Business Archives Colloquium:
Globalization and the Records of Multinational/Global Companies
Co-sponsored by the Society of American Archivists' Business Archives Section
and the International Council on Archives' Section on Business and Labour Archives
August 20, 2003
Los Angeles, California
8:00 – 8:30
Continental Breakfast
8:30 – 8:45
Welcome/Introductions
Mike Bullington, chair of Colloquium and chair of SAA's Business Archives
Section
Kraft Foods
8:45 – 10:15 Opening Plenary
Geoffrey Jones*
Harvard Business School
"Firms, Global Worlds and Business Archives"
Dave Logan
Marshal School of Business, University of Southern California
"Globalization and Archivists in Today's Economy"
*Unable to attend – Lesley Richmond, University of Glasgow, will give
presentation on his behalf
Professor Jones will discuss 1) the role of firms in creating the first global
economy before 1914, the subsequent decline in globalization with the world wars
and the Great Depression, and the rebirth of the global economy from the1960s;
2) the social implications of all this - such as the spread across borders of
consumption habits, 3) the implications for business archivists – i.e., the people
who are the custodians of most of our knowledge about all of this.
Professor Logan will speak about the phenomenon of globalization today – the
increased emphasis on corporate social responsibility, the impact of government
and societal expectations on global corporate expansion, the deep emotional
response from various groups to the idea of globalization, and changes in
management theory and practice as a result of these phenomena. He will touch on
good record-keeping practices in response to increased accountability of
companies doing business globally.
-1-
10:15 – 10:30:Break
10:30 – 12:00 General Session: Business Archives and National Identity
Pat Loughney, Chair
National Archives and Records Administration
Hans Eyvind Naess
Norwegian National Archives
Jørgen Fink
Danish National Business Archives
"National Practice in a Multinational World: The Case of Denmark"
Bruce Smith*
Freelance archival consultant, Melbourne, Australia
*Unable to attend. Pat Loughney will give presentation on his behalf.
Discussion will focus on concerns and issues involved when a multinational
company takes over a company in a region of the world different from their home
country. What happens to the records of the business that have been taken over?
Do they leave the country? Become inaccessible to local researchers? Disappear
entirely? Is there recognition of the role that a local company can have in the
community and as part of the national identity (e.g., Volvo in Sweden)? How can
those concerns be addressed? This panel will discuss the model that has been
instituted in Finland, Norway and Denmark, where national business archives
have been. We can also learn about the work that the ICA section is doing to
identify business archives-enabling legislation around the world as well as "best
practices" for preservation and access to business records.
12:00 – 1:30 Lunch break
-2-
1:30 – 3:00
General Session: Documenting the Global Business
Bruce Bruemmer, Chair
Cargill Incorporated
Elizabeth W. Adkins
Ford Motor Company
"'How Do We Make the Archives a Global Function?' Reflection on Ford's
Global Archives Initiative"
Dianne Brown
Procter & Gamble
Francesca Pino
Banca Intesa
How do corporate archivists document the activities of their companies around
the world? Some make pro-active attempts to gather summary documents on
their international subsidiaries. Others collect and preserve information on
international subsidiaries from the Intranet. Still others have tried to create
"satellite" archives offices around the world. How do corporate archivists support
these efforts when resources are already strained to the limit? How do they
convince management of the need to travel internationally to see what's out there
and try to put some sort of plan in place to make sure that it's preserved? How do
they assist with archival research for our international employees?
3:15 – 4:45
1.
Concurrent Sessions
Global Developments in Privacy Legislation
Bärbel Kern, Chair
Kraft Foods Germany
Menzi Behrnd-Klodt
Pleasant Company
Paul Lasewicz
IBM
"Delta Blues: Changing Conceptions of Privacy and Property, and Their
Implications for Corporate Archives"
Privacy legislation has been or is being enacted around the world, many times in
reaction to technology developments. Multinational companies may face multiple
privacy requirements, and business archivists need to be aware of how these
developments may impact their operations.
-3-
2.
The Impact of Mergers, Acquisitions and Divestitures on the Management of
Business Archives
Lesley Richmond, Chair
Glasgow University Archives
Bill Caughlin
SBC
"Leveraging Corporate Heritage in a Tangled Family Tree: The Role of SBC
Archives and History Center"
Steffen Deutschbein*
Retired, TotalFinaElf
Katie Dishman
General Mills
"Of Play-Doh and Space Food Sticks: The Crazy, Mixed-Up World of the
General Mills Archives"
*Unable to attend. A colleague will present on his behalf
Business archivists often face difficult decisions when their companies are
involved in a major merger, acquisition or divestiture. Sometimes a merger or
acquisition can result in a program being cut or threatened. At times it can result
in a huge influx of new archival records, and increased demand for archival
services. When companies or brands are divested from the parent company,
business archivists must decide the best way to handle the records of the divested
business. This session will examine these scenarios and provide some "best
practices" advice on how to prepare for and respond to major organizational
change.
-4-
3.
Business Archives from the Perspective of the User
James Fogerty, Chair
Minnesota Historical Society
Dave Dyer
The Winthrop Group
"Confessions of a Business Archives Addict"
Jean-Laurent Rosenthal
University of California at Los Angeles
Conducting research in corporate archives can be a challenge, particularly if that
research is in multiple repositories and on a global topic. These academic
researchers will provide their points of view on the global research experience,
including overcoming access obstacles, gaining trust of archivists and the
archivists' management, and the value that business archives add to society and
their research topics.
4:45 – 5:00
Break
5:00 – 5:30
Closing Plenary
Tim Ericson [tentative]
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Vice President, Society of American Archivists
The speaker will provide comments and insight on the day's proceedings.
-5-