International business strategies at Ferranti, 1907-75: Direction, management and performance

Business History

Volumn 40, Issue 1, 1998, Pages 100-121

  Wilson, John F ^a  

^a MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0042442700     PISSN: 00076791     EISSN: 17437938     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00076799800000122     Document Type: Review

References (72)

1. For a detailed insight into these issues, see G. Jones, The Evolution of International Business (1996), and idem., 'British Multinationals and British Business since 1850', in M.W. Kirby and M.B. Rose (eds.), Business Enterprise in Modern Britain from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century (London, 1994), pp. 172-206. For a critique of British industrial multinationals, see A.D. Chandler, Jr., 'The Evolution of Modern Global Competition', in M.E. Porter (ed.). Competition in Global Industries (Boston, 1986), pp.425-8.
2. For a detailed insight into these issues, see G. Jones, The Evolution of International Business (1996), and idem., 'British Multinationals and British Business since 1850', in M.W. Kirby and M.B. Rose (eds.), Business Enterprise in Modern Britain from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century (London, 1994), pp. 172-206. For a critique of British industrial multinationals, see A.D. Chandler, Jr., 'The Evolution of Modern Global Competition', in M.E. Porter (ed.). Competition in Global Industries (Boston, 1986), pp.425-8.
3. For a detailed insight into these issues, see G. Jones, The Evolution of International Business (1996), and idem., 'British Multinationals and British Business since 1850', in M.W. Kirby and M.B. Rose (eds.), Business Enterprise in Modern Britain from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century (London, 1994), pp. 172-206. For a critique of British industrial multinationals, see A.D. Chandler, Jr., 'The Evolution of Modern Global Competition', in M.E. Porter (ed.). Competition in Global Industries (Boston, 1986), pp.425-8.
4. Jones, 'British Multinationals', p.202.
5. S. Nicholas, 'Locational Choice, Performance and the Growth of British Multinational Firms', Business History, Vol.31 (1989), pp.122-39.
6. G.D. Taylor, 'Negotiating Technology Transfer within Multinational Enterprises: Perspectives from Canadian History', Business History, Vol.36 (1994), pp. 152-4.
7. P.J. Buckley and M. Casson, 'Multinational Enterprises in Less Developed Countries: Cultural and Economic Interactions', in P.J. Buckley and J. Clegg (eds.), Multinational Enterprises in Less Developed Countries (London, 1991), pp.27-55.
8. Jones, Evolution, pp.23-59.
9. S. Nicholas, 'Agency Contracts, Institutional Modes, and the Transition to Foreign Direct -Investment by British Manufacturing Multinationals before 1939', Journal of Economic History, Vol.43 (1983), pp.675-86.
10. J. Dunning, The Globalisation of Business (London, 1993), pp.76-86.
11. Buckley and Casson, 'Multinational Enterprises', p. 53.
12. For further detail on this story, see J.F. Wilson, Ferranti and the British Electrical Industry, 1864-1930 (Manchester, 1988), pp.51-85. The Ferranti archive is now housed in the North West Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester. The records have not yet been indexed and catalogued. The same author will be publishing a complete history of Ferranti covering the period 1882-1993, entitled Ferranti: A History (Leeds University Press, forthcoming).
13. For further detail on this story, see J.F. Wilson, Ferranti and the British Electrical Industry, 1864-1930 (Manchester, 1988), pp.51-85. The Ferranti archive is now housed in the North West Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester. The records have not yet been indexed and catalogued. The same author will be publishing a complete history of Ferranti covering the period 1882-1993, entitled Ferranti: A History (Leeds University Press, forthcoming).
14. E.H. Schein, Organisational Culture and Leadership (San Francisco, 1985), p.210.
15. For the 1903 crisis, see Wilson, Ferranti, pp.73-85; the 1974 crisis will feature in chapter 12 of Wilson, Ferranti: A History.
16. For the 1903 crisis, see Wilson, Ferranti, pp.73-85; the 1974 crisis will feature in chapter 12 of Wilson, Ferranti: A History.
17. In developing this section, I have benefited enormously from a succession of interviews with Sebastian de Ferranti between 1992 and 1996. On Organic' systems, see T. Burns and G.M. Stalker, The Management of Innovation (London, 1961), pp. 49-58.
18. Interviews with Sebastian de Ferranti, 1992-96.
19. Burns and Stalker, Management of Innovation, pp.49-58.
20. R. Jones and O. Marriott, The Anatomy of a Merger (London, 1970). pp.309-67.
21. The only threat to Sir Vincent de Ferranti and his son, Sebastian, actually came from Denis de Ferranti, the youngest son of the company's founder, who attempted to wrest control of the firm from both his brother and nephew at various points in the 1950s and 1960s.
