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Large managerial enterprises have been the engines of growth and innovation in modern economies for more than a century. This essay lays out the logic and the nature of the competitive battles that ensue once an industry has been transformed by a first-mover company (companies defined by their large-scale investments in production, marketing, and management). History's lessons are clear: first movers quickly dominate their industries and continue to do so for decades. Those who fail to invest cannot compete--internationally or at home.

Consists of three selections by the most innovative of the early American railroad managers which describe the organizational structures and control systems they created. Questions to be asked are: why and how such managerial techniques were created, how well they worked, and how they differ from present-day techniques.

Describes the sudden appearance of the large industrial enterprise in the 1880s. Reviews the three types of mass-production industries in which the new form came: those producing perishable products; those making low-priced semi-perishable products; and makers of machinery, the sale of whose products required specialized marketing services. Asks questions and suggests answers as to why the first American big businesses came in these industries and in the single decade of the 1880s.