The commercial structures of the Catalan cotton industry: travellers’ success in the last third of the 19th century

Authors

  • Marc Prat Sabartés

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1698-6989(08)70170-X

Keywords:

Cotton industry, Commercialisation, Vertical integration, Networks, Spain, 19th Century, N6, N7, D3, D8

Abstract

Catalan cotton industry has been characterised by vertical integration of manufacturing and commercialising. Until the mid 1860s this integration took several and incomplete forms, but since then travellers became the central players in cotton firms’ commercial structures. As it has been previously said in the literature, this was because a basic railways network was established at that time. Thanks to this new transport, large and medium size firms could cover all the Spanish market with very few sellers: some permanent agents in main cities and some travellers around the country. These men promoted firms’ sales and gave first-hand information about consumers’ tastes, competitors and clients’ financial soundness. They became then essential for cotton manufacturers.

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How to Cite

Prat Sabartés, M. (2019). The commercial structures of the Catalan cotton industry: travellers’ success in the last third of the 19th century. Investigaciones De Historia Económica, 4(12), 79–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1698-6989(08)70170-X

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Section

ARTICLES