Twentieth Century Flick: Business History in the Age of Extremes

Abstract

Business history has long prospered in its institutional niche while remaining on the outer rim of contemporary history. The recent boom in German business history, though, has shown that the insights gained from economic and business studies add significantly to our knowledge of twentieth century history. Beyond National Socialism, which has attracted the lion’s share of both attention and funding, the analysis of corporate protagonists sheds light on the complex interplay of state–business relations and the institutional continuities of Western economies. Case studies – among which the Flick Concern stands out as a cornerstone of recent research in business history – qualify the broad assumptions of the varieties-of-capitalism debate and suggest that familiar periodizations such as the Short Twentieth Century might need reconsideration.