ABSTRACT

Much historical writing, especially mainstream political and economic history, is concerned with successes and failures. Battles, wars and revolutions - political or economic - are won or lost. Generals, politi­ cians, diplomats and entrepreneurs succeed or fail. Nations, regions or empires rise and fall. Curiously, however, business history is different - it seldom has this balance. Businesses, of course, do succeed or fail, but failed enterprises are rarely, if ever, written about. Clearly, when a business fails it ceases to exist and in the same way that the business disappears, so usually does its records and, consequently, its history. In any case, readers are less interested in the history of companies that failed than those that are successes and continue to trade and remain a source of employment. It is good to be associated with a successful company and, similarly, nobody wishes to be identified with a failed undertaking. Thus, business history tends to be concentrated on suc­ cessful enterprises, not only because they exist, but also because such companies, having been trading for several generations, have boards of directors with a desire to know about their origins and develop­ ment.