Conjecture

Management science was invented because trains crashed. Part I's account: coordinating tens of thousands of workers, with the Pennsylvania Railroad alone employing over 110,000 by 1891, more than the Marines, Army and Navy combined, required organisation on a new scale, and sophisticated coordination of functions was essential to keep the railroads running on time and prevent catastrophic accidents. An 1841 collision that killed two and injured seventeen made the case. The pioneers of management all worked for railroads because that is where the penalty for poor coordination was immediate and visible.

Capital mechanisms