National Champions

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.