Skip to main content

1st Edition

Security Strategies in International Business History German Companies in Asia in the 20th Century

Edited By Marie Huber, Shakila Yacob, Christian Kleinschmidt Copyright 2026

240 Pages

by Routledge

Description

This edited volume explores how German companies managed security challenges in Asia from the late 19th to the late 20th century. Through case studies in Japan, China, India, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia, it examines how firms in sectors like pharmaceuticals, electronics, banking, and trade adapted to colonial legacies, decolonization, and Cold War tensions. The book adopts a security- focused... Read more

Table of Contents

List of Contributors

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction

Marie Huber, Shakila Yacob and Christian Kleinschmidt

PART I: Beyond Formal Colonialism – Economic Actors and Their Interests in the “Far East” in Imperial, Interwar and Fascist Germany

2. Should We Own a Plantation? German Pharmaceutical Companies, Resource Security, and Cinchona Production in the Dutch East Indies, 1870– 1913

Tristan Oestermann

3. “The Art Trade Here Is Possibly Even More Dangerous Than in Europe” – Risk Perceptions by German Art Dealers, Connoisseurs, and Collectors in the Japanese and Chinese Art Markets 1900–1940s

Paul Franke

4. Risky Business: The Straits and Sunda Syndicate (1910–1945). German Investments in the Plantation Economy of Southeast Asia

Friederike Sattler

Part II: Postcolonial Profiteers? Challenges and Opportunities for German Companies in Nationalizing Economies

5. Navigating Postcolonial Landscapes: Analyzing the Strategies of German Corporations in Malaysia during the 1970s

Shakila Yacob and Marie Huber

6. Struggling for the Release of German Enemy Property in India (1953–1963)

Amit Das Gupta

PART III: Business Strategies in Emerging Markets

7. Cooperation and Catching up. Telefunken's Relationships with Japanese Companies (1920s–1970s)

Florian Staffel

8. Risk Management of Market Entry: Early Korean-German Business Cooperation in the Pharmaceutical Industry, 1957–1972

Thomas Eichert

9. German Chemical Enterprises and Investment Licensing in Post-WWII Japan: High-growth Japan and Political Risk, 1950–1975

Jonathan Krautter

PART IV: Cooperation with Communism – West German Interests in the People's Republic of China

10. Secured Legitimacy: Deutsch-Asiatische Bank’s Strategy for Mitigating Political Risks in Chinese Business (1945–1957)

Yi Liu

11. Balancing Opportunities and Risks. A Case Study of Sartorius’ Approach to the Chinese Market, 1945–1995

Caetano Franz and Christian Kleinschmidt

12. Concluding Summary: Risk Mitigation Strategies in Uncertain Political Landscapes

Marie Huber, Shakila Yacob, and Christian Kleinschmidt

Index

Editor(s)

Biography

Marie Huber is a historian at Philipps University Marburg specializing in economic history with a focus on postcolonial contexts in Africa and Asia. Her research interests include global industrialization processes, (post-) colonial business history, and the intersection of development studies with historical analysis.

Shakila Yacob is a professor at the Jeffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia at Sunway University. At the intersection of her expertise as a business historian and political scientist, her research explores business history, international business, comparative politics, and more recently, public policy.

Christian Kleinschmidt is professor for economic and social history at Philipps University Marburg. His main research topics are business history, consumption history and the history of international economic relations.

Add to Cart