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This article examines the emergence and evolution of the discourse on mental health problems as an occupational health risk in the professional debates among Finnish insurance workers from a histor...

Through an examination of management textbooks, beginning in 1950 and continuing to 2012, the authors chart the socio-political and historical context upon which the management texts were written a...

This paper centers on the role of narratives in business history from an ANTi-History perspective. We focus on the networked processes through which narratives are told of, for, and by multi-national companies embed the development of ‘new imperialism’ and coloniality. We set out to achieve this through a discussion and application of ANTi-History to a study of Pan American Airways and particularly its performance as a maturing multi-national company and its relationship to postcoloniality. In the process, we also hope to contribute to recent calls in business history for more explicit accounts of the methods used in the development of historical accounts. We are concerned to encourage ‘a narrative turn in business history’ but also to do so critically, i.e. to reveal some of the strengths and limitations of a narrative turn. We conclude with reflections on the relationship between methods and the production of (business) history. peerReviewed

In this paper, I study the history of corporate training in the Finnish retail industry from the beginning to the last quarter of the 20th century. In this effort, I search for answers to questions...

AbstractIn this article, we study worker experiences of the labor process in Finnish industrial workplaces during the Fordist period from World War II to the 1970s. Using biographical material, we examine the ways in which workers utilized their emotions, teamwork skills and personal aspirations in the production process. We argue that many workplaces of the period were far less bureaucratic and rationalized than stereotypical images suggest. The efforts of the workers were not just physical performances under strict managerial control; workers often enjoyed significant autonomy, showed initiative and learning abilities, worked in teams, identified themselves with the employer, and strived for quality and craftsmanship. This shows how the managerial representations of the workplace during the period hid much of the emotional and social life on the shop floor.

Faced with intensifying competition for scientific impact measured in terms of citation counts, small disciplines are challenged to prove their importance as they lack the critical mass to accumulate large numbers of citations. This paper demonstrates that by emphasizing theoretical and methodological rigor even small disciplines such as business history can be competitive. Yet it still appears that readers of business history articles first and foremost seek interesting and useful subject matter, i.e. ‘best’ stories that can be used as background information and as tools in comparisons. However, articles advancing theory and methodology have increasingly gained interest and citations from other business historians as well as from scholars in related disciplines. Thus, business history scholarship using a sound theoretical framework to analyze relevant cases score more citations both inside and outside the field, leading to fruitful debates that serve to enhance the discipline. peerReviewed

Favoritism in the organizational context is often regarded as dysfunctional and detrimental to organizational performance. On the other hand, it could function as a tacit-knowledge-based mechanism for making sure that the right people are in right positions in an organization, especially under conditions of rapid and forceful change. This study focuses on the leadership of the controversial Admiral Sir John ‘Jacky’ Fisher (1841–1920). Fisher, as the First Sea Lord of the British Admiralty, led the Royal Navy through a signi cant but disputed technological and organizational turnaround during the pre- World War I (pre-WWI) naval arms race between Britain and Germany. Fisher saw that he would achieve his aims essentially by appointing his favorites and cronies to key positions throughout the naval organization. The aim in this study is to highlight the most important facets of the phenomenon from a strategic-leadership perspective. 

AbstractIn this paper, our aim is to study the evolution of the market orientation in Finnish retail banking from the time of regulation to the present day. That involves examining how Finnish retail banking has been shaped by regulation, deregulation, increasing competition and changing customer expectations in different periods. We approach this aim by answering the following key questions (1) What different eras are identifiable based on our analysis of market orientation development? (2) What have been the drivers or inhibitors of the market orientation evolution process in these different eras? and finally, (3) how has Finnish retail banking market orientation changed its nature during the different phases identified? Our historical evidence is based on a range of documentation focusing on Finnish retail banking. We also conducted 29 interviews with Finnish top bank management actively involved in banking business during various eras.

In this paper we conceptualise explanations of company-specific commercial performance as corporate myths. To improve our understanding of anatomy and causal structure of corporate myths, we analyse publications that deal with Nokia’s historical transformation from a lossmaking 1980s conglomerate to a focused and successful telecommunications company in the early 1990s. From a corpus of related literature, 89 causal arguments are identified and analysed in terms of the logic of the arguments employed. The analysis shows that (1) most existing analyses offer either a specific or a biased explanation for Nokia’s success; (2) very few explanations are either plausible or logical; (3) it is most unlikely that another company would achieve the same outcomes even if exactly the same decisions were made. Even though combining and comparing different explanations does not enhance the validity of any specific historical interpretation of Nokia’s evolution or commercial success, it does offer an improved conceptual understanding of the ingredients found in corporate myths. peerReviewed