The Business of Electronics A Concise History

Electronics is an ever-changing field with an entrepreneurial spirit and a rich history, populated by some of the world's most famous companies and personalities. The Business of Electronics details the field's complex ecosystem in all its trials and tribulations. It looks at companies such as Apple, IBM, Samsung, and Nokia, as well as now-extinct companies such as Honeywell Bull (France) and Sinclair Computers (UK) that contributed to technology and business. Sethi shows us how a handful of US companies led the charge in designing equipment that could make millions of small, reliable components; how Nokia started in the timber business; the history of inventors like J.C. Bose, a pioneer in radio communication (who inadvertently made Guglielmo Marconi famous); and why there are numerous companies and creators that never made it or that we have never heard of. This all-encompassing book not only explores the vibrant history of electronics, it uses case studies to examine the companies and people that made history and explain how we ended up where we are today.

Dr. Anand Kumar Sethi is managing director of Applied Technology Services Pvt. Ltd., a leading Indian business consultancy, and an alumnus of the famous Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay, with qualifications in Solid State Electronics. With forty five years of hands-on experience in the global electronics industry, he is a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineers and a Life Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (USA).

Dr. Sethi advises international development financial institutions, including the multilateral Nordic Investment Bank and the bilateral Finnish Fund for Industrial Co-operation Ltd. In December 2011, the President of Finland was pleased to confer on him the honour of 'Knight First Class of the Order of the White Rose of Finland'.

Preface
1. Introduction
2. The Early Years
3. The People: Inventors, Scientists, Engineers, and 'Odd Balls'
4. The Components: From the Diode to a System on a Chip
5. The Equipment: Consumer Electronics, Computers & Computing, Industrial Electronics, Instrumentation, Defense and Aerospace Electronics
6. The Materials and Supplies
7. The Companies
8. The Research Establishments
9. The Growth Clusters: From New Jersey to Silicon Valley, Silicon Glen (Scotland), Bangalore (India), Shanghai, to Skolkovo (Russia)
10. Electronics around the Globe: Japan, South Korea, Israel, Soviet Union, East Europe, China, India, The Asian 'Tigers', Brazil et al
Index