"wide-ranging, indispensable book." - EH.NET, William H. Becker, George Washington University

This book offers the first in-depth international survey of current research and debates in business history. Over the last two decades enormous advances have been made on the history of business enterprise and business systems. Historians are documenting and analyzing the evolution of a wide range of important companies, their patterns of innovation, production, and distribution, their financial affairs, their political activities, and their social impact. Each chapter is written by a prominent authority who provides an up-to-date assessment of the state and significance of research in their area. An opening section debates the identity and borders of the discipline, followed by wide-ranging surveys of the business history literature in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Japan and the Chinese-speaking world. The final section examines internationally comparative research on multinationals, family business and government relations. This reference work will be of immense value to historians, economists and management researchers

Table of Contents

Part I. General Issues, Open Questions, Controversies: 1. Introduction Franco Amatori and Geoffrey Jones; 2. Identity and the boundaries of business history: an essay on consensus and creativity Louis Galambos; 3. Understanding innovative enterprise: toward the integration of economic theory and business history William Lazonick; 4. Productive alternatives: flexibility, governance, and strategic choice in industrial history Jonathan Zeitlin; Part II. Area Patterns: 5. Business history in the United States at the end of the twentieth century William J. Hausman; 6. British and Dutch business history Geoffrey Jones and Keetie Sluyterman; 7. Scandinavian business history at the end of the 1990s: its prior development, present situation and future Hakan Lindgren; 8. Business history in German speaking states at the end of the century, achievements and gaps Harm G. Schroter; 9. Business history in France Youssef Cassis; 10. Business history around the world at the turn of the century: Italy Franco Amatori and Giorgio Bigatti; 11. Business history in Spain Albert Carreras, Xavier Tafunell and Eugenio Torres; 12. Business history in Greece: the state of the art and future prospects Margarita Dritsas; 13. The state of business history in Japan: cross-national comparisons and international relations Akira Kudo; 14. Chinese business history: its development, present situation and future direction Chi-Kong Lai; 15. Business history in Latin America: issues and debates Maria Ines Barbero; Part III. Comparative Business History: 16. Family firms in comparative perspectives Andrea Colli and Mary B. Rose; 17. Multinationals Geoffrey Jones; 18. Development and dynamics of government-business relations Mathias Kipping.