The Generations of Corning

This engrossing history of an extraordinary company, Corning Incorporated, chronicles how one of the oldest business enterprises in the world maintained its place as a global leader in technology for over 150 years. In the nineteenth century, Corning developed coloured signal lights for railroads. In the twentieth century, it created Pyrex and colour television tubes; today, it is a Fortune 500 company leading the international marketplace in areas such as fibre optics and photonics. If you use the Internet, drive a car, or simply turn on a light, then Corning is a part of your life. The Generations of Corning tells the fascinating stories of its founding family, the Houghtons, the inventors, and the adventures, behind Corning's remarkable achievements - from unexpected discoveries, like the laboratory mishap that led to Corning Ware, to the years of painstaking, often frustrating, research that led to its breakthrough in fibre optics. From 1851 to 1996, five generations of Houghtons made Corning a company that combined a culture of continuous innovation with a sense of loyalty to its employees and their community. Davis Dyer and Daniel Gross show how the critical changes in organization and leadership that accompanied each new generation helped Corning not just survive, but to prosper, and push itself to the cutting edge of materials technology in decade after decade. The Generations of Corning is a classic success story and a triumph of the inventive spirit.

ISBN 0195140958   Pages 528 ISBN13 9780195140958 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Oxford University Press Inc   Weight (grammes) 984 Imprint Oxford University Press Inc   Published in New York Format Hardback   Height (mm) 234 Publication date 01 Jun 2001   Width (mm) 156 Library of Congress HD2796.C66   Spine width (mm) 42 DEWEY 338.762   Academic level Professional / Scholarly DEWEY edition DC21

		Houghton Family Tree
		List of Chairman and Presidents
		Foreword
		Preface
1		Corning and Glass		1
2		Founding and Foundering, 1851-1875		19
3		The Rise of Corning Glass Works, 1875-1908		51
4		Pyrex, the Ribbon Machine, and a Wider World, 1908-1928		93
5		Surviving and Thriving in the Depression Decade, 1928-1939		131
6		Corning Goes to War, 1939-1945		173
7		A Decade of Unbounded Opportunities, 1945-1954		209
8		Ambitious Expansion: TV Glass, Pyroceram, and Corning Ware, 1954-1960		233
9		Encountering Limits and Diversifying, 1960-1966		259
10		International Growth and the Roots of Fiber Optics, 1966-1971		283
11		Digging Out and Tough Economic Times, 1972-1975		311
12		Cutting Costs and Changing Direction, 1975-1983		337
13		Emphasizing Performance, Quality, and Diversity, 1983-1989		369
14		Refocusing and Reengineering, 1990-1996		413
15		Growing in the New Economy, 1996-		435
		Notes		455
		Index		491

Plots the company history of working wonders with glass and related materials, and opens up a fascinating world of innovation and the incessant search for the next 'big hit'. R&D Management ... thoroughly enjoyable reading. Well researched, never too technical, but sufficiently descriptive to appreciate the innovative skills which were the cornerstone of Corning. The book effortlessly weaves its way through the Houghton generations, following the family and its roots, as each generation evolved different strategies to be a part of the future. R&D Management Well conceived ... worthy of the attention of a broad audience. The Economic History Review

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