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Tensions of Europe: Technology and the Making of Twentieth-Century Europe
Moderator: Thomas Misa, Illinois Institute of Technology

Organizers of a large collaborative project that explores "the role of technology in the making of twentieth-century Europe" would like to meet with interested BHC and EBHA members. Our project presently has ten research groups, each with a mix of European and North American scholars from varied disciplines. This informational meeting will present the current state of the project, with an eye toward wider participation by business and economic historians. For further information, please visit the project Web site or contact Tom Misa.

a. Chandler Redux
Junior Ballroom
Chair: Takashi Hikino, University of Kyoto
Comment: JoAnne Yates, MIT

Franco Amatori, Bocconi University
Big Business and European Unification: Is the Chandlerian Model Still Sustainable?
    [abstract]

Mark Fruin, San Jose State University, and Kazuhiro Taniguchi, Keio University
The Disjointed Hand: The Coordination Failure of Modern Firms in Japan
    [abstract]

Richard Langlois, University of Connecticut
Chandler in a Larger Frame: Markets, Transaction Costs, and Organizational Form in History
    [abstract]     [paper]

b. Industrial Districts after 1970
Concord Center and West
Chair: Jonathan Zeitlin, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Comment: Michel Lescure, University of Paris, Nanterre

Michael Best, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Lowell's Industrial Regeneration: Dynamic Technological Capabilities
    [abstract]     [paper]

Anna Spadavecchia, University of Reading
Financing Industrial Districts in Italy, 1971-1991: A Private Venture?
    [abstract]

c. The Genesis of Modern Management in China
Belvidere
Chair: David Pong, University of Delaware
Comment: Madeline Zelin, Columbia University

Chi-Kong Lai, University of Queensland
Merchants' Discourse of Self in Modern China

Stephen Morgan, University of Melbourne
China's Encounter with Scientific Management in the 1920s-1930s
    [abstract]     [paper]

Ning Jennifer Chang, Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica
Vertical Integration and Business Diversification: The Case of the China Egg Produce Company in Shanghai, 1923-1950
    [abstract]

Man Bun Kwan, University of Cincinnati
Managing Market, Hierarchies, and Networks: The Jiuda-Yongli Chemical Group, 1917-1937
    [abstract]

d. Americanization and Resistance
Merrimack Center and West
Chair: Patrick Fridenson, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
Comment: Erik Bloemen, Free University, Amsterdam

Rolv Petter Amdam, Norwegian School of Management, and Marie-Laure Djelic, ESSEC
Processual Americanization: Postwar Changes in the French and Norwegian Business Systems
    [abstract]

Susanne Hilger, University of Erlangen-Nurnberg
Pacemakers of Globalization in the German Industry: Corporate Strategies at Siemens, Daimler-Benz, and Henkel, 1945-1975
    [abstract]     [paper]

e. Knowledge
Concord East
Chair: Kristine Bruland, Historisk Institutt, Universitetet i Oslo
Comment: Daniel Raff, University of Pennsylvania

Ove Bjarnar, Molde University College, and Dag Magne Berge, Møre Research Centre, Molde, Norway
Between "learning by learning" and "learned incapacity to learn": The Political Structure of Knowledge Flows in Norwegian and Scottish Fish-Farming
    [abstract]

Dario Gaggio, University of Michigan
Local Knowledge and Global Connection in Italy's Gold Jewelry Districts
    [abstract]

Francesca Polese, Bocconi University
Traveling for Industry: G. B. Pirelli and the Origings of the Pirelli Rubber Company, 1870-1872
    [abstract]

f. Communications
Merrimack East
Chair: Ken Lipartito, Florida International University
Comment: Michael Boyer O'Leary, Boston College

Andrea Giuntini, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Italy and the Submarine Strategic Game in the Mediterranean Sea (1850-1880)

Robert MacDougall, Harvard University
The People's Telephone: The Political Culture of Independent Telephony, 1894-1913
    [abstract]     [paper]

a. Corporate Governance (Macro and Micro)
Junior Ballroom
Chair: Will Hausman, College of William and Mary
Comment: Margaret Blair, Georgetown Law School

