Showing papers in "Business History Review in 1985"
TL;DR: The article shows that the strategic use of public policy by business—a relatively recent development in theories of business-government relations—is by no means a new development in practice.
Abstract: The 1906 Food and Drug Act is widely believed to be an early example of federal legislation designed entirely to protect consumers. Professor Wood shows that in fact many Progressive Era food and drug manufacturers had substantial interests in achieving passage of such a law and that they worked actively toward this end. In particular, the desire of businesspeople to secure advantage over domestic competitors and to expand markets to interstate and foreign commerce played a significant role in businesses' support for federal food and drug regulations. The article shows that the strategic use of public policy by business—a relatively recent development in theories of business-government relations—is by no means a new development in practice.
52 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Marx examines the development of franchised dealerships and traces the changes in the nature of consumer demand and the growing complexity in relations between manufacturers and their sales force that led to the predominance of the independent dealer franchise in the automobile distribution channel.
Abstract: In this note on the history of automobile distribution methods in the United States, Dr. Marx examines the development of franchised dealerships. He traces the changes in the nature of consumer demand and the growing complexity in relations between manufacturers and their sales force that led to the predominance of the independent dealer franchise in the automobile “distribution channel.”
49 citations
TL;DR: The East India Company was the paragon of efficiency and public virtue depicted in this volume as mentioned in this paper, but the company's cause did not gain by the authors' treatment of its opponents.
Abstract: That the Company managed England's tea supply reasonably well, most readers will probably accept. That it was the paragon of efficiency and public virtue depicted in this volume will not go down so easily. Nor does the company's cause gain by the authors' treatment of its opponents. Contemporary critics of the company's tea monopoly, of whom there were many, are seldom identified and virtually never quoted. Their charges against the company—in paraphrased, unattributed, very brief passages—dot the pages of the book in almost random fashion, generally to be dismissed in a line or two. By failing to take seriously the arguments lodged against the East India Company, the authors rob their book of much of the intellectual liveliness it could have had.
47 citations
TL;DR: The first generation of experts in foreign currency reform, who included Charles Conant, Jeremiah Jenks, and Edwin Kemmerer, brought nations onto a gold-exchange standard, with their gold funds deposited in New York and their coinage denominated on American money as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: From 1900 to 1905 the United States government, working with a small group within the emerging profession of economics, developed—for the first time—a financial policy toward foreign dependent areas. The policy devised and carried out by this first generation of experts in foreign currency reform—who included Charles Conant, Jeremiah Jenks, and Edwin Kemmerer—sought to bring nations onto a gold-exchange standard, with their gold funds deposited in New York and their coinage denominated on American money. In this article, Professor Rosenberg describes this gold standard diplomacy, suggesting that it reflected the nation's growing economic power; its increasing stake in maintaining an integrated, stable, and accessible international order; the emergence of a new profession of foreign financial advising; and the government's new desire to play a leading role in international currency matters. She concludes that policymakers and economists would build on this foundation in developing the gold-exchange standard and currency stabilization programs of the 1920s.
45 citations
32 citations
TL;DR: This article reviewed the history of business education in Germany from its early twentieth-century origins to the present and concluded that, while the German model no longer has the international reputation it did before World War II, it continues to promote solid economic growth.
Abstract: Although the American contribution to business education is well-known, that of other nations has been largely overlooked. In this article, Professor Locke reviews the very different history of business education in Germany, which he traces from its early twentieth-century origins to the present. He concludes that, while the German model no longer has the international reputation it did before World War II, it continues to promote solid economic growth.
30 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the annuity market as an economic institution, and describe its function as an instrument of credit and offer some speculations about how their conclusions modify our traditional view of the late medieval economy.
Abstract: In this article. Professor Baum reports on recent research into the annuity markets of late medieval German Hanse towns. While historians traditionally have considered annuities an essentially noncommercial form of credit, Baum takes a different approach. Considering the annuity market as an economic institution, he describes its function as an instrument of credit and offers some speculations about how his conclusions modify our traditional view of the late medieval economy.
27 citations
TL;DR: Jones as mentioned in this paper traces the history of the Gramophone Company between 1898 and 1931 and provides a detailed narrative of the firm's history while at the same time placing it within the context of British multinational expansion as a whole.
Abstract: In this article Dr. Jones traces the history of the Gramophone Company—an early British multinational—between 1898 and 1931. Drawing on hitherto untapped archival sources, he provides a detailed narrative of the firm's history while at the same time placing it within the context of British multinational expansion as a whole. Of particular interest is his discussion of the firm's “special relationship” with the American-based Victor Company—a relationship that demonstrates how restrictive international agreements could affect the dynamics of multinational growth.
