FOCUS:

 

Outline of the Conference:

The field of business history has evolved during the past decades towards perspectives of comparative business history, and then international business history. Moreover, some scholars have recently focused on the expansion of enterprises on the global scale.
This conference fits in line with this framework, its objective being to contribute to the development of a global business history through the example of the electrical and electronic equipment industry. Focusing on one single industry, rather than comparing different industries, is more appropriate to conduct a research of comparative business history, as it is possible to define a limited number of points of comparison. Similarly, international business history is an approach that usually analyses companies in a same industry, and considers their relations. Finally, as the objective of the global business history approach is to discuss how individual companies behave in the context of the globalization of their business, it appears likely to focus on a single industry.
This conference will tackle the case of the electrical and electronic equipment industry because it was a key industry throughout the world during the 20th century and which keeps today a major place in the global economy.

 


Focus of Each Session:

The conference includes three sessions: human capital, organizational capabilities, and international competition and cooperation. Each session has three papers and a discussant.

  • 1) Human Capital: Japanese Experiences from Comparative Perspective
    This session focuses on the management of human capital and human resources by Hitachi, Ltd., a Japanese giant electrical and electronics company. It aims also to compare Japanese experiences with American and German ones about how companies developed strategies and capabilities regarding the training and the careers of blue-collar workers, engineers and managers.
  • 2) Organizational Capabilities: Beyond Three-Pronged Investment
    The objective of this session is to discuss and compare the formation of organizational capabilities in Japanese, American and German electrical companies. It tackles the way companies in each country implemented strategies to build and maintain core competences, and how they did adapt their organization to the changing environment over time.
  • 3) International Competition and Cooperation: Toward Global Business History
    This session focuses on the relations between electrical firms (cooperation and/or competition) on regional and global markets. In particular, it aims to understanding the industrial structure and competitive regime that emerged from firms’ relations. Such discussion, based also on the issues addressed in sessions 1 and 2, is a major methodological way to contribute to the development of a global business history.