Pierre-Yves Donzé
Biographic Data
| ID | 3847065 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Pierre-Yves Donzé |
| GIVEN NAMES | Pierre-Yves |
| FAMILY NAME | Donzé |
| SIGNATURE | DONZÉ P |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Osaka |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2854-5531 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 43 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 60 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 41 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
The internationalisation of Chinese apparel companies, 1990–2020
International human resource management and political risks: Nestlé in the Global South during the Cold War (1950–1980)
Swiss Multinationals versus the French Welfare State? The Social Security Deficit, European Integration, and the Battle for ‘Fair’ Drug Prices (1970–1990)
Drawing on corporate and business association archives, this contribution investigates how Swiss multinational enterprises from the pharmaceutical industry (Ciba, Geigy, Hoffmann-La Roche, Sandoz) navigated governments’ interventions in France to preserve their profitability. Our analysis shows how diplomatic talks were crucial for Swiss firms having to cope with rising inflation and the freezing of drug prices, as well as increased customs contr…
Japanese Capitalism and Entrepreneurship: A History of Business from the Tokugawa Era to the Present
This book explores the development of capitalism in Japan from the Edo period to the present. Highlighting some of the latest academic research in business, socio-economic, and cultural history, it offers novel perspectives on the development of modern Japan, particularly since the twentieth century. Accessible to a broad audience, this work provides insights into the evolution of Japanese capitalism over time as well as some of the individuals w…
Quand le management devient patrimoine: Défis et enjeux d’une muséalisation
Quand le management devient patrimoine: Défis et enjeux d’une muséalisation
Housewives and the Growth of the Japanese Electrical Appliance Industry, 1950–1990
This article challenges the prevailing narrative surrounding the Japanese manufacturing industry in the post-World War II era, which predominantly centers on large corporations and male engineers. It sheds light on the vital role played by Japanese housewives in shaping product innovation. It argues that the exclusion of consumers, particularly women, from existing industrial models carries a gendered dimension. By presenting Japanese housewives …
Banking elites and the transformation of capitalism in Switzerland: A prosopographic analysis (1890–2020)
Swiss capitalism has changed over time, adopting elements of the coordinated market economy and liberal market economy during specific historical periods. Taking the case of the Swiss banking sector, this article aims to demonstrate how these changes in structure also result in the transformation of the profiles of banking elites. Relying on a prosopography of 301 top bankers distributed among seven benchmark years (1890, 1910, 1937, 1957, 1980, …
Knowledge upgrade in the Chinese apparel industry, 1980–2020
This article investigates how Chinese apparel companies have been able to acquire and upgrade knowledge over the last four decades. Based on a broad range of published sources and official data, it identifies the dominant firms that enabled the industry’s dramatic expansion during two distinct phases: export oriented in 1980–2005 and domestic market oriented in 2005–2020. Using the global value chains model, we analyze the varieties of knowledge …
Factors, forms, modalities, limits and results of technology transfers to, between and from the emerging countries of the far east, south and south east asia
Cet article aborde la question de la présence des constructeurs automobiles chinois sur le marché russe. Sont analysés le positionnement et les difficultés que rencontrent les constructeurs chinois lors de leur entrée sur le marché russe. L’auteur examine le rôle des sanctions occidentales vis-à-vis de l’industrie automobile russe, notamment la manière dont les sanctions influencent la position des constructeurs chinois, sachant qu’officiellement…
Factors, forms, modalities, limits and results of technology transfers to, between and from the emerging countries of the Far East, South and South East Asia
Indigenization and the Long-Term Formation of Human Capital in Africa: The Airline Industry in East Africa Since 1946
This paper examines the Africanization of human resources in East Africa during the latter part of the twentieth century. Focusing on the case of the East African Airways Corporation (EAAC) and later Kenya Airways, we analyze the long-term development of staffing policy in these companies and the impact of the changing political and managerial environment (colonial rule, joint ownership by three independent states, Kenyan state-owned enterprise, …
Construire des hôpitaux fonctionnels dans les régions en voie d’industrialisation: Collaboration entre les organisations internationales et les entreprises privées (1930-1970)
Au cours de l’entre-deux-guerres, des médecins et architectes allemands et américains développent un nouveau type d’hôpital fondé sur les principes d’une gestion rationalisée des flux : l’hôpital fonctionnel. Cet article analyse les débuts de leur construction dans les régions en voie d’industrialisation (Amérique latine, Afrique et Asie de l’Est) entre les années 1930 et le début des années 1970. L’attention porte sur les rôles respectifs des or…
