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Greek Family Firms in the Azov Sea Region, 1850–1917

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 July 2013

Evrydiki Sifneos
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Abstract

Greek family firms developed sustainable businesses in the Azov Sea area during the nineteenth century. Despite the discouraging conditions for entrepreneurship and the geographical constraints, they succeeded in constructing trading and shipping networks based on kinship, common historical experience, and close links with their place of origin. Medium-size firms represent the main bulk of Greek family enterprises that were located in the Azov port cities, and through their activities these contributed to the integration of the area's economy in the world market. Geographical mobility and diversification in transport services were their main responses to situations of high risk and controversy. The key to understanding their resilience and flexibility in adapting to environmental changes resided in their family culture, shared values, and social-network support that added value to their international performance.

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Articles
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Business History Review , Volume 87 , Issue 2 , Summer 2013 , pp. 279 - 308
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Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 2013 

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References

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16 During this period, 1774-1829, most vessels that visited the Russian ports were either Ottoman or Russian, but they had mainly Greek masters and crew, many of whom gradually settled in the Black Sea ports. See, in this respect, the List of Merchants Residing in Taganrog and Registered by the Greek Magistrate, 841.2.579, Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Rostovskoi oblasti (Rostov Region State Archive), Russia (hereafter, RRSA).

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28 Foreign merchants established in the Azov ports did not own vessels for cabotage as the Greeks did. List of Ships Registered to the Port of Taganrog in 1867, 579.2.841, RRSA.

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34 Metric Books of the Church of St. Constantine and Helen, 226.19.585, 803.2.609, 803.2.611, 803.2.613, 803.2.615, 803.2.617, 803.2.621, 803.2.1555, 226.21.641, RRSA.

35 According to the amount of capital they declared, they belonged to one of the three guilds. The first guild traded with a capital that exceeded 15,000 rubles, the second traded with a capital over 8,000 rubles, and the third with a capital over 2,000. After the 1860s merchants merged into two guilds. For the Lists of Merchants of Taganrog, see 589.1.5, 589.1.76, 5893.16.56, 589.1.40, 579.3.2, 577.1.92, 579.1.100, 589.1.10, RRSA.

36 Ukaz on the establishment of the Greek Magistrate, 11 Jul. 1781, no. 1192, series 579.1.409, RRSA.

37 List of Merchants of Taganrog's Greek Magistrate 1775-1803, 579.3.2, RRSA.

38 Five out of seven are reported as members of the first guild, eighty-six out of ninety-four as members of the second, and twenty-seven out of forty-six as members of the third. List of Merchants of the Greek Magistrate, 1775-1803, 579.3.2, RRSA.

39 Zakharov, “Vneshnetorgovaya deyatelnost' inostrannykh kuptsov v portakh Azovskogo i Chyornogo morey v seredine i vtoroy polovine XVIII v.”

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44 See their participation in the establishment of the Azov-Don Commercial Bank. V. V. Morozan, “Deyatel'nost' Azovsko-Donskogo kommercheskogo banka na iuge Rossii v kontse XIX v,” paper presented in the III nauchnye chteniia pamiati professora V. I. Bovykina, Moscow State University, 31 Jan. 2007, see: http://www.hist.msu.ru/Science/Conf/01_2007 (accessed 14 May 2009).

45 Through Maris Vagliano's connection with his brothers in London, Greek merchants were able to renew their fleet by purchasing second-hand British steamships in the 1890s. Harlaftis, Gelina, “From Diaspora Traders to Shipping Tycoons: The Vagliano Bros.,” Business History Review 81 (Summer 2007): 262CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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47 In 1866, for example, only three British firms were members of the merchant guild of Taganrog, compared to six Italian, and fifty-one Greek. List of Merchants of Taganrog for the Year 1866, 589.1.15, RRSA.

48 Harlaftis, Gelina, “Russian Port Customs, Anton Chekhov, and Maris Vagliano, the ‘Emperor’ of Azov Sea: Confronting Institutions in the Russian Empire, 1880s,” paper given at the annual conference of the Economic History Society, University of Durham, 26-28 Mar. 2010Google Scholar.

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50 On the Taganrog crisis and Ilias Isaia's bankruptcy, see Sifneos, , Greek Merchants in the Azov, 145–48Google Scholar.

51 Letter of Dimitrios Sifneo from Taganrog to his father, 17 May 1895, outgoing correspondence; Account of Profits and Losses for the Year 1895, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF.

52 On the 1857 bankruptcies of the Greek merchants in the City of London, see Chatziioannou, Maria-Christina and Harlaftis, Gelina, “From the Levant to the City of London: Mercantile Credit in the Greek International Commercial Networks of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries,” in Centers and Peripheries in Banking: The Historical Development of Financial Markets, ed. Cottrell, Philip L., Lange, Even, and Olsson, Ulf (Burlington, Vt., 2007), 14–40Google Scholar.

53 In the case of the Sifneo Frères, see Sifneos, , Greek Merchants in the Azov, 215–45Google Scholar.

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55 Exports of wheat, which was the basic cereal, fell from 55,852,000 poods in 1870-1874 to 44,953,000 in 1875-1879 and 25,274,000 in 1880–1884. Zolotov, , Khlebny Export Rossii cherez porti Chernogo I Azovskogo morei v 60–90 e godi XIX veka (Rostov, 1966), 199Google Scholar. (Where 1 pood is equivalent to 16.38 kilos.)

56 Report by Consul Talbot on the Trade and Commerce of Taganrog for the Year 1895, Taganrog, Russia, Annual Series, Diplomatic and Consular Trade Reports, FCOL.

57 Their records comprise mainly incoming and outgoing commercial as well as family correspondence, ledgers, and accounts on the performance of the firms in Taganrog, and material referring to their withdrawal to Constantinople and Cephalonia during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). The Svorono records contain important documents on the profit-ability of voyages by the company's sailing ships to and from the Azov Sea, and the Sifneos Archive contains valuable information on the company's shift to industrial ventures after the Russian phase (1850–1919) and during the installation of its headquarters in Piraeus (1924–1940). Fokion Svorono's Commercial Archive, 1879-1920, Cephalonia, GSAG and Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF.

58 Their capital did not exceed that of medium-scale British trading houses of the 1850s (£50.000), described by Stanley Chapman. Chapman, Stanley, Merchant Enterprise in Britain: From the Industrial Revolution to World War I (Cambridge, UK, 1992), 158–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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60 Among Taganrog's Greek export firms were also those of Dimitrios Petrokokkino, Amvrosios Scaramanga, Constantinos Moussouri, Vasilios Mavro, Maris Vagliano, Dimitrios Negroponte, and Ilias Isaia, which administered bigger capital. Report by Consul Wagstaff on the Navigation and Trade of Taganrog at the Ports of the Sea of Azoff for the year 1886, Russia, Annual Series, Diplomatic and Consular Trade Reports, FCOL. List of Merchants of the City of Taganrog in 1844, 589.1.44; List of Merchants of the City of Taganrog in 1866, 589.1.16, RRSA.

61 Report by Consul Wagstaff on the Navigation and Trade of Taganrog at the Ports of the Sea of Azoff for the year 1886, Russia, Annual Series, Diplomatic and Consular Trade Reports, FCOL.

62 Account of W. Yeames in Taganrog with Barings, General Ledger for the Year 1836, Barings Bros. Records, Baring Archive, London, UK.

63 Report by Consul Carruthers on the Trade and Commerce of Taganrog for the Year 1877, Russia, Annual Series, Diplomatic and Consular Trade Reports, FCOL.

64 Casson, Mark, The Entrepreneur: An Economic Theory (Cheltenham, 1982), 24–33Google Scholar; Wadeson, Nigel, “Cognitive Aspects of Entrepreneurship: Decision-Making Attitudes to Risk,” in The Oxford Handbook of Entrepreneurship, ed. Casson, Mark, Yeung, Bernard, Basu, Anuradha, and Wadeson, Nigel (Oxford, 2006), 90–94Google Scholar.

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66 “Report on my activities in Taganrog from 1879 to 1891, i.e., for 13 years managed by Y. M. Syrigo,” Copies of Letters, 1891, Ia, outgoing commercial correspondence; “Results from my imports in Taganrog and other places from 1891 to 1899 managed by D. K. Mengola”; “Results from my dispatches of olive-oil from 1900 till 1907,” Miscellaneous, XI, Fokion I. Svorono Commercial Archive, 1879-1920, Cephalonia, GSAG.

