Academic literature on the topic 'Small business – Great Britain – 20th century'

In this study, consideration was given to the evolution of design education in the UK and Ukraine. A review was conducted by comparing the following main parameters of the design education sphere in both countries: the historical background of its emergence in the 19th century, the dynamics of the development of higher institutions of design education during the 20th century, as well as quantitative and qualitative indicators of design education at the beginning of the 21st century. In the conclusion two main polar properties of contemporary design education are defined, namely: the ability to prepare for gradual entry into modern practical work/business on the one hand and thorough classical artistic preparation on the other. It has been suggested that with humanity approaching the super-hi-tech era, the tendency of design education in Ukraine, unlike in Britain, towards the second of these properties has a positive potential in preserving human-centric values in contemporary design.

Based on a critique of the traditional ruling of mental hospital, therapeutic community is an innovative model elaborated in Great Britain during World War II. According to this approach, all the relationships at work inside the institution have a big impact on the patients’ state. One of the favoured tools of the therapeutic community lies in regular meetings common to patients and staff, but also reserved to professionals. During these sessions small and big problems are intended to be discussed and resolved collectively. The constitution of this approach as a model and its diffusion in continental European psychiatry during the second half of the 20th century is described in this paper. Four stages are distinguished: the genesis, the constitution of a distinct approach and diffusion in Continental Europe, the radicalisation and criticism by the antipsychiatric movement, the institutionalisation and decline.

Abstract In the early twentieth century California became a big exporter of some agricultural products that, until then, had only been grown on a large scale in the Mediterranean basin. As a result, exports of those products diminished or stagnated in Mediterranean countries, with important repercussions on their economies. The Spanish orange industry, however, continued to expand, despite the fact that a substantial percentage of Spanish oranges came from farms owned by (often illiterate) small peasants who, in comparison to the California growers, used a great deal of labor, small amounts of capital, and little science. This paper shows that Spanish farmers were in fact capable of growing high-quality oranges at prices that were more competitive than those in California, although instead they often preferred to satisfy the strong demand for middling fruit from Great Britain because it was a more profitable business. This, combined with a deficient use of brand names, gave the Spanish citrus industry serious reputation problems by the 1930s, from which, however, it recovered quickly.

The relevance of the topic is determined by the historical significance of the problems that are raised in it. In the article the author discovers the methods and forms of Germany’s colonial policy in the last third part of the 19th – in the beginning of the 20th centuries in China and Oceania. The German Empire was the last from the world’s leading states that entered the path of colonial seizures. The author emphasizes that German politicians generally were satisfied with the development of the country after 1871. For a long time, the range of interests of an imperial chancellor O. von Bismarck (1871 – 1890), as a politician, was limited to the territory of Europe and those countries that were bound by it. Colonies were only interesting for him as an instrument for putting a pressure on the leading countries of the world to solve their European problems. Trying to avoid conflicts with the leading European powers, especially with the Great Britain, O. von Bismarck had been deliberately refraining from colonial expansion until the mid-80’s of the 19th century. In addition, indifference to colonialism at that time was being expressed by some representatives of the party elite and business. However, in the last third part of the 19th century, the country gets full freedom of action in colonial politics, and therefore it begins to occupy territories in various parts of the world, including Africa, Asia and Oceania. The interference of the Second Reich in the division of China was one of the reasons for the massive Yihetuan Movement, and in the future, the deployment of a large-scale conflict – the Russian-Japanese war of 1904 – 1905. All this certainly became a part of the complex of reasons for the First World War. Therefore studying of the reasons for and effects of the colonial policy of Germany in the last third part of the 19th – early 20th centuries is quite important and of considerable scientific interest. In addition, the author notes that most of the politicians in the business circles of Germany considered the colonization of China and Oceania as an important stage not only for economic development of the country, but also for the growth of international authority in the world.

