Local Business Voice

Bob Bennett is an international expert on small businesses, business associations, and local economic development. Author of many books and research papers, he was commissioned by the national association, British Chambers of Commerce, to provide their development strategy in 1990 - a strategy still being followed. This book develops from his unique knowledge of the Chambers of Commerce and how they relate to local and national business associations, and to government. Professor of Geography at the University of Cambridge, he was previously a professor at the London School of Economics, and has held visiting positions in the USA, Australia, and Europe. He has been advisor to various Parliamentary Committees and organizations in the public and private sectors, and has been particularly influential on small business support policy, and local development initiatives. In 2010 he produced a path breaking history of the first Liverpool chamber of commerce 1774 - c. 1796.

• 1. Local business voice and the chambers of commerce ; PART 1. ESTABLISHMENT AND DEVELOPMENT ; 2. Historical overview ; 3. Forces of association ; 4. Concept and origins ; 5. Diffusion ; PART 2. STRUCTURAL TENSIONS ; 6. Resources, governance and management ; 7. Recognition and public status ; 8. National voice and local voice ; PART 3. ACTIVITIES ; 9. Early chamber voice ; 10. Voice from the Corn Laws to the twenty first century ; 11. Milieux for discourse and deliberation ; 12. Services ; 13. Partner and contractor to government ; PART 4. MEMBERS ; 14. Members and interests ; 15. Motives for membership ; 16. Dynamics of membership ; PART 5. THEN AND NOW ; 17. Then, now and the future ; ENDMATTER ; References: ; Local chamber histories ; General references ; Appendix A. Archive sources ; Appendix B. Data compilations and alignment ; Appendix C. Population and other data sources

An extremely accessible yet scholarly work clearly intended to be read not solely by specialist historians but by anyone with an academic or vocational interest in these fascinating institutions ... Bennett has succeeded in creating a thoroughly readable yet meticulously detailed work which chronicles the history of the chambers of commerce while successfully challenging a number of pre-conceptions. This is an essential read for anyone who either needs or wants to understand how these fascinating institutions have contributed to the economic, cultural, and political development of our society.