In the decade after the Second World War IBM rebuilt its European
operations as integrated, wholly owned subsidiaries of its World Trade
Corporation, chartered in 1949. Long before the European common market
eliminated trade barriers, IBM created its own internal networks of
trade, allocating the production of different components and products
between its new subsidiaries. Their exchange relationships were managed
centrally to ensure that no European subsidiary was a consistent net
importer. At the heart of this system were eight national electric
typewriter plants, each assembling parts produced by other European
countries. IBM promoted these transnational typewriters as symbols of a
new and peaceful Europe and its leader, Thomas J. Watson, Sr., was an
enthusiastic supporter of early European moves toward economic
integration. We argue that IBM’s humble typewriter and its innovative
system of distributed manufacturing laid the groundwork for its later
domination of the European computer business and provided a model for
the development of transnational European institutions.