The conjuncture of World War II and the growth of the domestic market in Mexico made the domestic manufacture of industrial goods ever more necessary, and the Mexican state sought to stimulate manufacturing industry through incentives, subsidies, tax exemptions, and loans. If protectionist policies would remain in place for the next 50 years, the business community best able to take advantage of this new climate was that of Monterrey.
Numerous businesses emerged in Monterrey linked to the basic metal and nonmetallic mineral industries, as well as the manufacture of metal and electronic products. Many Monterrey-based corporations accelerated their vertical integration (from the extraction of raw materials to the manufacture and marketing of the finished product) as well as their geographical expansion. The development of industries devoted to capital goods (goods devoted to the production of other goods) deepened. In the 1960s an electronics industry emerged, and the automobile and transport industries expanded. By 1940 Monterrey generated 7.2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), with 3.4 percent of all industrial establishments and 4.9 percent of the employed workforce. By 1950 its share of the GDP had climbed to more than 7.8 percent and almost to 10 percent by 1970.
The oil boom of 1975 to 1981 also saw the development of secondary petrochemical industries in Monterrey. Particularly benefiting from this development were corporations such as Alfa, Protexa, and CYDSA, whose products (polyurethane, waterproofing materials, artificial fibers) required petroleum derivatives. Protexa, dedicated to the construction of offshore oil exploration platforms and underground and submarine pipelines, was an especially spectacular case. Many of the larger groups (Alfa, VISA, Protexa, Conductores Monterrey) diversified their operations, entering such areas as foodstuffs, banking, tourism, and real estate.
среда, 4 ноября 2009 г.
Revolution and Transition in Mexican Economy
The dynamism of the northern Mexican economy was interrupted abruptly by the Mexican Revolution. The outbreak of the Revolution in 1910 was a severe blow for important productive areas, and it precipitated the collapse of the domestic market. Of the three major nuclei of entrepreneurial activity in northern Mexico that had emerged since the 1870s—the Terrazas/Creel clan in Chihuahua, the cotton-producing region of La Laguna, and Monterrey—the least affected was Monterrey. The largely urban and industrial character of its investments allowed the Monterrey business community to ride out much of the social and political storm.
During the post-Revolutionary reconstruction, the formation of a new type of state obligated the Monterrey business community, which was accustomed to playing by Porfirian rules, to accept more determined state intervention in the social and economic sphere. The Monterrey elite's answer was the development of a new type of union that was dependent on the businesses themselves ("white" unionism) and the organization of a national employers' confederation, the Confederación Patronal de la República Mexicana, in 1929.
Neither the new Revolutionary state and its social policies nor the Great Depression, however, modified the Monterrey business community's old custom of taking advantage of its proximity to the U.S. border. The use of natural gas as an industrial fuel—thanks to the gas pipeline constructed between Monterrey and southern Texas—provided new opportunities for technological innovation, lowered costs, and other advantages that would permit Monterrey to compete in the national market.
The economic expansion of the 1930s took on characteristics that only would be accentuated during the 1940s. One of these was a tendency toward industrial integration, a path broken largely by the Cuauhtémoc Brewery, the Monterrey Glassworks, and their managers, the Sada and Garza Sada families. Another characteristic was that the Monterrey community began invest in factories in other parts of the country, allowing it to open new space in an ever growing and ever more protected national economy. The decade following the Great Depression also was marked by three other innovations: the appearance of a considerable number of factories of various sizes; new investment by the industrial entrepreneurs in banking and finance; and the foundation in 1943 of the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), which was to give a university education to a new generation of executives and administrators in Monterrey industries.
During the post-Revolutionary reconstruction, the formation of a new type of state obligated the Monterrey business community, which was accustomed to playing by Porfirian rules, to accept more determined state intervention in the social and economic sphere. The Monterrey elite's answer was the development of a new type of union that was dependent on the businesses themselves ("white" unionism) and the organization of a national employers' confederation, the Confederación Patronal de la República Mexicana, in 1929.
