The Centre for International Business History

Introduction to the Centre

Established in 1997 and part of Henley Business School at the University of Reading, the Centre for International Business History (CIBH) strives to promote the study of the past development and future evolution of business in an international and comparative context.

The commitment and expertise of our staff has been consistently recognised through a series of leading awards including: the Wadsworth and the Harvard-Newcomen Prizes for best book in business history, the Cass Prize (twice) for the best article in the journal Business History, the best article published in the Spanish Economic History Review; best paper presented at the conference of the European Business History Association; the Coleman Prize for the best business history PhD thesis; the Krooss Prize, and the European Business History Association Prize for the best PhD dissertation in Business History.

CIBH members have attracted research grants from external sources totalling in excess of £1.4m. Of this, over £300,000 has come from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Other grants have come from the Leverhulme Trust, the Nuffield foundation, the EU and the British Academy.

CIBH members

• Professor Peter Scott
• Professor Mark Casson
• Mr Tony Corley
• Dr Ken Dark
• Professor Andrew Godley
• Dr Peter Miskell
• Dr Lucy Newton
• Dr Anna Spadavecchia
• Dr James Walker

Research in the Centre

Peter Scott and James Walker are currently collaborating on a long-term project examining the growth of mass retailing in Britain and in North America, the importance of international knowledge transfers to innovation in this sector, and the determinants of international differences in efficiency, productivity, and competitive environments. Anna Spadavecchia is examining the sources of finance of small businesses and knowledge spillovers within Industrial Districts in various European countries; the importance of government policies for the development of clusters; the impact of foreign technology transfer on innovation and economic performance in Italy in the long term perspective; and the link between national and regional systems of innovation and international competitiveness in interwar Britain. Lucy Newton is working on a long-term project with Francesca Carnevali (University of Birmingham) on the development of consumer goods industries in Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Peter Miskell continues his long-term research project on the strategy and structure of the international film industry.

The Centre launched a discussion paper series in 2011, with the aim of improving the public availability of research undertaken by researchers affiliated to the Centre.

CIBH projects

• Banks and the finance of industry
• The emergence of a mass market for consumer durables in interwar Britain
• Innovation and Foreign Technology in Italy, 1861-2011
• Made in Britain. Manufacturing and Selling Household Goods in Britain (1851-1914)
• The Making of the Modern British Home, 1919-1939
• The managerial revolution in British and American retailing
• Touting for business: British Banks and Building Societies in the twentieth century
• Women Investors
• Analysing the Income and Productive Impacts of Norman Rule in Domesday Britain using the Little Domesday Book
• Relative Academic Pay
• The UK Car Market
• The development of nineteenth century banking
• Analysing the Income and Productive Impacts of Norman Rule in Domesday Britain using the Little Domesday Book
• Corporate Governance

Events in the Centre

In July 2011 CIBH hosted the Association of Business Historians (ABH) [please add web-link to: http://www.abh-net.org/] annual conference.

Each academic year CIBH organises a small number of workshops, designed to unite academic colleagues conducting research spanning the broad fields outlined above.

Doctoral research opportunities

CIBH would be interested in hearing from students interested in undertaking doctoral research in various areas of business history, in particular:

• The evolution of British retailing
• The development of consumer goods industries
• Household consumption and behaviour in historical perspective.
• The evolution of clusters/Industrial Districts in selected European countries
• Regional and national systems of innovation in historical perspective