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In Our Time

A timeline listing some of the most significant events in business from 1979 to 1999.

Inc. At 20 Years! Look back at the people and trends that shaped our world, 1979-1999

1979

• David Birch study shows small companies create four times as many jobs as large companies do

• Babson and USC are among the first colleges to offer undergraduate degrees in entrepreneurship

• Home Depot popularizes the warehouse do-it-yourself concept in three stores in Atlanta

• Federal government bails out Chrysler

• Self-employment is 25% higher than in 1972

• American Stock Exchange grows by 63% in one year

1980

• Apple Computer goes public

• First White House conference on small business is held

• Changes in ERISA regulations allow pension funds to make venture-capital investments

• Nike goes public

• Ted Turner launches CNN

• Japan surpasses the United States as the world's largest automaker

1981

• Companies offer 401(k) plans in place of traditional pensions

• IBM introduces its first PC

• President Reagan cuts the capital-gains tax from 28% to 20%

• Tracy Kidder publishes The Soul of a New Machine

1982

• Ralph Stayer puts decision making in the hands of his Johnsonville Foods' employees

• John Naisbitt publishes Megatrends: Ten New Directions Transforming Our Lives

• Harvard establishes the first chair of entrepreneurship studies

• Tom Peters and Bob Waterman publish In Search of Excellence

• First 30-minute infomercial airs

• Ronald Reagan issues the first annual president's report on small business

• Compaq Computer is founded

• S&Ls are deregulated

1983

• Leveraged buyouts increase

• Jack Stack adopts open-book management at Springfield Remanufacturing

• In Milan, Howard Schultz is struck by the Italians' love of coffee bars. Could they work in Seattle?

• Lotus 1-2-3 debuts

• Thermo Electron begins the spin-off trend

• Harley-Davidson introduces Harley Owners' Groups and takes customer relationships to new heights

• Manufacturers in droves adopt just-in-time strategies

1984

• Boston Beer Co. touches off the national microbrewery craze

• Michael Dell begins selling computers out of his dorm room

• Nearly 80 banks fail

• Intuit releases Quicken

• AT&T bids farewell to its Bell operating companies

• Apple launches the Macintosh

• Iacocca: An Autobiography is published, beginning the trend of CEO-as-celebrity books

• Sixty percent of CEOs report working 60 hours a week

• George Gilder publishes The Spirit of Enterprise

1985

• Low-cost People Express becomes the fifth-largest U.S. airline

• After a power struggle, Apple's board replaces Steve Jobs with John Sculley

• The Body Shop adopts its first in-store social cause: "Save the Whale"

• The United States becomes a debtor nation

• Peter Drucker publishes Innovation and Entrepreneurship

• Gateway 2000 is founded

• America Online is launched

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