Historiography of the Chemical Industry: Technologies and Products versus Corporate History (2022)
In the twentieth century, the chemical industry was, in terms of innovation, among the most quickly changing of all industries. What remained constant, at least until the turn of the century, was its control by Western behemoths, such as Du Pont, ICI, and BASF. However, over the past two decades, driven by fragmentation and globalization, there has been a complete transformation of the industry. Thus Du Pont has merged with Dow, and ICI has ceased to exist. BASF remains one of the few survivors of the large, old corporations. The outcome is that historiography of chemical industry according to the model built mainly around these corporations has become complex, if not redundant. What if the historical analysis of corporations is shifted to an analysis of the interactions and transitions between technologies, within the industrial and global contexts, by revisiting and building on past achievements? Here such an approach is taken using as examples of industrial practice a single sector, synthetic ammonia: ICI’s technologies, which includes manufacture of hydrogen, and the ceding of the role of high-pressure catalytic process plant design away from chemical companies to chemical engineering contractors. This enables a discussion of ICI’s fall, and the complexity of what followed, to be tempered by the legacy of innovation in a sector that through the hydrogen economy is today receiving unprecedented attention.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Book
Pettigrew, Andrew M.;
(1985)
The awakening giant: Continuity and change in Imperial Chemical Industries
Book
Coleman, Kim;
(2006)
IG Farben and ICI, 1925--53: Strategies for Growth and Survival
Book
Christian Marx;
(2023-01-01)
Wegbereiter der Globalisierung. Multinationale Unternehmen der westeuropäischen Chemieindustrie (1960er-2000er Jahre)
Article
Banken, Ralf;
(2018)
Die Entstehung des Wasserstoff-Pipelinenetzes im Ruhrgebiet 1938-1980. (The emergence of the hydrogen pipeline network in the Ruhr area 1938-1980.)
Article
Viviane Quirke;
(2020)
Imperial Chemical Industries and Craig Jordan, “the First Tamoxifen Consultant,” 1960s–1990s
Book
Elena Conis;
(2022)
How to Sell a Poison: The Rise, Fall, and Toxic Return of DDT
Book
Bellamy, Matthew J.;
(2005)
Profiting the Crown: Canada's Polymer Corporation, 1942--1990
Article
Stephanie Decker;
(Winter 2018)
Africanization in British Multinationals in Ghana and Nigeria, 1945–1970
Book
Amanda Ciafone;
(2019)
Counter-Cola: A Multinational History of the Global Corporation
Article
Hultman, Martin;
Nordlund, Christer;
(2013)
Energizing Technology: Expectations of Fuel Cells and the Hydrogen Economy, 1990--2005
Book
Gertner, Jon;
(2012)
The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation
Article
Mark A. Murphy;
(2023)
Professors Trost and Sheldon's Promotion of Catalytic Technologies, Atom Economy, and the E-Factor Metrics in Synthetic Organic Chemistry and the Fine Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries, to Speed the Early Evolution of "Green Chemistry"
Book
Chandler, Alfred Dupont, Jr.;
(2005)
Shaping the Industrial Century: The Remarkable Story of the Modern Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries
Article
Gill, Manfred;
Löhnert, Peter;
(2002)
Jüdische Zwangsarbeiter im Aceta-Werk Berlin-Lichtenberg
Book
Lorentz, Bernhard;
Erker, Paul;
(2003)
Chemie und Politik: die Geschichte der Chemischen Werke Hüls 1938 bis 1979: eine Studie zum Problem der corporate governance
Article
Weinberg, Georg M. L.;
Jorge, Marcelino José;
Jorge, Marina Figueiras;
(2009)
Produção de conhecimento e busca de aplicações: a experiência da universidade com a indústria química
Book
Anders Lundgren;
(2017)
Kunskap och kemisk industri i 1800-talets Sverige
Book
Ralf Banken;
Raymond G. Stokes;
(2014)
Aus der Luft gewonnen: Die Entwicklung der globalen Gaseindustrie 1880 bis 2012
Book
Kinnane, Adrian;
(2002)
DuPont: From the Banks of the Brandywine to Miracles of Science
Book
Iannarone, Joseph J., Jr.;
Thackray, John S.;
(2008)
DuPont's Dyes Business: Three Decades of Innovation, 1950--1980
Be the first to comment!