Abstract

"Removing Blinders Through Business History: Teaching Students to See the World from the Lens of their Economic Bloc "

Stefano Tijerina, University of Maine (stefano.tijerina@maine.edu)

In my own personal pursuit to address the vacuum in methodology in the Maine Business School, where I teach management courses, I designed a comparative business history course that addresses the contemporary challenges of analyzing history from the lens of the nation state while the global market moves away from that model and toward bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements. The course, Canada-United States Business: A Comparison, has allowed students in business to grapple with the changing realities of their careers, as the economy of Maine and the broader New England region becomes incrementally intertwined with the Canadian economy, and the Mexican economy to a lesser extent. From the 1854 Reciprocity Agreement between Britain and the United States to the present dynamics of bilateral and trilateral interdependency, the student constructs awareness of the market realities in which they will engage professionally, realizing that without this perspective they will enter the market with blinders that will hinder their capabilities down the road.
By moving away from national narratives this course contributes to the “reinvention” of the scope of business history in the classroom, challenging students to raise new questions and expand their lens of the business world. It is my objective to share with The Business History community how this particular business history course embraces the “big question” of Free Trade Agreements and economic blocs, and how these impact local business dynamics while shaping new regional markets outside of the jurisdiction of the nation state. More so, how these emerging international business dynamics generate an incremental demand for future business professionals and business leaders that are tailored to fit the growing demands of the economic bloc and less so of the national market.