Králův Dvůr in the Shadow of Perlmoos. Competition and Cooperation on the Cisleithanian Cement Market before 1918
Abstract
The article centralizes to business strategies of cement works Perlmoos and Králův Dvůr which became dominant players at Cisleithan market with cement before 1918 and markedly influenced developement of this segment in Central Europe. Introduction follows the beginnings of cement trusts Perlmoos and Králův Dvůr in the context of running transfer of technologies and know-how from advanced west Europe (Great Britain, Germany) to Habsburk monarchy.
The basement of the article creates comparative analysis od business strategies Perlmoos and Králův Dvůr (marketing, investitions, cooperative and collusive strategies). The text works with traditional methods of business history, thanks to them it judges business effectivness both of the companies (production, profit, and financial analysis of bilance results).
Perlmoos business strategies can be identified as a behavior of market leader and Králův Dvůr can be seen as a market challenger. Both companies were for investors comparatively payable, Králův Dvůr grew faster than Perlmoos in the last years before war.
Before the first world war, Králův Dvůr got to the position where it could compete Perlmoos to be the strongest player on the market. Desintegration of united tax area after 1918 stopped this progress.