XXXVth Meeting of APHES
Universidade de Évora, 13th and 14th November 2015
Corporate networks in the periphery: dynamics of the Portuguese business system
(1913-2010)
Pedro Neves
(Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Universidade de Lisboa)
[email protected]
Álvaro Ferreira da Silva
(Nova School of Business and Economics, Universidade Nova de Lisboa)
[email protected]
The literature on corporate networks is already extensive, based on different theoretical
approaches, resorting to diachronic or synchronic analyses (see David and Westerhuis, 2014, for
a recent literature review). Different types of market economies (Hall and Soskice, 2001) may
explain corporate networks with distinct shapes, depth, and evolution (Maclean et al., 2006).
Using data for one century of interlocking directorates this study raises another explanation for
differences in the cohesion and resilience of corporate networks. In Portugal, very low density
levels are a long-term characteristic when one looks to the evolution of corporate networks over
one century (1913-2010). This cannot be attributed to the structural dominance of marketdriven institutions, typical of the liberal market economies, using the “varieties of capitalism”
typology (Hall and Soskice 2001).
This structural low density is mostly the result of a business system where small firms have
dominated. Using the metaphor that Langlois (2010) proposed, small and flathierarchical firms
would be the “natural state” of the Marshallian forest. In such a business system atomisation is
the rule and strong corporate networks do not prosper in this environment. This conclusion realigns the relationship between the varieties of capitalism and the density of corporate network.
Previous studies have been mostly concerned with mature economies where denser networks
are a consequence of more coordinated forms of capitalism and lower network density involves
liberal market economies. Economic backwardness may generate similar conditions for
corporate networks where low density dominates. Under such circumstances, business systems
would fail to spin off large and dense interlocking ties.
Keywords: corporate networks, Big Business, Portugal, 20th century
Álvaro Ferreira da Silva is Associate Professor of Economic and Business History at the Nova
School of Business and Economics, Lisbon. Undergraduate degree in History (Universidade de
Lisboa, 1982), Master in Historical Economics and Sociology (Universidade Nova de Lisboa,
1990), Doctor in History (European University Institute, Florence, 1998). His research interests
are focused on business and economic history, urban history and the history of technology.
Recent and selected works: História Económica de Portugal, 1700-2000 (2005, edited with Pedro
Lains), História da Informática em Portugal (2006), “The peculiar customer: conflicts of power
and the modern water supply system in Lisbon (1850-1930)” (2007), “Foreign capital and
problems of agency: the Companhias Reunidas de Gás e Electricidade in Lisbon (1890-1920)”
(2008), “Engineers and organizational behaviour: the Companhia Real dos Caminhos de Ferro
Portugueses (1870-1885)” (2009), “In search of the urban variable: Understanding the roots of
urban planning in Portugal” (2009), “A economia portuguesa na I República” (with Luciano
Amaral) in Luciano Amaral (ed.), Outubro: A Revolução Republicana em Portugal. Lisboa (2011).
“Street, sanitation and beautification: urban intervention in nineteenth-century Lisbon” (2011),
“A Economia Portuguesa na I República” (2012), Corporate networks in twentieth-century
Portugal: a long-term perspective” (with Pedro Neves) (2014), “Organizational innovation in
nineteenth-century railway investment: peripheral countries in a global economy” (2014),
“Business groups in Portugal in the Estado Novo period (1930-1974): family, power and
structural change” (with Luciano Amaral and Pedro Neves) (forthcoming).
Pedro Neves is Assistant Professor at ISEG – Lisbon School of Economics and Management,
Universidade de Lisboa. He holds a Ph.D. in Economic History from the Technical University of
Lisbon. He is member of GHES, the economic and social history research unit at ISEG. His work
focuses on the business history of Portugal during the 19th and 20th centuries. Currently, he
participates in research projects concerning the Lisbon Stock Exchange, business groups, and
corporate networks.
XXXV Encontro da APHES
Desigualdade(s)
13 e 14 Novembro de 2015
Universidade de Évora
________________________________________________
Paths of Internationalisation of Iberian family firms in the cork business
The cases of Reynolds, Mundet and Corticeira Amorim
Authors:
Amélia Branco (1) [email protected]
João Carlos Lopes (1)
José Francisco Rangel (2)
Francisco Manuel Parejo (2)
Affiliation:
(1)
Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Universidade de Lisboa.
(2)
Departamento de Economía da Universidad de Extremadura.
Abstract
The internationalisation of family firms became a relevant field of research, encompassing
different theoretical approaches that consider the several phases of the internationalization
process, the features of international business initiatives, the sociological perspective or the
theory of family business. In all of these theories, the historical perspective is a very useful
tool, since a long term approach allows a more deep knowledge of the internationalization
process in different countries, sectors and firms. The first objective of this paper is to identify
the factors that facilitate or constrain the path for internationalization of family firms, taking
into account their competitive advantages, their property structure and management, their
capacity to innovate and other intangible actives and factors, internal or external to the firms.
In particular this paper presents an historical and economic analysis of three relevant firms
in the cork business worldwide: (1) The case of the Reynolds family is an example of success
in the cork trade during a period of international expansion of the cork business; (2) the case
of the Mundet family is an example of failure; and (3) the case of the Amorim family is an
example of success, turning its firm (Corticeira Amorim) the world leader in the cork business.
The analytical comparison of the three stories permits a more accurate ranking of the
determinants of a successful internationalization.
Keyword: family business; internationalisation; Cork, Portugal, Spain; history.
JEL: N8, N9,L2, L6.
