The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation

Davis Dyer, Daniel Gross

Oxford University Press, Jun 21, 2001 - Business & Economics - 552 pages

This engrossing history of an extraordinary company, Corning Incorporated, chronicles how one of the oldest business enterprises in the world maintained its place as a global leader in technology for over 150 years. In the nineteenth century, Corning developed colored signal lights for railroads. In the twentieth century, it created Pyrex and color television tubes; today, it is a Fortune 500 company leading the international marketplace in areas such as fiber optics and photonics. If you use the Internet, drive a car, or simply turn on a light, then Corning is a part of your life. The Generations of Corning tells the fascinating stories of its founding family--the Houghtons, the inventors, and the adventures, behind Corning's remarkable achievements--from unexpected discoveries, like the laboratory mishap that led to Corning Ware, to the years of painstaking, often frustrating, research that led to its breakthrough in fiber optics. From 1851 to 1996, five generations of Houghtons made Corning a company that combined a culture of continuous innovation with a sense of loyalty to its employees and their community. Davis Dyer and Daniel Gross show how the critical changes in organization and leadership that accompanied each new generation helped Corning not just survive, but to prosper, and push itself to the cutting edge of materials technology in decade after decade. The Generations of Corning is a classic success story and a triumph of the inventive spirit.

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The generations of Corning: the life and times of a global corporation

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These two books, along with a third volume (the forthcoming Corning Through the Ages), were commissioned by Corning to mark 150 years in business. While such an endeavor is inevitably self-serving ...

Contents

• Corning and Glass I: 1
• Alanson B Houghton 19191928: 5
• Founding and Foundering 18511875: 19
• Joseph F Hill 18701875: 42
• SECOND GENERATION: 47
• CORNING GLASS WORKS: 51
• Amroy Houghton Jr 18751909: 61
• THIRD GENERATION: 63
• Pyrex the Ribbon Machine and a Wider World 19081928: 93
• Annie: 113
• FOURTH GENERATION: 116
• Surviving and Thriving in the Depression Decade 19281939: 131
• Alanson B Houghton: 132
• Arthur A Houghton Sr 19191920: 171
• Corning Goes to War 19391945: 173
• Falck 19201928: 198
• A Decade of Unbounded Opportunities 19451954: 209
• Sullivan 19281930: 210
• TV Glass Pyroceram: 233
• Encountering Limits and Diversifying 19601966: 259
• International Growth and the Roots of Fiber Optics 19661971: 283
• CORNING INCORPORATED: 413
• Growing in the New Economy 1996: 435
• There was no president during the tenure of the Management Committee Six Pack: 438
• Notes: 455
• Index: 491
• Lizzie: 498

About the author

Davis Dyer is Founding Director of The Winthrop Group. Daniel Gross is a Business Writer and Associate of The Winthrop Group.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation
• Authors: Davis Dyer, Daniel Gross
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2001
• ISBN: 0198032315, 9780198032311
• Length: 552 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Corporate & Business History; Business & Economics / Development / Business Development; History / General