Fredrik Sandgren

From 'peculiar stores' to 'a new way of thinking' : Discussions on self-service in Swedish trade journals, 1935-1955

Swedish self-service grew swiftly from the late 1940s. One important conduit of knowledge was journals. This article studies how self-service was perceived, promoted or opposed in Swedish trade journals in 1935–1955. The main sources are journals published by wholesaling/retailing businesses (the Co-op, ICA and ASK), business associations, trade unions and academics. The principles of self-service were discussed in the journals in the 1930s. Direct support for or no general criticism of self-service was found from the late 1940s. Co-operatives and academics were pioneers in promoting self-service. Trade unions hardly discussed the issue. Other actors had some early doubts. From the mid 1940s doubts disappeared. The business associations were ahead of businesses such as ICA and ASK in promoting self-service.

Towns and rural industrialisation in Sweden 1850–1890: A spatial statistical approach

Abstract Using a spatial statistical analysis we study the relation between rural industrial employment and distance to towns and access to communications in nineteenth century Sweden. Our results show that rural parishes with access to communications had a higher proportion of rural industrial workers than parishes without. In a region with few towns, the south-east of Sweden, parishes close to large towns had a higher proportion of industrial employees than distant parishes in 1850, while no significant correlation was observed in 1890. In a region with a relatively dense urban system, Mälardalen, only in 1890 did parishes close to large towns show a higher proportion of rural industrial workers than did more distant parishes. However, the mean positive effect was negligible beyond 10 km. Thus, in the second half of the nineteenth century the immediate urban hinterland was industrialising prior to large scale urbanisation and urban industrialisation.

‘Do not break the cold chain!’ The introduction of a system for deep frozen food in Sweden 1940–1960

ABSTRACT The introduction of deep frozen food in Sweden took place from 1945. The development was rapid and by 1960 Sweden had become the worlds’ second largest per capita consumer of frozen foods. Grocers were a key group that needed to be convinced of the gains of deep freezing. Journals from retail businesses and peak retail trade associations are studied to discover how knowledge about deep freezing was conveyed to grocers. Articles and advertisements show what arguments could be found for and against deep freezing and which informants that were active. Grocers were presented with a balanced account of the pros and cons of deep freezing already by the late 1940s. When the experience of frozen foods and handling of freezing equipment increased in the 1950s, these experiences were conveyed to the grocers, creating a broad but not entirely uncritical knowledge base for further diffusion. Most advertisements concerned equipment for deep freezing, rather than deep frozen foods. The general view in all studied journals was positive towards deep freezing. The diffusion of knowledge made through the studied journals suggests they played an important role for the establishment of the system of frozen food in Sweden.

Toward a Simple Framework for Writing Histories of the Distributive Trades

This article presents a simple analytic framework that can be used to write economic histories of the distributive trades where both retailing and wholesaling are systematically discussed. It is argued that a focus on the innovation of formats of distribution, in turn related to technological and organizational innovations and institutions, laws, rules and norms, is a fruitful approach when analyzing national histories of this economic sector and when making international comparisons. The framework is derived from previous historical studies, where a selection of ten major works is analyzed and discussed. The major strengths of the suggested framework are that it is firmly grounded in previous discussions, but also that it is simple, focused on important aspects, and adaptable to any place or any time.

Organisert Kjøpekraft. Forbrukersamvirkets historie i Norge

type of competition policy was initially developed in the 1920s with the so-called ‘monopoly law’. I would argue that the paradigmatic shift on competition policy took place in 1993 when Sweden decided to copy EC Competition Law. Thereafter Sweden became part of the ‘antitrust’ world. For me the brewing industry and its cartel is an old ‘affection’. In 1995, I defended my thesis on the cartelization in the brewing industry. When Sandberg now investigates the end of the same story it is very welcome. This kind of business history is far too rare nowadays in Swedish economic history. At the same time it feels a little bit odd to see that Sandberg uses the same theories, books and scholars that we used in the early 1990s. Has nothing happened in this field over the last 15 years, or should we regard such names as Chandler, Schumpeter and North as classics in the way sociologists frequently refer to Weber, Durkheim or Giddens? The simple answer is that they are classics in economic and business history and it is better to refer to them in a doctoral thesis. But Sandberg seldom raises critical points about the theories used. Instead he frequently verifies his own findings with references to the ‘classics’. Therefore there are few surprises in the interpretations. However ‘Kartellen som sprängdes’ is in several ways an interesting thesis. Sandberg has a good way with sources. He has accomplished much for the history of Swedish brewing, but less for the development of the discipline of ‘business history’.

