Einar Lie | University of Oslo (original) (raw)

Einar Lie

Address: University of Oslo, Norway

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Papers by Einar Lie

Enterprise and Society, 2016

This paper was presented at the thirty-ninth annual conference of the Economic and Business Histo... more This paper was presented at the thirty-ninth annual conference of the Economic and Business History Society, in Manchester, May 29-31, 2014. I am especially grateful for comments made by Nicola Tynan, and from my colleagues Even Lange, Ingrid Lundestad, Hallvard Notaker, and Veronique Pouillard on a later draft. 1. The formal name of the fund is Government Pension Fund Global.

During the 1980s, the fertilizer industry in Western Europe underwent some radical changes. Reduc... more During the 1980s, the fertilizer industry in Western Europe underwent some radical changes. Reduced profitability and overcapacity forced a number of smaller producers to close down, and most of the major firms in the business either withdrew from the market or reduced their capacity. The exception was the Norwegian industrial conglomerate Norsk Hydro, which expanded rapidly and established itself as the largest producer in Europe and later globally.

The article discusses the strategy behind Hydro's expansion in relation to the changing structure of the fertilizer market, which historically was characterized by tacit and explicit agreements on prices and market shares between the major producers. Hydro's strategy and growth are analyzed in relation to some theoretical contributions from the study of transnationalisation of enterprises. A main argument is that Hydro's expansion was not driven by advantages in cost structure or organizational capabilities, nor did the expansion create such advantages. The Norwegian company expanded in foreign markets partly because it had less to lose from a counterattack than competitors in larger markets and partly because of strategic disadvantages. Contrary to most of its large European competitors, Hydro failed to identify the long term threats to the stability and profitability of the Western European market.

Alain Beltran (ed.), Oil producing countries and oil companies, pp. 267-286. , 2011

This article discusses the development of the socio-economic classification systems in Norwegian ... more This article discusses the development of the socio-economic classification systems in Norwegian population censuses from 1815 to 1960. The early nineteenthcentury system was an attempt to classify people according to who they were in terms of social rank and political rights. Through a gradual change during the century, greater emphasis was made on classifying people according to what their jobs were. A new framework for socio-economic classifications was developed in the 1870s. This framework remained in effect with few changes until 1960. The characteristics of this system are analysed in connection with dominant political philosophical and economic ideas, and the system is compared to the British and French classification system of the same period.

Can economic history manage without economic theory? And can economic theory get along without ec... more Can economic history manage without economic theory? And can economic theory get along without economic history? These are the two questions that will be addressed here. If we look at what the situation is actually like in both the Norwegian and international research communities today, the basic outline of an answer becomes quite evident: Economic history is strongly and quite significantly influenced by economic theory, and there is little reason to believe that the discipline will be able to manage gracefully without economic theory in the future.