%0 Journal Article
%T De aprendiz a mercader : el factor en el comercio internacional ingl¨¦s del siglo XVI
%A Lanero Fern¨¢ndez
%A Juan
%A Ortega Montes
%A E.
%J Pecunia : Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias Econ¨®micas y Empresariales
%D 2007
%I Universidad de Le¨®n
%X La aparici¨®n de la figura del factor est¨¢ relacionada con el surgimiento del mercader sedentario. El empleo de factores pas¨® a ser necesario cuando un mercader aumentaba la escala de sus operaciones y cuando comerciaba con varios pa¨ªses al mismo tiempo. Los factores que viv¨ªan y trabajaban en el extranjero eran empleados de sociedades por acciones, mercaderes o consorcio de mercaderes. El factor en sentido genuino pod¨ªa alternar sus funciones de agente comisionado con el comercio por cuenta propia. El uso de aprendices como factores, al final de una etapa de aprendizaje, parece que fue una pr¨¢ctica corriente. Los enviaban al extranjero para que adquiriesen experiencia y completasen su educaci¨®n comercial. El aprendiz no pod¨ªa comerciar por cuenta propia sin el permiso del patr¨®n que, en cierto modo, era responsable de las acciones de sus aprendices. El conocimiento que ten¨ªa el factor del mercado extranjero influ¨ªa en el patr¨®n a la hora de decidir qu¨¦ mercanc¨ªa exportar. Los factores, adem¨¢s de redactar cartas, deb¨ªan llevar la contabilidad, lo que implicaba conocimientos de tenedur¨ªa de libros, cambio de divisas y letras de cambio. Las condiciones del comercio exterior fueron acrecentando la responsabilidad del factor y creando nuevos problemas de representaci¨®n que no tienen equivalencia en otras relaciones comerciales de la ¨¦poca.The appearance of factors was related to the new figure of sedentary merchants. Factors became necessary when a merchant increased the bulk of his operations and when they traded with various countries at a time. Factors living and working abroad were employed by societies, individual merchants or groups of merchants. A genuine agent could alternate his duties as a commissioned agent with his own trading activities. It was usual that apprentices played the role of factors towards the end of their period of apprenticeship. They were sent overseas in order to gain experience and complete their commercial education. An apprentice could not trade for his own without his merchant's permission who, to certain extent, was responsible for the apprentices' actions. The knowledge an agent had about a foreign market used to have an influence on the merchant's decision about which goods should be exported. Factors, apart from writing letters, should keep books of accounts, which implied a knowledge of bookkeeping, foreign currencies and bills of exchange. Foreign trade conditions increased factors' responsibilities and created new representation problems which have no equivalence in other commercial relations of the period.
%K Mercader
%K Factor
%K Comercio exterior
%K Compa ¨ªa
%K Merchant
%K Agent
%K Foreign trade
%K Company
%U http://www3.unileon.es/pecvnia/pecvnia05/05_145_180.pdf