Retail Trade, Consumption, and the Construction of Markets

A couple of decades ago, it was easy to complain about the lack of historical studies regarding retailing and consumption (Benson & Shaw, 1992; Strasser, McGovern, & Judt, 1998). Today, this is definitely not the case. To produce an overview of the developments in the two fields over the last 20–30 years is an enormous undertaking. However, it should be noted that while consumer and consumption history have matured in recent years to the point where it is relevant and possible to publish major overviews (Trentmann, 2012, 2016), this is less so when it comes to retailing history. One possible reason for this difference is the fact that the organisation of retailing and wholesaling is permeated by national characteristics, not the least institutional differences; meanwhile, the character of consumption and consumer society, at least in the last century and in the Western World, has many common features. One aspect is, of course, the Americanisation of consumption ideals. This is not to say that the general development of the retail sector differs much when viewed over a longer period. All types of retail formats and practices, from specialised stores with lavish shop windows and servile manual service to e-commerce, have at some point in time been adopted and developed in all countries around the world. However, the introduction and relative importance of the different aspects of the retail sector have differed between countries and between urban and rural settings. The present special issue of Scandinavian Economic History Review is based on an open CFP on ‘Retail Trade, Consumption, and the Construction of Markets from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries’. We, the guest editors, are grateful that the editorial team of SEHR has given scholars doing research on these subjects the opportunity to present their results in this way. We have, in different capacities, been involved in organising workshops on the Evolution of the Retail Trade in the Twentieth Century. One in Paris in 2015 and one in Uppsala in 2016. The main reason for organising these two workshops was a feeling that there was a need for more research on twentieth-century retail history; another motivation was to gather scholars from different countries in order to create a discussion of similarities and differences in the development of retailing and its final destination, consumption. The outcomes of these workshops have been gratifying. A number of papers from the first workshop will feature in a special issue of Business History on ‘New perspectives on 20th century European retailing’ in the near future. Some of them are already available online (Bide, 2017; Dewitte, Billows, & Lecocq, 2017; Heyrman, 2017; Jacques, 2018). It could also be noted that Business History is rolling out articles from another upcoming special issue, in this case on ‘Changing Secondhand Economies’ and also that couple of other recent articles makes important contributions to our understanding of changes in retailing in the twentieth century (Scott & Walker, 2017; Seppälä, 2017). It could also be noted that a couple of papers from both the first and second workshop mentioned above have recently been published in the journal History of Retailing and Consumption (Arnberg & Husz, 2018; Potamianos, 2017; Sandgren, 2017). Thus, the present special issue of SEHR adds to this body of important work. There are of course other important conduits for the study of retailing and consumption. The Centre for the History of Retailing and Distribution (CHORD) at the University of Wolverhampton has, through its conferences and workshops, been an important locus for interactions in this field for 30 years. Recent anthologies such as Jessen and Langer (2012) and Lundin and Kaiserfeld (2015) have collected several interesting studies. But it is also indicative that it is not until very recently

A New Quest for Efficency: The Post War Programme of the Federation of Swedish Wholesalers

In the mid 1950s OEEC published a report on the state of wholesaling in Western Europe. Here Swedish wholesaling and its business organisation, the Federation of Swedish Wholesalers (Sveriges Grossistforbund/SGF), were considered to be in the forefront of the rationalisation of wholesaling. While technological and organisational rationalisation of Swedish wholesaling took off in the 1950s, there had been interesting developments in the discussions on rationalisation within the SGF from the mid 1940s.