Companies And Entrepreneurs In The History Of Spain

This book analyses the economic history of the company and entrepreneurship in Spain from the 15th century to the present. It evaluates the economic theory, the formation of the figure of the entrepreneur, as well as the structure of the companies. This exploration of the businessmen in Spain over several centuries is something that has not been done until now. Joining the great Spanish historiographical debate about the existence or not of entrepreneurship, the book brings together research in very different historical contexts and junctures. It presents a selection of cases of companies and entrepreneurs from Spain, from different sectors, regions and periods, from boom to crisis, from the wine businessman to the railway sector, from private banking to the pioneers of the Spanish travel agency business. It will be of interest to academics and students in economic history, business and management history, as well as researchers in entrepreneurship & small business management.

The figure of the entrepreneur has become a relevant factor that explains the process of growth and economic development. Rising unemployment rates have generated among institutional and private agents, a significant interest in promoting entrepreneurship as a formula to eradicate this social scourge of unemployment. Active policies that favor business culture and initiative are being promoted in all areas. In the university world, academic research has multiplied the work on entrepreneurship, a term that includes a triple meaning: the figure of the entrepreneur, the business function and the creation of companies. This versatile meaning must be based on a consistent theory about the company and the entrepreneur. This book presents specific cases of companies and entrepreneurs that have had their role throughout the history of Spain. The intention is to show the techniques and learning acquired by those agents, which have allowed a considerable advance in the knowledge of the structure and business development. This book brings together the research carried out by its authors with primary sources and makes it accessible to a wide audience—Spanish and Latin American—and will be of value to researchers, academics, and students with an interest in Spanish entrepreneurship, business, and management history.

The figure of the entrepreneur has become a relevant factor that explains the process of growth and economic development. This book brings together the research carried out by its authors with primary sources and makes it accessible to a wide audience that does not speak Spanish or does not know the topics discussed in it.

Although Spain is an important member of the EU, relatively little is known about its economy and its interrelationship with political forces. This book, the first of its kind, offers a long-term view and analyzes this ever-changing relationship throughout the 20th century with its various upheavals such as the crisis of the democratic republic and the civil war in the 1930s, the long General Franco dictatorship from the 1940s until the 1970s and the subsequent transition to democracy. From the detailed studies of individual cases, specific companies as well as entrepreneurial organizations, a very diverse picture emerges, contradicting widespread simplistic interpretations of politico-economic linkages, which demonstrates both the pluralism of the economic interests as well as the complexity of their relationship to the political class.

Family businesses are everywhere, but there is little information regarding their growth and development. This book is one of the few to analyse the identity and evolution of the largest family businesses in Latin America and Spain. With contributions from 20 scholars from 12 different countries, the book compares the relationship of families in business within their national economies, foreign capital, migration, and politics. The authors deny the existence of a ‘Latin type’ of family capitalism in their countries, and highlight diversity, and national and regional differences. This interdisciplinary book will be useful for students and scholars of economics, management, history, sociology, and anthropology. Politicians, family business consultants, family businesses, and international institutions will also benefit from insights within this book.

The figure of the entrepreneur has become a relevant factor that explains the process of growth and economic development. Rising unemployment rates have generated among institutional and private agents, a significant interest in promoting entrepreneurship as a formula to eradicate this social scourge of unemployment. Active policies that favor business culture and initiative are being promoted in all areas. In the university world, academic research has multiplied the work on entrepreneurship, a term that includes a triple meaning: the figure of the entrepreneur, the business function and the creation of companies. This versatile meaning must be based on a consistent theory about the company and the entrepreneur. This book presents specific cases of companies and entrepreneurs that have had their role throughout the history of Spain. The intention is to show the techniques and learning acquired by those agents, which have allowed a considerable advance in the knowledge of the structure and business development. This book brings together the research carried out by its authors with primary sources and makes it accessible to a wide audience—Spanish and Latin American—and will be of value to researchers, academics, and students with an interest in Spanish entrepreneurship, business, and management history.

Global climate change and the war in Ukraine have put energy back on the agenda for Europe in a way that has not been seen since the oil crisis of the 1970s. But the economics and business of supplying energy to Europe has a long and rich history going back to the nineteenth century. This book explores changes in energy markets, strategies, firms and investments during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The primary focus is on manufactured gas—the gas that was initially produced from coal distillation until new ways of manufacturing gas emerged after the Second World War. The expert contributors to this volume draw on their extensive research and utilise primary sources to explore a wide range of issues, including technological adaptation, market regulation, energy investments (particularly the role of foreign capital), gas consumption and supply issues. The case studies are particularly drawn from Spain, France and Italy, but the authors provide a comparative and global perspective to consider the wider context. The volume closes with an epilogue that brings the story into the present day to consider current issues affecting gas markets in the EU, including war, geostrategy and pipelines. This book will be of interest to readers in economic history, business history, energy history, the history of public utilities and modern European history more broadly.

This book explores the development of the gas industry within Latin Europe (France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain). Through charting the growth of this industry during the 19th and 20th centuries, the technology and public policies used are examined to highlight the long term impact of the industry. Utilising a comparative analysis, similarities and variation between the development of gas within the Latin European countries is compared and contrasted with the aid of specific case studies. This book aims to place the development of gas resources in Latin Europe within a global perspective that takes into account the development of energy resources in the rest of Europe and the world more generally. It will be of interest to students and researchers working within energy economics and economic history. The book forms part of the results of the research project ‘Gas in Latin Europe: a comparative and global perspective (1818-1945)’, financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Spanish Government and ERDP Funds.