Recent business history has been much concerned with the relationship between organization structure and competitive advantage. Using an archetypal case, the decline of the export-led British cotton industry, the contention that the vertically integrated, professionally managed firm has been an...

The analysis presented is based on a case study of Lancashire cotton textile firms. It traces their financial history through the sharp boom of 1919-20, and the sudden crisis that followed. Using a sample of representative companies it is shown that firms unwittingly adopted inappropriate...