THE COMPETITIVE PERFORMANCE OF UNITED-STATES INDUSTRIAL-ENTERPRISES SINCE THE WORLD-WAR-2

This article begins with an overview of the changing context of U.S. i ndustrial enterprise from the Second Industrial Revolution of the late nineteenth century to the end of the Second World War. It then examin es the changes in the nature of competition, in the financial markets, and in corporate management that transformed the industrial environme nt in the postwar decades. Against that historical background, the ess ay describes in detail the results of an empirical study aimed at disc overing how U.S. companies maintained, increased, or dissipated their organizational capabilities and how the market for corporate control a ffected that behavior.