A History of Business Cartels

Martin Shanahan is a professor of Economic and Business History at the University of South Australia and Elof Hansson Visiting Professor in International Business and Trade at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Susanna Fellman is a professor of Business History, and the Torsten Söderberg and Ragnar Söderberg Chair in Business History at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

International cartels are powerful organizations that impact our everyday lives, although they are little known. This book presents 15 historical case studies of international cartels that include agricultural and mineral commodities, the machinery industry, telephone equipment, whiskey and cement. These cases reveal that international cartels manipulated prices and shared markets over many decades but that their real impact was far wider.

The global convergence towards criminalizing serious cartel conduct has seen a revival in historical research on cartels and competition policy. The regulation of anti-competitive behaviour has changed over time. To understand why the US, European and other modern economies altered their policies through the 20th century, it is critical to understand when, how and why governments have interacted with, and been influenced by, business organizations such as cartels. This volume draws together researchers from different nations to examine the impact of international cartels on the experience of individual nations, those nations' interactions with one or more international cartels, and ultimately the interactions of individual nations with the wider international community.

This book will be of interest to researchers, academics and advanced students in the fields of business and economic history, political economy, and government policy, as well as those interested in cartels and their impact on the wider economy.

International cartels are powerful organizations that impact our everyday lives, although they are little known. This book presents fifteen historical case studies of international cartels which reveal that international cartels manipulated prices and shared markets over many decades, but that their real impact was far wider.

1. International Cartels in the Real World: Business, Politics and Diplomacy Susanna Fellman and Martin Shanahan International cartels and national industry policies 2. Multinationals, International Cartels and National Powers. The Case of the Plate Glass Industry in Interwar Italy Marco Bertilorenzi 3. How Cartels Shaped Corporate Performance: The Case of Dutch Steel Industry in the Interwar Period Bram Bouwens and Joost Dankers 4. Taming the Leviathans: How Norway Managed to Regulate the Strongest International Cartels and Trusts, 1900-1940 Pål Thonstad Sandvik and Espen Storli 5. International Cartels in the Political Origins of German Competition Policy, 1949-1973 Brian Shaev International Cartels and the influence on market standards 6. ITT, LM Ericsson and Their Market-Sharing Cartel in Denmark and Norway in the 1930s Harald Espeli 7. International Cartels and National Legislation: Cartels of the Electro-Technical and Machine-Building Industry in Hungary Mária Hidvégi National cartels' relation to international cartels and international business 8. The European Cement Oligopoly. A French Business Perspective from 1880 to today Dominque Barjot 9. European and Swedish Cement Cartels, 1930s-1960s: Stronger Together Malin Dahlström 10. Building international diplomacy. The European Timber Cartel in the 1930s Elina Kuorelahti 11. The relationship between Spanish Cement, Sugar and Fertilizer Cartels and their European Counterparts under Franco Ana Rosado-Cubero 12. Behind the 'Tartan Curtain': Cartelisation in the Scotch Whisky Industry, 1830-1960 Andrew Perchard and Niall G. MacKenzie International Cartels, diplomacy and war 13. The Congo Cartel. Governing Raw Materials Chains and Socio-Economic Stability 1918-1950 Robrecht Declercq 14. The German-Dutch 'Cartel' Relationship: Between Law and Business Practice, 1896-1958 Eva Maria Roelevink 15. International Politics and Cartels: Swedish Forest Industry Cartels during the Nazi Regime Birgit Karlsson 16. Dancing with the Sun and the Dragon: International Coal Cartels in East Asia, 1916-1937 Toshitaka Nagahiro and Yu Yamamoto 17. Lessons from history: insights from historical case studies Martin Shanahan and Susanna Fellman