Mary B. Rose

National determinants of family firm development? Family firms in Britain, Spain and Italy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

We provide here a complement to recent work on family business, which has demonstrated the need to go beyond the generic definition of the family firm to place personal capitalism in an appropriate institutional, historical, and cultural framework. By focusing on the nineteenth- and twentieth-century experiences in Britain, Spain, and Italy, we challenge the notion that in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries there was anything so simple as a Mediterranean model for family business. Rather, we demonstrate the need to consider family businesses in national and regional contexts if we are to understand their various capabilities and characteristics. We use similarities and differences in the experiences and responses of families and firms in the three countries to support this claim.

Social Capital and Entrepreneurship An Introduction

Social capital is a widely used concept in the social sciences, but its precise meaning is elusive. It has been variously and broadly defi ned as involving the building and maintaining of networks and the norms of behaviour that underpin them (Putman, 2000); the goodwill that is engendered by the fabric of social relations and that can be mobilized to facilitate action (Adler and Kwon, 2002: 17); and taken to be the sum of the resources that accrue to an individual or group, by virtue of possessing networks (Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1992). The majority of individuals are embedded in social situations and consequently can take advantage of the wider social relations in which their ties are embedded (Kim and Aldrich, 2005). A recent survey of the meanings and application of social capital confi rmed that by making connections with others, with whom they share values, individuals are able to achieve more than if they acted alone. The network thus becomes a resource underpinned by social capital, which constitutes an intangible asset (Field, 2003). The diffi culty of actually defi ning social capital makes it controversial and an ideal focus for conference discussion. This special issue is based on a selection of papers presented at a symposium, hosted by the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development, Lancaster University Management School, in November 2004, to discuss the relationship between social capital and entrepreneurship. Interestingly, this symposium demonstrated the trans-disciplinary nature of both entrepreneurship and social capital, and brought perspectives from sociology, economics, history and from practitioners. In this Editorial we fi rst illustrate the relevance of social capital to the development of our understanding of entrepreneurship. Second, we highlight a number of themes emerging from the study of social capital within the entrepreneurial context. Third, we outline the articles presented in this special issue and identify the key themes in each of the contributions. Finally, we conclude with a number of suggestions for further research.

Family firm diversity and development: An introduction:

Issues relating to private family firm diversity and development are discussed with reference to established and emerging debates. Family firm assets and liabilities are highlighted. Key issues for family firms research and practice relating to family firm definition and family firm diversity are raised. Issues relating to context, culture and time are also discussed. Conceptual and empirical ‘types’ of family firms are illustrated. The contributions of ‘invisible’ members, women and couples in family firms are discussed. Various ownership forms relating to the perpetuation of family firms and business ownership transfer issues are highlighted. Articles in this special issue are then briefly summarized.

Entrepreneurship, networks and modern business

Part 1 Entrepreneurial and business culture: the entrepreneur - the central issue in business history?, T.A.B. Corley entrepreneurship and business culture, Mark Casson business education and managerial performance - a study comparing Japan and America to France, Germany and England, Robert Lockie engineers as functional alternatives to entrepreneurs in Japanese industrialization, Kenichi Yasumuro. Part 2 Entrepreneurial success and failure in family firms: Quakerism, entrepreneurship and the family firm in North-East England, 1780-1860, Maurice Kirby beyond Buddenbrooks - the family firm and the management of succession in 19th-century Britain, Mary B. Rose entrepreneurship and the growth of the firm - the case of the British food and drink industries in the 1980s, V.N. Balasubramanyam. Part 3 Entrepreneurship and alternatives to the firm: cartels and internalization in the 18th-century copper industry, Robert Read entrepreneurship and product innovation in British general insurance, 1840-1914, Oliver Westall. Part 4 Uncertainty and innovation: success and adversity - entrepreneurship in agricultural engineering, 1800-1939, Jonathan Brown full steam ahead? the British arms industry and the market for warships, 1850-1914, John Singleton.

