Corporate totalitarianism: an analysis of Bata system in Brazil and Chile (1940-1970)

Abstract

During the 1930s, the Czech company Bata Shoes Corporation became a well-established multinational organization. It figured amidst the largest shoes producers in the world, being a pioneer in carrying out economic, organizational and social transformations in its internationally widespread facilities. In addition to the improvement of production processes, Bata Shoes Corporation managed to create industrial schools in different countries to train its industrial managers. The company was also recognized for providing workers with habitation located in company towns. In this article, I analyse how production methods and management techniques created by Bata (the Bata System) were implemented in Brazil and Chile, between the 1940s and 1970s. The paper’s main objective is to analyse the characteristics of a project which ultimately sought to expand the corporation’s control over its workers. I argue that Bata exerted a huge dominance over its employees, specially through pervasive practices related not only to factory dynamics, but also to labourer’s private lives.