Commercial Entrepreneurship during the Bulgarian National Revival Period in the Light of the New Economic Sociology

TSocial networks, social capital and trust are fundamental concepts in the new economic sociology. At the same time, they provide the opportunity for analysis of uniform information contained in the personal and business correspondence of entrepreneurs during the Bulgarian National Revival period. The primary sources for the proposed study are published and mostly unpulished documents stored at the Bulgarian Historical Archive in the National Library in Sofia and in the Scientific Archive of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Hristo, Nikola and Ivan T. Pulievi managed to establish social network in Ottoman Bulgaria, while their relatives Evlogi and Hristo Georgievi expand their contacts and scope of activity in Romania, in London, Manchester, Marseilles, etc. Georgievi's ability to expand their web, to find new markets and commodities was very important prerequisite for their success. The available primary sources clearly show that the economic activity is socially embedded. Some basic moral norms (for instance honesty) played an important role in the way of thinking and behavior of the mentioned entrepreneurs. The Pulievi brothers, their nephews Evlogi and Hristo Georgievi, and their outside agents, managed to earn the names of honest merchants, thus attracting the "friends" they needed. Relationships between relatives and partners, as well as contacts with other contractors, vary from friendly to tense and sometimes hostile. If we take into account all the above mentioned aspects, we could acquire a detailed notion of the essence of commercial entrepreneurship during the Revival period.