Introducing planning in an entrepreneurial firm: A case study

Ten years ago John Kenneth Galbraith popularized the notion of the dual nature of the U.S. economy. A small portion of one percent of all business units in the United States own more than half the assets and receive more than half the earnings on more than half the sales of the entire economy. The balance of asset ownership, profits, and sales is divided up among some twelve million smaller firms. According to Galbraith's theory, this divides U.S. business into the “planning system”—giant corporations that control prices and production, and the “market system”—the great mass of companies whose prices and production are controlled by the give and take described by classical economists since the days of Adam Smith.