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- Title
The Management of a Sixteenth-Century Ironworks.
- Authors
Crossley, D. W.
- Abstract
This article discusses the growth and management of the iron industry in England during the sixteenth century. Apart from the increase in the quantities of material to be handled, the added complexity of the indirect process meant greater difficulty in the identification of technical deficiencies. If undetected, these could result in poor yields with effects, which could be financially serious over the long periods for which furnaces could be continuously in blast. Similarly, difficulties in obtaining regular supplies of raw materials on a sufficient scale could lead to considerable uncertainty. Such aspects of management in the industry have been apt to be over-shadowed by the actual details of technical change, and are rather less well known than managerial methods in industries where less technical development took place. Establishing the profitability of this undertaking from the accounts presents certain difficulties. The surplus on the working account bears no relation to total profit due to the practice of omitting all receipts from bulk as opposed to casual sales of iron.
- Subjects
ENGLAND; UNITED Kingdom; ECONOMIC conditions in Great Britain; INDUSTRIAL management; IRON industry; TECHNOLOGICAL innovations; FINANCIAL performance
- Publication
Economic History Review, 1966, Vol 19, Issue 2, p273
- ISSN
0013-0117
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/2592252