Evolution of the Modern Corporation and the MBA Curriculum

When was the modern corporation first formed?

What concept was established by the Dutch East India Company?

In what year was the first organizational chart created specifically for managing corporations in the United States?

Why was there a need for an educated management class at the beginning of the 20th century in the US?

When did Harvard establish the first MBA course?

What was the key oversight in traditional MBA curriculums?

Why were startups recognized as fundamentally different from large companies?

What is the core difference between startups and large companies?

What was one of the biggest fallacies about startups?

What do startups do during their initial phase?

What is the main focus of large companies?

What will understanding the difference between search and execution do for entrepreneurs?

The modern corporation as we know it was first formed in 1602 with the Dutch East India Company, establishing the concept of shareholders and organizational structures similar to present-day companies.
By the 1850s in the United States, with the expansion of railroads across the country, corporations required more sophisticated organizations leading to the creation of the first organizational chart in 1856 specifically for managing corporations.
The need for an educated management class to oversee the transition from local to national economies in the United States became evident at the beginning of the 20th century, prompting Harvard to establish the first Masters of Business Administration (MBA) course in 1910.
The MBA curriculum was designed to equip managers with essential tools for running existing and growing companies, covering areas such as accounting, strategy, operations, leadership, organizational behavior, and human resources management.
However, a key oversight in traditional MBA curriculums was the lack of tools tailored for starting new businesses, as startups were recognized as fundamentally different from large companies, highlighting the ineffectiveness of traditional MBA tools in the initial chaotic stages of early-stage ventures.

Learn about the historical development of corporations from the Dutch East India Company to the establishment of the first MBA course at Harvard. Explore how the MBA curriculum has evolved to equip managers with tools for managing both existing companies and startups.