Research project
This project deals with the internationalisation of the economy from the late nineteenth to the end of the twentieth century, analyzing it from the perspective of German companies. The question is why and under which conditions they conducted transnational business transactions (purchase and sales of goods and services as well as investments). In particular, the project will scrutinise the driving forces and obstacles for such transactions on the micro level. Moreover, it will examine the emergence and influence of institutional frameworks. Hence, the project addresses the historical development of two interconnected problems: First, the agency of the companies engaged in transnational commercial activities and, second, the institutional arrangements on the supranational as well as national level and within corporate networks. Its overarching goal is to determine how globalisation was enforced or restrained through the activities of the companies.
