The study based on his original research, undertaken in Oxford and subsequently in Japan, covers the important nexus established between Japan and the United Kingdom in the nineteenth century with the export of cotton textiles (of higher quality) from Britain to Asia. This historical link between key industries in our two countries is now happily mirrored in current scholarship, of which this is a prime example. It is no function of a brief preface to replicate the conclusions of detailed research but to emphansize the sider context of the research which lies behind the text of this book, which I am most happy to endorse. -- Jacket

This book of essays, which draws on the expertise of leading textile scholars in Britain and the United States, focuses on the problem of and responses to foreign competition in textiles from the late nineteenth century to the present day. A short introductory essay by the editor is followed by a survey of the debates surrounding the British cotton industry, foreign competition and competitive advantage. The other essays consider various aspects of that competition, including textile machine-making, Lancashire perceptions of the rise of Japan during the inter-war period and responses to foreign competition in the British cotton industry since 1945, whilst others deal with the decline and rise of merchanting in UK textiles and European competition in woollen yarn and cloth from 1870 to 1914. A recurring theme in a number of the essays is Japanese competitive advantage in textiles. The book is unique since although there are numerous books dealing with the problems of British staple industries, none focuses primarily on the issue of competition, its sources and responses, nor on textiles in general rather than a single industry. Moreover, since the scope is international rather than limited only to the UK, it follows recent trends in British busines history away from single company case studies towards a more thematic, comparative approach. In addition, the international authorship of these papers gives this book, first published in 1991, wide appeal.

The four sections of the book deal in succession with Marshall’s key ideas on the subject, the wider context of his thought in which they are to be read, their later development by some of his pupils, and their revival in contemporary economics. The first and last sections work together to illustrate the evolutionary focus of Marshall’s research program and to identify its affinity with modern industrial economics; the second explicates the social assumptions within which the Marshallian paradigm was embedded, in particular those relating to the various relationships that exist between individuals and wider groups; while the third traces the development of Marshall’s views by some of his pupils.

This shortform book presents key peer-reviewed research on industrial history. In selecting and contextualising this volume, the editors address how the field of textile history has evolved. Themes covered include entrepreneurial, technological and labour history, whilst the book highlights the strategic and social consequences of innovations in the history of this key UK sector. Of interest to business and economic historians, this shortform book also provides analysis and illustrative case-studies that will be valuable reading across the social sciences.

This title was first published in 2003. The cotton industry was one of the major motors that powered Britain's industrial development from the mid-eighteenth century, contributing in no small way to the revolution that was to transform Europe over the next hundred years. The combination of technological developments, colonial exploits and social transformation that all came together in the Lancashire cotton industry provided a perfect example of how the new world would function, its priorities and its ambitions. Into this fast moving and fluid situation, were thrust the men, women and children who formed the vast pool of labour necessary to keep the spindles and looms running. It is their experiences above all, that illuminates the history of the cotton industry, and how it came to change the face of Britain through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In this study, Alan Fowler takes an in-depth look at the Lancashire cotton industry through the prism of its workers, their families and organisations. He argues that by 1850 the triumph of the factory system was complete, and the factory operative a mainstay of a transformed society based on a new economic order. With this increasingly important role in the new economy came opportunities, which cotton workers were not slow to grasp. Crucial to the history of the Lancashire cotton operatives were the collective organisations they established which forced employers and government to treat with them. By the beginning of the twentieth century these organisations had managed to raise wages, improve working conditions, reduce working hours, establish the right to holidays, and force the introduction of factory legislation. This book explores how these victories were won and the impact they had on the industry and wider society.