Business forms and business performance in UK manufacturing 1871-81

Foreman-Peck, James ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9826-5725 and Hannah, Leslie 2024. Business forms and business performance in UK manufacturing 1871-81. The Economic History Review 10.1111/ehr.13392

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Abstract

We explore which business forms were predominant and why some forms were more effective among large British manufacturing firms in the later Victorian economy. With a dataset of 483 manufacturing firms in 1881 either that employed at least 1000 or had done so a decade earlier we find that the great majority were partnerships. Public corporations attained higher capital/ labour ratios and stronger employment growth than other business forms. The separation of ownership from control was most effective where it was most thoroughly practised, as by public, in contrast to private, corporations. Engineers were frequently encountered in all business forms and associated with expanding employment. But the large public manufacturing corporations employed almost twice the proportion of engineers and professionals in top management as other enterprises. Family firms, proxied by heirs, were present in management of three quarters of partnerships but in only one third of public corporations, and did indeed reduce the employment growth of the firm, whereas engineers boosted it by more. Lords, mayors and landed wealth in management were also associated with faster employment growth of enterprises.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	0013-0117
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	24 October 2024
Date of Acceptance:	15 September 2024
Last Modified:	04 Nov 2024 12:08
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/173281

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