Barcelonnette Entrepreneurs in Mexico: Their Social and Business Networks, 19th and 20th Centuries

Abstract

Networks, although they have always been fundamental to economic activity in all eras, played a particularlynotable role in business activity in Mexico during the Porfiriato (1876-1911). This, due to the specificsystematization that they experienced in that period, as a result of the arrival in Mexico of organized immigrantgroups, which allowed to overcome the institutional weaknesses and uncertainties of the moment. The barcelonnettes,from France, represent a clear example of a closely intertwined social network of entrepreneurs, who expanded theirbusinesses through networks in Mexico. This article analyzes the construction of networks and the economic activitiesof these entrepreneurs in Mexico between the middle of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.