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Co-evolution of Information-Processing Technology and Use: Interaction between the Life Insurance and Tabulating Industries

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  • Yates, JoAnne

Abstract

Punched-card tabulating equipment, an important commercial predecessor of the computer, was used for processing large amounts of data in many business firms during the first half of the twentieth century. Life insurance was an information-intensive business dependent on firms' abilities to manage large quantities of data. This article examines both the role that tabulating machinery played in shaping insurance firms' business processes and the simultaneous role that life insurance as a user industry played in shaping the development of tabulating technology between 1890 and 1950. The ongoing interaction between the life insurance and tabulating industries shaped both in significant ways, setting the stage for continued interaction between the two industries during the transition to computers beginning at mid-century.

Suggested Citation

  • Yates, JoAnne, 1993. "Co-evolution of Information-Processing Technology and Use: Interaction between the Life Insurance and Tabulating Industries," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 67(1), pages 1-51, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:buhirw:v:67:y:1993:i:1:p:1-51_2
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    Cited by:

    1. Kaplan, Sarah & Tripsas, Mary, 2008. "Thinking about technology: Applying a cognitive lens to technical change," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 790-805, June.
    2. Michael A. Cusumano & Steven J. Kahl & Fernando F. Suarez, 2015. "Services, industry evolution, and the competitive strategies of product firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 559-575, April.
    3. Robin Pearson, 2002. "Growth, crisis and change in the insurance industry: a retrospect," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 487-504.
    4. Johann Peter Murmann, 2013. "The Coevolution of Industries and Important Features of Their Environments," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 58-78, February.
    5. Mary Tripsas, 2008. "Customer preference discontinuities: a trigger for radical technological change," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2-3), pages 79-97.
    6. Maixe-Altes, J. Carles, 2020. "Reliability and security at the dawn of electronic bank transfers in the 1970s-1980s," MPRA Paper 103783, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Sep 2020.
    7. Reid, Gavin C. & Smith, Julia A., 2009. "A coevolutionary analysis of organisational systems and processes: Quantitative applications to information system dynamics in small entrepreneurial firms," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 762-781.
    8. Orlikowski, Wanda J. (Wanda Janina), 1995. "Action and artifact : the structuring of technologies-in-use," Working papers 3867-95., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    9. Yates, JoAnne, 1951-, 1996. "Early interactions between life insurance and computer industries : the Prudential's Edmund Berkeley and The Society of Actuaries Committee : 1946-1952," Working papers 3915-96., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.

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