Summary Of Andrew Carnegie And The Rise Of Big Business

Andrew Carnegie and the Rise of Big Business (1975) by Historian Harold C. Livesay is a biography about the 19th century steel-industry icon and tycoon, Andrew Carnegie. A bestseller when first published, the book was praised for its comprehensiveness of information yet succinct style. It is commonly assigned to college students in business and US history as an “abridged” version of Carnegie’s life.

Its themes include the rise of corporations in the US, smart business tactics, and wealth accumulation as well as philanthropy.

The relatively short biography is divided into three major stages that coincide with Carnegie’s development as a businessman: manager, capitalist, and entrepreneur.

The text opens to Andrew Carnegie’s first birthday,

An established center for textile productions, the city also had the workers and factories for even greater production, Carnegie observed. Livesay analyzes how Carnegie, living in a time of increasingly large mega-corporations, was positioned perfectly for staggering success in the steel industry.

The future billionaire’s first job was as a “bobbin boy” in a small mill; this meant he would run around the factory giving sewing equipment as requested. He received the job because he, like his boss, was Scottish. His nationality in the US would prove handy later when Carnegie required several associates to start his first business, and invited a group of Scottish men he could trust.

Carnegie bounced around to several jobs across several industries, including railroads, telegraphs, and textiles. The various experience would later prove to be invaluable in his evaluation of efficient labor processes. Throughout the text, Livesay emphasizes how what Carnegie learned as a young man—principles of communication and logistics—would apply to the steel industry to resounding

Carnegie was the first to apply those principles to steel and iron works, an application that proved to be extremely profitable.

At 28, Carnegie has invested in Adams Express Company and several other companies. He showed a talent for knowing where to place money to make even more money.

Livesay details the rise of big business in 19th century America. Meticulously, he combs through how the railroad and steel industries were able to flourish.

A lot of Carnegie’s success lay in his recognition of when a risk was warranted, as well as his courage to take that risk. This includes his massive investment in Western Union and Pullman Railroads in 1873. The US was in the middle of a depression, and many people had judged both companies to be on their deathbed. But Carnegie saw potential in both companies; once the economy rebounded, he was exponentially rewarded from his investments.

Carnegie was also willing to completely abandon old equipment. Unlike his competitors in England, Carnegie did not hold on to factories and machines that were not optimized; he preferred to suffer a minor loss of revenue and buy a new machine that would produce more benefit in the long