National Champions
National champion is a political concept in which large corporations in strategic sectors are expected not only to seek profit but also to "advance the interests of the nation.” This policy has been popular and practiced by many countries. Its pinnacle is probably the post-World War II era in France as part of the dirigisme. It was phased out during the 1970s when public monies wants to ”lame ducks” to save employment and “big projects” to promote “la grandeur" rather than helping "real stars”. Other examples include the creation of the British Steel Corporation by the UK government who acquired the largest fourteen domestic steel companies in 1967.
The risk involved with such policies is exemplified by the unsuccessful challenges to IBM’s dominance of the computer market by UK’s ICL, France’s Bull, and Italy’s Olivetti during the 1970s. The “national champion” policy has made a come back in the current century with Russia as its maximal exponent (see below). Other examples are the merger of E.ON with Ruhrgas backed by the German government in 2000 or the merger of GDF with Suez backed by the French government in 2008.
Read more about National Champions: Russian Renewal, Vertical Integration, Advancing National Interests, See Also, Examples
Famous quotes containing the words national and/or champions:
“I foresee the time when the painter will paint that scene, no longer going to Rome for a subject; the poet will sing it; the historian record it; and, with the Landing of the Pilgrims and the Declaration of Independence, it will be the ornament of some future national gallery, when at least the present form of slavery shall be no more here. We shall then be at liberty to weep for Captain Brown. Then, and not till then, we will take our revenge.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“While the Governor, and the Mayor, and countless officers of the Commonwealth are at large, the champions of liberty are imprisoned.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)