A successful British MNE in the backyard of American big business
Explaining the performance of the American and Canadian subsidiaries of Lever Brothers 1888–1914
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8418525 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrew Smith (0000-0001-6541-6187, Coventry University, corresponding author), Andrew David Allan Smith |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 135-160 |
| Publication date | 2014-02-17 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Business History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-6791 • E-ISSN: 1743-7938 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00076791.2012.745064 |
| OpenAlex | W2059045033 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 66 |
After 1888, Lever Brothers expanded into the United States and Canada. The surviving archival evidence suggests that the Canadian subsidiary was more successful than the American one. This article considers a number of factors that help to explain why this was the case. Some of the factors considered, such as differences between the Canadian and American tariffs, Canada's more robust system of trademark protection, and the absence of an anti-trust law in Canada before 1908, are related to themes very familiar to business historians. This article also applies concepts that are not part of the normal toolkit of business historians. The article draws on the literature on identity economics and argues that the greater success enjoyed by Lever Brothers in Canada was, in part, rooted in Canada's strongly British identity. The impact of identities on the policymakers, managers, and consumers who collectively shaped the two North American subsidiaries is assessed
Business · Identity (music · Lever · Multinational corporation · Political science · Sociology · Subsidiary · Trademark · American History and Culture · Canadian Identity and History · Engineering · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Law
The transformation of American law, 1780-1860
In the midst of perpetual fetes
Albion's seed
Colonial Justice
The Great Merger Movement in American Business, 1895–1904
The Transformation of American Law, 1780–1860
Scale and Scope
Identity Economics
Renewing Unilever
Gentrification and the Enterprise Culture
The Defence of the Undefended Border
The Invention Of Tradition
A History of Emigration
Inventing the Loyalists
The History of Foreign Investment in the United States, 1914–1945
The British World
English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit, 1850–1980
British Direct Investment in Canada 1890–1914
Post-Colonial Studies
Replenishing the Earth
International Investment Patterns
Racial Anglo-Saxonism and the American Response to the Boer War
The US–UK Special Relationship
British Investment and American Legislative Restrictions in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1880-1900
Britain and the Balance of Power in North America, 1815-1908
Empires, Exceptions, and Anglo-Saxons
Blood, Class, and Nostalgia
How thick is blood? The plot thickens
The Courts and the Development of Trade in Upper Canada, 1830–1860
Control, Performance, and Knowledge Transfers in Large Multinationals
Another Anti-Trust Tradition
Elaborations, Revisions, Dissents
Colonial Self-Government
Changing British Attitudes towards the United States in the 1880s
The Imperial Significance of the Canadian–american Reciprocity Proposals of 1911
A soft touch? British industry, empire markets, and the self‐governing dominions, c.1870–1914
A mark of distinction
The British Tradition in Canadian Law
Attitudes, Precedents and Cultural Change
Cultural Biases in Economic Exchange
Empire and Globalisation
Origins of Racial Anglo-Saxonism in Great Britain before 1850
The Politics of Lever's West African Concessions, 1907-1913
British Direct Investment in Canada, 1890-1914
The Economics of Discrimination
A Tale of Two Dominions
Gentlemen and Players
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |