Technical innovation and industrial structure in the textile industry of Alcoi, 1820-1913

Abstract

This paper analyzes the industrialization process of wool textile production in the Spanish region of Alcoi during the 19" century. Since 1820, and with an organizational structure based in family firm networks, industrialization took place in a progressive and unequal way, since mechanization and concentration advanced side by side with more traditional domestic production units, mainly in weaving. In spite of the technical delay of the wool sector; tied not only with the gradual specialization in low income markets but also with its own productive organization, it presented a undeniable tendency toward vertical integration, starting in the 1880s. From that date and up to 1913 mechanization spread through all the production stages, and was assimilated by a mainly integrated firm structure that also used numerous phase weaving companies. This particular combination demonstrates the multidirectional character of nineteenth-century industrialization processes.