A counter-example in the development of Great Lakes shipping: the case of Kingston Shipping Company Limited

Abstract

This paper examines the early-twentieth century development of shipping on the Great Lakes in the context of one organisation, Kingston Shipping Company Limited (KSCO). While Great Lakes shipping expanded, and its market base switched from forest products to agricultural and manufactured goods, KSCO proved to be a short-lived and non-profitable entity. An organisational-economics framework is adopted to examine KSCO’s evolution, its strategies and the role of the accounting system. While contributing to our general historical understanding of shipping on the Great Lakes, the research informs methodological debates in accounting history by utilising a theoretical framework to guide the analysis and to draw conclusions. Lastly, the study underscores the role of accounting records in business history research. Accounting records are prepared within a specific organisational context. Their analysis and interpretation provide insights into actions of individual firms. It is at this level that choices and decisions were made in terms of the environmental context.

Keywords

accounting system organisational economics operating reports shipping industry

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Anheier, H.K. (ed.), (1999), When Things Go Wrong: Organizational Failures and Breakdowns, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, Inc.

Anheier, H.K. and Moulton, L. , (1999), “Organizational Failures, Breakdowns, and Bankruptcies: An Introduction”, in Anheier, H.K. (ed.), (1999), When Things Go Wrong: Organizational Failures and Breakdowns, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, Inc.

Bertram, G.W. , (1963), “Economic Growth in Canadian Industry”, in Easterbrook, W. T. and Watkins, M.H. (eds.), (1984), Approaches to Canadian Economic History, Ottawa, Canada: Carleton University Press .

Boswell, J. , (1973), The Rise and Decline of Small Firms, London: George Allen and Unwin Limited .

Boyce, G. , (1995a), Information, Mediation and Institutional Development: The Rise of Large-scale Enterprise in British Shipping, 1870-1919, Manchester: Manchester University Press .

Boyce, G. , (1995b), “Accounting for Managerial Decision Making in British Shipping, 1870-1918” , Accounting, Business and Financial History, Vol.5, No.3, pp. 360-378 .

Boyd, M.C. , (1983), The Story of Garden Island, Kingston, Canada: Brown & Martin .

Brief, R.P. , (1976), Nineteenth Century Capital Accounting and Business Investment, New York: Arno Press .

Calvin, D.D. , (1945), A Saga of The St. Lawrence, Toronto, Canada: The Ryerson Press .

10.

The Calvin Collection, The Marine Museum of the Great Lakes, Kingston, Canada .

11.

The Calvin Company Papers, Queen’s University Archives, Kingston, Canada .

12.

Chandler, A.D. , (1977), The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press .

13.

Collard, E. , (1991), Passage to the Sea: The Story of Canada Steamship Lines, Toronto, Canada: Doubleday Canada .

14.

Cuthbertson, G.A. , (1931), Freshwater: A History and a Narrative of the Great Lakes, Toronto, Canada: The Macmillan Company of Canada .

15.

Dent, J.F. , (1991), “Accounting and Organizational Cultures: A Field Study of the Emergence of a New Organizational Reality” , Accounting, Organizations and Society,Vol.16, No.5-8, pp. 705-732 .

16.

Easterbrook, W.T. and Aitken, H. , (1963), Canadian Economic History, Toronto, Canada: The Macmillan Company of Canada .

17.

Flamholtz, D.T. , (1983), “The Markets and Hierarchies Framework: A Critique of the Model’s Applicability to Accounting and Economic Development” , Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol.8, No.2/3, pp. 147-151 .

18.

Gamber, W. , (1998), “A Gendered Enterprise: Placing Nineteenth-Century Businesswomen in History” , Business History Review, Vol.72, No.2, pp. 188-218 .

19.

Hopwood, A.G. , (1987), “The Archaeology of the Accounting System” , Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol.12, No.3, pp. 207-234 .

20.

Hoskin, K. and Macve, R. , (1986), “Accounting and the Examination: A Genealogy of Disciplinary Power” , Accounting, Organizations and Society,Vol.11, No.2, pp. 105-136 .

21.

Hoskin, K. and Macve, R. , (1988), “Genesis of Accountability: the West Point Connection” , Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol.13, No.1, pp. 37-73 .

22.

Inkpen, A. and Choudhury, N. , (1995), “The Seeking of Strategy Where it is Not: Towards a Theory of Strategy Absence” , Strategic Management Journal,Vol.16, No.4, pp. 313-323 .

23.

Laurent, J.K. , (1983), “Transport, Trade and Technology: The American Great Lakes, 1866-1910” , The Journal of Transport History(3rd Series), Vol.4, No.1, pp. 1-24 .

24.

Loft, A. , (1986), “Towards a Critical Understanding of Accounting: The Case of Cost Accounting in the UK, 1914-1925” , Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol.11, No.2, pp. 137-169 .

25.

Marr, W.L. and Paterson, D.G. , (1980), Canada: An Economic History, Toronto: The Macmillan Company of Canada .

26.

McCalla, D. , (1984), “An Introduction to the Nineteenth-Century Business World”, in Traves, T. (ed.), Essays in Canadian Business History, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart .

27.

McWatters, C. , (1993), “The Evolution of the Profit Concept: One Organization’s Experience” , The Accounting Historians Journal, Vol.20, No.2, pp. 31-65 .

28.

McWatters, C. , (1995), “Management Accounting and the Calvin Company: A Case Study” , Accounting, Business and Financial History,Vol.5, No.1, pp. 39-70 .

29.

McWatters, C.S. , (1998), “Accounting Thought, Practice and Legislation: Early Canadian Evidence” , Accounting History, NS Vol.3, No.2, pp. 103-142 .

30.

Miller, P. and O’Leary, T. , (1987), “Accounting and the Construction of the Governable Person” , Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol.12, No.3, pp. 235-265 .

31.

Miller, P. and O’Leary, T. , (1989), “Hierarchies and American Ideals” , Academy of Management Review,Vol.14, No.2, pp. 250-265 .

32.

Mintzberg, H. and Waters, J.A. , (1985), “Of Strategies, Deliberate and Emergent” , Strategic Management Journal, Vol.6, No.3, pp. 257-272 .

33.

Salmon, M.S. , (1998), “A Prosperous Season: Investment in Canadian Great Lakes Shipping, 1900-1914”, in Brehm, V. (ed.), A Fully Accredited Ocean: Essays in Great Lakes History, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press , pp.107-154.

34.

Swainson, D. , (1984), Garden Island: A Shipping Empire, Kingston, Canada: The Marine Museum of the Great Lakes .

35.

Urquhart, M.C. and Buckley, K.A.H. , (1965), Historical Statistics of Canada, Toronto, Canada: The Macmillan Company of Canada .

36.

Williamson, O.E. , (1981), “The Modern Corporations: Origins, Evolution, Attributes” , Journal of Economic Literature, Vol.XIX, No.4, pp. 1537-1568 .

37.

Williamson, S.H. , (1977), “The Growth of the Great Lakes As A Major Transportation Resource, 1870-1911”, in Uselding, P. (ed.), Research in Economic History, Greenwich, Connecticut: JAI Press , pp.173-248.

38.

Wilson, D. , Hickson, D.J. and Miller, S.J. , (1999), “Decision Overreach as a Reason for Failure: How Organizations Can Overbalance”, in Anheier, H.K. (ed.), (1999), When Things Go Wrong: Organizational Failures and Breakdowns, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, Inc.

39.

Wright, R.J. , (1969), Freshwater Whales: A History of the American Shipbuilding Company and its Predecessors, Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press .