Asleep by a Frozen Sea or a Financial Innovator? The Hudson’s Bay Company, 1714-63
'Asleep by a frozen sea' is a description of the early history of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) that has persisted since the mid-eighteenth century. The management of the company prior to the Seven Years War (1756-63) has received decidedly mixed reviews. In particular, the company h...
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| Published in | Canadian journal of history Vol. 49; no. 2; pp. 179 - 202 |
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| Main Author | |
| Format | Journal Article |
| Language | English |
| Published |
Saskatoon
University of Toronto Press
22.09.2014
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| Subjects | |
| Online Access | Get full text |
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| Abstract | 'Asleep by a frozen sea' is a description of the early history of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) that has persisted since the mid-eighteenth century. The management of the company prior to the Seven Years War (1756-63) has received decidedly mixed reviews. In particular, the company has been criticized for a lack of initiative in North America relative to its French rivals. This article re-assesses the operations of the company from the perspective of its British managers. It examines what they sought to achieve as well as how they generated revenues, controlled costs and managed their cash flow. This analysis reveals that, far from being 'driven to the wall' by its French competitors, the HBC, through careful control of costs and an innovative approach to financial management, protected the interests of its shareholders while ensuring considerable operational flexibility in North America. |
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| AbstractList | 'Asleep by a frozen sea' is a description of the early history of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) that has persisted since the mid-eighteenth century. The management of the company prior to the Seven Years War (1756-63) has received decidedly mixed reviews. In particular, the company has been criticized for a lack of initiative in North America relative to its French rivals. This article re-assesses the operations of the company from the perspective of its British managers. It examines what they sought to achieve as well as how they generated revenues, controlled costs and managed their cash flow. This analysis reveals that, far from being 'driven to the wall' by its French competitors, the HBC, through careful control of costs and an innovative approach to financial management, protected the interests of its shareholders while ensuring considerable operational flexibility in North America. Keywords: Eighteenth century: Hudson's Bay Company: merchants: business history: British chartered trading companies ..Asleep by a frozen sea £ est un expose du debut de l'histoire de la compagnie de la Buie d'Hudson (CBH) qui a survecu depths le milieu du dix-huitieme siecle. Avanr la Guerre de Sept ans (1756-1763) l'administration de la compagnie avait retail un bilan vraiment portage. En particulier, on a critique son manque d'initiative vis-a-vis de ses concurrents frangais en Amerique du Nord. Cet article re-examine la gestion de la compagnie du point de vue de ses administrateurs britanniques. Nous examinons ce qu ils tentaient de realiser, de meme que leur fagon de generer des recettes, de controler les depenses de meme que de gerer lew marge brute d'autofinancement. Cette analyse nous devoile que, loin d'etre depassepar lews concurrents frangais, la CBH, en controlant soigneusement des coiits et en poursuivant line demarche novatrice de lew gestion financiere, a protege les interets des actionnaires tout en offrant une souplesse d'exploitation considerable en Amerique du Nord. Mots-cles: dix-huitieme siecle; la Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson; marcliands; histoire du commerce; societes privilegiees britanniques 'Asleep by a frozen sea' is a description of the early history of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) that has persisted since the mid-eighteenth century. The management of the company prior to the Seven Years War (1756-63) has received decidedly mixed reviews. In particular, the company has been criticized for a lack of initiative in North America relative to its French rivals. This article re-assesses the operations of the company from the perspective of its British managers. It examines what they sought to achieve as well as how they generated revenues, controlled costs and managed their cash flow. This analysis reveals that, far from being 'driven to the wall' by its French competitors, the HBC, through careful control of costs and an innovative approach to financial management, protected the interests of its shareholders while ensuring considerable operational flexibility in North America. Keywords: Eighteenth century: Hudson's Bay Company: merchants: business history: British chartered trading companies ..Asleep by a frozen sea [pounds sterling] est un expose du debut de l'histoire de la compagnie de la Buie d'Hudson (CBH) qui a survecu depths le milieu du dix-huitieme siecle. Avanr la Guerre de Sept ans (1756-1763) l'administration de la compagnie avait retail un bilan vraiment portage. En particulier, on a critique son manque d'initiative vis-a-vis de ses concurrents frangais en Amerique du Nord. Cet article re-examine la gestion de la compagnie du point de vue de ses administrateurs britanniques. Nous examinons ce qu ils tentaient de realiser, de meme que leur fagon de generer des recettes, de controler les depenses de meme que de gerer lew marge brute d'autofinancement. Cette analyse nous devoile que, loin d'etre depassepar lews concurrents frangais, la CBH, en controlant soigneusement des coiits et en poursuivant line demarche novatrice de lew gestion financiere, a protege les interets des actionnaires tout en offrant une souplesse d'exploitation considerable en Amerique du Nord. Mots-cles: dix-huitieme siecle; la Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson; marcliands; histoire du commerce; societes privilegiees britanniques 'Asleep by a frozen sea' is a description of the early history of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) that has persisted since the mid-eighteenth century. The management of the company prior to the Seven Years War (1756-63) has received decidedly mixed reviews. In particular, the company has been criticized for a lack of initiative in North America relative to its French rivals. This article re-assesses the operations of the company from the perspective of its British managers. It examines what they sought to achieve as well as how they generated revenues, controlled costs and managed their cash flow. This analysis reveals that, far from being 'driven to the wall' by its French competitors, the HBC, through careful control of costs and an innovative approach to financial management, protected the interests of its shareholders while ensuring considerable operational flexibility in North America. Joseph Robson's accusation in 1752 that the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) had "for eighty years slept at the edge of a frozen sea" created an image of the early history of the company which has, to a large extent, persisted'. Most of the assessments of the company's performance by historians have focused on its activities in North America and its performance relative to its French rivals. The aim of this article is not to conduct a comparative study of British and French approaches to the fur trade in North America, but rather to re-examine the performance of the HBC during the fifty years from the end of the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-13) until the end of the Seven Years War (1756- 63) from a different viewpoint that of its managers in Britain. This analysis reveals that the NBC's approach to management gave it considerable operational flexibility within North America while allowing it to protect the interests of its British shareholders. |
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| Author | Wagner, Mike |
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| Snippet | ‘Asleep by a frozen sea’ is a description of the early history of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) that has persisted since the mid-eighteenth century. The... 'Asleep by a frozen sea' is a description of the early history of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) that has persisted since the mid-eighteenth century. The... Joseph Robson's accusation in 1752 that the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) had "for eighty years slept at the edge of a frozen sea" created an image of the early... |
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| Title | Asleep by a Frozen Sea or a Financial Innovator? The Hudson’s Bay Company, 1714-63 |
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