Steph

Hagley Seminar on Business, Culture, and Politics

February 7, 2022January 26, 2022 Steph

Building on the 30-year legacy of the Hagley Research seminar, the Hagley Seminar on Business, Culture, and Politics features original and creative work in progress essays that make use of business history sources.

All seminars are held on Zoom between noon and 1:30 p.m. Eastern USA time. Seminars are based on a paper that is circulated in advance. Preregistration is required and space is limited. To find registration links as well as additional information on the seminars, please go to https://www.hagley.org/research/research-seminars. Questions may be sent to Carol Lockman, clockman@Hagley.org.

2022 Spring Seminar series

February 23, noon-1:30

Kelly Goodman, West Chester University, “’Let’s Freeze Government Too’: The Business Campaign for Tax Limitation”

Comment: Ben Waterhouse, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

March 23, noon-1:30

Dylan Gottlieb, Hagley Library NEH Fellow, “Good Taste: Yuppie Gourmet Culture in the Age of Inequality”

Comment: Amy Bentley, New York University

April 20, noon-1:30

Karen Mahar, Sienna College, “Eugenics and the Creation of the Business Executive, 1900-1920”

Comment: Wendy Gamber, Indiana University

May 18, noon-1:30

Salem Elzway, University of Michigan, “Marxist Manipulators: Robots on the Line at Lordstown”

Comment: Nelson Lichtenstein, University of California, Santa Barbara

CfP EHBA Doctoral Summer SChool

February 4, 2022February 3, 2022 Steph

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

11th EBHA DOCTORAL SUMMER SCHOOL
“CHALLENGES FOR BUSINESS HISTORY IN A CHANGING WORLD”
Madrid, CUNEF, June 21-22, 2022

The 11th edition of the EBHA (European Business History Association) Summer School will take place at CUNEF, Madrid, from Tuesday, June 21st to Wednesday, June 22nd, 2022, in conjunction with the European Business History Association Congress.

The school, titled “Challenges for Business History in a Changing World”, aims to encourage a fresh and rigorous exchange of thoughts, ideas, and new research being done by doctoral students in fields closely related to Business History. It is organised jointly by the European Business History Association (EBHA) and the Colegio Universitario de Estudios Financieros CUNEF.

The main aim of the School is to provide students with a friendly atmosphere in which to discuss their preliminary findings with leading scholars as well as among their peers. Each student will have 15 minutes maximum to present her/his project, stressing especially: research questions and goals, methodology, sources, challenges, and provisional outcomes. After her/his presentation, each student will receive questions and comments from other students and from faculty members.

Students will be accommodated in the beautiful and lively city of Madrid. The organisers will cover all local costs (accommodation and food), but participants are expected to pay their own travel expenses.

Students will also have the opportunity to present their research projects in a dedicated Poster session during the Congress, receiving feedback from conference participants. The organisers will take care of the accommodation costs and of the congress fee of those students who submit a poster on their research project.

Those interested in attending the Summer School should send the following documents by e-mail to Veronica Binda (veronica.binda@unibocconi.it):
1) a brief CV (not exceeding one page);
2) a summary of their dissertation project (not exceeding three pages);
3) (if possible) an example of their work in progress, e.g. a draft chapter or a working paper (in any language).

The deadline for applications is March 15th, 2022. A maximum of 10 participants will be selected from these applications and will be notified by March 31st, 2022.

