Business History articles from July 2000

Business History archives from July 2000

Business Institutions and Behaviour in Australia: A New Perspective.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... Business history has been an underdeveloped area in Australian economic historiography. It was virtually non-existent before the end of the nineteenth century, except as a broken thread in autobiography. The public celebrations of the centenary...

The Development of Large Scale Enterprise in Australia, 1910-64.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... Research about the rise of large-scale enterprise has concentrated on the world's leading industrial economies particularly the United States, Britain, Germany, France and Japan. [1] By way of contrast, this essay studies the evolution of large...

Collusion and Price Wars in the Australian Coal Industry during the Late Nineteenth Century.
July 1, 2000... '... all are I believe thoroughly sick of low prices... and I sincerely hope that this if nothing else induces all to meet and discuss the question [of collusion] in a spirit of conciliation and compromise.' So wrote the Superintendent of...

Opportunism and Long-Term Contracting: Transactions in Broken Hill Zinc Concentrates in the 1930s.
July 1, 2000... Since the 1970s transaction cost economics has generated significant advances in the understanding of the institutional structures of capitalist economies. In recent years a considerable conceptual literature has been complemented by a body of...

Technology Acquisition, Firm Capability and Sustainable Competitive Advantage: A Case Study of Australian Glass Manufacturers Ltd, 1915-39.
July 1, 2000... Australia industrialised in the early twentieth century well after the onset of the second industrial revolution. Pioneering local firms entering the capital-intensive and science-based industries in a small and geographically fragmented...

The Transformation of Boral: From Dependent, Specialist Bitumen Refiner to Major Building Products Manufacturer.
July 1, 2000... Boral was formed in 1946 and soon after began bitumen production. Caltex, the overseas marketing arm of two US oil companies, played an important role in setting up this new venture and seemingly had the power to restrict it to the bitumen...

Work in the Financial Services Industry and Worker Monitoring: A Study of the Union Bank of Australia in the 1920s.
July 1, 2000... Chandler's seminal work [1] has highlighted the role of salaried managers choosing strategies and building appropriate administrative structures that enable industrial firms to reap economies of scale and scope, and coordinating production and...

Liquid Pleasures: A Social History of Drinks in Modern Britain.(Review)
July 1, 2000... JOHN BURNETT, Liquid Pleasures: A Social History of Drinks in Modern Britain (London: Routledge, 1999. Pp.viii + 254. H/back ISBN 0 415 13181 2, [pound]30; p/back ISBN 0 415 13182 0, [pound]14.99). In this highly readable and wide-ranging...

Betting on Lives: The Culture of Life Insurance in England.(Review)
July 1, 2000... GEOFFREY CLARK, Betting on Lives: The Culture of Life Insurance in England, 1695-1775 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999. Pp.xiv + 241; illus.; mans. ISBN 0 7190 5675 6, [pound]45). This splendid book pioneers a little known...

Industrial Nation: Work, Culture and Society in Scotland.(Review)
July 1, 2000... W.W. KNOX, Industrial Nation: Work, Culture and Society in Scotland, 1800-Present (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999. Pp.xvx + 368; illus. H/back ISBN 0 7486 1084 7, [pound]47.50; p/back ISBN 0 7486 1085 5, [pound]16.95). This is...

Gender, Civic Culture and Consumerism: Middle-Class identity in Britain.(Review)
July 1, 2000... ALAN KIDD and DAVID NICHOLLS (eds.), Gender, Civic Culture and Consumerism: Middle-Class identity in Britain, 1800-1940 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999. Pp.xi + 223. H/back ISBN 0 7190 5267 X, [pound]46; p/back ISBN 0 7190 5676...

A History of Linen in the North West.(Review)
July 1, 2000... ELIZABETH ROBERTS (ed.), A History of Linen in the North West (Lancaster: Lancaster University, Centre for North-West Regional Studies, 1999). Pp.ix + 118; illus.; maps. P/back ISBN 1-86220-064-5, [pound]6.95). One of the many virtues of...

Frankenstein's Children: Electricity, Exhibition and Experiment in Early-Nineteenth Century London.(Review)
July 1, 2000... IWAN RHYS MORUS, Frankenstein's Children: Electricity, Exhibition and Experiment in Early-Nineteenth Century London (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998. Pp.xiv + 324; illus. H/back ISBN 0 691 05952 7, [pound]32.50). During the...

