This text explores the patterns of corporate growth, organizational change, and entrepreneurial succession within Britain's shipping industry between 1870 and 1914 when the industry dominated the trade routes of the world. It analyzes how one of Britain's major service industries retained its international competitiveness at a time when many of the older staple sectors lost their comparative advantages and when numerous firms in the new industries failed to develop strong capabilities.

As the first volume of a two-volume set on mediation in China, this book examines the legal foundations of Chinese mediation and feasible paths to the institutionalization and professionalization of mediation. Grounded in traditional dispute resolution practices throughout Chinese history, mediation is born out of the Chinese legal tradition and considered to be “Eastern” in nature. The first volume discusses the legal principles that underpin mediation in China, rooted in a legal tradition that pursues the rule of law and morality as well as the concept of harmony in Chinese society. It first revisits traditional notions and models of Chinese mediation and then puts forward approaches to innovating the concept, institutionalization, and mechanism of mediation. The book also discusses how to promote professionalization and special legislation dedicated to mediation in China, thus establishing a mediation system that fits into and is properly tailored for Chinese society. It introduces diverse styles of mediation and social governance in different cultural contexts and demonstrates the effectiveness of China's experience in dealing with a litigious society. This title will serve as a crucial reference for scholars, students and related professionals interested in alternative dispute resolution, civil litigation, and especially China’s dispute resolution policy, law, and practice.

The prevailing narrative on Africa is that it is awash with violent conflict. Indeed, it does suffer from a multitude of conflicts — from border skirmishes to civil wars to terrorist attacks. Conflicts in Africa are diverse and complex, but there have been a number of cases of successful conflict management and resolution. What accounts for the successes and failures, and what can we learn from Africa’s experience? Minding the Gap: African Conflict Management in a Time of Change takes on these questions, bringing together more than 20 experts to examine the source of conflicts in Africa and assess African management capacity in the face of these conflicts.

Published in 1997, this volume is a collection of seminal articles on a theme of central importance in the study of transport history, selected from the leading journal in the field. containing articles selected by a distinguished scholar, as well as an authoritative new introduction by the volume editor. The book will form an essential foundation to the study of the history of shipping.

A history of imperial competition, colonial cooperation, and revolutionary currents in the maritime borderlands of the early nineteenth-century Caribbean.

During the nineteenth century Liverpool became the heart of an international maritime network. As the 'second city' of Empire, its merchants and shipowners operated within a transnational commercial and financial system, while its trading connections stimulated the development of new markets and their integration within an increasingly global economy. This ground-breaking volume brings together ten original contributions that reflect upon the development of the city's business community from the early-nineteenth century to the outbreak of the First World War with an emphasis on the period from 1851 to 1912. It offers the first detailed analysis of Liverpool's merchant community within a conceptual and historiographical framework which focuses on the economic, social and cultural role of business elites in the nineteenth century. It explores the extent to which business success was predicated on the maintenance of networks of trust; analyses the importance of business culture in structuring commercial operations; and discusses the role of ethics, trust and reputation within the changing framework of the business environment. Particular attention is paid to the role of women and the important contribution of the family to commercial success and the maintenance of social networks. Changes in business practice and social networks are also examined within a spatial context in order to assess the impact of the development of a distinct commercial centre and the clustering of commercial activity on interaction, reputation and trust, while particular attention is paid to the effect of suburbanization on existing associational networks, the social cohesiveness of business culture, and the cultural identity of the merchant community as a whole.