dc.description.abstract | The purpose of the study. The study is about the businesses of Adolf Engel, a local entrepreneur
of Pécs in the 19th century. The study is focused on finding answers to three main questions.
Firstly, in what ways did Adolf Engel’s career differ from other great entrepreneurs of Pécs, such
as Zsolnay, Angster or Hamerli? Secondly, how big was Engel’s impact on the local economy
and how did he tackle the charcoal crisis by establishing industrial coal mining in Komló?
Finally, what kind of innovations did he use and what were their effects?
Applied methods. The research is based upon a wide range of sources. A great volume of
domestic and international literature and the memoirs of Adolf Engel provided the background
of the study. I used statistics of the era and I read numerous articles found in the Arcanum
Digitheca and Hungarian Cultural Heritage Portal databases. Furthermore, I revealed and
analysed archival sources of the Regional Archives of Baranya County of the National Archives
of Hungary. I composed the study in chronological order and have summed up Engel’s work.
Outcomes. By the end of the study, I was able to reflect on the differences of Adolf Engel’s
entrepreneurial career. He managed multiple businesses in different sectors at the same time.
He successfully participated in the development of the local economy and took part in solving
the energy crisis. He applied several unusual innovations, but their outcome was undoubtedly
positive and successful. Engels’s efforts are clearly telling of the career of a self-made businessman. | hu |