2005 Program

2005 Annual Meeting Program

Minneapolis, Minnesota

May 19-21, 2005




"Reinvention and Renewal"



WEDNESDAY, MAY 18

  7:00 p.m. BHC Newcomen Doctoral Colloquium dinner



THURSDAY, MAY 19

8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. BHC Newcomen Doctoral Colloquium

1:00-5:00 p.m. Registration



Plenary Session 5:00 PM-7:00 PM

Business History Archival Sources and Issues


Moderator: Arthur Norberg, University of Minnesota

Thomas White, J. J. Hill Library, St. Paul, MN

Sources at the J. J. Hill Library for a Century of Business History in the Upper Midwest



Katie Dishman, General Mills

The General Mills Corporation Archives: Collecting and Preserving Business History On Site



David Kirsch, University of Maryland

Challenges of Collecting Non-Traditional Business Records



James E. Fogerty, Minnesota Historical Society

Realities and Issues in Archiving Modern Business Records

Comments and Questions: The Audience



7:00-10:00 p.m. Board of Trustees Meeting

Avalon Room (3rd floor)



FRIDAY, MAY 20

8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Registration and Book Exhibit


Foyer



8:00-10:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast

Foyer

Sponsored by the James J. Hill Library



8:45-10:00 a.m. Concurrent Sessions 1



A. Comparative History and Early American Railroads


Chair: John Brown, University of Virginia

John Majewski, University of California, Santa Barbara

“Railroads and State Building in the Old South”

    [Abstract]



Aaron W. Marrs, University of South Carolina

“Operating Early American Railroads: A Comparative Approach”

    [Abstract]

Comment: Colleen Dunlavy, University of Wisconsin, Madison



B. Political Economy of American Telephony

Chair: Sheldon Hochheiser, Independent Scholar

Richard R. John, University of Illinois at Chicago

Telephomania: The Contested Origins of the Urban Telephone Operating Company in the United States, 1879-1894

    [Abstract]



Robert MacDougall, American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Long Lines: AT&T, Long Distance Telephony, and Corporate Control

    [Abstract]     [Paper]

Comment: Milton L. Mueller, Syracuse University



C. Americanizing European Enterprise

Chair: Patrick Fridenson, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales

Joshua Humphreys, New York University

The Fordist Factory as a Fourierian Phalanstery? French Reinventions of the American Industrial Model between the Two World Wars

    [Abstract]



Adam Mack, University of South Carolina

Reinventing a "Uniquely American" Institution: Supermarkets in Europe, 1945-1970

    [Abstract]

Comment: Jonathan Zeitlin, University of Wisconsin, Madison



D. Restructuring Postwar American Business

Chair: Mark H. Rose, Florida Atlantic University

William Lazonick, University of Massachusetts Lowell and INSEAD

The New Economy Business Model and the End of the "Organization Man"

    [Abstract]    [Paper]



Daniel Raff, The Wharton School and NBER

Reinvention and Renewal in American Bookselling: Some Dynamics of Distribution Institutions

    [Abstract]

Comment: Philip Scranton, Rutgers University, Camden



10:00-10:30 Break



10:30-Noon Concurrent Sessions 2



A. British Merchants and Trade


Chair: Ann Carlos, University of Colorado at Boulder

Christopher G. Kingston, Amherst College

Marine Insurance in Britain and America, 1720-1844: A Comparative Institutional Analysis

    [Abstract]



John Smail, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Making Change: Money and Credit in Eighteenth-Century Commerce

    [Abstract]



Anthony Webster, Edge Hill College of Higher Education

he London East India Agency Houses, Industrialisation and the Rise of Free Trade: Adaptation, Survival and Demise, 1800-1850

    [Abstract]   

Comment: Ann Carlos, University of Colorado at Boulder



B. The Business of American Slavery

Chair: Perry L. Kyles, Florida International University

Nikki Berg, University of Minnesota

Elite Slaveholding Women and the Building of the Cotton Kingdom

    [Abstract]



