The Krestovnikovs: foudation and development of the family firm before 1855

Fan-Yung G. Y.

As an object of research in this article, we have designated the history of the Krestovnikov family before 1855. The subject of the study is the emergence and development of a family firm. The author investigates the most important events from the history of this entrepreneurial surname. The specific enterprises that were in the possession of this "clan" before 1855 are indicated. The objective relationship between the improvement of production, functioning in the conditions of the first half of the XIX century, and entrepreneurial success is briefly analyzed. In this work, we used not only universal methods of scientific cognition (deduction, induction, analysis, synthesis, etc.), but also the most important principles of historical cognition (principles of historicism, the principle of comprehensive study of history, the principle of objectivity, etc.). It was impossible to do without special methods of historical research (narrative, historical and genetic, synchronistic and others). All this made it possible to make a critical analysis of published and unpublished sources; adequately assess the experience of the Krestovnikov brothers as entrepreneurs, identify similar signs of homogeneous processes (objective prerequisites for the formation and development of the domestic pre-revolutionary industry), etc. An important conclusion is made about the level of professional training of brothers-entrepreneurs on the eve of their founding of the first advanced high-tech production in the Kazan province.

Keywords:advanced enterprises of pre-revolutionary Russia, Krestovnikov brothers, Kazan province, Kazan stearin-soap, glycerin and chemical plant.