Nikolai Kozlovsky and Organization of Cement Production in Russia in Early 20th Century
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2025-14-2-384-404
Abstract
This article examines the history of one of Russia’s largest cement companies, the Joint-Stock Company of United Portland Cement Plants “Zhelezo-Cement” and “Volsky D. B. Zeyfert”, focusing on its establishment and operations. The research aims to determine the level of institutional (formal and informal) alignment among stakeholders and its impact on the company’s production, financial, and managerial performance on the eve of and during World War I. The study analyzes the extent to which the company’s economic performance reflected its managerial and financial development strategies. It explores the mechanisms employed to reconcile the preferences of various stakeholders (shareholders, board members, creditors, business partners) in shaping the development of the plants in St. Petersburg and Volsk. Nikolai Kozlovsky’s individual contributions to the management of cement production are assessed in terms of his capacity to influence the efficiency of interregional business operations within a context of evolving individual and group interests within the joint-stock company. The article concludes that innovative changes in the company’s operations were largely a result of Kozlovsky’s long-term leadership.
About the Author
M. N. Baryshnikov
The Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Mikhail N. Baryshnikov, Doctor of History, Professor, Department of History
St. Petersburg
References
1. Barney, J. B. (2018). Why resource-based theory’s model of profit appropriation must incorporate a stakeholder Perspective. Strategic Management Journal, 39 (13): 3305— 3325. — DOI: 10.1002/smj.2949.
2. Baryshnikov, M. N. (2024). Cement production in Russia: stakeholders and the effectiveness of regional business at the end of the 19th century. Proceedings of the Saratov University. A new series. Series: History. International relations, 24 (3): 284—293. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18500/1819-4907-2024-24-3-284-293. (In Russ.).
3. Bokhanov, A. N. (1992). The big bourgeoisie of Russia (the end of the XIX century — 1914). Moscow: Nauka Publ. 264 p. (In Russ.).
4. Bovykin, V. I. (2001). Financial capital in Russia on the eve of the First World War. Moscow: ROSSPEN. 320 p. ISBN 5-8243-0228-4. (In Russ.).
5. Freeman, R. E., Phillips, R., Sisodia, R. (2020). Tensions in stakeholder theory. Business and Society, 59 (2): 213—231. DOI: 10.1177/0007650318773750.
6. Gindin, I. F. (1997). Banks and economic policy in Russia (XIX — early XX century). In: Selected works. Essays on the history and typology of Russian banks. Moscow: Nauka Publ. 623 p. (In Russ.).
7. Gregory, P. (2023). Economic growth of the Russian Empire (late XIX — early XX century): New calculations and estimates. Moscow: ROSSPEN. 256 p. ISBN 5-8243-0291-X. (In Russ.).
8. Klein, N. L. (1981). Economic development of the Volga region in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Saratov: Saratov University Press. 199 p. (In Russ.).
9. Kozlovsky, N. A. (1910). A project for the construction of a cement plant in St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg: Printing House of the Anderson and Loitsyansky Partnership. 13 p. (In Russ.).
10. Litvinova, I. N. (2016). New forms of entrepreneurship in the Saratov province of the early twentieth century and their organizers. Manuscript, 8: 126—129. (In Russ.).
11. Meshcheryakov, M. I. (1929). Portland cements in the construction practice of Western Siberia. Tomsk: [b. i.]. 24 p. (In Russ.).
12. Ozerov, I. H. (1903). On the methods of studying financial science. Moscow: Typolithography of the I. N. Kushnenev and Co. Partnership. 30 p. (In Russ.).
13. Shepelev, L. E. (2006). Joint-stock companies in Russia: XIX — early XX century. Saint Petersburg: Publishing House of Saint Petersburg State University. 604 p. ISBN 5-288- 04152-0. (In Russ.).
14. Varnin, E. G. (1922). Portland-cement industry of the Saratov province. Saratov: Publishing House of the Saratov Gubernatorial Farm. 30 p. (In Russ.).
15. Zolotareva, M. V., Ponomarev,A. V. (2021). On the creative biography of Lev Petrovich Shishko (engineer, architect, scientist, teacher). Izvestiya vuzov. Investment. Construction. Realty, 11 (3): 520—531. DOI: 10.21285/2227-2917-2021-3-520-531. (In Russ.).
Review
For citations:
Baryshnikov M.N. Nikolai Kozlovsky and Organization of Cement Production in Russia in Early 20th Century. Nauchnyi dialog. 2025;14(2):384-404. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2025-14-2-384-404
Views:
370
Email this article 