Assessing Information Quality Theories: The USS Joint Venture with William Holyman & Sons and Huddart Parker Ltd, 1904-35

G. Boyce and L. Lepper

Business History, 2002, vol. 44, issue 4, 85-120

Abstract: Scholars concerned with an information-based view of an economy make an implicit assumption that firm efficiencies are based on information of good quality. In this firm-specific study an explanation of the importance of information quality is given by utilising and extending Casson's diagrammatic methodology for representing information flows. This has been done by measuring aspects of the information flows through Wm. Holyman & Sons Ltd and Holymans Ltd, for five years during the period 1904 to 1935. The shipping firms of Union Steamship Company of New Zealand (USSCo.), Wm. Holyman & Sons Ltd (Holyman's), and Huddart Parker Company Ltd (HP) were joint-venture partners. A content analysis methodology was applied to the Head Office records of USSCo. The results have provided a way of extending Casson's diagrammatic methodology and in so doing, added to Casson's own contribution to the theory of the firm. The evidence from the archives suggests that a high quality of information underpinned the joint venture and ensured success for a 75-year period. Furthermore, the research findings support the thesis that information of high quality contributes in a significant way to firm efficiencies.

Date: 2002
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DOI: 10.1080/713999291

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