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SUMMARY:The formative years of a modern corporation: the Dutch East India 
 Company\, 1602-1623 - Professor Joost Jonker\, Utrecht University
DTSTART:20130121T170000Z
DTEND:20130121T190000Z
UID:TALK42516@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:D'Maris Coffman
DESCRIPTION:With their legal personhood\, permanent capital with transfera
 ble shares\, separation of ownership and management\, and limited liabilit
 y for both shareholders and managers\, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) 
 and subsequently the English East India Company (EIC) are generally consid
 ered a major institutional breakthrough. Our analysis of the business oper
 ations and notably the financial policy of the VOC during the company’s 
 first two decades in existence shows that its corporate form owed less to 
 foresight than to constant piecemeal engineering to remedy original design
  flaws brought to light by prolonged exposure to the strains of the Asian 
 trade. Moreover\, the crucial feature of limited liability for managers wa
 s not\, as previously thought\, part and parcel of that design\, but emerg
 ed only after a long period of experimenting with various\, sometimes very
  ingenious\, solutions to the company’s financial bottlenecks.\n
LOCATION:Lucia Windsor Room\, Newnham College
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