Núria Puig

Imitation, tension, and hybridization: multiple "Americanizations" of management education in Mediterranean Europe

This article provides a comparative examination of academic business and management education in four European countries, namely, France, Italy, Spain and Turkey, addressing in particular the issue of Americanization both as a historical event in the aftermath of World War II and an ongoing process since then. There is first a consideration of the institutional models that have emerged in these countries in the first part of the 20th century. Set against this historical context, the article examines the often-contested processes and the extent of the transfer of American models for management education in the two decades after World War II. It also looks at the national trajectories that have ensued since. The central argument is that the interaction with American models has not led to local replicas but hybrid forms and institutional fields that have varied across the four countries.

A silent revolution: The internationalisation of large Spanish family firms

This article studies the dominant role played by large family firms in the internationalisation of the Spanish economy. Based on new empirical evidence from circa 150 historical and internationalised family firms, the article integrates concepts and theories from recent literature on internationalisation, international entrepreneurship, sociology, and family business. The main argument is that in Spain, as in other European, South American and Asian countries, the integration of most of the leading family firms in the global market has been the outcome of a long learning process strongly influenced by the countrys natural and human resources, institutional framework, and regional patterns of economic development and business cultures. In contrast with other countries, however, foreign capital and technology and collective action at regional, national and international levels play a far more important role in the internationalisation of large family firms.

Knowledge and training in family firms of the European periphery: Spain in the eighteenth to twentieth centuries

This article is a first attempt to explore the relationship between training and entrepreneurship in Spanish family firms. It examines changes and continuities over time, and relates the evolution of the training practices of Spanish family firms to the technical and economic conditions of the first and second industrial revolutions. The article demonstrates the interaction betweeen technical and educational ideas, the creative adaptation to the entrepreneurial needs of regions and economic sectors, and institutional conditions. It is organised in three main sections. The first briefly introduces new institutional and sociological theories applied to the study of the formation of business groups. The second summarises existing literature and research that deals with knowledge transference and business training in Spanish family firms, and provides a general survey of informal and formal business education in eighteenth to twentieth-century Spain. The third presents case studies of changing training practices in big and old family firms, and relates this evidence with theoretical and institutional insights.

Patterns of International Investment in Spain, 1850–2005

International capital flows are strongly influenced by country-specific patterns that can be best understood in historical and comparative perspective. A long-term empirical analysis of French and German investment in Spain reveals that the core capabilities of foreign firms and their relations with local partners have spurred the rise and development of two national models of international investment, characterized here as “political” and “technical.” The research identifies the main actors and ownership advantages of the two models, which have proved resilient over time.

Las estrategias de crecimiento de la industria química alemana en España,1880-1936: exportación e inversión directa

En este trabajo se reconstruyen y examinan las dos grandes estrategias de crecimiento de las empresas quimicas alemanas en Espana entre 1880 y 1936: la exportacion y la inversion directa. Ambas fueron, en todo el mundo, importantes vias de transferencia tecnologica, especialmente despues de la Primera Guerra Mundial. Para averiguar por que en la industria quimica espanola los efectos modernizadores del primer inversor mundial fueron tan escasos, se abordan dos tareas: 1) valorar la estrategia de las firmas alemanas en Espana a la luz de las desplegadas en todo el mundo, y 2) analizar las medidas que las empresas y la Administracion espanolas aplicaron para defender el mercado nacional y fomentar el surgimiento y la consolidacion de la industria quimica espanola.

Business groups around the world: an introduction

Abstract This article examines recent historical research on business groups in the light of business group theory and ongoing debates on the economic rationale, characteristics, and social implications of this ubiquitous form of business organisation. We argue that historians are challenging several assumptions of the business group literature in two ways: expanding the temporal and geographical boundaries of business groups and producing sound empirical evidence on the long-term dynamics and flexibility of business groups in different institutional contexts. Finally, we outline a research agenda aimed at increasing the impact of historical research on business group scholarship.

Global lobbies for a global economy: The creation of the Spanish Institute of Family Firms in international perspective

Globalisation has encouraged the creation of global lobbies which promote the interests of their associated members in international institutions. However, despite their increased importance in the global economy, scholarly literature has so far offered scarce data or analysis about these lobbies. This article examines the creation of global lobbies for large family firms over the last two decades, and the strong connection established in this period between collective action, education and internationalisation in the strategies of such firms. The establishment of the Spanish Institute of Family Firms is considered to be an early European adaptation of pioneering North American lobbies and a model for other European and Latin American associations of large family firms.

Networks of Innovation or Networks of Opportunity? The Making of the Spanish Antibiotics Industry

Abstract The pharmaceutical industry is a typically research-intensive, first world-industry. This article seeks to explain why it has been so difficult for late industrialised nations to reproduce the networks of innovation on which the design and manufacturing of new drugs has historically based, and why alternative concepts are needed in order to understand the dynamics of science-based industries in emerging countries. The article analyses the development of the Spanish antibiotics industry, built after the World War II under the strong influence of the new international order and Spains political framework, academic traditions and business groups. Focusing on the long-term relationships established between two Spanish companies (Antibióticos SA and Compañia Española de Penicilina y Antibióticos, CEPA), their American technological partners (Schenley and Merck), and their social and scientific environment, the article identifies networks of opportunity as the key institutional arrangement of this new industry in Spain. Opportunity (as opposed to innovation) networks are thus proposed to conceptualise the development of technologically complex industries in the European periphery.

La ayuda económica norteamericana y los empresarios españoles

En este articulo se analizan los efectos de la ayuda economica norteamericana en el proceso de modernizacion de las empresas y los empresarios espanoles que tuvo lugar durante la dictadura franquista. La principal idea es que la ayuda, a pesar de su modestia absoluta y relativa, constituyo la mas importante via de influencia exterior en la Espana de los cincuenta y contribuyo a articular o a consolidar grupos y circulos empresariales abiertos al exterior y tecnologicamente avanzados, pero de ideologia diversa, que han desempenado un papel crucial en el desarrollo economico e institucional de la Espana del siglo XX.

Learning from giants: Early exposure to advance markets in the growth and internationalisation of Spanish health care corporations in the twentieth century

Abstract This article examines the influence of early exposure to advanced markets of the United States and Germany in the growth and internationalization of health care firms from Spain, a late industrialised country. Based on the case studies of the Spanish corporations Grifols and Ferrer, the study shows that early exposure to advanced markets helped them grow in their national markets, and in the world health care industry. It shows further that the specific capabilities developed by both firms were determined by path-dependent networks with scientists and institutions, on the one hand; and strategic alliances, acquisitions and mergers with German and US corporations on the other.