Supply Chain

The Father of Us All

Feb. 2, 2012

Business and capitalism have gotten some bad raps lately: some of them well-deserved.

Unquestionably there have been excesses: (over-the-top Wall Street bonuses); rotten apples (Madoff); and, lousy decisions (the repeal of Glass-Stegall). Others will surely follow.

Still, history provides us with a more balanced perspective when looking at human frailties and their interaction with economics.

The trade confederacy of the Aegean built the Parthenon. The house of Medici financed the Italian Renaissance. The Enlightenment and the French Revolution came not first from the writings of Voltaire and the philosophes, but because the middle class had risen to new economic heights. It was the Industrial Revolution that gave us the democracy and individualism we so cherish today.

Each of these, and so much more, were made possible because of economic underpinnings.

As we face tough times ahead, with continued high employment, lower growth rates, and geopolitical instability, let's be sure that our leaders don't throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater.

Capitalism may very well be the source of some of the most pressing problems today. History shows us, however, that it is also the vehicle for many of humanity's greatest accomplishments.

About the Author

Andrew R. Thomas Blog | Associate Professor of Marketing and International Business

Andrew R. Thomas, Ph.D., is associate professor of marketing and international business at the University of Akron; and, a member of the core faculty at the International School of Management in Paris, France.

He is a bestselling business author/editor, whose 23 books include, most recently, American Shale Energy and the Global Economy: Business and Geopolitical Implications of the Fracking Revolution, The Customer Trap: How to Avoid the Biggest Mistake in Business, Global Supply Chain Security, The Final Journey of the Saturn V, and Soft Landing: Airline Industry Strategy, Service and Safety.

His book The Distribution Trap was awarded the Berry-American Marketing Association Prize for the Best Marketing Book of 2010. Another work, Direct Marketing in Action, was a finalist for the same award in 2008.

Andrew is founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Transportation Security and a regularly featured analyst for media outlets around the world.

He has traveled to and conducted business in 120 countries on all seven continents.