24 citations
TL;DR: Stokes as discussed by the authors studied the interplay between economics, politics and government policy in the Third Reich and concluded that a variety of factors, including the degree of shared interest between individual firms and the government, the size and concentration of a firm's production facilities, and the political position of key firm personnel, explain the success as well as the eventual collapse of a given industrial sector.
Abstract: The oil industry in Nazi Germany provides an excellent focus for studying the interplay between economics, politics, and government policy in the Third Reich. In this article, Mr. Stokes brings to this subject a comparative approach, making comparisons both within the oil industry and with the industry's major industrial counterparts. He concludes that a variety of factors—including the degree of shared interest between individual firms and the government, the size and concentration of a firm's production facilities, and the political position of key firm personnel—explain the success as well as the eventual collapse of a given industrial sector.
21 citations
TL;DR: Seftel as discussed by the authors describes how fruit growers organized and called on government to check the menace of fruit pests, and how they created an elaborate regulatory network, linking local, state, federal, and academic institutions with their enterprise.
Abstract: Sensing the opportunity to reap great profits by selling fruit to hungry urban consumers back East, nineteenth-century entrepreneurs flocked to California to establish commercial orchards and citrus groves. Invasions of fruit pests, however, threatened years of investment and patient cultivation, and made the public wary of the uneven quality of California fruit. In this article, Mr. Seftel describes how fruit growers organized and called on government to check the menace. Between 1880 and 1920, orchard owners created an elaborate regulatory network, linking local, state, federal, and academic institutions with their enterprise. These fruit-growing capitalists came to believe that only compulsory compliance with government-enforced pest control regulations could ensure their success. During these four decades, the growing horticultural bureaucracy helped transform California fruit growing from an entrepreneurial venture of uncertain promise into the state's second largest industry.
16 citations
TL;DR: Rodger and McKenna as discussed by the authors consider management-labor relations in the British building industry in the years preceding the First World War and conclude that whatever success it attained proved transitory, accompanied by the advent of government-financed municipal housing.
Abstract: The history of management-labor relations has in recent years become a central concern for business historians. In this article, Dr, Rodger and Mr. McKenna consider management-labor relations in the British building industry in the years preceding the First World War. They demonstrate that a variety of factors—not the least of which being the industry's notorious volatility—constrained management's ability to discipline the work force, and conclude that whatever success it attained proved transitory, accompanied as it was by the advent of government-financed municipal housing.
TL;DR: Secada as mentioned in this paper analyzes the origins of W. R. Grace and Company and its rise as a dominant actor in Peruvian economic history and attributes this ascendancy primarily to the arms trade in which Grace engaged on behalf of the Peruvian government during the War of the Pacific (1879-84).
Abstract: In this article Mr. Secada analyzes the origins of W. R. Grace and Company and its rise as a dominant actor in Peruvian economic history. He attributes this ascendancy primarily to the arms trade in which Grace engaged on behalf of the Peruvian government during the War of the Pacific (1879–84). Grace's early status as an intimate of the dominant Peruvian elite, its deft manipulation of its ambiguous position as an American shipping house, its imaginative construction of a nascent intercontinental trading network utilizing both sea and rail transport, and its willingness to invest its own capital in the development of potential product lines—all served to catapult the firm within a period of thirty years into a powerful trading house and foreign investor in Latin America.
TL;DR: A brief review of the explosion in Latin American business history can convey the subtleties of contending interpretations as discussed by the authors, and it is possible to sketch the main outlines of the historiographical revolutions which have swept Latin American history since James P. Baughman surveyed the field for the Business History Review twenty years ago, identify a few of the landmark publications, and in passing assess the degree to which this journal has kept abreast of business history in the other Americas.
Abstract: Twenty years ago when the editor of this journal reviewed trends in Latin American historiography for the introduction to a special issue on Latin American business history, he observed, \"Since the great preoccupations of Latin Americanists have been political, military, religious and diplomatic affairs, business events and personalities have often been pushed out of the picture or cast as antagonists in dramas with landlords, workers, or diplomats.\" During the last two decades, as historiographical fashions changed dramatically in all fields, historians of business and the economy made a profound impact upon Latin American studies. As a result, the broader economic and social implications of colonial and twentieth-century business enterprises are now among the most hotly debated subjects in the field. A brief review cannot do justice to the explosion in writing in recent years, nor can it convey the subtleties of contending interpretations. It is possible, however, to sketch the main outlines of the historiographical revolutions which have swept Latin American history since James P. Baughman surveyed the field for the Business History Review twenty years ago, identify a few of the landmark publications, and in passing assess the degree to which this journal has kept abreast of business history in the other Americas.
TL;DR: In this paper, Kornblith analyzes the career of Jonas Chickering (1798-1853), the foremost American piano manufacturer before the emergence of the Steinways.
