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British Fire Insurers in Australia, 1860–1920: A Story of Enterprise, Luck, and Resilience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 November 2020

Monica Keneley
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Abstract

The global expansion of British insurers in the nineteenth century has been a feature of insurance history that has highlighted the strategic nature of the multinational enterprise (MNE). The growth of the Australian colonies from the mid-nineteenth century attracted the interest of these overseas insurers. This article considers the challenges these firms faced and the way in which these trials were overcome. Effective networks were important in establishing a market presence in the Australian colonies. A combination of enterprise, luck, and resilience assisted in building these links. The experience of British insurers in the colonies sheds light on the processes of MNE expansion into markets beyond their range of tacit knowledge and expertise.

Keywords

multinational enterprisesMNEinsurance companiesAustraliainternationalizationforeign market networks
Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 94 , Issue 3 , Autumn 2020 , pp. 535 - 568
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 2020

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Footnotes

The author wishes to acknowledge the suggestions made by David Merrett, Geoff Jones, Mira Wilkins, and the anonymous referees of this journal on earlier versions of this article as well as the generosity of Dr. Garry Pursell in making available his extensive card index, which has enabled the identification of British insurers in Australia in the nineteenth century.

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119 This agreement determined the location and number of agents, the appointment and remuneration of directors and chief agents, and the level of discounts given. In effect it prescribed the behavior of firms in relation to nonprice competition. Pursell, “Non-Life Insurance,” 412–18.

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127 Mr Manvell's Report, 1877, Sun Letterbook, vol. 25, LMA.

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