LES MATHS AU ANGLE ACKERMANN

Tarik Salih

Dr. Dennis

English Literature 10th Pre-IB

April 4th, 2019

Rockefeller, an Industrial Mogul

One of the most famous and notoriously known businessmen to be recognized in history, John D. Rockefeller played a vital role in the shaping and evolution of the economy. Here we will discuss how Rockefeller was an economic prodigy and how his actions at the same time benefited the oil industry helping it grow and how his actions were also detrimental to the worker society.

John D. Rockefeller was born on July 8th, 1839 in New York. His father, William Rockefeller, was an entrepreneur himself. He told people that he could cure someone of cancer for the price of 25$ per treatment. His mother was a strict and religious woman. Growing up Rockefeller started his business career early by selling sweets as a child and doing small jobs for his neighbors. Beginning from a young age, John D. Rockefeller would grow up to become known as one of the richest men alive.

To build his infamous monopoly, Rockefeller used a tactic called Horizontal Integration. Horizontal integration is a competitive strategy that can create economies of scale, increase market power over distributors and suppliers, increase product differentiation and help businesses expand their market or enter new markets. By merging two businesses, they may be able to produce more revenue than they would have been able to do independently. However, when horizontal mergers succeed, it is often at the expense of consumers, especially if they reduce competition. If horizontal mergers within the same industry concentrate market share among a small number of companies, it creates an oligopoly. If one company ends up with a dominant market share, it has a monopoly. This extreme case of economic superiority is why eventually the Clayton Anti-trust act comes into play in order to defuse dominant companies such as Rockefeller. His method of controlling one aspect of the production process was soon imitated by other industrialists also anxious to eliminate their competitors and to bring similar stability (and profitability) to their industries.

Thanks to Rockefeller and other individuals, they brought upon the nickname for this time known as "the gilded age" whereas gilded meaning "golden." John, trained as a bookkeeper, built a monopoly over the oil business in less than a decade and brought order to a chaotic vital industry. When he entered the oil business, it was an industry subject to violent jags in production and prices. Each discovery of a new oilfield led to rapid overproduction by wealth-seeking adventurers, thus propelling the US into a prosperous and booming economy.

Overall, Rockefeller proved to be quite an innovative and aspiring entrepreneur. He brought new techniques to the market, regardless of how frowned upon they were and even boosted the national economy. Rockefeller had one of the most significant impacts in the history of the US economy regarding his mentality on how to approach economics and the business and how he should react by attempting to dominate it and eliminate all competition.

Sources:

-    Kenton, Will. “Horizontal Integration.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 24 Mar. 2019, www.investopedia.com/terms/h/horizontalintegration.asp.

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