A Long time in making : the history of Smiths / by James Nye.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2014Edition: [First edition]Description: xxvi, 375 pages, 36 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780198717256
  • 0198717253
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
1.1851 -- 1899: Elephant and Castle to the Strand -- 2.1899 -- 1913: A New Business Emerges -- 3.1914 -- 1928: Flotation, War, Boom and Bust, Recovery -- 4.1929 -- 1939: A Decade of Diversification -- 5.1939 -- 1945: The War Factory -- 6.1945 -- 1959: From Austerity to Prosperity -- 7.1960 -- 1975: The Triumph of Decentralization -- 8.1976 -- 1990: Shocking the Markets -- 9.1991 -- 2000: The End of an Era -- 10.2000 -- 2007: Shocking the Markets Again -- 11.A Fortune in Change.
Summary: "Smiths Group (formerly Smiths Industries), part of the UK FTSE 100 index, is a global engineering company with a market capitalisation over GBP5bn. Evolving from beginnings in the Victorian jewellery trade, to significant market presences in the twentieth century motor accessory, clock and watch industries, it has reinvented itself again as a diversified international company, operating in the medical, communications, security and engineered components sectors. Its narrative history, illuminating the reasons for its survival and adaptability, offers useful data and information to aid wider research into questions such as the legitimacy of conglomerates as a business model, the creation and maintenance of corporate culture, issues of succession, the effects of mergers and the questionable value placed upon targeted synergies-even the role of serendipity. The story begins with several generations of the Smith family amassing a fortune in retail, and then, following a 1914 stock-market flotation, describes the transition from family run business to the development of a professionally-run managerial enterprise. Since the 1970s it has had to face the decline of major markets and competitive pressures, leading to the adoption of new business lines, globalisation, and the internationalisation of its workforce. It now has 23,000 employees across more than 50 countries-along the way shocking the markets by abandoning core businesses and undergoing a controversial merger. Unfettered access to company records, and interviews with former staff members, provide insights into the strategy and management of the firm, illuminating the rich culture of Smiths, characterised by the frequent fostering of technical brilliance and a cast of larger than life characters." --Publisher description.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Status Date due Barcode
Books Books Jost Bürgi Library Reading Room HD9705.G74 S55 2014 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 31560000042529

Includes bibliographical references (pages 345-351) and indexes.

1.1851 -- 1899: Elephant and Castle to the Strand -- 2.1899 -- 1913: A New Business Emerges -- 3.1914 -- 1928: Flotation, War, Boom and Bust, Recovery -- 4.1929 -- 1939: A Decade of Diversification -- 5.1939 -- 1945: The War Factory -- 6.1945 -- 1959: From Austerity to Prosperity -- 7.1960 -- 1975: The Triumph of Decentralization -- 8.1976 -- 1990: Shocking the Markets -- 9.1991 -- 2000: The End of an Era -- 10.2000 -- 2007: Shocking the Markets Again -- 11.A Fortune in Change.

"Smiths Group (formerly Smiths Industries), part of the UK FTSE 100 index, is a global engineering company with a market capitalisation over GBP5bn. Evolving from beginnings in the Victorian jewellery trade, to significant market presences in the twentieth century motor accessory, clock and watch industries, it has reinvented itself again as a diversified international company, operating in the medical, communications, security and engineered components sectors. Its narrative history, illuminating the reasons for its survival and adaptability, offers useful data and information to aid wider research into questions such as the legitimacy of conglomerates as a business model, the creation and maintenance of corporate culture, issues of succession, the effects of mergers and the questionable value placed upon targeted synergies-even the role of serendipity. The story begins with several generations of the Smith family amassing a fortune in retail, and then, following a 1914 stock-market flotation, describes the transition from family run business to the development of a professionally-run managerial enterprise. Since the 1970s it has had to face the decline of major markets and competitive pressures, leading to the adoption of new business lines, globalisation, and the internationalisation of its workforce. It now has 23,000 employees across more than 50 countries-along the way shocking the markets by abandoning core businesses and undergoing a controversial merger. Unfettered access to company records, and interviews with former staff members, provide insights into the strategy and management of the firm, illuminating the rich culture of Smiths, characterised by the frequent fostering of technical brilliance and a cast of larger than life characters." --Publisher description.

Text in English.

31560000042529 19505

The comprehensive, scholarly history of one of the dominant companies in the United Kingdom in the 20th century, and for the first 2/3 of it the largest producer of mass market colcks, and its transformation into a international technology (including avionics) conglomerate. Many black and white illustrations6 Appendeces, Bibliography, Subject and name indexes. 61 black and white illustrations,

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