Joint Meeting of the Business History Conference and the European Business History Association
June 26-29, 2003, Lowell Massachusetts
Call for Papers
On June 26-29, 2003 in Lowell, Massashusetts the Business History Conference and European Business History Association will hold their annual meetings together around the theme Regions, Nations, and Globalization.
Globalization is the word of the day and, in many respects, rightfully so. The means of transportation available to us, the new information and communication technologies, the end of bi-polarism (the fall of the wall) have promoted a world economic, social, cultural integration that seems overwhelming. Nevertheless, looking carefully inside the globalization issue, we must admit that figures suggest it is far from being completed (it has been noted that national economies were more integrated in 1913 than nowadays) and resistance against its advance, as well as forces of fragmentation, are very much alive. In this sense, the permanence of the nation state (with its multidimensional ways of intervening in social and economic life) plays a major role. At the same time escaping from national boundaries, we see metropolitan areas or industrial districts emerging and they serve as real knots/engines of the globalization network. Business enterprises have tried to navigate -- and at time shape -- these complex relationships.
The conference is centrally concerned with firms and other economic actors, in a long-term perspective, as the builders of globalization, especially their strategies, their economic results, and their social and cultural impact. Attention will be paid to the role of national economic systems in terms of regulations and political economy. We will keep in mind the emerging significance of companies clusters concentrated in metropolitan areas, diffused in homogeneous territories or even linked through global networks given the new transportation, information, [and] communication technologies.
We are particulary interested in papers and panels that incorporate transnational discussions of the themes below. As these are annual meetings of both organizations papers outside of the meeting themes also are welcome.
- The Builders of Global Infrastructures
-- Transportation
-- Information technology
-- Telecommunications
-- International agencies / NGOs - Global Actors and Their Economic and Social Impact
-- Multinationals or national companies with international operations?
-- Hybridizations
-- Environment
-- Labour
-- Deindustrialization vs. opportunities for new development - Globalization and Nation States
-- Regulation
-- Corporate governance
-- Political economies (developmental attitudes)
-- National systems of innovation
-- Creation of super-national institutions (e.g. European Community, NAFTA) - Regions and Globalization
-- Metropolitan areas
-- Industrial districts
-- Inter-regional cooperation
-- Macroregions
Proposals may be submitted for individual papers or for entire panels. Each proposal should include a one-page abstract and one-page curriculum vitae or resumes for each participant. Panel proposals also should have a cover letter containing a title, a one-paragraph panel description, suggestions for a chair and commentator, and contact information for the panel organizer.
Graduate students in the early stages of writing dissertations may apply for inclusion in designated workshops intended to discuss preliminary conclusions and methodologies in an informed but informal environment. Interested students should submit a one-page abstract of their project and a one-page vita. These proposals should indicate they are intended for the Dissertations in Progress sessions.
Dissertations completed in the previous three years (2000-2002) are eligible for the conference's dissertation session. Proposals are welcome from Ph.D recipients in history, business administration, history of science and technology, economics, legal studies, and other fields whose work is on business history broadly defined. Presentations made at this session will be published in Enterprise & Society, the BHC journal. One dissertation will receive the Herman E. Krooss Prize for the best dissertation in business history, which includes a $500 award. Proposals should consist of a cover letter, the dissertation abstract, and the author's c.v., and indicate they are intended for the Krooss Prize Dissertation Session.
Presenters are expected to submit abstracts of their papers in electronic form for posting on the Business History Conference and European Business History Association web sites. Authors also are encouraged to post electronic versions of their full papers in advance of the meeting. All papers presented at the annual meeting are eligible for inclusion in the BHC's on-line proceedings volume, Business and Economic History.
The deadline for receipt of submissions is September 27, 2002. All graduate students presenting papers are eligible for travel grants to defray costs associated with attending the meeting. Please send five copies of proposals to Roger Horowitz, Secretary-Treasurer, Business History Conference, P.O. Box 3630, Wilmington DE 19807, USA, phone 302-658-2400, fax 302-655-3188, email rh@udel.edu. The program committee is Franco Amatori (co-chair), Philip Scranton (co-chair), Wendy Gamber, Even Lange, Margaret Levenstein and Bill Mass. Accomodations will be at the Doubletree Hotel, 50 Warren, Lowell, MA 01852, 978-452-1200.