Business HistoryPub Date : 2023-09-22DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2255140
Neveen Abdelrehim, Tom McGovern, Tom McLean, David Oldroyd, Thomas N. Tyson
{"title":"The contribution of the Stephenson Company, engine manufacturers to the genesis of the British railway industry c.1823-1840","authors":"Neveen Abdelrehim, Tom McGovern, Tom McLean, David Oldroyd, Thomas N. Tyson","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2255140","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2255140","url":null,"abstract":"AbstractThe paper investigates the Stephenson Company’s contribution to genesis of the railway industry by exploring its business model in its formative years. The Company capitalised on a well-developed business and technological infrastructure in the North-east of England that provided the building blocks for the creation of a new industry. It gained from its linkages with two social networks which provided it with a financial safety-net during the locomotive development phase and the mechanical expertise it required: the closed Quaker network and the regional network of colliery and mechanical engineers. Whilst bridging between and across these social networks facilitated the Company’s development, it was not central to its strategic decision-making. This was shaped by the externalities of market conditions, which the Company sought to influence by producing a viable product that would convince customers of its utility, and investors of the potential gains to be had through investing in railway construction.Keywords: Early railway developmentengineeringaccounting evidencesocial capitalsocial networkscapital conversionsintangible assets Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Notes1 The quest to gain competitive advantage by producing larger steam locomotives with greater tractive potential than their predecessors continued right through to the demise of steam in the 1950s (Fleming et al., Citation2000), but from the 1840s these improvements were incremental.2 In terms of accounting and finance research alone, Bianchi et al. (Citation2023) identified 162 articles involving social network analysis between 2000 and 2021.3 In the USA, for example, it was the Baldwin Company which dominated.4 According to Usselman (1991, p. 1050), “American railroads always exhibited a high degree of cooperation in technical affairs…In technical matters, railroads harbored no secrets”. Sinclair (Citation1974, p. 7) noted that, “the mechanics’ institute began simultaneously in Britain and the United States.”5 “Other men of business were partners or employees in a single fixed enterprise, went to the counting-house … or factory in the morning and returned home in the evening. For the Stephensons, [home] was only the base from which they were conducting a range of large-scale undertakings that had no parallel at the time. Some were short-term jobs, others lasted for several years. In supervising or inspecting these projects, they were often only home for brief periods” (Ross, Citation2010, p. 158).6 The variation in selling price could not simply have been the result of an extra allowance from the customer for interest due to delays in the settlement of bills of exchange as Bailey (Citation1999, p. 294) suggests, as sometimes it was the other way round with the contract price exceeding the final selling price.7 This was also the case at Baldwin Locomotive Works in the U.S., until the financial crisis known as the Panic of 183","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136058978","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 : 2023-09-11DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2247366
Yuan Jia-Zheng, Carles Brasó Broggi
{"title":"The metamorphosis of China’s automotive industry (1953–2001): Inward internationalisation, technological transfers and the making of a post-socialist market","authors":"Yuan Jia-Zheng, Carles Brasó Broggi","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2247366","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2247366","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135982246","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 : 2023-08-30DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2250641
Alejandra Irigoin
{"title":"Sustaining Empire: Venezuela’s Trade with the United States during the Age of Revolutions, 1797–1828","authors":"Alejandra Irigoin","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2250641","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2250641","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42999714","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 : 2023-08-25DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2247343
James Fowler, R. Edwards
{"title":"Passengers, citizens, customers: London transport transformed 1977–1987","authors":"James Fowler, R. Edwards","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2247343","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2247343","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44773390","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 : 2023-08-25DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2250642
P. Baubeau
{"title":"Histoire de la Société générale. Tome III: 1914–1921. La Société générale dans la guerre et l’après-guerre,","authors":"P. Baubeau","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2250642","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2250642","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42143912","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 : 2023-08-18DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2247932
Elena Cooper
{"title":"Intellectual Property and the Law of Nations, 1860–1920","authors":"Elena Cooper","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2247932","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2247932","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43546278","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 : 2023-08-14DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2239166
F. Johannessen
{"title":"Early modern lighting of a main European Sea route: From private initiative to public control","authors":"F. Johannessen","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2239166","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2239166","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41414810","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 : 2023-08-10DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2233873
Janina Hesse
{"title":"The business of time: A global history of the watch industry. Studies in design & material culture","authors":"Janina Hesse","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2233873","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2233873","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46754890","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 : 2023-08-10DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2242278
F. Vermeylen, Sandra van Ginhoven
{"title":"The professionalisation of the art trade in early nineteenth century London: Exploring the business model of Christie’s auction house","authors":"F. Vermeylen, Sandra van Ginhoven","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2242278","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2242278","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44243817","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 : 2023-08-02DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2234827
Vladimir Unkovski-Korica, Saša Vejzagić
{"title":"Business history goes East: An introduction","authors":"Vladimir Unkovski-Korica, Saša Vejzagić","doi":"10.1080/00076791.2023.2234827","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2234827","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article introduces the special issue ‘Socialist Entrepreneurs? Business Histories of the GDR and Yugoslavia’. It starts with a review of the growing literature on the history of business organisation in the Global East, or the Second World in the Cold War. It then argues that mainstream business history struggles to incorporate the findings of this emerging body of work, relying as it does on the traditional view of the Soviet-style firm as primarily a production function. We show that a more nuanced view, exploring a greater variety of experiences in the USSR and beyond it, has now developed, through the use of fresh archival evidence and the combination of business history with other historical and disciplinary approaches. Focusing on the GDR and Yugoslavia, the seven contributions in this special issue showcase new directions in the field and demonstrate how we gain innovative perspectives by taking business history ‘eastwards’.","PeriodicalId":47531,"journal":{"name":"Business History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43231156","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}