Business HistoryPub Date : 2023-11-09DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2022.2087634
Ángel Calvo
{"title":"Corporate restructuring in the telecommunications equipment industry: The case of Spain in the late twentieth century","authors":"Ángel Calvo","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2022.2087634","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2022.2087634","url":null,"abstract":"AbstractA new technological paradigm coupled with a powerful wave of deregulation and liberalisation that was unleashed worldwide from the 1980s onwards acted as a catalyst for profound transformation in the telecommunications equipment industry, which was dominated at the time by large multinational corporations. These developments, in turn, led to worldwide restructuring in the sector. The present paper hypothesises that the sector’s oligopolistic structure remained, but that it did so under the leadership of new global players that sought to impose their strategies in response to the prevailing conditions. The paper also aims to explain the reasons for the global restructuring in the sector by looking at the strategies, choices, and decisions of the involved multinationals from the viewpoint of the nation-state. Based on the assumption that a separate analysis of one national unit can help to understand the process as a whole, the paper draws on primary sources to describe and analyse the adjustment path within Standard Eléctrica, a Spanish subsidiary first of IT&T and then of Alcatel.Keywords: IT&TAlcatelStandard EléctricaAmerican telephone and telegraph Cotelecommunications equipment industryrestructuringoligopolies Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 European Commission (Citation1997), p. 39; Crandall and Flamm, eds. (Citation1989); Feldstein (Citation2007), p. 420. Heated debates preceded the AT&T break-up: Agnew and Romeo (Citation1981), pp. 273–288. In their influential report to President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, Nora and Minc (Citation1978) coined a new word – “télématique” (télécommunication + informatique) – and proposed as a cornerstone the strategy of “marrying” computers and communication technologies. Some years later, Spanish President Felipe González commissioned the prestigious sociologist Castells (Citation1986) to undertake a similar study, which inspired the Socialist attitude of putting pressure on multinationals to negotiate industrial restructuring.2 IT&T had technological problems, was oversized from the legal and financial point of view, and had an inadequate technical and commercial structure: Suard (Citation2002); Zanfei (Citation1992), pp. 83–105. The multinational openly regarded SEL as a German firm because of its manufacturing capacity and independence research (Ziegler, Citation1997, p. 84).3 The ERI, created in mid-1983 in Amsterdam, consisted of half a hundred of European entrepreneurs working at both national and European level to strengthen the competitiveness of the European economy, which was then lacking in dynamism and innovation compared to those of Japan and the United States.4 Quatrepoint (Citation1986), p. 8.5 Batt and Darbishire (Citation1997), pp. 59–79; Baskoy (Citation2008); Thatcher (1999), p. 199. The chronology matters to some extent: Spain joined late processes such as the Italian; for the Italian firms, see also Colli and Vasta (Citatio","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135242310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Business HistoryPub Date : 2023-11-09DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2264215
Steven Toms, Chieh Lin
{"title":"Economic freedom, financial development and the determinants of fraud and scandal: The United Kingdom, 1900–2010","authors":"Steven Toms, Chieh Lin","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2264215","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2264215","url":null,"abstract":"The paper argues that the incidence of financial fraud and scandals has systemic macro-economic determinants. While not denying organisation specific causes, short-run triggering events, and key players’ motivations, it shows that the extent of fraud and the number of financial scandals depend on the opportunities created by the financial system’s evolution. Using archival and quantitative evidence from the United Kingdom, it specifies aggregate changes in the incidence of fraud and scandal between 1900 and 2010. The evidence shows that economic freedom, including the degree of financial development, the availability of credit, the relative importance of the financial sector, international capital mobility and secrecy, and banking stability, contribute to the prevalence of fraud and scandal. Financial repression explains a generalised reduction in a 25-year period after the Second World War. Conversely, economic liberalisation from 1979 onwards has increased the incidence of fraud and financial scandal.","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135242256","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Business HistoryPub Date : 2023-10-30DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2273100
Anne L. Murphy
