Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T15:26:23.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Will the Real Businessman/Businesswoman Stand Up?: The Historical Implications of Regendering Business Success in the Early Twentieth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2021

Abstract

This paper compares the corporate network strategies between multinational corporations of two different origins (United States and Spain), business groups, and state-owned enterprises in the public utility sector of a developing country going through economic and political transitions. The transitions we consider are from an import substitution industrialization model to an open market economy and from a democratic regime to a dictatorial one and back to democracy. We analyze the Chilean telecommunications sector between 1958 and 2005 and find that during a democratic regime all firms sought to build more networks with each other, while incentives decrease under an authoritarian regime. In the protectionist era, US investors built links with Chile’s corporate elite, while in times of an open economy, Spanish investors built these links with the government. State-owned corporations did not attempt to build links with other actors at any time, and business groups sought to build most networks among members of the group. Our findings challenge two commonly held assumptions: first, that open economies decrease incentives for domestic actors to build links with each other and, second, that close political regimes increase incentives to build networks among economic actors.

Type
Manuscript
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

I would like to thank participants in the Berkshire Conference workshop where I presented a very early draft of this research as well as the anonymous reviewers for insightful comments that have contributed to a much stronger and clearer analysis.

References

Bibliography of Works Cited

Books

Adams, Elizabeth Kemper. Women Professional Workers: A Study Made for the Women's Educational and Industrial Union. New York: Macmillan, 1921.Google Scholar
Baron, Ava, ed. Work Engendered. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bederman, Gail. Manliness and Civilization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benson, Susan Porter. Counter Cultures: Saleswomen Managers, and Customers in American Department Stores, 1890-1940. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986.Google Scholar
Bernays, Doris Fleischman. An Outline of Careers for Women; a Practical Guide to Achievement. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran and Co., 1928.Google Scholar
Blackford, Mansel. A History of Small Business in America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2003.Google Scholar
Blaszczyk, Regina Lee and Scranton, Philip B.. Major Problems in American Business History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.Google Scholar
Chandler, Alfred D.The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1977.Google Scholar
Cott, Nancy. The Grounding of Modern Feminism. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987.Google Scholar
Coyle, Grace L. Jobs and Marriage?: Outlines for the Discussion of the Married Woman in Business. New York: Woman's Press, 1928.Google Scholar
Cummings, Edith Mae. Pots, Pan and Millions: A Study of Woman's Right to be in Business, her Proclivities and Capacity for Success. Washington D.C, 1929.Google Scholar
Davies, Margery W. Woman's Place Is at the Typewriter: Office Work and Office Workers, 1870-1930. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1982.Google Scholar
Davis, Clark. Company Men: White-Collar Life and Corporate Cultures in Los Angeles, 1892-1941. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Dodge, Mary Raymond. Fifty Little Businesses for Women. New York: Carleton Publishing Company, 1928.Google Scholar
Fridson, Martin S. It was a Very Good Year: Extraordinary Moments in Stock Market History. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998.Google Scholar
Friedman, Walter A. Birth of a Salesman: The Transformation of Selling in America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gamber, Wendy. The Female Economy: The Millinery and Dressmaking Trades, 1860-1930. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.Google Scholar
Gamber, Wendy. The Boarding House in Nineteenth Century America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Hatcher, O. Latham. Occupations for Women; a Study Made for the Southern Woman's Educational Alliance. Richmond, VA, 1927.Google Scholar
Heermance, Edgar. The Ethics of Business. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1926.Google Scholar
Johnson, Edith. To Women of the Business World. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1923.Google Scholar
Kessler-Harris, Alice. Out To Work: A History of Wage-Earning Women in the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.Google Scholar
Kimmel, Mark. Manhood in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.Google Scholar
Kwolek-Folland, Angel. Incorporating Women: A History of Women and Business in the United States. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1998.Google Scholar
Kwolek-Folland, Angel. Engendering Business: Men and Women in the Corporate Office, 1870- 1930. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Laird, Pamela Walker. Pull: Networking and Success since Benjamin Franklin. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Laird, Pamela Walker. Advertising Progress: American Business and the Rise of Consumer Marketing. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Lewis, Susan Ingalls. Unexceptional Women: Female Proprietors in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Albany, New York, 1830-1885. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2009.Google Scholar
Mandell, Nikki. The Family as Corporation: The Gendering of Corporate Welfare, 1890-1930. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.Google Scholar
Marchand, Roland. Creating the Corporate Soul. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Morrison, Anne Hendry. Women and Their Careers: A Study of 306 Women in Business and the Professions. New York: NFBPWC, 1934.Google Scholar
National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs. Directory of Business and Professional Women's Clubs. New York: The Federation, 1921.Google Scholar
New York Bureau of Vocational Information. Training for the Professions and Allied Occupations: Facilities Available to Women in the United States. New York: New York Bureau of Vocational Information, 1924.Google Scholar
Noble, David. America By Design. New York: Knopf, 1977.Google Scholar
Peiss, Kathy. Hope in a far: The Making of America's Beauty Culture. New York: Metropolitan Books, 1998.Google Scholar
Rich, Jean. Do's and Don'ts for Business Women. New York: The Woman's Press, 1927.Google Scholar
Rotundo, Anthony. American Manhood. New York: Basic Books, 1993.Google Scholar
Sparks, Edie. Capital Intentions: Female Proprietors in San Francisco, 1850-1920. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strom, Sharon Hartman. Beyond the Typewriter: Gender, Class, and the Origins of Modern American Office Work, 1900-1930. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. Population Comparative Occupation Statistics for the United States, 1870-1940. Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1924.Google Scholar
Walker, Susannah. Style and Status: Selling Beauty to African American Women, 1920-1975. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, Juliet E.K. The History of Black Business in America. New York: Macmillan, 1998.Google Scholar
Woodhouse, Chase Going. Married College Women in Business and the Professions. Philadelphia: American Academy of Political and Social Science, Publication 2295, 1929.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeager, Mary. Women in Business. Volume 1. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, Ltd, 1999.Google Scholar
Zunz, Olivier. Making America Corporate, 1870-1920. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.Google Scholar

