Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of contributors
- Part I Images and interpretations
- Part II England and the Low Countries in pre-industrial times
- Part III Enterprise, finance and politics in the modern world
- 10 The Bank of Rome and commercial credit, 1880–1914
- 11 The scientific brewer: founders and successors during the rise of the modern brewing industry
- 12 Large firms in Belgium, 1892–1974: an analysis of their structure and growth
- 13 ‘No bloody revolutions but for obstinate reactions’? British coalowners in their context, 1919–20
- 14 French oil policy, 1917–30: the interaction between state and private interests
- 15 Reflections on the Dutch economic interests in the East Indies
- Bibliography of Charles Wilson's published works
- Index
12 - Large firms in Belgium, 1892–1974: an analysis of their structure and growth
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 March 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of contributors
- Part I Images and interpretations
- Part II England and the Low Countries in pre-industrial times
- Part III Enterprise, finance and politics in the modern world
- 10 The Bank of Rome and commercial credit, 1880–1914
- 11 The scientific brewer: founders and successors during the rise of the modern brewing industry
- 12 Large firms in Belgium, 1892–1974: an analysis of their structure and growth
- 13 ‘No bloody revolutions but for obstinate reactions’? British coalowners in their context, 1919–20
- 14 French oil policy, 1917–30: the interaction between state and private interests
- 15 Reflections on the Dutch economic interests in the East Indies
- Bibliography of Charles Wilson's published works
- Index
Summary
The problem
The beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Belgium was closely connected with the development of the iron and coal industries in Wallonia, the southern part of the country. Gradually, modern industrialization extended to the glass industry and to several sub-sectors of metal-processing, linked in particular with the construction of railways and tramways. The Walloon as well as the Flemish textile industry was mechanized early. The mechanization of the Walloon textile industry in the area of Verviers contributed decisively towards the mechanization of heavy industry in the province of Liege. Nevertheless, during the first half of the nineteenth century, modern textiles did not develop into a leading sector. They became a dominant industry only in Flanders, and this occurred towards the end of the century, when modern industrialization in Flanders had become generally established.
The early success of the Belgian Industrial Revolution can be attributed to two principal factors. First, the Belgian entrepreneurs assimilated British technological ‘know-how’ very quickly and extended it further in a creative way. Second, Belgian bankers, by introducing the system of ‘mixed banks’, achieved remarkable progress in the field of financial organization. Imitation and innovation stimulated a rapid accumulation of capital in the leading sectors and facilitated the opening of the world market to Belgian industrial products and services. Thus the interplay of technological and organizational factors and the alliance which this provoked between the industrial and financial sectors gave a particular dynamism to the early growth of the Belgian economy.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Enterprise and HistoryEssays in Honour of Charles Wilson, pp. 199 - 211Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1984