Neither the new Revolutionary state and its social policies nor the Great Depression, however, modified the Monterrey business community's old custom of taking advantage of its proximity to the U.S. border. The use of natural gas as an industrial fuel—thanks to the gas pipeline constructed between Monterrey and southern Texas—provided new opportunities for technological innovation, lowered costs, and other advantages that would permit Monterrey to compete in the national market.
The economic expansion of the 1930s took on characteristics that only would be accentuated during the 1940s. One of these was a tendency toward industrial integration, a path broken largely by the Cuauhtémoc Brewery, the Monterrey Glassworks, and their managers, the Sada and Garza Sada families. Another characteristic was that the Monterrey community began invest in factories in other parts of the country, allowing it to open new space in an ever growing and ever more protected national economy. The decade following the Great Depression also was marked by three other innovations: the appearance of a considerable number of factories of various sizes; new investment by the industrial entrepreneurs in banking and finance; and the foundation in 1943 of the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), which was to give a university education to a new generation of executives and administrators in Monterrey industries.
Industrialization and the New Entrepreneurial Elite in Mexico
During the 1890s the exhaustion of liberal reforms and the consolidation of the dictatorship of Porfirio Dfaz brought a new stability to Mexico, and Monterrey became the most dynamic urban center of northeastern Mexico. It became a major railway hub and manufacturing center. The capital that Monterrey's business elites had accumulated earlier was invested in industry, taking advantage of Mexico's booming domestic market and the northeast's proximity to one of the most important regions in the second Industrial Revolution, the eastern and midwestern United States.
As in other emerging industrial centers in Latin America, the emergence of manufacturing in Monterrey included light industry. What made it unique was the importance of basic metallurgical industries. In the early 1890s four new smelters were opened in Monterrey: Nuevo León Smelting, Compañía Minera, Fundidora y Afinidora Monterrey, and Gran Fundición Nacional Mexicana (later renamed the American Smelting and Refining Company, or ASARCO). The objective was to supply the growing demand for industrial metals, particularly lead, in the northeastern United States. The business experience of Monterrey's new business elite, the centralization of capital (which permitted the formation of corporations), the rail system, and the integration of a national market permitted a fourth plant to open the 1903, the Fundidora de Fierro y Acero de Monterrey. The Fundidora was the first large mill in Latin America, requiring an investment of nearly US$5 million. Of the four plants founded after 1890, only the ASARCO drew on foreign investment. All of the others showed a clear influence of regional capital. These plants used advanced technology, employed a significant number of workers, and contributed to the formation of a business elite that continues to play an important role in the economic development of Mexico to this day.
If we quickly review the corporations founded by the Monterrey elite between 1890 and 1910, two general characteristics become clear: first, the marked diversification in investment, and second, the strong family ties within the various corporations. Investment in the years preceding the Mexican Revolution created industries dedicated to supplying productive consumption (large smelters, cement, glass, machinery) as well personal consumption (beer and other drinks, textiles, hygiene products). At the same time, however, diversification also had an important impact on mining, banking, landholding and agriculture, service industries, and transport. If we take as our point of reference the group of 10 families that has been the object of particularly close historical research, we find that more than 40 members of these families were involved with more than 260 corporations (among them, 170 dedicated to mining, 40 to manufacturing, and 19 to agriculture and ranching). Prior to the Mexican Revolution seven families were particularly important: the Zambrano, Madero, Milmo, Rivero, Hernández/Mendirichaga, and Armendaiz families.
As in other emerging industrial centers in Latin America, the emergence of manufacturing in Monterrey included light industry. What made it unique was the importance of basic metallurgical industries. In the early 1890s four new smelters were opened in Monterrey: Nuevo León Smelting, Compañía Minera, Fundidora y Afinidora Monterrey, and Gran Fundición Nacional Mexicana (later renamed the American Smelting and Refining Company, or ASARCO). The objective was to supply the growing demand for industrial metals, particularly lead, in the northeastern United States. The business experience of Monterrey's new business elite, the centralization of capital (which permitted the formation of corporations), the rail system, and the integration of a national market permitted a fourth plant to open the 1903, the Fundidora de Fierro y Acero de Monterrey. The Fundidora was the first large mill in Latin America, requiring an investment of nearly US$5 million. Of the four plants founded after 1890, only the ASARCO drew on foreign investment. All of the others showed a clear influence of regional capital. These plants used advanced technology, employed a significant number of workers, and contributed to the formation of a business elite that continues to play an important role in the economic development of Mexico to this day.