Articles

Alcoff, Linda. “Cultural Feminism versus Poststructuralism: The Identity Crisis in Feminist Theory.” Signs 13.3 (1988): 405-36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Magazines and Newspapers

“An Invitation.” Independent Woman 10, no. 8 (August 1926): 24.Google Scholar
Brady, Francis D. “The Adventures of Helen Blake or The Girl Behind the Typewriter.“Business Woman's Magazine (April 1915): 13-19.Google Scholar
“Be Original, Advice to Business Women.” New York Times (July 7, 1905): 7.Google Scholar
“Builders of Business: Gladys Adams.” System Magazine 35 (June 1919): 1053-1054.Google Scholar
“Builders of Business.” System Magazine 37 (January 1920): 68-72, 38.Google Scholar
“Builders of Business.” System Magazine 38 (July 1920): 46-51, 134.Google Scholar
Chicago Daily Tribune (1880-1930).Google Scholar
Chicago Daily Tribune (March 22, 1912): 3.Google Scholar
Chicago Daily Tribune (April 5, 1912): 3.Google Scholar
Chicago Daily Tribune (April 18, 1912): 13.Google Scholar
Chicago Herald (April 13, 1890): 23.Google Scholar
Brazelton, Ethel M. C. “Are You a Martinet?” Independent Woman 7, no. 11 (November 1928): 487.Google Scholar
Titus, E.S. “The Advantages of a Business Woman.” American Magazine 1, no. 10 (1895): 27.Google Scholar
“Fashions for Housewives and Business Girls.” Ladies Home Journal (January 1909): 26.Google Scholar
Hahn, Buth. “When the Boss Has a Grudge Against Women in Business.” Independent Woman 11, no. 3 (March 1927): 7-8, 34.Google Scholar
Hall, Eliza C. “Do We Work For a Living?” American Woman's Journal 9, no. 3 (March-April 1895): 106.Google Scholar
Hapgood, Herbert J. “The Managers of To-morrow.” System Magazine 8, no. 6 (December 1905): 565-569.Google Scholar
Hapgood, Herbert J. “The New Science of Business.” World's Work (April 1916): 7463-7464.Google Scholar
Havener, Helen. “Have Faith in the Business Woman.” Independent Woman 8, no. 1 (January 1929): 39-40.Google Scholar
“How a Business Girl Does Her Cooking,” Ladies Home Journal (May 1909): 32, 50, 83.Google Scholar
Independent Woman. (1920-1930).Google Scholar
“Indiana Council of Women.” National Business Woman 1, no. 4 (1919): 6. Kansas City Times (December 18, 1891): 7. Lyman, Clara B. “How a Business Woman Found Herself.” World's Work 24 (May 1912): 55-58.Google Scholar
“My Dear Miss Buttenber.” Business Woman's Magazine (March 1915): 89.Google Scholar
“National Woman's Association of Commerce.” Women's Journal 4, no. 9 (1919): 212, 219.Google Scholar
Needham, Henry B. “How to Select the Bight College Man.” System Magazine 20 (November 1911): 476-485.Google Scholar
Needham, Henry B. “Do College Men Fail in Business?” System Magazine 20 (October 1911): 339-349.Google Scholar
New York Herald (March 2, 1891): 11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
