‘Traders’ at Greenwich Maritime Museum

Last night Eliza and Stephanie went to a talk at the Maritime Museum in Greenwich entitled ‘The Corporation that Changed the World’:

‘The East India Company has been described as the ‘mother of the modern multinational’. During its 270-year existence, its rise and fall exemplified many of the critical issues facing modern business: ensuring ethical conduct across a global network, confronting financial speculation and corruption, as well as how to deliver private benefits while protecting the public interest.

‘A panel will tackle the relevance of the Company’s corporate legacy, and ask what we can really learn for today’s business practices. Panellists include Nick Robins, author of The Corporation that Changed the World, Jon Wilson, author of The Domination of Strangers: Modern Governance in Eastern India, 1780-1835 and Ben Yeoh, investment analyst and playwright. Chaired by The Guardian‘s economics leader writer, Aditya Chakrabortty.’

Speaking for myself I felt a bit bruised! I have been used to thinking of the early days of the Company, the brave little boats with sailors drawn from all over the world, sailing off with no knowledge of longitude or vitamin C, sponsored by greedy monarchs to bring back cargoes of silks, spices and other sorts of gorgeousness. The malign side of the Company was aired last night – the unscrupulous exploiters of Asia, endlessly greedy.  The Company virtually invented the Capitalist system, and was the progenitor also of methods of accounting, dealing etc, but became infamous for its market bubbles and maltreatment of suppliers.