"Normalización" de la crisis y posición estratégica empresarial durante la expansión de la economía del salitre

Abstract

This work deals with the period of grater expansion of Chilean nitrate economy, when saltpeter compounds (Nitrate Combinations) were valid (1884-1911), understood as a cartel or business trust, generating a strategic position of the entrepreneurs, but that influenced until the end of the nitrate cycle (1920-1930). We state the hypothesis that the measures -private and public- taken in the face of a recurrent social perception of crisis confronting the nitrate industry, among them saltpeter compound, would have controlled -normalizing- economy, to the extent that the perception of crisis would have been internalized among actors (nitrate entrepreneurs and public servants) becoming part of their daily conduct, affecting their prospective capacity, on one hand, and innovation, on the other.