Eric Burin, University of North Dakota

Slave Manumissions: A Mechanism of Plantation Management in the Old South

    [Abstract]



Mark W. Geiger, University of Missouri, Columbia

Sectional Loyalties and Institutional Transformation in Missouri’s Banks, 1861-1870

    [Abstract]     [Paper]

Comment: Perry L. Kyles, Florida International University



C. Corporate Re-Invention and the Regulatory Environment

Chair: Kathryn Steen, Drexel University

Linda L. Johnson, Concordia College, Moorhead

The House of Homma: Organizational Reinvention in Early Modern Japan

    [Abstract]



Marcelo Bucheli, Harvard Business School

Multinationals and Politics in Latin America: The Case of Standard Oil Co. (New Jersey) in Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, and Argentina

    [Abstract]



K. Austin Kerr, The Ohio State University

The Rebirth of Brewing and Distilling in the United States in 1933: Government Policy and Industry Structure

    [Abstract]     [Paper]

Comment: Helen Shapiro, University of California, Santa Cruz



D. Forecasts, Probability, and the Process of Renewal

Chair: Christopher McKenna, University of Oxford

Walter Friedman, Harvard Business School

Business Barometers: Roger Babson and the Rise of Economic Forecasting

    [Abstract]



Regina Lee Blaszczyk, Hagley Museum and Library

Tales of Styling and Forecasting: The Du Pont Company and the Color Revolution

    [Abstract]



Paul J. Miranti, Rutgers Business School

From Product Inspection to Statistical Quality Control: The Reinvention of Quality Assurance at the Bell System, 1877-1929

    [Abstract]

Comment: JoAnne Yates, Massachusetts Institute of Technology



E. Strategic Adjustments in 20th-Century American Business

Chair: Richard Rosenbloom, Harvard Business School

Albert J. Churella, Southern Polytechnic State University

"The Company could not take complete advantage of its bigness": Managerial Culture and the Pennsylvania Railroad’s 1955 Corporate Reorganization

    [Abstract]     [Paper]



Sally Romano, Yale University

Covering Up the Coppertone Girl: The Medical Transformation of the Sun Care Product Industry in Twentieth-Century America

    [Abstract]

Comment: Kenneth Lipartito, Florida International University



Noon-1:30 p.m. Lunch (with ticket)

Noon-1:30 p.m. Trustees' Lunch



1:30-3:00 p.m. Concurrent Sessions 3



A. Banking and Credit


Chair: Richard Sylla, New York University

Lucy Ann Newton, University of Reading

Women Investors in Early Nineteenth-Century English Joint-Stock Banks

    [Abstract]



Rowena Olegario, Vanderbilt University

Birth of the Credit Man, 1890-1920: A Stage in the Struggle over Transparency in American Business

    [Abstract]



Mark Carlson, Federal Reserve Board

Kris James Mitchener, Santa Clara University

The Bank of America and the Transformation of Banking in California

    [Abstract]

Comment: Larry Neal, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign



B. Corporate (Ir)responsibility

Chair: Steven W. Usselman, Georgia Institute of Technology

Janet Greenlees, University of Manchester

Reinventing Health Care: Corporate Health Care before the Welfare Movement, Lowell, 1839-1890

    [Abstract]



Michael Esbester, University of York

Reinvention, Renewal or Repetition? The Great Western Railway & Occupational Safety on British Railways c. 1900-1920

    [Abstract]     [Paper]



Arthur J. Levine, Independent Scholar

"Mercenary, Mendacious Mythology": Assessing the Insurance Industry’s Explanation for the Product Liability "Crisis" of the 1970s

    [Abstract]

Comment: Barbara Welke, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities



C. Dissertations-in-Progress: Corporations and the State

Chair: David Sicilia, University of Maryland, College Park

Joshua Barkan, University of Minnesota

A Genealogy of the Corporate Person: Articulating Sovereign Power and Capital

    [Abstract]



