business british

8/13/2019 Business British

1/7

1

MIRA WILKINS, The free-standing company, 1870-1914: an important type ofBritish foreign direct investment. The Economic History Review,Volume 41, Issue2,pages 259282, May 1988.

The free-standing company is a novel phrase that redefines a particular type ofBritish foreign direct investment, which although familiar to all students of Britishcapital exports in the period 1870-1914, is none the less inadequately analysed in theextensive literature on British overseas investment. This article seeks to fill this gap inthe literature, by employing a new typology that focuses on the individual firm as anoperating entity.

A recent estimate shows the proportion of overseas assets in British national wealthwas 30 percent just before World War I. Some of this overseas investment was strictlyfinancial in character (in the form of loans to foreign governments and capital for

private firms abroad), but some of it was foreign direct investment defined here(following the U.S. Department of Commerce) as investments abroad made for

business purpose with investors intending to control or having the potential to controlthe foreing operations.

Foreign direct investments differed from bank loans or other portfolio investmentswhere the relationship between the investor and the recipient was at arms length. In

the latter case, the foreign lender (investor) evaluated the borrower and made the loanor provided the equity capital; thereafter, the money was at the disposal of therecipient. By contrast, what characterized the foreign direct investor was the powerretained to control and run the business abroad.

While the existence of British direct investments overseas in this

Refs:

Pollard, Capital Exports, 18701914 Harmful or Beneficial? The Economic HistoryReview,Volume 38, Issue 4,pages 489514, November 1985. Article first publishedonline: 11 FEB 2008.

Capital Exports 1870 1914 Harmful Or Beneficial PdfTHE ECONOMICHISTORY REVIEW SECOND SERIES, VOLUME XXXVIII, No 4, November I985SURVEYS AND SPECULATIONS Capital Exports, I 870-I 9I4: Harmful orBeneficial Capital Exports 1870 1914 Harmful Or Beneficial PdfTHE ECONOMICHISTORY REVIEW SECOND SERIES, VOLUME XXXVIII, No 4, November I985SURVEYS AND SPECULATIONS Capital Exports, I 870-I 9I4: Harmful OrBeneficial July 12th, 2012 Capital Exports, 1870-1914: Harmful Or Beneficial?
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ehr.1988.41.issue-2/issuetochttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ehr.1988.41.issue-2/issuetochttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ehr.1988.41.issue-2/issuetochttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ehr.1985.38.issue-4/issuetochttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ehr.1985.38.issue-4/issuetochttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ehr.1985.38.issue-4/issuetochttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ehr.1988.41.issue-2/issuetochttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ehr.1988.41.issue-2/issuetoc


2/7

2

Peter Temin, Capital exports, 1870-1914: an alternative model,Economic HistoryReview, 2ndser, XL, 3 (1987), 453-458.

The problem of English foreign investment during the nineteenth-century isreceiving renewed attention in these days of hectic international capital flows. ..

Pollards recent survey of the literature on Victorian Britains foreign investments hasrevealed its two salient characteristics. First, it is exstensice and multi-faceted.Second, it is extremely uninformative about the effects of foreign lending on theBritish economy. Pollard entitled his essay: Capital exports, 1870-1914: harmful or

beneficial?. But he ended without providing a clear answer. He says ruefully instead,

Many effects depended on elasticities and other relationships that are and mustremain unknown

This agnostic conclusion is unnecessarily pessimistic. The line of argument in theliterature leads nowhere, to be sure, but that does not mean the problem itself is

intractable. A rephrasing of the question is called for. Even though the answer toPollards question involves quantities-for example, domestic investment and income

per head-it is best to approach them indirectly. Quantities and prices are jointlydetermined in most markets; they need to be considered together. And since they are

both endogenous we need to look further for the exogenous variable that determinestheir magnitudes.

With this in mind, let me replace Pollards single question with two alternatives. First,what were the determinants of British foreign lending in the late nineteenth century?And second, what were the effects of these determinants on the domestic Britisheconomy? Instead of seeking a casual link between foreign investment and, say,domestic investment, this approach asks how the underlying forces of the lateVictorian economy affected them both. Foreign lending becomes the starting point fora description of the British economy, but it need not be elevated to the position of adeus ex machina that intervenes in domestic activities.

I propose in addition to utilize a model that, while familiar elsewhere, has not beenapplied to this problem. Instead of assuming imperfect markets and looking for theeffects of market failures, this approach assumes that the relevant markets can be bestseen as competitive. The relevant markets are two: one for foreign bonds and one forequity in domestic firms. The former

Edelstein/Fidelstein?, Overseas investment

Mark Casson, Institutional Diversity in Overseas Enterprise: Explaining the Free-Standing Company, Business History, vol 36, issue 4, 1994, 95-108.

Shakila Yacob, Hidden Disciplines in Malaysia: The Role of Business History in a

Multi-Disciplinary Framework, Australian Economic History Review, An Asia-


3/7

3

Pacific Journal of Economic, Business and Social History, Vol. 49, issue 3, 302-324,November 2009.

Business history plays a crucial role in the understanding of the history andsocioeconomic development of Malaysia. This paper analyses that role through an

assessment of the most relevant colonial, post-colonial, and contemporary literature.Malaysian business history adopts a multidisciplinary approach, which has the

potential to propel the discipline to address potentially sensitive political issues inMalaysia, though in the past business historys assimilation into other disciplines hasdiscourated, with notable exceptions, its potential to explore sensitive topics. Inconclusion, the paper outlines the challenges faced by Malaysian business historyacademics and argues for extending the disciplines boundaries.

S.G. Redding, The distinct nature of Chinese capitalism, The Pacific Reviews, vol. 9,

issue 3, 1996, 426-441.

Abstract

There is debate over the future shape of economic systems in Asia and specifically theissue of whether Asian values will determine societal systems. The alternative

position that convergence is taking place around democratic capitalism, and that thiswill lead Asian systems to take heavy influence from it, is considered via the exampleof the business systems of the ethnic Chinese. Four of these are considered and theyare examined in terms of their origins, the way in which they now reflect those originsand the common features which suggest a pattern of determinacy uniting them. Thecomplexity and variety of tracks towards modernization, and ways in whichinstitutions are embedded in society history, are taken into account, as is the

possibility of hybrid systems of capitalism.s

Carol Matheson Connell,Jardine Matheson & Company: The Role of ExternalOrganization in a NineteenthCentury Trading Firm,Oxford Journals,Humanities &SocialSciences,Enterprise & Society,Volume 4, Issue 1,Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 99-138.

Abstract

Jardine Matheson & Company, a Hong Kong conglomerate founded in 1832, hassurvived political upheaval and global and regional economic crises, transformingitself several times. From their beginnings in the commission business, WilliamJardine and James Matheson developed a reputation for sound financial managementthat furthered their trading relationships and supported their firm's expansion fromagency house to managing agent to investment house between 1832 and 1885.Fundamental to Jardine Matheson's success was the strategic decision to eschewspeculation and to concentrate on building a pattern of relationships within and

outside the business that would foster the flow of information, the knowledge with
http://es.oxfordjournals.org/search?author1=Carol+Matheson+Connell&sortspec=date&submit=Submithttp://es.oxfordjournals.org/search?author1=Carol+Matheson+Connell&sortspec=date&submit=Submithttp://es.oxfordjournals.org/search?author1=Carol+Matheson+Connell&sortspec=date&submit=Submithttp://services.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/tslogin?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oxfordjournals.orghttp://www.oxfordjournals.org/subject/humanities/http://www.oxfordjournals.org/subject/social_sciences/http://www.oxfordjournals.org/subject/social_sciences/http://es.oxfordjournals.org/http://es.oxfordjournals.org/http://es.oxfordjournals.org/content/4/1.tochttp://es.oxfordjournals.org/content/4/1.tochttp://es.oxfordjournals.org/http://www.oxfordjournals.org/subject/social_sciences/http://www.oxfordjournals.org/subject/social_sciences/http://www.oxfordjournals.org/subject/humanities/http://services.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/tslogin?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oxfordjournals.orghttp://es.oxfordjournals.org/search?author1=Carol+Matheson+Connell&sortspec=date&submit=Submit


4/7

4

which to interpret it, the ability to influence others, and a reputation for probity thatwould attract and retain trading partners.

Copyright Oxford University Press 2003

Julia De Bierre,Penang through gilded doors. Photography by James Bain Smith.Areca Books 2006.

Salma Nasution Khoo, More Than Merchants: A History of the German-speakingCommunity in Penang, 1800s-1940s. The Phoenix Press Sdn Bhd, Penang, 2006.

Nordin Hussin, Trade and Society in the Straits of Melaka: Dutch Melaka and EnglishPenang, (Nias-Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Monograph Series) [Paperback].University of Hawaii Press (November 1, 2005).

Andrew Barber, Penang Under The East India Company, 1786-1858. Publisher:

AB&A, 2009. First edition.

New. This book draws together in a readable, compact and well illustrated format, theimportant elements of the early history of Penang following the establishment of thefirst British settlement in Malaya in 1786. Although Penang later became a Britishcolony, Francis Light, the East India Company officer who oversaw the founding ofthe first major settlement on the island, claimed his principal aim was to set up atrading post. This 159 page book traces how the nature of the settlement changedfrom being a home for free booters and traders to an important part of the expandingBritish power in Southeast Asia. Chapters include 1 - The East India Company andEastern Waters 1601-1786, 2 - 'Prince of Wales Island,' 3 - The Administration ofPenang, 4 - Trade and Commerce, 5 - The Peoples of Penang, 6 - The PhysicalDevelopment of Penang, 7 - Penang and Relations with the Malay Sultanates, 8 - ACrown Colony 1858 and a Bibliography.

Weight 0.80 Kg. Airmail postage to Asia Pacific countries: $10(MYR 32) to CentralAsia, Europe & the Middle East: A$13(MYR 41) and to Africa and North & SouthAmerica: A$21(MYR 67). Surface mail worldwide $7(MYR 22). Postage withinMalaysia is free

Publisher: AB&A, 2009. First edition.

