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Local Business Voice
The History of Chambers of Commerce in Britain, Ireland, and Revolutionary America, 1760-2011
Robert J. Bennett
936 pages
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246x171mm
978-0-19-958473-4
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Hardback
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27 October 2011
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- Comprehensive coverage of Chambers based in the UK, Ireland, Channel Islands, USA, Canada, and Jamaica
- Unique analysis of new archive material and private, previously confidential records
- Accompanying online data archive
- Provides new insights into history of early Chambers in political context, including new biographical detail of associated individuals
- Interdisciplinary appeal across history, business, politics, and economics
- Appendices contain a wealth of data
Local Business Voice provides the first scholarly and systematic history of the Chambers of Commerce from early historical origins in the eighteenth century up to the present date. Based on new archival information, it provides exhaustive coverage of all UK and Irish chambers, as well as detailed examination of early Chambers in the U.S., including New York, Charleston, and Boston, and early Chambers in Quebec and Jamaica.
The book traces the importance of early tax protests and anger as motivating forces through interrelation with the American Revolution. It traces the emergence of service bundles, such commercial arbitration, coffee and reading rooms,
and information and consultancy services as critical to the Chambers' unique market position. Some of the services had a unique status as trust goods, exploiting the chambers' USP as high status mutual non-profit organisations. It demonstrates the challenges for the Chambers as independent voluntary bodies in increasing partnerships with governments and competition with rival institutions, and also gives critical overview of key lobbies, such as over the Jay Treaty, tax expansion, the Corn Laws, tariff reform and free trade, municipal socialism, and modern regulatory burdens.
There is also extensive analysis of chamber membership and motivation, tracking changes in structure by firm size, sector and corporate and management structures. The growth of small firm
membership, and the value of business networks and (in the early chambers) religious adherence, are shown as key mediums for recruitment, and maintaining commitment.
A definitive account of all local chambers including data appendices and detailed assessment of their significance, the book will be an enduring resource and foundation for research into the Chambers of Commerce's origins, historical development, and modern position.Readership: Academic researchers in Business and Management, Sociology, Political Science, and History; Chambers of Commerce managers and members; policy makers; local archives, reference libraries, and record offices
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Robert J. Bennett, Professor of Geography, University of Cambridge Bob Bennett is an international expert on small businesses, business associations, and local economic development. Author of many books and research papers, he was commissioned by the national association, British Chambers of Commerce, to provide their development strategy in 1990 - a strategy still being followed. This book develops from his unique knowledge of the Chambers of Commerce and how they relate to local and national business associations, and to government. Professor of Geography at the University of Cambridge, he was previously a professor at the London School of Economics, and has held visiting positions in the USA,
Australia, and Europe. He has been advisor to various Parliamentary Committees and organizations in the public and private sectors, and has been particularly influential on small business support policy, and local development initiatives. In 2010 he produced a path breaking history of the first Liverpool chamber of commerce 1774 - c. 1796.
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"An extremely accessible yet scholarly work clearly intended to be read not solely by specialist historians but by anyone with an academic or vocational interest in these fascinating institutions ... Bennett has succeeded in creating a thoroughly readable yet meticulously detailed work which chronicles the history of the chambers of commerce while successfully challenging a number of pre-conceptions. This is an essential read for anyone who either needs or wants to understand how these fascinating institutions have contributed to the economic, cultural, and political development of our society." - The Economic History Review "Bennett has written something worth waiting 2 and a half centuries for ... It is extraordinarily
thorough." - Chamber Executive "An unrivalled source of information and reference for anyone with an in-depth interest in the background and history of chambers of commerce." - Local Business Matters, Magazine of the London Chamber of Commerce
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1: Local business voice and the chambers of commerce
Part 1. Establishment and development
2: Historical overview
3: Forces of association
4: Concept and origins
5: Diffusion
Part 2. Structural tensions
6: Resources, governance and management
7: Recognition and public status
8: National voice and local voice
Part 3. Activities
9: Early chamber voice
10: Voice from the Corn Laws to the twenty first century
11: Milieux for discourse and deliberation
12: Services
13: Partner and contractor to government
Part 4. Members
14: Members and interests
15: Motives for membership
16: Dynamics of membership
Part 5. Then and now
17: Then, now and the future
Endmatter
References:
Local chamber histories
General references
Appendix A. Archive sources
Appendix B. Data compilations and alignment
Appendix C. Population and other data sources
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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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