The Past Speaks

Call for Papers
The Association of Business Historians 22nd Annual Conference, 27-28 June 2014
Newcastle University Business School

Crisis, Accountability and Institutions.

The Association of Business Historians 22nd Annual Conference will be held at Newcastle University

Business School on 27-28 June 2014. Our keynote speaker is Professor Roy Suddaby who is the Eldon Foote Chair of Law and Society at the University of Alberta. He is the Editor of the Academy of Management Review. His research interests are in understanding processes of profound change. His current research focuses on the role of corporate historians and corporate art collections.

To reflect calls for more oversight and accountability of both public and private sector organisations, the theme of the conference is ‘Crisis, Accountability and Institutions’. The dominance of the neoliberal discourse from the early 1980s culminated in the hegemony of finance with higher rates of return to capital, a widening of income inequality, a reduction in the role of the state (in education, welfare and regulation), privatization of state assets; unsustainable household debt, restrictions on the bargaining power of labour, and declining manufacturing investment. This hegemony raises questions of how neoliberalism emerged across the globe, how it was shaped, and how the institutions that supported it were constructed and gained legitimacy. Historians could draw parallels with other periods such as the late nineteenth century. After the depression of the 1890s, profitability similarly
increased stimulated by science based innovations and the managerial revolution. This was followed by the Great Depression of the 1930s.

 
The conference committee welcomes proposals for individual papers or complete research tracks of 90 minutes in length. Each individual paper proposal should include a short abstract, a list of 3 to 5 key words, and a brief CV of the presenter. Proposals for research tracks should include a cover letter containing a session title and the rationale for the research track. The conference organisers also welcome research papers on any topic related to business history which are outside of the conference
theme. If you have any questions, please contact Tom McGovern at: abh.conf@newcastle.ac.uk.
The deadline for submissions is 21 February 2014. Notification of acceptance will be made by 15 April 2014. Please send proposals by email to: abh.conf@newcastle.ac.uk