ABSTRACT
James Mooney began his career as an engineer and businessman, and later became one of the key members of the senior management team at General Motors, under Pierre du Pont and Alfred P.Sloan. Responsible for GM operations overseas, he helped make the company into the world’s leading car maker, expanding from its domestic base to become a global corporation. Regarded as the leading intellectual on GM’s board, he was a respected thinker on organisation and strategy. His book Onward Industry! (1931), later reprinted as Principles of Organisation (1937), established him as a popular management guru. His work on the nature and historical origins of business organisation is becoming increasingly relevant in the modern age of globalisation.
