Abstract
The connection between study of history and management education is tenuous. Scholarly output in business history is expanding in scope and by region. But business history remains marginalized in management curricula across the world. This is despite the fact that management scholars realize the benefits of history—a methodological warning against simplistic, linear thinking and a healthy dose of sceptical attitude towards received views. In this essay, we provide the history of the discipline as it strives to carve out its identity vis-à-vis its more established neighbouring disciplines such as history and economics. We also discuss the reasons for the marginalization of business history in management education. We note that business history has not struck its roots in academic institutions in India, nor has business historians in India developed professional associations to promote their cause as in USA, Europe and Japan. Despite this, scholarship in business history of India is thriving. Thus, there are greater opportunities now for teaching business history in management programmes in India. We look at institutional initiatives in teaching history in management programmes in India. We argue that in the Indian case, the study of business history has a special relevance due to the fact that Indian capitalism has a unique colonial origin and a distinctive post-colonial evolution.
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Notes
- 1.
“Of the president (2000–2001), president-elect, and thirteen immediate past presidents of the BHC [Business History Conference], five are in history departments, five are in schools of business, four are in economics departments, and one has a joint appointment in history and economics. Of the 411 members in the organization’s database whose professional affiliation could be identified, 30 % were in history departments, 22 % were in business schools, 18 % were in economics departments, 7 % were in departments or programs in business, technological, or economic history, and 23 % were in other departments, programs, or related occupations (including, for example, law, government agencies, and archives)” (Hausman 2003: 84).
- 2.
The compendia can be found and downloaded from their webpage on curriculum–http://www.hbs.edu/businesshistory/teaching/Pages/our-curriculum.aspx (last accessed 30 April, 2016).
- 3.
To be precise, business history has origins in Europe in the nineteenth century, though it was not known by that term.
- 4.
Donham was a graduate of Harvard Law School and he introduced case method of teaching at HBS.
- 5.
“The economic historian often takes his cue from the economist and therefore has no clear vision of the importance of the businessman, though he does play with the metaphysical concept of the entrepreneur” (Gras 1950: 8).
- 6.
See Gras and Larson (1939) which was used for teaching business history.
- 7.
Gras’s works were also motivated by his views on Roosevelt’s New Deal in the context of Great Depression and widespread popular critique of financial capitalists. According to him, “[i]n the long run, the New Deal would corrupt democracy and necessitate its abolition…In Germany and Italy the Jews have been the scapegoats and in America financial capitalists” (Gras 1939) quoted in Galambos 2003: 12). Galambos (2003) argues that “[to] a considerable extent, the second generation of business historians [following in Gras’s steps] ignored the problems of synthesis and was satisfied with developing correctives to the “progressive” analysis of businesspersons as robber barons” (Galambos 2003). The focus on what individual businessmen do as business administrators was essential to constructing a more positive image of businessmen.
- 8.
The intellectual fight between Edwin Gay and NSB Gras—both influenced by the German historical school of economics—was over the scope of the study of business history rather than on the methodology per say. While Gay was more in favour of a history of business that locates it within the broader evolutionary dynamics of the economy, Gras identified business history as the historical study of “business administration in action.”
- 9.
“Gras was pleased to instruct us, but he made it clear that there was only one way to write business history, his way…After our discussion I almost decided not to become a business historian. Fortunately, at that moment I was asked to participate in the Research Center for Entrepreneurial History, which Joseph Schumpeter and Arthur Cole had organized. …These years were intellectually the most stimulating in my life” (Chandler 1978: 2–3).
- 10.
Chandler’s analysis of strategy was appreciated by the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (2005). His works influenced the writings of New Institutional Economists like Oliver Williamson (1981, 1985). Chandler’s influence on management literature in general and strategy literature in particular has been enormous (Kipping and Uskiden 2008).
- 11.
Chandler’s primary orientation was sociological—being particularly influenced by the works of Talcott Parsons and Max Weber in particular. He felt that “Max Weber's single chapter on bureaucracy written before World War I had more useful information and a more significant approach to the problem of the growth of the large corporation than almost anything written in price theory” (Chandler (1968) quoted in McCraw 2008: Footnote 22, pp. 220–221). To the extent economics influenced Chandler’s works, the main influences on him were Joseph Schumpeter and Edith Penrose, both of whom worked outside the mainstream economic tradition.
- 12.
The U.S. Business History Conference is estimated to have 550 members and Business History Association of Japan 850 members in 2000 (Amatori and Jones 2003).
- 13.
- 14.
See Mayo and Nohria (2005) for the discussion of contextual intelligence and leadership.
- 15.
See Footnote 3.
- 16.
