Innovation and Integration in Mineral Bulk Handling in the Port of Rotterdam, 1886-1923

Hugo van Driel

Business History, 2002, vol. 44, issue 3, 63-90

Abstract: Between around 1885 and 1920 the handling of mineral bulk cargo in the port of Rotterdam was mechanised by a series of innovations. During this process, the identity of the main innovators shifted from the local government and integrated or integrating trading and transport firms to stand-alone service providers, the so-called stevedoring firms. In order to understand this pattern, a framework of the functional sources of innovation is related to insights into the relation between innovation and integration. The issue of the appropriability of the gains of innovation, the need for co-ordination, and the levels of risk and uncertainty are the keywords in these general explanations of the identity of innovators and integration patterns in innovation. The conclusion is that the effects of appropriability on the one hand and risk and uncertainty on the other can very well explain the innovation patterns in the Rotterdam case when they are considered in an integrative manner.

Date: 2002
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DOI: 10.1080/713999279

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