Aufsätze
Clemens A. Wurm Business Diplomacy: Die Zusammenkunft deutscher und britischer Industrieller in Broadlands im Oktober 1926
Toni Pierenkemper Sechs Thesen zum gegenwärtigen Stand der deutschen Unternehmensgeschichtsschreibung, Eine Entgegnung auf Manfred Pohl
Peter Hertner / Francesca Pino Unternehmensstrategien und Managementstrukturen einer großen italienischen Bank: die Banca Commercial Italiana (1894-1945)
Jan Körnert Die Krisen des Bankhauses Barings 1890 und 1995, Ein Beitrag zur Analyse ihrer Ursachen, Abläufe und Folgen
Stefan Manz Technologietransfer und Spezialistenwanderung. Eine Augsburger Lagerbrauerei in Glasgow, 1889-1959
Buchbesprechungen
The article starts with examining the origins of the conference which was probably unique in its character. The conference, which took place in an English country house, was called at short notice and was due to a private British initiative. The background to the meeting was the economic and political rapprochement between France and Germany which was supposed to have harmful effects on British trade and industry. The formation of the International Steel Cartel from which British industry was excluded caused particular concern in Britain. Whereas German industry showed little enthusiasm for the conference the German foreign ministry welcomed the idea in order to improve relations between both countries and to dispel British fears of a continental bloc led by France and Germany. The discussions of the conference are then analysed. The participants exchanged their views on national and international combines and agreements, on the prospects and possibilities of 'cooperation' or ententes between German and British industries as well as on European trade and tariffs. Agreements were not concluded at Broadlands. The conference was also a social event amply reported on in the press and the article tries to reconstruct the atmosphere of the meeting. Whereas the Reichsverband der Deutschen Industrie welcomed the outcome of the conference as a contribution to better Anglo-German relations, reactions in Britain were mixed and rather critical as is shown by the attitude of the Federation of British Industries. Besides a meeting at Leverkusen in June 1927 there were no further private 'Broadlands meetings' whereas the industrial federations of both countries were to have several 'official' conferences from 1926 onwards.
Toni Pierenkemper Sechs Thesen zum gegenwärtigen Stand der deutschen Unternehmensgeschichtsschreibung. Eine Entgegnung auf Manfred Pohl
The Berlin lecture contributes to the present discussion on perspectives of the German Business History seeking for an integration of culture, politics, and society within the concept of Business History. However, the economic analysis of the business organization is the fundamental task of any Business History, then - and not before - research in a broader perspective may be successful. The trend towards a popular presentation of Business History is facing the same problems: doing the first things first means research has to be based on scientific theories and scientific methods. Writing and presenting the results is a second, not a secondary objective.
This essay tries to look into the historical development of the internal organization of large universal banks choosing Banca Commerciale Italiana of Milan (Italy) as an example. The period covered goes from 1894, the year in which the bank was founded, until the end of the Second World War. During that period technical progress has been generally rather modest in the banking business apart from the first beginnings of systematic data processing starting in the late 1920s. Banca Commerciale Italiana became within a few years the most important investment bank in Italy. Rapid growth of its business and the establishment of branches all over the country led to a first attempt at internal reorganization in 1908/09. With its personnel growing rapidly during the First World War and its aftermath and with increasing immobilization of its assets the bank ran into big trouble during the 1929/33 world economic crisis, became part of the state-owned Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI) in 1933 and was subsequently transformed de facto and by law into a short-term-credit commercial bank. This transformation during the 1930s was accompanied by thorough reorganization which produced a partly centralized and a partly decentralized structure and decision process of and within this bank. The essay tries to demonstrate that, in the longer run, "organization matters" in banking and that banking history should therefore pay more attention to this issue.
Jan Körnert Die Krisen des Bankhauses Barings 1890 und 1995. Ein Beitrag zur Analyse ihrer Ursachen, Abläufe und Folgen
The crises of Barings bank in 1890 and 1995 anchore Barings in banking history. In the crisis of 1890 liquidity problems of Barings in London were induced by its heavy engagement in Argentina. The massive sale of American securities by London was an attempt to save Barings from illiquidity. This again led to failures of banks in the USA. A domino effect was created. The overindebtedness of American banks could not have been prevented by a lender of last resort, since the problems which led to the failures in the USA were no liquidity problems. After all, Barings failed in the crisis of 1995. Its overindebtedness was caused by Leeson’s heavy speculative trading in financial derivatives and simultaneously guided and even facilitated by a lack of adequate internal and external controls. New supervisiory rules were introduced after both banking crises.
