The pioneering journal in its field, Business History Review, began publication in 1926 as the Bulletin of the Business Historical Society. BHR seeks to publish articles based on rigorous primary research that address major topics of debate, offer comparative perspectives, and broaden consideration of the subject. We are interested in the history of entrepreneurs, firms, and business systems, and in the subjects of innovation, globalization, and regulation. We also explore the relation of businesses to political regimes and to the environment.
Editorial
Editors' Note Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 195 – 195 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000416 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Research Articles
Sustainability and Shared Value in the Interwar Swedish Copper Industry Ann-Kristin Bergquist, Magnus Lindmark Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 197 – 225 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000374 (About doi) Published Online on 04th August 2016 This study of the Swedish-based mining company Boliden examines the proactive strategies it adopted to deal with the potential for severe environmental problems associated with the establishment of its large copper smelter in the 1920s. The article demonstrates how international networks, personal experience, and knowledge transfer from the U.S. copper industry help to explain the importance given to environmental issues by the Swedish industrialists. It is suggested that the main explanation for the proactive stance of the Swedish managers is that they perceived excessive pollution as working against creating a profitable and sustainable business. This case provides compelling evidence that firms pursuing an agenda focused on earning profits can still deliver environmental innovation and value to the local community, compatible with the concept of creating shared value.
Creating the Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada: The Use of Legal Flexibility in Spanish Company Law, 1869–1953 Susana Martínez-Rodríguez Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 227 – 249 doi: 10.1017/S0007680515001361 (About doi) Published Online on 22nd January 2016 Spain approved the first law of Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada (SRL)—a legal form similar to the German GmbH—in 1953. However, the SRL had already been used, albeit without its own legislation, since the 1920s. How was this possible in a country whose legal system was based on civil law? Its 1885 Commercial Code lacked the numerus clausus principle for enterprise forms, a feature that gave entrepreneurs unusual freedom in organizing their firms, and in adopting new business forms not defined in the code. It also invites us to rethink the notion of rigidity in civil law.
Bringing Radio into America's Homes: Marketing New Technology in the Great Depression Peter Scott, James T. Walker Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 251 – 276 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000349 (About doi) Published Online on 01st June 2016 We examine the early marketing and distribution of entertainment radio sets. Manufacturers used distribution networks to both maximize profits and create barriers to entry. Lacking the market power of auto manufacturers, they developed cooperative strategies with authorized distributors and dealers. Dealers often complained about the costly activities manufacturers required of them. However, these underpinned the dominant quality and branding competition model of the 1920s, while the Depression-era switch to a simpler radio format, sold on price, proved catastrophic for the specialist retailer.
Innovation's Golden Triangle: Finance, Regulation, and Science at the Bell System, 1877–1940 Paul J. Miranti Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 277 – 299 doi: 10.1017/S0007680515001373 (About doi) Published Online on 25th January 2016 This article explains how the Bell System succeeded during the presidency of Theodore N. Vail (1907–1919) in reversing a declining business trend by laying the foundations for sustained technological achievement through the development of an operating model that satisfied corporate imperatives related to finance, regulation, and research. By exploiting the potentials of rate-base regulation, Bell was able to create strong scientific capabilities that supported the growth of what became arguably the world's premier telecommunications system. The legacy of these efforts includes the winning of seven Nobel Prizes by Bell scientists, an achievement unequaled by any other industrial laboratory.
Keynes and Wall Street David Chambers, Ali Kabiri Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 301 – 328 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000362 (About doi) Published Online on 25th July 2016 This article examines in detail how John Maynard Keynes approached investing in the U.S. stock market on behalf of his Cambridge College after the 1929 Wall Street Crash. We exploit the considerable archival material documenting his portfolio holdings, his correspondence with investment advisors, and his two visits to the United States in the 1930s. While he displayed an enthusiasm for investing in common stocks, he was equally attracted to preferred stocks. His U.S. stock picks reflected his detailed analysis of company fundamentals and a pronounced value approach. Already in this period, therefore, it is possible to see the origins of some of the investment techniques adopted by professional investors in the latter half of the twentieth century.
