This article explores the rise and fall of the Swiss-German trading firm Specht & Gonzenbach in early 18th-century Lyon. It examines how the company strategically expanded its operations, connecting markets from Germany and Italy to the Levant and the Atlantic. Drawing on theories of risk and business from the fields of sociology and business history, the study highlights how reflected decision-making within a strong network-structure shaped the firm’s trajectory. By reconstructing its modus operandi, the article demonstrates how Specht & Gonzenbach embodied a form of rational, calculated risk-taking that promoted the expansion of early modern trade. Its failure due to quarantine measures, paradoxically, confirms the firm’s historical significance as a pioneer of global commerce.
FernUniversität Hagen, Germany - ORCID: 0000-0003-0534-5991
Titolo del capitolo
Expansion of business range and prudent risk taking. Specht et Gonzebat in Lyon in the early eighteenth century
Autori
Magnus Ressel
Lingua
Inglese
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0963-2.26
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Anno di pubblicazione
2026
Copyright
© 2026 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Titolo del libro
Gestione del rischio, insolvenza e bancarotta nel mondo premoderno (secc. XIII-XVIII) / Risk management, insolvency, and bankruptcy in the pre-modern world (13th-18th centuries)
Curatori
Angela Orlandi
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Numero di pagine
568
Anno di pubblicazione
2026
Copyright
© 2026 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Editore
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0963-2
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0962-5
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0963-2
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-0964-9
Collana
Datini Studies in Economic History
ISSN della collana
2975-1241
e-ISSN della collana
2975-1195