This book offers the first in-depth international survey of current research and debates in business history. Over the last two decades enormous advances have been made on the history of business enterprise and business systems. Historians are documenting and analyzing the evolution of a wide range of important companies, their patterns of innovation, production, and distribution, their financial affairs, their political activities, and their social impact. Each chapter is written by a prominent authority who provides an up-to-date assessment of the state and significance of research in their area. An opening section debates the identity and borders of the discipline, followed by wide- ranging surveys of the business history literature in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Japan and the Chinese-speaking world. The final section examines internationally comparative research on multinationals, family business and government relations. This reference work will be of immense value to historians, economists and management researchers INDICE Part I. General Issues, Open Questions, Controversies: 1. Introduction Franco Amatori and Geoffrey Jones; 2. Identity and the boundaries of business history: an essay on consensus and creativity Louis Galambos; 3. Understanding innovative enterprise: toward the integration of economic theory and business history William Lazonick; 4. Productive alternatives: flexibility, governance, and strategic choice in industrial history Jonathan Zeitlin; Part II. Area Patterns: 5. Business history in the United States at the end of the twentieth century William J. Hausman; 6. British and Dutch business history Geoffrey Jones and Keetie Sluyterman; 7. Scandinavian business history at the end of the 1990s: its prior development, present situation and future Hakan Lindgren; 8. Business history in German speaking states at the end of the century, achievements and gaps Harm G. Schröter; 9. Business history in France Youssef Cassis; 10. Business