ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case in which Joseph Stephens succeeded as a fortune maker despite lacking the necessary initial financial capital. He fruitfully deployed his social and cultural resources: these included his tireless toil, professional skills, and social networks with the local team of European engineers and officials. This explains the acceptance of his tenders at the local level despite their prices frequently being on the high side, even though other tenders he put in for bigger projects were rejected at the Bombay office. Similarly, he negotiated over the complaints made by the railway engineers about the unsound quality of construction carried out by his company. Simultaneously, he undertook a certain amount of innovation in the organization of his business. He pursued an equity- and utility-oriented approach to the Indian labour agents and material suppliers. This helped him achieve control over the workforce and secure their efficient performance, a crucial variable in a labour-intensive enterprise. He devised a flexible combination of subcontractors working on his behalf and a directly hired workforce, thereby gaining cost advantages and preserving profit margins. His alertness to the emerging opportunities to maximize income and the diversification needed to hedge risk was most remarkable of all.
