Launchpad Republic

Launchpad Republic

by Howard Wolk, John Landry
Released August 2022
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781119900054

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Book description

Will America's entrepreneurial spirit continue to define its destiny? What can the rest of the world learn from America's experience?

In Launchpad Republic: America's Entrepreneurial Edge and Why it Matters to All of Us, Howard Wolk and John Landry provide an insightful and thought-provoking history of entrepreneurship in the United States, with a focus on the political, legal, and cultural forces that have sustained "creative destruction" and propelled the country forward for more than 200 years. In telling this story, the book highlights the critical features that have set America apart from other countries and identifies the key attributes necessary for it to maintain leadership for years to come.

Entrepreneurship is a rebellious act, and America's democratic system is unique in enabling new companies to challenge established ones. As a result, the country enjoys not just more robust start-up activity, but also a dynamism that forces big companies to improve—or face the consequences. It protects both property rights and the right to compete in ways not enjoyed elsewhere, encouraging investment and innovation. Aside from assessing how American entrepreneurial capitalism unfolded, the authors address current challenges such as the rise of the "Big Tech", concerns about inequality, inclusivity and sustainability, and the evolution toward stakeholder capitalism. They compare the American approach to both Continental Europe's consensus-oriented framework and China's authoritarian model.

Launchpad Republic offers readers:

  • Insights into how America's political, legal and cultural history helped make the country the most dynamic economy in the world since inception
  • A framework for understanding how the country's balanced and limited government, decentralized financial and corporate system, and responsiveness to consumers all served to enable innovation and improved standard of living while avoiding many of the pitfalls of cronyism and protectionism
  • Fascinating comparisons between the United States and other countries, both historical and contemporary, that provide important context to many of today's critical issues

A book that covers important topics in an easy to read style, Launchpad Republic belongs in the library of every policy wonk, capitalist, entrepreneur, founder, business leader, amateur historian, and technologist with an interest in how America's relentless entrepreneurial spirit has influenced—and will influence—its destiny.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Preface
    1. Summary of the Book
    2. Endnotes
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. About the Authors
  8. 1 Bigger, Better, Faster, Cheaper
    1. Birthing Unicorns
    2. Slaying Dragons
    3. Challenging and Limiting Authority
    4. A Political Economy of Competing Interests
    5. Key Features of the American Entrepreneurial Economy
    6. Tolerating Collateral Damage
    7. Endnotes
  9. 2 Gorillas and Guerillas
    1. Understanding Incumbents
    2. Erecting Barriers to Entry
    3. Start‐ups and Market Entry
    4. Upstarts, Incumbents, and Innovation in an Entrepreneurial Economy
    5. Corporate Strategy 2.0: Ecosystems, Platforms, and Networks
    6. Endnotes
  10. 3 European and Colonial Foundations
    1. Old World Meets New Opportunities
    2. The Entrepreneurial Breakthrough
    3. An Economic Theory for Entrepreneurs
    4. Colonial Openness
    5. Development Without Entrenched Incumbents
    6. Franklin and the Self‐Made Man
    7. Resisting Imperial Incumbency
    8. Entrepreneurial Rebels
    9. Endnotes
  11. 4 Upstart Nation
    1. The Compromise Constitution
    2. Origins of American Political Economy
    3. The Entrepreneurial Constitution
    4. The Perils of Central Administration
    5. The Rise of Ordinary Entrepreneurs
    6. Endnotes
  12. 5 Building the Entrepreneurial Republic
    1. The Competing Visions of Hamilton and Jefferson
    2. The Race to Get Ahead
    3. Balancing Property and Competition
    4. Vanderbilt as the Relentless Mogul
    5. Jackson and the Decentralization of Finance
    6. When the Right to Compete Trumped Property Rights
    7. America's Dynamic Economic Elites
    8. The North‐South Divide
    9. Conclusion
    10. Endnotes
  13. 6 The Evolution from Small Business to Big
    1. Upstarts in the New National Market
    2. Local Incumbents Left in the Dust
    3. New Rights for Big Business
    4. Carnegie as an Entrepreneur of Scale
    5. Combining Incumbents
    6. The Progressive Response
    7. America's Tradition of Corporate Autonomy
    8. Endnotes
  14. 7 The Age and Aging of Incumbents
    1. The Push for Bigness
    2. Big Science and Corporate Conglomerates
    3. Resisting the Lure of Central Planning
    4. An Entrepreneur for the Age of Bigness
    5. The Great Dismantling
    6. The Cultural Shift
    7. America's Unique Corporate Dynamism
    8. Endnotes
  15. 8 The Entrepreneurial Revolution
    1. The Revenge of the 1960s
    2. Bringing Down the Barricades
    3. The New Consumer Market
    4. Financial Engineering and Financing Engineers
    5. Reinventing and Disrupting Government
    6. Silicon Valley Inspirations
    7. Steve Jobs as Hippie‐Billionaire
    8. The Irony of Big Tech
    9. Endnotes
  16. 9 The Inflection Point?
    1. Social Concerns
    2. Challenging Big Tech and Revisiting Antitrust
    3. Assessing European Capitalism and Regulation
    4. Understanding China and Authoritarian Capitalism
    5. The Only Thing to Fear
    6. Endnotes
  17. 10 Maintaining the Entrepreneurial Advantage
    1. The Continuing Balance
    2. The Foundations for Continued Success
    3. The Entrepreneurial Future
    4. Endnotes
  18. Index
  19. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Launchpad Republic
  • Author(s): Howard Wolk, John Landry
  • Release date: August 2022
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119900054