Entrepreneurship, Development and Political Economy Seminar Series. Business Partnerships in a British Industrial City: The Case of Glasgow 1861-1881.
Published: 3 October 2023
11 October. Professor Graeme Acheson, University of Strathclyde
Professor Graeme Acheson, University of Strathclyde
"Business Partnerships in a British Industrial City: The Case of Glasgow 1861-1881."
Wednesday, 11 October. 10:30 am
Room 282 Hot House. Adam Smith Business School Building
Abstract
This paper examines the prevalence of business partnerships in a late nineteenth century British city, using individual level data from Post Office directories and censuses. Focusing on Glasgow, we present a detailed picture of partnership number and type, demographic characteristics of the entrepreneurs who ran them, and how these businesses persisted over time. We show that partnerships were a key business grouping in the city - a result that casts doubt on recent nationwide estimates derived from the census. The largest of these businesses had employee numbers that prove partnerships were amongst the largest businesses in Britain. Partnerships matched corporations in respect of survival rates, with persistence data also suggesting that kinship partnerships were better able to deal with hold-up problems associated with the partnership form. By linking census data to our partnership sample, we show that younger residents and migrants were under-represented – consistent with the view that such groups lack access to the capital needed for business set-up.
Bio
Graeme is a Professor of Finance at The University of Strathclyde. Graeme's research applies contemporary econometric techniques to historical settings. Much of his work examines how the evolving legal environment in nineteenth century Great Britain impacted on investor behaviour and governance structures in early British companies. Addressing topics such as firm performance and banking crisis he has examined the impact of major financial events such as the failure of the City of Glasgow Bank in 1878. His current work focuses on the entrepreneurship in the nineteenth century in an attempt to better understand aspects of economic development.
For further information, please contact business-school-research@glasgow.ac.uk
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First published: 3 October 2023
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