The Business of History

Why are today's businesses as they are? Building on WH Beable's 'Romance of Great Businesses', a description of 32 significant companies published in 1925, this book explores how some British commercial icons started, evolved and then coped with an ever-more-complex economic environment. Who were those Victorian entrepreneurs? How did their beliefs influence their work? What is their legacy? What has been lost and what gained? Why did ownership shift away from families towards shareholders and high finance? Of the 32 companies, just four have survived intact into the twenty-first century. Twenty others still exist but only as brand names, often well-known, but eight have disappeared altogether - including some within living memory. How inevitable was their failure? Our 'cast' includes Unil