German Business in India: Economic Expansion and Transnational Integration, 1950-1985.

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Christian Kleinschmidt
• Subject Area: Economic and Social History
• Term: from 2017 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 376572836

Since the 1970s the integration of industrialised and emerging economies happened under changed circumstances. Now, companies were looking for new production bases and networks in order to keep the pace of competitive international markets. The emerging economies became more important and interesting for business apart from their earlier status of mostly colonial providers of resources. By looking at the history of German businesses and their strategies in independent India, the project aims to account for the rising importance of such emerging economies in economic and business history. It asks how companies from the Federal Republic of Germany opened up or re-entered the Indian market from the 1950s onwards. India can be taken as a prime example for the economic and political interests of the West linked to decolonised emerging economies of that time.Methodically, this is done on two broad levels, where a) the macro-framework and b) micro-practices of international business in emerging and decolonised economies are analysed. The interests, expectations and room for manoeuvre of different economic and political actors make up the focal point of the study. On a macro-level, the study focuses on the institutional structures of economic integration. While focusing on the underlying conditions of going global, the study notably analyses changes in the regulatory and foreign economic policy framework and how actors from both Western Germany and India such as the Ministry for Economics, Ministry for Economic Cooperation, business associations and chambers of commerce influenced, structured or eventually inhibited processes of economic integration and business internationalisation. From a micro-perspective, the study focuses on the behaviour and strategies of individual businesses in Western Germany and India. Through a source-based empirical investigation of businesses from Western Germany, the project wants to investigate how individual businesses worked on the Indian market, taking into consideration the tension between business interests and the underlying broader political context in a risk environment such as the newly-independent India. With many companies from West Germany eager to (re-)enter the politically and economically risky Indian market after 1945 in the context of the Cold War, the study wants to investigate the economic and political expectations and adaption processes of businesses and economic policymakers from Germany once they made 'on the ground' experiences.For Western Germany, India became the toehold for its Asian development policy and assistance which should also benefit Western German business. The study analyses the formal and informal terms for economic action of West-German foreign businesses in emerging and decolonised economies. In this regard it assesses the importance of local knowledge and personnel integration for a successful expansion of German companies' business in India.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants