Globalizing Firms in an Anti-Global Age
In today’s world, the word “globalization” often carries an undertone of fragility. Supply chains falter under geopolitical tension; industries retreat behind national borders. Yet a century ago, when Europe was still reeling from war and protectionist tariffs were the norm, and when populist ideologies turned against globalization, two companies from Central Europe defied economic gravity.
A new study within the ERC-funded project SpoilsofWAR led by Tamás Vonyó (Department of Social and Political Sciences, Bocconi University; Dondena Centre) and co-authored with Mária Hidvégi (Dondena Centre, Bocconi University), and Milan Balaban (Tomas Bata University, Czech Republic) revisits this paradox. Their article, “Survival through globalisation: Innovation, internationalisation, and the endurance of big business in Central Europe”, published in October 2025 in Business History, explores how Bata of Czechoslovakia and Tungsram of Hungary harnessed protectionism, rather than succumbed to it, to become enduring international players.