Innovativeness in Times of Crisis: How West German Manufacturers of Consumer Goods Dealt with the Structural Crisis of the 1970s - A Comparison of Successful and Failed Industries and Businesses

该研究项目以两个子项目为基础，考察了公司和行业如何成功应对结构性危机或未能成功应对。这个问题被提出了，危机是如何识别、解释和管理的，或者在什么情况下这种情况就是失败的。重点特别是创新或创新不足，这将在经济学和历史创新研究之间的跨学科合作的基础上进行审查。因此，这两个学科都受益于对方的概念/理论(即企业基于资源的观点、行业生命周期概念与参与者结构方法、创新风格和创新文化)和方法(即行业分析、商业案例研究与历史批判方法、科学与档案工作)。研究特别关注20世纪70年代西方工业国家因技术进步(微电子)和竞争国际化(日本进入全球市场)而陷入的复杂结构性危机。西德工业在应对这场危机方面取得了不同程度的成功。尽管资本品和高价值消费品制造商在整个危机中走强，但这只适用于消费品制造商的部分情况。因此，例如，消费电子业务(棕色商品)在中期内未能适应变化的框架条件。然而，家用电器(白色家电)制造商至少在一定程度上很好地掌握了这场危机。鉴于这些差异，研究项目提出了如何解释这种驾驭危机的能力差异的关键问题，例如，公司的创新能力不同。研究项目将侧重于一方面是洗衣机制造商(项目部分BURR)，另一方面是磁带卡座和影碟机制造商(项目部分BAUER)，这将以两个相互关联的行业和商业案例研究的形式进行考察。这两个生产集团都提供消费品和复杂的多技术产品(机械系统、电子和推进技术)，这些产品可能属于类似的价格类别。这一科学研究项目的好处体现在各学科之间的概要交叉，以及对一个仍未被探索的问题的处理(对危机的感知、在危机时期的创新成功或不足、公司在结构性危机中的成功或失败)。这项研究项目与当前的商业实践直接相关。技术影响历史教席与一般商业管理教席，特别是创新和服务管理教席之间的合作是长期的。它打算申请将第二个资助期从2020年延长到2023年。

The research project examines on the basis of two subprojects, how companies and industries successfully master a structural crisis or fail to do so. The question is raised, how crises are identified, interpreted and managed or under which conditions this just fails.The focus is particularly on innovativeness or insufficient innovativeness, which will be examined on the basis of an interdisciplinary collaboration between economic and historical innovation research. Both disciplines thereby benefit from the concepts/theories (i. a. resource based view of the firm, industry lifecycle concepts versus actor structure approach, innovation styles and innovation cultures) and methods (i. a. industry analyses, business case studies versus historical-critical method, scientific working with archives) of the other.The research focuses in particular on the complex structural crisis by which Western industrial countries were seized in the 1970s due to technological progress (microelectronics) and internationalization of competition (Japan`s entry to the global market). The West German industry tackled this crisis with varying success. While manufacturers of capital goods and high value consumer goods emerged strengthened from the crisis as a whole, this applies only in part for manufacturers of consumer goods. Hence, the consumer electronics business (brown goods), for example, did not manage to adapt to changed framework conditions in the medium term. However, manufacturers of household appliances (white goods) have, at least in part, mastered the crisis very well. In view of these differences, the research project raises the key question how this varying ability to master the crisis can be explained, e. g. with the companies` different innovation capabilities.The research project will focus on manufacturers of washing machines on the one hand (project part Burr) and on manufacturers of tape decks and picture disc players on the other hand (project part Bauer), which will be examined in the form of two industry and business case studies closely connected to each other. Both producer groups offered consumer goods and complex multi technology products (mechanical systems, electronics, and propulsion technology), which were likely to be in a similar price category.The benefit of this research project for science is to be seen in the outlined cross-fertilization of the disciplines as well as in the processing of a still underexplored question (perception of the crisis, successful or insufficient innovativeness in times of crisis, success or failure of companies in structural crises). The research project is immediately relevant to the current business practice.The cooperation between the Chair for the History of the Impact of Technology and the Chair of General Business Administration, especially Innovation and Service Management is designed for the long haul. It is intended to file an application for extension for a second funding period from 2020 to 2023.