The essays in this book analyse the development of British business in the two hundred years since the Industrial Revolution. coverage of the evolution of British business is wide ranging, and includes an exploration of the conditions, both internal and external to firms, which influenced strategic decision making. The long historical perspective presented in this book is important in that it facilitates an understanding of the development of skills, work practices, social structure and attitudes, all of which have bearing on twentieth century business performance and organisation. The authors are all eminent business historians, and under the editorship of Mauric Kirby and Mary Rose, have produced a collection of essays to challenge the Chandlerian direction of thinking.

Newly revised and updated, "The Rise of Modern Business" compares and analyzes the development of business and business institutions in Great Britain, the United States, Japan, and, to a lesser extent, Germany from the preindustrial era to the present, wi

Smith explains how France abandoned merchant capitalism for the corporate enterprise that would come to dominate its economy and project influence around the globe. Opposing the view that French economic and business development was crippled by missed opportunities and entrepreneurial failures, he presents a story of considerable achievement.

The Rise of Modern Business compares and analyzes the development of business and business institutions in several countries from the preindustrial era to the present. Paying close attention to connections between business development and political, social, and cultural changes, Blackford addresses both manufacturing and nonmanufacturing firms, small firms as well as big businesses. For this third edition, he updates his study in light of new scholarship, with special attention paid to the structural diversity of business firms and with a timely discussion about the reciprocal relationship between business and the environment. The business history of Germany is extensively updated, and there is entirely new coverage of the business history of China, a country whose growing political and economic prowess on the world stage demands the historical and contextual understanding of business scholars today.

Labour and Business in Modern Britain (1989) examines the history of labour relations in British business using important empirical research. The study of ‘labour process’ and the dynamics of the labour market are key, and each chapter stands alone as an investigation of an important episode, an important industry, or an important theoretical question refracted through an historical problem.

Publisher Description

The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain provides a readable and comprehensive survey of the economic history of Britain since industrialisation, based on the most up-to-date research into the subject. Roderick Floud and Paul Johnson have assembled a team of fifty leading scholars from around the world to produce a set of volumes which are both a lucid textbook for students and an authoritative guide to the subject. The text pays particular attention to the explanation of quantitative and theory-based enquiry, but all forms of historical research are used to provide a comprehensive account of the development of the British economy. Volume I covers the period 1700–1860 when Britain led the world in the process of industrialisation. It will be an invaluable guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students in history, economics and other social sciences.