Learning and Relationships in Small Firms Introduction to the Special Issue

At a workshop held at the Management School, Lancaster University, on 25 May 2004, 20 papers were presented to an audience of over 40 researchers. The 4 selected for publication examine different aspects of learning and relationships in small firms. They do so from a variety of perspectives – operations management, entrepreneurial learning and family firms – and use a range of theoretical stances: positivism, social constructionism and cultural anthropology. The methods and data also vary and include quantitative and qualitative empirical studies, as well as innovations in methodology. Given their differences in theoretical orientation it is interesting that they converge on two important and related themes in the subject, the role of relationships and learning. A review of evidence on networking and innovation has shown the importance of social relationships for encouraging the development of innovation through networks (Pittaway et al., 2004). Such social relationships are crucial to the innovation process and have been identified in a wide range of network arrangements (Kaufmann and Tödtling, 2001). These include supply chain networks (Ragatz et al., 1997), networks with third parties and particularly within small firms (Birley, 1985; Hoang and Antoncic, 2003). Social relationships are seen as increasingly significant to entrepreneurial learning, with a call for more work on situated learning in this context (Cope, 2003). Past emphasis on individualism and the heroic entrepreneur has already been questioned (Ogbor, 2000). This special issue reflects this work, embedding entrepreneurial behaviour in networks and social relationships. It explores the way these links guide learning and the development of small business activity. The first article is by Richard Thorpe, Jeff Gold, Robin Holt and Jean Clarke and is entitled ‘Immaturity: The Constraining of Entrepreneurship’. It introduces concepts from philosophy and social constructionism and explores how the ideas

Families and firms: The culture and evolution of family firms in britain and italy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Abstract Family firms played a very similar role in the industrialisation of both Britain and Italy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In both countries the relatively-low transaction costs of family and community in an uncertain world meant that family capitalism predominated, whilst trends in the late nineteenth century and inter-war period have reinforced this trend. Yet, even in this latter period, international differences dictated by differences in the institutional environment and in the relationship between industry and the state have led to differing characteristics of family firms and their capabilities in Britain and Italy. The article explores how far these long-term trends, combined with changes specific to the period since the Second World War, explain the survival of dominant large-scale family firms in Italy but not in Britain.

Business enterprise in modern Britain : from the eighteenth to the twentieth century

Part I: The origins of the factory system in Great Britain the family firm in British business in the 18th and 19th centuries financing firms, 1700-1850 big business before 1900. Part II: The corporate economy in Britain British multinationals and British business since 1850 the competitive environment of British business, 1850-1914 concentration and competition in the retail sector c1800-1990 the growth of the firm in the domestic banking sector the State and British business from 1945 nationalization, privatization and regulation investment in human capital and British manufacturing industry to 1990.

Communities of Knowledge: Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Networks in the British Outdoor Trade, 1960–90

This article focuses on the innovation process in an important leisure-based industry in Great Britain since 1960. It explores the peculiar juxtaposition of social, economic, technological, and sporting forces, which provided the springboard for a number of British outdoor companies, including Karrimor, Berghaus and Mountain Equipment, to become leading international brands. More particularly, it highlights the way innovations were developed in relatively small entrepreneurial firms. The prime focus is on the way in which networking activity underpinned innovation and, by implication, the competitive advantage of firms. To achieve this, it also traces the bridges within the supply chain and, by exploring the relationship between innovation and markets, places an emphasis on products and their design. The small companies of the British outdoor trade were able to achieve high levels of innovation through a combination of personal knowledge and networks. The environment itself--with buoyant, emerging, and changing markets--encouraged innovation, which in turn was inseparable from sporting advances. Networking behavior also evolved through time, with changes in market conditions, company profiles, and the environment. Personal networks were especially important in the 1960s and 1970, when firms were small and where owners were usually responsible for both designing and marketing.

The story of a university knowledge exchange actor-network told through the sociology of translation: A case study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to tell the story of the evolution of knowledge exchange (KE) activity within a department in a university in the north west of England and to understand this activity through the lens of actor‐network theory.Design/methodology/approach – Applying the sociology of translation to one qualitative interview shows how different actors were enrolled and mobilized into a KE actor‐network. The process of translation consists of four stages, problematisation, enrolment, interessement and mobilisation of allies which have been applied to the data to tell the story of the KE actor‐network. This is a cross‐disciplinary approach using a theoretical framework from sociology and applying it to a management/organizational context.Findings – This framework brings fresh ways of looking at the importance of KE networks within universities. Although limited to one interview, the methodology allows for an in‐depth reading of the data and shows how resilient and flexible this actor‐netwo...

International Competition and Strategic Response in the Textile Industries Since 1870

International Competition and Strategic Response in the Textile Industries since 1870 MARY B. ROSE 1 The British Cotton Industry and International Competitive Advantage: The State of the Debates WILLIAM MASS and WILLIAM LAZONICK 9 European Competition in Woollen Cloth, 1870-1914 D.T. JENKINS and J.C. MALIN 66 Lancashire and the Rise of Japan, 1910-1937 ALEX J.ROBERTSON 87 Struggling with Destiny: The Cotton Industry, Overseas Trade Policy and the Cotton Board, 1940-1959 MARGUERITE W. DUPREE 106 Showing the White Flag: The Lancashire Cotton Industry, 1945-1965 JOHN SINGLETON 129 The Textile Machine-Making Industry and the World Market, 1870-1960 D.A. FARNIE 150 The Decline and Rise of Textile Merchanting, 1880-1990 STANLEY CHAPMAN 171 Index 191