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| Author: | Velkar, A. |
| Title: | Transactions, standardisation and competition: Establishing uniform sizes in the British wire industry c.1880 |
| Journal: | Business history
2009 : MAR, VOL. 51:2 p. 202-221 |
| Index terms: | United Kingdom markets co-operation companies institutional economics |
| Language: | eng |
| Abstract: | When science could not offer a solution to transaction problems in the British wire industry c.1880, market groups had to negotiate a business solution. This involved converging towards a one-size-fits-all standard: a process requiring compromises and cooperation between competitive firms, and solving coordination failure through state intervention. This article demonstrates how different groups held different notions of ideal standards depending on the incentives they faced. Reconciling these differences was an institutional, rather than a technological, process. The article also analyses why, historically, dominant producers cooperated to set industry standards when faced with an imminent lock-in on wrong standards imposed on the industry. |
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