International Business in Australia Before World War One : Shaping a Multinational Economy

This book challenges conventional wisdom by revealing an extensive and heterogeneous community of foreign businesses in Australia before 1914. Multinational enterprise arrived predominantly from Britain, but other sender nations included the USA, France, Germany, New Zealand, and Japan. Their firms spread out across Australia from mining and pastoral communities, to portside industries and CBD precincts, and they operated broadly across mining, trading, shipping, insurance, finance, and manufacturing. They were a remarkably diverse population of firms by size, organisational form, and longevity. This is a rare study of the impact of multinationals on a host nation, particularly before World War One, and that focuses on a successful resource-based economy. Deploying a database of more than 600 firms, supported by contemporary archives and publications, the work reveals how multinational influence was contested by domestic enterprise, other foreign firms, and the strategic investments of governments in network industries. Nonetheless, foreign agency -- particularly investment, knowledge and entrepreneurship -- mattered in the economic development of Australia in the nineteenth as well as the twentieth centuries. This book will be of interest to students and researchers in Australian and international economic and business history, the history of economic growth and scholars of international business. Simon Ville is Senior Professor of Economic and Business History and Associate Dean Research at the University of Wollongong, Australia. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and will be the Whitlam-Fraser Professor of Australian Studies at Harvard University in 2022-3. He has written widely on big business, foreign investment, the rural and resource industries, the natural history trade, social capital, transport history, and the Vietnam War. David Merrett is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Melbourne. He has published widely in Australian economic and business history. His current interests include the rise of big business and the internationalisation of the Australian economy in the twentieth century. He has numerous publications on foreign firms in Australia, notably ANZ Bank (1985), but also on Australian firms as multinationals About the Book About the Authors Contents List of Tables Preface Chapter 1: The International Engagement of the Australian Colonies Introduction Australia and the International Economy Before 1914 Alternative Hypothesis. The Domestic Sources of Growth The Development Synthesis Hidden from View: Agency and Diversity Attitudes Towards International Business Before 1914 Australia in the History of International Business Structure of the Book Chapter 2: Foreign Investment in Australia Before World War One Introduction Measuring Foreign Investment in Australia Private Capital Inflow: When Did the Money Arrive and Where Did It Go? British Overseas Private Investment in Australia and the World by Industry Foreign Direct Investment and Multinationals Conclusion Chapter 3: Hidden from View: The Multinational Enterprise in Colonial Australia Introduction Methodology and Sources Numbers, Nationality and Control Organisational Types Free-Standing Companies Merchants and Trading Groups Modern MNEs Conclusion Chapter 4: Pioneers of International Business in Australia before 1871 Introduction Key Features of Multinational Expansion before the 1870s Industries The Longevity of Pre-1871 Multinationals Conclusion Chapter 5: The Spread of the Multinational Economy, 1871–1914 Introduction The Arrival of Multinationals After 1870 When Did They Arrive? Where Did They Come From? In Which Sectors Did They Invest? Manufacturing Mining Pastoral and Agricultural Production Trading Transport, Communications and Utilities Finance and Insurance How Long Did They Survive in Australia? Conclusion Chapter 6: Why Did They Come? Introduction The Attractions of Australia The Competitive Advantage of Industries Impulses for Internalisation Staged Entry Control Conclusion Chapter 7: The Developmental and Spatial Impact of Multinational Enterprise Introduction MNEs and Economic Development The Dynamics of Growth International Trade Domestic Markets Geographic Impact Conclusion Chapter 8: Innovation and Competition Introduction Innovation Competition Conclusion Chapter 9: Global Hosts Introduction Popular Attitudes, Political and Policy Environment The Scale and Scope of Multinational Investments Locational Strategies of Multinationals: Australia’s Place in the Pecking Order Conclusion Chapter 10: Foreign Voices and Contested Multinationalism Bibliography Company Index General Index