Communities of Knowledge: Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Networks in the British Outdoor Trade, 1960–90

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size

Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to Ann Prior and Tony Breakell for research assistance for this article. Thanks are also due to participants at the 2001 ABH Conference in Portsmouth, the 2001 EBHA conference in Oslo, and at the economic and social history seminar, All Souls College Oxford in 2003 and to John Urry and Teresa de Silva Lopes for their helpful comments. We are also grateful for the encouraging, sensible and constructive comments from two anonymous referees, though of course all errors and omissions are ours.

Notes

J.A. Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development (1934); T.C. Cochran, ‘The Entrepreneur in Economic Change’, in P. Kilby (ed.), Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (New York, 1971); T.C. Cochran, Frontiers of Change (New York, 1971); B. Elbaum and W. Lazonick, The Decline of the British Economy (Oxford: 1986); D. Landes, Unbound Prometheus (Cambridge, 1969).

S.W. Tolliday, ‘Entrepreneurs in Business History’, Business History Review, Vol.63 (1989), preface; H. Livesay, ‘Entrepreneurial Dominance in Business Large and Small, Past and Present’, Business History Review, Vol.63 (1989), p.4.

R. Church, ‘New Perspectives on the History of Products, Firms, Marketing and Consumers in Britain and the United States since the Mid Nineteenth Century’, Economic History Review, Vol.52 No.3 (1999), pp.405–3.

McCraw, ‘Schumpeter Ascending’, The American Scholar, Vol.60 (1991), p.384.

E. Chell and S. Baines, ‘Networking, Entrepreneurship and Microbusiness Behaviour’, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Vol.12 (2000), pp.195–6; J.A. Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development (Cambridge, MA, 1934), p.78.

M. Casson, The Entrepreneur: An Economic Theory (Oxford, 1982).

H. Stevenson and D. Gumpert, ‘The Heart of Entrepreneurship’, Harvard Business Review, Vol.63 (1985), pp.85–94.

P. Drucker, Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice and Principles (New York, 1985).

L. de Propsis, ‘Types of Innovation and Inter Firm Co-Operation’, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Vol.14 (2002), p.340.

H. Aldrich and C. Zimmer, ‘Entrepreneurship through Social Networks’, in D.L. Sexton and R.W. Smilor (eds), The Art and Science of Entrepreneurship (Cambridge, MA, 1986); P. Dubini and H. Aldrich, ‘Personal and Extended Networks are Central to the Entrepreneurial Process’, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol.6 (1991), pp.305–13; I. Nonaka, I. and H. Takeuchi, The Knowledge-Creating Company (New York, 1995); G.T. Lumpkin and G.G. Dess, ‘Clarifying the Entrepreneurial Orientation Construct and Linking it to Performance’, Academy of Management Review, Vol.21 (1996), pp.135–72; Propsis, ‘Types of Innovation’.

M. Granovetter, ‘Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness’, American Journal of Sociology, Vol.91 (1985), pp.481–509; B. Johannison and M. Ramirez-Pasillas, ‘The Institutional Embeddedness of Local Inter Firm Networks: A Leverage for Business Creation’, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Vol.14 (2002), p.298, 309; Chell and Baines, ‘Networking’, pp.196–202.

P. Scranton, Endless Novelty: Specialty Production and American Industrialization, 1865–1925 (Princeton, NJ, 1997); C.F. Sabel and J. Zeitlin, World of Possibilities: Flexibility and Mass Production in Western Industrialisation (Cambridge, 1997); A. Colli, ‘Networking the Market: Evidence and Conjecture from the History of the Italian Industrial Districts’, European Yearbook of Business History, Vol.1 (1999), pp.75–92; M.B. Rose, Firms, Networks and Business Values: The British and American Cotton Industries since 1750 (Cambridge, 2000).

M.C. Parsons and M.B. Rose, Invisible on Everest: Innovation and the Gear Makers (Philadelphia, 2003), pp.134–76; M.E. Porter, ‘Clusters and the New Economics of Competition’, Harvard Business Review (Nov.–Dec. 1998), p.80.

