Firms, Networks and Business Values: The British and American Cotton Industries since 1750

by Mary B. Rose

Overview

This book explores the long term forces shaping business attitudes in the British and American cotton industries from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Mary Rose traces the social, political and developmental differences of the two nations, and examines local and regional networks, changing competitive environments, and community characteristics. She demonstrates how firms become embedded in networks, and evolve according to business values and strategies. An important contribution to comparative business history, this book will be of interest to graduates and scholars in all areas of business and economic history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521025140
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/16/2006
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Modern Economic History , #8
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.98(d)

About the Author

Mary B. Rose is Senior Lecturer in Business History in the Management School at the University of Lancaster. She is the author of The Gregs of Quarry Bank Mill (1986) and received the 1996 Alan Ball prize for her edited volumeThe Lancashire Cotton Industry: A History since 1700. She is past president of the Association of Business Historians and currently Director of the Pasold Research Fund.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction: the evolution of two industries; Part I. The Culture of Business Networks 1750–1860: 2. Industrialisation and the cotton industry in Britain and the United States; 3. Family firms, networks and institutions to 1860; 4. The management of labour to 1860; 5. Networks and the evolution of government-industry relations to 1860; Part II. Continuity and Change: 6. Consolidation and change, 1860–1914; 7. Prosperity and decay in war and peace, 1914–39; 8. The turbulent years, 1939–80: the politics of decline; 9. Conclusion; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...the publication...is welcome indeed...I highly recommend this book. Rose deftly summarizes and synthesizes an impressive range of sources and, in so doing, has produced a first-rate comparative study relating to one of the crucial industries of the modern era. Upon publication, Firms, Networks, and Business Values immediately became the single best work of its kind." Journal of American History

"...a substantial piece of critical writing which succeeds in highlighting the very complex range of forces determining the different paths taken by the two industries....both a successful piece of comparative business history in its widest sense and a succesful synthesis of the literature." Dr. David Higgins EH.NET

"Mary B. Rose has written a comprehensive and thoughtful overview of the British and American cotton industries from the middle of the eighteenth century until the late twentieth century." American Historical Review

"Rose has produced a nuanced comparative picture, attuned to national differences as well as regional variations within national settings." Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"...contains an enormous amount of material brought together for readers interested in a summary of cotton textile development in the two countries... a useful overview of a vast literature." Enterprise And Society

From the Publisher