Originally published in 1992, this book examines the development of employers' human resource management and industrial relations policies in Britain. It adopts a broad historical perspective, beginning with the inheritance from the nineteenth century and ending with an analysis of human resource management policies. It focuses on how managers organise the employment relationship, how they control work relations, and how they deal with trade unions and industrial relations. The author examines these in the context of the market within which the firm operates, and the strategy, structure and hierarchy of industrial enterprise. The book shows that historically British employers tended to adopt market-based strategies rather than internal ones.

Se establecen comparaciones entre distintos sectores o aspectos económicos en varios países, en diferentes momentos históricos. Se incluyen técnicas para establecer las comparaciones.

Cover page -- Halftitle page -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Title page -- Copyright page -- FOREWORD -- CONTENTS -- CHAPTER I Historical Introduction -- CHAPTER II Structure of the Industry -- CHAPTER III The Demand for Vehicles -- CHAPTER IV Technique of Production -- CHAPTER V The Structure of Costs -- CHAPTER VI Economies of Large-scale Production -- CHAPTER VII Competition in the Car Market, 1929-1956 -- CHAPTER VIII The Nature of Competition in the Industry -- CHAPTER IX Profits and Sources of Funds -- CHAPTER X Future Prospects -- CHAPTER XI Conclusions -- APPENDIX A The Capital-Output Ratio in the Motor Industry -- APPENDIX B Comparative Productivity and Prices in the British and American Motor Industries -- APPENDIX C The Relative Prices of British and Continental Cars -- APPENDIX D STATISTICAL TABLES -- LIST OF CHARTS FIGURES AND TABLES -- INDEX.

These unique papers were originally read at a conference on the new economic history of Britain at Harvard in 1970, and each is accompanied by a summary of the discussion that followed it. The participants of the conference represented a broad range of scholars from both sides of the Atlantic. The first eleven papers deal with a variety of topics covering a period from 1840 to the 1920s. They focus on the performance of the British economy, and especially its businessmen, during the time of Britain's industrial maturity and relative decline. The papers and discussions reached a novel conclusion tha, contrary to commonly held opinion, the British economy performed well and that British businessmen were not lacking in entrepreneurial vigour compared with their German or American counterparts. But even more important for British historiography than this finding was the demonstration that economic and statistical methods can be applied successfully to the study of economic history. The papers in the concluding section discuss the origins and development of the new economic history and show that, as a substantial supplement to work along more traditional lines, its methods and application are both desirable and possible. This collection serves as an interesting report of research into a key period in British history, and also as a useful introductory account of the new economic history in the United Kingdom. This book was first published in 1971.