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This article examines managerial ideology and identity in the nationalised British coal industry. On nationalisation in 1947, the National Coal Board (NCB) – after 1987 the British Coal Corporation – became the largest socialised industry outside of the Communist bloc. Privatised in 1994, as part of liberal market reforms, the industry was a crucible for ideological clashes amongst managers. The article responds to interest in the impact of managerial ideologies and identities on organisations and in the search for illuminating historical case studies in different organisational settings. The authors position those ideological clashes, and distinctive managerial identities, within a moral economic framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue complements and extends existing work in business history to show how the discipline can contribute to the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) literature. The work in this collection delves deeper into our understanding of how VoC emerge and continue through the prism of business-government relations as the two principal actors in capitalist development. The focus of much of the existing canon on varieties of capitalism is centred on aggregated models of institutional environments. We take the cue from emerging work on the state and business in business history then to consider what this means for VoC, and to what end. In doing so, this collection bridges a number of different literatures, including those in business and economic history, economics, development studies, political economy and political science, to consider how 'varieties of capitalism' (VoC) shape, and are structured by, government-business relations over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent should firms get close to government for competitive advantage? What happens if they get too close? In this article we explore how corporate political activity inculcated strategic homophily in leading UK aluminium producer, the British Aluminium Company Ltd, resulting in its path dependence and eventual lock-in. The article makes three main contributions: a longitudinal study of corporate political activity and strategic homophily revealing their organizational manifestations and detailed understanding of certain mechanisms of path dependence; articulating the value of historical methods and perspectives to exploring organizational path dependence; and exploring the impact that prolonged business-government relations can have on the organizational behaviour and strategic outlook of the firm with implications for TMT selection and environmental scanning. In so doing it responds to calls for firms to align market positions with political activity, as well as those for the recognition of the value of business history in better understanding the links between corporate political activity and firm performance. It further elucidates the longer-term consequences of strategic homophily, which has to date focused on the early stages of venture formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]