Cooperation, Competition, and Control: The Founding and the Development of the “Gemischte Gesellschaft” of the VEB Carl Zeiss Jena in London (1964–1989).

This article deals with the so-called Gemischte Gesellschaften (joint ventures), a special form of economic cooperation between the GDR and the West. Using the example of the Gemischte Gesellschaft of the foreign trade organization of Carl Zeiss Jena in London, the article outlines its foundation in the 1960s and its development from the 1970s to 1989. The article reveals that the Gemischte Gesellschaft was a comparably successful form of distribution for the VEB Carl Zeiss but also points out the different problems it faced. Furthermore, the article argues that the Gemischte Gesellschaften were a space of cooperation between West and East, but also assisted the GDR to assert its economic interests against the Western competition in capitalistic markets. The case study illustrates that in order to overcome the contradictions between cooperation and competition between East and West, control mechanisms were necessary to ensure that the interests of the socialist state were enforced within the Gemischte Gesellschaften. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]