MGMT 1030 Lecture 8: Tutorial Discussion 10- World War 2 and Crown Corporations
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World War 2 Crown Corporations
The Department of munitions and supply gave the minister wide power to get manufacturers to
undertake wartime production on the basis of prices and terms which he thought was fair.
Consisted of 3 main branches:
Production branches:
Were in charge of contracting and overseeing production of wartime
materials.
I.E ammunition production branch or Defense Projects Construction
branch.
oControllers:
In charge of rationing, allocating and setting prices for materials such as
chemicals, steel, or oil.
oAnd crown corporations:
H;ad many functions.
During WWII
Established CCs in national security and supply security
Very little autonomy in WWII CCs than seen today
Priority became winning the war (not necessarily fair or efficient, but secure)
CC in production because:
oEnsured secrecy
oEnsured security
oCoordination of complicated war projects
oSome projects were high risk (necessary but would not otherwise be taken on by the
private sector)
Forbade strikes (expropriation)
b/c of wartime labour shortage they used POWs
Inefficiencies included
oMgmt had no motivation
oNo competition for contract bids
Post WWII
Debate as to whether the gov’t would need to intervene or there would be sufficient demand for
deregulation
Most productive assets were privatized to meet high demands
Some were kept as CC in order to meet specific goals
Howe wanted to keep as many CCs as possible and expose them to private competition – make
them more autonomous
Howe felt R&D should be separate from production
Eventually the CC R&D company was dissolved by gov’t
Department of Munitions and Supply (Weapons and Supply)
The major function of the Department of Munitions and Supply included:
Form of federal government power
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