Tag: business history

Building Ecosystems Conference

Steph

Proposals are invited for the conference

Building Ecosystems/Selling Natures: At the Edge of Environments and Economies

Friday, October 28, 2022
Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society
Hagley Library, Wilmington, Delaware

In everyday life we are embedded in ecosystems and economic systems that interact with one another, and indeed, are mutually constitutive. For a conference, “Building Ecosystems/Selling Natures,” we invite proposals that interrogate the interaction of various dualities: commerce and nature, firms and the earth’s resources, productive activity and the built environment. Our notion of ecosystems is expansive. It includes the many interactions among water, minerals, and geophysical features; biological systems within and between animals, plants, and microorganisms; and human-made settings such as buildings, cities, and transportation networks. We welcome papers that seek to blur the binary dualism between the many forms of nature and the institutions and social relations generated by economic activity.

We hope for proposals from a range of disciplinary perspectives, inspired as we are by scholars researching agriculture, mining, energy, water, enviro-tech, the built environment, evolution, and the biosphere (to name a few). Their scholarship explores the shared spaces that we hope to interrogate through this conference. In particular, we hope to create panels that bring together scholars working in different subjects, themes, and disciplines to see how they can cross-fertilize each other’s work, including researchers engaged with concepts like “Anthropocene” and “Capitalocene” and their efficacy. 

We are interested in original, unpublished, empirical papers that are conceptually informed and historically framed addressing the above and related topics. We hope to consider proposals that may benefit from engagement with collections and experts from Hagley, an institution that has a wealth of resources from the mid-1800s to the recent past. However, we also welcome papers that span earlier time periods, use collections from other institutions, and encompass international cases. We particularly encourage proposals that consider the following questions:
• How have economies and technologies generated new capacity to alter and exploit the environment?
• How are features of nature turned into capital?
• How is nature marketed and sold?
• How do human creations, such as buildings, become ecosystems?
• How has the materiality and/or human understanding of nature framed economic behavior?
Please submit proposals of no more than 500 words and a one-page C.V. to Carol Lockman at clockman@Hagley.org by June 15, 2022. Conference presenters will be asked to submit complete versions of their conference papers by Oct. 7, 2021. The conference is planned as an in-person event but will adopt a virtual format if necessary. Presenters will receive lodging in the conference hotel and compensation for their travel costs. The conference organizers are planning an edited volume based on a selection of revised conference papers. The program committee is comprised of Tim LeCain, Nicole Welk-Joerger, Greg Hargreaves, and Roger Horowitz.

Hagley History Hangout: What created the ‘sundown towns’ in the Great Migration (US)

Steph

New episode of Hagley History Hangout Available: Millions of black Americans left the Deep South fleeing violence and seeking opportunity during the Great Migration, one of the most dramatic demographic shifts in twentieth-century American history. Some communities welcomed these newcomers with open arms, going so far as to actively recruit them as industrial labor, while others attempted to shut their doors, to maintain their homogeneity through the threat of violence against black people. These different reactions could take place in towns adjacent to one another, with locally-specific causes shaping the divergence. 

Social historian Matthew O’Neal, PhD candidate at the University of Georgia, uncovers the story of two eastern-Kentucky towns that reacted differently to the Great Migration: Lynch, a U.S. Steel company town which became a relatively diverse, welcoming community, and Corbin, a railroad hub that became an infamous “sundown town,” or place unsafe for black people to live in or visit. The economic base of wither town, and the resulting social organizations within them, shaped the divergence. O’Neal notes the policies of racial inclusion or exclusion that characterized the unions attached to the steel versus the railroad industry as one source. Rising from parochial concerns, and local bigotry, a system of shadow segregation grew outside of the Deep South, and continues to shape American society in the twenty-first century. 

The audio only version of this program is available on our podcast.

Interview available at https://www.hagley.org/research/history-hangout-matthew-oneal

Recorded on Zoom and available anywhere once they are released, our History Hangouts include interviews with authors of books and other researchers who have use of our collections, and members of Hagley staff with their special knowledge of what we have in our stacks. We began the History Hangouts in the summer of 2020 and now are releasing programs every two weeks on alternate Mondays. Our series is part of the Hagley from Home initiative by the Hagley Museum and Library. The schedule for upcoming episodes, as well as those already released, is available at https://www.hagley.org/hagley-history-hangout. 

