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Different authors refer to different periods of the legendary ‘UK failure’: 1893-1914 and 1930’s-1940’s (Lash and Urry, 1987; Hannah, 1991), which in my opinion is largely exaggerated: UK is among the top four nations in GDP terms from 1870 up till 2004! In 1929, Unilever encompassed the largest M-form structure in the country (Church and Clark, 2003). Yet, most large firms in the UK (pre-WWI) were in industries with limited scale advantages, like textiles (Hannah, 1991: 300). More specifically, in 1905, 27/52 top British firms were in textiles and brewing. Even when the M-form was popular in the country, in 1948, 25% of top 200 firms were still in the food and drink industry (Lash and Urry, 1987: 45; 47). Not even successful companies, like Boots, had a multidivisional structure in the 1920’s (Lash and Urry, 1987: 44). Chandler examines only British ‘failure stories’ as evidence to support his arguments (Hannah, 1991: 301). The chemical industry is a case in point (Chandler, 1990). Furthermore, Lash and Urry (1987) claim that British cartelisation (especially within holding companies) is undermined, as opposed to the German one for instance (Lash and Urry, 1987: 45).

British firms were deficient in market information, due to the lack of trust towards banks-as intermediaries. Inevitably, family and friends became the key investors (Lash and Urry, 1987: 50). Hence, family firms (and the bias surrounding them) should be included in this discussion. Chandler (1990) assumes that the latter cannot evolve into successful enterprises, since profits roll back to the managers-owners. Similarly, Lazonick (1992) holds that ownership transition to the next generation neglects career credentials (Chandler, 1990; Lazonick, 1992, in Mackie, 2001: 1). For these critics, the longevity of family firms is problematic in itself, because it stifles corporate growth. Nonetheless, different studies suggest that few family firms survive one generation, let alone more (Rose, 1993; Dupree, 1998, in Mackie, 2001: 2). Again, Government regulations were crucial: ‘limited liability’ increased the chance for their ‘survival’ (Mackie, 2001: 16).

Proponents of family-controlled businesses argue they “are the prevailing form of enterprise throughout the world, making significant contributions to their respective economies” (Upton and Petty, 2000: 27). According to this table, this type of firm is certainly not a unique characteristic of the British economy; the US in particular scores 90% in family-ownership during the 1990’s.

Still, it is true that family-owners tend to rely on internal financing (instead of venture capital), limiting the potential capital decisions (Upton and Petty, 2000: 29; 37). We should note however that this type of firm is usually characteristic of the services industry (Nenadic, 1993, in Mackie, 2001:2). Finally, one should not neglect the particularity of the British economy, in terms of its premature industrialisation (Lash an本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。