This issue of Business History Review, the fi rst to be published by Cambridge University Press, is also the fi rst to be available both in print and on line. The journal's complete archive, from 1926 forward, is also posted on the Web. 1 The occasion has provided an opportunity for the editorial team to consider the work published by business historians over the past ten years, and to think about the future direction of the journal as well as of the fi eld more broadly. We invite responses to this essay. here has rarely been a moment when the view that "history matters" has been so widespread. Scholars in economics, political science, and law are showing an ever-greater interest in history-in part as a consequence of the economic and fi nancial crises of the past decade. Less evident is a recognition that business history itself matters as a discipline. The citations and impact factors of the business history journals lag dramatically behind top-tier management and economics journals. 2 In many regions of the globe, interest in the fi eld is small, including Latin America (except, especially, Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico), Africa (except South Africa), and many Asian countries (except Japan and South Korea). We believe the fi eld has great potential for growth. The Review seeks to serve the business history community by showcasing the best new research. We are proud of the quality of our articles, and we plan to continue publishing work that will drive the fi eld forward. At BHR, we aspire to publish articles that are analytical, creative, and bold, and to feature book reviews that are candid and perceptive. We especially hope to receive submissions of articles that are comparative in nature, whether the comparison be among fi rms, sectors, towns, regions, or countries.

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The Harvard Economic Service pioneered the business of economic forecasting by publishing a weekly newsletter on economic conditions, starting in 1922. The Harvard forecasting model, developed by the statistician and economist Warren Persons, gained international renown for its three-curve A-B-C chart, which rendered business fluctuations as the ebb and flow of speculation (A), business (B), and banking (C). The service was directed by C. J. Bullock, who promoted Harvard's forecasting service around the world by forming collaborative agreements with John Maynard Keynes, Lucien March, Corrado Gini, and other prominent economists of the time. The Harvard Economic Service, however, attracted criticism for its purely empirical approach, its failure to make consistently accurate predictions, and its pursuit of commercial objectives in a university setting. The Harvard group's efforts to build a forecasting service are an early chapter in the evolution of the social sciences, the growth of a class of financial analysts, and the commercialization of academic knowledge.

Since the early twentieth century, scholars have conducted statistical studies of groups of business leaders. These have often been extensive undertakings, calling for the collection of large quantities of information about business executives through the use of surveys, personal interviews, dictionaries, obituaries and biographies. The scholars who have carried out these studies have come from a range of disciplines, including sociology, history and economics. The questions they have asked have varied over time. Some have sought to uncover common characteristics among the executives themselves. Others have studied groups of businessmen in order to learn about society (especially the extent of social mobility), or about particular industries and the people who ran them. While the variety of approaches has led some to conclude that these studies present no coherent picture, this article shows an underlying pattern in these efforts and suggests a framework for future study.

This article assesses John H. Patterson's influence on the development of sales management and modern understandings of salesmanship. From 1884, when Patterson started the National Cash Register Company, to his death in 1922, the firm dominated its industry. At the heart of the company's success was its sales force. Patterson created an intricate system of management to monitor and train company salesmen. He gave them scripts to memorize and assigned them territory to cover. He held conventions and thematic sales contests, and pressured salesmen to rid their regions of competition. Patterson sought to create a method of sales management that encompassed all aspects of selling, from the calculation of quotas and commission rates to the motivation of discouraged salesmen. While much attention has been paid to efforts to improve the efficiency of production processes, especially those advocated by Frederick W. Taylor, Pattersons work at N.C.R. reveals a contemporary effort to reform methods of distribution.