John Bowers Matthews dissertation draft

This collection includes an initial and final manuscript draft of John B. Matthews, Jr.’s dissertation “Capital Expenditure Policies and Procedures,” which was submitted in 1957 as partial fulfillment of the requirements of Harvard Business School’s Doctor of Commercial Science degree. The thesis investigates the policies and processes by which capital expenditures are evaluated, authorized, and controlled by top management; the processes by which top managements plan and implement decisions concerning new plant and equipment; and suggests how policy and decision-making aspects of capital investment activity can be improved.

The initial draft is annotated with edits and corrections. The final draft, which is a significant expansion in size from the initial draft, is annotated, potentially by another hand, with underlined passages throughout and marginal disclosures of firms that are referred to, but not explicitly named, in the text.