ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a brief description of Norwegian industrial policy in the 1940s and 1950s. It also shows that Falconbridge and the Kristiansand managers also adapted very well to Norway's post-war social democratic business system. Investments and economic growth were prioritized over welfare and redistribution. During the interwar years the Kristiansand nickel refinery had been one of many foreign-owned industrial plants in Norway. Post-war industrial policy was to a large extent a question of developing and allocating hydropower resources. Steen was also involved in Norwegian industrial policy, among other things, through positions of trust in the Federation of Industry, the Employers' Association and in the state-appointed committee that was to assess industrial development in Ardal. One important reason why Gr nnings tar and Steen succeeded so well in securing hydropower for Falconbridge was the company's ability to earn US dollars and hard currency. Falconbridge thus able in the heyday of Norwegian social democracy to strengthen its locational advantages in Kristiansand.
