entrepreneurs between 1 945 and 1 958 using interviews and thematic apperception tests. From their research, the entrepreneur emerged as a person on the margin of society, who carried a basic distrust of authority. The entrepreneur was someone who did not fit in the prevailing education system, who after decades of job and occupational changes, chose to start their own business. The entrepreneur that Collins and Moore wrote about was without capital resources, without social skills, and without the support of the established business networks. It is doubtful that the Collins and Moore 'entrepreneur' was representative of the wider genus. For apart from the cultural and contextual limitations of the sample, which only included businesses active between 1 945 and 1 958, all the entrepreneurs were Michigan manufacturers; the sample did not include any entrepreneurs from retail, services, agriculture, publishing or professional undertakings. As to the behaviour, orientation, and background of these people, the research was silent. Overall, Collins and Moore's research suggested that the entrepreneur was least likely to come from a professional family (1 0%) and most likely to come from a family where the father in some capacity had his own small business or family business (25%). Over half were either inunigrants or the sons o f immigrants (54%), and it was more likely their early family life would be poor or financially strained. It was unlikely that they went to university (6 1 %) . Interestingly, other studies suggest that many of these indicators are reversed if we consider those who achieve top executive positions; a research fmding that seems to hold true across cultures.124
E N TRE P R E N E U R S H I P A. N D E C ON OM I C D EV E L O P M E N T
Economists are divided on the importance of entrepreneurship ID econorruc development. Turgot, Say, Cantillon, Marshall, Schumpeter, A.H. Cole, William Baumol, and T.e. Cochran all regarded the entrepreneur as an active figure in economic progress. Meanwhile, H.J. Habakkuk, Douglas North, and Phyllis Deane have argued that the entrepreneur was essentially a passive figure, with economic development caused by
124 Similar results are in Cooper, A.e., and W.e. Dunkelberg 'Entrepreneurial Research: Old questions, New l\nswers, and Methodological Issues,'
Americall Joumal of Small BU.finfSJ,
1 1 :3 (1 987), pp. 1 1-23. Their survey of 890 entrepreneurs found 50% had at least one parent or guardian who was self-employed. 65% had no college education and only 1 5% had a degree. In a study of successful Chinese entrepreneurs in Hong Kong, 60% of their fad1ers were self-employed. Amongst managerial high-flyers 53% had a bachelor degree or better. See Lam, Syrine Kit Sum,Portraits of Successful E lltrepreneurs and High-FlYers: A
Prychological per.rpective,
Aldershot: Ashgate, 1 999.forces beyond the entrepreneurs' control. 125 For example, when contrasting the USA and Great Britain, Habakkuk argued that what produced a slow down in British entrepreneurship and a burst in American entrepreneurship in the late nineteenth century was the rate of economic growth. According to Habakkuk, there was no difference in
the basic stock of ideas, inventiveness of the people, or scientific skill of the two societies. This well-known quotation epitomised his argument:126
The slow rate of expansion of British industry affected the performance of business men. Great generals are not made in time of peace; great entrepreneurs are not made in non-expanding industries. Because the market was growing slowly, the risks of adventure were much greater than in Germany and America . . . the abundance of entrepreneurial talent in the USA was the consequence rather than the cause of a high rate of growth; and it was the slow expansion of English industry which accounted for the performance of English entrepreneurs in the later nineteenth century not vice versa.127
B ert Hoselitz has researched the marginalisation of immigrant groups as a precursor to entrepreneurial behaviour using the examples of Jews and Greeks ill
medieval Europe, Lebanese in West Africa, Chinese in Southeast Asia, and Indians ill
East A frica. Hoselitz proposed that all these groups were free from society's preconditions to respond in a situation, allowing them to pursue creative solutions and 'genuine innovations in social behaviour.'12H Another examination of the benefits accrUlllg from immigration can be found in Julian Simon's
The Economic Consequences of
Immigration129•
Using examples and studies from North America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Israel, Simon argued that immigrants had a number of positive effects on an economy. They displayed a higher propensity to start new businesses than natives, immigration narrowed disparities in income, immigrants created new jobs with their125 See for example Mathias, Peter, 'Entrepreneurs, Managers and Business Men in Eighteenth-century Britain',
Nattfre rif
Illdustralisation, 3(1 996), pp.1 2-32. Also Magee, Gary B., 'Competence or Omniscience?
