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Abstract
The history of Industrogradnja between 1966 and 1980, although only a short, in medias res, segment in its biography, provides a complete overview of phases that Yugoslav companies underwent on their path to becoming a large industrial system. This article explores changes in management structure and application of new managerial practices during this period, which in turn led this construction and engineering company to the status of the leader in the housing industry in Zagreb. Apart from reconstruction of the company history, this article delves into two stages of complex structural changes the League of Communist of Yugoslavia implemented in the country’s socio-economic system, and investigates how a hybrid of two value systems, socialist and market, affected Yugoslav business practices. The case of Industrogradnja and this article aim to contribute to the understanding of socialist projects in the twentieth century as a variety of socio-economic frameworks as well as business environments.
Notes
1 “Orden rada našem kolektivu,” Industrogradnja, December 1976 (182–183), 2.
2 “200 Najvećih,” Ekonomska politika, September 1974.
3 See: Goran Musić, Making and Breaking the Yugoslav Working Class (Budapest: CEU Press, 2021); Igor Stanić, "Što pokazuje praksa? Presjek samoupravljanja u brodogradilištu Uljanik 1961–1968. godine." Časopis za suvremenu povijest 46, br. 3 (2014): 453–474.
4 Ljubiva Spaskovska and Ann a Calori, “A Nonaligned Business World: The Global Socialist Enterprise between Self-Management and Transnational Capitalism,” Nationalities Papers 49, no. 3 (2021): 413–27, 420.
5 Adam K. Frost, “Reframing Chinese Business History,” Business History Review 96, no. 2 (2022): 245–87.
6 See: Phiip Scranton, Enterprise, Organization, and Technology in China: A Socialist Experiment, 1950–1971 (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).
7 The company was the result of nationalization of a pre-war workshop Antun Res. “Orden rada našem kolektivu, Industrogradnja,” December 1976 (182–183), 2.
8 Ibid.
9 Between 1946 and 1950 the company bore the name Pionir.
10 Yugoslav self-management became a globally popular phenomenon among scholars in the 1950s and 1960s.
11 See: Simo Đukić, Direktor – pre i posle ZUR-a (Belgrade: Privredapublik, 1988), 32–42; Josip Županov, Samoupravljanje i Društvena moć (Zagreb: Globus, 1985), 136–137.
12 Dušan Bilandžić, Hrvatska moderna povijest (Zagreb: Golden marketing 1999), 238.
13 From this moment on, the enterprise would usually grow and expand to non-Zagreb markets via integration with the smaller local construction businesses. Mario Bazina (ed.), Industrogradnja 1945–1965 (Zagreb: Vjesnik, 1965), 2.
14 “Novogodišnji razgovor s generalnim direktorm Industrogradnje,” December 1977 (209), 2.
15 Ivan Jugović (ed.), Industrogradnja (Ljubljana: ČGP Delo, 1976), 9.
16 Jakov Sirotković, Ekonomski razvoj Jugoslavije, od prosperiteta do krize (Zagreb: Narodne novine, 1990), 120.
17 Branko Horvat, Jugoslavenska privreda 1965–1983 prijedlozi i rješenja (Ljubljana: Cankrajeva založba Ljubljana, 1984), 15.
18 Jugović (Citation1976, 9).
19 Ibid.
20 “Pravilnik o Privremenim tehničkim propisima za građenje u seizmičkim područjima,” Službeni list SFRJ (39/64); “Zakon o tehničkim mjerama,” Službeni list SFRJ (12/65). aldad.
21 David Dyker, Yugoslavia: Socialism, Development and Debt (London: Routledge, 1990), 138–139.
22 Dennison Rusinow, The Yugoslav Experiment, 1948–1974 (London: C. Hurst & Co. for the Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1977), 110.
23 Bilandžić, 478.
24 Darko Suvin, Samo jednom se ljubi: radiografija SFR Jugoslavije (Belgrade, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, 2014), 240.
25 Renown ned economist Branko Horvat complained that it is madness that a structural intervention of such scale was generally prepared without the sufficient consultation with economists. Horvat (Citation1984, 37–38).
26 “Na kraju godine,” Industrogradnja, January 1966 (12), 2.
27 Milivoj Bosanac and Vasja Simić, Građevinska regulativa (Zagreb: Centar za informiranje i publicitet, 1971), 24.
28 Business budgets were able to expand and shrink, depending on the company’s performance.
29 Ibid., 170–171.
30 Nikola Vukelić, “Stambena politika i arhitektura u socijalističkoj Jugoslaviji” (MA thesis, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, 2019), 36.
