Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines strategic responses to the loss of markets and industrial decline during the twentieth century. It aims to investigate the investment decisions of entrepreneurs in the maturity and decline phase of the industry. The book shows that the speculations of 1919 created financial barriers to restructuring once vertically integrated ring spinning and automatic weaving in the same plant became a feasible choice. By the time the productivity revolution of the 1990s created the possibility of integrated advanced textile manufacturing at critical mass, government representatives could no longer see beyond the chimera of cheap labour competition. Without the endogenous shock of financial speculation and the ensuing paralysis afflicting the cotton industry, wool firms were in a much better position to invest in marketing.