Abstract

This editorial introduces the 10 articles included in the special issue on ‘Noblemen-entrepreneurs in the Nineteenth Century. Investments, Innovation, Management and Networks’. The collected works focus on the business activities of noblemen in Europe and Asia, thus offering up opportunities for comparison in an age of economic expansion and globalisation. What was the contribution of the nobility to the economy? Can we consider noblemen to have been endowed with an entrepreneurial spirit? What differences or similarities can we draw between the European and Asian elites? In this introduction, we give a synthetic overview of the relevant issues in the broad topic of the collection and their importance to business history, and briefly present the accepted articles. As two of the articles deal with the Japanese case, while the others focus on Europe, we have dedicated specific sections to the European and Japanese nobilities.

摘要

本社论介绍《十九世纪的贵族企业家》特刊收录的10篇文章。投资、创新、管理和网络”。所收集的作品集中于欧洲和亚洲贵族的商业活动，从而提供了在经济扩张和全球化时代进行比较的机会。贵族对经济的贡献是什么？我们可以认为贵族具有企业家精神吗？我们可以在欧洲和亚洲精英之间得出什么不同或相似之处？在本介绍中，我们综合概述了该集合广泛主题中的相关问题及其对商业历史的重要性，并简要介绍了已接受的文章。由于其中两篇文章涉及日本案，而其他文章则关注欧洲，