The toy industry is one of the most consistently misunderstood sectors of American business, comprising a wide range of businesses under one banner-entertainment, commodities, fashion and licensing-that each behave differently. The broad and diverse market is constantly changing, with more than 40 percent of products new each year. Today, it is a mix of approximately 600 publicly and privately held companies. Currently about $22 billion per year at...

As early as 3000 BC, we know that the people of Mesopotamia were using crude oil as a tar for building ships and houses, so, it is not by any means a new industry, but it is a volatile one. Oil and gas are important to every aspect of our economy yet this industry is distinguished by its combination of increasing demands and decreasing discovery volumes; and it is an industry shrouded in an environment of extremely volatile pricing. Although the profits...

The airline industry is one of the most fascinating in the world, with roots going back to the earliest years of the 20th century. Not long after the Wright brothers flew successfully for the first time in 1903, interest in aviation for military and commercial purposes began. In the late teens, the U.S. government began offering potentially lucrative airmail contracts to start-up air carriers, who competed vigorously for them often with disastrous...

The hospitality industry is generally referred to as businesses that provide accommodation and foodservice. Traditionally an entrepreneurial business, it now includes organizations ranging from small independent cafes to large multinational corporations. Businesses in the hospitality industry have many organizational structures to include whole ownership, franchising, consortia, and management contracts as key configurations. Affected by capital investment,...

The steel mill and the auto plant were the icons of the 20th-century industrial economy. By the early 21st century, many people viewed steel as Big, Ugly, and Gone to China. Not so. In manufacturing, The World Is Not Flat! The steel industry has continuously been forced to remake itself. This book describes those developments and dynamics.

This is the first book on the global auto industry viewed through the lens of technology. We start by tracing how innovation shaped the first century of its history. We then examine the industry's shifting footprint in Europe and North America, and the rise of new producers, particularly China. Succeeding chapters emphasize the role of suppliers in what is now a high-tech industry. We describe new forms of collaboration that challenge traditional...