Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Automobile Insurance Samuel P. Black, Jr. and the Rise of Erie Insurance, 1923-1961

You must be logged in to access this title.

Sign up now

Already a member? Log in

Synopsis

Entrepreneurs play a central role in economic growth and development, but how they do so is the subject of considerable debate. This book explains that process through an historical case study of an automobile insurance entrepreneur, Samuel P. Black, Jr., and Erie Insurance, the company he helped build. It also recounts the largely untold history of American automobile insurance. One of this study's central themes is the role of innovation in the entrepreneurial process. The rise of Erie Insurance from a four-person enterprise in Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1925 to the fourteenth largest property-casualty insurer today was the result, in part, of Black's relentless push to innovate. His continual efforts to cut costs, develop new products, satisfy customers, increase sales, and improve operations, all contributed greatly to the company's growth. A second theme is the automobile's dramatic impact on modern America. Its takeover of mass transportation provided the basis for the development of the automobile insurance industry and created many of the opportunities that Black and Erie Insurance capitalized on. These themes combine in the history of Black and Erie Insurance to illuminate the dynamic process by which the cultural, social, economic, and technological environment creates opportunities that entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial firms exploit, and how entrepreneurial actions stimulate economic growth.

Book details

Series:
Garland Studies in Entrepreneurship
Author:
Samuel P. Black, John Paul Rossi
ISBN:
9781135658984
Related ISBNs:
9781315052403, 9780815329152, 9781138863842
Publisher:
Taylor and Francis
Pages:
304
Reading age:
Not specified
Includes images:
No
Date of addition:
2023-09-17
Usage restrictions:
Copyright
Copyright date:
2002
Copyright by:
N/A 
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Categories:
Business and Finance, Nonfiction