Zlín Region

Zlín embodies corporate paternalism's long shadow—Tomáš Baťa's shoe empire didn't just employ the region but physically constructed it. The functionalist architecture of company towns, worker housing designed by the company, schools run by the company: Baťa created an integrated system that approached total institution status. When the communists nationalized and later when global shoe production shifted to Asia, the built environment remained but the economic logic dissolved. Today's economy retains the manufacturing orientation (rubber, plastics, machinery) that Baťa's supplier networks established, but without the commanding employer that once integrated everything. Tomas Bata University perpetuates the founder's name while training engineers for diversified industries. The region's challenge: infrastructure built for vertical integration must now support horizontal network economies. Zlín shows how corporate founders can shape regional destiny for generations—and how that legacy becomes constraint when the founding enterprise disappears.