Capability Brown cannot be identified as the originator of modern landscaping, yet he created a business that achieved an unrivaled impact, outshining those before, during, and after his lifetime. Whether Brown was a great artist, opinions may differ. However, there is evidence that Brown was an outstandingly successful businessman. From humble origins, Brown ultimately created a business that seized the lion’s share of the landscaping market of Britain’s elite in the second half of the eighteenth century, counting half of the House of Lords as his clients. A study of Brown’s surviving account book, bank ledgers, and personal correspondence provides new insight into the rapid development, vast scale, and nature of his business. This research shows that commissions were not just gained due to his skills in landscaping, but through his exceptional business acumen, his method of operations, organizational structure, focus, work ethic, and ability to develop contacts and win trust with both the aristocracy and ultimately the King of England. What emerges is a picture of Brown as an entrepreneur of considerable skill, enabling him to uniquely build a national landscaping business.

Between 1950 and 2010, the British co-operative movement faced a series of commercial, structural, and corporate governance crises. Having pioneered many of the features of modern large-scale retailing since its origins in the mid-nineteenth century, from the 1950s the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) and the retail cooperative societies it served experienced plummeting market share, continued internecine rivalries, and increasing marginalization. In the early twenty-first century, however, co-operatives improved their market share and experienced a “Renaissance” in commercial fortunes despite continued fierce competition in food retailing. As yet there has been little exploration of the nature of this turnaround and the ways in which the once-foundering co-operative business model was re-engineered.

Drawing on new research into the CWS (renamed The Co-operative Group in 2001), this article provides a historical analysis of the movement’s decline and revival. As the article details, from the 1950s significant efforts were made to reform CWS and the movement as a whole. However, co-operatives were slow to adapt to the changing business environment, hampered by dysfunctional organizational dynamics that constrained structural change and limited efforts to compete with private retail multiples. Following an unsuccessful takeover bid for CWS in 1997, co-operative opinion coalesced around the need for change. In the final section, the authors analyze the factors underpinning the “Renaissance,” focusing on both organizational innovations and the reassertion of core values and principles on which co-operation had been built. This provides a fascinating illustration of how a business can respond effectively to internal and external challenges, yet retain its fundamental character.

This article examines the activities of Moss H. Kendrix, a budding black entrepreneur and Public Relations Officer for the Centennial Commission of the Republic of Liberia, during the years immediately following World War II. To secure US investment in Liberia’s postwar development, Kendrix re-presented African Americans and Americo-Liberians as new markets valuable to US economic growth and national security. This article argues that his tactics advanced the global significance of black peoples as modern consumers and his worth as a black markets specialist, while simultaneously legitimating notions of progress that frustrated black claims for unconditional self-determination or first-class citizenship. Kendrix’s public relations work on behalf of Liberia highlights intersections between postwar black entrepreneurialism and politics and US foreign relations, as well as the globalization of US business and consumerism.

Firms dealing with “Made in Spain” fashion products (e.g., textiles, apparel, and footwear) have increased their presence in the world market over the last two decades. This paper focuses on the origins of this process. After constructing a new database of export districts, it first investigates the sources of the international competitiveness of these districts. Second, it explores whether industrial districts boosted the internationalization of Spanish fashion firms. The paper concludes that most of today’s outstanding Spanish firms in fashion-related international markets emerged from 1980s’ districts, which could have benefited from classical Marshallian externalities, while also taking advantage of the organizational capabilities of leading firms.

Business historians have hitherto paid only scant attention to the Soviet experience. This article is an attempt to summarize the knowledge we have gained in the two decades following the collapse of the Soviet economy, and draws on published research, document volumes, and previously unexplored archival sources. In the conclusion, I make the case that the Soviet experience can provide relevant comparative examples for the field of business history.