Plan B, for bull: France's state-owned industries. (Groupe Bull)

Economist (US), The, January, 1992

French prime minister Edith Cresson is merging state-owned electronics and telecommunications companies with Groupe Bull, the state computer manufacturer. This plan, designed to defeat Japanese competition, is discussed along with mergers in the nuclear and semiconductor industries.

MORE than 250 years ago Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV's finance minister, created France's first industrial champion. With the many-mirrored palace of Versailles under construction, he cracked the Venetians' monopoly on glass-making by setting up a French state rival. Convinced the Japanese want to establish the same dominance over France's electronics industry that the Venetians once enjoyed over its mirror business, the French prime minister, Edith Cresson, has turned to Colbert for...

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works. HighBeam Research

 

BNET TalkbackShare your ideas and expertise on this topic

Please add your comment:

  1. You are currently: a Guest |
  2.  

Basic HTML tags that work in comments are: bold (<b></b>), italic (<i></i>), underline (<u></u>), and hyperlink (<a href></a)

advertisement
Click Here
advertisement
  • Click Here
  • Click Here
  • Click Here
advertisement