The Oxford Handbook of Luxury Business
This innovative volume brings together contributions from leading experts in the study of luxury to present the full range of perspectives on luxury business, from a variety of social science approaches. The handbook is organized in five parts following the general introduction: part I introduces the Conceptual Foundations and the Evolution of the Luxury Industry, with a focus on the historical development of luxury and luxury business. Part II d…
The Formation of a Technology-Based Fashion System, 1945–1990: The Sources of the Lost Competitiveness of Japanese Apparel Companies
Over the past two decades, the Japanese apparel industry has lost its competitiveness after experiencing a period of fast growth from the postwar years to the early 1990s. In international literature in social sciences, most scholars offer ethnic-based explanations of fashion in Japan, stressing some specificities such as street fashion or star designers in Paris. This article, however, argues that such views are biased and cannot explain the cur…
The Advantage of Being Swiss: Nestlé and Political Risk in Asia during the Early Cold War, 1945–1970
Multinational enterprises faced new political risks after World War II in the context of decolonization and the Cold War. The risks were particularly high in Asia between 1945 and 1970. Although the relevant literature has focused essentially on organizational innovation and strategic choices in explaining how firms dealt with these new political risks, this article explores the informal roles that governments of small, neutral countries played i…
The transformation of global luxury brands: The case of the Swiss watch company Longines, 1880–2010
This article discusses the transformation of global brands between the 1880s and the early twenty-first century, through the example of the Swiss watch company Longines. It shows that the concept of ‘global brand’ changed over time and was related to the nature of the product. Until the 1970s, luxury was linked to precision. Manufacturers focused on the production of movements and adapted the design of end products to each market. Yet the paradig…
Global competition and cooperation in the electronics industry: The case of X-ray equipment, 1900–1970
The electronics industry is often regarded by scholars as an example of a sector driven by endless technological innovation and major competition between a few large companies, thus embodying the common view whereby the free market leads firms to innovate. On the other hand, some business historians have also emphasised that, since the beginning of the twentieth century, most of these companies were engaged in various international cartel agreeme…
Storytelling and the making of a global luxury fashion brand: Christian Dior
This article discusses the storytelling strategies adopted by luxury fashion companies to build global brands from the 1990s onwards. Using the example of Christian Dior, it is demonstrated that heritage is a social construction based on strong narratives rather than the mere outcome of the history of a brand. Storytelling is a powerful instrument used in the context of creating global luxury brands over the last two decades. This makes it possib…
Health Industries in the Twentieth Century
This article is the introduction to the special issue’ Health Industries in the Twentieth Century’. It offers a broad literature review of scholarly works about the history of health and medicine, and stresses the opportunities for business historians to tackle the field of healthcare
Architects and knowledge transfer in hospital systems: The introduction of Western hospital designs in Japan (1918–1970)
This article addresses hospitals as medical technology in itself and discusses the evolution of hospital design. As a case study, it focuses on Japan from 1918 to 1970. Hospital systems in this country experienced a major shift between the prewar and postwar periods. While the prewar period was characterised by the domination of numerous private small hospitals in urban areas, the postwar reconstruction was based on the extension of large public …
Global Luxury
Varieties of capitalism and the corporate use of history: The Japanese experience
Scholarly works on rhetorical history have inspired the production of an extensive body of research on how firms use history. However, the existing research is based on the experience of firms in a handful of Western countries. Our mixed-methods paper examines the use of history by Japanese firms so that we can see how history is used in a very different institutional and cultural context. The paper operationalizes the comparative capitalism appr…
National labels and the competitiveness of European industries: The example of the ‘Swiss Made’ law since 1950
This article discusses the impact of country-of-origin labels on the global competitiveness of European industries during the second half of the twentieth century. It considers ‘made-in’ labels as institutional innovations and demonstrates their role in maintaining manufacturing activities in high-wage economies. To facilitate a more detailed inquiry into the topic, the paper uses a case study of the Swiss watch industry. Swiss watch companies be…