he formation of the automotive industry in Europe in the early twentieth century was considered. The data about car development in Great Britain, France and Germany is given. It was shown how the automobile racing influenced on the development of cars, in particular the transition from cars creation with a steam engine to cars creation with an internal combustion engine. More and more people became interested in this type of transportation. It was shown that at that time in Europe there were many workshops where cars were developed by scientists-innovators. Among such pioneers of the car industry is to Beckman's family. The activity of this family starting from Paul Beckman to his son Otto Jr. and even his daughter Ilse is presented. To date, it is extremely limited information about Beckmann's family contribution to the automotive industry in Europe. It was Paul Beckmann who started constructing cars in Wroclaw. At the factory which was founded by his father the production of both as small cars and as trucks and even sports was organized. It is noted that before the beginning of the World War I the most efficient cars developed a speed of up to 95 km/h. Beckmann's family cars became prize-winners of the international competitions of that time. It is stated that Paul Beckman can be considered the initiator of a safety belt. His cars were equipped with special leather straps. It should be noted that the company successfully developed and had a dealer network in Germany, Poland and Russia. During the interwar period, the company collapsed and was bought by a larger brand. However, Otto Jr., son of Paul Beckman, continued to take care of a family business. Today there is only one car with the mark of the Wroclaw car factory.

The First World War launched a tremendous restructuring of the international system. One of its major outcomes was a transformation of the small states of Central and South-Eastern Europe from objects to subjects of international relations. Having emerged or enlarged their territories in wake of multinational empires’ collapse, the small states became key players on the regional level. Reshaping of the Balkan regional order is of a particular interest to researchers as the Balkan instability triggered destruction of the previous international system. The purpose of the article is to understand how a world conflict, which had broken out in South-Eastern Europe, transformed the region. To do this the author dwells upon three sets of question. The first is the Balkan contribution in the origins of the First World War. The second is an interplay of factors which caused reshaping of the Balkan political space during the war years. The third is a new landscape of the postwar order in South-Eastern Europe. Methodological approaches applied here define new and actual character of this article. The author uses conceptual tools of the theory of international relations to analyze a process of region «building» which took place in circumstances of «tectonic» shifts within the international system in the early decades of the 20th century. Thus, the author applies the analytical model of the regional order as well as key definitions of the theory of international relations – great power, small state (the article focuses on Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece), principle of self-determination. It is concluded that the regional order emerged in the Balkans in wake of the First World War was a result of multi-dimensional interaction of factors. They are as follows: 1) the military, strategic and foreign policy planning of hostile coalitions of powers (the Entente and the bloc of the Central powers), seeking to win the loyalty of regional allies; 2) demonstrated by the small states understanding that the war had opened a «window of opportunity» to put into life their national interests and programs; 3) the decline of traditional multi-ethnic empires, which had formed political atmosphere in the Balkans. It is stated that a landscape of post-war regional order in the Balkans was determined with cooperation and competition of the local national states in the situation when the multi-ethnic empires had disappeared from the Balkan political space while the architects of the Versailles system – Great Britain and France seemed to be less interested in South-Eastern Europe in after war years. It meant that the new Balkan order enjoyed a relative autonomy compared to the previous one.

