Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: In 1910 a group of ambitious Scandinavian entrepreneurs established a nickel refinery in the port town of Kristiansand in southern Norway. The founders were able to make the best of local business conditions, skillfully navigating the Norwegian economic-political environment, while successfully adopting groundbreaking refining technology. As a consequence, the refinery enjoyed a period of exponential growth in the years leading up to 1914. Following the outbreak of the First World War, the Kristiansand refinery management partnered with a group of North American investors with a view to expand operations into the Canadian nickel fields in Ontario. Initially, the Norwegian-Canadian partners were able to leverage British government support for the scheme. Wartime conditions nevertheless meant that Norwegian oversight of the project was poor. Lacking experience with running a foreign investment project, the Kristiansand management was also unable to operate as effectively in the Canadian business environment as they had been in Norway. As a consequence, the Canadian venture became a black hole, sucking in investment flows with very little return. In an effort to keep the venture afloat, the Kristiansand management also signed away effective control of the company to the British government. When the Canadian venture eventually folded in the early 1920s, Norwegian investors were left holding the bag. Having absorbed huge losses from the failed investment project, the otherwise successful Kristiansand refinery was declared bankrupt in 1926.
Source: Revue d histoire nordique
DOI: 10.3917/rhn.027.0285
Author: Dominique Gaurier
Institutions: Université de Nantes, Nantes Université
Language: French
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4409417684