Inga Vladimirovna Maslova,
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Yelabuga Institute (Branch) of Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Yelabuga, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Country Estates as a New Business Strategy for Russian Regional Merchants in the Second Half of the 19th – Early 20th Century (On the Example of the Stakheev Merchant Dynasty)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2023-5-16
The article considers the problem of the formation of country estates of Russian entrepreneurs in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. This process became a noticeable phenomenon not only in the central provinces, but also in the peripheral regions of Russia, e.g. in Volga-Kama area. Having chosen the study of the rural estates of the Yelabuga merchants Stakheevs as the subject of research, we analyzed the process of redistribution of noble land holdings in the Menzelinsky district of the Ufa province, where representatives of the dynasty acquired 17 land plots, including estates, summer cottages, farms, marinas, and forest lands. Having concentrated significant capital in their hands, Yelabuga businessmen invested it in land ownership, while implementing a new entrepreneurial strategy for themselves, which provided control over all stages of capital turnover during the operating cycle (from obtaining raw materials to supplying finished products to the buyer), which made it possible to reduce external business risks. On the lands purchased for raw material bases, the Stakheevs created farms, which made it possible to conduct an improved economy with the least expenditure of effort and money. The presence of its own marinas and shipping companies made it possible to organize effective logistics for the movement of goods, linking together the raw material bases belonging to the merchant dynasty, warehouses, industrial enterprises and retail outlets. Business stability was facilitated by the presence of permanent employees and the formation of a corporate culture. Each country estate of the Stakheevs was actually an independent system, where the personality and entrepreneurial interests of the owner significantly influenced the setting of the case. Considering that schools were organized in the estates, and temples were built, they became the administrative and cultural centers of the rural provinces.
Publishing: 28/10/2023
The article has been received by the editor on 01/07/2023
How to cite: Maslova I.V. Country Estates as a New Business Strategy for Russian Regional Merchants in the Second Half of the 19th – Early 20th Century (On the Example of the Stakheev Merchant Dynasty) // Historical Courier, 2023, No. 5 (31), pp. 230–240. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2023/ISTKURIER-2023-5-16.pdf]
The article was prepared as part of the activities of the Center for Research on the History of Entrepreneurship of the Regions of Russia (Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yelabuga Institute (Branch) of Kazan Federal University).
Links: Issue 5 2023
Keywords: merchants; entrepreneurship; rural estates; estates; Stakheevs; Ufa province; Russian Empire