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Standard Oil as a Technological Innovator

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  • Scherer, F. M.

    (Harvard Kennedy School)

Abstract

A century ago, in 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its path-breaking decision in the monopolization case against the Standard Oil Companies. Standard pleaded inter alia that its near-monopoly position was the result of superior innovation, citing in particular the Frasch-Burton process for refining the high-sulphur oil found around Lima, Ohio. This paper examines the role of Hermann Frasch in inventing and developing the desulphurization process, showing that Standard failed to recognize his inventive genius when he was its employee and purchased his rights and services only after he had applied the technique in his own Canadian company.

Suggested Citation

  • Scherer, F. M., 2011. "Standard Oil as a Technological Innovator," Working Paper Series rwp11-008, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp11-008
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    File URL: https://research.hks.harvard.edu/publications/workingpapers/citation.aspx?PubId=7619&type=WPN
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    Cited by:

    1. Bolanos, Jose A., 2019. "Energy, uncertainty, and entrepreneurship: John D Rockefeller’s sequential approach to transaction costs management in the early oil industry," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 100852, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Alvarez-Ramirez, Jose & Rodriguez, Eduardo & Martina, Esteban & Ibarra-Valdez, Carlos, 2012. "Cyclical behavior of crude oil markets and economic recessions in the period 1986–2010," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 47-58.

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