Abstract:
In 1989, Bethlehem Steel was voted one of the best managed companies in America. Twelve years later they went bankrupt and in 2002, in an event as ironic as it is symbolic, the Smithsonian Institute purchased the Bethlehem steel plant for the purpose of converting it into the National Museum of Industrial History. The story serves as a poignant reminder that the relentless forces of technology and competition threaten even the most formidable of businesses.