To the contrary, the managerial class of hired administrators who did not themselves own the business was a product of the industrial revolution. MBA programs sprung up because the huge new corporations (steel, oil, etc) needed a steady supply of people to fill this role.

At least that's what I remember from Rakesh Khurana's book, From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession.