How American Industrial Revolution Changed Business Strategies
Posted by The Henry Ford on May 5th, 2017
America took the slow but sure route into Industrial Revolution. Its mother country—Britain—was already well into the industrial age before the United States even entered pre-industrial phase, but for good reason. America (along with other British colonies) had a great abundance of land and an evident scarcity of labor at that time. This reduced excitement and interest in the costly investments that machine production requires. What pushed the country to industrialize was the dawn of a new era in human experience, when increased productivity as a result of machine-made products resulted in a much higher standard of living.
Big businesses of today owe a lot to Industrial Revolution. Fueled by advancements and innovations in energy, manufacturing, transportation, and communications, modern business strategies have truly come a long way from organizational breakthroughs like the outwork and factory system, wage labor, and a lot more.
The same milestones and landmark improvements that helped launch machine revolution (such as James Watt’s steam engine technology and Samuel Slater’s cotton mill) also catapulted the advancement of industrialization and urbanization. Railroads—one of America’s pioneering big businesses—contributed a lot to the industrial movement as factories moved into cities and created an ever-expanding market. Feeding the demands of this new market stimulated greater production, thus creating more jobs and attracting new investors.
Henry Ford’s entrepreneurial success is a favorite case study when talking about business strategies stemming from the American Industrial Revolution. It’s been said that his unique approaches put the United States in the forefront of the industrial race that the country took so long to jump into. Ford laid the groundwork of a strong market by taking advantage of the then transforming consumer culture. By studying how cars and their parts functioned and how they were created, Ford revolutionized automobile production by bringing car prices down breakthrough-affordable prices, while still making an unprecedented profit. Pulling prices down, however, wasn’t Ford’s big ticket to success. It was the mastery of driving mass consumption and maximizing profit not just by creating cars loved by the affluent, but cars loved by all—a strategy that some of the largest businesses still use to date.
About the Author:
Michael Smith is an archeologist and in search of information about US history. He has a deep inclination towards historical events. He is also connected with many bloggers globally and will follow them on a regular basis.