How to publish in Business History

Steph

If you are interested in learning more about how to publish in journals, including Business History, then take a look at this video that was kindly provided by Dr Christian Harrison of the University of West of Scotland. It features a conversation with two journal editors, Prof Laura Galloway, International Journal of Entrepreneurship & Innovation, and Prof Stephanie Decker, Business History.

Business History & Heritage conference, Italy

Steph

Business History as Business

Exploring Heritage, History, and Money

DOWNLOAD THE CFP

Conference website: https://easychair.org/cfp/bh4b

In his Keynote Lecture at the 2008 European Business History Association Conference, Franco Amatori stressed the very nature of this disciplinary field with the title ‘Business History as History’ (Amatori 2009). In the lecture, he underlined the relevance of the relationship with the ‘facts’; suggesting a scientific approach to the research hypothesis, documentation, and methodology.

Around the same time, John M.T. Balmer and his research group created a new branch of studies on the interaction between the firm and its Past, which mainly referred to the area of marketing (Urde, Greyser & Balmer 2007). Since then, the ongoing debate regarding the company’s Past in business studies has embraced the concept of brand heritage or corporate heritage, though not always with a shared definition (Balmer 2017).

At a more practical level, since the beginning of the XXI Century, relevant heritage-related market phenomena appeared, such as re-born icon products; e.g. the BMW Mini (2001) and the Fiat 500 (2007), the rising of Arnaud de Lummen’s Luvanis (2009), and vintage products or nostalgia communication campaigns (Brown 2013).

Until today, however, the interaction between three business fields (business history, business studies, business practice) had been relatively small. In particular, business history had not achieved the status of being a significant counterpart for the other two.

On 31st May, 2022, the Conference ‘Business History as Business – Exploring Heritage, History, and Money’ will focus on questions such as those below, and others.

“Considering theory and practical application, could business history be a relevant element for business?”

“Could dialogue among different fields of activity/study bring reciprocal fruitful contamination, or are they simply too different to communicate?”

“Is the “Past” to which the different disciplines refer, the same entity, or are they using the same word to define different notions… such as the celestial objects for astronomy and astrology?”

The Conference is intended to be the first of periodical meetings for a small group of scholars willing to share knowledge and co-operate in future cross-national, cross-disciplinary research projects.

References:

  • Amatori, F., Business history as history, Business History, 2009, 51, 143-156
  • Balmer, J., Foundations of corporate heritage, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017
  • Brown, S., Retro from the get-go: reactionary reflections on marketing’s yestermania, Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 2013, 5, 521-536
  • Urde, M.; Greyser, S. A. & Balmer, J. M., Corporate brands with a heritage, Journal of Brand Management, Springer Nature, 2007, 15, 4-19

Submission Guidelines

  • The Committee will consider only submissions that are original, and not simultaneously submitted to another journal or Conference.
  • All submissions must be written in English, which will be the is the only language used during the Conference.
  • Authors must submit a 200/300-words abstract of their paper by the 7thof April, 2022.
  • The Committee will complete a review of submissions by 21st of April, 2022, after which authors will be informed as to whether their submission has been accepted.
  • If accepted, authors must then submit a summary (max 900 words) of their papers by the 22nd of May, 2022.

List of Topics

The Conference will be devoted to exploring the interaction (both positive and negative) between a company and its Past. The Conference program will encompass history, management, marketing, organisation, heritage conservation/management, and other related disciplines. Different disciplinary approaches and cross-contamination among various fields of study will be encouraged and not-conventional and provocative perspectives will be appreciated.

