This history of three powerful family firms located in different European countries takes place over a period of more than two hundred years. The interplay and the changing social and legal arrangements of the families shaped the development of a European capitalism quite different from the Anglo-American variety. Qualifying claims by Alfred Chandler and David Landes that family firms tend to be dysfunctional, Harold James shows how and why these steel and engineering firms were successful over long periods of time. Indeed, he sees the family enterprise as particularly conducive to managing risk during periods of upheaval and uncertainty when both states and markets are disturbed. He also identifies the key roles played by women executives during such times. In Family Capitalism, James tells how iron masters of a classical industrial cast were succeeded by new generations who wanted to shift to information-age systems technologies, and how families and firms wrestled with social and economic changes that occasionally tore them apart. Finally, the author shows how the trajectories of the firms were influenced by political, military, economic, and social events and how these firms illuminate a European model of relationship capitalism.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Harvard University Press
ISBN-13
9780674021815
eBay Product ID (ePID)
95718928
Product Key Features
Author
Harold James
Publication Name
Family Capitalism: Wendels, Haniels, Falcks, and the Continental European Model
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Subject
History, Business
Publication Year
2006
Type
Textbook
Number of Pages
448 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height
235mm
Item Width
156mm
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
Harold James
Country/Region of Manufacture
United States
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