For much of the twentieth century, the prevalence of dictatorial regimes has left business, especially multinational firms, with a series of complex and for the most part unwelcome choices. This volume, which includes essays by noted American and European scholars such as Mira Wilkins, Gerald Feldman, Peter Hayes, and Wilfried Feldenkirchen, sets business activity in its political and social context and describes some of the strategic and tactical responses of firms investing from or into Europe to a myriad of opportunities and risks posed by host or home country authoritarian governments during the interwar period. Although principally a work of history, it puts into perspective some commercial dilemmas with which practitioners and business theorists must still unfortunately grapple.

This book is first and foremost a history of Schering AG, one of Germany's best known pharmaceutical companies, from its birth as a pharmacy in the middle of the nineteenth century to the first steps of its rebirth as a multinational in 1950. The book traces the various stages of Schering's development, its relationships to other chemical companies, its government, its bankers and other shareholders. As the title implies, the book also tries to put this history in the context of Schering's changing - and for the most part increasingly hostile - political, social and economic environment, which formed the context for the company's efforts to organise its personnel, develop its research and production capacity and to internationalise its business. The author argues that the evolution of Germany's system of corporate governance did not keep up with that country's ability to make technical innovations and actually hindered Germany's ability to respond to the business challenges following World War I.

One striking weaknesses of our financial architecture, which helped bring on and perhaps deepen the Panic of 2008, is an inadequate appreciation of the past. Information about how the system functioned and the reliability of organizations and institutional controls were drawn from a relatively narrow group of recent examples. History and Financial Crisis: Lessons from the 20th Century is an attempt to broaden the range of historical sources used by policy makers to understand and treat financial crises. Many recent discussions of the 2008 panic and the economic turmoil have found the situation to either be unprecedented or greatly similar to that of 1931. However, the book's wide range of contributors suggest that the economic crisis of 2008 cannot be categorised in this way. This book was originally published as a special issue of Business History.

Banking on Global Markets uses the story of the U.S. business and political dealings of Germany??'s largest bank to illuminate important developments in the ongoing globalization of major financial institutions. Throughout its nearly 140-year-long history, Deutsche Bank served as one of Germany??'s principal vehicles for forging economic and other links with the rest of the world. Despite some early successes in the face of severe obstacles for Deutsche Bank, the U.S. market probably remained Deutsche Bank??'s highest foreign priority and its most frustrating challenge. As with many foreign investors, Deutsche Bank found its hopes of harnessing America??'s enticing opportunities often dashed by many regulatory and political barriers. Relying on primary-source material, Banking on Global Markets traces Deutsche Bank involvement with the United States in the context of a changing national and international regulatory and economic environment that set the stage for its strategies and activities in the United States, and, at times, even in its home country. It is the story of how international cooperation furthered and conflict hindered those endeavors, and how international banking evolved from a very personalized business between nations to one dominated by enormous transnational markets. It is a work designed for anyone interested in how cross-border flows of information and capital have affected history and how our modern form of globalization distinguishes itself from that of earlier periods. A professor of finance and writer of history, Christopher Kobrak weaves together how these financial, political, and institutional developments have helped shape the emerging new internationalorder.

This history of Schering AG (one of Germany's best known pharmaceutical companies) traces its origins as a pharmacy in the middle of the ninteenth century to the first steps of its re-birth as a multinational corporation in 1950. It reveals the various stages of Schering's development, its relationships to other chemical companies, government, bankers and other shareholders. The book presents this corporate history in the context of Schering's changing and increasingly hostile political, social and economic environment.

Banking on Global Markets uses the story of the U.S. business and political dealings of Germany s largest bank to illuminate important developments in the ongoing globalization of major financial institutions. Throughout its nearly 140-year-long history, Deutsche Bank served as one of Germany s principal vehicles for forging economic and other links with the rest of the world. Despite some early successes in the face of severe obstacles for Deutsche Bank, the U.S. market probably remained Deutsche Bank s highest foreign priority and its most frustrating challenge. As with many foreign investors, Deutsche Bank found its hopes of harnessing America s enticing opportunities often dashed by many regulatory and political barriers. Relying on primary-source material, Banking on Global Markets traces Deutsche Bank involvement with the United States in the context of a changing national and international regulatory and economic environment that set the stage for its strategies and activities in the United States, and, at times, even in its home country. It is the story of how international cooperation furthered and conflict hindered those endeavors, and how international banking evolved from a very personalized business between nations to one dominated by enormous transnational markets. It is a work designed for anyone interested in how cross-border flows of information and capital have affected history and how our modern form of globalization distinguishes itself from that of earlier periods. A professor of finance and writer of history, Christopher Kobrak weaves together how these financial, political, and institutional developments have helped shape the emerging new international order.