Books by Paul Bodine

In this collection of thirty-eight essays, Paul Bodine chronicles the often tumultuous history of key American companies from their inception to their dynamic present. From prominent industry giants like Qualcomm and Bloomberg to lesser-known leaders like Alex Lee Inc. and Standex International, these essays capture major trends, technologies, and personalities that have helped make the American business model the envy of the world. From the rise of DVDs, mobile telephony, and digital data to the evolution of steel minimills, enterprise resource planning software, and the convenience store, this collection provides vivid slices of the spirit, ingenuity, and drama of America's business history. A bonus section includes profiles of six leading European firms.

During the late 1950s and the 1960s, Vern Overbye and John Brauer joined with four other engineers of diverse backgrounds at A.O. Smith s corporate headquarters in Milwaukee to embark on an unprecedented and unanticipated path of innovation. Each had an advanced degree and, more importantly, each had an entrepreneurial spirit. With their forward-looking, optimistic manager at Smith s Data Systems Division, Robert Y. Bodine, they built a path-breaking business in the fledgling technology of finite element analysis that is still impacting the fortunes of the companies that became their customers. Together they helped transform a rarefied aerospace technology into a design tool now used to design in a staggering variety of applications and industries. I will propose that Data Systems should be particularly bullish in adaptive creative technology it simply pays, but, in fact, growth, not to say survival, depends on it. Robert Y. Bodine, January 1978

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