The Global Cigarette: Origins and Evolution of British American Tobacco, 1880-1945 - Hardcover

Cox, Howard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019829221X ISBN 13: 9780198292210

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2000

Synopsis

The Global Cigarette provides the first authoritative account of The British American Tobacco Company's evolution and growth up until the Second World War. Based on archival materials from a wide variety of sources, including the company's own records, the book shows the way in which the company developed a vast array of international operating subsidiaries, explores how it managed these enterprises in different political and cultural contexts - notably in China and India - and analyzes the way in which the company, as a mature multinational enterprise, coped with the severe international economic dislocations of the 1930s.

About this title

About the Author

Howard Cox is Principal Lecturer at the Business School, South Bank University, London. Previous positions have included Visiting Fellow at the Centre for International Business History, University of Reading, and Visiting Lecturer at Zhongshan University, Guangzhou, China.

Review

`Extremely well-researched, well-written, and sobering account ... the book is excellent and will appeal to a wide audience'
Business History Review

`Cox moves easily between epochs, cultures and countries, while the archival, often foreign, and other research on which the book rests is truly formidable'
Kenneth D. Brown, Contemporary British History

`a nicely produced text and copious relevant illustrations. The result is not only an excellent example of high quality economic history but also an outstanding example of the historian's skill'
Kenneth Brown, Contemporary British History

`Cox does not claim to be offering a standard company history. Rather, his stated intention is to use the history of BAT as an early illustration of the process of manufacturing internationalisation. This he achieves quite superbly. His control of a mass of detailed information is sure and
the narrative never loses the reader's attention, even in the midst of the most intricate corporate negotiations. The writing is tight and always controlled'
Kenneth D. Brown, Contemporary British History

`Howard Cox has provided a meticulously researched and definitive account of BAT's global development in marketing, distribution and manufacturing in the first half of the twentieth century ... the book will certainly be the authoritative history of the firm for years to come. Cox is to be
praised for providing an excellent case study which will provide a benchmark for other historians of multinational enterprise.'
Matthew Hilton, Business History, Vol.43, No.2, April 2001

`Howard Cox's lucid account of the history of British American Tobacco provides a valuable corporate history and some insight into the way in which the cigarette assumed global significance.'
Rosemary Elliot, THES, Nov 17, 00.

`Cox shows a sophisticated understanding of how political and economic circumstances across the world shaped events on the ground and the corporate vision.'
Rosemary Elliot, THES, Nov 17, 00.

`The strength of Cox's book lies in its exposition of the growth of a ground-breaking, scientifically managed, multinational company and in his integration of the personal and the political at the corporate, national and international levels.'
Rosemary Elliot, THES, Nov 17, 00.

`a worthwhile addition to academic and research library collections.'
A.P. O'Brien, CHOICE Dec. 2000. Vol.38, No.4.

`Authoritative account... many interesting details... some splendid photographs.'
TLS, September 22 2000

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 019829221X
• ISBN 13: 9780198292210
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 424