New York Herald (April 21, 1891): 14.Google Scholar
New York Herald (June 10, 1891): 12.Google Scholar
“Ohio Mutual Mortgage Co.” Independent Woman 10, no. 1 (January 1926): 12.Google Scholar
“Office Clothes for the Business Girl.” Ladies Home Journal (September 1910): 21.Google Scholar
Parsons, Floyd. “Harvard Teaching Business the Way it Teaches Law.” World's Work 46 (1923): 166-173.Google Scholar
P. B. Prior. “A Stenographer Looks at Her Boss.” Independent Woman 7, no. 8 (August 1928): 349, 373.Google Scholar
P. B. Prior. Philadelphia Inquirer (February 1, 1895): 9.Google Scholar
P. B. Prior. “Physical Training for Business Girls.” New York Times (March 15, 1895) 6.Google Scholar
Pruette, Lorine. “The Perennial Secretary.” Independent Woman 6, no. 7 (July 1927): 9, 22.Google Scholar
Pruette, Lorine. “R. D. Wyckoff Seeks Separation From Wife.” New York Times (August 10, 1927): 3.Google Scholar
Pruette, Lorine. “Reading Tea Leaves: Confidential Talk on Divers Subjects Affecting the Business Girl and Her Career.” Business Woman's Magazine (October 1914): 49.Google Scholar
Rippin, Jane D. “Women Can Be Efficient Executives.” Independent Woman 6, no. 6 (June 1927): 6-7, 50.Google Scholar
“She Champions the Woman Executive.” Independent Woman 7, no. 3 (March 1928): 100-101, 134.Google Scholar
“The Bachelor Girls’ House.” Ladies Home Journal (May 1909): 32, 50, 83.Google Scholar
“The Business Girl's Two Week Vacation.” Ladies Home Journal (May 1910): 32.Google Scholar
“The Housewife's Guide.” Business Women's Journal 2, no. 2 (1890): 62.Google Scholar
“The Return of the Business Woman.” Ladies Home Journal 17, no. 4 (March 1900): 16.Google Scholar
“The Successful Business Woman is Not a Myth.” Business Women's Journal 1.no. 4 (1889): 161.Google Scholar
“What Occupation Shall I Choose?” Business Women's Journal 1, no. 1 (1889): 25.Google Scholar
“What I Found Out as a Business Girl.” Ladies Home Journal (October 1907): 28.Google Scholar
“What a Business Girl Did for Herself.” Ladies Home Journal (May 1909): 32, 50, 83.Google Scholar
“Women's Chances as Breadwinners.” Ladies Home Journal 7-10 (1889-1892).Google Scholar
“What it Means to be a Department Store Girl.” Ladies Home Journal (June 1915): 8.Google Scholar
“Woman's Role in Business.” New York Herald (March 2, 1890): 22.Google Scholar
“Woman's Association of Commerce, U.S.A.” Women's Journal 3, no. 8 (1918): 154, 158.Google Scholar
“You as Others Now See You.” Independent Woman 6, no. 5 (May 1927): 13, 35.Google Scholar
Young, James. “Raskob of General Motors.” World's Work 56 (1928): 486-492.Google Scholar

Archival Source

Bureau of Vocational Information [BVI]. Microfilm Reels 1, 2, 3, 4Google Scholar

Dissertation

Kanes, Candace. “American Business Women, 1890-1930: creating an identity.” PhD dissertation, University of New Hampshire, 1997.Google Scholar