In the first half of the twentieth century, the United Fruit Company, based in Boston, Massachusetts, created an impressive network that produced bananas in Colombia for distribution to the U.S. market. The company grew its own fruit but relied as well on local entrepreneurs. United Fruit imposed draconian contracts on the growers, forcing them to trade on terms that were very favorable to the company. These practices set the standards for other exporters operating in the country, even those based in Colombia.

In the century since its founding, the Ford Motor Company of Canada has evolved from a relatively independent entity within the Ford empire, with a strong element of minority ownership and its own overseas subsidiaries, to a fully integrated and wholly owned part of Ford's North American operations. The unique emergence and transformation of Ford-Canada among Ford's foreign enterprises is explained by Canada's changing automotive trade policies, the personal relations of the Ford family with its Canadian offspring, and a corporate strategy pursued by Henry Ford's successors and the American Ford company, which sought to bring Ford-Canada more directly under Detroit's control.

Business historians have shown the importance of industrial research in the process of innovation. Most have focused on the industrial research departments themselves. Less attention has been paid to the position of these departments within research networks outside the firm. This article explores the story of networking at the Dutch company Philips & Co. during the interwar period. Gilles Hoist, director of Philips's Research Department at the time, became involved in an agricultural research network that comprised growers, university scientists, and the Dutch government. These networks were essential for Philips's success and provided an opportunity for the company's researchers to keep in touch with scientific circles.