Assessing Entrepreneurship in the Victorian and Edwardian British Paper Industry',Business History Review,
7 1 (1997), pp.230-259.
126 Alfred Chandler in his work Scale and Scope argues that it was the prolonged use of the family firm and personal capitalism in the British economy that hindered the economy's progress. TillS he compared to the American adoption of the M-form of multidivisional management that gave American managers and entrepreneurs technological and organisational advantages.
127 Habakkuk, H.].,
American and British Technology in the Nineteenth Century: The Search for Labour Saving
Inventions,
C ambridge: Cambridge University Press,1 962, pp.21 2-3.
128 Hoselitz, B .F., 'A Sociological Approach to Economic Development,'
Development and Socie(y,
Novack,D., and R. Lekachman (eds.), New York: St. Martins Press,
1964, p.1S7.
FROM UNDERTAKER TO ENTREPRENEUR
spending, they decreased native unemployment, they had a higher rate of participation in the labour force and saved more than natives. Others, such as Andrew Godley, have examined immigrant entrepreneurs among distinct cultural groups. 13i1 The next section of this review discusses further research on entrepreneurship, and in p articular, looks at the contributions of New Zealand writers, historians, and economic historians.
E NTREPRE N E U RS H IP ;\ N D N EW Z E ;\ L\ N D EC O N O �!IC H ISTO RY
For many years, the New Zealand literature on entrepreneurship and economic development, as well as business and economic history generally has suffered from two omissions: fIrstly, a lack of able scholars, and more typically, a general lack of attention by the practising historical community. Fortunately, this pattern is changing; there appears a gathering force for action among local historians, scholars, and the business community to capture and understand New Zealand's commercial past.131
Pressed to categorise the existing historiography as it relates to econonuc and business history in New Zealand, four categories are observable: company and industrial histories, regional histories, biographies, and general economic history. In each of the four categories, while there are some stand-out pieces and authors, scholarly works, which endeavour to offer critical analysis or a broader historical context, are noticeably lacking. Company histories, for example, tend to be commissioned as projects to mark some milestone or centenary, often given to a past member of the company or practising journalist to write. At their worst, such works run out a laudatory, and quickly tiring, list of past chairman and leaders, missing both the undercurrent of change in the fIrm and the general economic context. Many are just too brief. The result is that the opportunity for incisive analysis or learning is lost.
Pleasantly, there are a collection of New Zealand company histories which are not only well written, but exhaustively researched: banking, insurance, and legal history fare well in this respect. m Likewise, Donald Gordon's work on James Speight & Co., is 1 311 Godley, /indrew, Jewisb Immigrant Entrepreneurship ill New York and London, 1880-1914: Enterpn'Je and Culture, New York: Palgrave, 2001.
131 The University of Auckland Business History Project, commissioned by the The University of ;\uckIand Business School in 2003, is one example of this.
132 Examples of this include: Stone, R.C.]., The Making of Rt/Ssell McVeagb: The First 125 years �r tbe Practice of fumell Mc Veagh MtKen;je Bartleet and Co., 1863-1988, "\uckland: Auckland University Press, 1 9 9 1 ; Chappell, Norman, New Zealand Banker's Hundred: a History oftbe Bank of New Zealand, 1861-1 961, Wellington: Bank o f New Zealand, 1 96 1 ; Parry, Gordon, UndefWriting Adventure: a Centennial History of tbe National Insurance Compatry of New Zealand Limited, Dunedin: National Insurance Co. of New Zealand, 1 973.
sharp, glvrng a detailed profile of the founders as well as the peculiarities of doing business in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For example, Gordon demonstrates conclusively the importance of international exhibitions in aiding the expansion of the firm. D3 Healy's book on New Zealand Forrest Products is b oth a useful narrative of the entrepreneurs behind this ambitious enterprise, as well as firm development. 134 Len Anderson's work on Wilson and Kettle, similarly, le. Irving's book on Wright Stevenson, are useful to understand the importance of branch expansion in the development of local ftrms as they strove to serve isolated communities. m Gordon Parry's work <?n the National Mortgage and Agency Company and the National Insurance Company rank among the best produced, as do John Angus's work on H.E.
