The past in the news and the start of conference seasonThere's a lot of business history to catch up with
Today, it’s a bit of a mixed one as conference season has begun in earnest. Suppose you need a break from earnest conversations and intellectual discourse, or you just want to introvert for a bit and read some business-history-adjacent writing and podcasts, well. In that case, today’s missive contains a cornucopia of fascinating material for a hot summer day! And some musings on our failure to research the history of certain types of businesses — especially unethical ones… But for starters, something less controversial (even though it references HS2 - Britain’s ill-fated high-speed railway project). The Financial Times ran a great piece on learning from the past by focusing on how the Victorians financed big infrastructure projects:
Clearly, the Victorians have always loomed large in all sorts of historiography. But as the FT points out, not only do we still live in the cities that the Victorians’ ingenuity built (at least in the UK, and in their equivalents’ achievements in other countries around the world), we could also learn from their approach to financing infrastructure. The article draws some interesting conclusions, especially around the current disaster that is the High Speed 2 Railway (HS2) — much over-budget and overdue — which will provide an alternative connection between London and Birmingham, but was going to link Manchester and other cities as well (now axed), largely due to the failure of financing. Mentality of improvement and the industrial revolutionElsewhere on Substack, Ian Leslie’s great newsletter “The Ruffian” featured a really interesting interview with Anton Howes, a historian of the industrial revolution and head of innovation research at The Entrepreneurs Network. Howes favours a cultural explanation for this significant transition in productivity and human lives, pointing out that a mindset of continuous tinkering and innovation is what drove these profound changes. Well worth a listen and another great example of how historical topics are made relevant to contemporary audiences. ... Keep reading with a 7-day free trialSubscribe to Organizational History Network to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives. A subscription gets you:
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Friday, 4 July 2025
The past in the news and the start of conference season
Thursday, 3 July 2025
Hello July!
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Wednesday, 2 July 2025
[Blog Post] Principle #16: Take care of your teacher self.
Developing Theory from Historical Research
Submission Deadline: Friday, July 11, 2025AOM PDW: Saturday, Jul 26, 2025 from 2:15 PM to 4:45 PM CESTSponsors: MH, OMT, TIM, STR, RMWho is this PDW for?If you are: a.) engaged in (or interested in) conducting research with historical data, and b.) doing inductive/abductive (i.e. theory-building rather than hypothesis-testing) work, and c.) hoping to publish your work in top management journals then this is the PDW for you! OverviewThis PDW brings together a distinguished panel of scholars to stimulate an interactive and developmental exchange on conducting inductive research using historical data. Our core focus will be on the theory-building / theoretical contribution part of the research process – how do we understand the past to inform the present? How do we move from the setting being studied to higher-level conceptualizations, while maintaining a balance between generalization and contextualization? Importantly, our aim will be to focus on these questions from a practical standpoint, taking away useful advice that scholars can adopt in their research practices. And for those of you who have the opportunity to discuss ongoing projects with the panelists, you will also get tailored advice for your specific projects. Panelists· Stephanie Decker, University of Birmingham · Andrew Hargadon, UC Davis · Andrew Nelson, University of Oregon · Natalya Vinokurova, Lehigh University Organizer: Rohin Borpujari, University College London Structure1. Panel Talk and Group Q&A: For the first part of the PDW, our panelists will lead exchanges around topics such as which research questions are best suited to historical case studies; how to balance the needs for contextualization vs. generalization in theorizing; how to write up a historical case study for publication in management journals, etc. 2. Roundtables and Individual Feedback: Pre-selected participants will have the opportunity to engage in quick, entrepreneur-style “pitches” to the experts (separated into 4 different roundtables), with a view to receiving developmental feedback specific to their projects. Each participant will have 20 minutes in total – 10 minutes to describe their project (or project idea) and what areas they would like feedback on, and 10 minutes to receive feedback / engage in discussion with the expert. How to ApplyPart 1 is open to all attendees and does not require any application in advance. For Part 2, in order to ensure quality interactions with panelists, we are limiting the number of “pitches” to 16 (i.e. 4 per panelist). If you are interested in receiving feedback on a project that you are currently working on, please submit your interest to r.borpujari@ucl.ac.uk by 11:59 pm CEST (Copenhagen time) on Friday July 11, 2025. Specifically, please submit an abstract or overview of your project, including two questions that you would like to ask the panelists to receive feedback about that project. Please keep this document limited to 1 page, single-spaced, in PDF format. In addition, in your email, please rank order your preference for which panelist roundtable you would like to be a part of (with the number “1” referring to your first choice panelist and “4” referring to your fourth choice panelist). Note: In addition to the 1-page abstract, you may, if you wish, submit a theoretical model or diagram that you are working on in case your project is at a more advanced stage and you would like comments on the theoretical model you are building. If you have any questions about the PDW or the application process, please feel free to reach out at r.borpujari@ucl.ac.uk You're currently a free subscriber to Organizational History Network. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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No Mental Health Conference Ticket? No Problem!
Purchase on-demand access to the Autistic Mental Health Conference 2026! ...
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Dear Reader, To read this week's post, click here: https://teachingtenets.wordpress.com/2025/07/02/aphorism-24-take-care-of-your-teach...
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A slightly unconventional guide to your first time ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ...
