This introduction presents a special issue of Revista de Historia Industrial - Industrial History Review devoted to quantitative business history. After a brief overview of the role and position of quantitative approaches in the methodological debate in business history, we summarize some of the salient points of the articles included in this special issue. These articles highlight the valuable use of quantitative datasets and methods in business history. They also testify to the critical contribution of quantitative analyses in the historical investigation of topics in business strategy and the study of causal relationships between foundational elements of the business and financial systems. The papers also reveal the laborious process of constructing historical datasets suitable for quantitative analyses.

Abstract This article examines the working conditions of young business historians in Europe, looking at both the demand and the supply side of the junior job market. It is based on responses to a questionnaire submitted to all the participants in the European Business History Association (EBHA) Doctoral Summer School, and on a database of the positions offered in BH (or related fields) from 2016 up to 2020. The analysis brings to light several problems connected with the precariousness of the job market and the shortage of opportunities. Even so, young scholars’ job satisfaction is generally high overall, though less so in Southern Europe.

This article investigates the dynamics that characterized the top fashion industry companies in Italy and Spain in the last three decades of the twentieth century and the first thirteen years of the new millennium. The first section describes the sources and the methodology adopted. The second compares the features and transformations of the largest firms in the industry. The third focuses on these companies in 2013. The fourth discusses our findings, focusing on the impact that globalization and a possible “advantage of backwardness” had on the emergence of Italy and Spain as trendsetters.

The Economic History ReviewVolume 71, Issue 3 p. 1018-1019 BOOK REVIEW Richard R. John and Kim Phillips-Fein, eds., Capital gains: business and politics in twentieth-century America ( Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017. Pp. x+301. 2 tabs. ISBN 9780812248821 Hbk. $55) Veronica Binda, Veronica Binda Bocconi UniversitySearch for more papers by this author Veronica Binda, Veronica Binda Bocconi UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: 11 July 2018 https://doi.org/10.1111/ehr.12763Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume71, Issue3August 2018Pages 1018-1019 RelatedInformation

This article is a voyage through the history of international business in Italy, one which takes contemporary studies and, in particular, studies conducted over time by business historians from the Italian Unification until the present day, into account. After a brief introduction, the first part of the article is devoted to an analysis of the literature, especially focusing on the early studies conducted on foreign capital until World War Two, on the investigations done in the second part of the twentieth century, and on the most recent trends and contributions in research. The second part of the article deals, in a stylised way, with a very short summary of the principal information that we have attained on foreign direct investments in the country, with a special focus on international business in Italy before the Great War, in the inter-war years, until the 1980s, and in the most recent decades. Finally, the conclusions indicate the possible main directions for future research in this field.

The achievements of the Spanish economy in the last forty years of the old millennium were impressive, especially taking into account that Spain was largely an agricultural country at the beginning of the twentieth century. Spanish corporations were important protagonists in this catch-up process. This chapter deals with the business development and performance of Spanish big companies in terms of both return on equity and holding return throughout the century. After describing the transformations in the activity of firms by industry, and their corporate ownership, the chapter focuses on these corporations’ results. According to the main outcomes of the investigation, the experience in terms of Spanish business performance in the twentieth century seems to have been one of high profitability. This could be viewed in the light of the fact that the perceived risk was above average, and consequently the returns were expected to be higher than normal.