Business History and Management

Theory: An Introduction
RICHARD S. ROSENBLOOM

One of the hallmarks of contemporary management education and scholar-

ship is the extent to which the best work is informed by concepts, findings and
methods of certain academic disciplines. In sharp contrast to the situation a
generation ago, economics, statistics and the behavioral sciences, particularly,
are now integral to theorizing in key management fields. The interplay
; between management scholarship and underlying disciplines has undoubtedly
enhanced the range, depth and validity of the body of systematic knowledge
about management. This has practical as well as academic significance as
theoretical developments spawn useful ideas that infuse practice.
To what extent can history, as an academic discipline, also usefully inform
management scholarship, contributing to productive advances in theory and
shaping some of the thinking that guides practice? Can Clio, the muse of
history, inspire constructive advances in these respects?
The founders of this journal wisely included among its aims to provide 'a
forum where industrial historians . . . propose conjectures and theories' and
where 'economists and practitioners of other social disciplines will . . . apply
^ their models to the historical evidence'. These modes of interaction between
- history and management theory are surely desirable, but they stop well short
" of the intimate interconnections that now flourish between other disciplines
| and certain management fields, to the great benefit of the latter. Theoretical
z
and practical advances in finance, strategy, marketing and operations are
* paced by developments in such disciplines as economics, game theory,
£ psychology and mathematical programming. Scholars in the professional
s, schools where these subjects are pursued have adopted the tools of those
3 disciplines—their organizing ideas and common methods. If one examines
| faculty rosters at important schools or the authorship of papers in leading
0 journals, the most productive scholars increasingly are those trained initially

© Oxford Univenity Press 1997

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 Business History and Management Theory: An Introduction

in a discipline and now applying their talents to advancing the arts and
sciences of management. In those groups, one finds few historians.1
The aim of this small collection of historical papers is to illustrate the
potential for richer interactions between management theory and historical
scholarship. In this context, 'history' involves the selective identification of
facts about past events and conditions and the imaginative interpretation of
their meaning. Both selection and interpretation need to proceed with due
consideration of both historical contexts and contemporary understanding.
That is, sound history of, say, the early decades of the auto industry should
combine an appreciation of the business conditions of the early 20th century
with a grasp of current theories of the evolution and growth of industries.
Work of that character should potentially contribute both to historical
scholarship and to the further development of management theory.
In the three papers that follow, history is used to test established theories
about strategy, technological change and the evolution of industries. In the
first paper, Mary Tripsas spans a century of history of the typesetting
equipment industry to analyze three technological transitions in the light of
current theories about the consequences of radical technological change.
Steven Klepper and Kenneth L. Simons, in the next paper, focus on a common
phenomenon of industry evolution—the 'shakeout'. Historical evidence,
spanning many decades, from four industries serves to test three prominent
theoretical perspectives on the processes underlying the phenomenon. In the
final paper, Donald N. Sull, Richard S. Tedlow and Richard S. Rosenbloom
focus on radical change in the US automobile tire industry to suggest an
expanded theoretical perspective on the behavior of incumbents facing such
change.

1
There are, of courte, exceptions. At M i l t Sloan School of Management, faculty in the Jtrategy field
include] a trained historian, within an eclectic group of economists, behavioral scientists and a
mathematician. Harvard's business and government group includes a half-dozen business historians.

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