International tensions, local nationalism, and global business: A historical perspective (NaBus)
Table of contents
Project description
Our multidisciplinary research group examines multinational enterprises (MNEs) and their interactions with governments and societies amidst global disruptions. Central to our work are three key questions that span across macro (global), meso (industry and country), and micro (MNE and community) levels of analysis:
1. How do global disruptions affect the prevailing international rules among states to govern economic activities, and how this impacts the policy space for governments to provide state support for specific industries and MNEs aligned with national goals (i.e., industrial policy)?
2. How do global disruptions create decoupling processes between power blocs, affecting the cross-border activities of MNEs, and how does this impact MNEs strategic choices (e.g., reshoring)?
3. How do global disruptions affect societal evaluations of MNEs by the public and political leaders like populists, and how this impacts strategic choices by MNEs and governments?
We investigate these questions historically, using the past as a lens to better understand current events. In particular, we study the historical trajectories of key Finnish sectors, including shipbuilding, food production, the bioeconomy.
NaBus is jointly led by Dr. Christian Stutz (JSBE) and Dr. Saara Matala (Chalmers), with roots in both the history and business disciplines. External funding includes a Team Project Grant from the Emil Aaltonen Foundation, which supports (post-)doctoral students and other staff. Currently, Jan-Peter Gustafsson (doctoral researcher) and Ville Peltolehto (project researcher) are working under the NaBus initiative.
Stutz, C. & Matala, S. (2023). Aligning Business Interests with National Goals in Industrial Policy: The Finnish Case, 1952-2014. Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings 2023 (1). Online ISSN: 2151-6561.
Phillips, R., Schrempf-Stirling, J., & Stutz, C (2023). Past as corporate social responsibility. In: Decker, S., Foster, W., & Giovanoni, E. (eds.) Handbook of Historical Methods for Management. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Stutz, C. (2021). History in corporate social responsibility: Reviewing and setting an agenda. Business History, 63:2, 175–204.
Phillips, R., Schrempf-Stirling, J. & Stutz, C. (2020). The Past, History, and Corporate Social Responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 166, 203–213.
Stutz, C. & Sachs, S. (2018). Facing the Normative Challenges: The Potential of Reflexive Historical Research. Business & Society, 57:1, 98–130.
Matala, S. (2023). National Security, Security of Supply. Finlandisation as a Diplomatic Practice and the Finnish Energy Dependency on the Soviet Union, 1948–1992. The International History Review, 45:3, 551-571, DOI:10.1080/07075332.2022.2155212
Matala, S. (2022). Finnish Icebreaker Diplomacy in the Cold War: Ships of Security, Prestige, and Welfare. In Mueller, W. & Svik, P. (eds.) Technological Innovation, Globalization and the Cold War, Routledge.
Matala, S. (2022). Negotiating bilateralism: the Finnish-Soviet clearing trade and payment system, 1952–1990, Scandinavian Economic History Review, 70:1, 87-107, DOI:10.1080/03585522.2020.1843529
Sahari, A. & Matala, S. (2021). Of a titan, winds and power: Transnational development of the icebreaker, 1890-1954. International Journal of Maritime History, 33:4, 722-747,
Matala, S. (2021). A History of Cold War Industrialisation: Finnish Shipbuilding between East and West. Routledge.
Martela, F., Gustafsson, J-P. & Vaara, E. (2023). Developing through Paradoxes: How Ways of Dealing with Paradoxes Influence the Open Strategy Process. In Taneja, S. (ed.) Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings.
Enflo, K., Ojala, J. & Gustafsson, J-P. (2023). United and divided: Early modern Economic history mirrored in Swedish and Finnish academic literatures, in Kuha, M. & Karonen, P. (eds.) Swedish and Finnish Historiographies of the Swedish Realm, c. 1520–1809, Routledge.
Lamberg, J-A., Ojala, J. & Gustafsson, J-P. (2020). Strategy and Business History Rejoined: How and Why Strategic Management Concepts took over the Business History Field. Business History, 64:4, 1011-1039.