Fashion watches: The emergence of accessory makers as intermediaries in the fashion system
The objective of this article is to analyse the historical conditions of the emergence of accessory makers as intermediaries in the fashion system, with the example of the watch company Fossil Inc. More specifically, it sheds light on the twofold evolution of watchmaking (towards global value chains centred on Hong Kong) and of the fashion industries (towards the need to enlarge profits through accessorization), which has led to an increase of ne…
Nestlé coping with Japanese nationalism: Political risk and the strategy of a foreign multinational enterprise in Japan, 1913–45
This paper focuses on the strategy adopted by the MNE Nestlé in Japan between the establishment of a branch at Yokohama in 1913 and the end of World War II. It highlights the difficulties encountered by the firm in its attempts to open up and operate production facilities due to strong opposition from local condensed milk makers, supported by the state. Eventually, in 1934, Nestlé opened a factory by founding an incorporated company, ARKK, all of…
Varieties of capitalism and the corporate use of history: The Japanese experience
Scholarly works on rhetorical history have inspired the production of an extensive body of research on how firms use history. However, the existing research is based on the experience of firms in a handful of Western countries. Our mixed-methods paper examines the use of history by Japanese firms so that we can see how history is used in a very different institutional and cultural context. The paper operationalizes the comparative capitalism appr…
Siemens and the Construction of Hospitals in Latin America, 1949–1964
This article focuses on the construction of turnkey hospitals in Latin America by the German electromedical equipment maker Siemens-Reiniger-Werke (SRW) in the 1950s and 1960s. After World War II, SRW was unable to return to the overseas markets it had lost during the war through only the export of goods. Hospital construction was thus a way to reenter these markets, offering local governments a new form of service and product: a German hospital.…
European luxury big business and emerging Asian markets, 1960–2010
This article tackles the transformation of the European luxury business since the 1960s, through the examples of the French fashion industry and the Swiss watch business. It argues that emerging Asian markets, that is, Japan between the 1960s and the 1990s and subsequently China since 2000, have played a key role in this process as the major outlets. It examines the strategies adopted to access East Asia markets and how they were affected by the …
Banking elites and the transformation of capitalism in Switzerland: A prosopographic analysis (1890–2020)
Swiss capitalism has changed over time, adopting elements of the coordinated market economy and liberal market economy during specific historical periods. Taking the case of the Swiss banking sector, this article aims to demonstrate how these changes in structure also result in the transformation of the profiles of banking elites. Relying on a prosopography of 301 top bankers distributed among seven benchmark years (1890, 1910, 1937, 1957, 1980, …
Siemens and the Business of Medicine in Japan, 1900–1945
This article focuses on the involvement of Siemens in the market for radiology equipment in Japan between 1900 and 1945. It explores why the German multinational company was unable to keep its dominant position in the Japanese market in the interwar years despite its technological competitiveness. At this time the Japanese medical market was already well structured when the country opened up to the West. In particular, it examines the firm's stra…
Switzerland and the industrialisation of Japan: Swiss direct investments and technology transfers to Japan during the twentieth century
After the United States, Switzerland was one of the main sources of FDI to Japan in the twentieth century. Swiss multinationals that have invested there have three characteristics in common. First of all, they take a long-term perspective. The main companies present at the beginning of the twentieth century (Brown Boveri, Ciba, Nestlé, Sandoz, Sulzer) were still some of the largest Swiss companies in Japan at the end of the century. Second, they …
Indigenization and the Long-Term Formation of Human Capital in Africa: The Airline Industry in East Africa Since 1946
This paper examines the Africanization of human resources in East Africa during the latter part of the twentieth century. Focusing on the case of the East African Airways Corporation (EAAC) and later Kenya Airways, we analyze the long-term development of staffing policy in these companies and the impact of the changing political and managerial environment (colonial rule, joint ownership by three independent states, Kenyan state-owned enterprise, …
The Advantage of Being Swiss: Nestlé and Political Risk in Asia during the Early Cold War, 1945–1970
Multinational enterprises faced new political risks after World War II in the context of decolonization and the Cold War. The risks were particularly high in Asia between 1945 and 1970. Although the relevant literature has focused essentially on organizational innovation and strategic choices in explaining how firms dealt with these new political risks, this article explores the informal roles that governments of small, neutral countries played i…
