The role of large firms customers in the development of the fur trade in north-eastern Siberia in the late 19th - early 20th centuries

This article analyzes the role of the key customers of large companies in the organization of the wholesale fur trade in NorthEastern Siberia in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. The article notes that the leaders of the industry modernization period were trading houses "Heirs of A.I. Gromova", "G.V. Nikiforov", "M.A. Kokovin and I.A. Basov", "A.V. Shvetsov and Sons", "N.P. Rylov and F.P. Lesnikov" joint-stock company of the match and fur factory. Circles of customers formed by each enterprise influenced the formation of the millions-worth annual turnover of firms with large capital in the fur trade. At the same time, features of commercial company-customer relationships created some commercial experience and business reputation of the enterprise. Key customers of the company "G.V. Nikiforov" were representatives of the local tribal elite. They not only gave loans secured by the products of the fur trade, but also supplied large consignments of meat in the fishing and gold mine areas of North-Eastern Siberia. The most successful customer of "N.P. Rylov and F.P. Lesnikov" joint-stock company of the match and fur factory was Yu.G. Galibarov. His deliveries of furs in 1916-1918 accounted for the tenth of the total annual turnover of the company. The business of "Heirs of Ya.F. Sannikov" played a key role in maintaining the economic position of the trading house "Heirs of A.I. Gromova" as a leader in the fur trade in the northern commercial districts of Yakutsk Oblast at the beginning of the 20th century. Based on a long tradition of doing business and on unwritten customary law of the indigenous population of the North-Eastern Siberia, the union of the Sannikovs and the Gromovs allowed to weaken the position of their competitors in the organization of the wholesale fur trade in the northern commercial districts. Features of commercial relations of managers of the trading house "M.A. Kokovin and I.A. Basov" with customers in the western commercial districts, where goods and money were provided for a complete disposal, led to the formation of the enterprise line of business as the industry leader in operations with dark squirrel in domestic and foreign fur markets. A conclusion is made that a feature of the customer's economic status was that, in contrast to the clerk, the customer had the goods and the money from the lending company at their complete disposal. Customers made transactions under their own name and at their own risk. Customers did not receive remuneration or a salary from the company; however, they had benefits in the form of commercial gain. The circle of customers for each company with big capital was essential for selling consumer goods, producing fur and increasing terms of the capital turnover. Thanks to its customers, each large company had a certain economic policy during the development of new forms of big capital and corporatization. Of specific research interest is the fact, stated in the article, that the majority of customers of large companies were representatives of the local guild of merchants, nobility, civil servants.

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