Christopher Kobrak
Biographic Data
| ID | 5244641 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Christopher Kobrak |
| GIVEN NAMES | Christopher |
| FAMILY NAME | Kobrak |
| SIGNATURE | KOBRAK C |
| AFFILIATIONS | ESCP Business School |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 76 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
The Concept of Reputation in Business History
Historical narratives have enriched, and can even do more to enhance, the concept of corporate reputation by deepening our understanding of how reputation changes over time and among different stakeholders. This literature review highlights this theme of reputation for two audiences—business historians and corporate reputation theorists. By showing how different social and political contexts shape expectations for business behavior, historical st…
The ‘2008 Crisis’ in an economic history perspective
This introduction sets the articles in this special issue into their historical context and explores some of the definitional problems associated with discussions of financial and economic crises. It highlights some of the unifying themes and wider lessons of the papers found in the issue and makes the case for greater historical understanding of crises while outlining the limits of historical analogy
Varieties of business history
This paper deals with different approaches to business history. It argues that conflicting choices about methodology and subject can enrich a discipline, but that some of the current disputes among business historians produce unnecessary opportunity costs and block a more integrated understanding of how firms function in their larger social, political and economic contexts. The paper provides examples of how the separation in the field works agai…
Family Finance
As Mira Wilkins has argued, there is a curious disconnect between business and financial history (Wilkins 2004). Whereas business history literature has rediscovered the importance of family business in many countries and in many sectors of contemporary commercial life, for example, little has been written about family banking as an alternative to joint-stock, management-run financial institutions. This lacuna is odd for many reasons. First, fami…
The Use and Abuse of History as a Management Tool
This short essay elaborates on two points raised by Eric Godelier's article about resolving divisions between management science and business history in France. It outlines the segmentation of French higher education, especially in the area of business studies, and discusses some long-standing debates over legitimizing historical studies
The Politics of Globalization
Cet article expose les difficultés entre l’Allemagne et les Etats-Unis provoquées par le refus américain de rembourser ou de dédommager les particuliers et les institutions pour des biens saisis durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Si l’on considère le rôle de la Deutsche Bank – particulièrement celui des instances dirigeantes de la banque – dans les négociations engagées, cela permet de mettre en lumière la faillite des institutions, des attitudes…
Diverging Paths
American and German accountancy took different paths in the early part of the twentieth century. In Germany, a persistent disconnect arose between relatively sophisticated managerial accounting practices for insiders and the methods used in public financial accounting. The “equity revolution” America experienced—an enormous shift in the number and expectations of shareholders—prompted new demands for financial statements designed to help evaluate…
International investment and Nazi politics
This article deals with the relationship between business and government during the Third Reich in making policy toward attempts by German companies to protect their foreign assets. In contrast to the widely held view of many professional historians and journalists, we argue that business engaged in these efforts largely without governmental assistance, indeed often in the face of resistance from the regime, since for the most part companies set …
European Business, Dictatorship, and Political Risk, 1920-1945
Preface I. Introductory Essays 1. Business, Political Risk and Historians in the Twentieth Century, Christopher Kobrak, Per H. Hansen and Christopher Kopper 2. Multinationals and Dictatorship: Europe in the 1930s and early 1940s, Mira Wilkins II. Authoritarian Regimes as Competitive Advantage and Liability 3. Competition and Collaboration among the Axis Multinational Insurers: Munich Re, Generali, and Riunione Adriatica, 1933 - 1943, Gerald D. Fe…
European Business, Dictatorship, and Political Risk, 1920-1945
For much of the twentieth century, the prevalence of dictatorial regimes has left business, especially multinational firms, with a series of complex and for the most part unwelcome choices. This volume, which includes essays by noted American and European scholars such as Mira Wilkins, Gerald Feldman, Peter Hayes, and Wilfried Feldenkirchen, sets business activity in its political and social context and describes some of the strategic and tactica…
