The German economy shows a high degree of openness in all relevant statistical measures: The export-to-GDP-ratio levels at 40 per cent, the trade-to-GDP-ratio has levelled above 70 per cent for decades. One fourth of domestic employment depends on exports. Export surplus exceeds 200 bn Euro each year. Large German corporations, like Volkswagen, Bosch, Siemens, BASF or Merck, gain 80 per cent or more of its revenues abroad. FDI transactions from Germany have stood at 170 bn Euro over the last years, FDI stock has accumulated to 1,500 bn Euro, equalling 5 per cent of total global FDI.
Though the German economy is highly globally entangled – an aspect that increasingly raises concerns among German politicians and businesspeople – and the global entanglement has already started in the 19th century, German business history contributes little to the vivid international research on Multinationals, global business, global trade and finance. The establishment of a new study group under the roof of the Society for Business History Germany (Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte - GUG) aims at intensifying the interaction between international research and the knowledge on German corporate internationalisation. The study group will provide a forum in which the large knowledge on the international activities of German corporations, which is often only available within the German community, can be injected into international research. On the other hand, German researchers can profit from approaches, theories and methods that scholars have applied so fruitfully to business history research over the last years and not the least from hints to archival materials abroad.
The first meeting of the study group is scheduled for 9th Octobre 2024 at the University of Zurich. It is dedicated to the topic «Business and the European Integration» and a discussion on the study group’s work-programme for the next years. If you are interested in joining the study group, have any questions and/or would like to participate in the workshop, you are cordially invited to contact Christiane Borchert from the office of the Society for Business History Germany by e-mail at borchert@unternehmensgeschichte.de.