22. J. Hendry, Innovating for Failure: Government Policy and the Early British Computer Industry (Boston, 1989), p. 163.
23. A.D. Chandler, Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p.276.
24. For further background on this story, see Wilson, Ferranti, pp.51-85.
25. Ibid., pp. 101-12. The two receiver-managers were A.W. Tait and A. Whittaker.
26. S. Nicholas, 'The Overseas Marketing Performance of British Industry, 1870-1914', Economic History Review, Vol.37 (1984), pp.489-506.
27. R.P.T. Davenport-Hines, 'Introduction', in R.P.T. Davenport-Hines (ed.), Markets and Bagmen: Studies in the History of Marketing and British Industrial Performance, 1830-1939 (Aldershot 1986), pp.6-13.
28. Nicholas, 'Agency Contracts', pp.504-6.
29. Dunning, Globalisation, pp.76-86.
30. Wilson, Ferranti, pp.104-5. Output rose from £128,212 in 1907 to £294,639 in 1913.
31. For a detailed history of this venture, see N.R. Ball and J.N. Vardalas, Ferranti-Packard: Pioneers in Canadian Electrical Manufacturing (Montreal, 1994), pp.65-81.
32. P. Dicken, Global Shift: The Internationalisation of Economic Activity (2nd edn., London, 1992), p.56.
33. Ferranti did not at this time own any of these shares.
34. Ball and Vardalas, Ferranti-Packard, p.91.
35. For an application of principal-agent theory, see G. Boyce, Information, Mediation and Institutional Development: The Rise of Large-Scale Enterprise in British Shipping, 1870-1919 (Manchester, 1995), pp.2-4.
36. Buckley and Casson, 'Multinational Enterprises', pp.41-4.
37. Ball and Vardalas, Ferranti-Packard, pp.89-120.
38. Nicholas, 'Agency Contracts', pp.504-6.
39. Dunning, Globalisation, pp.76-86.
40. Taylor, 'Negotiating Technology Transfer', pp. 152-4.
41. Interviews with Sebastian de Ferranti, 1992-96.
42. Ball and Vardalas, Ferranti-Packard, pp.95-7.
43. Buckley and Casson, 'Multinational Enterprises', p.53.
44. G. Jones, 'Origins, Management and Performance', in G. Jones (ed.), British Multinationals: Origins, Management and Performance (Aldershot, 1986), pp.13-18.
45. For further detail on holding companies, see John F. Wilson, British Business History, 1720-1994 (Manchester, 1995), pp.152-7.
46. This issue is covered in Wilson, Ferranti: A History, chapter 7.
47. J. Stopford, 'The Origins of British-Based Multinational Manufacturing Enterprises', Business History Review, Vol.47 (1974), pp.316-17.
48. Nicholas, 'Locational Choice', pp.138-9. See also G. Jones, 'Locational Choice, Performance and the Growth of British Multinational Firms: A Comment', Business History, Vol.33 (1990), pp.112-15, for a critique of some of Nicholas's ideas, and Nicholas's reply, 'Debating Business History: Location, Performance and Growth of British MNEs', in the same volume.
49. Nicholas, 'Locational Choice', pp.138-9. See also G. Jones, 'Locational Choice, Performance and the Growth of British Multinational Firms: A Comment', Business History, Vol.33 (1990), pp.112-15, for a critique of some of Nicholas's ideas, and Nicholas's reply, 'Debating Business History: Location, Performance and Growth of British MNEs', in the same volume.
50. Jones, 'Origins', pp.265-7
51. Ball and Vardalas, Ferranti-Packard, pp.112 and 120-45.
52. Nicholas, 'Locational Choice', pp.133-9.
53. Quoted in Ball and Vardalas, Ferranti-Packard, pp.223-5.
54. £105,071 was invested in Ferranti Canada, and £35,080 in Packard Electric. Ferranti Management Accounts for 1945.
55. Ferranti Management Accounts for 1945-55.
56. This section is based on Ball and Vardalas, Ferranti-Packard, pp. 158-74.
57. Ferranti Management Accounts, 1955-60. Note that (Table 2) in the balance sheets this investment carried different values.
58. Ball and Vardalas, Ferranti-Packard, pp.147-8.
59. Ferranti Management Accounts, 1952-60.
60. Ferranti Management Accounts, 1952-75.
61. On the geographical direction of fdi, see Jones, Evolution, p.52.
62. J. Stopford and L. Turner, Britain and the Multinationals (London, 1985), pp.8-10.
63. These issues are covered in Wilson, Ferranti: A History, chapter 12.
64. The company was also rocked by other problems, including substantial losses in its electronic components division, the macroeconomic uncertainties of the period, and the National Westminster Bank's liquidity difficulties.
65. Interviews with Sebastian de Ferranti, 1992-96.
66. D. Alun-Jones, 'My Business Experience at Burmah Oil and Ferranti', paper presented to the Business History Unit, LSE, 1982.
67. On these problems, see Stopford and Turner, Britain and the Multinationals, p.68.
68. Dunning, Globalisation, pp.76-86.
69. P.J. Buckley, 'Organisational Forms and Multinational Companies', in P.J. Buckley (ed.), Studies in International Business (London, 1992), pp.61-77.
70. Buckley and Casson, 'Multinational Enterprises', p.53.
71. This story is covered in Wilson, Ferranti: A History, chapter 14.
72. Jones, Evolution, p. 118.