The Theory of Business Enterprise

The Theory of Business Enterprise is an economics book by Thorstein Veblen published in 1904 that looks at the growing corporate domination of culture and the economy. At its heart The Theory of Business Enterprise is an analysis of two intertwined but clashing motivations; that of business and that of industry. Business is the making of profits. Industry (or the "machine process") is the making of goods. "The captains of industry" (capitalists or "Robber Barons") curtailed production in order to keep prices and profits high. The worst fears of businessmen was a "free run of production" which would essentially collapse all profits. Veblen's book was published at a high point of American concern with business combinations and trusts. Veblen employed his evolutionary analysis to explain these new forms. Veblen placed the large business concerns in the context of the increasing industrialization of American life. Veblen asserted that even though there is a commercial need for industry, the machine process has outrun commercial needs and has penetrated every corner of mechanical industries. This process is characterized by the obligation for standardization, certainty and quantitative accuracy and precision.