1. Concepts:
2. Foundations:
3. From Trade to Investment:
4. Trading in Crisis:
5. Concentration and Diversification:
6. Business Groups:
7. Management:
8. Networks:
9. Natural Resources:
10. Traders as Manufacturers:
11. End Game:
12. Conclusion:
Appendix 1: Post-Tax Return on Net Capital Employed of Selected
British Trading Companies, 1895-1998
Appendix 2: Pre-Tax Return on Net Capital Employed of Selected
British Trading Companies, 1948-1998
Appendix 3: Sources for Calculations on Capital Employed of British
Trading Companies
S Newcomen-Harvard Book Award for the best book published in business history for 1998-2000. Wadsworth Prize for Business History 2001
Geoffrey Jones is Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
`an innovative contribution to British economic history ... also
provides insight into emerging economics, which have often been
neglected by Western scholars ... Merchants is a clear and coherent
analysis of an elusive subject. It is nicely structured.'
Timothy R.Whisler, Business History Review
`provides business historians with a study that is impressive both
as a work of synthesis and as a reinterpretation of the
contribution of merchant enterprise to Britain's international
economic performance.'
Howard Cox, Business History, Vol.43, No.2, April 2001
`new light on the vexed issues of the relationship between the City
and the domestic economy, on the nature of overseas investment and
imperialism, on the nature of British management and on the role of
trust and knowledge in economic performance.'
Martin Daunton, THES 19.01.01.
`Jones is an authority on the history of multinational enterprise
... In the present volume, he turns his attention to British
traders. And, what a rich subject this turns out to be. ... an
archive-based work that provides information not available
elsewhere.'
Mira Wilkins, EH.NET
`Jones is superb is showing the variety; he not only discusses the
traders but also their long-standing and complex external business
relationships. ... Jones is excellent in tracing the multiple
problems British trading companies faced in the years of the First
World War, the 1920s, the 1930s, and of the Second World War.'
Mira Wilkins, EH.NET
`This is a splendid book. It not only delineates the trading
companies' expansion (and contraction) but also puts that story in
the context of the evolving world economy.'
Mira Wilkins, EH.NET
`This book is original and subtle, careful to pick up nuances, and
to delineate properly its topic. It is a major accomplishment.
Jones is ready to generalize and to theorize, but he does not
oversimplify. The book will set the reader reflecting on British
economic development and the British role in the global economy. It
is essential reading for every economic and business historian
interested in the history of multinational enterprise, in
British
economic history, and also in where British business fits in the
evolution of the world economy.'
Mira Wilkins, EH.NET
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