Regional Business Networks and the Diffusion of American Management and Organisational Models to Norway, 1945-65

The effort to diffuse American principles of management, organisation and production after the Second World War was a strong movement involving most West European countries, including small countries dominated by small companies. This article focuses on the outcome of this process by taking a regional perspective in a recipient country. The study is based on an examination of business networks in one small Norwegian region, Møre and Romsdal, between 1945 and 1965. The dominant form of industrial organisation in the region was characterised by flexible specialisation. Since many researchers have claimed that the diffusion of the mass production model was the core of Americanisation, it might be assumed that differences in industrial organisation would have acted as a counterforce within this diffusion process. This article, however, shows that in the case of the Møre and Romsdal region, the Americans showed a remarkable skill in adjusting to local circumstances. Instead of counteracting the dominant local industrial organisation, the diffusion process strengthened local traditions in developing networks between independent small companies.