Health Industries in the Twentieth Century
This article is the introduction to the special issue’ Health Industries in the Twentieth Century’. It offers a broad literature review of scholarly works about the history of health and medicine, and stresses the opportunities for business historians to tackle the field of healthcare
Multinational Enterprises and the Globalization of Medicine: Siemens and the Business of X-ray Equipment in Non-Western Markets, 1900–1939
Whereas the globalization of medicine since the middle of the 19th century has primarily been approached as the sociopolitical and cultural outcome of imperialism, this article argues that Western big business also played a major role through the worldwide export of standardized medical technologies. It focuses on the expansion of Siemens on the X-ray equipment market in non-Western countries during the first half of the twentieth century. This G…
International human resource management and political risks: Nestlé in the Global South during the Cold War (1950–1980)
Swiss Multinationals versus the French Welfare State? The Social Security Deficit, European Integration, and the Battle for ‘Fair’ Drug Prices (1970–1990)
Drawing on corporate and business association archives, this contribution investigates how Swiss multinational enterprises from the pharmaceutical industry (Ciba, Geigy, Hoffmann-La Roche, Sandoz) navigated governments’ interventions in France to preserve their profitability. Our analysis shows how diplomatic talks were crucial for Swiss firms having to cope with rising inflation and the freezing of drug prices, as well as increased customs contr…
Quand le management devient patrimoine: Défis et enjeux d’une muséalisation
Housewives and the Growth of the Japanese Electrical Appliance Industry, 1950–1990
This article challenges the prevailing narrative surrounding the Japanese manufacturing industry in the post-World War II era, which predominantly centers on large corporations and male engineers. It sheds light on the vital role played by Japanese housewives in shaping product innovation. It argues that the exclusion of consumers, particularly women, from existing industrial models carries a gendered dimension. By presenting Japanese housewives …
Knowledge upgrade in the Chinese apparel industry, 1980–2020
This article investigates how Chinese apparel companies have been able to acquire and upgrade knowledge over the last four decades. Based on a broad range of published sources and official data, it identifies the dominant firms that enabled the industry’s dramatic expansion during two distinct phases: export oriented in 1980–2005 and domestic market oriented in 2005–2020. Using the global value chains model, we analyze the varieties of knowledge …
Storytelling and the making of a global luxury fashion brand: Christian Dior
This article discusses the storytelling strategies adopted by luxury fashion companies to build global brands from the 1990s onwards. Using the example of Christian Dior, it is demonstrated that heritage is a social construction based on strong narratives rather than the mere outcome of the history of a brand. Storytelling is a powerful instrument used in the context of creating global luxury brands over the last two decades. This makes it possib…
Studies Abroad by Japanese Doctors: A Prosopographic Analysis of the Nameless Practitioners, 1862-1912
Journal Article Studies Abroad by Japanese Doctors: A Prosopographic Analysis of the Nameless Practitioners, 1862–1912 Get access Pierre-Yves Donzé Pierre-Yves Donzé * *Kyoto University, Faculty of Economics, Yoshida-honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606–8501, Japan. E-mail: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Social History of Medicine, Volume 23, Issue 2, August 2010, Pages 244–260, https:…
Des importateurs suisses de Yokohama aux fabricants d'horlogerie japonais: Le marché de la montre dans le Japon de Meiji, 1868-1912
L'évolution du marché de la montre dans le Japon de l'époque Meiji (1868-1912) est emblématique du double processus de modernisation, fait d'industrialisation et d'acculturation, qui touche l'archipel nippon durant la seconde partie du XIX e siècle. Dans un premier temps, au cours des années 1870 et 1880, on a affaire à un marché de niche dominé par quelques importateurs suisses établis à Yokohama. La montre est un objet de luxe qui se collection…
Culture technique et enseignement professionnel dans les écoles d’horlogerie suisses (1850-1920)
Dans le dernier quart du XIXe siècle, les écoles d’horlogerie suisses sont réorganisées afin de rendre l’enseignement prodigué compatible avec les nouveaux besoins de l’industrie, qui connaît alors une profonde mutation caractérisée par la mécanisation des modes de production. La modernisation des écoles d’horlogerie n’est toutefois pas sans poser un certain nombre de problèmes. Plusieurs établissements fondés au milieu du XIXe siècle sont attach…
The Hybrid Production System and the Birth of the Japanese Specialized Industry: Watch Production at Hattori & Co. (1900–1960)
This paper analyzes the emergence of Japanese specialized industry, taking the production of Seiko watches at Hattori & Co. in the first half of the twentieth century as an example. It shows that the competitiveness of this industry, which established itself on the world market during the 1960s, was due to a process of technological hybridization between the American mass production system and the Swiss specialized production system. Starting in …