See the Guide to Courses in Business History Vol 2 (available at http://www.hbs.edu/businesshistory/Documents/BusHisCoursesVol2Web.pdf, last accessed April 30, 2016) and the Report on the conference “Business History in Africa, Asia, and Latin America: Integrating Course Development and New Research” held on June 13–14, 2014 (available at http://www.hbs.edu/businesshistory/Documents/Final_Conference_Report_11.14.pdf, last accessed April 30, 2016) at HBS. Both are outcomes of the Business History Initiative at HBS.
- 17.
For example, there is only one journal in the field—Journal of Entrepreneurship—brought out by Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India at Ahmedabad.
- 18.
The fact that scholars in general did not identify themselves as business historians did not stop them from doing research on business history and since the 1970s, at a brisk pace too, with significant contributions by liberal or leftist historians.
- 19.
See Introduction by Medha Kudasiya by in Kudaisya (2011).
- 20.
Tripathi (1971) argued for a “new line of inquiry” to understand Indian entrepreneurship, focusing on the “interaction of the ever-changing economic, political, and social environment on one hand, and personal influences of caste, family affiliation, nature and level of education, contact with and impact of the activities of others on individual decision-makers, on the other” (Tripathi 1971: M65). Tripathi also cautioned against a simplistic application of the Chandlerian framework to the Indian context (Kudaisya 2011).
- 21.
Lamb (1976) had noted that traditional Indian businessmen tend to keep company affairs out of public scrutiny.
- 22.
It is now called the Kasturbhai Lalbhai Chair Professor in Entrepreneurship, IIMA.
- 23.
See Appendix for course syllabus.
- 24.
The fact that Business History Review brought out a special issue called “Business, Networks and the State in India” in 2014 is evidence that research on business history of India has reached a certain stage of maturity.
- 25.
- 26.
For the institutional history of IIMC, see IIM Calcutta (2012).
- 27.
See Ramnath Aparajith in Friedman and, W.A. and Jones, G. (ed) Report on the conference “Business History in Africa, Asia, and Latin America: Integrating Course Development and New Research” held on June 13–14, 2014 (available at http://www.hbs.edu/businesshistory/Documents/Final_Conference_Report_11.14.pdf, last accessed April 30, 2016) at HBS.
- 28.
The syllabus for the course is in the report cited above in footnote 27.
- 29.
The students at the top business schools often come from the elite IITs—a fact which is, no doubt, partly explained by the lacklustre performance of the manufacturing sector in India, which forces students to opt for managerial jobs, even when after they receive coveted engineering degrees from the best engineering institutions in India.
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The author is grateful to Biju Paul Abraham for helpful comments on the draft version of the paper.
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Appendix: Outline of Elective Course on “Indian Business History,” IIM Calcutta, 2014–2015
Appendix: Outline of Elective Course on “Indian Business History,” IIM Calcutta, 2014–2015
Course Code and Name: [PPM 265] Indian Business History
Course Instructor: Rajesh Bhattacharya, Public Policy and Management Group
Course objectives:
Course Evaluation: There will be an midterm examination accounting for 40 % of the grade, a two-page response paper on any one of the readings on the reference list, accounting for 20 % of the grade and a presentation (individual or group, depending on the number of students enrolled in the class) at the end of the term on a topic of the students’ choice, approved by the course instructor and accounting for 40 % of the grade.
Topics and Reading List:
- Session I :
-
Introduction:
What is Business History? Lessons from History for Managers
- Session II :
-
Indian Businesses at the Time of Colonization:
Agriculture, Industry and Trade in the period of decline of Mughal Empire
Reference: Habib, I. “Potentialities of capitalistic development in the economy of Mughal India.” The Journal of Economic History 29.1 (1969): 32–78.
- Session III :
-
European Agency Firms and the Managing Agency System: Case Study—Carr and Tagore Company
Early colonial rule and the fate of indigenous merchants in different parts of India—origins of agency houses and their failure in Calcutta in early nineteenth century—maturation of the managing agency system.
Reading: Tripathi, D. and J. Jumani. The Concise Oxford History of India Business. Oxford University Press, New Delhi. 2007. PP. 20–36, 111–12
- Sessions IV–V :
-
The Rise and Maturation of Indian Industry in the Colonial Period: Case Studies—Scindia Shipping, Tata Steel, Swadeshi enterprises in Calcutta
The rise of Indian industry in Western India—profits from opium trade and the rise of cotton textile industry in the second half of the nineteenth century—British dominance of industry in Eastern India—Multinationals, Agency houses and rise of Marwari industrialists in Eastern India in the early twentieth century—the impact of two World Wars and the Great Depression on the rise of Indian industry—Swadeshi and Indian businesses.
Readings: Kudaisya, M. (ed) The Oxford India Anthology of Business History, Oxford University Press, New Delhi. 2011. PP. 225–234, 258–281
Goswami, Omkar.“Sahibs, Babus, and Banias: Changes in Industrial Control In Eastern India, 1918–50.” Journal of Asian Studies 48.2 (1989): 289–309.
