In this study, the brief life of the Pace Phonograph Corporation, which produced
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demise in 1924. The state of its management and accounting systems, especially in
the context of small business, is examined together with economic and technological
conditions, under-capitalisation, and racial issues as explanatory factors
contributing to the demise of what was, in its heyday of 1921-1922, one of the most
successful Afro-American-owned businesses of its time. It is concluded that the
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difficulties faced by small start-up businesses in the early 1920s, particularly
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