Industrialization Beyond Britain: State, Finance, and Management

State Intervention and Industrialization

Outside Britain, industrialization was encouraged by state intervention through protectionist economic policies. These policies imposed tariffs and customs duties, which made importation and exportation more difficult. The state carried out activities to promote railways, creating appropriate legislation to encourage mergers.

Transformation in Financing Companies

British industrialization developed thanks to entrepreneurs who invested in their businesses. However, in Europe and the USA, financing methods included:

• Banks investing in companies.
• The company limited by shares.
• Mergers, trusts, and cartels.

Trusts and Cartels

Trusts and cartels are business alliances that prevent competition and reap benefits by controlling production and processes, reaching agreements on prices.

Transformation in the Management of Businesses

Large family businesses were replaced by managers, engineers, and executives – professionals who organized forms of production and maximized worker efficiency.

Industrialization Outside Britain

• Europe: The European continent, in particular, lagged behind Britain in agricultural techniques.
• United States: The United States pioneered the production of steel and petroleum, new forms of enterprise, and invention.
• Japan: Japan was the only Asian country to industrialize in the 19th century, beginning after 1868, coinciding with the Meiji era. It had dependencies on external markets. Japanese industry had increased needs and the creation of a large fleet that served to carry out expansions and imperialist politics.

Transformation in Transport

Transport was a force for change, enabling faster and safer travel over greater distances. Developments included:

• Rail connections to cities, creating national markets.
• River and maritime navigation improvements, enhancing communications and commerce with other states or countries.
• Late 19th-century innovations: bicycles and automobiles, guaranteeing unique transport for each person, improving transport connections and schedules.
• Public transport, an advance in communications within cities.

Changes in Mail and Communications

The telegraph and the telephone improved information exchange and brought people closer together.