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Navigating Nationalism in Global Enterprise analyzes the role of nationalism in global business strategy, showing how multinationals act not just as drivers of globalization but also as sophisticated operators in a world of nations. Using the case study of German companies in colonial and post-colonial India, Christina Lubinski traces how nationalism's influence on business competitive strategies changed over the twentieth century and across major political turning points, such as two world wars and India's transition to independence. She highlights how national imaginings are both relational because they derive from comparisons with other nations, and historical because they mobilize the past to legitimize future aspirations. Lubinski stresses that learning from the past is how multinationals engage strategically with the content of nationalism - i.e., a nation's history, aspirations, and relationships with other nations. In India, German companies' competitiveness was continuously dependent on navigating nationalism and on understanding that nationalism and globalization are inextricably linked.

Research has made great strides in understanding how and why organizational actors use the past. So far, scholars have largely focused the level of analysis on the organization, without exploring the intertwined nature of historical claim-making with the organizational field or society at large. This article extends the status quo by conceptualizing the role of context for organizational uses-of-the-past. It identifies three key aspects of context that shape how history contributes to the social construction of reality: the existence of multiple audiences, the landscape of pre-existing historical narratives and the experience of social practices giving credibility to historical claims.By analysing the historical case of German business in colonial India, the paper makes three broader claims that could move research toward a more contextualized conception of the uses-of-the-past: (i) historical claims are validated in a continuous dialogue with multiple audiences; (ii) they revise previously existing narratives by critiquing or 'outpasting', i.e. invoking earlier origins; (iii) they often result in 'rhetorical frictions' that require continuous and skilful history revisions to mitigate emerging conflicts in their reception. By contextualizing the uses-of-the-past in this way, the paper moves beyond 'hypermuscular' organizational actors bending history to their will and foregrounds the situated nature of historical rhetoric.

This article analyzes the German dye business in India before 1947 as an example of expanding German-Indian commercial relationships. German dye manufacturers showed great interest in India's economic potential in the absence of discriminatory tariffs, while Indian elites were interested in non-British Western partners, which could support their struggle for industrial self-reliance. This particular alignment of interests facilitated cooperation and shows that the so-called European experience is more diverse than research has shown so far. The analysis highlights global trading networks beyond the political boundaries of formal empire and offers an alternative perspective on Indian business history, which reveals more competition between multinationals of different origins and more strategic choices available to Indians.

Much of international business literature has dealt with the costs of engaging in business abroad. Recently, several authors have called into question the basic assumptions of the "liability of foreignness" argument. They plead for a more nuanced look at nationality beyond the dichotomy of foreign vis-à-vis local firms and raise doubts about the assumption that more distance necessarily translates into higher costs. This article adds to this criticism with a historical analysis of German multinational enterprises in preindependence India. The case proves (1) the relevance of specific nationalities, (2) the importance of conflicting host and home country attitudes for understanding multinationals' strategy, and (3) the possibility of spillover effects across national borders. Expanding on existing theory, the article makes a point in showing how malleable and contextual associations with nationality are, thus making a thorough historical analysis of commercial, political, and cultural links between host and home country indispensable.

Dynastic family businesses pursue a double aim. They strive for economic success and attempt to shield the family's longterm influence against outsiders. As a consequence, their choice of governance reflects an idiosyncratic balance between remaining independent and tapping into the opportunities of the market. Autonomy-oriented "closed" governance can lead to problems in integrating external capital and knowledge. More market-oriented "open" governance can make a firm more vulnerable to outside influence. German family firms have struck a balance between the two models since the mid-nineteenth century. Their choice of governance is a response to the challenges and opportunities of the environment, and at various times they are influenced by corporate law, alternative finance options, and inheritance law.

Die mechanischen Werkstätten der Handelsgesellschaft Jacobi, Haniel und Huyssen sind Bestandteil eines Großkonzerns und nichtsdestotrotz ein Musterbeispiel für die Produktionsform der flexiblen Spezialisierung. In diesem Betrieb in Sterkrade bei Oberhausen wurden maßgeschneiderte Dampfmaschinen von qualifizierten Arbeitern hergestellt. Die Studie gewährt tiefe Einblicke in die Arbeitsverhältnisse des Betriebes und gestattet dank eines ungewöhnlich guten Quellenbestandes die Rekonstruktion mikropolitischer Strukturen vor Ort. Sie liefert so differenzierte Ergebnisse zur Umsetzug flexibler Produktionsformate im Arbeitsalltag, zu den Erfahrungen unterschiedicher Arbeitergruppen und zur Komplementarität von flexiblen und massenhaft produzierenden Betrieben im Prozess der Industrialisierung. ; peerReviewed