El Zancudo Mining Company
Dead Firms: Causes and Effects of Cross-border Corporate Insolvency
ISBN: 978-1-78635-314-6, eISBN: 978-1-78635-313-9
Publication date: 25 June 2016
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter is intended to present the onset, evolution, and decline of Compañía Minera El Zancudo, considered the largest Colombian company in the nineteenth century. Additionally, the chapter will examine its role in both the development of manufacturing industries and the introduction of modern capitalism in the country.
Methodology/approach
The case is based on secondary information collected according to a documentary research method in which the authors selected, categorized, interpreted, and confronted different sources concerning El Zancudo.
Findings
The inception and evolution of El Zancudo involved local and foreign knowledge, techniques, and capital investments that contributed to the company growing to the point of reaching the unprecedented figure of 1,350 workers in the year 1890. Its transition from a failed local mine to a prosperous and intricate business group is full of referrals and links to foreign investment, knowledge transfer, industrial development, and an orientation toward entrepreneurship that contributed to the understanding of subsequent enterprises not only in the Antioquia region but also across the entire country.
Research limitations/implications
This case study was written using limited reliable secondary sources about El Zancudo. Other significant Colombian companies in the nineteenth century (Ferrería de Pacho, Ferrería de Amagá, Empresa Textilera de Samacá, and Cervecería Bavaria) and their links to El Zancudo were mentioned but not deeply analyzed in this chapter.
Practical implications
The clear-cut causes that led El Zacudo to close its operations within the first decades of the twentieth century are worthy of discussion, not only by scholars and business practitioners, but also by policy makers in order to understand the phenomenon and possibly prevent existing companies from failing in a similar manner.
Originality/value
This case brings together the scattered literature on El Zancudo and analyzes the drivers and consequences of both its rise and fall, taking into consideration the specific historical, political, and economic contexts, furthermore, it establishes some linkages between this case and other companies under similar situations.
Keywords
Citation
López Díez, J.C. and Velez-Ocampo, J. (2016), "
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016 Emerald Group Publishing Limited