Secure from Rash Assault: Sustaining the Victorian Environment.(Review)
July 1, 2000... JAMES WINTER, Secure from Rash Assault: Sustaining the Victorian Environment (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999. Pp.xi + 342. ISBN 0 520 21609 1,[pounds]24.95). Winter is an exponent of the kind of environmental...

The Hidden Consumer: Masculinities, Fashion and City Life.(Review)
July 1, 2000... CHRISTOPHER BREWARD, The Hidden Consumer: Masculinities, Fashion and City Life, 1860-1914 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999. Pp.ix + 278; illus. H/back ISBN 0 7190 4798 6, [pound]45; p/back ISBN 0 7190 4799 4, [pound]15.99). ...

Railways and the Victorian Imagination (New Haven, CT, and London.(Review)
July 1, 2000... MICHAEL FREEMAN, Railways and the Victorian Imagination (New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 1999. Pp.vii + 264; illus; maps. H/back ISBN 0 300 07970 2, [pound]25). There is a wealth of literature on the railways. But the...

The British Market Hall: A Social and Architectural History.(Review)
July 1, 2000... JAMES SCHMIECHEN and KENNETH CARLS, The British Market Hall: A Social and Architectural History (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999. Pp.xii + 312; illus.; maps. ISBN 0 300 06064 5, [pound]35). Given the striking lack of academic...

The City of London: Volume III-Illusions of Gold.(Review)
July 1, 2000... DAVID KYNASTON, The City of London: Volume III-Illusions of Gold, 1914-1945 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1999. Pp.581. H/back ISBN 0 7011 6150 7, [pound]30). With this volume, David Kynaston's history of the City of London takes the reader up...

Fair Shares: The Future of Shareholder Power and Responsibility.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... JONATHAN CHARKHAM and ANNE SIMPSON, Fair Shares: The Future of Shareholder Power and Responsibility (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp.viii + 275. ISBN 0 19 829214 7, [pound]40). The authors are active advisers and consultants on...

Merchants, Companies and Trade: Europe and Asia in the Early Modern Era.(Review)
July 1, 2000... SUSHIL CHAUDHURY and MICHEL MORINEAU (eds.), Merchants, Companies and Trade: Europe and Asia in the Early Modern Era (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp.xi + 330. ISBN 0 521 56367 4; 2 7351 0786 8 (France only), [pound]45...

Cathedrals of Consumption: The European Department Store.(Review)
July 1, 2000... GEOFFREY CROSSICK and SERGE JAUMAIN (ed.), Cathedrals of Consumption: The European Department Store, 1850-1939 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999. Pp.xvi + 326; illus. H/back ISBN 1 840142367, [pound]55). In Europe, as in North America, the 'Golden...

The Role of Banks in Monitoring Firms: The Case of the Credit Mobilier.(Review)
July 1, 2000... ELISABETH PAULET, The Role of Banks in Monitoring Firms: The Case of the Credit Mobilier (London and New York: Routledge, 1999. Pp.178. ISBN 0 415 19539, [pound]55). The purpose of this book, based on a doctorate thesis, is original and...

Vom Flugeltelegraphen zum Internet. Geschichte der modernen Telekommunikation.(Review)
July 1, 2000... HANS-JURGEN TEUTEBERG and CORNELIUS NEUTSCH (eds.), Vom Flugeltelegraphen zum Internet. Geschichte der modernen Telekommunikation (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1998. Pp. 480. ISBN 3 515 07414 7, DM 180). The publication of this book...

Energian hinta 1800-1998. Kauppa- ja teollisuusministerion tutkimuksia ja raportteja 12.(Review)
July 1, 2000... TIMO MYLLYNTAUS (ed.), Energian hinta 1800-1998. Kauppa- ja teollisuusministerion tutkimuksia ja raportteja 12 (Helsinki: Oy Edita Ab, 1999. Pp.225. ISBN 951 739 486 1, 185 FIM). In this study entitled Energian hinta 1800-1998 (Historical...

The Papers of Thomas A. Edison. The Wizard of Menlo Park. 1878. Vol. 4.(Review)
July 1, 2000... PAUL B. ISRAEL, KEITH A. NIER and LOUIS CARLAT (eds.), The Papers of Thomas A. Edison. The Wizard of Menlo Park. 1878. Vol. 4. (Baltimore, MD and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. Pp.xlvii + 919; illus. H/back ISBN 08018 58194,...