J. Andrew Ross, University of Western Ontario

Hockey Capital: The National Hockey League and Transnational Cultural Production, 1924-1967

    [Abstract]     [Paper]



C. H. Tzeng, McGill University

Understanding Economic Development in Modern China: The Interplay of the State, the Market and the Social Sector

    [Abstract]     [Paper]

Comment: The Audience



D. Restructuring Transport and Cities in the 20th-Century United States

Chair: David F. Weiman, Barnard College

Jim Cohen, City University of New York

How Financial Institutions Affect Economic Growth: Evidence from the Transportation Sector, 1900-1939

    [Abstract]     [Paper]



Marc Levinson, City University of New York

Container Shipping and the Decline of New York

    [Abstract]



Gregory Thompson, Florida State University

Restructuring Transit for the Post Industrial City: The Case of Portland, Oregon, 1958-1986

    [Abstract]     [Paper]

Comment: Zachary M. Schrag, George Mason University



E. Remaking Postwar Britain

Chair: Steven Tolliday, University of Leeds

Ronnie Johnston, Glasgow Caledonian University

Arthur McIvor, University of Strathclyde

Reinvention or Renewal? The Coal Dust Problem in British Coal Mining before and after Nationalisation

    [Abstract]



Mitchell Larson, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Management Education Oversight Bodies in 1960s Britain

    [Abstract]



Lesley Whitworth, University of Brighton

Inscribing Design on the Nation: The British Council of Industrial Design and Its Early Public

    [Abstract]     [Paper]

Comment: Steven Tolliday, University of Leeds



3:00 PM-3:30 PM Break

Refreshments in Foyer


Sponsored by Johns Hopkins University Press and

Hagley Museum and Library



3:30 PM-5:00 PM Dissertation Plenary (Krooss Prize Session)

Chair: John Kenly Smith, Jr., Lehigh University

Dalit Baranoff (Johns Hopkins University, 2003), University of Maryland, College Park

Shaped by Risk: The American Fire Insurance Industry, 1790-1920

    [Abstract]



Robert MacDougall (Harvard University, 2004), American Academy of Arts and Sciences

The People's Telephone: The Politics of Telephony in the United States and Canada, 1876-1926

    [Abstract]



Anna Spadavecchia (University of London, 2005), University of Reading

State Subsidies and the Sources of Company Finance in Italian Industrial Districts, 1951-1991

    [Abstract]



Christopher Tassava (Northwestern University, 2003), Metropolitan State University, Minneapolis

Launching a Thousand Ships: Entrepreneurs, War Workers, and the State in American Ship Building, 1940-1945

    [Abstract]

Comment: The Audience



5:00 PM-5:30 PM BHC Membership Meeting



6:00 PM-7:30 PM Reception at Mill Museum


Sponsored by:

    MIT Sloan School of Management

    Minnesota Historical Society

    The General Mills Foundation



SATURDAY, MAY 21

8:00 AM-5:00 PM Registration and Book Exhibit



8:00 AM-10:30 AM Continental Breakfast


Sponsored by

    Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, and

    The History Department, University of Minnesota



8:00-10:00 AM Program Committee Meeting



8:00 AM Enterprise & Society Editorial Board Meeting



8:45 AM-10:00 AM Concurrent Sessions 4



A. Infrastructure and Regulation in the United States, 1880-1920


Chair: William R. Childs, Ohio State University

Eric J. Morser, University of New Mexico

Grassroots Rebels: Municipal Power and Railroad Regulation in La Crosse, Wisconsin, 1883-1900

    [Abstract]     [Paper]



Donald C. Jackson, Lafayette College

The Business of an Engineering Consultant: John R. Freeman and the Hetch Hetchy Project

    [Abstract]

Comment: David Hochfelder, Rutgers University



B. Retail Communities

Chair: Tracey Deutsch, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Howard Stanger, Canisius College

