GLOBALIZATION LA MONDIALISATION: GLOBALISATION AS A LONG-TERM PROCESS: A CASE STUDY OF THE BRITISH EXPERIENCE SINCE 1700 INTRODUCTION 1. GLOBALISATION BEFORE AMERICANISATION: THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE 1.1. Market globalisation in the iron trade 1700-1880 1.2. The first British multinationals 1880-1945 1.3. Building a framework to analyse the globalisation process 2. BUILDING A TYPOLOGY OF GLOBALISATION FOR THE BRITISH ECONOMY 2.1. The chronology of globalisation in Britain 2.2. The multiplicity of the timing and degree of globalisation 2.3. Building a typology of British firms' behaviour 3. SOME LESSONS TO BE DRAWN FROM THE PIONEERS OF GLOBALISATION 3.1. Assessing the economic impact of globalisation: growth, deindustrialisation and risk hedging 3.1.1. Growth: the example of the Midlands iron industry 1650-1860 3.1.2. Globalisation, industrial competitiveness and desindustrialisation: the example of the Midlands and Unilever 3.1.3. Hedging the risks in global companies 3.2. Measuring success in terms of profit maximisation, technical transfers

Abstract

Britain was probably one of the first nations to have encountered the benefits and dangers of globalizing markets and production. The phenomenon of globalization did not start with the wave of international merger of the 1980, or even with the Americanization of Europe in the 1950s and 1960s. Globalization was a long term process, consisting in a succession of four phases: 1. the first progressive globalization of markets and technologies from the 17th century to 1870s, 2. the emergence of the first multinationals from the 1880s to World War II, 3. the Americanization from 1945 to 1973, and 4. the "global player" era, characterized by the globalization of finance, management and corporate governance. In the final analysis, the cultural factor was the most difficult issue to solve for global companies.