Prof. Gelina Harlaftis (IMS/FORTH), Onassis Business History, 1924-1975
Prof. Gelina Harlaftis (IMS/FORTH), Onassis Business History, 1924-1975
Aristotle Onassis is the most famous shipowner of the 20th century, the archetype and image of the shipowning magnate, the symbol of Greek enterprise on a global scale. He created the shipping business of the new global era, which has continued to operate in institutional terms on the models that he laid down, to the present day. The Onassis group of companies, which started out in 1924, will soon have completed a century of operations: 50 years with Aristotle Onassis, and 50 years with the Onassis business family. His business, without an heir, without a shareholder, without a relative or boss, lives on exclusively for the public-benefit projects of the Foundation nearly 50 years after his death. The research for this book is based mainly on the Onassis Archive which belongs to the “Alexander S. Onassis Foundation” and covers the whole fifty-years entrepreneurial period of Aristotle Onassis. The Onassis Archive consists of hundreds of archival boxes that contain thousands of documents. The Archive reveals the activities of a multinational business group across the globe, with companies in four continents (Europe, Asia, Africa and America) and 14 countries (Greece, France, Monaco, Germany, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, Argentina, Uruguay, Panama, Honduras, United States, Saudi Arabia and Liberia); its construction and classification breaks new ground in Business History not only in Greece but also internationally.