C. McNeish, ‘Go Outdoors – A Plea to Gear Manufacturers’, TGO (Jan. 2001), p.3.

The development of the outdoor trade is extensively explored in Parsons and Rose, Invisible on Everest.

J. Barford, Climbing in Britain (London, 1946); G. Milburn with D. Walker and K. Wilson, The First Fifty Years of the British Mountaineering Council (Manchester, 1997), p.317.

T.G. Millar, Long Distance Paths of England and Wales (Newton Abbot, 1984), pp.7–16.

Milburn et al., British Mountaineering Council, pp.1–22.

BMC, The First Fifty Years: A Political History (Manchester, 1997), p.17.

J. Hunt, Life is Meeting (Newton Abbot, 1978), p.123.

Royal Geographical Society, Everest Files, 1953.

Hunt, Life is Meeting, p.140.

Ibid., p.141.

Countryside Commission, Groups in the Countryside: A Study of the Distribution and Impact of Outdoor Group Activity in England and Wales (London, 1980), p.12; ‘Obituary of Sir Jack Longland, 1905–1993’, Alpine Journal, Vol.99 (1994), pp.336–41.

Countryside Commission, Digest of Countryside Recreation Statistics (London, 1974 and 1979); C. Harrison, Countryside Recreation in a Changing Society (London, 1991), pp.131–9.

Ibid.

H. Constance, First in the Field: A Century of the Camping and Caravanning Club (Coventry, 2001), pp.188–9, 194–215.

Blacks, Good Companions catalogues, 1959–71; Pindisport catalogues, 1960–70.

Letter from Tony Lack to Mary Rose, 16 Feb. 2002.

See Parsons and Rose, Invisible on Everest, for more discussion of these companies.

Aldrich and Zimmer, ‘Entrepreneurship through Social Networks’, p.9; P. Dubini and H. Aldrich, ‘Personal and Extended Networks are Central to the Entrepreneurial Process’, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol.6 (1991), p.306; B. Johannison, ‘Personal Networks in Emerging Knowledge Based Firms: Spatial and Functional Patterns’, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Vol.10 (1998), pp.297–312; idem, ‘Networking and Entrepreneurial Growth’, in D. Sexton and H. Landstrom (eds.), The Blackwell Handbook of Entrepreneurship (Oxford : Blackwell, 2000), pp.368–86.

Granovetter, ‘Economic Action’, pp.481–509.

D. Deakins, Entrepreneurship and Small Firms (Maidenhead, 1996), pp.157–76.

Interview with Peter Gildersleve by Mary Rose, 17 Jan. 2002; profile of Pete Hutchinson by Andy Kirkpatrick, PHD website.

BMC Lake District Sub-Committee minute book, 1945–69.

Interview with Bill Wilkins by Mike Parsons, Aug. 2001; interview with Peter Lockey and Gordon Davison by Mary Rose, 10 Aug. 2000.

Interview with Rab Carrington by Mary Rose, 11 May 2001.

Karrimor Company Accounts, 1952–75.

E-mail from Mike Parsons to Mary Rose, 20 Oct. 2000.

H. Hakansson (ed.), Industrial Technological Development (London, 1987), p.4.

M. McKelvey, ‘Evolutionary Innovations: Learning, Entrepreneurship and the Dynamics of the Firm’, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Vol.8 (1998), p.162.

Parsons and Rose, Invisible on Everest, pp.230–33.

Interview with Alan Day and Mike Parsons, 13 Oct. 2000.

E-mail from Paul Bibby to Mary Rose, 29 Jan. 2002.

Interview with Alan Day and Mike Parsons, 13 Oct. 2000.

E-mail from Mike Parsons to Mary Rose, 3 Oct. 2002.

G. Tiso, ‘New Waterproof Sleeping Pad’, Alpine Journal (1969), pp.324–5.

E-mail from Peter Lockey to Mary Rose, 30 Oct. 2000.

Ibid.

‘Annapurna briefing – Report on Preparations and Equipment for Annapurna South Face’, Mountain (1969); J. Curran, High Achiever: The Life and Climbs of Chris Bonington (London, 1999), p.152.