Steam Laundries: Gender Technology, and Work in the United States and Great Britain.(Review)
July 1, 2000... ARWEN P. MOHUN, Steam Laundries: Gender Technology, and Work in the United States and Great Britain, 1880-1940 (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1999. Pp.x + 348; illus. H/back ISBN 0 8018 6002 4, [pound]39.50). This volume is an...

The Pullman Strike and the Crisis of the 1890s: Essays on Labor and Politics.(Review)
July 1, 2000... RICHARD SCHNEIROV, SHELTON STROMQUIST and NICK SALVATORE (eds.), The Pullman Strike and the Crisis of the 1890s: Essays on Labor and Politics (Urbana and Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1999. Pp.258, illus. H/back ISBN 0 252 02447 8,...

Howard Aiken: Portrait of a Computer Pioneer.(Review)
July 1, 2000... I. BERNARD COHEN, Howard Aiken: Portrait of a Computer Pioneer (Cambridge, MA and London: MIT Press, 1999. Pp.xviii + 329; photos. H/back. ISBN 0 262 03262 7, [pounds]24.50). There are few full-scale studies of computer technologists,...

Buena Vista: Life and Work on a Puerto Rican Hacienda.(Review)
July 1, 2000... GUILLERMO A. BARALT, Buena Vista: Life and Work on a Puerto Rican Hacienda, 1833-1904, trans. Andrew Hurley (Chapel Hill, NC and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1999). Pp.xvii + 187; illus.; maps; tables. P/back ISBN 0 8078 4801 8,...

Chinese Business in Malaysia: Accumulations Accommodation and Ascendance.(Review)
July 1, 2000... EDMUND TERENCE GOMEZ, Chinese Business in Malaysia: Accumulations Accommodation and Ascendance (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 1999. Pp.xxi + 234. H/back ISBN 0 7007 1093 0, [pound]30). Dr Gomez adds to his already lengthy list of...

Osaka, the Merchants' Capital of Early Modern Japan.(Review)
July 1, 2000... JAMES L. McCLAIN and OSAMU WAKITA, Osaka, the Merchants' Capital of Early Modern Japan (Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press, 1999. Pp.xviii + 295; illus.; glossary; maps. ISBN 0 8014 3630 3, $49.95). The dominance of Tokyo in...

Chinese Business History: Interpretive Trends and Priorities for the Future.(Review)
July 1, 2000... ROBERT GARDELLA, JANE K. LEONARD and ANDREA McELDERRY (eds.), Chinese Business History: Interpretive Trends and Priorities for the Future (Armonk: M.E.Sharpe, 1998. Special Issue of Chinese Studies in History. Pp.190. ISBN 0 7656 0346 2,...

Small Firms, Large Concerns: The Development of Small Business in Comparative Perspective.(Review)
July 1, 2000... K. ODAKA and M. SAWAI (eds.), Small Firms, Large Concerns: The Development of Small Business in Comparative Perspective (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp.xii + 314. ISBN 0 19 829379 8, [pound]40). This is a collection of essays...

The Financing of Catastrophe Risk (Chicago, IL and London.(Review)
July 1, 2000... KENNETH A. FROOT (ed.), The Financing of Catastrophe Risk (Chicago, IL and London: University of Chicago Press, 1999. Pp.x + 477; maps. ISBN 0 226 26623 0, [pound]54.50). The huge earthquake in Turkey in August 1999 -- an initial estimate...

Trade Warriors: States, Firms, and Strategic-Trade Policy in High-Technology Competition.(Review)
July 1, 2000... MARC L. BUSCH, Trade Warriors: States, Firms, and Strategic-Trade Policy in High-Technology Competition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999; Pp.x + 213.H/back ISBN 0 521 63340 0, [pound]32.50). The research of trade policy has been...

Evolution and Institutions: On Evolutionary Economics and the Evolution of Economics.(Review)
July 1, 2000... GEOFFREY M. HODGSON, Evolution and Institutions: On Evolutionary Economics and the Evolution of Economics (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 1999, Pp.x + 345. H/back ISBN 1 85898 813 6, [pounds].59.95). The limitations of neoclassical economics in...