Understanding oil is essential for understanding modern history. The 20th century has rightly been called the century of oil, and the importance of this most strategic of commodities shows now sign of abating in the 21st century. From its creation in 1907 Royal Dutch Shell has played a key role...

This article examines the emergence of Italy and the Netherlands as new competitors in the European steel industry after the Second World War and compares it to similar developments in other parts of the world. It examines the factors which made it possible for these two countries to challenge...

This article deals with three forms of cooperation in business: business interest associations, cartels, and mergers and acquisitions. It makes clear that these different cooperative practices are often mutually connected and even appear in a certain sequence. A historical evolution of...

With their legal personhood, permanent capital with transferable shares, separation of ownership and management, and limited liability for both shareholders and managers, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and subsequently the English East India Company (EIC) are generally considered a major...

The dynamics of European market development before the Industrial Revolution are demonstrated to good effect by the Low Countries, which underwent several distinct phases of economic growth between 1000 and 1800. This case study presents a highly illuminating contrast between a considerable...

Building on recent work by Collins et al. this paper aims to explain the failure of corporate and public initiatives to alleviate poverty before the twentieth century by unravelling the financial rationale behind the various combinations of private efforts, family and neighbourhood help,...