Studies Abroad by Japanese Doctors: A Prosopographic Analysis of the Nameless Practitioners, 1862-1912
Journal Article Studies Abroad by Japanese Doctors: A Prosopographic Analysis of the Nameless Practitioners, 1862–1912 Get access Pierre-Yves Donzé Pierre-Yves Donzé * *Kyoto University, Faculty of Economics, Yoshida-honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606–8501, Japan. E-mail: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Social History of Medicine, Volume 23, Issue 2, August 2010, Pages 244–260, https:…
Switzerland and the industrialisation of Japan: Swiss direct investments and technology transfers to Japan during the twentieth century
After the United States, Switzerland was one of the main sources of FDI to Japan in the twentieth century. Swiss multinationals that have invested there have three characteristics in common. First of all, they take a long-term perspective. The main companies present at the beginning of the twentieth century (Brown Boveri, Ciba, Nestlé, Sandoz, Sulzer) were still some of the largest Swiss companies in Japan at the end of the century. Second, they …
Des importateurs suisses de Yokohama aux fabricants d'horlogerie japonais: Le marché de la montre dans le Japon de Meiji, 1868-1912
L'évolution du marché de la montre dans le Japon de l'époque Meiji (1868-1912) est emblématique du double processus de modernisation, fait d'industrialisation et d'acculturation, qui touche l'archipel nippon durant la seconde partie du XIX e siècle. Dans un premier temps, au cours des années 1870 et 1880, on a affaire à un marché de niche dominé par quelques importateurs suisses établis à Yokohama. La montre est un objet de luxe qui se collection…
Siemens and the Business of Medicine in Japan, 1900–1945
This article focuses on the involvement of Siemens in the market for radiology equipment in Japan between 1900 and 1945. It explores why the German multinational company was unable to keep its dominant position in the Japanese market in the interwar years despite its technological competitiveness. At this time the Japanese medical market was already well structured when the country opened up to the West. In particular, it examines the firm's stra…
Nestlé coping with Japanese nationalism: Political risk and the strategy of a foreign multinational enterprise in Japan, 1913–45
This paper focuses on the strategy adopted by the MNE Nestlé in Japan between the establishment of a branch at Yokohama in 1913 and the end of World War II. It highlights the difficulties encountered by the firm in its attempts to open up and operate production facilities due to strong opposition from local condensed milk makers, supported by the state. Eventually, in 1934, Nestlé opened a factory by founding an incorporated company, ARKK, all of…
Canon catching up with Germany: The mass production of «Japanese Leica» cameras (1933 until 1970)
Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte (ZUG) wird von der Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte e.V. (GUG) herausgegeben. Die Beiträge zu diesem zweimal jährlich erscheinenden wissenschaftlich anerkannten Fachjournal durchlaufen ein anonymisiertes Gutachterverfahren.
Kindai Nihon no kenkyu kaihatsu taisei 近代日本の研究開発体制 [ The National Innovation System of Modern Japan ]: Review: Kindai Nihon no kenkyu kaihatsu taisei
Multinational Enterprises and the Globalization of Medicine: Siemens and the Business of X-ray Equipment in Non-Western Markets, 1900–1939
Whereas the globalization of medicine since the middle of the 19th century has primarily been approached as the sociopolitical and cultural outcome of imperialism, this article argues that Western big business also played a major role through the worldwide export of standardized medical technologies. It focuses on the expansion of Siemens on the X-ray equipment market in non-Western countries during the first half of the twentieth century. This G…
Les territoires mouvants de la production de montres japonaises: Le groupe Seiko au cours du XX e siècle
Le groupe Seiko, la plus grande entreprise horlogère japonaise, a connu au cours du XX e siècle trois grands modes d’organisation territoriale de son système de production. La fabrication de montres a été successivement réalisée au sein du cluster urbain de la petite mécanique, à Tokyo (1895-1940), du district industriel de Nagano (1940-1985) et d’un système transnational de production en Asie de l’Est et du Sud-est (depuis 1985). Cet article pré…
The Beginnings of the J apanese Medical Instruments Industry and the Adaptation of Western Medicine to J apan, 1880–1937
This article focuses on the development of the J apanese medical instrument industry from the 1880s to the beginning of the war against C hina (1937). It argues that the growth of this industry relied on the adaptation of W estern technologies to the Japanese environment. The article focuses on the learning processes adopted by J apanese entrepreneurs, revealing a major difference between small enterprises, engaged in innovation based on reverse …
Siemens and the Construction of Hospitals in Latin America, 1949–1964
