Between national governance and the internationalisation of business. The case of four major West German producers of chemicals, pharmaceuticals and fibres, 1945–2000

Abstract

Although German companies lost their foreign assets after World War II, they returned quickly to the world market after 1945. While internationalisation during the post-war boom was mainly based on exports, foreign direct investment (FDI) increased enormously since the late 1960s. Simultaneously, the companies remained part of the German corporate network as a typical characteristic of Rhenish capitalism. Unlike many Varieties-of-Capitalism (VoC) studies dealing with the macro-level picture of whole economies, the article reconsiders the idea that firms should be at the centre of analysis and examines the responses of four major West German producers of chemicals, pharmaceuticals and fibres to the tension between national corporate governance and increasing internationalisation.