Larkin Clubs of Ten: Cooperative Buying Clubs, Small-Town Consumption, and the Larkin Company

    [Abstract]



Sarah Elvins, University of Manitoba

Panacea or Dud: Retailers React to Scrip in the Great Depression

    [Abstract]     [Paper]

Comment: Victoria Saker Woeste, American Bar Foundation



C. Worker Perspectives on Restructuring

Chair: Glenn Bugos, Moment LLC

Evan Roberts, University of Minnesota

"Give the single girls a chance!"  Employees' Views on Preference for Service and Layoffs at Western Electric in the Depression

    [Abstract]



Dalit Baranoff, University of Maryland, College Park

  David Kirsch, University of Maryland, College Park

"My Boss Rocks": Exceptionalism in the Dot-Com Workplace

    [Abstract]

Comment: Glenn Bugos, Moment LLC



10:30 AM-Noon Plenary Session

Reinventing 21st-Century Global Business: Globalization, Labor, and Civil Society


Co-Chairs: Geoff Jones, Harvard Business School

Mira Wilkins, Florida International University

Stefanie Lenway, General Mills Professor of Strategic Management and Organization, and Associate Dean, MBA Program, Carlson School of Business, University of Minnesota



Craig Murphy, Historian of the UN Development Programme and M. Margaret Ball Professor of International Relations, Wellesley College



Rorden Wilkinson, Senior Lecturer in International Relations and International Political Economy, University of Manchester

Noon-1:30 PM Lunch (with ticket)



Noon-1:30 PM Enterprise & Society Editors' Lunch



Noon-1:30 PM Women in Business History Lunch



1:30 PM-3:00 PM Concurrent Sessions 5



A. Financial Institutions and Risk in Early 19th-Century America: A Class Perspective


Chair: Edward J. Balleisen, Duke University

Tamara Plakins Thornton, State University of New York, Buffalo

Nathaniel Bowditch (F.R.S.) and the Science of Business in Antebellum Boston

    [Abstract]



Sharon Ann Murphy, University of Virginia

Protecting Middle-Class Families: Life Insurance in Antebellum America

    [Abstract]



R. Daniel Wadhwani, Harvard Business School

Financial Institutions and the Management of Household Economic Risks in Nineteenth-Century America: Evidence from the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society

    [Abstract]

Comment: Edward J. Balleisen, Duke University



B. Environmental Factors as Drivers of Business Innovation

Chair: John Kenly Smith, Jr., Lehigh University

Christine Rosen, University of California, Berkeley

Industrial Pollution and the Role of Public Health Regulators and the Courts in the Development of the Meat Packing Industry, 1860-1880

    [Abstract]



Kent Curtis, Independent Scholar

The Natural Case for Integration: The Limits on Business Formation in Western Montana, 1880-1910

    [Abstract]



Hugh S. Gorman, Michigan Technological University

The Transformation of Emissions and Effluents into Factors of Production

    [Abstract]

Comment: Deborah Fitzgerald, Massachusetts Institute of Technology



C. Regional Technology Clusters

Chair: David Rhees, Bakken Institute

Thomas C. Lassman, American Institute of Physics

Research Networks in the Steel City: The Growth and Diversification of Industrial Research in Pittsburgh, 1930-1941

    [Abstract]



Stephen Adams, Salisbury University

Becoming Silicon Valley: Exogenous Factors in the Development of a High-Tech Region

    [Abstract]



Michael Best, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Regional Specialization and Industrial Renewal: Medical Devices in Massachusetts

    [Abstract]     [Paper]

Comment: Margaret Graham, McGill University



D. Postwar European Political Economy

Chair: Mira Wilkins, Florida International University

Simone Selva, State University of Milan

Rearmament and Recovery: The United States and the Economic Implications of Military Assistance to Western Europe under the Truman Administration, 1949-1952