This article focuses on the construction of turnkey hospitals in Latin America by the German electromedical equipment maker Siemens-Reiniger-Werke (SRW) in the 1950s and 1960s. After World War II, SRW was unable to return to the overseas markets it had lost during the war through only the export of goods. Hospital construction was thus a way to reenter these markets, offering local governments a new form of service and product: a German hospital.…
European luxury big business and emerging Asian markets, 1960–2010
This article tackles the transformation of the European luxury business since the 1960s, through the examples of the French fashion industry and the Swiss watch business. It argues that emerging Asian markets, that is, Japan between the 1960s and the 1990s and subsequently China since 2000, have played a key role in this process as the major outlets. It examines the strategies adopted to access East Asia markets and how they were affected by the …
Comparing post-war Japanese and Finnish economies and societies: Longitudinal perspectives
Les origines militaires du « miracle économique » japonais: L’essor technologique de Canon et de Seiko des années 1930 aux années 1960
Que doit le décollage prodigieux de l’industrie japonaise de l’après-1945 aux efforts d’innovation suscités par la Seconde Guerre mondiale ? À travers l’étude de deux fameuses entreprises des secteurs de la photographie et de l’horlogerie, cet article met en avant le rôle décisif joué par les spécialistes de l’ingénierie de process issus de l’industrie de l’armement et des arsenaux. Rapidement redéployés vers les industries de biens de consommati…
Les récentes évolutions économiques, commerciales et politiques du Japon vues d’Europe
International audience
Fashion watches: The emergence of accessory makers as intermediaries in the fashion system
The objective of this article is to analyse the historical conditions of the emergence of accessory makers as intermediaries in the fashion system, with the example of the watch company Fossil Inc. More specifically, it sheds light on the twofold evolution of watchmaking (towards global value chains centred on Hong Kong) and of the fashion industries (towards the need to enlarge profits through accessorization), which has led to an increase of ne…
La R&D dans l'horlogerie électronique japonaise et suisse de 1960 à 1980: Une analyse comparative de Seiko et de Longines
La conception et la production de montres à quartz ont été un enjeu technologique essentiel qui a permis aux entreprises horlogères japonaises de renforcer leur position sur le marché mondial et d'y mettre en cause la position de domination jusque-là exercée par la Suisse. L'analyse comparative des activités de recherche-développement (R&D) au sein des sociétés Seiko (Japon) et Longines (Suisse), deux promoteurs de l'horlogerie électronique dans …
Global Luxury
Varieties of capitalism and the corporate use of history: The Japanese experience
Scholarly works on rhetorical history have inspired the production of an extensive body of research on how firms use history. However, the existing research is based on the experience of firms in a handful of Western countries. Our mixed-methods paper examines the use of history by Japanese firms so that we can see how history is used in a very different institutional and cultural context. The paper operationalizes the comparative capitalism appr…
National labels and the competitiveness of European industries: The example of the ‘Swiss Made’ law since 1950
This article discusses the impact of country-of-origin labels on the global competitiveness of European industries during the second half of the twentieth century. It considers ‘made-in’ labels as institutional innovations and demonstrates their role in maintaining manufacturing activities in high-wage economies. To facilitate a more detailed inquiry into the topic, the paper uses a case study of the Swiss watch industry. Swiss watch companies be…
Global competition and cooperation in the electronics industry: The case of X-ray equipment, 1900–1970
The electronics industry is often regarded by scholars as an example of a sector driven by endless technological innovation and major competition between a few large companies, thus embodying the common view whereby the free market leads firms to innovate. On the other hand, some business historians have also emphasised that, since the beginning of the twentieth century, most of these companies were engaged in various international cartel agreeme…
Storytelling and the making of a global luxury fashion brand: Christian Dior
This article discusses the storytelling strategies adopted by luxury fashion companies to build global brands from the 1990s onwards. Using the example of Christian Dior, it is demonstrated that heritage is a social construction based on strong narratives rather than the mere outcome of the history of a brand. Storytelling is a powerful instrument used in the context of creating global luxury brands over the last two decades. This makes it possib…
Health Industries in the Twentieth Century
This article is the introduction to the special issue’ Health Industries in the Twentieth Century’. It offers a broad literature review of scholarly works about the history of health and medicine, and stresses the opportunities for business historians to tackle the field of healthcare
Political science (29 works) · Economics (21 works) · Business (18 works) · Economy (12 works) · Art (11 works) · History (10 works) · Law (10 works) · Law (10 works) · History (9 works) · International trade (9 works)