Cartels and norms in the Swedish steel industry 1923–1953

This article discusses the reasons for cartel stability by using the Swedish Steel Casting Cartel as an example. Previous research points out organisational structure and the ability to deal with exit entry and cheating as crucial for stability. In this article, the development of social norms, morally legitimised within the cartel, is discussed as a possible explanation for cartel stability. The organisational structure developed was flexible enough to deal with problems of exit entry and cheating. The discussions on quotas and prices led to a common view on fair prices. The conclusion is that the organisational structure can partly explain why the Steel Casting Group was relatively stable but that there are indications that the development of common social norms related to the value of fairness was also an important explanatory factor.     

The European response to the challenge of the Japanese steel industry (1950–1980)

Between 1950 and 1980, the European delay with respect to Japan and the relative loss of competitiveness in the integrated steel industry was due to an institutional, geographical and economic logic based largely on historical factors. Europe had a long steel-making history that was closely related to its sources of raw materials. The new technological paradigm turned this former advantage into a clear disadvantage, while the large investments made in the Thomas and open hearth processes and the affordable price of scrap delayed the adoption of the Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) until its superiority had been clearly demonstrated. The European steel industry was not at the forefront of the transformation, but merely adapting to the changes, pushed by the threat of a new uncomfortable competitor.     

Reputation and export performance: Danish butter exports and the British market,c.1880–c.1914

This article extends current scholarship on the role of branding and trade marking in establishing competitive advantage. Using a case study of Danish butter exports to the British market, 1880–1914, we demonstrate that many of the technological and organisational innovations in this industry were not in themselves sufficient to guarantee that Danish butter would command price premiums in the British market. We argue that the introduction of the ‘Lurbrand’, together with the rigorous prosecution of vendors misrepresenting other butters as Danish, were vital to maintaining the reputation of Danish butter at a time when rival countries were producing butter of comparable quality. Of particular importance to current debates on branding and trade marking is our finding that independent butter producers collaborated with the Danish government to use the same trade mark and to ensure that state inspection guaranteed that Danish butter was produced consistently to the highest quality.     

The restructuring of the Spanish integrated steel industry in the European panorama (1971–86): A lost opportunity

Spanish steelmaking policy in the 1970s and early 1980s was not especially different from that of the main European countries. The political transition was a tense experience that heightened the problems and made economic policy decisions harder to reach, but it did not cause a fundamental divergence from the rest of Europe. What made the steel restructuring policy fail and forced a new and costly restructuring in the 1990s, was the decision of the Socialist government, newly elected in 1982, to opt for maintaining the inland steelworks instead of the coastal steelworks. Its motives were related to the locations of these steelworks in socially and politically sensitive areas. The closure of Sagunto marked the end of the only real possibility of Spain having a competitive integrated steelworks in terms of its integration into Europe.     

State intervention and economic growth in Southern Italy: the rise and fall of the ‘Cassa per il Mezzogiorno’ (1950–1986)

In the second half of the twentieth century, the Italian government carried out a massive regional policy in southern Italy, through the State-owned agency ‘Cassa per il Mezzogiorno’ (1950–1986). The article reconstructs the activities of this agency, making use of its yearly reports and of national and local archives. The Cassa was effective in the first two decades, thanks to substantial technical autonomy and, in the 1960s, to a strong focus on industrial development; however, from the 1970s it progressively became an instrument of waste and misallocation. At the local level, we find significant differences between the southern regions, and correspondence between the quality of state intervention and the regional patterns of GDP and productivity.     

Trust,Burroughs Wellcome & Co. and the foundation of a modern pharmaceutical industry in Britain, 1880–1914

The literature relating to networks and organizational culture has acknowledged trust to be a valuable intangible asset. This article reviews the theoretical literature and the limited empirical research on trust in relation to business organizations and activity. Within this framework, the early history of Burroughs Wellcome & Co. reveals the importance of trust in building a cohesive organization and in establishing a reputation with the medical profession and with the trade. The study shows the construction of trust to have been an essential dimension in the company's growth to become the leading pharmaceutical manufacturer in Britain by 1914.     

