From Great Depression to wartime innovation: the case of General Motors Holden Ltd

Abstract

The mobilisation of Australian industry during World War II was arguably the most important aspect of the national war effort. This occurred only a decade after the Great Depression. How did this transformation occur, and what enabled Australian industry to be so innovative in wartime? This article considers the case study of General Motors Holden (GMH). It argues that entrepreneurial leadership, organisational innovation and systemic change in Australia’s management of the war economy enabled GMH to play the role of coordinating major arms production. GMH also showed the adaptive capacity to reskill its workforce and convert its civilian production of motor vehicles to a wide range of armaments. Benefitting from technology transfer from the United Kingdom and its parent company in the United States, GMH’s innovation is possibly best seen as incremental rather than radical, but its adroit adaptation attests to the transformative character of World War II for Australian industry.