Bakhmetieva: a history of business success noblemen entrepreneurs feudal era

The article analyzes the process of enhancing industrial and entrepreneurial activities of the Russian nobility in the late XVIII-XIX centuries by the example of some representatives of the noble family of the Bakhmetievs (the Bahmetevs). The process of creation and development of the industrial economy, as well as milestones in the development of the family business for three generations are investigated. The characteristic of entrepreneurial traditions and the history of business success of the Bakhmetievs are given. On the base of industrial activities of the Bakhmetievs the specifics of the implementation of business functions of the nobility in the face of increased modernization potential of landlord-serf economy as well as the commercialization of industrial and labor relations and greater integration in the market. Due to the efforts of some representatives of the family even in the conditions of feudal system they managed to create quite an extensive and rapidly developing industrial economy. Clearly aware of the existing archaic feudal system, the Bakhmetievs already in the pre-reform period tried to get rid of a number of such restrictions of doing business, due to the mid-nineteenth century, their industrial production had already functioned according to market rules, and so the abolition of serfdom did not become pernicious to the family business.