{"title":"Banking and politics in the age of democratic revolutionBanking and politics in the age of democratic revolution, by Niccolò Valmori, Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment, Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2023, xii + 315 pp, £60 (paperback), ISBN 9781802077636.","authors":"Anne L. Murphy","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2273100","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2273100","url":null,"abstract":"\"Banking and politics in the age of democratic revolution.\" Business History, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), pp. 1–2","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136022854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Business HistoryPub Date : 2023-10-19DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2267003
Maria Carmela Schisani, Giancarlo Ragozini
{"title":"Marine insurance firms, business networks, and the modernisation of the financial sector in Southern Italy (1820–1900)","authors":"Maria Carmela Schisani, Giancarlo Ragozini","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2267003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2267003","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we study the trajectories of marine insurance companies within the Naples business network over the nineteenth century in connection with the business interests of local elites. First, we provide a detailed reconstruction of the marine insurance sector during the century, filling a gap in the literature. Second, backed by original historical and prosopographical reconstructions, the business network evolution of interlocking directorates shows how the shift of the local business system from the centrality of marine insurance companies towards banks is related to the strategic behaviours of local elites, aimed at preserving their power after the Italian unification. This interpretative perspective demonstrates the coherence of our findings with the ‘passive modernisation’ hypothesis in the Southern financial system.","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135778965","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Business HistoryPub Date : 2023-10-14DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2254648
Hubert Bonin
{"title":"Crossing Continents. A History of Standard Chartered Bank, <b>Crossing Continents. A History of Standard Chartered Bank</b> , edited by Duncan Campbell-Smith. Allen Lane (Penguin Books), Londres,2021,916 pp. [ISBN 978-0-241-45873-0] (40£)","authors":"Hubert Bonin","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2254648","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2254648","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135803221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Business HistoryPub Date : 2023-10-05DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2261761
Irina Yányshev-Nésterova
{"title":"The age of global economic crises, 1929–2022 <b>The age of global economic crises, 1929–2022</b> , edited by Juan Manuel Matés-Barco and María Vázquez-Fariñas. Routledge Explorations in Economic History, 2023, xii + 193 pp., illus., (hardback), ISBN 978-1-032-48252-1; (paperback), ISBN 978-1-003-38812-8.","authors":"Irina Yányshev-Nésterova","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2261761","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2261761","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135483828","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Business HistoryPub Date : 2023-10-05DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2263284
Özgür Burçak Gürsoy
{"title":"Commodities in History: Theoretical Reflections and Empirical Case Studies <b>Commodities in History: Theoretical Reflections and Empirical Case Studies</b> ,edited by Juan Carmona-Zabala, 2023, iv + 401 pp., E-book, ISBN 978-618-85195-5-8","authors":"Özgür Burçak Gürsoy","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2263284","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2263284","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135483745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Business HistoryPub Date : 2023-10-05DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2263289
Charlotte Nilsson
{"title":"Invested: How three centuries of stock market advice reshaped our money, markets, and minds <b>Invested: How three centuries of stock market advice reshaped our money, markets, and minds</b> , by Paul Crosthwaite, Peter Knight, Nicky Marsh, Helen Paul, and James Taylor, Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press, 2022, 368 pp., $30.00 (paper), ISBN 9780226821009; $112.00 (cloth), ISBN 9780226820989","authors":"Charlotte Nilsson","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2263289","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2263289","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135483832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Business HistoryPub Date : 2023-10-05DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2261766
Ágnes Pogány
{"title":"Business practice in socialist Hungary. Volume 1 creating the theft economy, 1945–1957 <b>Business practice in socialist Hungary. Volume 1 creating the theft economy, 1945–1957</b> , by Philip Scranton, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2022, xvi + 306 pp, map, EUR 128.39 (hardcover), ISBN 978-3-030-89183-1, EUR 128.39 (softcover), ISBN 978-3-030-89186-2 (Series: Palgrave Debates in Business History)","authors":"Ágnes Pogány","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2261766","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2261766","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135483296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}