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An Early Global Business in a Colonial Context: The Strategies, Management, and Failure of John Palmer and Company of Calcutta, 1780–1830

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2015

Tony Webster
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Abstract

This article explores the business and managerial strategies of Palmer and Company, a Calcutta agency house, as it strove to develop its global business in an era of limited communications technology. The article considers the reasons for the eventual demise of the firm and the consequences for business in India. It examines the principles that governed the operations of the business and considers the extent to which these contributed to the demise of the firm. More generally, it considers the factors that contributed not only to the failure of Palmer and Company but also to the collapse of all the agency houses by 1833.

Type
Articles
Information
Enterprise & Society , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , March 2005 , pp. 98 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2005. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved.

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