The Dawn of the Plastic Jungle: The Introduction of the Credit Card in Europe and North America, 1950-1975
In this paper we discuss the genesis and early international expansion of the bank issued credit card. Empirical evidence documents the limits of a single firm building a proprietary network, because success came to a constellation of participants that combined three characteristics namely a critical mass of both retail customers and retail merchants; the capacity to adopt and implement new technological solutions; and the ability to forge resilient collaboration across national borders. This evidence provides further support to the importance of collaboration in retail financial services as means to appropriate network externalities. We also argue that initial conditions for this industry had greater implications for long-term success than has been acknowledged by other conceptual and empirical studies (in particular the literature around two-sided markets, which has focused attention on the determinants of the interchange fee).
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| Length: | 40 pages |
| Date of creation: | Mar 2016 |
| Date of revision: | |
| Handle: | RePEc:hoo:wpaper:16107 |
| Contact details of provider: | Postal: Stanford, CA 94305-6010 Phone: 650-723-1754 Fax: 650-723-1687 Web page: http://www.hoover.org Email: More information through EDIRC |
References listed on IDEAS
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- Liebowitz, S J & Margolis, Stephen E, 1990. "The Fable of the Keys," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(1), pages 1-25, April.
- Bernardo Bátiz-Lazo & Thomas Haigh & David L. Stearns, 2011. "How the Future Shaped the Past: The Case of the Cashless Society," Working Papers 11009, Bangor Business School, Prifysgol Bangor University (Cymru / Wales).
- Bátiz-Lazo, Bernardo & Haigh, Thomas & Stearns, David L., 2014. "How the Future Shaped the Past: The Case of the Cashless Society," Enterprise & Society, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(01), pages 103-131, March.
- Batiz-Lazo, Bernardo & Haigh, Thomas & stearns, David L., 2011. "How the Future Shaped the Past: The Case of the Cashless Society," MPRA Paper 34846, University Library of Munich, Germany.
- Verdier, Marianne, 2006. "Retail Payment Systems: What can we Learn from Two-Sided Markets?," MPRA Paper 2606, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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- Bátiz-Lazo, Bernardo & Wardley, Peter, 2007. "Banking on change: information systems and technologies in UK high street banking, 1919–1969," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(02), pages 177-205, October.
- Andrew Mair, 1999. "Learning from Honda," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 25-44, 01.
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- Hannan, Timothy H & McDowell, John M, 1987. "Rival Precedence and the Dynamics of Technology Adoption: An Empirical Analysis," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 54(214), pages 155-71, May.
- Bernardo Batiz-Lazo & Gustavo A. Del Angel, 2003. "Competitive collaboration and market contestability: cases in Mexican and UK banking, 1945-75," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 339-368.
- Ausubel, Lawrence M, 1991. "The Failure of Competition in the Credit Card Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(1), pages 50-81, March.
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