This book explores the long term forces shaping business attitudes in the British and American cotton industries from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Mary Rose traces the social, political and developmental differences of the two nations, and examines local and regional networks, changing competitive environments, and community characteristics. She demonstrates how firms become embedded in networks, and evolve according to business values and strategies. An important contribution to comparative business history, this book will be of interest to graduates and scholars in all areas of business and economic history.