The European Enterprise as a “Fortress” — The Rise and Fall of Unidata Between Common European Market and International Competition in the Early 1970s

Abstract

“Europe’s answer to the American challenge”1 — this was how the press commented on Unidata. The first European co-operative enterprise in the data processing industry was founded in 1973 as a joint venture by the French Compagnie Industrielle pour L’Informatique (CII), the Dutch Philips combine, and the German Siemens AG.2 Europe’s “technological backwardness” seemed to be highlighted most clearly in high technology areas by the superiority of American competitors. Thus the founding of Unidata, which was pushed forward by both the French and German governments, can be seen as a kind of defensive strategy against American companies such as IBM or General Electric/Honeywell and their aggressive marketing policy in Europe. Although this venture did not develop into the expected strong alliance to counter the American dominance in this market, and indeed failed after a few years, it can be taken as an example for the managerial problems “European Enterprises” still face nowadays.