The triumph of stainless steel in Spain. The historical origins of Acerinox (1970-1991)

Abstract

Stainless steels are one type of special steels that appeared in some developed countries before World War II, in order to meet the demand of new industrial sectors, and the demand of the construction and urban equipment. The article studies the introduction of stainless steels in Spain in the middle of the twentieth century, and the historical origins of Acerinox, one of the leading world corporations in this industrial sector. This corporation has been the only successful joint venture with Japanese investors in the steel industries in Europe. New empirical evidence from written and oral sources has revealed how significant the links between Spanish and Japanese entrepreneurs were, since the 1960s, in order to understand the formal constitution of the Joint Venture in 1970, and the successful transfer of technology and market know-how from Japan to Spain, between the 1970s and 1980s.