Financial fraud is a serious and seemingly intractable problem. Financial scandals regularly punctuate newspaper headlines and regulators and auditors appear bereft of effective responses. But has this always been the case?This book quantifies financial crime in the UK using three centuries of data. It demonstrates how financial fraud and scandal vary according to systematic economic and institutional arrangements. In doing so, it retells the history of British capitalism, from the mercantilism of the eighteenth century to the financial capitalism of the twenty-first century, illustrating the often negative consequences of economic ideology, policy and structure. It identifies periods when fraud has been less problematic and contrasts these with times when it has surged. The variation of outcomes reflects the balance of power between the state, industrial and financial sectors, the provision of credit through risky lending, and the effectiveness of audits. 'Rogue traders' and other flawed individuals are frequently the focus of blame narratives constructed with the intention of deflecting comprehensive systematic reforms.

The evolution of business history offers some radical ways forward for a discipline which is rich in potential. This shortform book offers an expert overview of how the field has relevance for contemporary business studies as well as the social sciences more broadly, as well as practitioners interested in historical perspectives. This book not only provides a comprehensive review of how the discipline of business history has evolved over the last century, but it also lays out an agenda for the next decade. Focusing specifically on the ‘three pillars’ of research, teaching and practical impact, the authors have outlined how while the first has flourished across many continents, the latter two are struggling to overcome significant challenges associated with how the discipline is perceived, especially in the social sciences. A solution is proposed that would involve academics working more closely with practitioners, thereby increasing the discipline’s credibility across key stakeholders. The work here presented provides a concise and easily digestible overview of the topic which will be of interest to scholars, researchers and advanced students focusing on the evolution of business history and its impact on the way the world conducts business today.

The evolution of business history offers some radical ways forward for a discipline which is rich in potential. This shortform book offers an expert overview of how the field has relevance for contemporary business studies as well as the social sciences more broadly, as well as practitioners interested in historical perspectives. This book not only provides a comprehensive review of how the discipline of business history has evolved over the last century, but it also lays out an agenda for the next decade. Focusing specifically on the 'three pillars' of research, teaching and practical impact, the authors have outlined how while the first has flourished across many continents, the latter two are struggling to overcome significant challenges associated with how the discipline is perceived, especially in the social sciences. A solution is proposed that would involve academics working more closely with practitioners, thereby increasing the discipline's credibility across key stakeholders. The work here presented provides a concise and easily digestible overview of the topic which will be of interest to scholars, researchers and advanced students focusing on the evolution of business history and its impact on the way the world conducts business today.

Presents key peer-reviewed research selected by expert series editors New analysis on the industrial history of delivering utilities. Of interest to business and economic historians.

This shortform book presents key peer-reviewed research selected by expert series editors and contextualised by new analysis from each author on different forms of organising British industry. With contributions on the strengths and weaknesses of the holding company structure, government organisation of industry during war time, the effects of forms of organisation on innovation, and debates over the suitability of international comparisons, this volume provides an array of fascinating insights into industrial history. Of interest to business and economic historians, this shortform book also provides analysis and illustrative case-studies that will be valuable reading across the social sciences.

The Routledge Companion to Business History is a definitive work of reference, and authoritative, international source on business history. Compiled by leading scholars in the field, it offers both researchers and students an introduction and overview of current scholarship in this expanding discipline. Drawing on a wealth of international contributions, this volume expands the field and explores how business history interacts theoretically and methodologically with other fields. It charts the origins and development of business history and its global reach from Latin America and Africa, to North America and Europe. With this multi-perspective approach, it illustrates the unique contribution of business history and its relationship with a range of other disciplines, from finance and banking to gender issues in corporations. The Routledge Companion to Business History is a vital source of reference for students and researchers in the fields of business history, corporate governance and business ethics. "This collection is an excellent starting point for understanding the field and finding areas where business history, management theory, and social science can intersect." Canadian Business History Newsletter, January 2019

This shortform book presents key peer-reviewed research selected by expert series editors and contextualised by new analysis from each author on the subject of knowledge management in industrial history. With contributions on knowledge management, knowledge transfer, knowledge loss, knowledge creation, competition and co-operation in producing skilled employees, and ownership structures and their relation to knowledge management, this volume provides an array of fascinating insights into industrial history. Of interest to business and economic historians, this shortform book also provides analysis and illustrative case-studies that will be valuable reading across the social sciences.

This shortform book presents key peer-reviewed research selected by expert series editors and contextualised by new analysis from each author on how British industrial firms achieved a competitive advantage. With contributions on industrial cartelisation, organisational structure, the quality of British management, marketing and trade marks, labour relations, and technological innovation, this volume provides an array of fascinating insights into industrial history. Of interest to business and economic historians, this shortform book also provides analysis and illustrative case-studies that will be valuable reading across the social sciences.

Concise expert guide to important business research topic Summarises the state of the art in available and emerging research Includes references to key research publications in the field

This shortform book presents key peer-reviewed research selected by expert series editors and contextualised by new analysis from each author on government intervention and unexpected consequences in industrial history. With contributions on organisational structure, the quality of corporate governance, protectionism, the shareholder value model, and economic nationalism, this volume provides an array of fascinating insights into industrial history. Of interest to business and economic historians, this shortform book also provides analysis and illustrative case studies that will be valuable reading across the social sciences.

This shortform book presents key peer-reviewed research on industrial history. In selecting and contextualising this volume, the editors address how the field of textile history has evolved. Themes covered include entrepreneurial, technological and labour history, whilst the book highlights the strategic and social consequences of innovations in the history of this key UK sector. Of interest to business and economic historians, this shortform book also provides analysis and illustrative case-studies that will be valuable reading across the social sciences.