- Session VI :
-
The Bazaar Economy:
Indigenous capital and the bazaar economy (between traditional subsistence economy and the modern European enclave economy)—traditional commission agencies (arhat) and financial instruments (hundi)—the contemporary relevance of the concept of the bazaar economy.
Reading: Ray, Rajat Kanta. “The bazaar: changing structural characteristics of the indigenous section of the Indian economy before and after the Great Depression.” Indian Economic and Social History Review 25.3 (1988): 263–318.
- Sessions VII–VIII :
-
Business Communities in the Colonial Period: Parsees, Marwaris and Nattukottai Chettiars
Reading: Kudaisya (2011): 122–130, 135–158
- Sessions IX :
-
Technology Adoption by Artisans in the Colonial Period:
Role of artisan-craftsman in industrial revolution in Britain—Case studies of slow and difficult adoption of new technology in colonial India in silk filature, cotton ginning and iron smelting—artisan resistance.
Reading: Bhattacharya, S. “Cultural and Social Constraints on Technological Innovation and Economic Development: Some Case Studies.” Indian Economic and Social History Review (1966) 3.3: 240–267
- Session X :
-
Private Business in National Plans in Independent India:
Independent India and the planning period—the conceptual division of the economy into sectors and the place of private industry in economic planning—growth of traditional big business groups during the Nehru era—conflict and collaboration between the Indian State and business groups.
Reading: Tripathi and Jumani (2007): 155–181
- Sessions XI :
-
License-Permit Regime and the Business Response: Case Studies—Birla, Ambani
The restrictions on private business in late 1960s through 1970s and business response—Aditya Birla Group and Multi-nationalization of Indian Business, Dhirubhai Ambani and the Stock Market—Expansion of the public sector
Reading: Kudaisya (2011): 381–405
- Session XII :
-
Capital Accumulation from Below: Case Study—Powerloom Sector
Development of capitalism from below—Indian textiles and garments industry—policies and evolution—the story of powerloom.
Reading: Roy, T. “Development or Distortion? ‘Powerlooms’ in India, 1950–1997.” Economic and Political Weekly 33.16 (1998): 897–911
- Sessions XIII–XIV :
-
Alternative Models of Business Success: Case Studies—Amul, Maruti and Tiruppur Knitwear Industry
Amul and the cooperative model—Maruti and the state-initiated revolution in the automobile market—industrial cluster in the Tiruppur area.
Readings: Bellur, V.V., et al. “The white revolution—How Amul brought milk to India.” Long Range Planning 23.6 (1990): 71–79.
Becker-Ritterspach, F. A.A, and J. C.E. Becker-Ritterspach. “The Development of India’s Small Car Path.” Management Online Review (2009): 1–20.
Cawthorne, P.M. “Of networks and markets: the rise and rise of a South Indian town, the example of Tiruppur’s cotton knitwear industry”, World Development 23.1(1995): 43–56
- Session XV :
-
Origin and Evolution of Indian Software Industry.
Reading: Khanna, T., and K. Palepu. “The evolution of concentrated ownership in India: broad patterns and a history of the Indian software industry.” in Morck, R.K., A history of corporate governance around the world: Family business groups to professional managers. University of Chicago Press, (2005). 283–324
- Session XVI :
-
Evolution of Indian Business Groups
The salience of family businesses—rise of new industrial elites—trends in industrial concentration.
Reading: Kedia, B.L., D. Mukherjee, and S. Lahiri. “Indian business groups: Evolution and transformation.” Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23.4 (2006): 559–577
- Session XVII :
-
Social Origins of India’s New Capitalists
Baazar-to-factory, office-to-factory, field-to-factory transitions—caste and entrepreneurship.
Readings: Iyer, L., T. Khanna and A. Varshney (2013): “Caste and Entrepreneurship in India”, Economic and Political Weekly, XLVIII(6): 52–60.
Damodaran, H. “India’s new capitalists: Caste, business, and industry in a Modern Nation.” South Asian Journal of Management (2011): 141
- Sessions XVIII–XIX :
-
Student Presentations
- Session X :
-
Summing Up: Contemporary Challenges to Businesses in India
Topics for Student Presentations in 2014–2015:
-
1.
E-Commerce Industry in India
-
2.
Public Sector Insurance Firms
-
3.
Dabur Company
-
4.
Indian Automobile Industry
-
5.
Garment Industry of Tiruppur
-
6.
Indian Software Industry
-
7.
Nattukottai Chattiars
-
8.
Economic Development and Democracy
-
9.
Microfinance Industry in India
-
10.
Crony Capitalism in India
-
11.
The House of Tatas
-
12.
Indian Industries and Labour Laws
-
13.
Fabindia
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Bhattacharya, R. (2017). Business History: Travails and Trajectories. In: Thakur, M., Babu, R. (eds) Management Education in India. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1696-7_12
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