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The Alafuzov Family Firm in the Conditions of Corporatization in the Late 19th–Early 20th Centuries

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Abstract

The influence of the family principle on property relations, the management system, and the functioning of an industrial business in the process of transition of an individual private enterprise into a joint-stock format is considered in this article. The solution of this problem was carried out on the case study of one of the largest joint-stock companies in the Middle Volga region, the Commercial and Industrial Company of the Alafuzov Factories and Plants. The participation of the state in resolving contradictions between representatives of the “founding family” and third-party shareholders is considered separately. This study draws upon the scientific literature, published sources, and archival materials, which are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. Conceptually, this study is based on the following provisions. On the one hand, the informal rules developed during the functioning of the family institution had a significant impact on business relations, bringing their own specifics into the organization of Russian business. On the other hand, the new realities of a market economy with a rather pronounced focus on industrialism set their own rules of the game, forcing entrepreneurs who carried out their economic interests in the format of a family business to take account of the formal restrictions and laws of a market that was rapidly becoming more complicated. It is shown that the increase in the number of actors in business relations, observed during the transition to associated forms of entrepreneurship due to the inclusion of third parties in the family business, created the need to maintain a balance of individual and group interests and led to the interaction of informal and formal rules, giving rise to a very colorful and mosaic picture of the activity of joint-stock companies.

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Notes

  1. For details, see Arsent’ev, V.M. and Makushev, A.E., The practice of implementing shareholder legislation in industrial entrepreneurship in Russia at the end of the 19th–beginning of 20th century (a case study of the Middle Volga Region),” in The Regional Dimension of the Russian Economic Reforms: Proceedings of the All-Russia Conference Dedicated to the Centenary of the Beginning of the NEP, Novosibirsk: Parallel’, 2021, pp. 17–26.

  2. Gabdrafikova, L.R., Izmailov, B.I., and Salikhov, R.R., The Alafuzov Firm (Second Half of the 19th–Early 20th Century): Industrial History of Russia, Kazan, 2015.

  3. North, D.C., Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance, Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1990; Baryshnikov, M.N., The family in the institutional space of Russian entrepreneurship (Experience of historical research), Voprosy ekonomiki, 2005, no. 7, pp. 150–156; Baryshnikov, M.N., The Business World of Prerevolutionary Russia: Individuals, Organizations, Institutions, St. Petersburg, 2006; Baryshnikov, M.N., The family firm in prerevolutionary Russia, TERRA ECONOMICUS, 2007, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 51–58; Kalendzhyan, S., and Volkov, D., Development of family business in Russia, Ekonomicheskaya politika, 2011, no. 5, pp. 148–154; Neklyudov, E.G., Ural Factory Owners in the Second Half of the 19th–Early 20th Centuries: Owners and Possessions, Yekaterinburg, 2013.

  4. Baryshnikov, M.N., Gessen, V.Yu., Dmitirev, A.L., et al., Essays on the History of Russian Firms: Issues of Ownership, Management, Economic Activity, St. Petersburg, 2007, p. 37.

  5. Baryshnikov, M.N., Joint stock companies in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century: Balance of interests and institutional constraints (Theoretical aspects of the problem), TERRA ECONOMICUS, 2010, vol. 8, no. 2, p. 100.

  6. As follows from the charter of the Commercial and Industrial Company of Alafuzov Factories and Plants, at the time of its creation, it included industrial enterprises that manufactured “items for the production of spinning, weaving, leather, varnishing, baking and biscuiting, as well as waterproof fabrics, leather, and all kinds of uniforms, equipment, and allowances for the troops.” In addition, I.I. Alafuzov owned the Nizhne-Troitsk cloth factory, located in Ufa province. See The Russian State Historical Archive (hereinafter, RGIA), Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, fols 190 verso, 191 verso.

  7. See RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, l. 190.

  8. See RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, l. 188 verso.

  9. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, l. 1.

  10. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, l. 1 verso.

  11. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, l. 127.

  12. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, l. 127.

  13. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, l. 187 verso.

  14. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, l. 187.

  15. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, l. 187 verso.

  16. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, l. 187.

  17. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, l. 189 verso.

  18. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, fols 187 verso, 188.

  19. See Index of Joint-Stock Enterprises and Trading Houses Operating in the Empire, in 2 vols., St. Petersburg, 1905, vol. 1, p. 575.

  20. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, fols 187 verso, 188.

  21. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, l. 188 verso.

  22. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, fols 192, 192 verso.

  23. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, fols 187, 188.

  24. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, l. 188 verso.

  25. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, l. 188.

  26. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, fols 188, 188 verso.

  27. RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113, l. 188 verso.

  28. The National Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan (hereinafter, NA RT), RGIA, Fund 23, Inventory 24, File 113; Fund 1153, Inventory 1, File 6, l. 9.

  29. See Ezioranskii, L.K., Factory Enterprises of the Russian Empire (Excluding Finland), Petrograd, 1914, no. 310.

  30. Ezioranskii, L.K., Factory Enterprises of the Russian Empire (Excluding Finland), Petrograd, 1914, no. 1664.

REFERENCES

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Mordovia State University, Saransk, Russia

    V. M. Arsent’ev

  2. Chuvash State Agrarian University, Cheboksary, Russia

    A. E. Makushev

Authors
  1. V. M. Arsent’ev
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  2. A. E. Makushev
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Correspondence to V. M. Arsent’ev or A. E. Makushev.

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Translated by B. Alekseev

Viktor Mikhailovich Arsent’ev, Dr. Sci. (Hist.), is a Professor at the National Research Mordovia State University. Andrei Evgen’evich Makushev, Cand. Sci. (Econ.), is an Associate Professor at the Chuvash State Agrarian University.

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Arsent’ev, V.M., Makushev, A.E. The Alafuzov Family Firm in the Conditions of Corporatization in the Late 19th–Early 20th Centuries. Her. Russ. Acad. Sci. 92 (Suppl 10), S933–S940 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S101933162216002X

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