31 See: Saša Vejzagić, “The Rise of the Business Class: The Role of Managerial Elites in Yugoslavia 1963–1978” (PhD diss., European University Institute, 2021), 77–81.
32 For more information on how managements spread their influence on workers councils in this period see: Ibid., 86–92.
33 “Odlučujuće pismo,” Industrogradnja, April 1966 (2–3), 3.
34 “Nevjerojatno, ali istinito,” Industrogradnja, April 1966 (2–3), 4–5.
35 Ibid.
36 Suvin (Citation2014, 242).
37 “Članovi partijske komisije,” Industrogradnja, April 1966 (2–3), 2.
38 Branko Nadilo, "Susretljivi i vitalni pradjed," Građevinar, LXVII (10), October 2015, 1026; Radošin Rajović, Jugoslavenski savremenici - Ko je ko u Jugoslaviji (Belgrade: Hronometar, 1970), 172; Dubravka Hrastovec, Tko je tko u Hrvatskom gospodarstvu (Zagreb: Goldedn marketing, 1996), 90.
39 The campaign was done through the self-management institution of re-election (Reizbornost), see: Jurij Fikfak, Jože Prinčič, and Jeffrey D. Turk, eds., Biti direktor v času socializma: med idejami in praksami (Ljubljana: Založb ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2008), 68–79.
40 “Put k suvremenoj proizvodnji,” Inudstrogradnja, January 1967, 6.
41 “Put do stranog tržišta,” Industrogradnja, December 1966, 2.
42 “Koristi od porasta cijena stanova imaju isključivo učesnici u stambenoj izgradnji izvan građevinarstva,” Industrogradnja, April–June 1969, VI (4–6), 8–9.
43 Grga Jelinić, 50 godina graditeljstva i stanovanja (Zagreb: Studio Hrg d.o.o., 2012), 116.
44 “Novi pothvat u jugoslavenskom građevinarstvu,” Industrogradnja, May–June 1968, 6–7.
45 Đuro Mirković (Former director of the Industrogradnja’s Project bureau) in conversation with the author (Zagreb, March 2022).
46 “Neboder samo za 24 dana,” Industrogradnja, February–March 1969, 2.
47 “J. Kolar i M. Knežević posjetili Sopot i Lomnicu.” Industrogradnja, February–March 1969, 1.
48 “Industrogradnja dobitnik Privredne nagrade Grada Zagreba za 1968,” Industrogradnja, April–June 1969, VI (4–6), 1.
49 Mirković (2022).
50 Alfred Chandler, Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the American Industrial Enterprise (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1963).
51 “Deset novih gradilišta,” Industrogradnja, August 1967, 1; “Gradi se troetažna hladnjača u Petrinji,” Industrogradnja, April–June 1969, 5.
52 Jugović (Citation1976, 10).
53 “Od temelja do ključeva u ruke,” Industrogradnja, March 1973 (94), 6.
54 Ibid.
55 “Zadovoljni smo rezultatima u 1972. godini,” Industrogradnja, March 1973 (93), 1.
56 “Dosljedno primjenjivati stabilizacione mjere,” Industrogradnja, January 1973 (90), 5.
57 “Osnovne smjernice plana za 1973. godinu,” Industrogradnja, January 1973 (90), 1–3.
58 Vejzagić (Citation2021, 236).
59 “Osnovne smjernice plana za 1973. godinu,” Industrogradnja, January 1973 (90), 1–3.
60 “Lomnica pred modernizacijom,” Industrogradnja, August 1973 (101), 5.
61 “Rekonstrukcija i modernizacija,” Industrogradnja, September 1973 (104), 7.
62 Ibid.
63 Block 6 is still today the largest housing complex in Zagreb, accommodating over five thousand residents. “Grad u jednom objektu,” Industrogradnja, September 1973 (104), 6–7.
64 The second largest producer was construction company Novogradnja with 1061 and Tempo with 1059 flats built in 1973. See in: “Izgradili smo najviše stanova,” Industrogradnja, February 1974 (112).
65 Ibid.
66 “Hotel ‘Zagreb’ svečano otvoren,” Industrogradnja, March 1975 (140), 1.
67 “Industrogradnja uspješno poslovala,” Industrogradnja, January 1974 (111), 13.
68 “Što je s Južnim naseljem?,” Industrogradnja, August 1974 (126), 2.
