A Mercantilist Brand: The British East India Company and Madeira Wine, 1756–1834

This study analyzes the long-term power of mercantilist firms and brands in industries characterized by high uncertainty and asset specificity. It contrasts the reputation-building and protection strategies employed in two similar industries in Portugal in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuri...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Business history review Vol. 98; no. 1; pp. 81 - 118
Main Authors: Câmara, Benedita, Lopes, Teresa da Silva, Fredona, Robert
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 2024
Subjects:
19th century
20th century
Alcohol
Brands
Capitalism
Certification
Companies
Free markets
Mercantilism
Ports
Power
Protection
Ships
State power
Tariffs
Uncertainty
Wine industry
England
United Kingdom > UK
Portugal
Europe
India
Port wine
East India Company
proto-brands
mercantilism
mercantilist brands
merchants
Madeira wine
ISSN:0007-6805, 2044-768X
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This study analyzes the long-term power of mercantilist firms and brands in industries characterized by high uncertainty and asset specificity. It contrasts the reputation-building and protection strategies employed in two similar industries in Portugal in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries; namely, those of Madeira and Port wine. The Portuguese crown created a collective brand for Port in 1756, the first regional appellation in the world. Madeira wine only received similar protection in the late twentieth century. This study argues that the Madeira wine industry relied on a different type of mercantilist proto-brand—a diffuse and multi-faceted “global” umbrella brand—of the British East India Company, which during its heyday more than rivaled the power of the Portuguese state as a product certifier and endorser.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ISSN:0007-6805
2044-768X
DOI:10.1017/S0007680523000387