Merchants to Multinationals: British Trading Companies in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Author(s): Geoffrey Jones (Author)
- Publisher: Oxford University Press
- Publication Date: 23 May 2002
- Edition: Revised ed.
- Language: English
- Print length: 420 pages
- ISBN-10: 0199249997
- ISBN-13: 9780199249992
Book Description
This book examines the evolution of multinational trading companies from the eighteenth century to the present day. During the Industrial Revolution, British merchants established overseas branches which became major trade intermediaries and subsequently engaged in foreign direct investment. Complex multinational business groups emerged controlling large investments in natural resources, processing, and services in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
Editorial Reviews
Review
"...the study, by illuminating how companies adapt to survive and prosper in different and changing cultural and sociopolitical conditions, is a welcomed supplement to the sterility depicted by orthodox economic models of the firm and illustrates the great strength of historical perspective for economic analysis."--Choice
"This is a splendid book. It not only delineates the trading companies' expansion (and contraction) but also puts that story in the context of the evolving world economy....It is essential reading for every economic and business historian interested in the history of multinational enterprise, in British economic history, and also in where British business fits in the evolution of the world economy....a major accomplishment."--EH.NET
"...an innovative contribution to British economic history....Merchants is a clear and coherent analysis of an elusive subject."--Business History Review
"In this impressive and important study, Jones successfully balances the use of detailed evidence drawn from extensive archival research with attention to broader questions and perspectives. ... This volume will rapidly become required reading for all those interested in the history of international business; but it deserves a wider audience, especially among those dealing with colonialism and economic development."--Enterprise and Society
Review
"...the study, by illuminating how companies adapt to survive and prosper in different and changing cultural and sociopolitical conditions, is a welcomed supplement to the sterility depicted by orthodox economic models of the firm and illustrates the great strength of historical perspective for economic analysis."--Choice
"This is a splendid book. It not only delineates the trading companies' expansion (and contraction) but also puts that story in the context of the evolving world economy....It is essential reading for every economic and business historian interested in the history of multinational enterprise, in British economic history, and also in where British business fits in the evolution of the world economy....a major accomplishment."--EH.NET
"...an innovative contribution to British economic history....Merchants is a clear and coherent analysis of an elusive subject."--Business History Review
"In this impressive and important study, Jones successfully balances the use of detailed evidence drawn from extensive archival research with attention to broader questions and perspectives. ... This volume will rapidly become required reading for all those interested in the history of international business; but it deserves a wider audience, especially among those dealing with colonialism and economic development."--Enterprise and Society
About the Author
Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration, Entrepreneurial Management Unit, Harvard Business School. He previously taught at the universities of Cambridge and Reading, and at the London School of Economics, in the U.K. He is the author and editor of many books and articles on the history of international business, including British Multinational Banking 1830-1990 (OUP 1993). He is a former President of both the European Business History Association and the Business History Conference of the United States, is co-editor of the journal Business History Review, and editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Business History.
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