Charles Schwab: How One Company Beat Wall Street and Reinvented the Brokerage Industry

Although the Charles Schwab Company is a Wall Street mainstay today, it was only thirty years ago that established brokerage houses saw Schwab as a revolutionary outsider trying to take away business with discount rates. They were right, of course; but what was less clear then is that Schwab and other firms to follow would usher in an era where the small investor became a major player in the stock market. That alone makes the subject interesting. But this unauthorized history of Schwab also underscores the role of Schwab's (both the man and the company) unflinching focus on serving the needs of the customer to successfully grow the company.