NEH-Hagley Fellowship on Business, Culture, and Society

January 31, 2022January 26, 2022 Steph

The NEH-Hagley Fellowship on Business, Culture, and Society supports residencies at the Hagley Library in Wilmington, Delaware for junior and senior scholars whose projects make use of Hagley’s substantial research collections. Scholars must have completed all requirements for their doctoral degrees by the February 15 application deadline. In accordance with NEH requirements, these fellowships are restricted to United States citizens or to foreign nationals who have been living in the United States for at least three years. These fellowships are made possible by support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Fellowships may be four to twelve months in length and will provide a monthly stipend of $5,000 and complimentary lodging in housing on Hagley’s property. Hagley also will provide supplemental funds for local off-site accommodations to NEH fellowship recipients who can make a compelling case that special circumstance (e.g. disability or family needs) would make it impossible to make use of our scholar’s housing. Scholars receive office space, Internet access, Inter-Library Loan privileges, and the full benefits of visiting scholars, including special access to Hagley’s research collections. They are expected to be in regular and continuous residence and to participate in the Center’s scholarly programs. They must devote full time to their study and may not accept teaching assignments or undertake any other major activities during their residency. Fellows may hold other major fellowships or grants during fellowship tenure, in addition to sabbaticals and supplemental grants from their own institutions, but only those that do not interfere with their residency at Hagley. Other NEH-funded grants may be held serially, but not concurrently.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE FOR THE NEH-HAGLEY FELLOWSHIP ON BUSINESS, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY
Deadline: February 15
Requirements for application: (Apply online at https://www.hagley.org/research/grants-fellowships/funding-application ).
• Current curriculum vitae.
• A 3,000-word explanation of the project and its contributions to pertinent scholarship.
• A statement of no more than 500 words explaining how residency at Hagley would advance the project, particularly the relevance of our research collections.
• A statement indicating the preferred duration of the fellowship.
Applicants also should arrange for two letters of recommendation to arrive separately by the application deadline. These should be sent directly to Carol Lockman, clockman@Hagley.org. Questions regarding this fellowship may be sent to Carol Lockman as well.

NEH-Hagley Fellow 2021-2022:
Dylan Gottlieb
Lecturer in History, Princeton University
Wall Street & the Remaking of New York

Carol Ressler Lockman
Business History Conference
Manager, Hagley Center

EBHA Congress 2022

January 28, 2022January 26, 2022 Steph

Dear colleagues,

This is only to remind you that the deadline for paper, session and workshop proposals for the EBHA Congress 2022 (CUNEF, Madrid, 22-24 June 2022) is approaching (January 30). After so many months of restrictions and online conferences, don’t miss this opportunity to discuss your research with your colleagues face to face.

Please visit the congress webpage for further information (https://ebha.org/Madrid2022).

Looking forward to receiving your proposal.

On behalf of the EBHA Council and the local organizing committee,

Adoración Álvaro

EBHA Secretary

Business History Studies Network Virtual Bulletin

January 24, 2022January 14, 2022 Steph

The Business History Studies Network (REHE, by its acronym in Spanish) is pleased to be publishing this thirtieth issue of its virtual bulletin. Divided in six sections, the bulletin presents a thorough review of this year’s most important publications and events amongst the business history discipline in Latin America.

Debates (pp. 2-3) reviews the recently published book on Latin American business history. Edited by Andrea Lluch, Martin Monsalve and Marcelo Bucheli, the book compiles 13 chapters about Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Perú and México. It also includes chapters on green businesses, women, criminality and violence, transport, family business, business groups and multinationals.

In Novedades (pp. 4-12), eight books are introduced: (2021).The Emergence of Modern Hospital Management and Organisation in the World 1880s-1930s by Fernández, História de empresas no Brasil by Goularti & Macchione Saes (2021), Los reyes del vino. Los Arizu y el esplendor de la Mendoza vitivinícola by Mateu (2021), El viejo y el nuevo poder económico en la argentina del siglo XIX a nuestros días by Schorr (2021), Estado, industria y desarrollo. Atucha II y la senda del Programa Nuclear Argentino (1979-2014) by Rodriguez (2020), Montevideo al Trote. Historia de sus tranvías de caballos by Halaremicz (2021), Historia de la Fundación Mundo Mujer de Popayán (1985-2015) by Molina & Rojas (2021), and Una historia de semillas, plagas, aguas y energía: El algodón y La Laguna (1880-1960) by Rivas Sada (2021).

In this issue, the editors listed call for papers and events (pp. 13-15) for the next year. Recursos (pp. 16-18) presents new academic endeavours during the pandemic such as the Business History Collective (BizHisCol), the Business History TV, and the HBS Creating Emerging -Markets. In Archivos (pp. 19-20), Mariela Ceva (CONICET/CIS-IDES) introduces the Red de Archivos de Empresas en Argentina.

Finally, the section on Tesis (p. 21-22) presents the summary of two doctoral thesis: Beatriz Rodriguez-Satizabal (Queen Mary University of London) on Colombian business groups, 1950-1980 and Carlos Abel Gutiérrez (Universidad Nacional de La Plata) on regional investment in the building sector, 1992-2011.

