The Rural Entrepreneurs: A History of the Stock and Station Agent Industry in Australia and New Zealand

by Simon Ville

Overview

Stock and station agents have been a key driving force behind rural-led economic development in Australia and New Zealand. By providing remote and inexperienced farmers with vital finance, marketing, and technical services and advice through expansion and crisis, they have filled an entrepreneurial gap. In the twentieth century, the leading agents expanded their range of activities and became some of Australasia's earliest nationwide firms and biggest businesses. The Rural Entrepreneurs provides new insights in understanding Australasia's rural history and economic development.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521125949
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/14/2010
Pages:	276
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.60(d)

Table of Contents

1. A quintessentially Australasian institution; 2. The development of the stock and station agent industry; 3. The farming community network; 4. Financial services; 5. Marketing services: livestock, land, and produce; 6. Marketing services: wool consignment and brokerage; 7. Information, advisory, and advocacy services; 8. Organisational structures and administrative practices; 9. Inter-organisational relations: competition, cooperation and collusion among agency firms; 10. Conclusion: business intermediation and rural entrepreneurship.

Editorial Reviews

"...Rural Entrepreneurs offers many important new insights into the internal workings of a prime sector of the economy and, in good style, raises a few more questions requiring further investigation. The book is thoroughly researched, detailed, and well written. It is attractively produced and its arguments are usefully supported by clear charts, diagrams, and illustrations. Rural Entrepreneurs should be of interest to both business and economic historians concerned with the nuts and bolts of microeconomic behavior and the development of service industries." Business History Review

From the Publisher