Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Entrepreneurial Dynasties

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Families, Status and Dynasties

Part of the book series: Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life ((PSFL))

  • 266 Accesses

Abstract

The Industrial Revolution gave rise to a new high-status echelon in the nineteenth century. One part of this tier was entrepreneurial dynasties, in which immensely rich companies were passed down in the family in successive generations. There were also smaller entrepreneurial dynasties that exercised local power and influence. But the top ten entrepreneurial dynasties under scrutiny are huge international business conglomerations: Krupp, Rothschild, Warburg, Morgan, Rockefeller, Ford, Vanderbilt, Agnelli, Wallenberg and Herlin. In some of these dynasties marriages followed the principles of status equivalence—rich entrepreneurs married rich entrepreneurs’ offspring—and there were even frequent cousin marriages, whereas in some others preference was given to marriages into noble families. This marked the establishment of status equivalence between opulent entrepreneurs and nobles. In the late twentieth century, dynasticity was losing its former strength.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    One criterion for the selection of family firms was that they had been passed down for at least three generations, the same criterion that Landes (Landes 2007, 34) uses for the definition of entrepreneurial dynasty. The other criterion was gigantic size: the family firm was to have been at the very top of entrepreneurs’ status hierarchy and hence entrepreneurial dynasties. Otherwise the sample of top-ten family firms was drawn randomly, except that I considered it important to select them from different countries, including the United States, and that the firms represented different fields of business.

Referred Works

  • Aapola, M. 2004. Abrahammi. tarinoita kustavilaisesta Kevon suvusta, ihmisistä, heidän elämästään ja olostaan sukupolvia sitten. Omakustanne [author’s edition].

    Google Scholar 

  • Bak, R. 2003. Henry and Edsel. The Creation of the Ford Empire. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chernow, R. 1994. The Warburgs. The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family. New York: Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2004 [1998]. Titan. The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. New York: Vintage Books. A Division of Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010 [1990]. The House of Morgan. An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance. New York: Grove Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, J.B. 2009 [1995]. The State in Early Modern France. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dahlberg, J., and J. Mickwitz. 2014. Havet, handeln och nationen. Släkten Donner i Finland 1690–1945. Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland, Stockholm: Boklaget Atlantis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duplessis, R. 2008 [1997]. Transitions to Capitalism in Early Modern Europe, New Approaches to European History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson, N. 1999. The House of Rothschild. Money’s Prophets 1798–1848. New York: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2000. The House of Rothschild. The World’s Banker 1849–1999. New York: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, A. 1989. Agnelli. Fiat and the Network of Italian Power. New York: NAL Books, New American Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gersick, K., J. Davis, M. MacCollom Hampton, and I. Kansberg. 1997. Generation to Generation. Life Cycles of the Family Business. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, G., and N. Nicholson. 2010. Family Wars. Stories and Insights from Famous Family Business Feuds. London: Kogan Page.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guinness, M. 2005. Genius of Guinness. The Enduring Legacy of an Irish Dynasty. Greenville, SC and Belfast, Northern Ireland: Ambassador International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hattersley, R. 2013. The Devonshires. The Story of a Family and a Nation. London: Chatto & Windus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobsbawm, E.J. 1990 [1968]. Industry and Empire. Vol. 3, The Penguin Economic History of Britain. London: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howell, M. 2010. Commerce before Capitalism in Europe, 1300–1600. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jangfeldt, B. 2012. Raoul Wallenberg. En biografi. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand.

    Google Scholar 

  • Josephson, M. 1962. The Robber Barons. New York: A Harvest Book, Harcourt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jutikkala, E. 1958. Suomen talonpojan historia. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaukiainen, Y. 1991. Sailing into Twilight. Finnish Shipping in an Age of Transport Revolution 1860–1914. Studia Historica 39. Helsinki: Suomen Historiallinen Seura.

    Google Scholar 

  • Landes, D. 2007. Dynasties. Fortunes and Misfortunes of the World’s Great Family Businesse. New York: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacColl, G., and C.McD. Wallace. 2012 [1989]. To Marry An English Lord. New York: Workman Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manchester, W. 2003 [1968]. The Arms of Krupp 1587–1968. New York, Boston, and London: Little, Brown and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • McClelland, D. 1961. The Achieving Society. Princeton, NJ: D. van Nostrand Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michelsen, K. 2013. Kone. Perhe, yrittäjyys ja yritys teollisuuden vuosisadalla. Helsinki: Otava.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morton, F. 1998 [1961]. The Rothschilds. Portrait of a Dynasty. New York, Tokyo, and London: Kodausha International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nikula, O. 1948. Malmska Handelshuset I Jakobstad. Helsingfors: Mercators Tryckeri.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nilsson, G.B. 2005. The Founder. André Oscar Wallenberg (1816–1886), Swedish Banker, Politician & Journalist. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olsson, U. 2001. Marcus Wallenberg 1899–1982. Att förvalta sitt pund. Stockholm: Ekerlids Förlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2006. Finansfursten. K A Wallenberg 1853–1938. Stockholm: Atlantis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rokkan, S., and D. Urwin. 1983. Economy, Territory, Identity. Politics of West European Peripheries. London: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothschild, M. 1983. Dear Lord Rothschild. Birds, Butterflies and History. Glenside, Philadelphia: Balaban.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, J. 2009. Koneen ruhtinas. Pekka Herlinin elämä. Helsinki: Otava.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thunholm, L.-E. 1996. Den stora fusionen. Stockholm: Fischer & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiirakari, L., and M. Kärki. 2012. Someron kartanot. Somerniemi: Amanita.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tommila, P. 2010. Kummalasta Telkkään. Sata vuotta Kustavin kesähistoriaa. Volter Kilven Seuran julkaisuja numero 12. Tampere: Tammerprint Oy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Unger, I., and D. Unger. 2006. The Guggenheims. A Family History. New York: Harper Perennial.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanderbilt, A.T. II. 2013 [1989]. Fortune’s Children. The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt. New York: William Morrow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanderbilt Balsan, C. 1953. The Glitter and the Gold. The American Duchess—In Her Own Words. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M. 2003 (original in German [1904–05]). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wetterberg, G. 2013a. Axel Oxenstierna. Makten och klokskapen. Stockholm: Atlantis.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013b. Wallenberg. Ett familjeimperium. Stockholm: Albert Bonniers förlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolmar, C. 2012. The Great Railway Revolution. London: Atlantic Books.

    Google Scholar 

References to Wikipedia

  • Forbes (2016), lists of the largest companies in the world.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Riitta Jallinoja

Authors
  1. Riitta Jallinoja
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Jallinoja, R. (2017). Entrepreneurial Dynasties. In: Families, Status and Dynasties. Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58073-3_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58073-3_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-58072-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-58073-3

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation