Company Men

“It’s not a given that a business would be managed for the sake of investors rather than its employees, local community, or some other social good. Yet, that narrow understanding of what private enterprise is all about has become an assumption held by capitalism’s champions and critics. Delehanty explains how this happened, what the consequences have been, and what could have been different along the way.”

* A Public Witness *“Richly researched and compellingly crafted, Company Men provides a much-needed history of the ‘shareholder value revolution’ that transformed American capitalism. Expertly navigating the complex world where economic theory and business practice meet, Delehanty explains how a community of managers, intellectuals, and lobbyists refashioned the fundamental ideology of corporate management. In so doing, Delehanty offers a profound new understanding of the origins of the bifurcated, unequal economy that we now accept as normal.” – Benjamin C. Waterhouse | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill“For the past generation, Americans have taken for granted that corporations exist to create shareholder value. Yet this idea is a radical departure from the past. Delehanty traces the rise of shareholder value from the conglomerate mergers of the 1960s to the bust-up takeovers of the 1980s and the pervasive spread of stock-based compensation. Through it all, he shows the powerful role played by the ideas and actions of economists—for better and worse.” – Jerry Davis | University of Michigan