National Cultures and International Competition. The Experience of Schering AG, 1851-1950
Christopher Kobrak has written an ambitious work that attempts to combine narrative business history with a deep overall assessment of German business culture.While he is only partially successful, his book is well worth reading, as a biting indictment of the German way of doing business.Kobrak argues that the German model of "cooperative capitalism," which can be called more accurately the "commonweal economy," is counterproductive.[1] He is cor…
The Foreign-Exchange Dimension of Corporate Control in the Third Reich
This article argues that foreign-exchange transactions were one of the most effective forms of leverage that the Nazi regime had for controlling German business. Using the example of Schering AG, the article traces some of the mechanisms of control and shows how important these transactions were to international firms such as Schering. It further argues that corporate resistance to Nazi efforts to control international German firms was hardly an …
Politics, Corporate Governance, and the Dynamics of German Managerial Innovation
Conflicting interpretations of the evolution of German business between the two world wars and of Germany's corporate governance during the Third Reich are examined in this article. Alfred Chandler's view that major corporate changes emanated from managerial initiatives is contrasted with Harold James's interpretation that public and government pressures forced innovations on business. In support of James's analysis, I argue that state and politi…
Nationalism and Internationalism in Corporate Governance
Les auteurs décrivent les éléments déterminant le gouvernement d’entreprise allemand et cherchent à expliquer comment celui-ci a tout à la fois favorisé et gêné le développement de Daimler-Benz. Les auteurs nous montrent aussi que les différences existant entre le modèle allemand et américain représentent le plus grand défi de la fusion entre Daimler et Chrysler
Introductory Remarks
Cette introduction regroupe trois thèmes. Le premier cherche à montrer que l’analyse historique pourrait jouer un plus grand rôle pour la compréhension des théories de gestion. Une explication est alors recherchée pour comprendre la faiblesse des relations qui unit ces thèmes. Le second point explique l’importance du gouvernement d’entreprise pour les chercheurs en gestion et montre comment l’histoire peut apporter un regard nouveau sur un sujet …
Diverging Paths
American and German accountancy took different paths in the early part of the twentieth century. In Germany, a persistent disconnect arose between relatively sophisticated managerial accounting practices for insiders and the methods used in public financial accounting. The “equity revolution” America experienced—an enormous shift in the number and expectations of shareholders—prompted new demands for financial statements designed to help evaluate…
Varieties of business history
This paper deals with different approaches to business history. It argues that conflicting choices about methodology and subject can enrich a discipline, but that some of the current disputes among business historians produce unnecessary opportunity costs and block a more integrated understanding of how firms function in their larger social, political and economic contexts. The paper provides examples of how the separation in the field works agai…
National Cultures and International Competition. The Experience of Schering AG, 1851-1950
Christopher Kobrak has written an ambitious work that attempts to combine narrative business history with a deep overall assessment of German business culture.While he is only partially successful, his book is well worth reading, as a biting indictment of the German way of doing business.Kobrak argues that the German model of "cooperative capitalism," which can be called more accurately the "commonweal economy," is counterproductive.[1] He is cor…
International investment and Nazi politics
This article deals with the relationship between business and government during the Third Reich in making policy toward attempts by German companies to protect their foreign assets. In contrast to the widely held view of many professional historians and journalists, we argue that business engaged in these efforts largely without governmental assistance, indeed often in the face of resistance from the regime, since for the most part companies set …
The Concept of Reputation in Business History
Historical narratives have enriched, and can even do more to enhance, the concept of corporate reputation by deepening our understanding of how reputation changes over time and among different stakeholders. This literature review highlights this theme of reputation for two audiences—business historians and corporate reputation theorists. By showing how different social and political contexts shape expectations for business behavior, historical st…
The ‘2008 Crisis’ in an economic history perspective