E-mail from Mike Parsons to Mary Rose, 3 Oct. 2002.

Interview with Mike Parsons by Mary Rose, 7 June 2000.

Interview with Tony Lack by Mary Rose, 14 March 2002; conversation between Mike Parsons and Mary Rose, 21 June 2002.

Interview with Pete Hutchinson by Mary Rose, 3 Aug. 2001.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Interview with Mike Parsons, 21 June 2002; Karrimor Technical Guide (1985).

M. Hitt and R.D. Ireland ‘The Intersection of Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management Research’, in D.L. Sexton and H. Landstrom, Handbook of Entrepreneurship (Oxford, 2000), pp.45–63.

Interview with Peter Lockey and Gordon Davison, 10 Aug. 2000.

E-Mail from Peter Lockey to Mary Rose, 17 May 2001.

Interview with Gordon Davison and Peter Lockey, 10 Aug. 2000; e-mail from Mike Parsons to Mary Rose, 11 Aug. 2000.

‘Company Profile’, Berghaus Catalogue (1983).

Interview with Peter Lockey and Gordon Davison, 10 Aug. 2000.

Financial Times, 28 Oct. 1996.

T. Waghorn, ‘Harrogate’, Climber and Rambler (Jan. 1982); Karrimor advertising material for KS100e, Climber and Rambler (1980); see Parsons and Rose, Invisible on Everest, for a more detailed discussion of the development of this relationship.

Interview with Alan Day, 29 Sept. 2000.

Interview with Rab Carrington by Mary Rose, 10 May 2001.

Granovetter, ‘Economic Action’, pp.481–509.

Interview by Mike Parsons with Herman Huber of Salewa, Aug. 2001; Parsons and Rose, Invisible on Everest, pp.161–4.

Conversations between Tony Lack and Mike Parsons and Mary Rose, Sept. 2002.

E-mail from Peter Lockey to Mary Rose, 31 Oct. 2000.

J.M. Utterback, Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation (Cambridge, MA, 1996).

Hitt and Duane, ‘The Intersection of Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management’, p.49.

See Parsons and Rose, Invisible on Everest, for details of the evolution of breathable fabrics.

D.A. Hounshell and J.K. Smith, Jr., Science and Corporate Strategy: Du Pont R & D (Cambridge, 1988), pp.484–5; e-mail from Derryck Draper to Mary Rose, 21 Nov. 2002.

E-mail from Heidi H. Cofran of W.L. Gore to Mary Rose, 30 July 2002.

Letter from Alan Daley (Director of Banton & Co.) to Peter Lumley, 24 March 1977.

T. Waghorn, ‘Gore-Tex: Does it Work?’ Climber and Rambler (June 1978), p.42; C. Townsend, ‘Keeping out the Elements’, Great Outdoors (Oct. 1983).

Interview with Peter Lumley, 19 June 2001.

Interview with Neville Whitley by Mary Rose and Mike Parsons, 25 Sept. 2001.

Interview with Marion Barnes, Berghaus, 2 Aug. 2000.

‘Company Profile’, Berghaus Catalogue (1983).

E-Mail from Peter Lockey to Mary Rose, 28 Feb. 2001.

E-mail from Mike Parsons to Mary Rose, 4 Oct. 2002.

T. Waghorn, ‘Harrogate 80’, Climber and Rambler (Jan. 1981); full details of the development of the K-SB can be found in Parsons and Rose, Invisible on Everest, pp.259–62.

C. Townsend, ‘Test Report: Karrimor Asolo K-SB III Boots’, Great Outdoors (Jan. 1982).

E-mail from Mike Parsons to Mary Rose, 4 Oct. 2002; C. Conroy, ‘Kit Check: The Lightweight Revolution’, Great Outdoors (1983).

M. Easterby-Smith, R. Thorpe and A. Lowe, Management Research: An Introduction (London, 1991), pp.35–7.

Johannison and Ramirez-Pasillas, ‘The Institutional Embeddedness of Local Inter Firm Networks’, p.298.