PENANG under the East India Company: 1786-1858 is a fully illustrated hardback coffeetablebook that charts the early years of Penang's development, from the landing of Francis Light in1786 until the British government assumed control of the Straits Settlements in 1858.

The book explores the background to the East India Company's decision to establish asettlement on Penang and the difficulties encountered with the Sultanate of Kedah.Thereafter, the book charts Penang's steady development, looking at its people, economy,administration and architecture. The book is lavishly illustrated and designed for the layreader and student alike.

All profits will go to the Lighthouse Children's Home. Previous books by Andrew have raisedconsiderable sums for the home and have also raised its profile amongst corporate donors.

THE AUTHOR


5/7

5

Andrew Barber is a former British diplomat who currently lives and works in Kuala Lumpur. Heis a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and is author of Malaysian Momentsand Malaya theMaking of a Nation -- 1510-1957.

CONTENTS

Chapter one: The East India Company and eastern waters 1601-1786 Chapter two: "Prince of Wales Island" Chapter three: The administration of Penang Chapter four: Trade and commerce Chapter five: The peoples of Penang Chapter six: The physical development of Penang Chapter seven: Penang relations with the Malay sultanates Chapter eight: A crown colony 1858 Bibliography

Nadia Wright,Respected Citizens: History of Armenians in Singapore and Malaysia.Amassia Publishing, 2003.

Choon San Wong,A gallery of Chinese kapitans. Ministry of Culture, 1963.

Constance Mary Turnbull,The Straits Settlements, 1826-67: Indian presidency tocrown colony. Athlone Press, 1972.

Neil Jin Keong Khor,Keat Siew Khoo,Izrin Muaz Md. Adnan,The Penang Po LeungKuk: Chinese women, prostitution & a welfare organisation. Malaysian Branch ofthe Royal Asiatic Society, 2004 - 181 pages.

Wilfred Blythe,The impact of Chinese secret societies in Malaya: a historical study.Royal Institute of International Affairs,1969.

Xiao An Wu,Chinese Business in the Making of a Malay State, 1882-1941:Kedah and Penang. RoutledgeCurzon, Apr 11, 2003 - 239 pagesThis book examines how Chinese family and business networks, focused aroundactivities such as revenue farming, including opium, the rice trade, and pawnbroking,and related legal and labour organization activities, were highly influential in the

process of state formation in Malaya. It shows how Chinese family and businessnetworks were flexible and dynamic, and were closely interlocked with economic andsocial structures, around which government, and states, developed. It considers thecrucial role of wealth and power in the process of state formation, and challengesaccepted views of Chinese ethnicity and migration.
http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Choon+San+Wong%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Constance+Mary+Turnbull%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Neil+Jin+Keong+Khor%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Keat+Siew+Khoo%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Izrin+Muaz+Md.+Adnan%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Wilfred+Blythe%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Royal+Institute+of+International+Affairs%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Xiao+An+Wu%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Xiao+An+Wu%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Royal+Institute+of+International+Affairs%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Wilfred+Blythe%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Izrin+Muaz+Md.+Adnan%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Keat+Siew+Khoo%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Neil+Jin+Keong+Khor%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Constance+Mary+Turnbull%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Choon+San+Wong%22


6/7

6

Leon Comber,Chinese secret societies in Malaya: a survey of the Triad Society from1800 to 1900. Published for the Association for Asian Studies by J.J. Augustin, 1959 -324 pages.

Leon Comber,An introduction to Chinese secret societies in Malaya. D. Moore, 1957

- 77 pages.

Leon Comber,The Triads: Chinese Secret Societies in 1950s Malaysia andSingapore. Talisman, 2009 - 200 pages

Leon Comber,The traditional mysteries of Chinese secret societies in Malaya.Published by D. Moore for Eastern Universities Press, 1961 - - 113 pages

Michael R. Godley.The Mandarin-Capitalists from Nanyang: Overseas ChineseEnterprise in the Modernisation of China 1893-1911. Cambridge University Press,

Jul 25, 2002 - 236 pages

The contribution of the overseas Chinese, particularly from Southeast Asia(Nanyang), to China's early modernization constitutes an important and neglectedchapter in Chinese history. During the same years which saw the emergence of theReform and Revolutionary movements, the ruling Manchu government also turned tothe overseas Chinese for needed capital and expertise. Exposed to Western values andoften successful in capitalist ventures, leading overseas entrepreneurs were in aspecial position to introduce new concepts into China. Dr Michael R. Godley's studytraces the rise of overseas Chinese capitalism together with the emergence of anaggressive campaign on the part of the Ch'ing dynasty to attract overseas support. Theways in which Southeast Asian Chinese capitalists were ultimately recruited into theChinese bureaucracy and the conditions under which they were permitted to beginnew enterprises cast light upon many socio-economic problems while revealing muchabout the acculturation process.
http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Leon+Comber%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Leon+Comber%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Leon+Comber%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Leon+Comber%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Michael+R.+Godley%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Michael+R.+Godley%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Leon+Comber%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Leon+Comber%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Leon+Comber%22http://www.google.com.my/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Leon+Comber%22


7/7

7

business british

Documents