Religion, organization and company law – a case study of a Quaker business

IF 0.8 4区管理学 Q1 HISTORY

Management & Organizational History Pub Date : 2019-10-02 DOI:10.1080/17449359.2019.1683036

N. Burton, D. Kavanagh, Martin Brigham

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引用次数: 7

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper examines the effect of changes in corporate law in the mid-nineteenth century – incorporation and limited liability – on the ownership, control and socio-economic objectives of a Quaker family firm between 1841 and 1972. The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) were well-known for adhering to internalized quasi-legal rules and self-governance, and had a strong reputation, which persists today, for trust, integrity and honesty in all business dealings. We read existing archival research on Quaker firm Huntley & Palmer (the biscuit manufacturer) against the grain to trace how incorporation and limited liability fundamentally changed its capital structure and the family’s control of the firm and which, in turn, led to a gradual weakening of its social ambitions. We argue that changes to the law are akin to changing the rules of the game within which players’ play, and we show how Quaker quasi-legal rules became subordinate to corporate law resulting in unexpected and non-trivial impacts that play out over long, longitudinal periods of time.

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宗教、组织和公司法——贵格会商业案例研究

摘要本文考察了19世纪中期公司法的变化——公司注册和有限责任——在1841年至1972年间对贵格会家族企业所有权、控制权和社会经济目标的影响。宗教之友协会（贵格会）以遵守内化的准法律规则和自治而闻名，在所有商业交易中都以信任、正直和诚实而享有盛誉，至今仍在继续。我们阅读了关于贵格会公司Huntley&Palmer（饼干制造商）的现有档案研究，以追踪公司注册和有限责任如何从根本上改变了其资本结构和家族对公司的控制，进而导致其社会野心逐渐减弱。我们认为，对法律的修改类似于改变玩家游戏的规则，我们展示了贵格会准法律规则是如何从属于公司法的，导致了长期的意外和非琐碎的影响。

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来源期刊

Management & Organizational History Multiple-

CiteScore

1.10

自引率

16.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： Management & Organizational History (M&OH) is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal that aims to publish high quality, original, academic research concerning historical approaches to the study of management, organizations and organizing. The journal addresses issues from all areas of management, organization studies, and related fields. The unifying theme of M&OH is its historical orientation. The journal is both empirical and theoretical. It seeks to advance innovative historical methods. It facilitates interdisciplinary dialogue, especially between business and management history and organization theory. The ethos of M&OH is reflective, ethical, imaginative, critical, inter-disciplinary, and international, as well as historical in orientation.