Apák és fiúk gazdasági stratégiái: egy magyar család a 19. és 20. században
The Business Strategy of Fathers and Sons:A Hungarian Family in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Summary/Abstract: In the second half of the 19th century the flour milling industry was the most important sector in Hungarian economy, Hungarian milling products, owing to their excellent quality, had a good market position in Europe and all over the world. The biggest steam-driven flour mills were built in Budapest, the Pesti Hengermalom Társaság, established in 1838, being the first one. In the last third of the century, the story of Hengermalom became closely intertwined with the story of a family and the head of it, Konrád Burchard-Bélaváry. Konrád Burchard joined the company in the early 1860s. He moved up the official hierarchy from senior servant, through manager, member of the board of directors, vice-president, to president and chief executive officer. Besides his often-mentioned diligence, his wealthy and influential father-in-law paved the way for his career. Burchard’s ascending positions in the company were followed by rising stockholdings, till he became the oneperson manager by the beginning of the 20th century. He grew into an important person in the Hungarian milling industry as well as in economic and public life owing to his different positions in other companies and societies. He made an effort to initiate his family into the leader- and ownership of Hengermalom. His son-in-law, later his younger son became chief executive officer, his elder son was a member of the board of directors, later vice-president and his nephews members of the supervisory board. Konrád Burchard definitely intended to make Hengermalom a patrimony for his sons. The strategy of the sons, however, was different. When Hengermalom was forced to make bigger investments and the mill – as well as the milling industry in general – began to decline in the 1910s, the sons persuaded the father to join a bigger millcompany in 1916. Konrád Burchard died the same year. The company totally merged into the Első Budapesti Gőzmalom Rt. in the 1920s, but the economic and social prestige built by Konrád Burchard-Bélaváry lived on in his sons’ economic and social positions.

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