trust

business

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Last updated

July 23, 2026

Quick Summary

In business, a "trust" can refer to a group of companies united for commercial advantage, often to reduce competition. This structure can lead to monopolies or oligopolies.12

More broadly, "trust" signifies a firm belief in the integrity or reliability of someone or something. In marketing, a strong brand builds trust, allowing companies to charge more and weather difficult times. This trust can turn consumers into brand ambassadors. Businesses also operate on trust when extending credit, allowing customers to purchase goods before payment.132

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- economic system
  From commercial to industrial capitalism
  …firms together into cartels or trusts or simply into giant integrated enterprises. Although these efforts dampened the repercussions of individual miscalculations, they were insufficient to guard against the effects of speculative panics or commercial convulsions. By the end of the 19th century, economic depressions had become a worrisome and recurrent…
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  …firms together into cartels or trusts or simply into giant integrated enterprises. Although these efforts dampened the repercussions of individual miscalculations, they were insufficient to guard against the effects of speculative panics or commercial convulsions. By the end of the 19th century, economic depressions had become a worrisome and recurrent…
  Read More
- United States
  Industrial combinations
  A trust was a new type of industrial organization, in which the voting rights of a controlling number of shares of competing firms were entrusted to a small group of men, or trustees, who thus were able to prevent competition among the companies they controlled. The…
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  A trust was a new type of industrial organization, in which the voting rights of a controlling number of shares of competing firms were entrusted to a small group of men, or trustees, who thus were able to prevent competition among the companies they controlled. The…
  Read More
- United States
  Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive movement
  …about the spread of so-called trusts, or industrial combinations, which they thought were responsible for the steady price increases that had occurred each year since 1897. Ever alert to the winds of public opinion, Roosevelt responded by activating the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which had lain dormant because of…
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  …about the spread of so-called trusts, or industrial combinations, which they thought were responsible for the steady price increases that had occurred each year since 1897. Ever alert to the winds of public opinion, Roosevelt responded by activating the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which had lain dormant because of…
  Read More