Author: Steph

I am a professor at the University of Birmingham Business School specializing in organizational history and international strategy.

BHC launches Mid-Year online event

Steph
Save the Date for the Business History Conference Mid-Year-Event
The Business History Conference would like to invite you to the first mid-year event/conference. This meeting seeks to become a permanent event of our association to further connect with the membership and engage with scholars and professionals related to the field of business history.

The 2021 mid-year conference will consist of a 120 minutes Zoom webinar to be celebrated on September 28th at 12 ET. The theme of the 2021 seminar will be 

Business History in the Pandemic Era: Rethinking Agendas and Connections
Invited speakers: 
Jessica Levy, Ph.D.,
Geoffrey Jones, Ph.D.,
Heidi Tworek, Ph.D., and
Maki Umemura, Ph.D.

Please mark your calendars and spread the word!
Register today 
#BHC2021midyear

Hagley History Hangout: “Franchise” by Marcia Chatelain

Steph

I’ve blogged before about Marcia Chatelain’s Pulitzer Prize winning business history of McDonald’s. The Hagley History Hangout has got a new episode out focusing on her research – check it out below!

New episode is available in the Hagley History Hangout

In Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, Marcia Chatelain explores how fast food restaurants saturated black neighborhoods and became, as well, a focal point in the development of “black capitalism.” To tell this story, she charts a surprising history of cooperation among fast food companies, black capitalists, and civil rights leaders, who―in the troubled years after King’s assassination―believed they found an economic answer to the problem of racial inequality. With the discourse of social welfare all but evaporated, federal programs under presidents Johnson and Nixon promoted a new vision for racial justice: that the franchising of fast food restaurants, by black citizens in their own neighborhoods, could finally improve the quality of black life. Synthesizing years of research, Franchise tells a troubling success story of an industry that blossomed the very moment a freedom movement began to wither. 

Marcia Chatelain is a professor of history and African American studies at Georgetown University, and is a leading public voice on the history of race, education, and food culture. The author of South Side Girls, Chatelain lives in Washington, DC. Franchise was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in History and the Hagley Prize for the best book in business history.  

Call for research proposals: Accounting History Symposium

Steph

The 16th Accounting History Symposium 

Virtual format: Friday, 3 December 2021 

Following the great success of the 15th Accounting History Symposium, held on July 3, 2021, the Accounting History Special Interest Group (AHSIG) is pleased to announce a second event for the year. 

The 16th Accounting History Symposium will be held on 3 December 2021. 

The Symposium will take place in virtual format (details TBA) and it will be free of charge for AHSIG members and non-members. 

In addition to the virtual presentations of research proposals relating to studies of accounting’s past, a panel of scholars will be in (virtual) attendance, discussing and/or providing feedback on the presentations of the participants. 

We look forward to your participation at the 16th Accounting History Symposium. 

 Individuals interested in making a presentation about a planned or existing research project are invited to submit a research proposal (of no more than three pages, single-spaced) containing the following: 

1. Project (working) title 

2. Background (or scenario for investigation) 

3. Main research objective in one sentence 

4. Concise key research question(s) 

5. Research methodology 

6. Period selection 

7. Limitations of the study 

8. Expected (original) contribution. 

The final date for submission of research proposals is Friday, 5 November 2021, and should be sent to acchis.sig@gmail.com. 

If you haven’t already done so, please follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for our latest updates: 

https://t.co/aWnxYkhT40?amp=1

https://www.linkedin.com/company/65855223

We look forward to welcoming you to the 16th Accounting History Symposium. 

 Giulia Leoni and Maryam Safari 
AHSIG Convenor and Deputy Convenor 

Digital Archives and Heritage annual conference videos now online!

Steph
Image of the DCDC21 logo

Did you miss part of, or all of, DCDC21? 

Not to worry. The video recordings from the conference are available online to view at your leisure. 

Discoveries Collections, Discovering Communities (DCDC) is a cross-sectoral conference, hosted by The National Archives, RLUK and Jisc, that brings together the GLAMA sectors (galleries, libraries, archives, museums and academia) to shine a light on our shared experiences, innovations, interests and concerns. The DCDC21 Conference explored how crisis can act as a catalyst for change within libraries, archives, museums, and cultural organisations. 

 > Watch the videos

CfP: Business Archives Council Conference 2021

Steph

Call for Papers: Business Archives Council Conference 2021

The Day After Tomorrow: Business Archives and the Climate Crisis

In November this year, all eyes will be on Glasgow as it hosts COP26 – the United Nations Climate Change Conference. The BAC’s annual conference, which will be held on 24 and 25 November 2021, will take the same theme. Given the subject we are discussing and the success of our Zoom conference last year, we will again be offering a virtual format this year with short papers and sessions spread over two half-days.

