Using History: Valuing Archives Workshop

Loading Events

« All Events

  • This event has passed.

Using History: Valuing Archives Workshop

February 28, 2019

A workshop organised by the Centre for International Business History, and the Heritage and Creativity Institute for Collections

The question of how business organisations make use of their history has increasingly come to occupy the attention of organisational theorists and historians (Suddaby et al, 2010; Poor et al, 2016; Zundel et al, 2016; Foster, 2017; Smith and Simeone, 2017; Hatch and Schultz, 2017). Each firm’s history is unique to itself. As such, it can be classified as rare and inimitable. Provided historical records are appropriately stored and managed within an archive, then it can also be said to be organised. In such cases we can reasonably claim that a firm’s history meets three of the four elements identified by Barney (1991) as constituting a strategic resource. The only question that remains is whether it is deemed to be valuable.

Questions and issues to be addressed:

- The different ways in which organizations make use of their own archives / historical records (e.g. for internal and external purposes);

- Attempts to measure / quantify the value of historical resources (either in financial terms or some other way);

- The balance between ‘authenticity’ and ‘corporate strategy’ when constructing historical narratives (should/does the history follow from the strategy, or vice versa);

- The tension, if it exists, between a firm’s willingness to recognise the strategic or commercial value of its historical records, and its willingness to make such records available for public (including academic) scrutiny;

- The management and use of archival records that are held outside of their ‘parent’ organization, i.e. where management of a firm’s historical resources are outsourced;

- The preservation / management of company archives after a firm has ceased to exist.

If you have any questions, please contact Daria Radwan by email at d.m.radwan@henley.ac.uk or by phone on +44 (0) 118 378 6597.

Using History: Valuing Archives Workshop

Details

Date:
February 28, 2019
Website:
https://www.henley.ac.uk/events/using-history-valuing-archives-1

Organizer

Henley Business School
Phone
44 (0) 118 378 5044
Email
whiteknights-reception@henley.ac.uk
View Organizer Website

Venue

Henley Business School
University of Reading, Whiteknights
Reading, RG6 6UD United Kingdom
+ Google Map
Phone
44 (0) 118 378 5044
View Venue Website