Making 'Green Giants': Environment Sustainability in the German Chemical Industry, 1950s–1980s

Geoffrey  Jones; Christina  Lubinski

Article | Business History

Making 'Green Giants': Environment Sustainability in the German Chemical Industry, 1950s–1980s

by Geoffrey Jones and Christina Lubinski

Abstract

This article examines the evolution of corporate environmentalism in the West German chemical industry between the 1950s and the 1980s. It focuses on two companies, Bayer and Henkel, that have been identified as "green giants," and traces the evolution of their environmental strategies in response to growing evidence of pollution and resulting political pressures. The variety of capitalism literature has suggested that the German coordinated market economy model was more conducive to green corporate strategies than liberal market economies such as the United States. This article finds instead that regional influences were more important, supporting sociological theories about the importance of visibility in corporate green strategies. It identifies major commonalities between corporate strategies in the German and American chemical industries until the 1970s, when the two German firms diverged from their American counterparts in using public relations strategies not only to contain fallout from criticism, but also as opportunities for changes in corporate culture aimed at promoting a positive bond with consumers based on new green brand identities.

Keywords: business history; chemical industry; Green Business; regional strategy; pollution; Henkel; Bayer; Globalization; History; Chemical Industry; Germany; United States;

Format: Print

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Citation:

Jones, Geoffrey, and Christina Lubinski. "Making 'Green Giants': Environment Sustainability in the German Chemical Industry, 1950s–1980s." Business History 56, no. 4 (July 2014): 623–649.

Article | Australian Economic History Review

Business, Governments and Political Risk in South Asia and Latin America since 1970

G. Jones and Rachael Comunale

This article contributes to the literature on political risk in business and economic history by examining both new perspectives (risk encountered by companies domestically, rather than risk for foreign investors) and new settings (emerging markets economies in Latin America and South Asia). It makes use of the Creating Emerging Markets oral history database at the Harvard Business School to examine business leaders’ perceptions of political risk over time between the 1970s and the present day, employing NVivo coding of the dataset to move beyond simple descriptive use of the content. The article identifies five major sources of risk operating in both geographies. Macroeconomic and policy turbulence emerged as the biggest source of risk for Latin Americans, while excessive bureaucracy was the biggest source of risk for South Asians. Political instability, corruption and violence were other sources of risk encountered by many firms. The article examines not only the types of risk found in different environments, but also how interviewees discussed and responded to risk. In the case of corruption, although most countries surveyed had similarly high levels of corruption, it manifested itself differently in different regions. Especially informative was the issue of bureaucratic risk. Although interviewees in both regions reported having to dedicate significant time to navigating government regulation, interviewees in South Asia frequently reported attempting to stay away from highly regulated industries, while many interviewees in Latin America discussed how they adapted to heavier government oversight by forming closer ties or working relationships with incumbent administrations. This article demonstrates how oral history testimony can deepen and nuance current understandings of the evolution of business in emerging markets over the last half century. It can shed light on sensitive topics that are hard to study using written sources alone, and adds nuance to phenomena commonly surveyed or measured qualitatively.

Keywords: political risk; emerging market; bribery; Business ＆ government relations; turbulence; violence; Risk and Uncertainty; Emerging Markets; Crime and Corruption; Business and Government Relations; Business History; India; Latin America;

Citation:

Jones, G., and Rachael Comunale. "Business, Governments and Political Risk in South Asia and Latin America since 1970." Australian Economic History Review 58, no. 3 (November 2018): 233–264. View Details

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Making 'Green Giants': Environment Sustainability in the German Chemical Industry, 1950s–1980s

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