The Development of Management Information Systems in the British Coal Industry,c.1880–1947 1

The objective of this study is to discuss whether the management of public enterprises in Sweden can be considered as a special type of managerial capitalism. Empirical evidence is offered from the development of railroads and electrification. The construction of railroads and electrification was of great concern to the Swedish government. The Public Railroads (SJ) and the State Water Power Board did not have a monopoly but played a leading role each on its specific market. They did not develop into independent companies because the central government always made the strategic decisions. Consequently managerial capitalism by Chandler's definition was not at hand.     

Business and government in electricity network integration in Western Europe,c.1900–1950

A cross-country comparison is made of the moves to system integration, at the national level, of electricity supply in several Western European countries. Private electricity business firms were dominant in France, Italy and Spain and large generating enterprises and transporting groups grew through mergers and agreements. In Germany, Scandinavia and the UK, municipalities were more common and were resistant to mergers and network development. Several national networks had emerged by the 1940s but hardly any were nationally managed in the sense of ensuring electricity was everywhere supplied from the lowest cost source. The article considers the economic gains from integration and argues that it developed successfully where central governments became actively involved.     

Beyond industrial policy. State intervention in the Swedish electricity supply industry, 1936–1946

As in other Western European countries, the emergence of a national network for electricity transmission in Sweden was accompanied by a greater degree of State intervention in the electricity supply sector. The aim of this article is to elucidate the institutional background to the decision in 1946 by the Social Democratic government to transfer control of the national grid to the Swedish National Power Board. It is demonstrated that this decision not only was linked to a general industrial policy to promote energy supply. It was also linked to the agricultural and cohesion policies which emerged during the 1940s.     

Risk management and reinsurance strategies in the Spanish insurance market (1880–1940)

Reinsurance allows insurance companies to diversify their risks. However, from this original role, insurance companies have developed various reinsurance strategies in order to expand their market share. From the last decades of the nineteenth century to the 1940s, Spanish insurance companies used reinsurance in a largely unregulated context. This article analyses the reinsurance practices and their adaptation to the singularities of the Spanish market, namely: the difficulties for the consolidation of a core of pure reinsurers; the management of reinsurance in the internationalisation process; and the use of reinsurance by mutual societies to overcome their lack of equity capital.     

Firm-specific assets and the internationalization–performance relationship in the U.S. movie studio industry

We study the role that firm-specific assets (FSAs) play in the processes underlying the internationalization–performance relationship. International business scholars have begun studying the interrelationship between FSAs, internationalization, and performance; however, this research is still emergent, and has produced inconclusive results. We believe that this may be due, in part, to research designs involving the same FSAs across many industries, even though individual industries may rely on different FSAs in their internationalization strategies. We address this issue in a single industry study of U.S. movie studios, which typically rely on blockbuster production capabilities as FSAs in their internationalization efforts. We show how these FSAs co-evolve with firms’ degree of internationalization, and how each factor mediates the positive effect of the other on performance. Our results highlight the importance of studying specific industries and their salient FSAs when assessing their role of such resources in the internationalization–performance relationship.     

The managing of competition: Government and industry relationships in the jute industry 1957–63

This paper examines the development of the 1963 court case brought by the Board of Trade's Restrictive Trading Agreements Office against jute manufacturers, in order to examine the impact of the newly introduced competition policy for government–business relationships. Government's active enforcement of competition marked an important change in the direction of industrial policy in the UK and the jute industry was one of the cases to be examined.     

Disney in Spain (1930–1935)

Abstract

This article looks at the ways in which the global brand par excellence – Mickey Mouse – spread throughout Spain in the early 1930s. In tracing the creative and commercial interplay with the Mickey character we show how the Disney Company failed to obtain any significant intellectual property rights in its own name or obtain a sympathetic hearing by Spanish patent and trademark officials. Yet this was undoubtedly a period of significant global development of the Disney brand. With the attempt to explain such an apparent contradictory situation, this article highlights the importance of the management of particular struggles in the flux of desires, appropriation and investments that contributed to the emergence of the elusive ‘merchandising right’.     