The purpose of the article is to define the place of Novomoskovsk in the international economic relations of Ukraine in the 1950s – 1980s, and main participants of these relations at the city level, directions, content and features. Research methods: historical-chronological, historical-genetic, comparative, descriptive. Main results. the article reveals the importance of Novomoskovsk, Dnipropetrovsk region, one of the small cities in the development of international economic relations of Ukraine as a part of the USSR. It is defined that the main factor that determined the place of Novomoskovsk in the international economic relations is the Novomoskovsk Pipe Plant activity. The role of the plant in these relations consisted of the production for export, business trips abroad, their admission to study and exchange experiences. The USSR, Ukraine in particular with its powerful industrial complex, played an important role in the reconstruction, formation, and development of the metallurgical industry in the countries of “people’s democracy” in Europe, Asia, countries whose governments were loyal to the USSR. The Novomoskovsk Pipe Plant and its employees contributed to the construction and operation of the first metallurgical complexes in Bulgaria and China. Since 1963, the enterprise has been one of the leaders in Ukraine and the USSR in the production of large diameter pipes for main gas and oil pipelines, which has strengthened its presence in the execution of export orders. The relations of the plant were not limited to the countries of the socialist camp, but also included countries with market economies. These relations were particularly influenced by political and ideological factors, as shown by the example of the USSR’s relations with West Germany, France and Japan. The Novomoskovsk Pipe Plant served as a base for holding international UN seminars on the training of metallurgical specialists, and its employees participated in international exhibitions, presenting the plant’s products. The course of the Cold War and international crises led to the appearance of a peculiar phenomenon of the Soviet era – the inclusion of production in propaganda campaigns, which were joined by groups of enterprises. From the side of the pipe plant, these were rallies in support (of Algeria, Cuba, Vietnam, etc.) and commitments on additional working days, increased production rates, early deadlines for implementation of plans, and the deduction of products in favor of support facilities. The importance of industrial relations for the development of the non-productive sphere is emphasized: contacts with foreigners in the city during business trips served as a window to the world, contributed to the expansion of worldview. In addition, with the help of people’s diplomacy there were formed trustworthy relationships between nations and people, which promoted the positive international image of the USSR in the best way possible. Practical significance: the results of the research can be used to form the theme of scientific research on regional, Ukrainian, world history of the second half of the 20th century implied into the practice of teaching relevant disciplines in higher education institutes, used to create / update museum exhibitions in Novomoskovsk. Scientific novelty: a significant part of published and unpublished sources on the topic of international economic relations of Novomoskovsk is generalized and processed for the first time, some of the sources are introduced into scientific circulation firstly and are interpreted considering the latest research on the history of the Cold War. Type of article: research.

Introduction. The relevance of the subject is proved by the interest in the activity of the fuel and energy complex which remains for Russia one of the economic system donors. In this regard, there is growing interest in the experience of the energy industry development in other states, for example to the oil industry reforms in the Great Britain in the last quarter of the 20th century. Methods and materials. The basis of the research is made by works of foreign authors and sources in English. The complex structure of the object of study determines using general historical techniques and the system approach. Analysis. The research of the evolution of the British oil industry is connected with considering the general economic situation in the country and the dominating ideological attitudes of the United Kingdom authorities concerning the economic system during the post-war period. It is possible to note that British authorities paid close attention to the oil industry. The privatization of oil enterprises, which began in the second half of the 1970s, became a reaction to the changes of the economic situation within the country and in the world. It was the tactical maneuver under the Labourists directed to stabilization of the economic system without its essential updating. The subsequent transformations of the oil industry under the Conservatives were based on the basis of the economic paradigm revision, with the expectation of reducing the state’s participation in the ownership of enterprise assets, forming a broad layer of owners, both among small and large holders of securities, as well as strengthening the independence of fuel companies. Results. As a result of the reforms in the market, several fuel companies different in power, continued working. The authorities got an opportunity not only to replenish the budget, but also to fulfill the mechanisms of indirect impact on the oil industry that, on the one hand, allowed to differentiate the spheres of the parties’ responsibilities, and on the other hand, to maintain the influence of the state in the strategic segment of economy.