Shacklock and New Zealand Paper MiliS.136 Both Parry and Angus admirably demonstrate the skill of sound business history: a grasp of subject
and
context.Comparative company history or industry history in New Zealand is almost non existent. Notable exceptions include Simon Ville's on stock and station agent industry (discussed shortly) ; Katlllyn Lucas's work on Donaghy's Industries which places the development of the firm within wider events such as the development of farm equipment and tlle binder twine market;137 and Julia Milien's work on Joseph Nathan and Glaxo, which due to its subject matter, had to grapple with presenting and contrasting business development in the United Kingdom and New Zealand as the Nathan business expanded in different points on the globe.m There are other works of a business history nature that merely achieve a basic historical of the facts and personalities, and desperately warrant further and more extensive treatment. Brasch's work on Hallenstein is one such
133 Gordon, Donald, Speigbt's: the Story ofDunedin 's Histon'" Brewery, Dunedin: Avon Publishers, 1 993.
134 See Healy, Brian, A
Hundred Million Trees: tbe Story of New Zealand Forest Products Ltd.,
Auckland: Hodder and Stoughton, 1 982.135 Anderson, Len,
Tbrougbout the East Coast: tbe Story of I!(/il/iams alld Kettle
Ltd., Hastings: New Zealand Pictorial Publications, 1 974; Irving, ].e., ACentury 's Cballenge,
Wellington: Wright Stephenson and Co., Ltd., 1 96 1 .136 Parry, Gordon,
Ulldemm'ting Adventure: a Centetlllial History of the National IlIsuram'e Compa'!J of New Zealatld
Limited,
Dunedin: National Insurance Co. of ew Zealand, 1 973; N.MA.: the Story of the First 100years: the
National Mortgage and Agenry Compa'!J of NellJ Zealand Ltd.,
1 864-1964, DWledin: National Mortgage and Agency Co., 1 964;Ellgitleering HUlldred,
Christchurch: Montgomery Watson New Zealand, 1 998; Angus, John H.,The Ironmasters: the First One Hundred Years of H.E. Shacklock Limited,
Dunedin: H.E. Shacklock, 1 973.Papemlakitlg Pioneers: a History of New Zealand Paper Mills Umited and its Predecessors,
Mataura: New Zealand Paper Mills, 1 976.137 Lucas, Ka thryn ,
A NellJ Twist: a Centennial history of Donaghys Industn'es uinited,
Dunedin: Donaghys Industries, 1 979.138 Millen, Julia,
Glaxo: from Joseph Natban to Glaxo Wellcome: the History of Glaxo in New Zealand,
2nd ed.,FROM UNDERTAKER TO ENTREPRENEUR
example, as is Simpson's work on Winstones. 139 Both seek to record a brief company history, and rush lightly over some of the more poignant and significant aspects of firm development. Winstone for example, is a vital account of family business moving into vertical expansion on personal capital waiting to be told more forcefully. Likewise, Bendix Hallenstein is perhaps New Zealand's greatest entrepreneur, yet his biographical profile has yet to be given the stage his enterprise and foresight demands.
Industry histories tend to be better served. Guy Scholefield's study of the newspaper industry as well as Simpson's on the New Zealand timber industry is strong examples in their class, showing careful and diligent research.1411 Shipping is perhaps the most amply covered industry by New Zealand historians with notable works by both Gordon McLauchlan and Gavin McLean. 141 The largest gap, both from a company and industry perspective is retail. It is not the case that retail has been done poorly by New Zealand historians, it is just not done. There is not yet a work that isolates any identifiable trends in New Zealand retail development, or any in-depth study of a major N ew Zealand retail chain.142 Overseas initiatives, such as the recently commenced, Centre for the History of Retailing and Distribution (CHORD) by Laura Ugolini at the University of Wolverhampton suggest that this area is receiving increased interest by business historians. One hopes that this might be heeded by New Zealand historians.
For categorisation purposes, one might also include association histories 111
company history, such as the manufacturers associations and the chambers of commerce. Though these studies tend to focus on higher proftle members in the respective associations, they can also provide beneficial information about the pace and style of economic development in a region, and among particular strains of commercial activity. Chambers of Commerce, for example, tended to attract merchants, traders, shippers, and
1 39 Brasch, Charles, HallenstBins: the First Century, 1873- 1973, Dunedin: Hallenstein Bros., 1 973; Simpson, Frank, The First Centttry: A Cmtmary Review of Winstone Ltd, Auckland: Wins tone Ltd., 1 965.
