公司简史
书名：THE COMPANY A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea
本书追溯了公司组织形态从萌芽到兴起的全过程。
作者：JoHN MrcKLETHWAIT AND ADRIAN WooLDRIDGE
出版日期：2003年

亚马逊评价：

This short, breezy history of the business corporation begins with the Dutch East India Company and ends with Enron. As befits a book by two Economist writers, "The Company" reads like an Economist special supplement: the analysis spans the globe; factoids are mixed with sweeping generalizations; interpretations masquerade as straightforward statements of fact; and dry subjects are enlivened with humor, literary touches, and insights from deep thinkers (like Coase and Chandler). "The Company" is a very good read.

Unfortunately, it doesn't treat any subject in depth. The endnotes show that the authors worked exclusively from secondary sources. It's hard to know whether the authors are as sure of their material as their cocky tone suggests: the section on well-known recent developments (mergers, corporate "unbundling," Silicon Valley, globalization, etc., etc.) is filled with debatable judgments, confidently asserted. This inevitably raises doubts about the book's treatment of distant, unfamiliar historical episodes.

One thing "The Company" does prove is that a limited-liability joint-stock company (i.e., a corporation) is a handy vehicle for amassing capital from multiple dispersed investors. Something like it would have to exist in any capital-intensive, non-socialist economy. But "The Company" also shows that the particulars of corporate form are conditioned by history, law, and culture; corporations vary radically from country to country and era to era. The Microsoft of 1995 had little in common with the I.G. Farben of 1925 but for the fact that both were limited-liability joint-stock companies.

In this regard, the authors draw a helpful distinction between Anglo-American "shareholder" corporations (operated for the benefit of owners) and German-style "stakeholder" corporations (which include workers and community representatives on their governing boards). The corporate model chosen by a nation has big implications for labor relations, investment decisions, and politics. This is a radical message for Americans who see corporations as the creations of "the marketplace" and beyond the control of the community. If "The Company" awakens American readers to the variety of corporate models to choose from, it will have served an admirably subversive purpose. Plus it's short!

Note: A new book called "Icarus in the Boardroom" covers some of the same ground as "The Company." It too is short and breezy, but it is much more sophisticated and it really unpacks the legal and economic forces that drive corporate evolution. I would recommend it over this book.
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