«Pequeños», familiares y competitivos: astilleros y construcción naval en Asturias (c. 1750-2015)

Abstract

The present article aims to analyse the technical and industrial evolution in Asturian naval construction and to study the entrepreneurial shift in the sector. The latter factor is to be viewed as directly connected with the dismantling of the ‘big’ naval dockyards (Cantábrico, Riera, Duro Felguera, Juliana…), justly to be considered pioneers in industrialisation, and their substitution in the 1970's by two ‘small’ family firms (Gondán and Amón) in the west region who find their roots in traditional shipbuilding. This substitution was followed by changes in the productive model, markets and growth strategy.

Public and private firm archives, though fragmented and poorly preserved, together with unexploited sources (such as registration lists in the marine offices), offer a new and long range perspective on the sector, which will ultimately allow new studied on specific and singular entrepreneurial ‘cases’.