Contemplating the public outrage against BP in the wake of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, online magazine
The Daily Beast recently asked a group of commentators, including several business historians, to nominate and rank reviled companies of the past. Those asked to suggest candidates included
Marcelo Bucheli (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign),
Geoffrey Jones and Thomas McCraw (Harvard Business School), and
Joe Martin (University of Toronto). The top 13 results (with some commentary) can be found
here; a hint about which company ranked no. 1:
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"Next!" Political cartoon from Puck, Sept. 7, 1904 (Library of Congress) |