Productive and Spatial Strategies in the Montreal Tobacco Industry, 1850-1918

• Published in: Economic geography Vol. 70; no. 4; pp. 370 - 389
• Main Author: Lewis, Robert D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Worcester, MA Routledge 01.10.1994; Clark University; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: 19th century; 20th century; Bgi / Prodig; Business strategies; Business structures; Canada; Capitalism; Cigarettes; Cigars; Commercial production; Contemporary times; Corporate growth; Division of labor; Economics; Economies of scale; Factories; Historical geography; Historical section; History; Industrial concentration; Industrial development; Industrial economics; Industrial production; Industry profiles; Labor force; Machinery; Manufacturers; Manufacturing industries; Montreal; production format; Production systems; productive strategy; Quebec; spatial strategy; Tobacco; Tobacco industry; World War I; Canada; Montréal; Quebec; Montreal Quebec Canada; Territorial strategy; Industrialization; Industrial organization; Historical geography; Work organization; Nineteenth Century; Production; Industrial branch; Firm strategy
• ISSN: 0013-0095; 1944-8287
• DOI: 10.2307/143729

This paper explores the productive and spatial strategies associated with industrial change. A significant portion of the literature on industrial change after 1880 has emphasized the importance of the corporation. To add another dimension to this literature, and building on the work of economic geographers and historians, this paper investigates the range of strategies open to firms and industries. These strategies are theorized through the concept of production formats, which states that studies of industrial organization and economic change need to be built upon the social, technological, and material properties of firms and industries within a historically specific context, and are demonstrated through the example of the Montreal tobacco industry between 1850 and 1918. The production format is a useful concept for understanding the divergent growth paths of the various branches of the tobacco industry, as it is able to capture a variety of productive and spatial strategies characterizing the industry after 1850. From as early as the 1870s the industry was broken into a number of segments, each pursuing different industrial practices and each employing urban space to suit these practices. The dramatic growth of the large-scale, capital-intensive tobacco firm after 1880, which was built upon earlier trends, did not mean a reduction in the variety of production formats in the industry. The period up to 1918 was defined by the coexistence of different industrial and spatial strategies.