Emergence of Modern Business Enterprise in France, 1800–1930

Michael Stephen Smith is Associate Professor of History, University of South Carolina.

Michael Smith has compiled the first essentially complete record of modern business enterprise in France. He details, sector by sector, the rise of leading firms, whose similarities far outweighed their differences with counterparts in other countries. This study makes a valuable, long-needed contribution and will serve as the reference for all subsequent work within the field.

• Prologue Assessing French Economic Development Some Preliminary Considerations Plan of the Book Introduction: Laying the Foundations for Modern Capitalism in France, 1500-1800 Creating France The Rise of Merchant Capitalism The Beginning of Industrial Capitalism Banking and Finance The French Revolution Aftermath of Revolution I. FROM MERCHANT CAPITALISM TO FINANCE CAPITALISM 1. Continuity and Change in Merchant Capitalism, 1800-1840s Retrenchment and Renewal in Provincial France Paris and the Remaking of French Merchant Capitalism 2. The Revolution in Banking and Transportation, 1840-1870s The Banking Revolution The Transportation Revolution 3. The New World of Financial and Commercial Capitalism, 1870s-1900s The Maturation of Banking and Finance Transforming and Transcending the Wholesale Trade The Beginnings of Mass Retailing II. THE FLOWERING OF INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM, 1800-1900 4. Textile Capitalism Cotton Linen and Jute Woolens Silk 5. The Capitalism of Coal The Birth and Maturation of an Industry, 1700s-1860 The Coal Companies in the Their Prime, 1860-1914 6. The Capitalism of Iron and Steel From the Old to the New Metallurgy, 1800-1860 The Age of Steel Begins, 1860-1880 7. Hardware, Machinery, and Construction The Hardware Industry Transformed The New Metallurgical Manufacturing 8. The Capitalism of Chemicals Heavy Chemicals The New Chemicals 9. The Capitalism of Glass, Paper, and Print Glass Paper and Print 10. Industrial Capitalism and Consumer Goods Flour and Breadstuffs Sugar and Confectionery Soap and Vegetable Oil Clothing and Home Furnishings 11. The New World of Industrial Capitalism Financing Industrial Enterprise Managing Labor Managing the Business Environment III. The Second Industrial Revolution and the Beginnings of Managerial Capitalism, 1880s-1930s 12. Big Steel The Remaking of French Iron and Steel, 1870s-1914 World War I and Its Aftermath 13. The Electrical Industry The Early Years, 1890s-1914 Growth, Maturation, and the Rise of Big Business, 1914-1930 14. The Automobile and Its Allies The Automobile Industry Tire and Rubber Aircraft and Aircraft Engines Petroleum 15. Industrial Chemicals and Materials The Survival and Transformation of Two Established Powers Electrochemicals and Electrometals Industrial Gases Pharmaceuticals and Artificial Fibers Big Cement 16. The New World of Managerial Capitalism Managing the Railroads Managing the Large Industrial Enterprise Conclusion: France on the Verge Notes Index Tables 1. The twenty largest French coal companies, 1865-1869 and 1890-1894 2. France's fifty largest manufacturing firms, 1936 3. The twenty-five largest French iron and steel firms in 1913 4. The twenty-five largest French iron and steel firms in 1930 5. France's largest electrical enterprises in 1929-1930 6. Assets and workforces of the largest American, German, and French electrical manufacturing companies in 1929-1930 7. The thirty largest French industrial firms in 1990