Below is an indicative but not exhaustive list of topics that the Conference Program Committee will consider for submission:

  • Theoretical topics concerning disciplinary definitions, boundaries, and methods contributions addressing topics such as the definition of history/heritage and the comparison among disciplines concerning the Past, corporate vs brand heritage, cases of dialogue (or lack of exchange) between different disciplinary fields, methodological issues, postmodern approaches to the studies involving a business’s Past.
  • Empirical or theoretical topics concerning authenticity, considering, for instance, indexical/iconic authenticity in a corporate context, cases of forged/borrowed corporate heritage, re-born companies/brands, the role of archives and original documentation.
  • ‘Italy’ topics. While the Conference will have an international scope, it will reserve a specific section to topics concerning Italy, accepting papers on ‘Made in Italy’, whether or not historical, and Italian cases of ‘invention of tradition’, and corporate heritage enhancement.

The Conference will conclude with a roundtable discussion of all the participants and practitioners involved in heritage-related businesses or associations.

Committees

The Conference will be held at LIUC – Università Cattaneo, the first event organised by the Heritage Hub (a research unit at LIUC created in 2022 to develop studies and advisory activity on business history and business heritage).

Program Committee

  • Daniele Pozzi – LIUC Heritage Hub (chair)
  • COMING SOON

Organizing committee

  • Rita Nicolai – LIUC
  • COMING SOON

Publication

After the Conference, Authors interested in having their paper published in the Imprese & Storia special issue must submit a full paper by the 30th September, 2022, following the guidelines provided by the journal.

Papers, if accepted, will be published in a special issue on corporate heritage by Imprese & Storia (ISSN 1590-6264).

Early-Stage researchers travel grants

The LIUC Heritage Hub will allow a small number of grants contributing to the travel expenses of early-stage researchers (no more than 3 years from acquiring the doctoral title). The grant will cover a maximum of € 500,00 of documented travel/accommodation expenses. Young researchers interested in applying must provide a complete academic/scientific CV, plus a cover letter describing their present and oncoming projects revolving around the Conference’s topics. The Heritage Hub will rank, then, the applicants evaluating the CV, the project(s) and the personal position of the candidate (long-distance travel, disadvantaged countries, lack of financial alternatives…).

After submitting the abstract, the candidates must send their application to dpozzi@liuc.it (deadline 7thApril, 2022).

Venue and COVID-19 countermeasures

The Conference will be held at LIUC – Università Cattaneo’s Auditorium, Castellanza, Italy.

Castellanza is a small town in Lombardia, to the north-west of Milan, where the Italian industrial revolution began in the early decades of the XIX Century. Within the campus of LIUC is the Cantoni Cotton Mill, which started its activities in 1847 and it was still operating until the end of the 1980s, becoming part of one of the largest Italian textile groups. LIUC was created in 1992, and the Cotton Mill, after a renovation project by the architect Aldo Ross, now houses classrooms and accommodation for students.

Castellanza is about 30 km from the centre of Milan and 15 km from Malpensa International Airport. Please, check LIUC’s website for travel information.

Due to the COVID-19 emergency, all participants at the Conference must comply with sanitary regulations as prescribed by the Italian authorities and LIUC’s internal code (European Green Pass or equivalent, and personal respiratory protective devices).

Note* The Conference roundtable will be broadcasted online, thus allowing participation by video conference.

Contact

Heritage HubLIUC – Università CattaneoCorso Giacomo Matteotti, 2221053 Castellanza (VA) – ITALYwww.liuc.it

Daniele Pozzi, Ph.D (Program Committee chair): dpozzi@liuc.it // Rita Nicolai (Organisation Committee): comunicazione@liuc.it

New Hagley Hangout – with Paula de la Cruz-Fernandez

Steph

Hagley History Hangout

Paula A. de la Cruz-Fernández’s book Gendered Capitalism: Sewing Machines and Multinational Business in Spain and Mexico, 1850–1940 explores how the gender-specific cultures of sewing and embroidery shaped the US Singer Sewing Machine Company’s operations. Using the cases of Spain and Mexico, Fernandez details how the cultural, everyday realm of female use of sewing machines for family or business purposes influenced corporate organization and marketing strategy. In those places local agents, both men and women, developed and expanded Singer’s selling system such that this American-based multinational company assumed a domestic guise because of its focus on the private sphere of the home. In this way Fernandez genders the corporation, especially the intersection between feminine domesticity, commerce, and corporate strategy. 

