James D. Mooney and General Motors' Multinational Operations, 1922–1940
2013; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 87; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1017/s0007680513000743
ISSN2044-768X
Autores Tópico(s)Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis
ResumoThis article traces the emergence of the General Motors Corporation as a multinational enterprise under the leadership of James D. Mooney from 1922 to the outbreak of World War II. Mooney's unpublished paper “The Science of Industrial Organization” (1929) portrays GM's multidivisional organization's use of the line-staff concept in organizing overseas assembly plants. Here I compare General Motors with Ford Motor Company, which had first-mover advantages overseas, and examine how each company organized and managed their international operations. “Linking pins,” a social-science concept, illustrates how GM's organizational hierarchy achieved vertical coordination of effort. Economic depression and the prelude to World War II followed the expansionary 1920s, requiring GM and Ford to adjust to a changing environment. The article also covers Mooney's naïve attempts to use business for diplomacy in the years leading up to the war.
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