One of the surprising themes was that manufacturing concerns in the 1800s did very little accounting and thus had very little insight into their businesses, even whether they were profitable
Accounting also shows up in Rockefeller’s story as a key enabler; it very much seems like the ‘data science’ of the late 1800s.
Yes, I remember that too—can’t remember where I read about it, maybe Yergin’s The Prize. The analogy that occurred to me was web/app analytics, especially the social media apps that learned to measure their “viral coefficient” around the late ’00s
Accounting also shows up in Rockefeller’s story as a key enabler; it very much seems like the ‘data science’ of the late 1800s.
Yes, I remember that too—can’t remember where I read about it, maybe Yergin’s The Prize. The analogy that occurred to me was web/app analytics, especially the social media apps that learned to measure their “viral coefficient” around the late ’00s