Big business  

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-{{Template}}+{| class="toccolours" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
-'''Big business''' is [[large-scale]], [[corporate]]-controlled, financial or [[business]] activities. As a term, it is typically used to describe activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things." The concept first arose in a symbolic sense after 1880 in connection with the combination movement that began in American business at that time. United States corporations that fall into the category of "big business" include [[ExxonMobil]], [[Wal-Mart]], [[Apple Inc.|Apple]], [[Google]], [[Microsoft]], [[General Electric]], [[General Motors]], [[Citigroup]] and [[Goldman Sachs]]. The largest German corporations include [[Daimler AG]], [[Deutsche Telekom]], [[Siemens]] and [[Deutsche Bank]]. Among the largest companies in the United Kingdom are [[HSBC]], [[Barclays]] and [[BP]].+| style="text-align: left;" |
 +"But the real [[authority]] is behind them, invisible and secure, in the office of the [[big business]] man."--''[[The City: the Hope of Democracy]]'' (1905) by Frederic Clemson Howe
 +<hr>
 +"There is nothing in front but a flat wilderness of [[standardization]] either by [[Bolsheviks|Bolshevism]] or [[Big business |Big Business]]. But it is strange that some of us should have seen [[sanity]], if only in a vision, while the rest go forward chained eternally to enlargement without liberty and progress without hope." --''[[The Outline of Sanity]]'' (1926) by G.K. Chesterton
 +|}
-==History==+{{Template}}
- +'''Big business''' involves large-scale corporate-controlled [[financial market|financial]] or [[business sector|business]] activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In [[corporate jargon]], the concept is commonly known as '''enterprise''', or activities involving '''enterprise customers'''.
-===19th century===+
-The [[Industrial Revolution]] of the late 18th and 19th centuries led to the formation of many manufacturing businesses, some of which eventually grew to a size that might be termed as "big business." The first business sectors that reached this size class (i.e. large concentrations of assets and earnings within individual corporations) were [[rail transport|railroads]] and [[History of the steel industry (1850-1970)|steel]], along with several large [[merchant bank]]s that financed the rapid growth (e.g. [[J.P. Morgan & Co.]]). The latter half of the 19th century saw more technological advances and corporate growth in additional sectors, such as [[Petroleum industry|petroleum]], [[Machinery industry|machinery]], [[Chemical manufacturing|chemicals]], and [[Electrification|electrical equipment]]. (''See'' [[Second Industrial Revolution]].)+
- +
-===Early 20th century===+
-The [[automotive industry]] began modestly in the 19th century, but grew rapidly following the development of large-scale [[gasoline]] production in the early 20th century.+
- +
-===Post-World War II===+
-The relatively stable period of rebuilding after [[World War II]] led to new technologies (some of which were spin-offs from the war years) and new businesses.+
- +
-====Computers====+
-The new technology of [[computer]]s spread worldwide in the post war years.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} Businesses built around computer technology include: [[IBM]], [[Microsoft]], [[Apple Inc.]] and [[Intel]].+
- +
-====Electronics====+
-Miniaturization and [[integrated circuit]]s, together with an expansion of [[radio]] and [[television]] technologies, provided fertile ground for business development. Electronics businesses include [[JVC]], [[Sony]] ([[Masaru Ibuka]] and [[Akio Morita]]), and [[Texas Instruments]] ([[Cecil H. Green]], [[J. Erik Jonsson]], [[Eugene McDermott]], and [[Patrick E. Haggerty]]).+
- +
-====Energy====+
-[[Nuclear power]] was added to [[fossil fuel]] as the main sources of energy.+
- +
-==Criticism of big business==+
-The social consequences of the concentration of economic power in the hands of those persons controlling "big business" has been a constant concern both of [[economist]]s and of [[politician]]s since the end of the 19th century. Various attempts have been made to investigate the effects of "bigness" upon labor, consumers and investors, as well as upon prices and [[competition]]. "Big business" has been accused of a wide variety of misdeeds that range from the [[exploitation]] of the [[working class]] to the [[Political corruption|corruption]] of politicians and the fomenting of [[war]].+
- +
-===Influence over government===+
-Corporate concentration can lead to influence over government in areas such as tax policy, trade policy, environmental policy, foreign policy, and labor policy through [[lobbying]]. In 2005 the majority of Americans believed that big business has "too much power in Washington".+
- +
-===Human rights and working conditions===+
-German industry collaborated with their [[Nazism|Nazi]] government during the [[Nazi Germany|Third Reich]], thus exploiting the [[working class]] in the interest of productivity and efficiency.+
- +
-<blockquote>+
-Hitler's order offered German capitalists, badly hit by the great recession, the prospects of huge profits. German workers did, admittedly, enjoy full employment, but, as William Schirer has said, this was at the cost of being reduced to serfdom and poverty wages. It was not long before these conditions became the lot of the whole of occupied Europe.+
-</blockquote>+
==See also== ==See also==
-*[[Big labor]]+* [[Almighty dollar]]
-*[[Big Chocolate]]+* [[alcohol industry|Big Alcohol]]
-*[[Big government]]+* [[Big Chocolate]]
-*[[Big Oil]]+* [[Big data]]
-*[[Big science]]+* [[Big government]]
-*[[Big Tobacco]]+* [[media conglomerate|Big media]]
-*[[Big Media]]+* [[Big Oil]]
-*[[Corporate republic]]+* [[pharmaceutical industry|Big Pharma]]
-*[[Evil corporation]]+* [[Big Science]]
-*[[Megacorporation]]+* [[Big Soda]]
-*[[Small business]]+* [[Big Tech]]
-*[[Zaibatsu]]+* [[Big Tobacco]]
 +* [[Corporatocracy]]
 +* [[Evil corporation]]
 +* [[Fat cat]]
 +* [[Keiretsu]]
 +* [[Major film studios]]
 +* [[Megacorporation]]
 +* [[Small business]]
 +* [[Zaibatsu]]
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"But the real authority is behind them, invisible and secure, in the office of the big business man."--The City: the Hope of Democracy (1905) by Frederic Clemson Howe

"There is nothing in front but a flat wilderness of standardization either by Bolshevism or Big Business. But it is strange that some of us should have seen sanity, if only in a vision, while the rest go forward chained eternally to enlargement without liberty and progress without hope." --The Outline of Sanity (1926) by G.K. Chesterton

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Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly known as enterprise, or activities involving enterprise customers.

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