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The "Uljanik" shipyard in Pula (Croatia) is one of the few resilient large-scale industrial enterprises in Southeastern Europe. It withstood all political storms since its foundation in 1856 and, today, is still building ships, even at a profit. Its long existence makes it an excellent case study for the historical exploration of business and of labour relations in Southeastern Europe in a longue durée perspective. Thanks to its importance, the shipyard provides a fruitful lens into the transformation of social relations on the local level and how these interacted with wider developments (on the national and supra-national level). This article compares two periods, in which the shipyard faced the challenge to adapt to radically changing political conditions: the first post-war decade, when Istria became Yugoslav and a socialist economy was built; and the 1990s, when Croatia became independent and transformed its economy into a market-based, capitalist one. The main argument of this article is that in both periods, the enterprise pursued a successful strategy of globalisation. For that, specific coalitions between workers, managers and the state had to be formed. It appears that during socialism, keeping the Communist Party at bay was one of the reasons of success, while during the post-socialist transformation the enterprise's fate also depended on its ability to solicit support from the government. Hence, post-socialism did not mean the disappearance of the state from the economy, while socialist-time self-management had strengthened the hand of the management vis-à-vis an interventionist communist party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]