<p>La provincia di Salerno ha rappresentato, nella seconda metà del Novecento, una delle realtà più rilevanti del Mezzogiorno d’Italia sotto il profilo industriale. Nel secondo dopoguerra l’industria nell’area salernitana visse un’intensa crescita, soprattutto grazie agli aiuti per il Mezzogiorno. Rispetto alle altre aree del Sud Italia, non vi furono grandissimi stabilimenti siderurgici, metalmeccanici e petrolchimici ma vi fu un movimento vivace di piccole e medie industrie soprattutto nel settore manifatturiero. Tra gli anni Settanta e Ottanta le crisi nazionali e internazionali segnarono il passo dell’economia italiana e più in generale di tutte le economie occidentali. Nella provincia di Salerno le fabbriche statali, quelle appartenenti a multinazionali estere o alle grandi imprese del settentrione furono le più colpite dalla crisi. Al contrario molte aziende locali riuscirono, sebbene con momenti di incertezza, ad avere un ciclo di sviluppo ininterrotto. Si tratta principalmente di imprese familiari, create e gestite da imprenditori salernitani, espressione del territorio, della cultura, delle tradizioni, che hanno saputo trarre dal contesto locale le energie e spesso le risorse per puntare all’eccellenza. Ancora oggi, sebbene quarant’anni di legislazione speciale per il Mezzogiorno non siano bastati a mettere in moto uno sviluppo duraturo e soprattutto autonomo delle imprese meridionali, lo sviluppo industriale meridionale è legato alle piccole e medie attività imprenditoriali operanti soprattutto nel settore manifatturiero. Tra le diverse esperienze di capitalismo locale e familiare di quest’area del Mezzogiorno si è scelto di analizzare una delle realtà imprenditoriali più longeve della provincia salernitana: il sistema di imprese della famiglia Di Mauro di Cava de’Tirreni. Dalla fine dell’Ottocento, la famiglia ha saputo affermare, espandere e reinventare la propria attività nel campo della tipografia, dell’editoria, e della cartotecnica, passando indenne per le difficili congiunture del ’900, e giungendo a essere attualmente una realtà di punta nel tessuto imprenditoriale del Mezzogiorno.</p><p>In the second half of the twentieth century, the Salerno province represented one of the most important industrial reality of the southern Italy. After Second World War, the Salerno province industry lived an intense growth, mainly thanks to the aids for the southern Italy. There were not many steelworks, petrochemical and engineering mills, compared to other areas of the southern Italy, but there was a lively movement of small and medium industries, especially in manufacturing. Among the seventies and eighties the national and international crisis damaged the Italian economy and also other Western economies. In the Salerno province, the state enterprises, those belonging to the foreign multinationals or the great enterprises of the northern Italy, were the worst hit by the crisis. On the other hand, although with uncertainty, many local enterprises managed to have a continuous development. They were mainly family businesses, created and managed by the Salerno province entrepreneurs, expression of the territory, the culture, the traditions that have been able to take energy from the local context and the resources to aim at the excellence.</p> <p>To this today, though forty years of special legislation for the southern Italy are not enough to launch a continuous development and in particular an independent development of the southern enterprises, the industrial development of southern Italy is linked to small and medium enterprises, especially in the manufacturing sector. Among the several experiences of local and family capitalism of the southern Italy, I have chosen to analyze one of the entrepreneurial reality more long-running of the Salerno province. It is the system of enterprises of the Di Mauro family from Cava de’Tirreni. Since the end of nineteenth century, the Di Mauro family was able to establish, expand and reinvent its business in the field of printing, publishing, and converting industry, passing unscathed to the difficult junctures of the twentieth century, and now coming to be very important in the business of the southern Italy.</p>