This introduction sets the articles in this special issue into their historical context and explores some of the definitional problems associated with discussions of financial and economic crises. It highlights some of the unifying themes and wider lessons of the papers found in the issue and makes the case for greater historical understanding of crises while outlining the limits of historical analogy
Family Finance
As Mira Wilkins has argued, there is a curious disconnect between business and financial history (Wilkins 2004). Whereas business history literature has rediscovered the importance of family business in many countries and in many sectors of contemporary commercial life, for example, little has been written about family banking as an alternative to joint-stock, management-run financial institutions. This lacuna is odd for many reasons. First, fami…
Politics, Corporate Governance, and the Dynamics of German Managerial Innovation
Conflicting interpretations of the evolution of German business between the two world wars and of Germany's corporate governance during the Third Reich are examined in this article. Alfred Chandler's view that major corporate changes emanated from managerial initiatives is contrasted with Harold James's interpretation that public and government pressures forced innovations on business. In support of James's analysis, I argue that state and politi…
The Politics of Globalization
Cet article expose les difficultés entre l’Allemagne et les Etats-Unis provoquées par le refus américain de rembourser ou de dédommager les particuliers et les institutions pour des biens saisis durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Si l’on considère le rôle de la Deutsche Bank – particulièrement celui des instances dirigeantes de la banque – dans les négociations engagées, cela permet de mettre en lumière la faillite des institutions, des attitudes…
Nationalism and Internationalism in Corporate Governance
Les auteurs décrivent les éléments déterminant le gouvernement d’entreprise allemand et cherchent à expliquer comment celui-ci a tout à la fois favorisé et gêné le développement de Daimler-Benz. Les auteurs nous montrent aussi que les différences existant entre le modèle allemand et américain représentent le plus grand défi de la fusion entre Daimler et Chrysler
The Foreign-Exchange Dimension of Corporate Control in the Third Reich
This article argues that foreign-exchange transactions were one of the most effective forms of leverage that the Nazi regime had for controlling German business. Using the example of Schering AG, the article traces some of the mechanisms of control and shows how important these transactions were to international firms such as Schering. It further argues that corporate resistance to Nazi efforts to control international German firms was hardly an …
Nationalism and Internationalism in Corporate Governance
Les auteurs décrivent les éléments déterminant le gouvernement d’entreprise allemand et cherchent à expliquer comment celui-ci a tout à la fois favorisé et gêné le développement de Daimler-Benz. Les auteurs nous montrent aussi que les différences existant entre le modèle allemand et américain représentent le plus grand défi de la fusion entre Daimler et Chrysler
Introductory Remarks
Cette introduction regroupe trois thèmes. Le premier cherche à montrer que l’analyse historique pourrait jouer un plus grand rôle pour la compréhension des théories de gestion. Une explication est alors recherchée pour comprendre la faiblesse des relations qui unit ces thèmes. Le second point explique l’importance du gouvernement d’entreprise pour les chercheurs en gestion et montre comment l’histoire peut apporter un regard nouveau sur un sujet …
Politics, Corporate Governance, and the Dynamics of German Managerial Innovation
Conflicting interpretations of the evolution of German business between the two world wars and of Germany's corporate governance during the Third Reich are examined in this article. Alfred Chandler's view that major corporate changes emanated from managerial initiatives is contrasted with Harold James's interpretation that public and government pressures forced innovations on business. In support of James's analysis, I argue that state and politi…
The Foreign-Exchange Dimension of Corporate Control in the Third Reich
This article argues that foreign-exchange transactions were one of the most effective forms of leverage that the Nazi regime had for controlling German business. Using the example of Schering AG, the article traces some of the mechanisms of control and shows how important these transactions were to international firms such as Schering. It further argues that corporate resistance to Nazi efforts to control international German firms was hardly an …
European Business, Dictatorship, and Political Risk, 1920-1945
Preface I. Introductory Essays 1. Business, Political Risk and Historians in the Twentieth Century, Christopher Kobrak, Per H. Hansen and Christopher Kopper 2. Multinationals and Dictatorship: Europe in the 1930s and early 1940s, Mira Wilkins II. Authoritarian Regimes as Competitive Advantage and Liability 3. Competition and Collaboration among the Axis Multinational Insurers: Munich Re, Generali, and Riunione Adriatica, 1933 - 1943, Gerald D. Fe…
