2007 BHC Meeting

The 2007 annual meeting of the Business History Conference (BHC) took place Friday and Saturday June 1-2 in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Weatherhead School of Management of Case Western Reserve University.

The program committee consists of Pamela Laird (co-chair), University of Colorado-Denver; Margaret Levenstein (co-chair), University of Michigan; Gary Previts, Case Western Reserve University; Matthias Kipping, York University, Canada; Christine Rosen, University of California, Berkeley; and William J. Hausman (BHC president-elect, 2005-06), College of William & Mary.

The theme for the conference is "Entrepreneurial Communities," defined broadly in scope and scale. The entrepreneur is often thought of as a lone innovator, but how often does an entrepreneur really act alone? How and when does entrepreneurial activity rely on the input of other inventors, venture capitalists, lawyers, accountants, marketing specialists, government actors, laborers, and others?  We are interested in papers that explore the roles of these actors and the broader social context in which entrepreneurial activity takes place.  These include, but are not limited to, geographic (local, regional, national, or international), political, economic, social, and cultural (including the roles of race, class, ethnicity, religion, and gender) aspects of entrepreneurial communities.  We are interested in papers that consider how firms and other groups (within, between, or outside particular firms), and society as a whole have organized themselves to foster or inhibit entrepreneurial activity.  Finally, in keeping with longstanding BHC policy, the committee will also entertain submissions not directly related to the conference theme.