The Tartu Peace Treaty of 1920, signed between Estonia and Soviet Russia, has been credited with laying the foundation for stability in Eastern Europe in the interwar period. Ants Piip, a member of the Estonian delegation at Tartu, attributed this achievement to the equitable character of the agreement, comparing it favourably with the Treaty of Versailles, widely seen as a dictated peace already in the immediate aftermath of its signature. A similar view was expounded by the Soviet government, which portrayed the Tartu Peace Treaty as an expression of the principles underlying the November Revolution. It especially emphasised the self-determination of peoples, proclaimed repeatedly by the Soviet government as a sine qua non for a just peace. According to the Soviet narrative, the principle of selfdetermination had been hailed by the Entente only to be later betrayed at the Paris Peace Conference. The Tartu Peace Treaty, where the principle of self-determination figured prominently in Article II, thus became, in this telling, an ideological counter model to the results of the Paris Peace Conference. Despite their anti-Bolshevik outlook, Estonian diplomats and politicians inclined towards a comparable interpretation: they had accepted the Soviet peace proposal, with the offer to recognise their right to selfdetermination and independent statehood, only after the Allies had failed to live up to their promises at Paris. The refence to the principle of self-determination in the Tartu Peace Treaty has not received much attention from historians. As Lauri Mälksoo has noted, it remains a well-nigh forgotten chapter in the history of international law. Mälksoo argued that the reference is all the more noteworthy since the Soviet government gave the principle a remarkably wide scope, joining to it the right to secession, which was not yet enshrined in general international law at the time. Assuming that the principle of selfdetermination was mentioned in the Tartu Peace Treaty at the initiative of the Soviet side, Mälksoo suggested two motives that might have prompted it: the need to recognise the fait accompli of Estonian independence, and the wish to justify within Russia itself the decision to relinquish territories that had formerly belonged to the Tsarist Empire. This article shows that the Estonian side was also keen to refer to the principle of self-determination, quite independently of Soviet wishes, as demonstrated by a draft peace treaty drawn up two months prior to the start of the Tartu negotiations by a commission of experts convened by the Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs. This fact is indicative of the broader diplomatic significance that the Estonian delegation – and its head, Jaan Poska, in particular – attached to peace talks with the Bolsheviks. The article demonstrates that Poska did not start the negotiations in December of 1919 with the sõle aim of signing a peace treaty with Soviet Russia. Just as important, if not more so, was the prospect of using the talks to convince the Entente to recognise Estonian independence de jure. The Estonian government had founded its claim to international recognition on the principle of self-determination. Upon the outbreak of the Bolshevik revolution, the Estonian Provisional Assembly had availed itself of the Soviet decree proclaiming the right of all peoples of Russia to selfdetermination, including secession and the formation of a separate state. Without being confident in the resolve of the Soviet government to adhere to the letter of its public pronouncements, Estonian politicians nonetheless saw the usefulness of invoking the decree, since the latter could be seen as ratifying Estonia’s decision to secede from Russia. They were already positioning themselves vis-à-vis the Entente Powers, whose freedom to recognise the nascent republic was constrained by rules of international law regarding the validity of secession. The principle of self-determination had great value for a seceding state, especially in circumstances where the mother country did not have a lawful government and was thus unable to consent to any separation of territories (as Russia was regarded in the eyes of most governments at the end of 1917). The Estonian position was buttressed by a string of diplomatic statements made by the Entente Powers in 1918, assuring Estonia that its status would be determined at a forthcoming peace conference in accordance with the principle of self-determination. Such assurances filled Estonian diplomats with great optimism when they set out for the Paris Peace Conference at the beginning of 1919. The principle of self-determination was tantamount to independence in their mind. It was therefore with growing disappointment that they observed the unwillingness of France and Great Britain to recognise their independence at Paris, intent as the latter were to reconstitute their former eastern ally. This is not to say that Estonian claims were completely ignored. British politicians did not think that they were failing to honour their promises when offering Estonia internationally guaranteed autonomy, under the aegis of the League of Nations, instead of independence. Autonomy did not satisfy Estonians, however, who were canvassing all options at their disposal to arrive at their aim. The quest for ‘other ways’, beginning in earnest in the summer of 1919, has been mostly interpreted by scholars as a decision to reach a peace settlement with the Bolsheviks. The article shows that the Estonian strategy was more multi-faceted. International recognition remained their chief aim, and their receptiveness to Bolshevik peace feelers should be seen in this light. The emphasis placed on the principle of self-determination from the very start of negotiations with Soviet Russia in September of 1919 was a part of this Western-directed diplomatic approach. The Bolsheviks had their own aims in mind when foregrounding this principle. The consternation that the Treaty of Versailles had caused in Germany offered them an opportunity to depict the Paris Peace Conference as the latest manifestation of Great Power imperialism, to which the Soviet proposal of a ‘democratic peace’ (no annexations, no contributions, self-determination to all peoples) was allegedly the only viable alternative. The peace talks between Estonia and Soviet Russia were thus caught in an ideological struggle between the Soviet government and the Western Allies concerning ‘just peace’. But they also fitted in with the – apparently contrary – Soviet strategy of abandoning outright military aggression and preparing the ground for ‘peaceful coexistence’ with capitalist states, with a view to buttressing the Soviet regime economically. The reference to the principle of self-determination in the Tartu Peace Treaty can be explained by all the considerations mentioned above. The Estonians had their sights set on reinforcing their international status by tying it to the principle. The Bolsheviks were showcasing their adherence to ‘democratic peace’ and contrasting their favourable attitude to small peoples with the hypocrisy of the Great Powers (the fact that it was Soviet Russia that had initiated the war with unprovoked military aggression in 1918 was conveniently ignored). Moreover, on a less public level, Soviet Russia was signalling that it was willing to consent to self-determination in the Russian borderlands in order to reach an agreement with its Western foes, and that it would rely on the long-term superiority of the Bolshevik system in lieu of head-to-head collision with capitalist states. In this last sense, the Treaty of Tartu marks a strategic turn for the Soviet government that became so consequential for the 20th century that the treaty with Estonia acquires truly foundational significance.

