Bibliogr. p. 577-599. Index

First steps: when vision and reality meet A multinational pioneer Reaching a dominant position Labor organization, social policy, and societal vision The consolidation of power The multiple fronts of World War I From the ashes, 1918-1922 The making of international alliances Family and finance through the crisis The electrolytic industry Facing war again Solvay's second postwar period Growth through diversification: the successful entry into plastics and peroxides Enlarging scale and scope: backward and forward integration in the 1960s and 1970s Solvay goes public: financial and organizational limits of a family firm The long and winding road to Deer Park: Solvay's return to the United States From bulk to brains: Solvay's entry into pharmacy and the life sciences Solvay in the age of globalization Towards sustainable product leadership Chemical and plastics of the future: major turning points at the start of a new century