Paula A. de la Cruz-Fernández is the Digital Editor of the Business History Conference and Digital Heritage Manager at the University of Florida. She received her Ph D in history from Florida International University in 2013. 

The audio only version of this program is available on our podcast.

Interview available at https://www.hagley.org/research/history-hangout-paula-de-la-cruz-fernandez,

Recorded on Zoom and available anywhere once they are released, our History Hangouts include interviews with authors of books and other researchers who have use of our collections, and members of Hagley staff with their special knowledge of what we have in our stacks. We began the History Hangouts earlier this summer and now are releasing programs every two weeks on alternate Mondays. Our series is part of the Hagley from Home initiative by the Hagley Museum and Library. The schedule for upcoming episodes, as well as those already released, is available at https://www.hagley.org/hagley-history-hangout. 

Roger Horowitz
Executive Director
Hagley Center

Carol Ressler Lockman
Manager
Hagley Center

Hagley Seminar on Business, Culture, and Politics

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

Industrial History Review Special Issue Call

Steph

Revista de Historia Industrial – Industrial History Review (RHI–IHR)

QUANTITATIVE BUSINESS HISTORY

Workshop of the RHI– IHR at the EBHA 2022 Congress

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Revista de Historia Industrial-Industrial History Review would like to invite you to submit a paper proposal for a session at the forthcoming European Business History Association Congress (Madrid, June 22-24, 2022). It will be organized by Veronica Binda (Bocconi University) and Anna Spadavecchia (Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, University of Strathclyde). 

In a provocative article published in 2010, Jari Eloranta, Jari Ojala, and Heli Valtonen discussed whether the relation between quantitative methods and Business History was an “impossible equation”. Their investigation into the use of quantitative methods in the articles published by the two premier journals in business history in the 1990s, highlighted a frequent use of basic quantitative tools, such as charts and tables, and a very limited use of advanced statistical methods. Furthermore, the key question, whether the articles based on quantitative analysis influenced the academic debate more strongly than those adopting qualitative methods, did not lead to a clear-cut answer. The use of quantitative methods per se had no significant, or even negative, impact on the citations of the articles. However, the use of quantitative methods in conjunction with the length of the articles (Business History Review) or theoretical focus (Business History) led to a higher number of citations, thus indicating a greater impact of these articles on the debate within and across disciplines. (Eloranta, Ojala and Valtonen, 2010). 
The adoption of quantitative methods in Business History was explored in further detail and integrated in a comprehensive discussion on methodological approaches in Business History in its post-Chandlerian phase. One significant output of this debate is the Special Issue (SI) edited by Abe De Jong and David Michael Higgins published in Business History in 2015. This SI gathered contributions which explicitly engaged in theory-building and theory-testing in business history using a diverse range of methodologies and perspectives. The opening article by Abe de Jong, David Michael Higgins and Hugo van Driel explains how quantitative methods, such as necessary conditions analysis and variable-based techniques, in addition to qualitative methods, could be used to test hypotheses and elaborate theories. These aims resonate in Walter Friedman and Geoffrey Jones’ editorial where they encourage business historians “to make use of […] rich empirical data in order to build broad generalisations” (Friedman and Jones, 2011). One of the discipline’s future paths identified by Geoffrey Jones is based on the use of quantitative tools and construction of databases in order to test hypotheses, as well as developing methodologies to analyze small samples and qualitative data (Jones, van Leeuwen, Broadberry, 2012). These indications are far from imply that the discipline should be dominated by one specific methodology, but rather they stress the need for a plurality of rigorous methodologies. Indeed, as Stephanie Decker, Matthias Kipping and R. Daniel Wadhwani reflected, testing hypotheses is only one of the aims of the discipline, in addition to “uncovering sequences and processes, or synthesising complex developments related to the phenomenon being studied” (Decker, Kipping and Wadhwani, 2015).
After more than a decade from the inception of this debate there have been many developments in and around the field of Business History. This workshop aims to discuss and assess:
– the current diffusion and typology of quantitative methods in the discipline;
– the aims and purposes that these methods serve vis-à-vis research questions that are not suited to quantitative analysis;
– how the discipline has been impacted by the diffusion of quantitative methods in relation to cognate disciplines, such as economic history, management and business studies;
– updates to the existing literature on this topic, which has previously considered only leading British and American journals. 

