Business history goes East: an introduction

Unkovski-Korica, V. and Vejzagić, S. (2023) Business history goes East: an introduction. Business History, (doi: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2234827) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

This article introduces the special issue ‘Socialist Entrepreneurs? Business Histories of the GDR and Yugoslavia’. It starts with a review of the growing literature on the history of business organisation in the Global East, or the Second World in the Cold War. It then argues that mainstream business history struggles to incorporate the findings of this emerging body of work, relying as it does on the traditional view of the Soviet-style firm as primarily a production function. We show that a more nuanced view, exploring a greater variety of experiences in the USSR and beyond it, has now developed, through the use of fresh archival evidence and the combination of business history with other historical and disciplinary approaches. Focusing on the GDR and Yugoslavia, the seven contributions in this special issue showcase new directions in the field and demonstrate how we gain innovative perspectives by taking business history ‘eastwards’.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This special issue ‘Socialist Entrepreneurs? Business Histories of the GDR and Yugoslavia’ would have been impossible without the financial support of the Business History editors, the Centre for Business History in Scotland, and the Central and East European Studies (CEES) Research Incentivisation Fund, for a workshop held at the University of Glasgow in 2018 and entitled ‘The Second World Does Business? Enterprise in the GDR and Yugoslavia’.
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Unkovski-Korica, Dr Vladimir
• Authors: Unkovski-Korica, V., and Vejzagić, S.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Central and East European Studies
• Journal Name: Business History
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 0007-6791
• ISSN (Online): 1743-7938
• Published Online: 02 August 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
• First Published: First published in Business History 2023
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher