Technological Transfers and Foreign Multinationals in Emerging Markets: Derosne & Cail in the 19th Century

Did multinationals already existed in the 19th century? and if so, what was their role in international technology transfer to colonial markets? In this paper we examine a French machinery manufacturer -Derosne & Cail- one of the most innovative engineering firms in the mid-nineteenth century as well as one of the first European companies supplying advanced sugar technology and railway equipment to emerging colonial plantations. This firm was indeed an early multinational that created an extensive international network of factories, branches, intermediaries and agents across four continents. This socio-technical network sustained the distribution of Derosne & Cail's machinery to sugar planters who, in turn, adapted the new technology to local conditions and helped spread the necessary practical knowledge for the operation of the machines. The strategy of the company became globally successful because technology transfer was linked to the migration of trained mechanical and chemical experts.