'Courtaulds and the beginning of rayon' in B Supple (ed), Essays in British Business History. The development of the firm
Details:
- Author(s) Coleman, Donald C
- Publication type Chapter
- Year published 1977
- Pages pp88-100
- Publisher Clarendon Press
- Place Published Oxford
Topics:
- Name Entrepreneurship inc cultural influences, opportunity, etc
- Name Intellectual property inc patents, trade marks, designs & copyright inc management
- Name Marketing inc brand & product development, distribution, etc
- Name Innovation, diffusion & invention, inc technology & products
Countries:
Library:
- Name British Library
- City London
- County Greater London
- Country England
- Postcode NW1 2DB
- Visit British Library's website
Groups:
Notes:
Considers the growth of the Courtauld business from c1904 and its purchase of Viscose Spinning Syndicate Ltd along with its patents for making artificial silk - later known as rayon - and the firm's subsequent development by 1920 into the world's biggest rayon manufacturer with a very important US subsidiary. Analyses what happened and how it happened and the entrepreneurial input involved. Has sections: 'Technical origin of rayon'; 'Courtaulds and the commercial development of rayon'; 'The American market'; 'The rayon boom and Courtaulds' prosperity'; 'Some elements of success'. In particular focuses on success achieved via a mixture of enterprise, opportunism and luck but facilitated by monopoly rights and managerial skills in producing and marketing a new product