Read it here:
https://issuu.com/reddeestudiosdehistoriadeempresas/docs/red_estudio_empresas_32?fbclid=IwAR12UoJGAdEuMwy94Aep_xoohUFc5fMntCzMemwN8LjZccCEV_49aiyO_BI

Message from the BAM MBH Track

January 21, 2022January 14, 2022 Steph

British Academy of Management

Management and Business History Track

Track Chairs

James Fowler, University of Essex James.Fowler@essex.ac.uk
Roy Edwards, University of Southampton r.a.edwards@soton.ac.uk

Track description:

This track encourages the growing number of management and business historians who work in business schools and social science departments to engage in constructive debate with a wide range of management scholars. The 2022 conference theme, ‘Reimagining business and management as a force for good’ offers ample opportunity to explore the value of historical study for current management.

In this track we specialize in chronologically or longitudinally motivated research. Histories of organizations, industries and institutions give us the opportunity to understand how managers have dealt with reinventing themselves in the past. History is replete with makeovers. We would welcome papers that explore how businesses and managers have responded to the requirement to change themselves, change the narrative about themselves, or both. How did this happen, and how successful was it? History allows us to both challenge and develop theory by exploring its explanatory power in relation to real events where the outcomes are already known.

We welcome papers, symposia or workshop proposals either using new and innovative methodologies or applying archival methodology to a new disciplinary context. We are also interested in context specific papers using more traditional historical methodology but which take innovative approaches to relate their findings to wider social science concerns including the diversity of experience in present day businesses, regions and communities. While the main conference theme ought to feature prominently in all submissions, we encourage cross-disciplinary papers and workshop submissions that link different Tracks.

As a group we are inherently multi-disciplinary and believe in the application of theory to historical analysis, and there is no single epistemology for approaching this. We aim to encourage theoretically orientated social science history with a clear relationship to present day debates in the management discipline. Contributions might focus on, but are not limited to: the economic or social history of business, historical case studies for theory

building, theoretical contributions on the relevance of history to management studies, the uses of history, and history as a method for management studies. Please note though that while we are open-minded, work without a historical dimension will not be accepted.

This article is a useful initial point of reference:

Tennent, K. (2020). Management and business history – a reflexive research agenda for the 2020s. Journal of Management History. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMH-09-2020-0061. 

These articles offer commentary on the ‘dual integrity’ of business history methods as a combination of social science and historical craft:

Decker, S., Usidken, B., Engwall, L. & Rowlinson, M. (2018). Special issue introduction: Historical research on institutional change. Business History, 60(5). pp613-627. https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2018.1427736 

Maclean, M., Harvey, C. and Clegg, S.R., (2016). Conceptualizing historical organization studies. Academy of Management Review, 41(4), pp.609-632. DOI: 10.5465/amr.2014.0133

Rowlinson, M., Hassard, J. & Decker, S. (2014). Research Strategies for Organisational History: A Dialogue between Historical Theory and Organisation Theory. Academy of Management Review, 39(3), pp250–274. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2012.0203 

Some theoretical and empirical examples of the genre of work that we seek to welcome include:

Fowler, J., & Gillett, A. (2021) Making a hybrid out of a crisis: historical contingency and the institutional logics of London’s public transport monopoly, Journal of Management History, ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMH-01-2021-0003 

Gandy, A., & Edwards, R. (2017). Enterprise logic vs product logic: the development of GE’s computer product line, Business History, 59(3), pp431-452. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2018.1462796 

Gillett, A. & Tennent, K. (2018). Shadow hybridity and the institutional logic of professional sport: Perpetuating a sporting business in times of rapid social and economic change. Journal of Management History, 24(2), pp.228-259. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JMH-11-2017-0060 

Hamilton, S. (2016). Revisiting the History of Agribusiness, Business History Review, 90(3), pp541-545. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S000768051600074X 

Hollow, M. (2014) ‘Strategic Inertia, Financial Fragility and Organizational Failure: The Case of the Birkbeck Bank, 1870–1911’, Business History, 56(5), pp. 746–64. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2013.839660 

Lane, J. (2019) Secrets for Sale? Innovation and the Nature of Knowledge in an Early Industrial District: The Potteries, 1750–1851, Enterprise and Society, 20(4), pp861-906. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/eso.2019.8 

Maclean, M., Shaw, G., Harvey, C. and Booth, A., (2020). Management learning in historical perspective: Rediscovering Rowntree and the British interwar management movement. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 19(1), pp.1-20. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2018.0301 

Mollan, S. & Tennent, K. (2015). International taxation and corporate strategy: evidence from British overseas business, circa 1900–1965. Business History, 57(7), pp.1054-1081. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2014.999671 

Tennent, K., Gillett, A. and Foster, W., 2020. Developing historical consciousness in management learners. Management Learning, 51(1), pp.73-88. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507619869669 

Research seminar by the Organizational Memory Studies community

January 17, 2022January 14, 2022 Steph

Please see below the details for a research seminar by Andrea Casey and Sonia Coman.

