The Past Speaks

Henley Business School

The Association of Business Historians Conference begins on Friday. It`s taking place at the Centre of International Business History, Henley Business School, University of Reading. After careful deliberation and some agonising choices about which sessions to attend, I have finalised my session choices. There are so many good papers being presented at the same time. The organizing team has put together a first-class conference.

I`ll be too busy to live blog the conference, but I may be able to upload a few quick comments to the blog by phone.

Friday

09.30 – 11.00 – Arrival and registration (tea / coffee) [HBS foyer]

11.00 – 12.30 – Keynote address [ICMA small leture theatre]

Walter Friedman (Harvard Business School), ‘Capitalism, Business, and Uncertainty’

12.30 – 13.30 – Lunch [HBS foyer]

13.30 – 15.00 – Parallel Sessions (I)

Sustaining business networks in the eighteenth century British-Atlantic world [HBS 208]
Chair: Mark Billings (University of Nottingham)

Emily Buchnea (University of Nottingham), ‘Persistent Commerce: The Continuity of Trade in the Liverpool-New York Commercial Network, 1763-1833’

John Haggerty (University of Salford), ‘Sustaining Business Networks during Uncertain Times: A Case Study of a Liverpool Trade Association, 1750-1810’

Sheryllynne Haggerty (University of Nottingham), ‘The importance of Trust in Sustaining Business in the Atlantic, 1750-1815’

Session II

Managers and shareholders [HBS 108]
Chair: Anna Spadavecchia (Henley Business School, University of Reading)

David Green (Kings College London) and Janette Rutterford (Open University), ‘Spreading the net: distance, shareholding and the geography of risk in England and Wales 1870 to 1935’

Karen Ward Mahar (Siena College), ‘Gender and the American executive at mid-century’

Malcolm Pearse (Macquarie University), ‘Early modernisation in Australian business: the rise of the salaried manager, 1851-1900’

17.00 – 18.00 – Coleman Prize presentations [HBS G15]

19.00 – 20.00 – Reception

20.00 – 22.00 – Conference dinner

Saturday

Session 3

Merchants and traders [HBS G15]
Chair: Andrew Popp (University of Liverpool)

Katie McDade (University of Nottingham), ‘Mobilisation of Bristol and Liverpool slave trade merchant networks and their relationship to the state.’

Manuel Llorca-Jana (University of Chile), ‘Huth & Co.’s global networks, c.1809-1850. A London merchant-banker in action.’

Shakila Yacob (University of Malaya), ‘The Behn Meyer Story (1840-2000): a phoenix rises twice.’

Session 4

Finance and the political / regulatory environment [HBS G10]
Chair: Chris Kobrak (ESCP, Paris)

Bernardo Batiz-Lazo (Bangor University), ‘The disciplinary power of accounting-based regulation: the case of building societies, c.1960’

Eoin McLaughlin (University of Edinburgh), ‘Capture and sustainability: Irish loan fund societies, 1860-1914’

Andrew Smith (Coventry University), ‘Sustaining trust despite rumours of war: the impact of the American Civil War on credit reporting in Canada, 1860-1865’

Session 5

Entrepreneurship: long run perspectives [HBS 108]
Chair: John Wilson (University of Liverpool)

Mark Casson (University of Reading), ‘The evolution of entrepreneurship in long-run perspective: England, 1000-2000’

Tony Corley (University of Reading), ‘How to ensure sustainability: Beecham’s survival 1848-2000’

Rosa Reicher (University of Heidelberg), ‘Dublin Jewry: a sustainable community in Ireland of the 19th and 20th centuries’

Session 6

Natural resources [HBS 108]
Chair: Rory Miller (University of Liverpool)

Juan Diego Perez Cebada (University of Huelva), ‘Sustainability and non-ferrous mining companies before the “ecological era”’

Xavier Duran (Universidad de Los Andes) and Marcelo Bucheli (University of Illinois), ‘Who pays for the price of oil: The case of Standard Oil in Colombia’

Peter Sims (London School of Economics), ‘Crisis, recovery and overproduction: British entrepreneurs and rural production in Uruguay, 1852-65’