Cosmopolitan Networks in Commerce and Society 1660–1914

9
German Entrepreneurial Networks and the
Industrialization of Milan
MONIKA POETTINGER
Introduction: Entrepreneurial Migrations in the Process of
Industrialization
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries ‘commerce’, though a
measurable entity that was already a primary subject of statistical
and accounting works, 1 had no life of its own. It existed only as the
result of the operation of mercantile networks, 2 wide-ranging economic
agents acting through a complex set of personal relationships
based on trust and barely reflected in accountable relations between
or within firms. The triggering effect that these networks had on economic
development and industrialization was reflected in both economic
and social changes.
The exchange of goods and money through the creation and
maintenance of trade and payment routes was only one aspect of the
activity of merchant groups at the time under consideration. Trade
flows and comparative advantages represented the past decisions of
merchants and reflected older information and established manufacturing
capabilities. But merchant networks also operated by projecting
into the future. In order to spread risks, enlarge their networks,
and increase profitability, they constantly compared not only prices
but also factor prices and production costs, assessed the profitability
of new technologies, and organized production accordingly, changing
routes and seeking new entrepreneurial opportunities. Mainly as
1 William Playfair, The Commercial and Political Atlas and Statistical Breviary
(London, 1786; repr. New York, 2005).
2 On the operation of networks as an alternative to institutionalized firms
and markets in international trade, see Mark Casson and Howard Cox, ‘In -
ter national Business Networks: Theory and History’, Business and Economic
History, 22 (Fall 1993), 42–7.
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