AnnouncementBusiness History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 329 – 332 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000428 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Review Essay
Organizations in Time: History, Theory, Methods Stephanie Decker Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 333 – 337 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000386 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016 The title of this edited volume is slightly misleading, as its various contributions explore the potential for more historical analysis in organization studies rather than addressing issues associated with time and organizing. Hopefully this will not distract from the important achievement of this volume—important especially for business historians—in further expanding and integrating business history into management and organization studies. The various contributions, elegantly tied together by R. Daniel Wadhwani and Marcelo Bucheli in their substantial introduction (which, by the way, presents a significant contribution in its own right), opens up new sets of questions, especially in terms of future methodological and theoretical developments in the field. This book also reflects the changing institutional location of business historians, who increasingly make their careers in business schools rather than history departments, especially in Europe, reopening old questions of history as a social science. There have been several calls to teach more history in business education, such as the Carnegie Foundation report (2011) that found undergraduate business education too narrow in focus and highlighted the need to integrate more liberal arts teaching into the curriculum. However, in the contemporary research-driven environment of business and management schools, historical understanding is unlikely to permeate the curriculum if historical analysis cannot first deliver significant theoretical contributions. This is the central theme around which this edited volume revolves, and it marks a milestone in this ongoing debate. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I should add that even though I did not contribute to this volume, I have coauthored with several of its contributors and view this book as central to my current research practice.)
Book Reviews
Faxed: The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine. By Jonathan Coopersmith. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015. xii + 308 pp. Photographs, illustrations, tables, notes, index. Cloth, $54.95. ISBN: 978-1-4214-1591-8. Paul Israel Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 339 – 341 doi: 10.1017/S000768051600043X (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Eureka: How Invention Happens. By Gavin Weightman. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015. xi + 266 pp. Photographs, illustrations, bibliography, index. Cloth, $30.00. ISBN: 978-0-300-19208-7. David Hochfelder Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 342 – 343 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000441 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Chasing Sound: Technology, Culture, and the Art of Studio Recording from Edison to the LP. By Susan Schmidt Horning. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013. xi + 292 pp. Illustrations, notes, index. Cloth, $45.00. ISBN: 978-1-4214-1022-7. Trevor Pinch Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 343 – 346 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000453 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
The Chinese Market Economy, 1000–1500. By William Guanglin Liu. Albany: SUNY Press, 2015. xviii + 374 pp. Maps, figures, tables, appendices, bibliography, notes, index. Cloth, $100.00; paper, $29.95. ISBN: cloth, 978-1-4384-5567-9; paper, 978-1-4384-5568-6. Geoffrey C. Gunn Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 346 – 348 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000465 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Land, Proto-Industry and Population in Catalonia, c. 1680–1829: An Alternative Transition to Capitalism? By Julie Marfany. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate Publishing, 2012. 208 pp. Maps, figures, tables, bibliography, index. Cloth, $124.95. ISBN: 978-1-4094-4465-7. José Antonio Miranda Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 348 – 350 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000477 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Staying Afloat: Risk and Uncertainty in Spanish Atlantic World Trade, 1760–1820. By Jeremy Baskes. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2013. xiv + 393 pp. Tables, figures, bibliography, notes, index. Cloth, $70.00. ISBN: 978-0-8047-8542-6. Kendall W. Brown Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 350 – 353 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000489 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Building the Empire State: Political Economy in the Early Republic. By Brian Phillips Murphy. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015. xii + 286 pp. Figures, notes, index. Cloth, $49.95. ISBN: 978-0-8122-4716-9. Andrew M. Schocket Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 353 – 355 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000490 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
The Business of Slavery and the Rise of American Capitalism, 1815–1860. By Calvin Schermerhorn. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015. xi + 336 pp. Illustrations, notes, index. Cloth, $65.00. ISBN: 978-0-300-19200-1. Ian Beamish Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 355 – 357 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000507 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
The Urban Department Store in America, 1850–1930. By Louisa Iarocci. Surrey, U.K.: Ashgate Publishing, 2014. xvi + 241 pp. Photographs, illustrations, bibliography, index. Cloth, $114.95. ISBN: 978-1-4094-4743-6. Emily A. Remus Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 357 – 360 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000519 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Golden Rules: The Origins of California Water Law in the Gold Rush. By Mark Kanazawa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015. xviii + 350 pp. Photographs, maps, illustrations, figures, tables, appendices, notes, references, index. Cloth, $55.00. ISBN: 978-0-226-25867-6. David Schorr Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 360 – 362 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000520 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Little Business on the Prairie: Entrepreneurship, Prosperity, and Challenge in South Dakota. By Robert E. Wright. Sioux Falls, S.Dak.: Center for Western Studies, Augustana College, 2015. x + 340 pp. Map, photographs, figures, tables, sources, index. Paper, $16.95. ISBN: 978-0-931170-68-3. Nick Estes Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 362 – 364 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000532 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Sovereign Debt and International Financial Control: The Middle East and the Balkans, 1870–1914. By Ali Coşkun Tunçer. Basingstoke, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. xvii + 243 pp. Figures, tables, appendix, bibliography, notes, index. Cloth, $105.00. ISBN: 978-1-137-37853-8. Priscilla Roberts Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 364 – 367 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000544 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
