Industrial Constructions: The Sources of German Industrial Power

This book is about the way in which industrial production in Germany was conditioned by social, political, and regional factors from the seventeenth century to the present. The argument is distinctive because it pays so much attention to small and medium sized firms, and because it suggests that Germany does not have a single coherent national system of industrial governance. This social constructivist point of view presents a direct challenge to the Gerschenkronian, Schumpetarian, and Chandlerian approaches to Germany’s economic history.