Marc Prat Sabartés

Las estructuras comerciales de la industria algodonera catalana: el triunfo de los viajantes en el último tercio del siglo XIX

Catalan cotton industry has been characterised by vertical integration of manufacturing and commercialising. Until the mid 1860s this integration took several and incomplete forms, but since then travellers became the central players in cotton firms’ commercial structures. As it has been previously said in the literature, this was because a basic railways network was established at that time. Thanks to this new transport, large and medium size firms could cover all the Spanish market with very few sellers: some permanent agents in main cities and some travellers around the country. These men promoted firms’ sales and gave first-hand information about consumers’ tastes, competitors and clients’ financial soundness. They became then essential for cotton manufacturers. KEY Classification-JEL: N6, N7, D3, D8