SAM14 Historical Development of Modern Business

• Topics

  The course is an introduction to Business History. The focus will be broad and international, and cover the last two hundred years of development concerning business organisation and its role in the economy. Theory and history will be brought together.

  A wide range of topics will be covered, like entrepreneurship, management, firm size, ownership, marketing, finance, internationalisation and government policy.

  The historical development of several Norwegian companies will be dealt with as cases.

  Topics:

  • Theory and history about business development
  • Entrepreneurship
  • The rise of big business
  • Development of managerial capitalism
  • Communication and transport
  • Finance and marketing
  • Labour relations
  • Production systems and technology
  • Business structure
  • Co-operation and business relations
  • Internationalisation and multinationals
  • The firm and the government
  • Norwegian cases (Aker, Hydro, Orkla among others)

• Learning outcome

  Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

  Knowledge

  Know the central elements in how businesses (firms, companies) have been organized and operated in the 19th and 20th centuries.

  Skills

  Identify and discuss the factors and processes that have shaped modern business as it is today

  General competence

  Apply the knowledge of economic and business history to the theoretical foundation from other courses.

• Teaching

  Regular teaching, student presentations, term-paper. The lectures will be streamed and recorded.

• Required prerequisites

  None.

• Compulsory Activity

  One compulsory term-paper (individual or two students). Assessed on a approved/not approved basis.

  Term paper topics are handed out in the beginning of the semester, and submission is approx. 6 weeks later.

• Assessment

  5 hour written digital home exam (100%).

  The exam must be written in Norwegian or English.

• Grading Scale

  Grading scale: A-F

• Literature

  F. Amatory and A. Colli, Business History. Complexities and Comparisons, Routledge, 2011.

  J. Micklethwait and A. Wooldridge, The Company. A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea, The Modern Library, 2005.