The fable of the birth of the Japanese automobile industry: A reconsideration of the Toyoda–Platt agreement of 1929

In discussing the birth of the Japanese automobile industry, most researchers and journalists put the Toyota Motor Corporation and the Toyoda–Platt Agreement at centre-stage. It has been widely asserted that the one million yen (¥100,000) that was received as a result of the Agreement provided Kiichiro Toyoda with the means to begin his research on the automobile. But the historical evidence does not support this legendary story, and in many ways contradicts it. This article aims to set the historical record straight.     

Strategic policy revisited: The origins of mass production in the motor industry of Argentina,Korea and Spain, 1945–87

During the postwar ‘golden age’ of economic growth, Argentina, Korea and Spain promoted the development of their motor industries by restricting imports, licensing investment, imposing a high level of local sourcing for parts, and supporting their own national champions. These strategic policies took advantage of economies of scale, achieving significant increases in output, and creating dynamic competitive advantage. Sudden liberalisation or the high volatility of the macroeconomic environment could jeopardise the process of structural change. Gradual evolution of policy-making and the cumulative learning of capabilities by the national champions were crucial for long-term success. The present research supports both List's classical defence of protection for infant industries in medium–large economies and more recent claims in favour of strategic policy.     

The community dynamics of entrepreneurship: The birth of the american film industry, 1895–1929

This paper provides insight for practitioners by exploring the collective process of entrepreneurship in the context of the formation of new industries. In contrast to the popular notions of entrepreneurship, with their emphasis on individual traits, we argue that successful entrepreneurship is often not solely the result of solitary individuals acting in isolation. In many respects, entrepreneurs exist as part of larger collectives. First and foremost, there is the population of organizations engaging in activities similar to those of the entrepreneurial firm, which constitute a social system that can affect entrepreneurial success. In addition, there is also a community of populations of organizations characterized by interdependence of outcomes. Individual entrepreneurs may be more successful in the venturing process if they recognize some of the ways in which their success may depend on the actions of entrepreneurs throughout this community. Thus, we urge practitioners and theorists alike to include a community perspective in their approach to entrepreneurship. We also suggest that one way of conceptualizing the community of relevance might be in terms of populations of organizations that constitute the value chain. For example, in the early film industry a simple value chain with three functions—production, distribution, and exhibition—is a convenient heuristic for considering what populations of organizations might be relevant. As we show in our case study of that industry, a community model offers insights into the collective nature of entrepreneurship and the emergence of new industries.Our basic thesis is that the role of entrepreneurship in the creation of new industries can be conceptualized in terms of the dynamics of a community of organizational populations. At least three implications of this view may be important for practitioners. First, the kind of widespread and fundamental economic and social change that has often been linked with entrepreneurship requires a variety of behaviors. While most definitions of entrepreneurship have recognized that entrepreneurship requires the introduction of innovation, they have tended to ignore the importance of behaviors that subsequently support that innovation. To encompass these important behaviors, we believe that a broad definition of entrepreneurial behaviors is justified. To capture this, the framework of entrepreneurial behaviors that we develop includes the variety of behaviors that are important to the success of a collective process of entrepreneurship. We believe that recognition of a variety of different behaviors that are important to the success of the entrepreneurial process can help practicing entrepreneurs to understand more fully the complex dynamics of new industry creation. In terms of our framework, the range of behaviors of potential importance to entrepreneurship includes all of the following: creating a firm that innovates, creating a new business that imitates the practices of others, innovating within an existing business, and imitating by creating change in an existing business. In addition, we recognize that the kinds of innovative change that support entrepreneurship in the context of new industry creation are not narrowly technological; other kinds of product and service changes as well as administrative innovations may also be relevant.Second, entrepreneurship in one part of the community often creates the opportunity for entrepreneurial activity elsewhere in the community. For example, the founding of movie palaces did not begin until feature length films appeared. The challenge for entrepreneurs is to recognize these opportunities and act on them. Third, and related, the long-term success of entrepreneurial behaviors in one population of the community frequently requires that supportive entrepreneurial behaviors occur in other populations in the community. For example, the success of feature length films was hastened by the development of distribution organizations to replace traveling shows and localized markets. Their success was also hastened by the movement away from nickelodeons towards larger, more comfortable exhibition outlets, such as theaters and show palaces. When the interdependence among populations in the community is stated this way, another challenge to entrepreneurs becomes clear: the facilitation and encouragement of supportive behaviors in other populations.We are not the first to propose that the community is important, but we contribute to this idea by showing in a specific context how various types of behaviors interact and ultimately promote entrepreneurship throughout the community. Our contribution for practitioners is twofold. We would urge practitioners to consider the variety of behaviors necessary to create, reinforce, and maintain fundamental and widespread change. Further, we would suggest that practitioners consider how activities in a broad community of organizations can set the stage for entrepreneurship and have a high impact on its ultimate success or failure. Thus, we would suggest that practitioners who seek to innovate should search broadly for opportunities and understand the importance of relations with businesses elsewhere in the community. The success of their entrepreneurial efforts may depend on the occurrence of supportive entrepreneurial changes in those businesses as well. Their ability to do this will be enhanced by a broad understanding of entrepreneurial behaviors and sensitivity to the opportunities that their entrepreneurial behaviors may create for others.     

