The wholesale and retail markets of London, 1660–1840

Markets and marketing are perennial themes in English economic and social history. Yet they remain largely unexplored in relation to London during a period of remarkable growth and change, the long eighteenth century. This article begins to fill that void, by surveying over 70 London produce markets that existed during the period, and identifying patterns in their collective development. It concludes that the physical market place, though ancient in origin, evolved through the ‘commercial revolution’ as a highly dynamic and diverse institution that played a significant role in London's distribution.     

The determinants of export subsidiary formation by US transnationals in developing countries: An inter-industry analysis

This paper examines the inter-industry variation in US transnationals' propensity to invest in export-orientated manufacturing subsidiaries in less developed countries. The results obtained from the empirical analysis indicate that a significant proportion of the variation can be explained by industry characteristics, such as factor-intensity, research and development expenditure, and marketing requirements. This study draws attention to a number of data limitations, and suggests that further progress in this area of investigation will depend on the assembly of a more refined data base.     

Book reviews

MARKETING FOR THE SMALL FIRM by Rick Brown (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1985), 184 pages, £5.95. ISBN 0–03–910616–0.

THE SELLING OF BRITISH TELECOM by Karin Newman (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1986), 176 pages, £15.95. ISBN 0–03–910639–1.

ADVERTISING WORKS 3 edited by Charles Channon (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1985), 317 pages, £20.00. ISBN 0–03–910619–5.

BASIC MARKETING 2nd ed. by Tom Cannon (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1986), 369 pages, £7.95. ISBN 0–03–910603–9.

TRAINING SALESMEN ON THE JOB 2nd Edition by John Lidstone (Gower Press, Aldershot, 1986), 180 pages, £25.00. ISBN 0–566–02414–4.

STRATEGIES FOR INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIAL MARKETING edited by Peter W. Turnbull and Jean‐Paul Valla (Croom Helm, London, 1986), 310 pages, £29.95 hardback. ISBN 0–7099–2494–1.

PRACTICAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: WHAT WORKS WHAT DOES NOT by Peter M. Kraushar (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, London, 1985), 180 pages, £15.95 hardback. ISBN 0–03–910614–4.     

Book Reviews

This study applies data envelopment analysis to evaluate the financial efficiency of a sample of 63 top US pharmaceutical advertisers, based on their sales and media advertising expenditures in 11 key media outlets (i.e. network TV, cable TV, syndicated TV, spot TV, magazines, Sunday magazines, national newspapers, newspapers, network radio, national spot radio, and outdoor). The analyses reveal that, on average, 35% of a pharmaceutical advertising budget is wasted, the largest portion of which is on network TV. In addition, the results of tobit regression indicate that magazines and Sunday magazines significantly contribute to the advertising inefficiency.     

THE VALUE OF AGRICULTURAL LAND

Ricardo's discovery that the rents of agricultural lands arise essentially out of the differences between them can be restated by saying that the rent of land should depend on its marginal product. In come countries the Ricardian situation persists; where agricultural labour has “nowhere else to go” rents rise as a function of rural population density. The paper reviews the measures of marginal product which have been made using three methods of estimation: the production function (Cobb Douglas): estimates made by precise linear programming; and estimates of the “residual” income to land. The production function technique has been applied in countries at all stages of development ranging from African hand hoe agriculture to Australia and Belgium, and for a range of farm sizes. There are fewer examples of measures made by the other two methods; they are more suitable for use in advanced economics.