If we quickly review the corporations founded by the Monterrey elite between 1890 and 1910, two general characteristics become clear: first, the marked diversification in investment, and second, the strong family ties within the various corporations. Investment in the years preceding the Mexican Revolution created industries dedicated to supplying productive consumption (large smelters, cement, glass, machinery) as well personal consumption (beer and other drinks, textiles, hygiene products). At the same time, however, diversification also had an important impact on mining, banking, landholding and agriculture, service industries, and transport. If we take as our point of reference the group of 10 families that has been the object of particularly close historical research, we find that more than 40 members of these families were involved with more than 260 corporations (among them, 170 dedicated to mining, 40 to manufacturing, and 19 to agriculture and ranching). Prior to the Mexican Revolution seven families were particularly important: the Zambrano, Madero, Milmo, Rivero, Hernández/Mendirichaga, and Armendaiz families.
Monterrey Industrialists and Industrialization in Mexico
Located less than 125 miles (200 kilometers) from the Texas border, Monterrey, the capital of the state of Nuevo León, stands out from the rest of contemporary Mexico for two reasons: its industrial development and its business community. Its initial period of industrialization from 1890 to 1910, driven by heavy industry, sets it apart from rest of Latin America. A fundamental point of departure in the economic history of northern Mexico—particularly the history of Monterrey—is what might be termed its strategic peculiarity. Starting in the mid-nineteenth century, northern Mexico gradually became an extension of the largest national market created by capitalism, the United States; the only other space that shares this peculiarity is southern Canada. This relationship became especially important during the 1870s, when the U.S. economy was transformed by the second Industrial Revolution.
The new border drawn after the U.S.-Mexican War required the villages and towns of northeast Mexico to reorganize themselves. If Mexico as a whole was reeling from its humiliating defeat and the loss of more than one-third of its national territory, the northeast stood to benefit from its new proximity to U.S. markets. Monterrey benefited from these changes more than any other community, embarking on a path of industrialization rarely seen in Latin America.
Monterrey also benefited from domestic political changes. The Wars of Reform obligated the governor and military commander of Nuevo León, Santiago Vidaurri, to reorganize his administration, making Monterrey the center of a regional system of power that included Coahuila and exercised considerable influence over the state of Tamaulipas. His customs, tariff, and monetary policies and his ties to merchant groups in the region (including those of southern Texas) had an important impact on trade and also increased the importance of Monterrey. The war itself generated a risky but highly profi trade, which was stimulated by Monterrey's proximity to the Rio Grande (Río Bravo).
During the U.S. Civil War the regional network created by Vidaurri and the enormous needs of the Confederacy intertwined to create dramatic new opportunities for regional and binational trade, allowing a new business elite in Monterrey to accumulate huge fortunes and giving it important business experience that later could be applied in trade with the main centers of the Atlantic economy. The dynamism, capacity for action, and structure of this nascent bourgeoisie made it similar to the merchant elite of southern Texas. It included Spanish, German, Irish, and U.S. immigrants, as well as native-born Mexicans, and in the 1890s many of the same families who had pioneered Monterrey's trade and lending sectors would stimulate industrialization in the region, transferring their capital to production.
The new border drawn after the U.S.-Mexican War required the villages and towns of northeast Mexico to reorganize themselves. If Mexico as a whole was reeling from its humiliating defeat and the loss of more than one-third of its national territory, the northeast stood to benefit from its new proximity to U.S. markets. Monterrey benefited from these changes more than any other community, embarking on a path of industrialization rarely seen in Latin America.
Monterrey also benefited from domestic political changes. The Wars of Reform obligated the governor and military commander of Nuevo León, Santiago Vidaurri, to reorganize his administration, making Monterrey the center of a regional system of power that included Coahuila and exercised considerable influence over the state of Tamaulipas. His customs, tariff, and monetary policies and his ties to merchant groups in the region (including those of southern Texas) had an important impact on trade and also increased the importance of Monterrey. The war itself generated a risky but highly profi trade, which was stimulated by Monterrey's proximity to the Rio Grande (Río Bravo).
