April 15, 1955: Ray Kroc opened the first McDonald’s franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois, having purchased the rights to franchise the restaurant across the country from the founders, Maurice and Richard McDonald. To announce the grand opening, Kroc ran in add in the Des Plaines Journal, advertising “speedee service” and “plenty of free parking,” along with Read More …
April 1, 1976: College dropouts Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computers, Inc. The two wanted to make computers small enough for people to have in their homes and offices. Ever wondered how they came up with the company name? According to an interview that Wozniak did with Byte magazine in December 1984, he credited Jobs with Read More …
March 30, 1971: Well before Howard Schultz walked into the picture, a small coffee shop with a name inspired by Moby Dick opened its doors in Seattle’s Pike Place Market for the first time. What started as a humble coffee shop has boomed since then into a monolithic organization which leads the industry. Today, it Read More …
March 14, 1927: Initially designed to be just an air mail and passenger service operation between Key West, Florida and Havana, Cuba, Pan Am grew to be one of the most influential and innovative airline companies of the twentieth century. Within the same year of its launch as a mail carrier, the company was selected Read More …
February 14, 1913: Hall Bros. of Kansas City, MO (later known as Hallmark) offers its first valentine postcards. Two years later, a fire would destroy all of their inventory, forcing them to buy printing equipment to start mass producing their own valentine cards in 1916. No one knows the exact origins of the holiday, but it’s predecessors Read More …
January 16, 1853: André Michelin, founder of Michelin Tire Company, is born in Paris. Michelin took over his family’s failing farm equipment company, which manufactured rubber parts such as belts and valves, in 1886. A few years later, he was approached by a cyclist who was having trouble with his tires. At that time, bicycle Read More …
January 1, 1958: The European Economic Community, known as the Common Market, becomes official. Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands signed the Treaty of Rome in March 1957, which laid the plan for this trade community, and was later joined by the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Portugal,and Spain. East Germany also Read More …
December 8, 1812: Henry Varnum Poor was born on this day and would lay the groundwork for the business information industry. As the editor of the American Railroad Journal, he became aware of the ways that businesses across states were becoming increasingly interconnected. Managers found a lot of value in information about companies and economics in partnering Read More …
November 20, 1923: Patent #1,475,024 was granted to inventor Garrett Augustus Morgan for his automatic traffic signal. Morgan, who had a deep interest in public safety, was inspired to invent a device to control traffic after a tragic collision between an automobile and horse and carriage in his hometown of Cleveland. He sold the manufacturing rights to General Read More …
November 19, 1909: Peter Drucker, widely considered the inventor of of management, was born on this day in 1909. He described himself as a “social ecologist,” and wrote 39 books and numerous articles on how humans interact and communicate with each other. In 2002, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Source: The Drucker Institute Read More …
