The Economist April 14th 2012
tightly meshed", he has written, "that it would be difficult to replace any one of them with an alien component."
The trust and co-ordination may be national properties, but their roots are typically quite local. Before Bismarck, Germany's provinces, principalities and
palatinates often had rulers who were
keen to establish local industries. In 1678 Brandenburg's Great Elector gave Bielefeld the privilege of certifying the quality of local linen, cementing its position as a centre
for the textile trade. Centuries later Beckhoff's first customers made machines for
the furniture industry that had developed out of the crate-making trade that had
grown with the export of textiles.
Dozens of other regions can tell similar
stories, and these concentrations have become part of the country's contemporary
success. On a list of 100 clusters picked by