We would welcome papers and contributions from business historians as well as archivists about, but not limited, to the following themes:

  • Involvement in your parent organisation’s own environmental/climate targets
  • Collecting the records of climate change and businesses in new sectors such as green energy and technologies
  • Collecting the records of traditional hydrocarbon industries and their changes and adaptions for the future
  • Measuring and mitigating the environmental costs of digital preservation
  • Controlling energy use in archive stores through repository design and minimising use of climate controls
  • Working with community or sector groups on action plans to combat climate change
  • Planning for extreme climate change events and their impacts on archives
  • Decolonisation, decarbonisation, extractivism and reparative social justice

We hope that this conference will provide a productive space to advance these conversations and share best practice.

Please submit proposals to sara.kinsey@nationwide.co.uk, stating your name, institution (if applicable), and abstract (no more than 250 words) by 27 September. 

British Academy’s Future of the Corporation

Steph

Over the last four years, the British Academy’s Future of the Corporation programme has brought together talented groups of academics, business leaders, investors, civil society leaders and policymakers to explore how business can solve problems for people and the planet. The programme has given unrivaled attention to the questions around how purpose can be placed at the heart of business through policy, practice and business education.

The British Academy invites you to join them to hear their conclusions and discuss the role of policy, practice and business education in firmly embedding purpose in the way business operates. Please register for the launch of our third and final report, Policy and Practice for Purposeful Business, and a series of discussions on adapting business education to purpose on their website.

Request for Proposal (RFP): Researcher for John Ellerman Foundation History Project

Steph

2021 marks the John Ellerman’s Foundation’s 50th anniversary and to celebrate this, the Foundation is launching two funding initiatives, and a research project into their history.

The Foundation was set up as a generalist grantmaking trust in 1971. They continue with the broad philanthropic interests of their benefactor Sir John Ellerman, while reflecting changing times. The aim is to advance the wellbeing of people, society and the natural world, by focusing on the arts, environment and social action, as these areas can make an important contribution to wellbeing.

The Foundation is now advertising a funded researcher position and two new funding streams. The below is excerpted from their website.

“In our 50th year, we are looking to do a deep dive into our history, and we are seeking a researcher to help us achieve this. The researcher will bring together the data and information already collected, and conduct further research to analyse the Ellerman family’s business history, as much as their philanthropic one, in order to gain an understanding of the origins of the Foundation’s wealth and how this supports our work today.

We are offering a funded researcher position for 12-months, and are seeking proposals from consortia of organisations or individual researchers.

You can find out more about this project and how to apply in this seven page briefing document here.

If you have any questions, please contact our Office Manager, Rian Trim on recruitment@ellerman.org.uk.

Applications should be submitted by 5pm on 13 September 2021.

Here is some information of the first of the two funding initiatives we are launching this year as well.

A Collaborative Environment Fund for the UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs)

We are contributing £800k to this fund, and invite other funders to join this collaboration or align their funding with it.

The environments of the UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are of global significance: they hold 94% of our unique species, pristine rainforests, vast coral reefs, a quarter of the world’s penguins and the fifth largest marine estate on the planet. These small islands are at the forefront of our biodiversity and climate crises: three quarters of the world’s known extinctions since 1500 have occurred on islands, whilst extreme weather events pose a potentially existential threat.

As their biodiversity assets far exceed those in the mainland UK, the Territories offer funders incomparable impact and value for money. Building on our eight years of responsive grantmaking worth £1.8m in the UKOTs, that has achieved transformative impacts, we believe the UKOTs offer funders incomparable impact and value for money.

You can find out more about this collaborative funding initiative in this four page briefing document here.

If you are interested in learning more about this funding collaboration, please contact our Director, Sufina Ahmad on sufina@ellerman.org.uk.

Our plan is to accept applications for this fund from September to December 2021.“

Gerald Aylmer Seminar: New Ways to Work (17 September)

Steph

The Gerald Aylmer Seminar is an annual one-day symposium organised by The National Archives, The Royal Historical Society and The Institute of Historical Research in memory of Gerald Aylmer (1926-2000), who was president of The Royal Historical Society and Chairman of the Institute of Historical Research. Its purpose is to bring together archivists and historians to discuss topics of mutual interest. 

This year’s event, ‘New Ways to Work – future directions for archival and historical practice’, will take place 17 September and consider how we are working now, having been forced to make difficult decisions, to adapt and innovate in what we do and how we engage with each other, but also how do we best move forward in a relationship that may not return to ‘normal’. A provisional programme is available – https://symphony-live-new2.s3.amazonaws.com/bB47zjaqdry5Gbppd7K9wsfXdULbKh5UtCphS5Ge4GBDdOVgZeLhLX6ItDnWcixB/Aylmer%20Provisional_Programme_2021.pdf. 

