Pål Thonstad Sandvik, Multinationals, Subsidiaries and National Business Systems: the Nickel Industry and Falconbridge Nikkelverk

Abstract

Norwegian historiography has brought some really relevant contribution in the field of economic history. This is especially true in the direction of business history, which approaches economic issues through the history of the development of companies, of business and development in the mirror of economic efficiency. Such an example is this present monograph signed by Professor Pål Thonstad Sandvik, having as main subject the development of a subsidiary of the Canadian Falconbridge company, the nickel refinery of Kristiansand. The complex synthesis has in its focus the mentioned refinery, dealing at the same time with economic and social processes related to this industrial unit, but not only: its evolution is also placed in the socio-economic and political context of international trade. The reader can follow the development of the refinery step by step, in a chronological succession of events, with all of its “good” and “bad” moments, from its foundation until the Norwegian Øyvind Hushovd became the president of the Falconbridge corporation during the 1990s, not only because of the efficiency of the refinery from Kristiansand, but also due to the increase of the Scandinavian capital within Falconbridge.