1. Introduction: Business History in Chile in the Twentieth Century.- 2. Entrepreneurial Families, Inheritances and Wealth Transfers: The Edwards Family and their Transition from Entrepreneurs to Rentiers, 1880-1914.- 3. Baburizza: A Business Group in Chile in the First Half of the Twentieth Century.- 4. Managed Decline, Headlong Retreat or Entrepreneurial Failure? British Nitrate Producers and the Withdrawal from Chile, 1920-1930.- 5. Riding on a Roller-Coaster: The Rise and Decline of the Anglo South American Bank.- 6. Economic Policy and Foreign Capital in the Creation and Rise of Copec.- 7. Chile´s Business Network in 1939: Between the Global Crisis and Adaptation to State-led Industrialization Policies.- 8. Electricity Generation and Electric Power in Chile before 1975.- 9. On the Origins of the ‘(Neo)liberal Project’ in Chile:  Entrepreneurs in the 1950s.- 10. Chilean Multinationals: Contexts, Paths, Strategies.

Throughout the twentieth century, the Chilean business elite has played a central role in the country, not just as entrepreneurs but also as political and social actors. The chapters in this book, the first in English on the history of Chilean business, focus on the importance of diversified family business groups in twentieth-century Chile, their dynamics, organisation, and management, and their interaction with foreign investors and the state. Using a range of company and government archives, as well as other contemporary sources in Chile, Britain, and the United States, the individual authors pay particular attention to many key topics: the evolution of the Edwards family businesses, those of Pascual Baburizza, Chilean corporate networks, British firms in the nitrate industry, the Anglo South American Bank, the Copec group, Compañía Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego, the energy sector, SOFOFA (the industrialists’ association), and the recent growth of Chilean multinationals.   Manuel Llorca-Jaña is Professor of Economic History at the Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Chile.   Rory M. Miller is Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool Management School, UK.   Diego Barría is Professor of Public Administration and Policy at the Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Chile.

“This edited volume provides the reader with a rich set of essays on the history of business in Chile during the last two centuries. A good deal has been written on the economic history of Chile (and Latin America), but business history has not developed as robustly as in North America and Europe. This book is a pioneering and foundational work that provides important case studies of entrepreneurs and enterprise.” (Marshall C. Eakin, Distinguished Professor of History, Vanderbilt University, USA)“This work illustrates the historical nature of Chilean business from 1810 until the present day. It is a fine example of an approach that could be copied in other Latin American countries. Works like this tell us a great deal about the dynamism that Latin American actors possessed and the way they could promote positive economic changes. It is an excellent example of the new direction that Chilean economic history is taking. (Marcello Carmagnani, Historical Studies Center, Colegio de México, A.C., Mexico) “All the case studies provide important new insights, whether through the original questions posed, the methodology they use, or the contribution they make to debates of national importance. As a result, they advance the idea that the history of business in Chile is not only a necessary line of research, but that it can shed considerable light on the reappraisal of issues which, until now, have often been seen though a lens rather too contaminated by ideological positioning.” (Mario Matús, Head of Department of History, Universidad de Chile, Chile)

Analyzes Latin America, and specifically Chile, as a rapidly growing field of interest for business historians Brings some of Chile's best research to the attention of an international audience Examines Chile for its long history of government intervention in the economy, its move to deregulation, privatization and neoliberalism, and its multilatinas (multinational firms based in Latin America)