The Box

Marc Levinson is an economist and historian specializing in business and finance. He was formerly finance and economics editor of The Economist, worked as an economist at a New York bank, and served as senior fellow for international business at the Council on Foreign Relations. For more information, check out his website at www.marclevinson.net.

出版者:Princeton University Press

作者:Marc Levinson

页数:400

出版时间:2006-03-20

价格:USD 24.95

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9780691123240

图书标签:经济集装箱物流经济学历史美国商业英文原著

In April 1956, a refitted oil tanker carried fifty-eight shipping containers from Newark to Houston. From that modest beginning, container shipping developed into a huge industry that made the boom in global trade possible. The Box tells the dramatic story of the container's creation, the decade of struggle before it was widely adopted, and the sweeping economic consequences of the sharp fall in transportation costs that containerization brought about.</p>

Published on the fiftieth anniversary of the first container voyage, this is the first comprehensive history of the shipping container. It recounts how the drive and imagination of an iconoclastic entrepreneur, Malcom McLean, turned containerization from an impractical idea into a massive industry that slashed the cost of transporting goods around the world.</p>

But the container didn't just happen. Its adoption required huge sums of money, both from private investors and from ports that aspired to be on the leading edge of a new technology. It required years of high-stakes bargaining with two of the titans of organized labor, Harry Bridges and Teddy Gleason, as well as delicate negotiations on standards that made it possible for almost any container to travel on any truck or train or ship. Ultimately, it took McLean's success in supplying U.S. forces in Vietnam to persuade the world of the container's potential.</p>

Drawing on previously neglected sources, economist Marc Levinson shows how the container transformed economic geography, devastating traditional ports such as New York and London and fueling the growth of previously obscure ones, such as Oakland. By making shipping so cheap that industry could locate factories far from its customers, the container paved the way for Asia to become the world's workshop and brought consumers a previously unimaginable variety of low-cost products from around the globe.</p>

读后感

现在通过集装箱来运输货物已是常态，世界各个码头每天集装箱的装卸量是惊人的。但在集装箱出现并成为运输业的主流之前，这是人们难以想象的。集装箱本身是一件的东西，它主要的作用就是降低了货物运输的成本，从而改变了世界经济的形态。 在1956年第一艘装有集装箱的油...  

现在通过集装箱来运输货物已是常态，世界各个码头每天集装箱的装卸量是惊人的。但在集装箱出现并成为运输业的主流之前，这是人们难以想象的。集装箱本身是一件的东西，它主要的作用就是降低了货物运输的成本，从而改变了世界经济的形态。 在1956年第一艘装有集装箱的油...  

《经济学家》杂志说，“没有集装箱,就没有全球化。” 这项貌似普通的发明，到底是如何影响整个产业链，进而推动全球化进程的呢？ 一、芭比娃娃的全球供应链 芭比被认为是地地道道的美国女孩儿，但实际上，她从来就不是。 在她诞生的1959年，美泰公司就把她的生产安排在了日本的...  

马克麦克莱恩首先创建的是自己家族掌管的卡车运输公司。在经营卡车公司时，麦克莱恩便通过多种方式试图绕开政府机构对价格的管控，并提供具有竞争力的运输价格。 卡车运输的发展使得高速公路的交通拥堵情况日益严重，从而降低了卡车运输的效率。为了突破陆基运输的基础设施瓶...  

用户评价

201404，Its a history book. Yes, HISTORY!!!

bill gates推荐的七本书之一

A great book introducing the container history; more importantly, providing an overview of globlization although I wish it contains future perspective.

今天的人们已经很难想象这个丑陋的铝制二十英尺标准的大盒子是如何深刻而不可逆转地改变了我们日常生活的每一个角落。标准化大规模的工业生产并没有在新时代失去他的魅力，反而以一种更加无可阻挡的趋势席卷全球。书中提到纽约港的衰落和新泽西伊丽莎白港的崛起时真是慨叹万分，站在风口的人，永远永远不要逆风走下去 #美国的工会真心就是毒瘤癌细胞

在课题研究时期读的书，高昂的运输成本成为了贸易的壁垒，现今随着航运和通讯成本的巨幅降低，低库存的及时生产成为登上了舞台。停留在各大港口的集装箱只有不到1/3装载着完成的生产完毕的产品，其余的大多数都是全球供应链中的环节与中间产品。过长的产业链和生产要素在世界范围的分布，使各部分的生产者和终端消费都对商品的生产一无所知。