This essay draws on the first systematic study of foreign direct investment in British retailing up to the 1960s. It shows that while foreign multinationals were unimportant in British retailing overall, they dominated some retail trades. Moreover, these retail entrants were mostly not by...

In 1950, poultry comprised 1 percent of the total meat consumed in Britain. But over the next thirty years, chicken consumption grew at the rate of 10 percent per annum, while overall meat consumption remained stagnant. By 1980, poultry made up a quarter of the total share of the market,...