Between the firm and the market: An international comparison of the commercial structures of the cotton industry (1820–1939)

This article describes the ways in which cotton goods were commercialised during the nineteenth century and the first third of the twentieth. Several national cases are analysed: Britain as the Workshop of the World; France, Germany, Switzerland and the US as core economies; Italy and Spain as countries on the European periphery; and Japan as a successful export latecomer. The main question that we address is why some cotton industries vertically integrated their production and selling processes, but others did not. We present a model that combines industrial district size and product differentiation to explain why vertical integration was present in most cases and why there was vertical specialisation of production and selling in Lancashire, Lowell and Japan.     

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 definitionof the family firm to place personal capitalism in an appropriateinstitutional, historical, and cultural framework. By focusingon the nineteenth- and twentieth-century experiences in Britain,Spain, and Italy, we challenge the notion that in the nineteenthand twentieth centuries there was anything so simple as a Mediterraneanmodel for family business. Rather, we demonstrate the need toconsider family businesses in national and regional contextsif we are to understand their various capabilities and characteristics.We use similarities and differences in the experiences and responsesof families and firms in the three countries to support thisclaim.     

“Made in Italy”: The Italian Contribution to the Development of Business Marketing Discipline and Practices

Purpose: The authors analyze the main contributions of Italian literature in the business-to-business field as it relates to the characteristics of the Italian industrial manufacturing system. Even if not directly labeled as business-to-business marketing, Italian and other scholars who have studied Italian business experiences have largely faced the topic of business marketing management with innovative approaches and distinctive benchmark examples. In particular, the analysis of the Italian contribution to business marketing relies on the specific nature of the Italian industrial structure as recognized by the international literature. In this respect, the authors argue that three main areas of interest progressively arose from the peculiarities of the Italian industrial system: industrial districts, subcontractors/subcontracting relationships, and mid-sized manufacturing companies. These three research topics have been thoroughly investigated by both Italian and international scholars. They analyze the contributions that Italian researchers provided to advance business marketing discipline and practices.

Methodology/approach: The authors reviewed the literature of the main contributions developed in the three individual areas of research that have a strong focus on the Italian experience. The methodology was in three steps. First, the review planning process was guided by the three areas of research that were assumed to have a major contribution to business marketing discipline. Second, the SCOPUS database was used as a primary source for paper identification by using a keywords search method. Third, the dataset was refined by excluding non relevant contributions (not focused on business management and marketing or not specifically dealing with the three areas of interest) and validating/integrating the original dataset by using other complementary sources (e.g., Google Books, Google Scholar). Finally, a set of 268 products were taken into account in the analysis.

Findings: The results of the analysis suggest that the Italian contribution to the field of business marketing is valuable in light of the three chosen areas of research. These three empirical arenas—industrial districts, subcontractors, and mid-sized firms—contribute to providing a better understanding of business market structure and dynamics as well as the improvement of business marketing studies.

Originality/value: The article is an original and first attempt to elaborate and reflect on the contribution of the Italian business experience literature to the advances of business marketing discipline. The authors develop an original comprehensive review of “Made in Italy” business marketing and management research that has not been used in previous studies. The review will increase international knowledge of Italian practices and theoretical frameworks that can contribute to the reinforcement of the business-to-business marketing discipline.