Abstract

The Swedish Building Standards – result of cartelization or basis for cartels?

Standardisation could in many ways be compared with cartels, standards delimit the products and is a collaborative way of steering the development. Standards can in that sense be regarded as cartels, but formal cartels can also take initiative to set up standards. Standardisation is of great importance for business and the interest in the effects of standardisation is growing in business history. In this paper the Swedish building standards will be investigated and the standards relation to the many cartels in the building material sector. Cartels were naturally integrated in the Swedish business life and cartels were a legitimate way of organising business. Cartels and consequences of restrictive business practice were discussed in Sweden during the first half of the 20th century, but cartels were also regarded as a form of organisation that could benefit rationalisation and standardisation. The Swedish building sector was vertically integrated. In the development of new building techniques and new products standardisation became an efficient tool for companies to grow both horizontally and vertically. In the 1940s a committee for Building standards, with representatives from the building sector and housing organizations, was established in Sweden. The aim was to set up standards and increase the rationalisation in the Swedish construction sector, and a variety of standards were established. In the article the background and the consequences of the Swedish building standards will be investigated. The article will address questions about where the initiative to the standards came from, how the standards came about, and how they affected the construction of housing and the companies involved in the construction and building material industry. The material that will be used is archive material from public sources and from the building companies.