69 “Pohvale za izvedene radove,” Industrogradnja, October 1974 (131), 1.
70 “Poslovni plan za 1975. godinu,” Industrogradnja, January 1975 (136), 9; “Prijedlog plana za 1976 godinu” Industrogradnja, February 1976 (162), 7–8.
71 Ibid., 7–8.
72 Albert Antolović, Samoupravna interesna zajednica u stambenoj oblasti (Zagreb: NIU Pregled, 1974), 9.
73 SCIH was established in every municipality to plan and initiate housing projects as well as to organize maintenance of existing housing fund in municipalities. It gathered delegates from among all actors involved in housing industry: local governments, construction companies, residents, planners, architects, etc.
74 Vukelić (Citation2019), 49.
75 Ibid.
76 “S novim izgledima u slijedeću godinu,” Industrogradnja, December 1979 (257), 4.
77 Mirko Orešković (Former Industrogradnja’s director of engineering) in conversation with the author (Zagreb, March 2022).
78 For more details on controversy of the Amendment XV see: Vejzagić (Citation2021), 93–96.
79 Musić (2021), 53.
80 Suvin, 305.
81 “Ustavni amandman XV,” Direktor, 11, I, November 1969, I–XXIV.
82 Latinka Perović, Zatvaranje kruga. Ishod rascepa 1971–1972 (Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1990), 453.
83 For more details on the question of purge of directors in Yugoslavia see: Vejzagić (Citation2021, 198–202).
84 Orešković (2022).
85 Musić (2021, 55).
86 Associated labour first appeared in constitutional amendments in 1970, however, it became an essence of the new constitution (1974) and was further developed in the Associated laobur act (1976).
87 Dejan Jović, Jugoslavija, država koja odumrla: uspon, kriza i pad Četvrte Jugoslavije, 1974–1990 (Zagreb: Prometej, 2003), 104–105.
88 William Lazonick and Mary O’Sullivan, “Maximizing Shareholder Value: A New Ideology for Corporate Governance,” Economy and Society 29, no. 1 (2000): 13–35.
89 The Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Ljubljana: Delo, 1974).
90 Orešković (2022).
91 “Samoupravni sporazum o udruživanju OOUR u OUR Industrogradnja Građevno poduzeće Zagreb, Savska 66,” Industrogradnja, March 1973 (93).
92 Ibid.
93 “Osnovne smjernice plana za 1974. godinu,” Industrogradnjai, January 1974 (111), 8.
94 “Svaki OOUR poseban žiro-račun,” Industrogradnja, March 1978 (215), 9.
95 “U toku 1977. godine u osnovi smo uskladili organizaciju i samoupravne opće akte prema ZUR-u i drugim sistemskim zakonima,” Industrogradnja, February 1978, 4.
96 Ibid.
97 After 1976 the appearance of workers’ assemblies in the process of decision-making (involving popular vote) represented yet another form of decentralization of the company governance and management.
98 “Novogodišnji razgovor s generalnim direktorom industrogradnje,” Industrogradnja, December 1977 (209), 2.
99 “Svaki OOUR poseban žiro-račun,” Industrogradnja, March 1978 (215), 9.
100 “Nova organizacija poduzeća,” Industrogradnja, November 1972 (87), 2.
101 From 1976 Labour community was a type of a company unit strictly in charge of some form of administrative or coordinative joint affairs. For instance, Industrogradnja opened the LC for HR, legal and general affairs, the LC for informatics, development and financial affairs, two LCs for programming and coordination of production of constuction materials, and the one for international affairs.
102 “Manji broj zaposlenih – odraz dobrog planiranja,” Industrogradnja, July 1978 (223), 4.
103 “Elektronska obrada podataka u industrogradnji,” Industrogradnja, November 1973 (107), 5.
104 “Samoupravni sporazum o međusobnim pravima, obavezama i odgovornostima Radne zajednice za informatičke, razvojne i financijske poslove i OOUR-a korisnika usluga,” Industrogradnja, December 1977 (208).
105 Ibid.
106 Suvin, 245.
107 Vladimir Unkovski-Korica, The Economic Struggle for Power in Tito’s Yugoslavia: From World War II to Non-Alignment (London: I.B. Tauris, 2016), 43.
108 See: Županov (Citation1985); Rudi Supek. "Protivurječnosti i nedorečenosti jugoslavenskog samoupravnog socijalizma," Praxis, 3–4 (1971), 347–371.