×
Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date.
For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now.

Members save with free shipping everyday!
See details
See details
21.95
In Stock
Overview
To understand business and its political, cultural, and economic context, it helps to view it historically, yet most business histories look no further back than the nineteenth century. The full sweep of business history actually begins much earlier, with the initial cities of Mesopotamia. In the first book to describe and explain these origins, Roberts depicts the society of ancient traders and consumers, tracing the roots of modern business and underscoring the relationship between early and modern business practice.
Roberts's narrative begins before business, which he defines as selling to voluntary buyers at a profit. Before business, he shows, the material conditions and concepts for the pursuit of profit did not exist, even though trade and manufacturing took place. The earliest business, he suggests, arose with the long distance trade of early Mesopotamia, and expanded into retail, manufacturing and finance in these command economies, culminating in the Middle Eastern empires. (Part One) But it was the largely independent rise of business, money, and markets in classical Greece that produced business much as we know it. Alexander the Great's conquests and the societies that his successors created in their kingdoms brought a version of this system to the old Middle Eastern empires, and beyond. (Part Two) At Rome this entrepreneurial market system gained important new features, including business corporations, public contracting, and even shopping malls. The story concludes with the sharp decline of business after the 3rd century CE. (Part Three)
In each part, Roberts portrays the major new types of business coming into existence. He weaves these descriptions into a narrative of how the prevailing political, economic, and social culture shaped the nature and importance of business and the status, wealth, and treatment of business people. Throughout, the discussion indicates how much (and how little) business has changed, provides a clear picture of what business actually is, presents a model for understanding the social impact of business as a whole, and yields stimulating insights for public policy today.
Roberts's narrative begins before business, which he defines as selling to voluntary buyers at a profit. Before business, he shows, the material conditions and concepts for the pursuit of profit did not exist, even though trade and manufacturing took place. The earliest business, he suggests, arose with the long distance trade of early Mesopotamia, and expanded into retail, manufacturing and finance in these command economies, culminating in the Middle Eastern empires. (Part One) But it was the largely independent rise of business, money, and markets in classical Greece that produced business much as we know it. Alexander the Great's conquests and the societies that his successors created in their kingdoms brought a version of this system to the old Middle Eastern empires, and beyond. (Part Two) At Rome this entrepreneurial market system gained important new features, including business corporations, public contracting, and even shopping malls. The story concludes with the sharp decline of business after the 3rd century CE. (Part Three)
In each part, Roberts portrays the major new types of business coming into existence. He weaves these descriptions into a narrative of how the prevailing political, economic, and social culture shaped the nature and importance of business and the status, wealth, and treatment of business people. Throughout, the discussion indicates how much (and how little) business has changed, provides a clear picture of what business actually is, presents a model for understanding the social impact of business as a whole, and yields stimulating insights for public policy today.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780231153270 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Columbia University Press |
Publication date: | 02/10/2015 |
Series: | Columbia Business School Publishing |
Pages: | 368 |
Product dimensions: | 5.70(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.00(d) |
Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Keith Roberts is a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and the Harvard Business School's Program in Venture Capital. He has served as president of the Preservation Group, a San Francisco-based real estate firm; Roberts Proprietaries, Inc., a manufacturing and distribution company; and other firms. He is an arbitrator for the Financial Industries Regulatory Authority and in the New York court system.
William H. McNeill is a noted world historian and professor emeritus of history at the University of Chicago. The recipient of a National Humanities Medal, he is the author of many books, including The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community, which won a National Book Award for history.
William H. McNeill is a noted world historian and professor emeritus of history at the University of Chicago. The recipient of a National Humanities Medal, he is the author of many books, including The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community, which won a National Book Award for history.
Table of Contents
Foreword, by William H. McNeillPreface
List of Terms
Introduction
1 Business in the Ancient Middle East
1. The Beginning
2. Middle Eastern Empires, 1600–323 B.C.E.
2 Business in Ancient Greece
3. Markets and Greece
4. Business in Athens
5. Hellenistic History: Prologue to Revolution
6. The Hellenistic Business Environment
7. Hellenistic Business
3 Business in Ancient Rome
8. The Early Roman Republic
9. The Late Roman Republic, 201–31 B.C.E.
10. The Principate, 31 B.C.E.–192 C.E.
11. Roman Society
12. Roman Businesses
13. The Downfall of Ancient Business
Concluding Note
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Customer Reviews
Related Searches
Explore More Items
Today's consumers have unprecedented choice in terms of the technologies and platforms that access, produce, ...
Today's consumers have unprecedented choice in terms of the technologies and platforms that access, produce,
and distribute media content. The development and overlap of television, the internet, and other media technologies is fragmenting and empowering media audiences more than ever. ...
Today's financial crisis is the result of dismal failures on the part of regulators, market ...
Today's financial crisis is the result of dismal failures on the part of regulators, market
analysts, and corporate executives. Yet the response of the American government has been to bail out the very institutions and individuals that have wrought such ...
Should a therapist disclose personal information to a client, accept a client’s gift, or provide ...
Should a therapist disclose personal information to a client, accept a client’s gift, or provide
a former client with a job? Is it appropriate to exchange e-mail or text messages with clients or correspond with them on social networking websites? ...
Despite creating vast inequalities and propping up reactionary world regimes, capitalism has many passionate defendersbut ...
Despite creating vast inequalities and propping up reactionary world regimes, capitalism has many passionate defendersbut
not because of what it withholds from some and gives to others. Capitalism dominates, Todd McGowan argues, because it mimics the structure of our desire ...
In response to the challenges of bringing the tenacious Israeli-Palestinian conflict to an end, many ...
In response to the challenges of bringing the tenacious Israeli-Palestinian conflict to an end, many
have offered grand historical perspectives, vague formulas, or visionary new proposals. Aharon Klieman, however, goes beyond abstract reflections to offer a clear and practical assessment ...
The Confucian gentleman scholars of the Choson dynasty (1392-1910) often published short anecdotes exemplifying their ...
The Confucian gentleman scholars of the Choson dynasty (1392-1910) often published short anecdotes exemplifying their
values and aesthetic concerns. In modern Seoul one scholar in particular would excel at adapting this style to a contemporary readership: Yi T'aejun.Yi T'aejun was ...
Compiling twenty articles on the nature of life and on the objective of the natural ...
Compiling twenty articles on the nature of life and on the objective of the natural
sciences, this remarkable book complements Robert Rosen's groundbreaking Life Itselfa work that influenced a wide range of philosophers, biologists, linguists, and social scientists. In Essays ...
In May 1968, Gilles Deleuze was an established philosopher teaching at the innovative Vincennes University, ...
In May 1968, Gilles Deleuze was an established philosopher teaching at the innovative Vincennes University,
just outside of Paris. Félix Guattari was a political militant and the director of an unusual psychiatric clinic at La Borde. Their meeting was quite ...