We thus especially welcome contributions which can broaden and enrich the current body of work on this topic. These include theoretical articles and original empirical contributions based on a diverse range of quantitative methods.
After a process of double-blind review, to be carried out after the congress, five of the accepted papers will be selected for a Special Issue of the Revista de Historia Industrial – Industrial History Review edited by Veronica Binda and Anna Spadavecchia, scheduled to be published in 2023. The remaining contributions, if accepted in the peer review process, can be published in regular issues of the journal.
Deadlines:
– Applicants should submit an abstract of no more than 500 words outlining their proposal and a short CV by February 28, 2022 to Veronica Binda (veronica.binda@unibocconi.it) and Anna Spadavecchia (anna.spadavecchia@strath.ac.uk).
– Applicants will be informed of the selection process by March 15th, 2022. 
– Participants to the RHI-IHR Session at EBHA Congress 2022 will have to follow the registration process established by the organizers of the Conference.
– The congress paper, or a long abstract of 2000 words, should be sent by May 15, 2022.
– The final version of the manuscripts for the Special Issue review process must be sent by September 30, 2022.

References:

Stephanie Decker, Matthias Kipping and R. Daniel Wadhwani. ‘New business histories! Plurality in business history research methods’, Business History, 57:1, 2015, pp.30-40.
Abe De Jong, and David Michael Higgins. ‘New business history?’, Business History, 57:1, 2015, pp. 1-4.
Abe De Jong, David Michael Higgins and Hugo van Driel. ‘Towards a new business history?’, Business History, 57:1, 2015, pp. 5-29.
Jari Eloranta, Jari Ojala and Heli Valtonen. ‘Quantitative methods in business history: an impossible equation?’, Management and Organizational History, 5:1, 2010, pp.79-107.
Walter E. Friedman and Geoffrey Jones. ‘Business History: time for debate’, Business History Review, 85:1, 2011, pp. 1–8.
Geoffrey Jones, Marco H. D. van Leeuwen and Stephen Broadberry. ‘The future of economic, business, and social history’, Scandinavian Economic History Review, 60:3, 2012, pp. 225-253.
Christopher Kobrak and Andrea Schneider, ‘Varieties of Business History: Subject and Methods for the Twenty first Century’, Business History 53:3, 2011, pp. 401-424
Jari Ojala, Jari Eloranta, Anu Ojala & Heli Valtonen. ‘Let the best story win – evaluation of the most cited business history articles’, Management & Organizational History, 12:4, 2017, pp. 305-333.
Andrew Perchard, Niall G. MacKenzie, Stephanie Decker & Giovanni Favero. ‘Clio in the Business School: Historical Approaches in Strategy, International Business and Entrepreneurship’, Business History, 59:6, 2017, pp. 904-927.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us through the following contact addresses: veronica.binda@unibocconi.it and anna.spadavecchia@strath.ac.uk, copying r.historiaindustrial@ub.edu. 

The Editorial Board of the Revista de Historia Industrial – Industrial History Review (RHI-IHR)

Historical Studies of Capitalism event

Steph

Dear colleagues,

We are a network of scholars who seek to develop enchantment as an organizing theme in historical studies of capitalism. We hope to provide a platform for those interested in the historical role of enchantment as a tool, structure, or foundation for the organization and the development of modern markets, economic institutions, and economic relationships.

The first meeting of the network will take place on February 24, at 14:30 GMT on Zoom. It will be led by two expert speakers on magic and religion, Professor Owen Davies and Professor Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm. 

This is the first of a series of reading-group style workshops, intended to reflect on the meaning of enchantment and its uses in existing scholarship across different disciplines, with a longer-term view to redirect the concept and shed new light on the history of capitalism. 

More information on the first and future meetings, assigned pre-readings, as well as registration to the meeting and to our mailing list, are available on the network website: https://economic-enchantments.net/

We hope that many of you will join us on this intellectual journey!

Anat Rosenberg and Astrid Van den Bossche

Hagley Seminar on Business, Culture, and Politics

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

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.