During the 1880s, changes in taste and market conditions brought about a rising popularity of German style lager in Britain. J. & R. Tennent, the largest brewing firm in the West of Scotland, were the first british company to invest heavily in the production of lager in order to get their share of the market potential. The engineering firm of L. A. Riedinger A. G. from Augsburg was commissioned to design a lager brewery and build the complete set of machinery. The transfer process was overshadowed by serious tensions accruing from the bi-national character of the venture: language difficulties, different technical terms and measurements, technical incompatibilities, damage and delay during transport, lack of intercultural competence, specialist dispute, slow channels of communication, involvement of contractor firm for buildings. Deliberate obstruction and incompetence were alleged factors. However, Tennent´s lager turned out to be extremely successful and is, up until today, a cornerstone of the company's economic performance. The Riedinger brewhouse was replaced in 1959. From the start, German specialists were involved. Up until 1914, the key positions in the new brewery were held by Germans: head lager brewer, brewing chemist, coopers. In a sample year at least nine Germans were employed. This number was reduced due to wartime xenophobia, internment and repatriation. However, up until 1956 the Head Lager Brewer was German. The case study is integrated into a larger economic, technological, and methodological framework. A flourishing German brewing industry with advanced production- and cooling-methods surpassed its British counterpart in the 1880s. German beer, brewing technology and specialists were to be found all over the world. The case study is the first one to scrutinise a major transfer project in the brewing industry. In the context of German-British economic relations, it is the first one to describe one single major project of technology- and know-how-transfer from Germany to Britain towards the end of the 19th century. It challenges the well established notion, that, as far as Britain is concerned, technology transfer was a one-way-road away from the British isles.
Jürgen Kocka Industrial Culture and Bourgeois Society. Business, Labor and Bureaucracy in Modern Germany (Mitchell)
Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich Finanzplatz Frankfurt. Von der mittelalterlichen Messestadt zum europäischen Bankenzentrum (Ziegler)
Jakob Tanner Fabrikmahlzeit. Ernährungswissenschaft, Industriearbeit und Volksernährung in der Schweiz 1890 – 1950 (Welskopp)
Werner Plumpe Betriebliche Mitbestimmung in der Weimarer Republik. Fallstudien zum Ruhrbergbau und zur Chemischen Industrie (Dickhaus)
Lothar Gall / Manfred Pohl (Hrsg.) Die Eisenbahn in Deutschland. Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart (Häuser)
Günter Neliba Die Opel-Werke im Konzern von General Motors (1929–1948) in Rüsselsheim und Brandenburg. Produktion für Aufrüstung und Krieg ab 1935 unter nationalsozialistischer Herrschaft (Spoerer)
Walter Naasner SS-Wirtschaft und SS-Verwaltung. "Das SS-Wirtschaftsverwaltungshauptamt und die unter seiner Dienstaufsicht stehenden wirtschaftlichen Unternehmungen" und weitere Dokumente (Spoerer)
Volker Böge / Hartmut Stein 225 Jahre DAK. Gesundheit und soziale Verantwortung (Böhle)
Heinrich-Stefan Rolvering Der wechselseitige Zusammenhang zwischen den kommunalen Sparkassen und dem kommunalen Raum am Beispiel der Sparkassen in Westfalen-Lippe in den Jahren 1958 bis 1970 (Wixforth)
Dietmar Bleidick Die Hibernia-Affäre. Der Streit um den preußischen Staatsbergbau im Ruhrgebiet zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts (Kopper)
Frank Lippert Lastkraftwagenverkehr und Rationalisierung in der Weimarer Republik. Technische und ökonomische Aspekte fertigungsstruktureller und logistischer Wandlungen in den 1920er Jahren (Dienel)
Heide Rohde Transportmodernisierung contra Verkehrsbewirtschaftung. Zur staatlichen Verkehrspolitik gegenüber dem LKW in den 30er Jahren (Dienel)