European Business, Dictatorship, and Political Risk, 1920-1945
For much of the twentieth century, the prevalence of dictatorial regimes has left business, especially multinational firms, with a series of complex and for the most part unwelcome choices. This volume, which includes essays by noted American and European scholars such as Mira Wilkins, Gerald Feldman, Peter Hayes, and Wilfried Feldenkirchen, sets business activity in its political and social context and describes some of the strategic and tactica…
National Cultures and International Competition. The Experience of Schering AG, 1851-1950
Christopher Kobrak has written an ambitious work that attempts to combine narrative business history with a deep overall assessment of German business culture.While he is only partially successful, his book is well worth reading, as a biting indictment of the German way of doing business.Kobrak argues that the German model of "cooperative capitalism," which can be called more accurately the "commonweal economy," is counterproductive.[1] He is cor…
Diverging Paths
American and German accountancy took different paths in the early part of the twentieth century. In Germany, a persistent disconnect arose between relatively sophisticated managerial accounting practices for insiders and the methods used in public financial accounting. The “equity revolution” America experienced—an enormous shift in the number and expectations of shareholders—prompted new demands for financial statements designed to help evaluate…
International investment and Nazi politics
This article deals with the relationship between business and government during the Third Reich in making policy toward attempts by German companies to protect their foreign assets. In contrast to the widely held view of many professional historians and journalists, we argue that business engaged in these efforts largely without governmental assistance, indeed often in the face of resistance from the regime, since for the most part companies set …
The Politics of Globalization
Cet article expose les difficultés entre l’Allemagne et les Etats-Unis provoquées par le refus américain de rembourser ou de dédommager les particuliers et les institutions pour des biens saisis durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Si l’on considère le rôle de la Deutsche Bank – particulièrement celui des instances dirigeantes de la banque – dans les négociations engagées, cela permet de mettre en lumière la faillite des institutions, des attitudes…
Family Finance
As Mira Wilkins has argued, there is a curious disconnect between business and financial history (Wilkins 2004). Whereas business history literature has rediscovered the importance of family business in many countries and in many sectors of contemporary commercial life, for example, little has been written about family banking as an alternative to joint-stock, management-run financial institutions. This lacuna is odd for many reasons. First, fami…
The Use and Abuse of History as a Management Tool
This short essay elaborates on two points raised by Eric Godelier's article about resolving divisions between management science and business history in France. It outlines the segmentation of French higher education, especially in the area of business studies, and discusses some long-standing debates over legitimizing historical studies
The ‘2008 Crisis’ in an economic history perspective
This introduction sets the articles in this special issue into their historical context and explores some of the definitional problems associated with discussions of financial and economic crises. It highlights some of the unifying themes and wider lessons of the papers found in the issue and makes the case for greater historical understanding of crises while outlining the limits of historical analogy
Varieties of business history
This paper deals with different approaches to business history. It argues that conflicting choices about methodology and subject can enrich a discipline, but that some of the current disputes among business historians produce unnecessary opportunity costs and block a more integrated understanding of how firms function in their larger social, political and economic contexts. The paper provides examples of how the separation in the field works agai…
The Concept of Reputation in Business History
Historical narratives have enriched, and can even do more to enhance, the concept of corporate reputation by deepening our understanding of how reputation changes over time and among different stakeholders. This literature review highlights this theme of reputation for two audiences—business historians and corporate reputation theorists. By showing how different social and political contexts shape expectations for business behavior, historical st…
Political science (15 works) · Economics (9 works) · Politics (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Business history (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Management (6 works) · Business (5 works) · Corporate governance (5 works)