It’s surprising that this excellent book hasn’t garnered more attention and that there are so few reviews (May 2022) as it is a really interesting and eye-opening book, primarily about the Bata Company of Zlin, Moravia, a company that was once one of the world's largest producers of footwear and one of the first truly globalised companies, but also a company emblematic of the rise of globalisation and the multi-national enterprise. The book explores the origins of the company and its evolution into the market leader it became and is meticulously researched and richly detailed (sometimes perhaps just a bit too detailed, I admit). It’s not important just as a history of one particular company at one particular time but it’s also a window into globalisation in general and how the multi-national company evolved, a study of corporate culture and the impact of capitalism. So much more than a look at one individual shoe supplier it’s also an insight into the evolution of our own globalised society. A fascinating and pertinent read.

The Kingdom of Shoes by Zachary Austin Doleshai. I found this to be a very interesting and timely book about one company’s attempting to develop a utopian community while in fact developing a totalitarian control of its employees in their work and homelife. The story is about the development of the Bat’a company in the Czech Republic to develop a global shoe manufacturing company. The story begins in a small town Ziln in the Czech Republic where Thomas Bat’a revolutionizes the shoe industry from a home cottage industry into an industrial giant and for quite some time the largest in the world. He develops a philosophy for the company called “Batism” in which he believed that an industrial utopia could be achieved through harmonizing man and machine.
The company’s 1st growth came during WWI when it produced shoes for the soldiers on the losing side! After the war, the company expanded in Ziln and eventually controlled the town government as well as the lives of the employees. They lived in company housing, dressed in nicely in the Batist way and to succeed in business married and produced children. The equivalent of the HR department would inspect employees’ homes and were open to neighbors reporting neighbors who were not living up to the Batist way.
During these years, Thomas Bata looked mainly to the US for ideas to improve; the shoe manufacturing in Lynn Ma. as well as the Ford Motoring company. Both Ford and Bat’a became global companies during this time. Ford even had a company/city in Brazil; “Fordlandia” similar to Bat’as Ziln. Other companies that followed this concept of companies owning the town include Hershey and Cadbury.
Bat’a and his company developed a growth philosophy not based upon globalization but instead national indifference. This concept went on the nearly destroy the company when the Nazis overran the Czech Republic and Bat’as with factories all over the world tried to play on both sides. Mr. Austin’s book it a result of his Ph.D. thesis done at the University of Texas. I found this thesis on line and referred to it while reading the book. They are not the same. What I did prefer in his thesis was (1) more photographs, (2) conclusions at the end of each chapter and (3) footnotes and references at the bottom of each page.
The reason I found this book very interesting is to look at some of the actions occurring in the US during the Pandemic period. People are leaving work in some cases but in others I sense there is a belief that “my work/company is my life”. Whether I agree or not should companies be leading the rule making on masking and vaccination of employees? Will in the future employment or advancement be based upon walking, biking, using public transportation or an e-car be necessary? Again, I am not sure I am against this when we have pearlized or fractured government.
So, should you buy and read? For some interesting in how a company can end up controlling lives? Yes. Please read the book, thesis or both.