The Rise of Big Business

Today, the Big Business is one of the main features of the modern economic environment. Big Business refers mainly to corporations, huge economic entities operating for profit and distributing the ownership by the means of stocks. The Big Business started to grow in America after the Civil War, in the 1860s and already reached its peak of strengths by the “roaring” 1920s. Although Big Business faces much social and governmental control nowadays, its power is still enormous. Large business corporations provide most of economic output, employment places, financial investments, and production output. Politics is also very much influenced by the large corporations and is often forced into pursuing businesses’ strategic interests. Even average citizens get much of Big Business influence through employment, and corporations’ PR campaigns, marketing strategies, and other public policies. David Korten, in his book When Corporations Rule The World, points out that often corporations have more power than a state. Korten argues that, “Corporations have emerged as the dominant governance institutions on the planet, with the largest among them reaching into virtually every country of the world and exceeding most governments in size and power. Increasingly, it is the corporate interest more than the human interest that defines the policy agendas of states and international bodies… ”. The impact of the corporations on the society is so great that the economic analytics have even labeled the modern political and economic system as corporate capitalism. Thus, the contemporary economic environment can be without much doubt considered the world of “Big Business”.

Most explanations of the reasons for the rapid growth of business outline three main factors. First, it is the shift from water-powered to coal-powered factories, which enabled manufacturers to locate their plants nearer to markets and suppliers. The new technology also allowed producing bigger quantities of goods at a