Andrea Colli, Bocconi University
Convergence Lost: Finance, Governance, and Industry in Italy
    [abstract]

Mary O'Sullivan, INSEAD
Historical Patterns of Enterprise Finance: The Case of General Electric
    [abstract]

Robin Pearson, University of Hull, and Mikael Lönnborg, University College of South Stockholm
Regulatory Regimes and the Globalisation of Insurance
    [abstract]

b. Nationalization and Diversification
Belvidere
Chair: Pier Angelo Toninelli, University of Milan, Bicocca, and University of Trieste
Comment: Andrew Godley, University of Reading

Jim Bamberg, University of Cambridge
The Fragility of Globalisation: Global Firms, Nation States, and the Fragmentation of the International Oil Industry, 1950-1970s
    [abstract]

Javier Vidal Olivares, University of Alicante, Spain
Building a Global Network: Iberia, Spanish Airlines, 1940-2000
    [abstract]

c. Regions and Industrialization
Concord Center and West
Chair: Jeremy Atack, Vanderbilt University
Comment: Mansel Blackford, Ohio State University

David Hammack, Case Western Reserve University
Explaining Cleveland as an Industrial Region: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Firms and Industrial Clusters, 1840-1930
    [abstract]

Bruno Jégou, Université de Paris IV, Sorbonne
Free Trade and Protectionism in the Brie Region during the Last Third of the Nineteenth Century
    [abstract]     [paper]

d. Multinational Enterprises and Local Producers
Merrimack Center and West
Chair: Alice Amsden, MIT
Comment: Alan Dye, Columbia University

Marcelo Bucheli, Stanford University
An American Multinational Enforcing Business Contracts in the Third World Countryside: The United Fruit Company and the Colombian Banana Planters, 1900-1970
    [abstract]

Cyrus Veeser, Bentley College
Market Bound: Concessions as a Development Strategy in Latin America
    [abstract]

Shakila Yacob, University of Malaya
Beyond Borders: Ford in Malaya, 1926-1957
    [abstract]     [paper]

e. R&D
Concord East
Chair: David Hounshell, Carnegie Mellon University
Comment: Peter Wardley, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Margaret Graham, McGill University
Less Transfer than Transformation: The Formation and Evolution of Corning's Avon Laboratory
    [abstract]

Margrit Müller, Institute for Imperial Research in Economics, University of Zurich
The Internationalization of the R&D Activities of Swiss Multinationals: Causes and Consequences

f. Dissertations in Progress
Merrimack East
Chair: Juliet E. K. Walker, University of Texas at Austin

Knut Boge, Norwegian School of Management, Center for Business History
The Development of the Modern Norwegian Road System, Compared to the Development of the Swedish and Danish Road Systems: The "Different" Road System—A Result of Path Dependence, Rent Seeking, and Weak Central Institutions?
    [abstract]

Chiara Casalino, Bocconi University
The Globalization before "The Globalization Era": The Internationalization of the Italian Automobile Industry (1946-1966)
    [abstract]

Valentina Fava, Bocconi University
Bipolarism and Globalization: The Škoda Standpoint
    [abstract]

Tiffany Gill, University of Vermont
"This Industry is not Typical, but Exceptional': African American Beauticians and Beauty Shop Culture in the Depression Era
    [abstract]

Chair: Keetie Sluyterman, Onderzoekinstituut voor Geschiedenis en Cultur, University of Utrecht
Comment: The Audience

Glenn Bugos, The Prologue Group
Commissioned Business History in the United States

Joost Dankers, Onderzoekinstituut voor Geschiedenis en Cultur, University of Utrecht

Rolv Petter Amdam, Norwegian School of Management
Commissioned History in Norway

Peter Sorensen, University of Copenhagen

Moderator: Philip Scranton, Rutgers University

Speakers:

William Mass, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Mary O'Sullivan, INSEAD
John Wilson, University of Nottingham

a. The Performance of Large Firms: An International Perspective
Concord Center and West
Chair: Geoffrey Jones, Harvard Business School
Comment: Naomi Lamoreaux, UCLA

This project is being carried out within a European, collective, and multidisciplinary framework and relies on research teams in the major European countries. Our aim is to put performance at the very core of business history. We are building a major database combining qualitative and quantitative information on European companies. We have also established links with American and Japanese experts to ensure a global perspective. The project centres are located at the Business History Unit, Economic History Department at the London School of Economics ,and the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme-Alpes, Université Pierre Mendes France, Grenoble. For further information please see: the project Web site or contact the project leader, Professor Youssef Cassis or the Research Officer, Camilla Brautaset.

Albert Carreras and Xavier Tafunell, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
The Profitability of Spanish Firms in a European Perspective
    [abstract]

Youssef Cassis, University Pierre Mendès France Grenoble 2, and Camilla Brautaset, London School of Economics
The Performance of European Business in the Twentieth Century
    [abstract]     [paper]

Hideaki Miyajima, Yusuke Omi, and Nao Saito Waseda University
Corporate Governance and Performance in Twentieth-Century Japan
    [abstract]     [paper]

b. State and Finance
Concord East
Chair: Richard Sylla, New York University
Comment: James Heintz, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Laure Quennouëlle-Corre, CRNS
State and Banking for Firms' Financing in France, 1945-1970
    [abstract]

Grietjie Verhoef, Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit
Economic Empowerment and Performance: Strategies toward Indigenisation/Black Economic Empowerment and the Performance of Such Enterprises in Nigeria and South Africa, from the Early 1970s to 2002
    [abstract]

c. Crossing Boundaries: Transportation and the Infrastructure of Globalization
Merrimack Center and West
Chair: Augustus Veenendaal, Institute of Netherlands History
Comment: Mark Rose, Florida Atlantic University

Gregory Thompson, Florida State University
Defining an Alternative Future" Globalization and the Birth of the Light Rail Movement in North America
    [abstract]

Margaret Walsh, University of Nottingham
Trans-Atlantic Public Policies: The Role of the State in the Development of Long-Distance Bus Transport
    [abstract]

Drew Whitelegg, Emory University
Sowing the Seeds of Globalization: Delta Air Lines, 1970-1995
    [abstract]

d.Textiles
Merrimack East
Chair: Janet Greenlees, University of Manchester
Comment: Morris D. Morris, Brown University

Bishnupriya Gupta, University of Warwick
Work and Efficiency in Cotton Mills: Did the Indian Entrepreneur Fail?
    [abstract]

Janet Hunter, London School of Economics
Optimizing Effort: Institutions, Incentives, and Technology in Japan's Silk and Cotton Mills before the First World War
    [abstract]

Tim Leunig, London School of Economics
Can Profitable Arbitrage Opportunities in the Raw Cotton Market Explain Britain's Continued Preference for Mule Spinning?
    [abstract]

e. Testimonials
Belvidere
Chair: Pamela Laird, University of Colorado at Denver
Comment: Sara Alpern, Texas A&M University

Elysa Engelman, Boston University
"Dear Mrs. Pinkham": Expanding Intimate Advice Networks into a National Community of Consumers, 1890-1935
    [abstract]

Marlis Schweitzer, University of Toronto
Uplifting Makeup: Actresses' Testimonials and the Cosmetics Industry, 1910-1918
    [abstract]     [paper]

f. Dissertations in Progress
Hamilton
Chair: Pat Denault, Harvard University

Mitch Larson, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Practically Academic: The Formation of the British Business School
    [abstract]     [paper]

Fabio Lavista, Bocconi University
Local Cultures and International Influences among an Italian Group of Management Practitioners after the Second World War
    [abstract]     [paper]

Heather E. Nelson, McMaster University
Insuring Canadians: The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company to 1976
    [abstract]

Yovanna Pineda, Saint Michael's College
Analysis of Manufacturing Profits and Strategies: Industrial Development in Argentina, 1904-1930
    [abstract]     [paper]