Varieties of business history: Subject and methods for the twenty-first century

This paper deals with different approaches to business history. It argues that conflicting choices about methodology and subject can enrich a discipline, but that some of the current disputes among business historians produce unnecessary opportunity costs and block a more integrated understanding of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Business history Vol. 53; no. 3; pp. 401 - 424
Main Authors: Kobrak, Christopher, Schneider, Andrea
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Liverpool Routledge 01.06.2011
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
Taylor and Francis Journals
Frank Cass & Company Ltd
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Series:Business History
Subjects:
Authorship
Business
Business history
Business literature
business-academic cooperation
Cooperation
Disputes
Economic history
Economic methodology
Historians
Historical analysis
Historiography
History
Kritik
Methodology
Methods
Opportunity costs
Political factors
Research methods
Social function
Studies
theory in the social sciences
Unternehmensgeschichte
Wissenschaftliche Methode
United States
Germany
ISSN:0007-6791, 1743-7938
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This paper deals with different approaches to business history. It argues that conflicting choices about methodology and subject can enrich a discipline, but that some of the current disputes among business historians produce unnecessary opportunity costs and block a more integrated understanding of how firms function in their larger social, political and economic contexts. The paper provides examples of how the separation in the field works against writing business history that is at once rigorous and appeals to broad audiences. It also suggests two approaches for bridging methodological differences. The first calls for reviving some basic historiographical notions. The second involves developing a closer relationship with business to gain more access to private, primary source materials. German experiences are drawn on to show how mutually beneficial academic-business cooperation can be.
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ISSN:0007-6791
1743-7938
DOI:10.1080/00076791.2011.565515