Transfer of European technologies and their adaptations: the case of the Bengal silk industry in the late-eighteenth century

This article investigates the adaptations of Italian silk technologies to the environment of Bengal. The case is particularly interesting as the English East India Company (EEIC) invested considerable effort into making the technologies operational in the new climatic and socio-economic context. The article highlights the unequal focus on technical adaptations, although it points out that commercial and economic, and social adaptations were not completely neglected. It concludes that the key obstacle for the commercial success of the transferred technologies was the lack of attention to institutional adaptations. Institutional problems that arose were the result of lack of leadership and managerial innovations on the part of the company rather than the technology itself.