CHRONICLES OF CORPORATE CHANGE: Management Lessons from AT&T and Its Offspring

An ambitious, microscopically detailed study of AT&T's dramatic transformation from a regulated monopoly to an unregulated competitor in the telecommunications industry. This book revolves around nine cases prepared for the Harvard Business School MBA program. Targeted at managerial students, the cases dissect and analyze the upheaval and transition of the largest US corporation. Consequently, the authors assume that their readers understand the basics of corporate finance, marketing, and management principles. Schlesinger et al. present an extensive look at the immense pressures AT&T had to confront in a 15-year period. These pressures included the regulatory, as government agencies allowed more competition; the technological, as the telecommunications industry mushroomed; and the competitive, as AT&T had to seriously market its products for the first time. The solid management culture, whose mandate had always been to ""provide universal, high quality, low cost telephone service,"" was shaken to its roots as it continually revised strategic plans, operating structures, and the new required skills. For those intensely interested or involved in making corporate organizational decisions, solid textbook material. But hands off for anyone with only a mild curiosity about the happenings at AT&T.