Title: New directions in organizational and management history: interdisciplinary perspectives on the field

Date: January 28, 2022

Time: 13:00 GMT/8:00 EST/6:00 MST/5:00 PST

See the link below on our RG page:https://www.researchgate.net/project/Organizational-Memory-Studies-Research-Community

In case not on RG,https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89410675180

Funded PhD positions

January 14, 2022January 13, 2022 Steph

PhD positions: Coventry University, UK, and Erasmus University, Rotterdam, invite applications for two, fully-funded PhD positions (one at each university). The successful applicants will join a team of historians working on Historical Tensions between International Business and National Taxation – a four-year project commencing in Spring 2022.

Historical Tensions between International Business and National Taxation: A Challenge for Europe Today

A team of business historians from the University of Bayreuth (Germany), Erasmus University (Rotterdam), Charles University (Prague), and Coventry University (UK), are being funded by the VolkswagenStiftung for a project that aims to analyse the historical dynamic of the conflict of interest in relation to taxation between nation states and multi-national enterprise (MNE). The historical cases examined in the project aim to reveal the complexity of multi-layered interaction between states and MNE, and the long historical path-dependence of MNE and their global network of specialists.

Coventry University and Erasmus University are now inviting applications from suitably-qualified graduates for fully-funded PhD studentships – one to be held at each university – to join the team in May 2022 and start work on the project. The successful candidates will receive comprehensive research training including technical, personal and professional skills. In addition, the studentships include funding and support for participation, together with the project’s other PhD students, in various European PhD education programmes, such as summer schools and courses.

The Coventry University PhD project comprises a case study of BP in the course of the twentieth century. Against a background of international ideological ruptures (First World War, 1930s Great Depression, Second World War, de-colonisation, the coming of the Iron Curtain and fall of the Berlin Wall), the CU project will also focus on the nationalisation policies of the postwar Labour government, and the progressive privatization of BP from 1979 under Thatcher.

For further details please contact Professor Neil Forbes n.forbes[at]coventry.ac.uk

The Erasmus University PhD project comprises a case study of the Anglo-Dutch Unilever since the merger in 1930. Against a background of major international ruptures (1930s Great Depression, Second World War, de-colonisation, the coming of the Iron Curtain and fall of the Berlin Wall) this project will focus on Unilever’s connections to other multinational companies in the UK and the Netherlands and particularly its relations with the Dutch and British governments. Command of the Dutch and English languages is a precondition.

For further details please contact Professor Ben Wubs wubs[at]eshcc.eur.nl

Northumbria BH Group Seminar Series returns

January 10, 2022December 23, 2021 Steph

Welcome back everyone, it is 2022, and who knows what the new year will bring us – normality? more variants? We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, Northumbria University’s Business History Group is hosting another event in their seminar series on Teams. If you’d like to join, please contact Dr Ian Jones [ ian.g.jones [at] northumbria.ac.uk].

Business History Group Seminar Series (2021-22)

Wednesday 19th January 2022, 15.00 – 16.00

MS Teams

Dr Jessica van Horssen, Leeds Beckett University.

The history of Corporate Social Responsibility is subject of growing interest for business historians. The research of environmental and business historians as William Cronon and Pierre Desrochers have shown that the decisions of industry leaders have both immediate and long-term local and global effects. With this paper, I will examine the process of decision-making regarding occupational health within the Canadian asbestos trade and show how the corporate social responsibility practiced by industry heads at the local level had much wider effects, including the continuing belief in the safety of asbestos, and the demonization of competitors along racial and political lines.

Picture supplied by Northumbria Business History Group & Dr van Horssen.

