Contents
INTRODUCTION: The Visible Hand I
Modern Business Enterprise Defined 1
Some General Propositions 6
PART I The Traditional Processes of
Production and Distribution I 3
The Traditional Enterprise in Commerce I 5
Institutional Specialization and Market Coordination 15
The General Merchant of the Colonial World 17
Specialization in Commerce 19
Specialization in Finance and Transportation 28
Managing the Specialized Enterprise in Commerce 36
Managing the Specialized Enterprise in Finance and
Transportation 40
Technological Limits to Institutional Change in Commerce 48
The Traditional Enterprise in Production 50
Technological Limits to Institutional Change in Production 50
The Expansion of Prefactory Production, 1790-1840 51
Managing Traditional Production 62
The Plantation-an Ancient Form of Large-Scale Production 64
The Integrated Textile Mill-a New Form of Large-Scale
Production 67
IX