This is the first such study of Operation Banner: taking three Battalions as case studies, drawing upon extensive interviews with former soldiers, primary archival sources including unpublished diaries, this thesis closely examines soldiers' behaviour at the small infantry-unit level (Battalion downwards), including the leadership, cohesion, orientation and motivation that sustained, restrained and occasionally obstructed soldiers in Northern Ireland. It contends that there are aspects of wider scholarly literatures - from sociology, anthropology, criminology, and psychology - that can throw new light on our understanding of the British Army in Northern Ireland. The thesis will also contribute fresh insights and analysis of important events during the early years of Operation Banner, including the murders of two men in County Fermanagh, Michael Naan and Andrew Murray, and that of Warrenpoint hotel owner Edmund Woolsey in South Armagh in the autumn of 1972. The central argument of this thesis is that British Army small infantry units enjoyed considerable autonomy during the early years of Operation Banner and could behave in a vengeful, highly aggressive or benign and conciliatory way as their local commanders saw fit. The strain of civil-military relations at a senior level was replicated operationally – as soldiers came to resent the limitations of waging war in the UK. The unwillingness of the Army's senior leadership to thoroughly investigate and punish serious transgressions of standard operating procedures in Northern Ireland created uncertainty among soldiers over expected behaviour and desired outcomes. Mid-ranking officers and NCOs often played important roles in restraining soldiers in Northern Ireland. The degree of violence used in Northern was much less that that seen in the colonial wars fought since the end of World War II. But overly aggressive groups of soldiers could also be mistaken for high-functioning units – with negative consequences for the Army's overall strategy in Northern Ireland.

Defence date: 6 March 1998
Examining board: Prof. Colin Crouch (EUI - co-supervisor) ; Prof. Gøsta Esping-Andersen (Università degli Studi di Trento, supervisor) ; Prof. Wyn Grant (University of Warwick) ; Prof. Carlo Trigilia (Università degli Studi di Firenze)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017

Technology has been at the heart of economic growth, from the swift Dutch commercial boats of the 17th century—called "fly boats" in English—to the latest computer or product of genetic engineering at the end of the 20th century. Since the middle of the 18th century, economists have recognized two categories of technologies. Adam Smith, for example, drew a line between the inventions of those whom he called "philosophers" (and we call scientists) that involved "new powers not formerly applied" and incremental improvement in ways of doing things that more or less automatically accompanied the widening of the market and consequent specialization. Since there were limits to the widening of the market and Smith assumed his scientific inventions were sporadic, it followed that, in the end, decreasing returns would set in. The process ended as stagnation or decline when nations had acquired their "full complement of riches." However, that is not the way it happened in the last two centuries, when innovation became a flow rather than an occasional event. A preliminary word about technology and investment. Private, domestic investment is conventionally divided into nonresidential, residential, and inventories. Nonresidential investment is the sum of business structures plus producers' equipment. Residential is primarily nonfarm structures, although relatively small items for farm structures and producers' durable equipment go with these structures. Inventories fluctuate rather stably in a 3.2 to 3.5 relation to final sales. The most volatile items in this statistical array are the linked figures for business structures and equipment and residential nonfarm structures. The hypothesis at which I have arrived is that the macroeconomic convention of viewing investment as dependent on the rate of growth of consumption (or in a fixed proportion to consumption) is too aggregated a view of the investment process. Net business investment (excluding obsolescence requirements) is primarily a function of the size of the technological backlog a country has available. The bulk of business investment that takes place is a consequence of the plowback of profits.