“Los orígenes de la industria hilandera de algodón en Argentina: el caso de la Compañía General de Fósforos en la década de 1920”

BELINI, CLAUDIO FABIÁN

Montevideo

Congreso; Primer Congreso Latinoamericano de Historia Económica; 2007

Asociación Uruguaya de Historia Económica

This paper studies the origins of the cotton spinning industry as illustrated by the case of the Compañia General de Fósforos. This company, founded in 1889, underwent in the 1920’s a new process of diversification and vertical integration by installing a cotton spinning mill in Bernal, in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Although it was initially planned that the Bernal mill would only replace imported cotton fabric used in the production of matches, it was soon producing also for the internal market. This redefinition of production targets became possible when managers and technicians of the company succeeded in solving some important problems related to the supply and regular quality of raw materials and training of labour. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the company’s strategies and their results in the context of the economic situation prevailing during the years of the first post-war period. In this sense, this communication sets out to contribute new empirical evidence on the problems faced by industrial implantation.