Abstract
ONE of the best signs for the future of British industries is the interest now being taken in problems of industrial reorganisation. In this connexion, ‘rationalisation’ has frequently been proposed as a remedy for industrial ills, but the meaning of the term is vague and may serve indeed rather to obscure than to clarify discussion of these problems. Dr. Bowie has performed, therefore, a real service in providing a critical examination of its implications and methods in this pamphlet. Defining rationalisation as the conscious control and readjustment of industry, he points out that it has two sides: one external, concerned with the grouping of a large number of previously independent, competing enterprises, and the other internal, concerned with the efficient organisation within each unit of the functions of production, finance, personnel, and distribution. In examining the various implications of his subject, Dr. Bowie discusses such questions as vertical versus horizontal combinations, the mechanics of rationalisation, the planning of production, the problem of labour, the problem of control, and labour co-operation.
Rationalization.
Dr.
James A.
Bowie
By. Pp. 36. (London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd., 1931.) 1s. net.
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Rationalization . Nature 128, 92 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/128092b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/128092b0