New Jersey - Publications - Faculty & Research

Ralph E. Ward

Ward was instrumental in transforming Chesebrough-Pond’s from a small cosmetics company into a major consumer products conglomerate. A formidable risk-taker, Ward was a master of acquiring mature, stagnant companies and putting them on an accelerated growth path. His... View Details

Keywords: Personal Care & Home Products

P. Roy Vagelos

Vagelos had an uncanny ability to turn scientific research into commercial blockbuster success. He is credited with rejuvenating Merck’s research efforts, culminating in the development of breakthrough applications for hypertension, heart disease, and cholesterol... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare

Juan T. Trippe

Known for his sharp negotiating skills, Trippe built PanAm into the world’s only truly global air carrier. Trippe’s success at PanAm was due in large part to his cooperation with different branches of national governments, winning large mail contracts in 1927 between... View Details

Keywords: Transportation

Charles E. Hires

Hires invented one of the world’s most popular soft drinks – root beer. He incorporated his company with a capitalization of $300,000, which steadily expanded into millions. He was also a pioneer in the production of condensed milk, organizing six companies, which... View Details

Keywords: Food & Tobacco

Samuel P. Colt

Colt organized United States Rubber into a vertically integrated business with a centralized administration. Colt also diversified United States Rubber to include non-footwear items, such as tires, which were a booming market at the time of his tenure. Colt grew United... View Details

Keywords: Chemicals & Industrial

Richard T. Crane

concentrate on manufacturing pipe fixtures and plumbing supplies. His choice was fortuitous; new housing construction boomed at the turn of the century, and Crane was able to capitalize on its phenomenal growth. View Details

Keywords: Fabricated Goods

Bernard Marcus

Marcus and Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank met while they were both working at a California-based home improvement chain. After a decade of disagreements about that chain's future, Marcus and Blank went out on their own, determined to start a View Details

Keywords: Retail

Henry B. Spencer

After serving as vice president of the Southern Railway System until 1917, Spencer formed the Fruit Growers Express to transport perishable goods and provide ventilated and refrigerated car services. With Fruit Growers owning its own cars and repair shops, the company... View Details

Keywords: Agriculture & Mining

John C. Bogle

Bogle is considered the pioneer of the Index Fund. Created in 1974, Bogle’s Vanguard Index 500 fund has become one of the best performers in the mutual fund marketplace. Though he was initially ridiculed for promoting indexing, Bogle’s fund performance has silenced... View Details

Keywords: Finance

Charles S. Mott

Under Mott’s management, the family owned company grew into a key supplier of automobile parts for General Motors. Realizing the great future of the automobile industry, Mott changed the firm’s activity from bicycle wheel production and sold the Mott Cider and Vinegar... View Details

Keywords: Automotive & Aerospace

Reuben Mark

When Mark took over in 1984, the consumer goods giant was in the midst of trying to reinvent itself. The company had grown tremendously in the 70s through a series of less than stellar acquisitions and one of Mark’s first tasks was to sell off those subsidiaries that... View Details

Keywords: Personal Care & Home Products

Walter V. Shipley

Having grown up in and around the banking business, Shipley was experienced in both effective and ineffective management styles, especially when it came to handling mergers. Consequently, when Shipley assumed leadership of Chemical, he made a point of emphasizing trust... View Details

Keywords: Finance

Robert W. Johnson, Jr.

Johnson established J&J management policies, including the “credo,” which still exists today. He decentralized the company during the 1930s by dividing it into a number of small divisions, each responsible for a few products. As part of this plan, he also bought a... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare

Leon Hess

Starting with his father’s little, struggling fuel firm, Hess created a $10 billion oil refinery company, the worlds 13th largest, Amerada Hess. During the Arab oil embargo in 1973, with 68 million barrels of mainland storage capacity, Hess was among the few operators... View Details

Keywords: Utilities & Energy

Henry F. Henderson, Jr.

After working at Richardson Scale Company for a number of years, Henderson’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to start Henderson Industries (HI) in 1952. Winning a contract from Richardson, HI began growing rapidly. Manufacturing sophisticated instrumentation and control... View Details

Keywords: Fabricated Goods

John A. Hartford

Under John Hartford’s management, A&P became a large integrated business empire. In 1937, he switched A&P to a supermarket operation from its base as a delivery store, which enabled him to offer even lower prices. By the mid-1960s, A&P remained the world’s... View Details

Keywords: Retail

Eugene G. Grace

Grace grew Bethlehem Steel rapidly during World War I, increasing production from 1.1 million net tons of steel in 1915 to over 3.3 million tons in 1919. Growing the company through various acquisitions, Grace’s Bethlehem Steel operated nine major steel plants by 1929.... View Details

Keywords: Metals

Henry Taub

Taub took a back-office, manual operation and turned it into a successful business proposition. In starting ADP, he concentrated on providing payroll services for small businesses and for financial service firms on Wall Street. The quality, accuracy, and speed with... View Details

Keywords: Services

John K. Northrop

After frustrating attempts at aircraft engineering with many other firms, John Northrop founded Northrop Aircraft and helped it grow into a very lucrative defense contractor, providing everything from bombers, fighter jets, and reconnaissance planes to the United... View Details