Business History: Complexities and Comparisons

This major new textbook on business history brings together the expertise of two internationally renowned authors to provide a thorough overview of the developments in business over the last two centuries. Business History is global in scope and looks at both the major players a " Europe, the US and Japan a " as well as emerging economies, such as China and South America. Focusing mainly on a ~big businessa ~, Amatori and Colli critically analyze a ~the firma ~ and its interaction with the evolution of economic, technological and political systems at the micro and macro levels. This outstanding textbook is an exceptional resource for students on economic and business history courses, as well as for practitioners interested in broadening their understanding of business.

Franco Amatori is Professor of Economic History and Head of the Institute of Economic History at Bocconi University, Italy. He specialized in business history during his time at Harvard Business School, USA, and has written extensively on Italian and international business history. Andrea Colli is Associate Professor in Economic History at Bocconi University, Italy. He has published several books in fields such as the structure and evolution of SMEs, and the role of family firms in modern economic growth. In 2008, he was awarded the Harold Williamson prize for the most promising mid-career business historian by the Business History Conference.

Part 1: Relevant Issues 1. Business History: State of the Art and Controversies 2. Business History and Theories of the Firm 3. Enterprise and Entrepreneur Part 2: The Company Between Pre-Industrial Era and the First Industrial Revolution 4. Pre-Industrial Typologies 5. Enterprises and Entrepreneurs of the First Industrial Revolution 6. Technology and the Factory System Part 3: The Birth and Consolidation of Big Business 7. Infrastructures 8. Technology and Forms of Enterprise in the Second Industrial Revolution 9. National or Regional Cases Part 4: State and Market in the Period Between the Two World Wars 10. North America: Managerial Capitalism and the Origin of the M-Form 11. Europe: Families, Cartels, Government 12. Japan: State and Groups Part 5: From the Postwar Years to the Fall of the Wall: The Age of 'shrinking' Space 13. Economic and Technological Framework: From the Second World War to the Third Industrial Revolution 14. Rise and Fall of the American Hegemony 15. The Failure of the Antagonist: The Soviet Union 16. The Challenger: Japan 17. The Hybrid Europe 18. Convergence and Divergence 19. Multinationals. Quid Novi? Part 6: The Globalization of Today 20. New Infrastructures and New Forms of Enterprises 21. The Rebirth of a Giant: The USA at the Turn of the 21st Century 22. The Troubles of Europe and Japan 23. New Protagonists: China 24. Summing Up