BUSINESS ACADEMY OF ECONOMIC STUDIES

FACUTLY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES

ENGLISH SECTION

Social management Germany

between the World Wars

Professors:
Constantin Bratianu
Bogdan Nistoreanu

Students:
Ghimi Miruna Cristina
Ivan Bogdan Marius
Roman Laura Ioana

Bucharest
2014
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Table of Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 3
Content ............................................................................................................................................. 4
Internal development strategies: ................................................................................................... 4
1.

Designing and developing new products ........................................................................... 4

2.

Marketing plans for entering new markets ........................................................................ 5

3.

Opening new business sites ............................................................................................... 5

4.

Benefits for citizens ........................................................................................................... 5

External development strategies ................................................................................................... 6

5.

Innovation strategies .......................................................................................................... 6

Conclusions ...................................................................................................................................... 6
Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................... 7

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Introduction
The end of WW1 brought forth major changes to the geopolitical, economic and social
environments. The Reign of Empires came to an end as many countries obtained their
independence. The great empires that ruled the world ceased to exist.
The aftermath of WW1 shocked the world: the material and human losses were enormous;
historians later came to call what we now know as the WW1 The Great War, being the most
terrible armed conflict that humanity had faced until then.
The nations tried to take measures so that anything similar would never come to be again.
Furthermore, they blamed Germany for the war (or WW1). Germanys punishment consisted of
paying the war costs and destruction caused to the other countries.
Germany had to pay this debt under the conditions of having already been stretched thin with its
finances. Private speculator brought the Deutsche Mark down on its knees, inflation exploded and
the German people lost everything they owned to the Jewish banks.
In 1929 the Great Depression came and as such Germans had no choice but to become indebted
to the Jewish banks.
Apart from the public humiliation and the resentment that the German people went through for
having been blamed for the war, now they had to face the economic complications of the Great
Depression and the financial aftermath of the war. This is how the Nazi Party came to gain in
popularity: promising to restore Germanys greatness and wealth by restoring hope that the
German government could take care of its people.
The leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, Adolf Hitler, implemented several
strategies to help Germany to recover. Although some measures taken by Hitler were cruel and
inhuman, others were taken for the good of the people, fact which is supported by the current
implementation of these policies by nowadays governments.

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Content
In order to jump start the economy, the first aspects that Hitler treated were unemployment and
the market place for agricultural and manufacturing products.
The German government issued its own money to pay for the labour, money that would be
subsequently used by the people to pay for goods and services, thus creating even more jobs. The
banknotes were not backed up by gold (which belonged to the Jewish banks) but by the labour
put in by the people. As such, he devised a reconstruction plan for Germany, including the
restoration of public buildings and private homes, as well as the construction of infrastructure.
Hitler initiated the building of the largest network of roads across Germany. He hit three birds
with one stone: he made Germany more united by creating the infrastructure to get from A to B,
the freeway system being later implemented by America and Britain. This undertaking led to the
downsizing of unemployment by creating jobs and also created a great logistic advantage for the
upcoming war.

Internal development strategies:

1. Designing and developing new products

Germany launched its technological revolution by investing in research and development in the
aeronautics, automotive and naval industries.
In order to support the idea of a united Germany, the government was building roads the people
needed cars to travel with. Subsequently, Hitler launched the idea of the Volkswagen (literally
translated as Peoples Car), a vehicle that was presented as a car that every German citizen could
afford to buy The car was made available through a savings scheme, having almost the same
price as a small motorcycle.
In the naval industry, particularly because the Treaty of Versailles restricted the tonnage of the
German surface fleet and completely forbade the construction of submarines, they bet everything
on submarines. Consequently, because they had few boats they heavily increased their submarine
fleet.
Additionally, the Treaty of Versailles also forbade the development of an air force. Therefore,
German pilots were secretly training on commercial airplanes. Germany established a secret
airfield along with Soviet Russia as well, who was also economically segregated by Europe.
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The innovation brought forth in the air industry pushed the German air force named Luftwaffe to
be one of the most technologically advanced air forces in the world.
But the most important innovation in this industry was introduced by the scientist Wernher Von
Braun, who developed the rocket (V1 and V2). These were used as ballistic missiles to bomb the
UK. After WW2 Von Braun continued his research in America and helped the US to develop the
rocket that was later used to reach the Moon.
The most important and notorious war strategy used in WW2 was the Blitzkrieg. This was proved
to be a very efficient and aggressive offensive tactic in which the enemy is not given time to
regroup and retaliate.
2. Marketing plans for entering new markets

The strategy adopted concerning the German marketplace was the autarky (meaning selfsufficiency). This exists whenever a state can develop the means to produce everything in house.
They wanted to increase the internal trade and to minimize external trade. All branches of the
economy were developed to sustain this idea in order to eliminate the dependency on foreign
economies (thus sustaining them) since Germany was going to go to war with them anyway.
Because Germany was aware that the enemy could use the foreign trade as a competitive
advantage in resupplying and producing weaponry and food, they used the U-boats (submarines)
effectively in the economic warfare, and forcing a naval blockade against enemy shipping by
sinking the merchant convoys and trade ships.
3. Opening new business sites

Aside from having industrialized Germany, Hitler has interconnected these industries, the
cooperation between the industries leading to more efficient producing of goods. Manufacturing
and production industries were sustained by the energy and mining industries. The labour force
was backed up by agriculture which in turn was mechanized in order to keep up with the demand
for food, since people now had money to pay for it.
4. Benefits for citizens

Hitler introduced a welfare plan for his citizens. People were educated to donate money rather
than to give it to beggars, so that everybody would share a certain standard of living.
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The Nazi party members were benefiting from the most special treatment, having the best houses,
good jobs in the government and power over other people. Nazi economic policies offered full
employment, prosperity and financial security to the ordinary people who lumbered in poverty,
hunger and homelessness before they came to power.
The German state was very family oriented, encouraging people to have children through various
program and social measures.

External development strategies

5. Innovation strategies

New or better products than competition. High investment in R&D high innovation rate.
Most of the German military technology was better than the other great nations due to intensive
military R&D.
When something was discovered the first application is the military one. Germany had the
experience of having lost a war and now it wanted to avoid repeating the same mistakes and
maximize their winning chances by merging the effective strategies with state of the art
technology.
A very important social instrument was the Nazi propaganda. Through this they constantly
reminded people what they were working for, and what they were fighting for. It was a way of
keeping their hopes high and assuring a strong self-esteem feeling.
Hitler kept close to the people, making them feel that they are part of a whole working towards
the same objective.

Conclusions
The German ideology revolves around their understanding of quality over quantity. On top of
that, shadows of this ideology are seen in their need to have the best airplanes, the best tanks, the
best weapons and the best soldiers.

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Their strategy of thinking and working for the people and for themselves led Germany to be a
power back in the ww2 and nowadays as well. We might as well say that due to this period when
they had to go through this hardship, they are the country that they are now.
The innovations that they developed in that period helped them withstand the power of United
States, Great Britain and France China and many other countries.

Bibliography

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