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From Steam to Diesel | 
 enlarge | Author: Albert J. Churella
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Category: Book
Buy Used: $450.00
Used (2) from $450.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 3978318
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 0691027765
Dewey Decimal Number: 338.47625260973
EAN: 9780691027760
ASIN: 0691027765
Publication Date: August 3, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Publisher: Princeton Univ PrDate of Publication: 1998Binding: Hard CoverEdition: First EditionCondition: Very Good +/Very GoodDescription: 0691027765 Tight spine, clean copy. Dark gray boards, edges very lightly rubbed, corners slightly bumped, text is clean and unmarked. From the dustjacket......"The locomotive industry provides a valuable case study of business practices and dramatic shifts in innovation patterns, since two companies - General Motors and General Electric - that had no traditional ties to locomotive production demolished established steam locomotive manufacturers." DJ - minor shelfwear, no chips or tears. 215 Pgs.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
This overview of the leading locomotive producers in the United States during the twentieth century shows how they responded to a radical technological change: the replacement of steam locomotives by diesels. The locomotive industry provides a valuable case study of business practices and dramatic shifts in innovation patterns, since two companies--General Motors and General Electric--that had no traditional ties to locomotive production demolished established steam locomotive manufacturers. Albert Churella uses many previously untapped sources to illustrate how producers responded to technological change, particularly between the 1920s and the 1960s. Companies discussed include the American Locomotive Company (ALCo), the Baldwin Locomotive Works, the Lima Locomotive Works, Fairbanks-Morse, the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, and General Electric. A comparative work of business history and the history of technology, the book is not a complete history of any locomotive builder, nor does it explore the origins of the diesel engine in great detail. What it does, and does superbly, is to demonstrate how managers addressed radical shifts in technology and production methods. Churella reveals that managerial culture and corporate organizational routines, more than technological competency per se, allowed some companies to succeed, yet constrained the actions of others. He details the shift from small-batch custom manufacturing techniques in the steam locomotive industry to mass-production methods in the diesel locomotive industry. He also explains that chance events and fortuitous technological linkages helped to shape competitive patterns in the locomotive industry.
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| Customer Reviews:
Interesting and well written. September 8, 2000
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I work in an organisation that has been trying to manage major technical and structural changes for years, and failing dismally (after ten years of fairly strenuous effort it is pretty much in the same position now as then). After reading this book I had a much better understanding of the reasons why that can happen. The guy who wrote this book knows how to research his field and explain it to a layman without boring him to death. This is an excellent case study for anybody with an interest in managing complex organisations and technology.
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