Aufsätze (Articles)

Roman Rossfeld, Handelsreisende – travelling salesmen – voyageurs de commerce: Eine Einführung, S. 129–135.

Arnaud Bartolomei, Claire Lemercier, Travelling salesmen as agents of modernity in France (10th to 10th century), S.135–154.

Roman Rossfeld, „Kundschaft ist kein Erbgut“. Handelsreisende im Spiegel der modernen Ratgeberliteratur, 1880 bis 1960, S. 154–179.

Michael French, From Commercial Travellers to Sales Representatives: the evolution of the sales profession in Britain, 1930s to 1960s, S. 179–196.

Ulrike Thoms, Fachmann oder Buhmann? Der Pharmareferent als Marketinginstrument im 20. Jahrhundert, S. 196–220.

Günter Silberer, Fünf Jahrzehnte Stiftung Warentest – Entwicklung einer Testistitution im Lichte ökonomischer Zwänge und ordnungspolitischer Vorstellungen, S. 220–246.

ABSTRACTS:

Arnaud Bartolomei, Claire Lemercier
Travelling salesmen as agents of modernity in France (10th to 10th century)
This paper reviews the available evidence on the history of travelling salesmen in France and offers more general hypotheses about the role of this profession in the «Great Transformation». Based on literary evidence as well as diverse archival material, it examines the emergence of a profession of its own from the mid–18th century and its expansion and recognition as an emblem of modernity from the 1830s to the beginning of the 20th century. It advocates a more systematic study of travelling salesmen and their position in the Industrial Revolution, the birth of large, integrated firms, the middle class and changes in the embeddedness of commercial transactions.

Roman Rossfeld
„Kundschaft ist kein Erbgut“. Handelsreisende im Spiegel der modernen Ratgeberliteratur, 1880 bis 1960
In the 19th and 20th centuries, practical guides played a significant role both in providing knowledge and in shaping the everyday life of commercial travellers. Departing from reflections on the significance of practical guides in the modern age, this paper uses examples from the most significant (German-language) practical guides to examine key changes in the everyday life and work of commercial travellers since the second half of the 19th century. Modern practical guides do not merely cast a light on the rise in importance of the science of selling and how the profession has changed from being an (inborn) art to a (learnable) sales technique. They also highlight the growing control that companies exercised over commercial travellers, the greater refinement in sales talk and the increasing psychologisation of sales – in terms of both the behaviour of commercial travelers themselves and their dealings with clients.

Michael French
From Commercial Travellers to Sales Representatives: the evolution of the sales profession in Britain, 1930s to 1960s
In analysing the development of „modern marketing“, business historians have focused on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the United States and Europe. This paper reviews the debates about the sources and timing of key changes in relation to the role of commercial travellers or travelling salesmen in Britain. It explores the later evolution from the 1930s to the 1960s with the transition to sales representatives, highlighting the gradual process of change and the hesitant, often negative, attitudes of managers and salesmen towards new ways of working.

Ulricke Thomas
Fachmann oder Buhmann? Der Pharmareferent als Marketinginstrument im 20. Jahrhundert
Around 1900 German pharmaceutical companies began to hire so called “doctor visitors” (Ärztebesucher), who quickly became an indispensable element of pharmaceutical marketing. After a first push during the 1920s and 30s, a massive increase in their number followed after the second World War. While sociological studies affirmed their importance for the commercial success of medical innovations, their activities were increasingly critized by ambitious pharmacologists, critical physicians and muckraker journalists. The paper summarizes these developments and analyzes, how companies and pharmacologists reacted to them by a move towards professionalizing their business.

Günter Silberer
Fünf Jahrzehnte Stiftung Warentest – Entwicklung einer Testistitution im Lichte ökonomischer Zwänge und ordnungspolitischer Vorstellungen
Five decades of Stiftung Warentest – the history of a test institution seen in light of the economic restraints and political ideas
The “Stiftung Warentest” was constructed as a hybrid between a corporation in the field of consumer information and political institution designed to improve the market economy in Germany during the transformation to an “affluent society”. This article reflects on this double nature of the institution fifty years after its founding. It describes the economic rationale of the foundation generating income by selling test results and complementary products in addition to the public means that were restricted after the very first years. Besides these restraints the founders of Stiftung Warentest held the expectation that this institution would also be useful as an improver and supporter of the “workable competition” in Germany. The article shows the aspect by dealing with the impact of consumer reports on producers and retailers. Looking at the history of Stiftung Warentest gives not only inspiration for actual actors and mentors but also for writing economic and business history in the future.

Buchbesprechungen (Reviews):

Ralf Banken/Carsten Burhop (Hrsg.), Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte 02/2012. Die Entstehung des modernen Unternehmens 1400–1860 (Mark Jakob)

Ute Engelen, Demokratisierung der betrieblichen Sozialpolitik? Das Volkswagenwerk in Wolfsburg und Automobiles Peugeot in Sochaux 1944–1980 (Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte des modernen Europa, Bd. 2) (Christian Marx)

Maren Janetzko, Die „Arisierung“ mittelständischer jüdischer Unternehmen in Bayern 1933–1939. Ein interregionaler Vergleich (Mittelfränkische Studien, Bd. 22) (Ralf Stremmel)

Kordula Kühlem, Carl Duisberg (1861–1935). Briefe eines Industriellen (Werner Bührer)

Hervé Joly, Diriger une grande entreprise au XXe siècle. L’élite industrielle française (Perspectives Historiques) (Christian Marx)

Frauke Schlütz. Ländlicher Kredit. Kreditgenossenschaften in der Rheinprovinz (1889–1914) (= Schriftenreihe des Instituts für bankhistorische Forschung, Band 25) (Peter Gleber)

Bernardo Bátiz-Lazo/J. Carles Maixé-Altés/Paul Thomes (Hrsg.), Technological Innovation in Retail Finance. International Historical Perspective (Routledge International Studies in Business History 20) (Ralf Ahrens)

Gerold Ambrosius, Hybride Eigentums- und Verfügungsrechte: öffentlich-private Kooperationen in systematisch-theoretischer und historisch-empirischer Perspektive (Ulrike Schulz)