Call for papers

2nd World Congress of Business History - 24th Congress of the European Business History Association

“Business History in a Changing World”

As we entered the final decade of the twentieth century a shared sense of optimism and certainty towards the twenty first century pervaded. The triumph of liberal democracy was lauded and the march towards economic integration and globalization relentless. However, as we approach the end of the second decade of the twenty first century, several events and developments have tempered such optimism. The rise of China as the “workshop of the world” has had economic implications across the globe and challenged conventional models of industrialization and the prerequisite governing institutions to bring about that process. Several crises have beset national and global economies in recent memory, including the financial crisis following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the rise of neo-nationalism and populism, “lost decades” of economic growth, the fallout from 9-11, and Brexit, to name but a few. Furthermore, looming challenges associated with demographic transition, technological and climate change shroud the prospects of our future society and economy with a degree of uncertainty, casting into doubt what once seemed the inevitable path towards political democratization and economic globalization. Rather than witnessing any “end of history”, understanding change over time remains of central importance to our discipline and wider society. We therefore call on Business Historians to come together and examine “Business History in a Changing World” during the 2nd World Congress on Business History to be held in Nagoya, on September 10-12, 2020, shortly after the Tokyo Olympics.

Reflecting the ever-changing world of business, the discipline of Business History has been far from static. In recent decades there has been a dramatic diversification in both research topics and methods following on from the now classic works of Chandler et al. The emergence of research relating to alternative historical approaches and organizational science, and those which incorporate quantitative methods and/or embraces the “cultural turn”; the institutionalization of Business History research with the establishment of academic societies and academic journals; the internationalization of the field, etc., are all encouraging trends in the evidence of a vibrant research field. The program committee thus welcomes papers/panels from postgraduate, early career and established scholars on a wide-range of topics and various dimensions of “Business History in a Changing World” these include, but are not limited to:

  • Competitiveness and its determinants
  • The role of local and central government in economic change
  • The role of family, small- and medium-sized firms and industrial clusters in the revitalization of economies
  • Changing cultures of capital and finance and their impact on companies and stakeholders
  • Skills formation, technical training and labour in local and international business
  • The impact of information technology and artificial intelligence
  • Radical technological innovation and incremental improvement.
  • Business portfolios and organizational forms across time and space
  • The causes and consequences of domestic/cross-border M&A
  • Nationalization and privatization in historical perspective
  • The relationship between capital markets and business
  • Varieties of corporate governance
  • The evolution of monitoring systems and incentive schemes (ownership, board and compensation schemes)
  • Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Social Governance in business history
  • Methodology and disciplinary bases of business history
  • Historiography of business history


Papers with other foci, however, will also be considered.

The organizers also welcome submissions with alternative formats, such as workshops, roundtable debates/discussions, and poster presentations.

The EBHA best dissertation prize will be organized during the congress

Submission Formats

There are three typical submission formats:

  1. Single paper submissions from which the program committee arranges panels.
  2. Session proposals submissions consisting of 3-5 papers on a specific theme suggested by the applicants themselves.
  3. Tracks of more than one session (up to three sessions—over the course of one afternoon)

Alternative formats might include, for example:

  • Workshops—groups of scholars who want to use the opportunity of the congress to meet and discuss publications or specific themes. (Note: All materials to be discussed during individual workshops must be uploaded to the conference website at least three weeks before the congress.)
  • Roundtable discussions on the state of the field and selected aspects of business history.
  • Debates on new research agendas and new approaches to teaching “business history.”

The deadline for proposals is January 15, 2020
The deadline for panel and paper proposals submission has been extended to January 29 (Wednesday), 2020.

Please use the congress upload platform http://ebha.org/public/C10

 

Local organizer:

Minoru Sawai (Nanzan University, Nagoya, Japan), President of the Business History Society of Japan

Program Committee:

Pierre-Yves Donzé (EBHA)
Andrea Lluch (AEHA)
Andrea H. Schneider (GUG)
Takashi Shimizu (BHSJ)
Teresa de Silva-Lopez (BHC)

More information on the World Congress on Business History can be found under www.worldcbh.org

Follow us on facebook @WorldCBH

 

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