| Abstract: | At the heart of the economic war and as leverage to the military war, some companies asserted themselves as essential suppliers of the armies. They constituted poles of investment, innovation, and production, that complied to the ever growing orders of the state. Schneider reinforced therefore its equipments in Le Creusot, in Normandy and in Gironde, supported by the banks, in particular for its purchases in the United-States. It also the head of a cluster, of a group of companies cooperating for the main orders. As a hub-firm, it mobilised thus dozens of suppliers and sub-contractors. It earmarked it portfolios of skills to the arts of steel-working, metal-working, and mechanics (artillery, tanks, etc.). Throughout these developments it had to reinvent its management and follow new tracks for efficiency. |