Abstract: Master craftsmen played a critical role in launching the Industrial Revolution in America. In this case study of artisan entrepreneurship, Professor Kornblith analyzes the career of Jonas Chickering (1798–1853), the foremost American piano manufacturer before the emergence of the Steinways. By revolutionizing the way in which pianos were made, Chickering—with the help of others—turned a modest craft operation into a major industrial enterprise. Yet, Kornblith contends, he remained true to the craftsman's goal of artistic excellence and won the respect of his employees as well as of the public at large. By the force of his example, Chickering contributed to the acceptance of technological change within the trade and, more broadly, to the legitimation of industrial capitalism within American culture.
TL;DR: Foster as discussed by the authors focused on the career of Henry J. Kaiser, an entrepreneur who was unquestionably one of the key figures in the modernization of the Far West, emphasizing that Kaiser's imagination, energy, and personal commitment were key elements in the maturation of the region's industrial economy.
Abstract: Many entrepreneurs have contributed to the economic growth of the Far West, from the railroad builders of the nineteenth century to the modern day pioneers in Silicon Valley. In this article, Professor Foster focuses on the career of Henry J. Kaiser—an entrepreneur who was unquestionably one of the key figures in the modernization of the region. Though Foster does not slight the economic and political factors that made possible Kaiser's achievement he stresses that Kaiser's imagination, energy, and personal commitment were key elements in the maturation of the region's industrial economy.
TL;DR: Honey observes that babies were featured not only in stories but also appeared in all sorts of advertisements as discussed by the authors and makes one think differently about how advertising and the division of labor can affect the image of women.
Abstract: lower-paying \"women's\" jobs. Many were happy to leave work because of the strain of caring for a family and having a full-time job. Day care and other social support systems for working women were scarce during the war and men were not amenable to taking over household responsibilities. In 1944 the propaganda campaign was reversed. Now the OWI wanted to get women off the job and into the home where they belonged. The Post stories showed women either going home to provide a peaceful place for their returning husbands or taking traditional female jobs. For example, in one story a woman goes from being an airplane pilot to working as a stewardess. True Story, on the other hand, did not show women leaving their jobs, but rather focused on babies. Honey observes that babies were featured not only in stories but also appeared in all sorts of advertisements. Perhaps the message here was, \"Go out and multiply; the economy needs consumers.\" The myth of the wonder woman Rosie the Riveter was replaced by the myth of women as keepers of morality and the hearth. Magazine stories and advertisements encouraged a retreat to the nuclear family—a nostalgic fiction of peace and tranquility. These images stand side by side in the American concept of women. Maureen Honey has produced a provocative history. Creating Rosie the Riveter makes one think differently about how advertising and the division of labor can affect the image of women. Rosie the Riveter was created in a short time in a moment of need, but she was dismissed just as quickly, sent off to have babies and find meaning in the world where \"father knows best. \" But this shift was caused not only by the mass media, but also by the images already present in the American tradition. The strong pioneer woman and the keeper of the hearth have been around for a long time.
TL;DR: The police were at the very heart of the great clashes within urban America as mentioned in this paper, where a myriad of conflicting groups and forces in urban America struggled most directly over what the new industrial capitalist city meant for the shape and capacity of modern democracy.
Abstract: \"Unlike the other branches of municipal service, the police were at the very heart of the great clashes within urban America\" (p. 166). This huge unlike will surprise anyone familiar with the history of the great clashes over public education, housing, recreation, regulation of monopolies, and distribution of public services. These battles provided the content for more general debates about municipal government, beyond reform rhetoric. This critique was, in fact, broader and more complex than Teaford suggests, and political in the deepest sense of the term: this was where a myriad of conflicting groups and forces in urban America struggled most directly over what the new industrial capitalist city meant for the shape and capacity of modern democracy. It simply does not help to reduce all this to a caricatured \"failure\" theme easily pressed into service as a negative reference and never examined closely or carefully in its own terms. Ironically, though Teaford works hard to have us respect the accomplishments of Gilded Age municipal government, he undercuts his efforts by having so little historical respect for the struggles central to it. This antipathy is a curious attribute for the study of a government system premised on the legitimacy of popular debate and democratic decision making. Certainly, careful attention to the actual content of politics might have suggested that the contesting forces, in all their complexity, were not prisoners in the citadels of cultural \"success\" or \"failure\" that overshadow Teaford's book. Far from being either busy at work or culturally disoriented by the complexities of the new pluralism—the choices he seems to offer—they were, in many different ways on a very broad field, struggling over the future of their environment, their social order, and the values of their society. Is it too much to expect that all this might have been part of Teaford's otherwise excellent study, rather than being dismissed as the smoke obscuring our view of the Brooklyn Bridge and similar monuments to successful city government?
TL;DR: Wasser as mentioned in this paper describes Creel's activities, showing how he and his family built the greatest business empire in Mexico before 1910, survived the decade-long destruction of the revolution (1910−20), and rebuilt their empire in the 1920s.