67 “Results from the management by the Sifneo Frères of my import and export business from the year 1900 until 1913,” Miscellaneous, XI, Fokion I. Svorono Commercial Archive, 1879–1920, Cephalonia, GSAG.

68 Petition of Theodore Sifneo to the Russian authorities in order to leave Russia for Constantinople, 29 Jan. 1877, no. 278, 579.3.266, RRSA.

69 Letters from Apostolos Sifneo and Dimitrios Sifneo from Constantinople to their father Zannos Sifneo in Lesvos and brothers in Taganrog, 23 Jul. 1895, 31 Jul. 1895, 1 Aug. 1895, 5 Aug. 1895, 8 Aug. 1895, 19 Aug. 1895, 16 Sept. 1895, 14 Aug. 1896, 27 Aug. 1896, 17 Sept. 1896, 21 Sept. 1896, Commercial correspondence; Accounts of Profits and Losses, 1884–1909, of the Sifneo Frères family firm, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF.

70 “Exports of Currants to Russia from 1879 to 1892,” Miscellaneous, XI, Fokion Svorono Commercial Archive, 1879–1920, Cephalonia, GSAG.

71 “Note on the cereal exports from Taganrog from the year 1900, when I delegated this work to the Sifneo Frères” and “General results of my activities according to the balance sheets of my ledgers from the year 1895, in gold francs,” Miscellaneous, XI, Fokion I. Svorono Commercial Archive, 1879–1920, Cephalonia, GSAG.

72 “Note on my insurance from the year 1879 until the year 1912,” Miscellaneous, XI, Fokion Svorono Commercial Archive, 1879-1920, Cephalonia, GSAG.

73 Casson, Mark, “The Economic Analysis of the Multinational Trading Companies,” in The Multinational Traders, ed. Jones, Geoffrey G. (London, 1998), 29–31Google Scholar.

74 See Casson's analysis on the brokerage and reselling services in “The Economic Analysis of the Multinational Trading Companies,” 24-27.

75 The firm experienced losses only during the 1895 crisis. The rise in its performance after 1903 is related to the improvement of Russia's grain prices in the international market. Sifneo Frères Balance Sheets and Accounts of Profit and Losses, 1899-1909, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF.

76 Import trade represented 8 percent of the gross profits, commission trade 60 percent, export trade for their own account 12 percent, currency trade 6 percent, and miscellaneous 14 percent. See Sifneo Frères Accounts of Profit and Losses, 1883-1909, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF.

77 Letter from Panayotis Sifneo to his brother, Theodore, in Taganrog, 15 Jan. 1852; Balance Sheets of Sifneo Frères in Taganrog, 1890-1909, at 31 Dec. 1890, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF.

78 Letter from Apostolos Sifneo to his father, Zannos, informing him of his cousin's bankruptcy, 30 Sept. 1904, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF.

79 Letter from Panayotis Sifneo in Montpellier, France, to his brother, Theodore, in Taganrog, 15 Jan. 1852, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF.

80 See the strategic allegiance with the entrepreneur and brother-in-law, Thrasyvoulos Alepoudeli, which opened to Sifneo Frères the gateways to the Greek market and offered them privileged relationship with the Greek statesman Eleftherios Venizelos. Sifneos, , Greek Merchants in the Sea of Azov, 314–16, 378–80Google Scholar.

81 Letter from Vasilios Sifneo in Taganrog to his father in Lesvos, 20 Aug. 1896, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF.

82 Letter from Vasilios Sifneo in Taganrog to his mother in Lesvos, 5 Aug. 1912, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF.

83 “Familiness” is conceived as the assembling of four categories of family business resources: physical capital, human capital, organizational capital, and process capital resources due to the interaction between the family, its members, and the business. See Habbershon and Williams, “A Resource-Based Framework,” 11. Letter from Dimitrios Sifneo in Taganrog to his parents in Lesvos, 9 Jul. 1901, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF.

