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Knowledge Transfer in the Industrial Age: The Case of Gutehoffnungshütte, 1810-1945

Author

Listed:
  • Banken Ralf

    (Wittelsbacher Allee 23, 60316 Frankfurt am Main)

  • Marx Christian

    (Research Centre for Europe, Faculty III: Modern and Contemporary History, University of Trier, 54286 Trier)

Abstract

The question about how companies solved their existing information and knowledge problems is rarely examined for companies of the 19th and 20th century. Therefore the following contribution takes a closer look at the methods used by Gutehoffnungshütte in this period for obtaining the relevant information and how it ensured that the information would reach the particularly targeted employee. This case study of one of the most important pioneers of the German industrialization shows that the company’s management used different methods (bureaucratisation, reports, meetings etc.) which developed only slowly in an evolutionary and implicit way because knowledge basically remained bound to certain persons until 1914. After the First World War, the company grew enormously under the leadership of the new chairman of the executive board Paul Reusch, who created a management-by-letter system that provided him with a lot of information and a monopoly on power until his dismissal during the Second World War.

Suggested Citation

  • Banken Ralf & Marx Christian, 2015. "Knowledge Transfer in the Industrial Age: The Case of Gutehoffnungshütte, 1810-1945," Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook, De Gruyter, vol. 56(1), pages 197-225, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:jbwige:v:56:y:2015:i:1:p:197-225:n:8
    DOI: 10.1515/jbwg-2015-0008
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