Business Management

The course is interested in the history of entrepreneurs, firms, and business systems, including subjects such as innovation, globalisation, and government regulation. Students will be familiarised with the emergence of factory production; why certain firms grew large and others did not; and why models alternative to mass production existed and survived. Rather than a set of hands-on tools, the course provides an overview of the development of firms and business in the context of the centuries-long process of industrialisation in the western world. This includes a chronological tour of how firms and businesses emerged, from pre-industrial times until today, and the economic theories attempting to explain it. Starting with the pre-industrial (pre-factory) era and the first Industrial Revolution in England, the course then moves via the second Industrial Revolution focused mainly on the United States to the third Industrial Revolution regarded from a global and multinational perspective. Emphasis is on ‘big business’ among the major-player countries in history – Europe, the US and Japan alongside industrial runner-ups Germany, France, and Italy – as well as emerging economies, such as China and India. Although the natural unit of analysis would appear to be the firm, the course focuses chiefly on the interaction between firms and society at large, including business responses to the world economy, which was always a fundamental influence on the evolution of national or regional business strategies and differences herein. Close attention is also paid to the role played by technical progress (innovations) for the development of firms and businesses, including general-purpose technologies such as steam-power, electric-power, and computer-power, as well as developments in transport and information infrastructures, though the course is also interested in firm- or business-specific adaptations to various country-specific political and cultural regimes and the environment.

No prerequisites.

Text book: Franco Amatori and Andrea Colli (2011), Business History: Complexities and Comparison, Routledge. Any edition is fine. Available on Amazon.com.

Non-mandatory in-class lectures but warmly encouraged

Essay writing and multiple-choice exams. Exams can be oral if the circumstances dictate this.

In-class lectures and possibly student presentations.