How Our Days Became Numbered: Risk and the Rise of the Statistical Individual. By Dan Bouk. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015. xxx + 294 pp. Photographs, illustrations, bibliography, index. Cloth, $40.00. ISBN: 978-0-226-25917-8. Timothy Alborn Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 367 – 370 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000556 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Aluminum Ore: The Political Economy of the Global Bauxite Industry. Edited by Robin S. Gendron, Mats Ingulstad, and Espen Storli. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2013. xii + 387 pp. Illustrations, maps, figures, tables, index. Cloth, $95.00. ISBN: 978-0-7748-2532-0. Mimi Sheller Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 370 – 372 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000568 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Coxey's Army: Popular Protest in the Gilded Age. By Benjamin F. Alexander. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015. 158 pp. Maps, illustrations, photographs, notes, index. Cloth, $50.00; paper, $19.95. ISBN: cloth, 978-1-4214-1620-5; paper, 978-1-4214-1621-2. Connie L. Lester Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 372 – 374 doi: 10.1017/S000768051600057X (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
American Labor and Economic Citizenship: New Capitalism from World War I to the Great Depression. By Mark Hendrickson. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2013. xvi + 320 pp. Illustrations, table, index. Cloth, $110.00; paper, $31.99. ISBN: cloth, 978-1-107-02860-9; paper, 978-1-107-55967-7. Derek S. Hoff Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 375 – 377 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000581 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Blood on Steel: Chicago Steelworkers and the Strike of 1937. By Michael Dennis. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014. xii + 140 pp. Illustrations, map, notes, index. Cloth, $49.95; paper, $19.95. ISBN: cloth, 978-1-4214-1017-3; paper, 978-1-4214-1018-0. Shaun S. Nichols Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 377 – 380 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000593 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
The Other Welfare: Supplemental Security Income and U.S. Social Policy. By Edward D. Berkowitz and Larry DeWitt. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013. xi + 279 pp. Figures, notes, index. Cloth, $45.00. ISBN: 978-0-8014-5173-7. Rachel Louise Moran Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 380 – 382 doi: 10.1017/S000768051600060X (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
The Power Brokers: The Struggle to Shape and Control the Electric Power Industry. By Jeremiah D. Lambert. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2015. xiv + 379 pp. Photographs, notes, index. Cloth, $29.95. ISBN: 978-0-262-02950-6. Casey Cater Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 382 – 385 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000611 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Corporate Governance, Employee Voice, and Work Organization: Sustaining High-Road Jobs in the Automotive Supply Industry. By Inge Lippert, Tony Huzzard, Ulrich Jürgens, and William Lazonick. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. xviii + 285 pp. Tables, figures, references, appendix, index. Cloth, $90.00. ISBN: 978-0-19-968107-5. Jessica Garrick Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 385 – 387 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000623 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Economic Growth and Measurement Reconsidered in Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia, 1965–1995. By Morten Jerven. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. xii + 215 pp. Figures, tables, bibliography, index. Cloth, $90.00. ISBN: 978-0-19-968991-0. Leandro Prados de la Escosura Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 387 – 390 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000635 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Economies under Occupation: The Hegemony of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in World War II. Edited by Marcel Boldorf and Tetsuji Okazaki. London and New York: Routledge, 2015. xiv + 335 pp. Map, figures, tables, index. Cloth, $168.00. ISBN: 978-0-415-83533-6. Kenneth Mouré Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 390 – 393 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000647 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Resources for Reform: Oil and Neoliberalism in Argentina. By Elana Shever. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2012. xvi + 231 pp. Photographs, illustrations, map, references, notes, index. Paper, $22.95. ISBN: 978-0-8047-7840-4. Norma Lanciotti Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 393 – 396 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000659 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Betriebliche Sozialpolitik im historischen Systemvergleich: Das Volkswagenwerk und der VEB Sachsenring von den 1950er bis in den 1980er Jahre. [Occupational Social Policies in Historical Comparison: The Volkswagen Company and VEB Sachsenring from the 1950s to the 1980s]. By Rüdiger Gerlach. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2014. 457 pp. Tables, figures, appendix, bibliography, notes, index. Paper, €69. ISBN: 978-3-515-10664-1. Luminita Gatejel Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 396 – 399 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000660 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016
Smart Globalization: The Canadian Business and Economic History Experience. Edited by Andrew Smith and Dimitry Anastakis. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014. x + 239 pp. Maps, illustrations, figures, tables, index. Cloth, $67.00; paper, $27.95. ISBN: cloth, 978-1-4426-4804-3; paper, 978-1-4426-1612-7. Jason Russell Business History Review , Volume 90 , Issue 02 , June 2016, pp 399 – 401 doi: 10.1017/S0007680516000672 (About doi) Published Online on 15th August 2016