The Dutch Big Four and Germany: AKU, Royal Dutch Shell, Unilever and Philips, 1890-1960 (ESHCC)
The aim of this multi-case study is to explore the causes and the economic and political consequences of the exceptional huge direct investments of the four largest Dutch multinationals – AKU, Royal Dutch Shell, Unilever and Philips – in Germany in the 1890-1960 period. In the first half of the twentieth century Dutch direct investments played a prominent role in Germany. In the 1930s Unilever had become the single largest foreign direct investor in Germany, almost as large as all American direct investments together. Nevertheless, AKU (now Akzo Nobel), Royal Dutch Shell and Philips had made also extensive investments in Germany at the time. During the 1950s Dutch investments continued to grow luxuriantly. These strong investment relations created necessarily interdependence between the home and host countries of these multinationals. One of the central questions of this study is how and why these four Dutch multinationals could become so big in Germany. The other central question is what the political consequences were of the strong presence of the Dutch multinationals in Germany. This research is based on economic theories which explain the existence and growth of international business. In addition, it uses political theories of interdependence to explain the political consequences of the intensive Dutch-German investments relations. This study is based on full and unrestricted access to the corporate archives of the four companies which hitherto had been closed largely for independent researchers. It therefore adds unique historical evidence and provides insight into the development of the relationship between business and politics of the Dutch-German dyad in the twentieth century. Moreover, this study enlarges our understanding of the question whether in the twenty first century increasing foreign direct investments – an important aspect of what is often called globalisation – reduce the chances of war or is not related to war initiation at all.
For this programme dr. Ben Wubs was granted an EUR-fellowship. Dr. Ben Wubs (EUR Fellow ESHCC) has won a research grant for the Special Archives in Moscow. This grant has been awarded by the DHI Moscow (Deutsches Historsisches Institut).
For more information also visit the project website at the Erasmus School of History,Culture and Communication.
