From the great depression to decolonization: entrepreneurship and capital returns in the Portuguese colonial empire

ABSTRACT The integration of financial markets was a facet of the increasing globalization of the worldwide economy. The focus in this paper is the business organizational perspective of corporations that operated in Portuguese overseas territories: Distance, climate, lack of trained local labor force, and other difficulties related with cultural differences, required organizational aspects that represented higher risk and higher capital rewards. They were higher than the average index of the Lisbon Stock Market as a whole, and must be interpreted in the context of the role of different organizational aspects for entrepreneurship and businesses in overseas territories.