German Industry and Global Enterprise: BASF: The History of a Company

Description

This corporate history of BASF offers a view of the functioning of an industrial organization that has managed to thrive and expand since 1865. Moreover, it reveals much about the reasons for the extraordinary economic dynamics of the German empire and the enormous expansion of the world economy before World War I. It permits the probing of the origins and spread of the knowledge society, in which science and research-based innovation have become the key determinants of economic growth and social development. Accordingly, BASF's history developed at the core of Germany's wartime economy during both world wars and highlights its strengths as well as its weaknesses.

"The authors are to be congratulated on a well-integrated study presented in a handsomely produced book with valuable graphs, tables, and illustrations." Technology and Culture, Kenneth S. Mernitz "...the story that emerges from this volume is both scholarly and compelling, exposing the extensive detil of primary sources to further interpretation by informd and lay readers alike." Business History Review, Jeremy Leaman, Loughborough University, UK "Well-written and researched, this volume has excellent indices of archives, corporations, persons, products and processes, and subjects, as well as a full bibliography. This is a major contribution to business history and the history of modern Europe." Carl Strikwerda, The College of William and Mary, Journal of Social History "this comprehensive new history of BASF will serve as the basis for subsequent research on the firm. It offers a cornucopia of information concerning not only the company's internal structure, personalities, and technological initiatives but also the relatively inaccessible area of anticompetitive behavior." - Alfred C. Mierzejewski, University of North Texas "German Industry and Global Enterprise is informative. Business historians will certainly find it useful as a micro-study that provides insight into how this massive chemical concern developed and maintained a market for its goods for nearly a century and a half." - L. M. Stallbaumer-Beishline, Department of History, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, H-NET