Reviews
Abstract
JUNE 2000 JOURNAL OF MACROMARKETING REVIEWS THE MERCHANT OF PRATO Iris Origo London: Jonathan Cape, 1957 Rarely do we have the opportunity to read in detail about the marketing practices of a merchant active in the second half of the fourteenth century. Looking backward more than half the length of this millennium, one cannot help but be intrigued not only with all that has changed so significantly in the way that business is conducted but also, and more surprisingly, withwhathasremainedinmanyrespectsessentiallythesame. Francisco di Marco Martini, the Merchant of Prato referred to in the title, was born, as far as can be determined, in 1335. By 1350,hehadlefthisnativePratotobeginacareerastraderand merchant in Avignon in France, at that time the seat of the Papacy. From that date until early in the next century, he was active in trade with his headquarters sequentially in Avignon, Prato, and Florence. Martini also operated with subsidiary partnerships or joint ventures in almost all of the then impor- tant centers of trade. As is emphasized throughout the monograph, Martini's was not one of the great international trading companies of the period. Because of that fact, his initiatives were less likely to fall on hard times than were those of