140 Scholefield, Guy, NewJpapers in New Zealand, Wellington: Reed, 1 958; Roche, M.M., A History of New Zealand Forestry, Wellington: NZFC, 1 990; Simpson, Thomas, !\attri to Radiata: Origin and Expansion of the Timber Industry in New Zealand, Auckland: Hodder and Stoughton, 1973.
1 41 See for example, McLauchlan, Gordon, The Line that Dared: A History of the Union Steam Ship Compa,!)" 1875-1975, lvfission Bay: Four Star Books, 1 987; McLean, Gavin, The Sottthem Octopus: the Rise of a Shipping Empire, Wellington, New Zealand Ship and Marine Society and the Wellington Harbour Board, 1 990; McLean, Gavin, Richardsons ofNapier, Wellington, New Zealand Ship and Marine Society, 1 989; Kirk, Allan, Anchor Ships alld Anchor Men: the History of the Allchor Shipping and Foulldry Compal1J Ltd., Wellington: Reed, 1 967.
1 42 Julia Nfillen's work on Kirkcalclie and Stains may be the exception to tlus. See lvfillen, Julia, Kirkcaldie and Stains: a IVe//ing/oll Story, Wellington: Bridget Williams Books, 2000. Malcolm Kay's book on the Farmers Trading Company, unfortunately, is not.
warehousemen; journals and reposts were given to reporting insurance rates, mail rates, and economic fluctuations in different points on the globe. Millar's book,
The MerchalltJ
Paved the
WC!)', is one of the best examples of this style of histOlY; the Auckland volume is less helpful. 143 Yet to be covered is the role of other associations closely linked to business. The history of the associations formed under the protectionist era post Second World War waits to be unearthed; the role of lodges, rotary, and religious associations with a business focus also wait to be explored. Ancillary institutions, such as Mechanics Institutes, the New Zealand Institute of Management, and the various legal and accounting associations warrant further investigation. Diana Beaglehole's recent work on the New Zealand College of Management is a welcome and well-written addition to this particular sector of business history. 144Regional history, too, can offer useful information and insight as it relates to business and economic history. For example, the works of Stevan Eldred-Grigg on Canterbury, or Jim McAloon on Nelson, offer helpful comment on the particular economic characteristics of the province, underscoring the stark regional differences that existed in resources, trade, and economic development in the nineteenth century. 145 McAloon, for example, suggests that Nelson was largely insulated from many of the suggested effects of the long depression and supported a buoyant trade from gold, mercantile, and light industry in the nineteenth century. 146
Biography is more a mixed bag. While there are a goodly list of suitable business figures that warrant biography in New Zealand, biography as a literary form, suffers from much the same malaise as many company histories. Often written by journalists, themes which would be of interest to the wider discipline, such as p ersonal capitalism, social mobility, business strategy, technology transfer, managerial practice, and decision-making tend to be overlooked. As a result, details which would help the business or economic historian to wring value from biography are absent, and other sources have to be relied on to flesh out the significance of a subject as a business actor or as an entrepreneur. Important biographical studies include those on Sir John Logan Campbell, Sir James
143 J\Wlar, J. Halket,
The AIm-hants Paved the
The First Hundred Years of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce,
Wellington: 1\..H. & /LW. Reed, 1956. For the l\uckland work see, Franklin, E.C.,A Century of Auckland
Commem,
1856- 1956. Auckland: Chamber of Commerce,1 956.
144 Beaglehole, Diana,
Learning to Lead
-50Year.f on:
A HiS/aT)' of the New Zealand College r:lManogemmt, J 952- 2002, Wellington: New Zealand College of l\Ianagement Inc., 2004.145 See Eldred-Grigg, Stevan,
A New History of Canterbury,
Dunedin: John McIndoe Ltd.,1 982;
J\IcA.loon, Jim,Nelsoll: A Regional History,
Nelson: Cape Catley Limited in association with Nelson City Council, 1 997.FROM UNDERTAKER TO ENTREPRENEUR
Fletcher, and J.c. Firth, although there remain a large number of other business figures from New Zealand's past who are yet to be the subject of biographical works, such as Thomas Morrin and George Whitcombe. Others, such as Sir William Goodfellow, William Wins tone, Robert Kerridge, John McKenzie, Robert Hannah, Rodolph Wigley, Henry Wise, and Thomas Warnock would benefit from more detailed study. New Zealand business historiography is as yet unable to ascertain the due import of these figures until more incisive and comprehensive work is done.
On the subject of historical entrepreneurship