ABSTRACT
A type of combination of undertakings is represented by vertical combination. Of course, there may be cases where almost from the very beginning of modern industrial development a vertical combination may have been closely linked up with the technical structure of production. A comparison of the conditions of vertical combination in the English pig-iron trade on the one hand and the American and German pig-iron trade on the other, reveals interesting results. The modern changes in the structural development of the English iron and steel industry offer a striking example of the circumstances making for vertical combination. A very similar movement, centred in the monopolistic domination over iron ores and coal, was experienced in Germany, where the movement towards vertical combination had set in between 1895 and 1900. Vertical combination certainly creates a larger commercial unit, as all vertical associations represent a widening of the range of financial and administrative functions of the single establishment.
