institutes that supply the brains to develop all the technology involved. The history of the electronics industry carry an important lesson, about concentration of skills and economic power in only one company (RCA). It was a good thing, while RCA was leading, but when it started to make major strategic mistakes it brought down the whole American Industry. The Japanese Industry used several companies to compete against American and European Companies, this created a whole envinronment, that included engineering schools, research facilities, several different companies where one could make a career and different ideas being tested and pursued at the same time. When you look at the capacity of inovation and development of new technologies of the japanese companies and their envinronment they were a lot more competitive. They created a competitive envinronment so agressive in Japan that western rivals were later decimated by them. The lesson hidden in the history of the electronics industry is very important, when we look at the industrial policy in America in other industries, like Automobiles, where there is only two American Manufacturers, it is easy to see why Japanese companies are doing much better, they are following the same type of competitive organization in this industry... Ford and GM are going in the same direction of RCA... This will raise a very important question, in what industries does America plans to remain competitive in the future??? This will determine the long term stability of the American Democracy. One may criticize the quality of this book, but the history told in this book should be understood and deserves attention. One aspect related to the industries studied that should be brought to attention is the availability of information about the japanese industry due to the language barrier.

In earlier books by Chandler that I liked very much, such as Strategy & Structure and The Visible Hand, historical narrative took precedence over facts and figures. Epic stories were told, and individual biography was subordinated to broader historical developments. In this book, I felt the balance tilted the other way: I found myself fighting to concentrate on the story, while wading through very specific details that I quickly forgot as I moved onto the next company history.Chandler has certainly done his homework. In the Preface, he notes his limited technical knowledge of the consumer electronics and computer industries, but one would never guess that from the adept way he handles technical terms and explains the significance of various innovations. With many tables in the text and more in the appendix, Chandler convincingly documents his story.It is a simple one: firms that came to dominate their industries did so by being first movers that established integrated learning bases, based on technical, functional or managerial knowledge. They thus gained economies of scale and scope (another concept that Chandler has contributed to the business history literature), obtained a critical head start, and successfully beat back most entrepreneurial startups. In consumer electronics, a handful of Japanese firms built on their initial advantages to not only dominate world markets but also to destroy domestic producers in the U.S. In computers, however, IBM built a lead it never relinquished, even though it was repeatedly challenged by European and Japanese firms.Chandler noted, with obvious relish, that top executives in many firms engaged in short-sighted strategies that eventually brought them down. For example, RCA created many innovations that it licensed to the Japanese firms that ultimately destroyed it. Indeed, perhaps the major benefit of including so many detailed company histories is that they remind us of just how wrong so many excutives have been!If you know little about the history of these two industries, Chandler's book will give you an excellent overview. If you are familiar with them, you can still appreciate Chandler's skill in conveying the international comparative context for their evolution in the 20th century. In his provocative conclusion, Chandler asks whether the Japanese firms, with their strong integrated learning bases and dominance of consumer electronics, will ultimately triumph in the struggle for control of the world's information technology industries.