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Business History: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Pushkin Industries
It’s the history of business. How did Hitler’s favorite car become synonymous with hippies? What got Thomas Edison tangled up with the electric chair? Did someone murder the guy who invented the movies? Former Planet Money hosts Jacob Goldstein and Robert Smith examine the surprising stories of businesses big and small and find out what you can learn from those who founded them.
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- Today46 min
The Printing Press: The Invention Built on Debt and Sin
Before 1450, books were written out by hand. It was slow and expensive. But Johannes Gutenberg borrowed a ton of money to create a printing press that could crank out Bibles and pamphlets and documents in huge numbers. Science, politics and philosophy were all up-ended. For example, the Catholic Church seized on the invention to sell special certificates absolving people of their sins - a move that made money, but caused a permanent schism in Christianity. And Gutenberg too found himself in trouble - when a financier sued the inventor to reclaim his loan, plus interest. Write to us at businesshistory@pushkin.fmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- 1 weeks ago47 min
The Robberiest Robber Baron: The Villainy of Jay Gould
Jay Gould became hugely rich without ever really making a product or offering service to benefit his customers. Other "Robber Barons" in the 19th century forged steel or pumped oil to make money - but Gould preferred to manipulate the stock market or bribe judges and politicians to generate a profit. Even when he was fired from the railway company he mismanaged, he used this inside information to profit from the soaring share price. No one liked Jay Gould - indeed many people physically assaulted him because of his awful behaviour - but his real legacy was the raft of laws America passed to try to prevent such a businessman ever rising to power again. Write to us at businesshistory@pushkin.fmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- 3 weeks ago38 min
The Factory That Was Wiped Off The Map (From Cautionary Tales)
Business History will be back on July 22nd - but here's an episode from another Pushkin Industries show we're sure you''ll enjoy, Cautionary Tales. A giant chemical plant near the small village of Flixborough, England, is busy churning out a key ingredient of nylon 6, a material used in everything from stockings to toothbrushes to electronics. When a reactor vessel fails, the engineers improvise a quick-fix workaround, so the plant can keep up with demand. Before long, the temporary patch - a small, bent pipe - becomes a permanent part of the factory, and the people of Flixborough unknowingly drift towards disaster. Listen to more Cautionary Tales whenever you get your podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- 4 weeks ago47 min
The Nobel Winners Who Almost Crashed the Economy
John Meriwether assembled the smartest team on Wall Street. In the 1980s, he combed Harvard and MIT for geniuses to join him at Salomon Brothers and make the investment bank a fortune with arbitrage - the trick of buying an asset cheap in one place and quickly selling it for a profit in another. When he parted ways with Salomon Brothers, Meriwether took his "nerds" to set up a hedge fund. They prospered - making themselves and their clients rich. Two employees even picked up a Nobel Prize. But Long Term Capital Management operated in the real world - where projections and charts and formulas can't protect you from political chaos and economic turmoil. Write to us at businesshistory@pushkin.fmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Jun 24, 202640 min
A Store Owner You Can Trust: John Wanamaker, Returns and the Price Tag
Shopping used to be adversarial. Shoppers and store owners would bargain and haggle over prices. What one person got for $1, the next guy bought for £1.25. And there were no returns. It was unfair and stressful - and made shoppers distrustful that they were getting a good deal. John Wanamaker changed all that. Wanamaker thought about being a preacher before setting up as a clothes merchant. So he built a retail empire built on fairness and trust. Price tags appeared in his stores - promising everyone would pay the same. And if you weren't happy - you could return your purchase. This was so unusual that Wanamaker even won the praise of a US President. Write to us at businesshistory@pushkin.fmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Jun 17, 202640 min
The Boy Scout Who Brought us the Age of Disruption
Why have so many tiny start-ups come from nowhere to take down huge established corporations? Is it because the incumbents were dumb? Harvard Business School professor Clayton M Christensen decided to explore these David versus Goliath battles - and came up with a theory to explain why seemingly solid businesses suddenly lose market share... disruptive innovation. In his hit book, The Innovator's Dilemma, Christensen explored how flawed products from small companies can suddenly catch on, disrupt the market and steal customers from established corporations. Christensen - a life-long Boy Scout - was an odd champion for "disruptive innovation", but his ideas have totally changed the business landscape. Write to us at businesshistory@pushkin.fmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Jun 10, 202646 min
Ida Tarbell: The "Muckraker" Who Beat John D Rockefeller and Big Oil
At a time when women couldn't vote or freely enter the workplace, Ida Tarbell took on the richest man in America and triumphed. Ida grew up in the Pennsylvania oil fields of the 1870s, and saw how John D Rockefeller and his company Standard Oil bought or bullied independent firms. Ida's neighbors and even her own father were in Rockefeller's sights. In adulthood, Ida joined a new movement in journalism. She was a "muckraker" - looking to dig up dirt on the greedy and unscrupulous monopolies of the Gilded Age. She wrote a 19-part investigation of Standard Oil that became a nationwide hit and forced the US government to act and break Rockefeller's empire apart. Write to us at businesshistory@pushkin.fmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Jun 3, 202644 min
"Time is Money": How Ben Franklin's Sayings Created American Capitalism and Grind Culture
Benjamin Franklin had a full life - he was a scientist, statesman, and a Founding Father. But we're looking at the huge impact he had as a writer of best-selling business books. Franklin first picked up the pen as a poor, downtrodden teenager to write satire, but as he became richer and more successful he instead shared his entrepreneurial insights with the public. His sayings about time-wasting, thrift and the rewards of hard work were revolutionary. And both his admirers and critics claim his writings caused a profound global shift in how we think about work and wealth. Write to us at businesshistory@pushkin.fmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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About Business History
It’s the history of business. How did Hitler’s favorite car become synonymous with hippies? What got Thomas Edison tangled up with the electric chair? Did someone murder the guy who invented the movies? Former Planet Money hosts Jacob Goldstein and Robert Smith examine the surprising stories of businesses big and small and find out what you can learn from those who founded them.
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