1
A ascensão do Banco do Portugal, 1974-19851
Pedro Lains
Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Ciências Sociais
[email protected]
Maio de 2015
A Ditadura e o Estado Novo não mudaram o Governador do Banco de Portugal
herdado da República, apesar de ser um eminente político republicano, Camacho
Rodrigues, deixando-o terminar o mandato, em 1936. Mas também não o substituiu,
até ao longínquo ano de 1957, quando o governo de Salazar nomeou Rafael Duque
para o cargo, após uma reforma do sistema bancário que deu um novo lugar ao banco
central no sistema financeiro português e o aproximou dos comandos do Governo.
Rafael Duque saiu em 1963 e um novo governador só foi nomeado em 1966, António
Manuel Pinto Barbosa, que saía das Finanças, onde estivera 10 anos. Antes, em 1960,
o Professor e reputado economista Jacinto Nunes fora nomeado Vice-Governador,
cargo que desempenhou com grande influência até ao 25 de Abril de 1974, quando foi
nomeado para substituir Pinto Barbosa, mas não sobreviveu ao extremismo do
“Verão quente” de 1975. Nesse ano, foi nomeado José da Silva Lopes, que cumpri um
mandato, sendo substituído, em 1980, por Jacinto Nunes, até 1985, quando Vítor
Constâncio tomou o cargo por dois anos, saindo para se candidatar à liderança do
Partido Socialista, que venceu. Este breve historial dos governadores do banco central
é indicativo de dois aspectos centrais da sua história.
O primeiro refere-se ao distanciamento inicial do Estado Novo relativamente ao
Banco central, o qual foi apenas ultrapassado, a partir de 1957, em virtude da
alteração do seu papel no sistema financeiro e da redução da sua intervenção às
questões estritas de gestão da política monetária e financeira. O segundo é o da
crescente participação do Banco de Portugal no desenho da política económica e
financeira do país, a seguir a 1975. Tal aconteceu, em grande medida, dado o
crescimento dos problemas de financiamento externo do país e também por causa da
grande instabilidade política então vivida.
O presente trabalho pretende analisar a crescente intervenção do Banco de Portugal
na gestão das coisas públicas em Portugal, a qual passou pelo protagonismo e pela
Comunicação baseada no projecto em curso “História do Banco de Portugal, 19742000”.
1
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influência dos seus governadores, e pela estreita relação entre os mesmos e os
sucessivos governos e ministros das Finanças, e ainda pela ascensão do Gabinete de
Estudos do Banco que proporcionava os argumentos técnicos para se prosseguirem
determinadas linhas de política económica e financeira. Nesse quadro, as
intervenções do FMI, de 1977 e 1983, serviram o mesmo propósito já que o Banco de
Portugal intermediava essas intervenções, sendo como era o representante daquela
organização internacional em Portugal. O estudo revela altos e baixos no
relacionamento entre o Banco de Portugal e os sucessivos governos, podendo-se
todavia concluir que o Banco ganhou um peso crescente, dado que foi paulatinamente
criado um acordo entre os dois maiores partidos da democracia portuguesa
relativamente ao seu papel na acção governativa, pelo menos até 1985, ano em que a
análise do presente estudo termina.
Palavras-chave: Portugal; Banco de Portugal; Governos em democracia; Política
económica e monetária.
PS: A apresentação poderá ser feita em inglês.
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Pedro Lains é investigador coordenador do Instituto de Ciências Sociais da
Universidade de Lisboa e professor convidado da Faculdade de Economia e Gestão da
Universidade Católica Portuguesa e da Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da
Universidade Nova de Lisboa. É licenciado e agregado em Economia pela
Universidade Nova de Lisboa e doutorado em História pelo Instituto Universitário
Europeu de Florença. Publicou recentemente os livros Paying for the Liberal State.
The Rise of Public Finances in Nineteenth Century Europe (com J.L. Cardoso,
Cambridge University Press, 2010); História da Caixa Geral de Depósitos, 1876-2010
(3 vols., Imprensa de Ciências Sociais, 2002-2011); e An Economic History of
Portugal (com L.F. Costa e S.M. Miranda, Cambridge University Press, a publicar em
2015). Trabalha presentemente sobre crescimento económico no longo prazo e a
história do Banco de Portugal.
1.
Robert Triffin and the European Payments Union: European monetary integration
as a building block for a new international monetary system
Ivo Maes
Ilaria Pasotti
Abstract
Robert Triffin (1911-1993) became famous with trenchant analyses of the vulnerabilities of
the Bretton Woods system, especially the so-called Triffin dilemma. This paper shows that
Triffin's vision of the international and European monetary system was very much shaped
by his experience with the European Payments Union. Already very early, Triffin exposed
the weaknesses of the international monetary system. A key experience was the
European Payments Union, in the elaboration of which he played a crucial role. At the
centre of the EPU was the “clearing house” which not only played a role in the clearing
and settlement of payments but also in the provision of (temporary) financing of balance of
payments deficits and the coordination of economic policies. Moreover, Triffin defended
the use of a new unit of account to express the balances of the clearing. After the Treaty
of Rome, Triffin developed proposals for a European Reserve Fund and a European
currency unit, very much based on his experience with the EPU. Furthermore, for Triffin,
European monetary integration was also a step towards a new international monetary
system. So, in order to tackle the flaws inherent in the international monetary system, he
pursued a two-pronged strategy with proposals for a global reform and, as he doubted the
feasibility of such reforms, a regional approach.
Ivo Maes, National Bank of Belgium ([email protected])
Ilaria Pasotti, Catholic University of Milan ([email protected])
Abs Triffin EPU