Verizon Visiting Professorship in Business Ethics

Attached are the questions. The writer will need to read pages 307-314 from the book “The Economic Transformation of America: 1600 to the Present” by Robert Heilbroner and Aaron Singer and pages 88-115 from the book American Business Since 1920: How It Worked by Thomas K. McCraw.

Then the writer will need to answer the following 8 questions:

Study Questions for RCA and the Postwar World

1. What were the key factors that McCraw suggests were responsible for the growth of the United States between 1945 and 1970? Do you think he left any out?

2. David Sarnoff is a key figure in the RCA story. What factors made it possible for Sarnoff to succeed at one point but fail miserably at others later on?

3. Why did TV fail to catch on before 1945? Why did it catch on after 1950? What does it mean to see it as a “systems innovation?” Can you think of another systems innovation? Describe the system.

4. Analyze the development of color TV. Was it hard or easy to introduce? Why? What helped or limited its emergence? How does the experience with color television speak to the introduction of HDTV thus far? (This last question will require you to look at some outside history on HDTV.)

5. Patent licensing was an important part of the RCA story. Was it a positive or negative force or both? Give examples.

6. In the end, the RCA story is one of failure. What are the key factors (including corporate structure) in RCA’s failure? Why was it unable to change and remain flexible? How did this differ from firms that managed to succeed? Why did no American firms manage to truly succeed in this industry after 1970?

7. How does Sarnoff’s style of management compare to that at Ford? GM? P&G?

8. How crucial is the federal government to RCA’s success? Its rise? Its fall?