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It is _partly_ organic, or rather, technological. General Motors did everything in house (partly) for the same reason the hotel did: the computers needed to kee
by iguy 9y ago
It is _partly_ organic, or rather, technological. General Motors did everything in house (partly) for the same reason the hotel did: the computers needed to keep track of today's supply chain / subcontracting payments & management didn't exist. The efficient thing was to have one centralised payroll department cutting checks.
But politics played a big role too. It deserves to be noted here that almost all the employees at this (1960s NYC, say) hotel were born Americans. While today a large proportion would not be, a factor which tips the balance of power towards their managers.
- knuththetruth 9y agoBusinesses like Costco have supply chain dynamics as complex as any hotel chain, if not moreso, and they still manage to treat their employees better and more equitably. I don’t disagree that technology has changed these dynamics, but the way power and wealth has been distributed in response to these changes is almost exclusively upward and to fewer and fewer people. Nothing about that is neutral or organic, unless you’re talking about the trajectory of wealth and political power under some Marxist analysis of Capital accumulation.