With the Special Issue we want to connect to the internationals business and strategy literature that indeed identifies different patterns of internationalisation over time but most often does not consider historical change of the political-economic environment (and of the company) as a particular object of analysis, whereas historians might be more strongly interested in how entrepreneurial activity was carried on, the circumstances under which it was constructed, how it developed and how practices, strategies and narratives changed over time. Also, the question of how a firm’s nationality is perceived and represented in the host country or at its place of origin is relevant in many ways, for instance for political decision makers and for consumers.

The question of companies and their nationality opens the discussion about how companies relate to society and the nation state, and vice versa. What nationality (if it has one) does a company have and how can it be conceived? The conference discusses this question and its implications historically from several perspectives, including perceptions and construction of nationality, the strategic dimension of nationality, nationality in international companies and international mergers, companies in (post)colonial settings and economic nationalism.

Valeria Giacomin will leave CBS from July to start her new position at Harvard Business School.