The corporation was a timely emergent phenomenon of the capitalist system. Under entrepreneurial ownership with customer value creation goals, corporations introduced new products and services, new capital structures and new management processes capable of improving customer experiences in every facet of their lives. After entrepreneurship, the organizational model transitioned to managerial capitalism, and from there into command-and-control and central planning. Then came further transition into the era of financialization, where shareholder value replaced customer value as the purpose of the corporation. Managers diverted resources to their own enrichment as well as that of shareholders, at the expense of investment in future innovation. Capitalism's reputation has become tarnished and its purpose distorted. This Element ends with the promise of another emergent era, via the corporations of the digital age.

'In an era where there is so much conceptual and linguistic imprecision in debates over political economy and, specifically, over capitalism, Hastings's and Denning's book sheds vital light onto the true nature of a capitalist market economy. Honest seekers of knowledge from all persuasions will find in this historical overview a much better and clearer understanding of what capitalism's strengths and weaknesses are, and what criticisms or acclaims ascribed to the capitalist system are more correctly bound to the nature and activities of the corporations that operate within. They will discover that the primary purported problems of capitalism have not always existed in capitalist societies, that such problems are in fact quite modern. Perhaps we can narrow the ideological gap and begin to make some real progress together with this significant step in understanding.' Mark Packard, Director, Madden Center For Value Creation, Florida Atlantic University