84 See, for example, the effect of playing the French game croquet, an outdoor game played in teams, in which men, women, and children took part, or French cards (belote) played in couples. Sifneos, , Greek Merchants in the Sea of Azov, 460–63Google Scholar. Habbershon, Timothy G. and Astrachan, Joseph H., “Perceptions Are Reality: How Family Meetings Lead to Collective Action,” Family Business Review 10, no. 1 (Spring 1997): 37–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

85 On the sixty Chiot families that formed the Chiot network, see Harlaftis, , “Mapping the Greek Maritime Diaspora,” 155–57Google Scholar. On a comparative perspective of the different Greek diaspora groups settled in Western, Eastern, and Central Europe, see Chatziioannou, , “Greek Merchant Networks,” 371–81Google Scholar. On the cultural features of the Greek merchant diaspora, see Sifneos, Evrydiki, “‘Cosmopolitanism’ as a Feature of the Greek Commercial Diaspora,” History and Anthropology 16 (Mar. 2005): 97–111CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

86 See Sifneos, , Greek Merchants in the Sea of Azov, 381–82Google Scholar and appendix, Family Tree.

87 Letter from Vasilios Sifneo in Taganrog to his father in Lesvos, 30 Aug. 1895, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF. On the importance of a shared dream in the succession process, see Lansberg, Irvin, Succeeding Generations: Realizing the Dream of Families in Business (Boston, 1999)Google Scholar.

88 See, for example, their efforts to overcome the 1895 negative performance due to bankruptcies of many Greek firms in Taganrog. Letters from Dimitrios Sifneo in Taganrog to his father in Lesvos, 19 Jun. 1896, 10 Jul. 1896, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF.

89 Letter of Dimitrios Sifneo from Taganrog to his father, Zannos in Lesvos, 8 Aug. 1898; liquidation act of the firm 1 Aug. 1898, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF.

90 Letter from Fokion I. Svorono to his son Constantine in Marseilles, 26 Feb. (11 Mar.) 1910, Private Correspondence, 1910–1915, Fokion I. Svorono Commercial Archive, 1879–1920, Cephalonia, GSAG.

91 Letter from Vasilios Sifneo from Taganrog to his mother, 16 Jul. 1899, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF; Sifneos, , Greek Merchants in the Sea of Azov, 494–95Google Scholar.

92 See Accounts of Profits and Losses, 1885–1909, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF.

93 The front rooms of the house overlooking the main street served as the firm's headquarters, while the back part was for the family's residential needs. See plan of the house at 73 Alexandrofsky Street in Taganrog and Register of moveable property of the Aristeidis Sifneo's house in Taganrog, 5 Apr. 1919, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF.

94 Letter of Marietta Sifneo from Taganrog to her sister-in-law Sappho in Lesvos, 20 Oct. 1903, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF. On the impact of women in the family business, see Sifneos, , Greek Merchants, 355–93Google Scholar.

95 Jones, Geoffrey and Rose, Mary B., “Family Capitalism,” Business History 35 (Oct. 1993): 1–16CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rose, Mary B., Family Business (Aldershot, 1995)Google Scholar; see also an answer to Chandler's, Alfred D. Jr.Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism (Cambridge, Mass., 1990)Google Scholar in Church, Roy, “The Family Firm in Industrial Capitalism: International Perspectives on Hypotheses and History,” Business History 35, no. 4 (Oct. 1993): 17–43CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

96 Letter from Apostolos Sifneo in Constantinople to his father in Lesvos, 24 Aug. 1896; Current Account of Zannos Sifneo from 1 Jan. 1890 to 31 Dec. 1890, Sifneos Archive, IHR/NHRF.

97 Rose, Mary B., “Beyond Buddenbrooks: The Family Firm and the Management of Succession in Nineteenth Century Britain,” in Entrepreneurship, Networks and Modern Business, ed. Brown, Jonathan and Rose, Mary B. (Manchester, 1993), 127–43Google Scholar. See also, on the dynastic motive, Casson, Mark, “The Economics of the Family Firm,” Scandinavian Economic History Review 47, no. 1 (1997): 10–23CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

98 See, as an example, the export firm Prometheus, based in Rostov in 1915, and the Azov-Don Commercial Bank in which Greek merchants from Taganrog played initially an important role. Later the strategy of the Russian St. Petersburg investors prevailed. Letter from the Greek Vice-Consulate of Rostov to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens, 22 Aug. 1912, I/79, 1, 1915, IAYE. Morozan, “Deyatel'nost' Azovsko-Donskogo.”