Country United States Publication date October 1982 Pages 421 pp. (hardcover) ISBN 0812910281 | Language English Media type Print Originally published October 1982 Genre Non-fiction Publisher Times Books | |
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Subject Business history, ITT Corporation Similar Robert Sobel books, Telecommunications books | ||
ITT: The Management of Opportunity is a non-fiction book about ITT Corporation by American business writer and historian Robert Sobel. The book was initially published by Times Books in 1982.
Contents
Contents
In this book, Sobel concentrates on the history of ITT Corporation, one of the world's largest conglomerates. Back in the 1970s and 80s, the corporation acquired many various businesses—from a financial services companies to the famous Sheraton Hotels and Resorts (in those years known as ITT Sheraton), sometimes doing 20 deals a month.
Review
We all know how it ends, but whew, what a ride! An enterprising man envisions a world-wide telecommunications company and guides it vigilantly through hard times; his successor radically changes course, buying up hundreds of unrelated companies; economic conditions and the national mood change; the conglomerate sags under its own weight; the next CEO retrenches and then wards off hostile takeovers; and the company is sold. This account of the ITT story was published in 1982, 15 years before the end. The author was given complete access to records and files, and employees were instructed to be candid and forthcoming. The result is evenhanded, thorough, and well written, and provides solid historical background for and thoughtful analysis of the various events.
—Review by Gail Owens Hoelscher from Turnarounds and Workouts