In the last decades much has been written on the history of manufacturing firms and branches in the Nazi period. It is the aim of the present volume to provide a synthesis of at least a part of that new research. A general result of the contributions each authored by an expert of the respective field is that enterprises still enjoyed a high degree of autonomy. The Nazi regime did not create a centrally planned economy. Rather by manipulating the conditions of doing business it tried to promote its war-related aims. However, that caused friction which in turn provoked new economic policy measures without ever solving all the self-inflicted problems.