This thesis explores the early phases of marketing activity in Britain by investigating the supply-chains through which imports arrived during the Roman period. The study adopts a cross-disciplinary approach which draws on archaeological evidence, as few written records survive from this era. The investigation commences with a review of the structure of the Roman economy, after which the characteristic features of a traditional supply-chain are presented and the rôles and relationships of its key members examined. The empirical evidence relating to cross-channel exchange in the Romano-British period (c. 120 BC-AD 410) is reviewed by means of four product-based case studies; two of which relate to amphorae-borne commodities (olive-oil and wine) and two involve types of ceramic pottery (samian ware and Rhenish-beakers). The contribution of this thesis is to combine methodologies from apparently disparate fields such as archaeology and marketing to enable new questions to be asked of existing data to enhance understanding in each discipline. In addition to using archaeological evidence to trace the evolution of marketing practices in the Romano-British period, the reciprocal aim of the study was to explore ways in which archaeologists may be able to utilize economic and marketing models to offer new insights into their own subject area. Supply-chain analysis forms the central focus of this thesis. Its main insight is to recognize that through their contacts with clients in both Britain and Gaul, Romano-British and Gallo-Roman merchants must inevitably have gained asymmetric knowledge of market conditions in each location, thus enabling them through their choice of cargoes to control the vital ‘choke-point’ of the channel-crossing. In addition to the principal theme of supply-chain analysis, the inclusion of economic and marketing models such as industrial location criteria (Weber, 1929; Ohlin, 1933) and product-cycle analysis (Vernon, 1966; Wells, 1968) all represent new applications of business theories to the archaeological domain and add to the uniqueness of this research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:693784 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Barton, Graham J. |
| Contributors | Davies, Barry ; Cunliffe, Barry |
| Publisher | University of Gloucestershire |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/3870/ |
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