    [Abstract]     [Paper]



Eric Godelier, Ecole Polytechnique

Muriel Le Roux, ENS-CNRS

Did the 1970s Crisis Lead to Convergence or Divergences: USINOR vs. PECHINEY? A Cross-Examination of Renewal in Steel and Alcoa Industries

    [Abstract]    [Paper]



Per H. Hansen, Copenhagen Business School

Organizational Culture, Narratives, and Organizational Change: The Transformation of Savings Banks in Denmark, 1965-1990

    [Abstract]

Comment: Jacqueline McGlade, University of Northern Iowa



3:00-3:30 p.m. Break

Refreshments in Foyer

Sponsored by Oxford University Press

Hagley Museum and Library



3:30 PM-5:00 PM Concurrent Sessions 6



A. New England Enterprise in Transition


Chair: Steven W. Usselman, Georgia Institute of Technology

Robert Dalton Harris, Independent Scholar

Diane DeBlois, Independent Scholar

Geographic Integration of Industry on the Wynants Kill, 1816-1911

    [Abstract]     [Paper]



Duol Kim, University of California, Davis

The Next Best Thing to Getting Married: Partnerships among the Jewelry Manufacturers in the Providence/Attleboro Area during the 19th Century

    [Abstract]     [Paper]



David Koistinen, American University of Beirut

Public Relations as Redevelopment Tool: Accentuating the Positive in Deindustrializing New England

    [Abstract]     [Paper]

Comment: Steven W. Usselman, Georgia Institute of Technology



B. State-Led Redevelopment Strategies in the 20th-Century World

Chair: Naomi Lamoreaux, UCLA

Jens-W. Wessels, University of Warwick

Economic Policy and Performance in Inter-War Austria: The History of Austrian Industrial Joint-Stock Companies in the Global Economy between 1913 and 1938



Astrid Baker, Massey University

The First Labour Government’s New Start for Manufacturing, Employment, and Social Security in New Zealand, 1935-1949

    [Abstract]     [Paper]



Mansel Blackford, The Ohio State University

Business Change on Guam: Tourism, the Military, and the Environment, 1962-2002

    [Abstract]     [Paper]

Comment: Ioanna Minoglou, Athens University of Economics and Business



C. Feminism, Civil Rights, and the Reconceptualization of American Business

Chair: Pamela Walker Laird, University of Colorado at Denver

Robert E. Weems, University of Missouri, Columbia

The 1961 National Conference on Black Business: The "Negro Market," the Cold War, and the Future of Black Business in America

    [Abstract]     [Paper]



Christiane Diehl Taylor, Eastern Kentucky University

The World Turned Upside Down: The Public Face of Post-1960s Corporate Wives

    [Abstract]



Beth A. Kreydatus, College of William and Mary

Enriching Women’s Lives: The Mary Kay Approach to Beauty, Business, and Feminism

    [Abstract]     [Paper]

Comment: Mary Yeager, University of California at Los Angeles



D. Adoption as Innovation: User Roles in the Creation of Technological Industries

Chair: Eric Schatzberg, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Thomas Haigh, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

An Industry of Enthusiasts: Users Make the Computer Personal, 1975-1981

    [Abstract]



Glen R. Asner, Carnegie Mellon University

Broadening the Definition of Users: The Air Force’s Role in the Creation of the Knowledge Industry



Jeffrey Tang, University of Pennsylvania

From Whence Hi-Fi?: User-Led Industrial Formation in High-Fidelity Audio Equipment

    [Abstract]

Comment: Daniel Holbrook, Marshall University



5:00 PM-5:40 PM Book Auction



5:45-6:45 p.m. Presidential Address
Chair: Patrick Fridenson, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales

JoAnne Yates, MIT Sloan School of Management

How Firms Use Technology

6:45 PM-8:00 PM Reception

Sponsored by The Winthrop Group



8:00 PM-10:00 PM Banquet and Awards Ceremony