During the U.S. Civil War the regional network created by Vidaurri and the enormous needs of the Confederacy intertwined to create dramatic new opportunities for regional and binational trade, allowing a new business elite in Monterrey to accumulate huge fortunes and giving it important business experience that later could be applied in trade with the main centers of the Atlantic economy. The dynamism, capacity for action, and structure of this nascent bourgeoisie made it similar to the merchant elite of southern Texas. It included Spanish, German, Irish, and U.S. immigrants, as well as native-born Mexicans, and in the 1890s many of the same families who had pioneered Monterrey's trade and lending sectors would stimulate industrialization in the region, transferring their capital to production.
Santa Anna's Presidency
More than any other development during Santa Anna's presidency (1853-55), the overwhelming evidence of U.S. territorial appetite led both Conservatives and European statesmen even more strongly to advocate a foreign monarchy as a means to stopping U.S. expansionism and as a solution to Mexico's ills. Under pressure to sell the Mesilla Valley to the United States, and certain that Mexico would not survive another war against its northern neighbor, Santa Anna invited an Anglo-French military invasion of Mexico to reorganize the country from within and to establish a European prince on the Mexican throne. In line with this proposal, Santa Anna also ordered Gutiérrez Estrada to search European courts for a sui prince whom he could persuade to come to Mexico. By the time Gutiérrez Estrada learned of his mission, however, it was a lost cause. Great Britain and France declared war on Russia in March 1854 (the Crimean War), and they could spare neither the time nor the resources to defend Mexico from the United States. Santa Anna was forced to sell the Mesilla Valley to the United States in the Gadsden Purchase.
Santa Anna's inability to preserve Mexico's territorial integrity was not the only factor that antagonized his domestic enemies. The degeneration of his rule into tawdry despotism following Alamán's death in June 1853 provided his political rivals with additional grounds to censure him. The Ayutla Rebellion, which erupted in March 1854, toppled his regime in 1855 and ushered Mexico into the era known as La Reforma. As the Liberals tried to assert themselves as Mexico's dominant political faction, first through compromise and subsequently in a civil war, Conservatives and their foreign allies schemed to establish what would be their last attempt to restore monarchy to Mexico.
By October 1856, the French legation and Mexican Conservatives had drawn up plans for French military action in Mexico. The French minister had become convinced that the United States desired to destroy world civilization by replacing s monarchies with anarchic and demagogic republics. Consequently, the only method, short of war, to prevent the United States from gaining monopoly power over the commerce of the Western Hemisphere was for France to assist Mexican Conservatives in establishing a monarchy with a European prince. Such a regime would be able to resist pressure from the United States, protect Central and South America, and open new fields for European commerce. French emperor NapolXéon III subscribed to these ideas. He had embarked upon an aggressive foreign policy and hoped to restore France's empire in the Americas. Exiled Mexican Conservatives who met frequently at Napoléon's court further nurtured Napoléon's scheme. They promoted the idea of a foreign prince as a means of ousting the Liberals and providing stability and economic progress for Mexico.
Santa Anna's inability to preserve Mexico's territorial integrity was not the only factor that antagonized his domestic enemies. The degeneration of his rule into tawdry despotism following Alamán's death in June 1853 provided his political rivals with additional grounds to censure him. The Ayutla Rebellion, which erupted in March 1854, toppled his regime in 1855 and ushered Mexico into the era known as La Reforma. As the Liberals tried to assert themselves as Mexico's dominant political faction, first through compromise and subsequently in a civil war, Conservatives and their foreign allies schemed to establish what would be their last attempt to restore monarchy to Mexico.
By October 1856, the French legation and Mexican Conservatives had drawn up plans for French military action in Mexico. The French minister had become convinced that the United States desired to destroy world civilization by replacing s monarchies with anarchic and demagogic republics. Consequently, the only method, short of war, to prevent the United States from gaining monopoly power over the commerce of the Western Hemisphere was for France to assist Mexican Conservatives in establishing a monarchy with a European prince. Such a regime would be able to resist pressure from the United States, protect Central and South America, and open new fields for European commerce. French emperor NapolXéon III subscribed to these ideas. He had embarked upon an aggressive foreign policy and hoped to restore France's empire in the Americas. Exiled Mexican Conservatives who met frequently at Napoléon's court further nurtured Napoléon's scheme. They promoted the idea of a foreign prince as a means of ousting the Liberals and providing stability and economic progress for Mexico.
