At the dawn of the twenty-first century the world economy is in the midst of the most profound transformation since the industrial revolution. Firms, communications systems, and markets for products, services, labor and currencies are all breaking out of national boundaries. Business enterprises today must negotiate a global environment in order to innovate and to compete in ways that will protect or enhance their market shares. At the same time, they are finding it essential to understand the different perspectives growing out of local, regional, and national experiences with business and economic development. This has become a crucial competitive advantage to companies and a vital skill for those who study them. Comparative Perspectives in Business History explores these developments in a series of volumes that draw upon the best work of scholars from a variety of nations writing on the history of enterprise, public and private. The series encourages the use of new styles of analysis and political relations, leaders, cultures, economic strategies, accomplishments, and failures.

• General Editors: Franco Amatori, Bocconi University, Louis Galambos, The Johns Hopkins University