Industry leaders knew asbestos was dangerous as early as 1924, but rather than inspire corporate caution, this knowledge was spun to maximize profits while delaying the widespread communication of the risks associated with the mineral. The American Johns-Manville Company was instrumental in this process, as it owned the largest chrysotile asbestos mine in the world, in the town of Asbestos, Canada, and was responsible for turning a potential corporate disaster into an advantage with the “ABC defence.” The “ABC” in this plan referred to “anything but chrysotile,” the particular type of asbestos found in Canada, meaning that asbestos was indeed dangerous, but only when it came from the competition: asbestos from southern Africa was blue, rather than the Canadian white, and therefore branded much more toxic, and asbestos from the Soviet Union, although still white, was tainted communist red at the height of the Cold War, and thus something to be avoided.

The decision to champion Canadian asbestos over its competition on the grounds of safety obscured the industrial and public understanding of the risks associated with the mineral. It also allowed companies like Johns-Manville to manipulate medical evidence to prove their claims correct, and meant that French-Canadian workers in communities like Asbestos, were treated as laboratory mice, monitored and harvested so companies could better understand the progression of disease.

This paper will explore this history while asking questions about corporate social responsibility in single-resource communities and global resource trades. In doing so, I will address key themes in Business History within a transnational context. I will also contribute to the dialogue on decision makers and decision making, while addressing key themes of power, complacency, and control.

Jessica van Horssen is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Cultural Studies and Humanities at Leeds Beckett University. Her research focuses on the history of environmental health in North America and the wider world, highlighting the connections between modernity and toxicity in bodies of land, human bodies and the body politic. Van Horssen’s first book, A Town Called Asbestos: Environmental Contamination, Health and Resilience in a Resources Community (University of British Columbia Press) was published in 2016 and her work has been published in Urban History, Labour/Le Travail, and the Economic History Yearbook. Van Horssen has also worked to raise awareness of contemporary environmental issues, sailing around the UK in 2017 as part of the eXXpedition Round Britain to test coastal waters for plastics contamination, and organising a time travel experience at the Edinburgh Fringe to encourage the public to historicise current pollution levels.

Job opportunity in Digital Strategy Research

December 24, 2021December 23, 2021 Steph

Happy holidays everyone, and here is a quick holiday announcement of a new paid-for role at the BHC!

Applications Invited for Research Associates (8 months) for Digital Strategy Research Project of the Business History Conference

About the BHC

The Business History Conference is a scholarly organization devoted to encouraging all aspects of research, writing, and teaching about business history and about the environment in which businesses operate. Founded in 1954, the organization is now international in scope, with approximately 30 percent of its membership residing outside North America.

About the project

The BHC´s digital presence began under the leadership of Pat Denault in the early 2000s. Now the BHC manages a website, a blog, and social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn). In addition, especially with the coronavirus pandemic, some of its regular events have become virtual, thus the BHC increasingly relies on digital technology to connect with its members. Anticipating more changes to the technological and economic environment, BHC´s Web Editor (Paula de la Cruz-Fernández) and Web Administrator (Shane Hamilton) have received authorization from the BHC Trustees to initiate a thorough review of our current digital strategies. This review of officers’ and members’ expectations and experiences of our existing digital tools, as well as consideration of best practices being pioneered by other organizations in a turbulent environment, will guide the future digital work of our officers and directors.

The BHC invites applications for two research positions, each eight months in duration. The work begins in February and continues through September (a total of 30 weeks). We expect the researchers to work 10 hours a week ($20/hour). One of the researchers must be fully bilingual in Spanish and English.

The researchers will, in coordination with the BHC Electronic Media Oversight Committee and the BHC Web Editor and Web Administrator:

Review current platforms and usage of them.
Interview users of web platforms and events (both in person and online interview).
Run focus groups to learn more about perceptions related to the Annual Meeting, the Doctoral Colloquium, and the Mid-year event among others.
Research what other organizations are doing in regards to online initiatives and virtual/hybrid meetings.
Collect pertinent information in terms of digital best practices for scholarly organizations.
Assist in the creation of a strategy report.

Requirements to apply:

One of the researchers must be bilingual.
Graduate students / emerging scholars are encouraged to apply.
Strong awareness of digital communications technologies, including social media tools, web platforms, and video conferencing platforms, though advanced technical skills (e.g., coding, server or database management) are not necessary.
Knowledgeable or familiar with scholarly associations and also with business history.

Application process: