Research on business history in the United States presents a new trend
August 24, 2020 09:39 Source: "China Social Sciences" August 24, 2020 Total 1995 Author: 戢 Fang

American business history as an independent academic research field,Rise in the 1920s。for a long time,The limitations of its research field and path are quite obvious,The ability to lack theoretical dialogue,It has always been in a relatively isolated and weak state。For more than two decades,Under the influence of factors such as changes in the changes in the situation of the world's political and economic situation and the transformation of historius research methods,American business historians constantly broaden research,Update research path,and build a new theory with challenging and explanatory power,Created a new situation in the research of business history。

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For a long time,Study in American business history research is quite limited,It is particularly obvious in time and space dimension。The time period for scholars to investigate is mainly from the end of the 17th century to the present,Focus on developed industrial countries such as Europe and the United States。This research field has typical Western centralism and modernization orientation,Call it "History of Modern Western Business",Perhaps more accurate。

In recent years,Globalization、International History、The influence of factors such as the history of new capitalism,The scope of time and space in American business history has been greatly expanded。Commercial historians began to study business organizations and business activities before modern times,Including banks、Notaries、Company, etc.。These studies have two important interests,First, explore the concept of ancient commercial organizations、The characteristics of organizational methods and management systems,The general law of finding bet365 best casino games business activities,or explore the early business wisdom of human beings; the second is the process of investigating the transformation of ancient commercial organizations and commercial activities to modern times,Analysis of the royal family、Country、Guild and other power factors on the origin of the origin of modern commercial companies。At the same time,Commercial historians turn their eyes outside the West,Research India、China、Business activities in Japan and other places。Even in the field of "History of Modern Western Modern",The research field of scholars is also expanding。Research on business history in the past focused on examining large companies, especially monopoly giant companies,Think that they are the core of the modern Western economy。New business history research emphasizes the role of other economic behaviors,Focus on studying small and medium -sized enterprises,and recognize the contribution of minority and groups to the economy。

Post -modernism、Impact of environmental and economic factors,Business historians in the United States have begun to incorporate more dimensions into research fields。Traditionally,They mainly pay attention to the development and positive impact of modern commercial organizations and their activities,For example, wealth growth、material prosperity、Innovation of technology and concepts。In recent years,More and more business historians start to realize,Business activities bring progress and prosperity to humans,can also cause damage。So,They started to pay attention to the "dark side" of business history,Including environmental destruction、racism、Aggression of women、Forced labor、Classification of the class。

  Update research path

  In the past century,The most important research path of business history in the United States is market centerism,The free business activities of freedom as the driving force for enterprise development and innovation。Although Qian Deller emphasizes the importance of managing management to enterprises,But its research has a potential premise: these companies are active in the free market。

In recent years,This research path is gradually broken。On an academic level,More and more studies indicate,There is never a free market in human history,From ancient times to the present,The market is always constrained and controlled by various powers。At the real level,The global financial crisis in 2008 made many scholars realize,There is a huge risk of unlimited market behavior。So,Many scholars start to think,Control and rules is not the opposite of the free market,but an indispensable component,Many times can play a positive role。Affected by this view,Scholars begin to study family power、Social Network、Political System、Laws and regulations、The impact of external power factors such as international systems on business activities。From this,produced a new business history research path,that is, "with law、Credit、System、Research on the Invention of Control and Organization "。

This research path has created a new situation in business history research。In terms of research methods,Business history is widely from the history of new politics、History of New Society、History of New Culture、Political Society、Discipline of Cultural Anthropology and other disciplines draw resources。On the one hand,Continue to study the impact of institutional power of political bodies such as nation -state and other politics on business activities; on the other hand,,Also inspect clan、Religious、Social Organization、The relationship between power and business activities such as public opinion and other society。So,The subject matter of business history research becomes richer。In recent years,Family enterprises have become the focus of the bet365 best casino games attention of American business historians,They focus on how these families are in the family by maintaining their、Power Network of Local and National Power,Extended talents、Defend interests and promote innovation。Some scholars even point out,In the history of human economic development,The contribution of family business is far greater than other types of enterprises。,Relations between enterprises of various scale、Intermediary between politics and business、Religious and ethnic minority groups, etc.,It has also become a hot spot in the research of American business history。

The overall change of the research path of business history in the United States,It also caused changes in the research path of entrepreneurs。Since the 1940s,Affected by economist Xiong Peter,American business historians mainly pay attention to the so -called entrepreneurial spirit when researching entrepreneurs,is its innovative spirit、Business philosophy、Management ability, etc.。,The charm and personal character of entrepreneurs have also become the object of scholars' research。These studies have a common point,Emphasize the ability of the individual、The importance of morality and influence to enterprises。Since the end of the 20th century,Continuous scholars have challenged this research path,Try to start with external factors to study entrepreneurs。Many scholars think,The reason why entrepreneurs are successful,Mainly not with personal quality and ability,but because they have more than the social network、Behavior example、Social capital composed of factors such as information acquisition。

  Deepen theoretical thinking

Early American business history research was actually a by -product of business research and training,Mainly empirical inspection,Lack of theoretical critical spirit。The "Management Revolution" created by Chandler has greatly improved the theoretical level bet365 best casino games of business history research,Even the ability to challenge the theory of mainstream economics。In recent years,With the broadening of the research field and the update of the research path,The theoretical level of business history research further improves,It has attracted widespread attention from other disciplines。

First,The research of business history has greatly challenged the "modernization" theory that has an important impact on many disciplines。"Modernization" the term since its birth,is a concept of time comparison: the modern world is progress、Quickly change,And it was a slow traditional era before。Since the 1980s,Scholars have begun to reflect on this linear theory of this kind of ancient and modern two points。First,Many modern commercial organizations can find organizations of the same type in the preliminary modern times。For example,Banks have been regarded as one of the most important business organizations in the modern economy for a long time,In fact, it has appeared in ancient banks,Cuba Babylon、Ancient Greek and the Roman Empire both have similar institutions。2,Modernization does not mean the victory of free labor。until the end of the 19th century,Large -scale forced labor still exists worldwide,Play an important role in the formation and development of the modern industrial economy。third,"Rights and Wealth Capitalism",That is the collusion between market activity participants and political power,In fact, it is not a modern product,This phenomenon exists in European countries and its colonies before the 17th century。

Next,Business history itself is also building a new theory with more explanation。In recent years,Research on business history has surpassed the scope of corporate research,The scope of its inspection includes corporate group、Interpersonal Network、Supply chain and various temporary organizations、Bet365 app download Engineering project、Financial Consortium、Government -enterprise relations, etc.。This stimulates the re -thinking about market theory for business historians,They raised three groups。First,Who built the market? Is it consumer or financial institution、Design product and service company、Dealer? second,How does an enterprise embed in society? in this process,How does an enterprise penetrate into public space? Enterprise and Association Organization、Trade Union Organization、Political Party、What is the relationship between national organizations? third,Religious Organization、Is non -profit organization and other non -profit organizations in the market? What impact does they have on market activities?,Commercial historian proposed a new market theory。They think,The market is not the "self -staying place" in the economic field,Instead, it is a network that is connected to all areas of the society; the market is not spontaneous,but with politics、Power、Gender、Systems and other factors interaction; market functions are not only allocating commercial resources and economic resources,and reshape resources、Information、Power and artificial products; within each specific period,The market is not fixed、Conventional sequence,It involves multilateral relations in various aspects; non -profit organizations such as religious organizations and charity groups take risks in various ways、For innovation,Promoting the growth and improvement of the market。

other,Some business historians try to build a new management theory。They do not think there is no unique management work,It is also difficult to define what is the best way to implement the management strategy,Management is essentially a question of how to change power relationships and how to achieve compromise。Except efficiency、In addition to the training and incentive Bet365 lotto review mechanism,Gender relationship and credit are also key issues that should be paid to the management process。

In short,After more than 20 years of development,Business History Research has become more diversified and theoretical in the United States,and start to get history、Economics、Acknowledge of Disciplines of Political Science。but but,Study on American business history, if you want to continue to develop in -depth,It also needs to maintain a balance between academic and publicity,While absorbing other discipline resources,Also pay attention to the establishment of and defending the autonomy of the subject itself。

 (Author Unit: School of Business Administration, Hubei Institute of Economics)

Editor in charge: Wang Ning
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