ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the head office, subsidiary relations in the 1970s, how the subsidiary developed new refining technology, how the research teams and managers in Kristiansand and Toronto competed for mandates within their organizations, as well as the refinery's changing relation relations with the Norwegian business system and with the wider civil society. Less nickel was refined in Kristiansand in 1980 than in 1970. International Nickel Company (INCO) had previously possessed sufficient market power to decide nickel prices. In contrast to the Matte-Leaching (ML) process which was originally conceived in Falconbridge's Toronto laboratories, the Chlorine-Leaching (CL) process was thought out and developed solely in Kristiansand. The research and development work in Kristiansand, demonstrates once again, how subunits within multinational companies strive to secure mandates within their organizations. After the Becancour plant was postponed and the CL process proved its worth the Kristiansand subsidiary again became Falconbridge's unquestioned hub of refining technology.