Abstract: Enrique C. Creel was Mexico's leading banker, an innovative industralist, venture capitlist, and representative of the nation's largest land and cattle owner; he was also the political boss of the state of Chihuahua and the key conciliator of the conflicting intersts of the north and the national regime of dictator Porfirio Diaz. In this essay, Professor Wasserman describes Creel's activities, showing how he and his family built the greatest business empire in Mexico before 1910, survived the decade-long destruction of the revolution (1910–20), and rebuilt their empire in the 1920s. Better than any of his contemporaries, Creel combined managerial talent and vision with a mastery of the interplay of politics, regional interests, and foreign capital that comprised his economic entrepreneurship and the special nature of economic entrepreneurship and the intimate relationship between business and politics in pre-and post-revolutionary Mexico.
TL;DR: In this paper, the British Real del Monte Company conducted its business without major interruption from the political turbulence that characterized the new nation of Mexico and showed how the company finessed most of the political risk that it potentially faced by keeping administrative distance between itself and the everchanging central governments and by conducting political relations at the local level as community relations.
Abstract: While it lost some five million dollars operating in Mexico between 1824 and 1849, the British Real del Monte Company conducted its business without major interruption from the political turbulence that characterized the new nation. In this article, Professor Randall shows how the company finessed most of the political risk that it potentially faced by keeping administrative distance between itself and the ever-changing central governments and by conducting political relations at the local level as community relations. Despite business rivalries with mine owners, labor-management conflict, and incidents of individual and institutional friction, the English firm and the Mexican town of Real del Monte generally maintained positive community relations. Accommodation as much as conflict accompanied foreign penetration into newly independent Mexico.
TL;DR: In Uneasy State as discussed by the authors, the authors consider the political, institutional, and cultural limits on central political and social management and coherent policymaking in the United States, and the symbolic function of these limits in defining the nature of American democracy.
Abstract: kind so frequently noted among the Japanese, for example? Why are American public managers so often on the political defensive? Uneasy State offers important historical perspective on such questions. Karl is especially sensitive to the political, institutional, and cultural limits on central political and social management and coherent policymaking in the United States, and to the symbolic function of these limits in defining the nature of American democracy. For his own part Karl thinks it may be time for Americans to revise their view of the state, to strike a new balance. But he seems pessimistic about the likelihood of this happening. His reading of the past suggests that Americans \"have preferred to pay the price of mismanagement rather than suffer the restrictions that effective management places on the individual's right to choose\" (p. 238). The problems change; the dilemmas endure.
TL;DR: The authors discusses eight types of archives found in the United States, Latin America, Great Britain, France, and Spain which hold manuscripts of interest to those studying both the economic and business history of Latin America.
Abstract: Since the Business History Review's special issue on Latin America twenty years ago, many articles and monographs have been published utilizing archival sources. An examination of many of these studies and experience in archives suggest that the historian of Latin American business must use a variety of sources to study individual firms and the relationships between business and the national societies in which they operate. In this essay Professor Reber discusses eight types of archives found in the United States, Latin America, Great Britain, France, and Spain which hold manuscripts of interest to those studying both the economic and business history of Latin America. She also offers advice about bibliographic aids, guides, and, briefly, printed primary source materials useful in supplementing the often hard-to-find archival data.
TL;DR: In this paper, Florence Bartoshesky, curator of manuscripts and archives at the Harvard Business School's Baker Library, reviewed the history of this major collection of business records and provided a forum for archivists and historians to share their knowledge of specific archival collections.
Abstract: The preservation and study of unpublished business records has long been one of business history's most distinctive contributions to scholarship. To provide a forum for archivists and historians to share their knowledge of specific archival collections, the Review has commissioned a series of essays on archival history and research opportunities. In this essay, the first in the series, Ms. Florence Bartoshesky, curator of manuscripts and archives at the Harvard Business School's Baker Library, reviews the history of this major collection of business records.
TL;DR: The authors analyzes the balance between economic interests and political constraints in the Upper Plata between 1780 and 1865, and demonstrates how these factors interacted to disrupt the potential for a sizable commerce in tobacco.
Abstract: The disintegration of the tobacco trade in the Upper Plata of the 1800s provides a striking example of economic progress hindered by political conflict—a common occurrence in Latin American history. The exportation of tobacco from this interior region created a focus for a coherent and relatively successful commercial infrastructure during the late colonial era. The post-independence regimes could not, however, create the stability necessary for the growth and maintenance of the tobacco trade. In this article, Dr. Whigham analyzes the balance between economic interests and political constraints in the Upper Plata between 1780 and 1865, and demonstrates how these factors interacted to disrupt the potential for a sizable commerce in tobacco.