This book examines the decline of the cotton textiles industry, which defined Britain as an industrial nation, from its peak in the late nineteenth century to the state of the industry at the end of the twentieth century. Focusing on the owners and managers of cotton businesses, the authors examine how they mobilised financial resources; their attitudes to industry structure and technology; and their responses to the challenges posed by global markets. The origins of the problems which forced the industry into decline are not found in any apparent loss of competitiveness during the long nineteenth century but rather in the disastrous reflotation after the First World War. As a consequence of these speculations, rationalisation and restructuring became more difficult at the time when they were most needed, and government intervention led to a series of partial solutions to what became a process of protracted decline. In the post-1945 period, the authors show how government policy encouraged capital withdrawal rather than encouraging the investment needed for restructuring. The examples of corporate success since the Second World War - such as David Alliance and his Viyella Group - exploited government policy, access to capital markets, and closer relationships with retailers, but were ultimately unable to respond effectively to international competition and the challenges of globalisation. A new introduction and epilogue provide an updated framework for the chapters in this book, which were originally published in Business History and Accounting, Business and Financial History

This shortform book presents key peer-reviewed research on industrial history. In selecting and contextualising this volume, the editors address how the field of textile history has evolved. Themes covered include entrepreneurial, technological and labour history, whilst the book highlights the strategic and social consequences of innovations in the history of this key UK sector. Of interest to business and economic historians, this shortform book also provides analysis and illustrative case studies that will be valuable reading across the social sciences.

The Routledge Companion to Business History is a definitive work of reference, and authoritative, international source on business history. Compiled by leading scholars in the field, it offers both researchers and students an introduction and overview of current scholarship in this expanding discipline. Drawing on a wealth of international contributions, this volume expands the field and explores how business history interacts theoretically and methodologically with other fields. It charts the origins and development of business history and its global reach from Latin America and Africa, to North America and Europe. With this multi-perspective approach, it illustrates the unique contribution of business history and its relationship with a range of other disciplines, from finance and banking to gender issues in corporations. The Routledge Companion to Business History is a vital source of reference for students and researchers in the fields of business history, corporate governance and business ethics. "This collection is an excellent starting point for understanding the field and finding areas where business history, management theory, and social science can intersect." Canadian Business History Newsletter, January 2019

This book links the world of finance directly to the fate of the cotton and textile industry, long a metaphor for the rise and fall of Britain as a manufacturing economy, for the first time. The cotton and textile industry, at the centre of the industrial revolution, has long been a metaphor for the rise and fall of Britain as a manufacturing economy. This book links the world of finance directly to the fate of the cotton and textile industry for the first time. Using a unique underlying data-set drawn from financial business records of over 100 cotton and textile-manufacturing firms based in Lancashire, and ranging from the late eighteenth to the twenty-first century, Financing Cotton analyses the dynamics of industrial capitalism by uncovering the interaction between financial systems and technological development and innovation. It offers new perspectives on business practices and their evolution, as well as decisions taken by entrepreneurs, managers and employees. The book broadly investigates five questions: how and why were individual firms profitable and what happened to these profits; how did the firms' financial structure and performance influence their attitudes to employment regulation; what were the effects of financial networks and institutions on the characteristics of the first and second phase of industrialisation; how did the financial system enable or stifle entrepreneurship and investment in new technology and, finally, why did consolidation and industrial restructuring offer survival options for some firms, but not for others?

This book examines the decline of the cotton textiles industry, which defined Britain as an industrial nation, from its peak in the late nineteenth century to the state of the industry at the end of the twentieth century. Focusing on the owners and managers of cotton businesses, the authors examine how they mobilised financial resources; their attitudes to industry structure and technology; and their responses to the challenges posed by global markets. The origins of the problems which forced the industry into decline are not found in any apparent loss of competitiveness during the long nineteenth century but rather in the disastrous reflotation after the First World War. As a consequence of these speculations, rationalisation and restructuring became more difficult at the time when they were most needed, and government intervention led to a series of partial solutions to what became a process of protracted decline. In the post-1945 period, the authors show how government policy encouraged capital withdrawal rather than encouraging the investment needed for restructuring. The examples of corporate success since the Second World War - such as David Alliance and his Viyella Group - exploited government policy, access to capital markets, and closer relationships with retailers, but were ultimately unable to respond effectively to international competition and the challenges of globalisation. A new introduction and epilogue provide an updated framework for the chapters in this book, which were originally published in Business History and Accounting, Business and Financial History

Five weeks after the outbreak of World War I in the summer of 1914, American Kiffin Rockwell was on a ship for France. The United States would not join the war nearly three years, but Rockwell believed it was time to fight. In France, he joined the elite French Foreign Legion and was soon fighting in the trenches of the Western Front. A combat wound in 1915 rendered him unfit to fight on the ground, so Rockwell volunteered to fight in the air, joining the brand-new Lafayette Escadrille, a storied fighter squadron of volunteer pilots, most of them American, most of them wealthy aristocrats. In May 1916, Rockwell became the first American pilot to shoot down a German plane and soon after was wounded in the skies over Verdun. He flew the Lafayette Escadrille's every mission until his death in aerial combat in September 1916. First to Fight is a high-octane drama of a remarkable soldier and pilot who fought in the trenches and in the skies during World War I. It is the story of one of the first American fighter pilots at the dawn of aerial combat, the era of the Red Baron, with dogfighting biplanes high above the trench lines. But more than a World War I story, more than an aviation story, this is the story of an idealist who volunteered--long before his country drafted its first soldier--to fight, and ultimately die, in defense of civilization.

As the Department of Defense's primary mechanism to account for American's lost in past wars, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command continued to make strong advances toward fulfilling its mission during Fiscal 2010.