Entrepreneurial relationship marketing in 19th century India – The case of railway contractor Joseph Stephens

Abstract

Our article is based on the diaries of Joseph Stephens, a 19th century Swedish railway contractor in British India. The Stephens’ diaries, discovered in 2008, are the only one of their kind, offering an insight into the life of a railway contractor from that era. The diaries reveal a web of networks and relationships that helped Stephens achieve success as a small-scale railway contractor. We use the theoretical lens of Gummesson’s entrepreneurial relationship marketing to analyse Stephens’ network of social and work relationships and find a connection between his networks and Gummesson’s framework. We contribute to literature by presenting a different perspective on railway contractors from that period and propose that business practices of the past can be studied vis-à-vis contemporary theories of entrepreneurship and marketing.