A Military Rebellion
A military rebellion brought Paredes to the presidency in early January 1846. By the end of the month, conservative statesman Lucas Alamán began to give new force to Gutiérrez Estrada's monarchical arguments in the newspaper El Tiempo. Alamán bolstered his analysis by emphasizing Mexico's national history and conditions rather than European events. A February 12, 1846, editorial entitled "Our Profession of Faith" declared that the best form of government for Mexico was a hereditary, constitutional monarchy that rested on the twin pillars of a strong church and a strong army, and in which there would be an aristocracy of merit and of wealth. Alamán's monarchical maneuvers, however, fueled an extensive domestic opposition movement that equated monarchism with European despotism and depicted it as a threat to Mexico's independence. Furthermore, by the early spring of 1846 Mexico was on the verge of war with the United States. The survival of Paredes's government, and thus that of the monarchist plot, came to depend on the success of Mexico's armies over U.S. forces. In early May 1846, however, Mexican troops were defeated soundly at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. These setbacks, in the end, sealed the fate of the monarchist project in 1846.
But the hopes of those who supported a monarchy did not have to wait long to thrive once again. Articulate Mexicans of all political colors searched for remedies to the country's ills following the military disaster of 1846 to 1848, and Conservatives worked guardedly to create a favorable situation for a monarchy. In the aftermath of the war with the United States, several newspaper, led by El Universal, attacked the republic by contrasting colonial peace and republican anarchy, and suggesting by innuendo that monarchy would prove Mexico's solution. Alamán's brilliant five-volume treatise Historia de Méjico further buttressed the Conservative position. While Alamán's work did not openly advocate monarchism, its central argument— that the Mexican republic had demonstrated its inability to maintain the standards of security and well-being that had been guaranteed by the Spanish colonial regime—made its intentions obvious.
This publicity campaign set the stage for the next opportunity that Alamán and his fellow Conservatives had to advance the monarchist project. When in 1853 President Mariano Arista attempted to cut the military budget and reduce the size of the army, Conservatives encouraged disgruntled officers to revolt and succeeded in overthrowing Arista. Since their plan for importing a foreign monarch had yet to mature, Alamán sought the figure of strongest authority for the Mexican presidency, an individual who could hold on to power while Conservative envoys searched Europe for a prince willing to mount the Mexican throne. As a result, the exiled General Antonio Lápez de Santa Anna agreed to return to Mexico and accept the position of stand-in for a future monarch.
But the hopes of those who supported a monarchy did not have to wait long to thrive once again. Articulate Mexicans of all political colors searched for remedies to the country's ills following the military disaster of 1846 to 1848, and Conservatives worked guardedly to create a favorable situation for a monarchy. In the aftermath of the war with the United States, several newspaper, led by El Universal, attacked the republic by contrasting colonial peace and republican anarchy, and suggesting by innuendo that monarchy would prove Mexico's solution. Alamán's brilliant five-volume treatise Historia de Méjico further buttressed the Conservative position. While Alamán's work did not openly advocate monarchism, its central argument— that the Mexican republic had demonstrated its inability to maintain the standards of security and well-being that had been guaranteed by the Spanish colonial regime—made its intentions obvious.
This publicity campaign set the stage for the next opportunity that Alamán and his fellow Conservatives had to advance the monarchist project. When in 1853 President Mariano Arista attempted to cut the military budget and reduce the size of the army, Conservatives encouraged disgruntled officers to revolt and succeeded in overthrowing Arista. Since their plan for importing a foreign monarch had yet to mature, Alamán sought the figure of strongest authority for the Mexican presidency, an individual who could hold on to power while Conservative envoys searched Europe for a prince willing to mount the Mexican throne. As a result, the exiled General Antonio Lápez de Santa Anna agreed to return to Mexico and accept the position of stand-in for a future monarch.
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