Posts Tagged ‘business history’
“If you want to change the culture, you will have to start by changing the organization”*…
But to change it, you have to know what that organization is…
click here, and again on the image, for larger version
With this 1855 chart, Daniel McCallum, general superintendent of the New York and Erie Railroad, tried to define an organizational structure that would allow management of a business that was becoming unwieldy in its size. The document is generally recognized to be the first formal organizational chart.
Historian Caitlin Rosenthal, writing in the McKinsey Quarterly, points out that the chart was a way for McCallum to get a handle on a complex system made more confusing by the new availability of data from the use of the telegraph (invented in 1844). Information about problems down the track was important to have—it could help prevent train wrecks and further delays—but the New York and Erie’s personnel didn’t have a good sense of who was in charge of managing this data and putting it into action…
Read the whole story in the ever-illuminating Rebecca Onion’s “The First Modern Organizational Chart Is a Thing of Beauty.”
* Anthropologist Mary Douglas
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As we grapple with grapple with the Great Chain of Being, we might recall that it was on this date in 1937 that General Motors formally recognized the United Auto Workers as the collective bargaining representatives of GM workers. The decision came on the heels of a 44-day sit-down strike that had begun in December, 1936, and that had idled 48,000 employees. Still (to Dr. Douglas’ point), old habits die hard: two month later GM guards assaulted and beat UAW leaders at the company’s Rouge River plant.
…but I know what I like…
Starting in 1974, the Michigan-based company Marüshka produced ready-to-hang wall art in a bold, simple graphic style that evoked Japanese woodblock prints, Pop Art, and Mid-Century Modern textiles by Alexander Girard, who designed for Herman Miller, and the Helsinki firm Marimekko. At Marüshka, linen or cotton canvas would be silkscreened by hand, stretched, and fitted to a wood frame, and then sold for $24 apiece. Company founder Richard Sweet, who passed away in 2007, had a rather sweet notion to democratize art and make it affordable to the public… if you lived in the United States in the 1970s or ’80s, chances are its imagery is emblazoned in your brain. You may have blankly stared at a Marüshka silkscreen-on-canvas print while waiting at a doctor’s office, in a hospital, or at a corporate headquarters…
Now, as Collectors Weekly reports, Marüshka is coming again into vogue…
… Marüshka prints are popping up in hip Apartment Therapy tours, and obsessive young collectors have emerged, some even forming blogs and Flickr groups to document every Marüshka they unearth from thrift stores and at garage sales…
Read the whole story– and see more Marüshkas– at “The Vintage Waiting Room Art That’s Hooked the Shabby Chic Crowd.”
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As we hang’em high, we might send cultivated birthday greetings to Mikimoto Kōkichi; he was born on this date in 1858. The first son of an udon shop owner in Toba, Mikimoto left school at the age of 13 to sell vegetables to support his family. But watching the pearl divers of Ise unload their hauls at the shore ignited a fascination with pearls. In 1888, Mikimoto started his first– reputedly the first– oyster farm, and began developing the technique of inserting an irritant (often a piece of oyster epithelial membrane) into the oyster to cause the formation of a pearl. Within 12 years Mikimoto’s oysters were producing completely spherical pearls that were indistinguishable from the highest quality natural ones, though commercial scale was still years away. Still, he is credited with creating the first cultured pearl, and later, with starting the pearl industry via the establishment of his luxury pearl company, Mikimoto.
Dim Sum for Dummies…
From the good folks at Buzzfeed, a guide to 點心 (dian xin), or “dim sum” as we tend to know it.
There’s a bit of historical context…
In the beginning, dim sum was a verb that merely meant “to eat a little something.” Cantonese dim sum culture began in tearooms in the latter half of the nineteenth century in the city of Guangzou, possibly because of the recent ban of opium dens. It spread and gained popularity—especially in nearby Hong Kong…
And a set of handy icons…
All informing a type-by-type rundown on one’s brunch options. For example:
(Mand. zheng jiao; Cant. zing gau)
Unleavened wheat dough wrapper familyThe body of these two-inch dumplings have a plump gumdrop shape; their thin skins are closed with simple folds or multiple pleats across the top, The wrappers are made from a light and supple “hot dough,” a combination of boiling water and Chinese noodle flour, and may be colored with vegetable juices like carrot or spinach. Fillings vary, but are usually pork or shrimp with vegetables and aromatics such as ginger, Chinese chives, green onions, bok choy, Chinese cabbage, carrots, black mushrooms, and wood ear fungus. Vegetarian dumplings are typically a combination of vegetables, cellophane noodles and scrambled eggs. Chinese dumplings (both boiled jiao zi and steamed zheng jiao) probably originated in Muslim areas along the northern Silk Road, where wheat pasta was the main staple, but are now common from Beijing in the north to Guangdong in the south. Sometimes steamed dumplings are formed into fanciful shapes, like goldfish and heads of garlic. Exterior tacky; interior juicy.
Take the complete tour of the baskets at “The Essential Guide to Dim Sum.”
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As we reach for our chopsticks, we might recall that it was on this date in 1868 that William Davis, a Detroit fish dealer, received a patent for the first practical refrigerated rail car. Entrepreneurs looking to expand the market for agricultural goods had been trying since 1842 to ship produce and meat via rail. But these early “ice box on wheels” designs were impractical (as most worked only in cold weather). Davis’ innovation was to create a car that used metal racks to suspend meat above and between a frozen mixture of ice and salt. Davis’ design worked well as a preservative strategy; but the carcasses had a way of swinging to one side on their hooks when the car entered a curve at high speed… which led to several derailments and the discontinuation of their use. It wasn’t until 1878, and a “cooling from the top; meat stacked low” approach developed by Andrew Chase for the meat packers Swift & Co., that refrigerated cars came into continuous use.
For that little princess in one’s life…
From the ever-inventive folks at Think Geek:
Pâté is passé. Unicorn – the new white meat.
Excellent source of sparkles!
Unicorns, as we all know, frolic all over the world, pooping rainbows and marshmallows wherever they go. What you don’t know is that when unicorns reach the end of their lifespan, they are drawn to County Meath, Ireland. The Sisters at Radiant Farms have dedicated their lives to nursing these elegant creatures through their final days. Taking a cue from the Kobe beef industry, they massage each unicorn’s coat with Guinness daily and fatten them on a diet comprised entirely of candy corn.
As the unicorn ages, its meat becomes fatty and marbled and the living bone in the horn loses density in a process much like osteoporosis. The horn’s outer layer of keratin begins to develop a flavor very similar to candied almonds. Blending the crushed unicorn horn into the meat adds delightful, crispy flavor notes in each bite. We are confident you will find a world of bewilderment in every mouthful of scrumptious unicorn meat.
Product information, recipes, and ordering instructions here.
As we rethink our panini preferences, we might recall that it was on this date in 1808 that John Jacob Astor incorporated The American Fur Company. One of the first great trusts in the U.S., American Fur had come to dominate the fur trade in North America, and had become one of the largest businesses in the country by 1830. Astor, who traded in real estate and opium as well as furs, became America’s first multi-millionaire.
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