You are here

FAU Collections » FAU Research Repository » FAU Theses and Dissertations

locust years: The fall of America's great computer companies and the consequences, 1980-1994

Download pdf | Full Screen View

Date Issued:
1997
Summary:
For three decades a handful of giant American Corporations dominated the world computer industry. In the late 1980s a host of relatively small firms seized industry leadership. Many saw in this astounding reversal of fortune the birth of an open, progressive, highly competitive and democratic computer industry. This thesis contends instead that the fall of the great computer companies, and the rise to leadership of firms that were undercapitalized and shortsighted, threatened the long-term competitive strength of the American computer industry. The historical record shows that multi-billion investments by the great computer companies built the technological foundation for the "age of the desktop." As the great companies faltered, new firms entering the industry simply did not take up the slack in research and investment. With investment falling in the U.S., and soaring in the Pacific-Rim countries, continued American leadership of this vital industry became an open question. Insights gained from studying this almost incredible episode have profound implications for all technology intensive industries.
Title: The locust years: The fall of America's great computer companies and the consequences, 1980-1994.
206 views
167 downloads
Name(s): Bryan, Eugene F.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
O'Sullivan, John, Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1997
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 130 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: For three decades a handful of giant American Corporations dominated the world computer industry. In the late 1980s a host of relatively small firms seized industry leadership. Many saw in this astounding reversal of fortune the birth of an open, progressive, highly competitive and democratic computer industry. This thesis contends instead that the fall of the great computer companies, and the rise to leadership of firms that were undercapitalized and shortsighted, threatened the long-term competitive strength of the American computer industry. The historical record shows that multi-billion investments by the great computer companies built the technological foundation for the "age of the desktop." As the great companies faltered, new firms entering the industry simply did not take up the slack in research and investment. With investment falling in the U.S., and soaring in the Pacific-Rim countries, continued American leadership of this vital industry became an open question. Insights gained from studying this almost incredible episode have profound implications for all technology intensive industries.
Identifier: 9780591311204 (isbn), 15375 (digitool), FADT15375 (IID), fau:12142 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1997.
Subject(s): International Business Machines Corporation--History
AT&T Bell Laboratories--History
Computer industry--United States--History
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15375
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.