Cotton's Renaissance A Study in Market Innovation

Cotton's Renaissance is an analytical and interpretive history of the responses of US cotton growers to problems of supply and demand, and of the unique public–private organization they founded to help them grow, compete, and survive in an increasingly competitive marketplace. It is a story of how cotton growers learned, after more than a century and a half of trying to manage supply, that they could actually influence demand for their commodity. The impact of that company, Cotton Incorporated, on the markets for cotton was a remarkable achievement in organizational entrepreneurship. In its 'total marketing' effort to rebuild cotton's market share, it has fostered substantial scientific, technological, and managerial improvements in the quality and performance of cotton. In doing so, it has enhanced the efficiency of not only the farmers who grow cotton, but also those who transform it into consumer goods.

Preface; Introduction: why grow cotton, anyway? Culture and economy; Part I. Managing Supply: 1. 'The snow of southern summers': King Cotton and his markets in the age of industrial revolution; 2. Nature and know-how: organization and technology in the Postbellum era; 3. Acts of God and Government: the search for political solutions; Part II. Approaching the Market: 4. Synthetic shock: competition's alarm; 5. Creating Cotton Incorporated; Part III. Managing the Market: 6. Creating consumption; 7. Managing the mill: the necessary illusion of control; 8. Competitive markets in a global economy; Afterword: trends and cycles.

Originally published in 2001, Cotton's Renaissance is the remarkable story of how US cotton growers struggled to survive for more than two centuries through a series of challenges to their industry markets. It traces the rise of Cotton Incorporated, a unique public-private organization dedicated to marketing cotton.