It is free to attend and will be held online, but booking if required. To register, please click here – https://www.history.ac.uk/events/gerald-aylmer-seminar-2021

Update from the “Unlocking the Past” project

Steph

We are delighted to share a short blog piece on the first Unlocking our Digital Past workshop that seeks to capture some of the key discussions we had. It was really nice reflecting on the event when writing this. Please feel free to read and share with anyone who you think might be interested.

https://unlockingourdigitalpast.com/2021/08/05/reflections-on-the-unlocking-our-digital-past-workshop-19-july-2021/

For a peak at the presentations from the workshop, take a look at their website: https://unlockingourdigitalpast.com/blog-2/

JMH Special Issue on Entrepreneurship Thought and Behavior

Steph

Announcement of Special Issue in the Journal of Management History:

Entrepreneurship Thought and Behavior: Reflecting Back and Pushing Forward.

Timelines: 

  • Submissions open: August 2021
  • Submission deadline: 1st December 2021 
  • Revisions (expected): February/March 2022 
  • Final decisions (expected): May 2022 
  • Expected publication issue: Vol. 28 No. 4 in 2022 

Entrepreneurship has a long, and in many cases untold, history. Its discovery from the Irish French economist Richard Cantillon as a risk bearer was written around 1730, and ever since, entrepreneurship and the entrepreneur have remained important components of numerous economic and management theories. The entrepreneur plays a key role in the writings of Jean-Baptist Say, John Stuart Mill, Joseph Schumpeter, Frank Knight, and Friedrich Hayek, yet little historical work explores this in more depth. Moreover, while the Journal of Management History has published numerous articles exploring historical facets of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship over the years (cf., Murphy et al., 2006; Murphy, 2009; Smothers et al., 2014; Prieto and Phipps, 2014; Laudone et al., 2015; Prieto et al., 2017), to date no journal has featured entrepreneurship (broadly defined) as a topic of historical study.

Accordingly, this special issue of the Journal of Management History aims to stimulate research relating to entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs, and the historical foundations, assumptions, and roots of entrepreneurship theory and behavior. Themes may include, but are not limited to:

  1. The history and evolution of entrepreneurial thought and behavior
  2. Historical case analyses of entrepreneurs, their journeys, and their impact and influence
  3. Role and development of entrepreneurial ecosystems over time
  4. Evolution of entrepreneurship-relevant theories, their foundational assumptions and tenants, and how they have evolved over time (e.g., Bendickson et al., 2016)
  5. Emergence and history of research streams within entrepreneurship (social entrepreneurship, gender and entrepreneurship, corporate entrepreneurship, technology entrepreneurship, etc.)
  6. Historical foundations and evolution of entrepreneurial policy over time
  7. Mass proliferation of entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs), their evolution, and impact
  8. Integration and widespread proliferation of entrepreneurship into education over time
  9. Historical role of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in addressing the world’s biggest challenges (cf., United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges)

An intended outcome of this issue is to publish work that is relevant and capable of informing future entrepreneurship research and practice. Authors are encouraged to not just explore topics that are historically interesting, but also capable of having contemporary impact and meaningfulness. Accordingly, scholarship that is purely retrospective and offers little to no implications for contemporary entrepreneurship research and practice is likely not a great fit for the issue.

Given the intentionally wide range of topics that fit within this call for papers, and the special attention the editorial team is putting on the ability of accepted papers to inform contemporary theory and practice, prospective authors are encouraged to reach out to the lead special issue editor, Jeff Muldoon (jmuldoon@emporia.edu), with any queries they may have relating to topical fit and alignment (extended abstracts are welcome for review and feedback).

References:

Bendickson, J., Muldoon, J., Liguori, E. W., & Davis, P. E. (2016). Agency theory: background and epistemology. Journal of Management History, Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 437-449.

Murphy, P.J., Liao, J. and Welsch, H.P. (2006), “A conceptual history of entrepreneurial thought”, Journal of Management History, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 12-35.

Murphy, P.J. (2009), “Entrepreneurship theory and the poverty of historicism”, Journal of Management History, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 109-133.

Smothers, J., J. Murphy, P., M. Novicevic, M. and H. Humphreys, J. (2014), “Institutional entrepreneurship as emancipating institutional work: James Meredith and the Integrationist Movement at Ole Miss”, Journal of Management History, Vol. 20 No. 1, pp. 114-134.

Prieto, L.C. and T.A. Phipps, S. (2014), “Capitalism in question: Hill, Addams and Follett as early social entrepreneurship advocates”, Journal of Management History, Vol. 20 No. 3, pp. 266-277

Laudone, R., Liguori, E.W., Muldoon, J. and Bendickson, J. (2015), “Technology brokering in action: revolutionizing the skiing and tennis industries”, Journal of Management History, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 114-134.

Prieto, L.C., Phipps, S.T.A., Osiri, J.K. and LeCounte, J.F. (2017), “Creating an interface: Aiding entrepreneurial success via critical pedagogy and insights from African-American management history”, Journal of Management History, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 489-506.