La Compañía de Salitres de Antofagasta, Chile. El desafío de su modernización empresarial e innovación estratégica

Abstract

This paper examines The Antofagasta Nitrate Company, which emerged after theWar of the Pacific and its change into a modern enterprise since its productive andcompetitive nitrate strategy demanded a change in its administrative organization,where technological innovation played a relevant role. In this sense, we show thatthere reforms were implemented between 1916 and 1925. Once the number of nitratemines increased, the company had to face the challenge of synthetic nitrate and theoption of inventions to change the production system.