Product Description

This book explores the long-term forces shaping business attitudes in the British and American cotton industries from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Mary Rose traces social, political and developmental differences from the early stages of industrialization. She demonstrates how firms become embedded in networks, and evolve according to business values and strategies. The book examines local and regional networks, the changing competitive environment, community characteristics and national differences. Rose’s findings challenge traditional views with new evidence that the character and achievements of each industry uniquely reflect local circumstances and historical experience. This is a critical synthesis of the multidisciplinary literature on the cotton textile industries of two major industrial nations and a study of the changing forces influencing decision making. An important contribution to comparative business history, this book will be of interest to graduates and scholars in all areas of business and economic history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2234914 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 366 pages

Review
‘Firms, Networks and Business Values is an important book. Scholars interested in business and technological change will find this account essential.’ Business History

‘… a carefully argued and meticulously researched comparative study of the cotton industries of Great Britain and the USA. … The book is highly recommended. It will be of interest to both those concerned with the local and regional history of the cotton industry and those more interested in the broader issues of the course of modern industrial development.’ Northern History

‘This book explains industrial evolution in terms of divergence rather than of convergence. Its unique comparative perspective confers upon its great value and holds forth to other scholars a model for emulation.’ Besprechungen

About the Author
Mary B. Rose is Senior Lecturer in Business History in the Management School at the University of Lancaster. She is the author of The Gregs of Quarry Bank Mill (1986) and received the 1996 Alan Ball prize for her edited volumeThe Lancashire Cotton Industry: A History since 1700. She is past president of the Association of Business Historians and currently Director of the Pasold Research Fund.