Contact

In the summer of 2012, a gathering of business historians from around the world met in Paris to discuss the possibility of creating a World Congress of Business History. This initial meeting, which enlisted prominent members of the world’s major business history organizations, generated a consensus that such a meeting was not only desirable, but also necessary, given the growing demand for a genuinely global conference.

Indeed, while business historians had opportunities to meet at international conferences, these venues had their limitations. Business historians often met during the triannual World International Economic History, but often came away feeling marginalized. On the other hand, while the international meetings of the Business History Conference (BHC) and the European Business History Association (EBHA) always sought a global profile, these organizations remained understandably wedded to topics and venues in North America and Europe. Additionally, the Business History Society of Japan (BHSJ) reached out to colleagues in Korea, China and Australia but largely kept an Asian focus. Business historians in and outside of these regions believed that a new, global meeting would help foster the field in their home countries.

At the same time all participants in this initial meeting and others that followed agreed that it was not necessary to create a new association to hold such a World Congress. Instead, the idea of a co-operation between the three bigger associations (the BHC, the EBHA and the BHSJ) as well as representatives of the regions with no formal organizations in business history - Latin America, Africa, and the Pacific - was adopted.

The first World Conference (Frankfurt, 2014) with 180 participants and the first World Congress (Bergen, 2016) with 400 participants achieved many of the original goals. A growing number of business historians from underrepresented areas of the world -- Latin America, Africa, India, Eastern Europe, and New Zealand – participated in these meetings, which are to be held every four years.

The 2nd World Congress of Business History (WCBH), jointly organized by the EBHA and the BHSJ, was planned to take place at Nanzan University in Nagoya, Japan, in September 2020. In April 2020, after the outbreak of the pandemic , the BHSJ and EBHA decided to postpone the 2nd World Congress of Business History to 2021, following extensive consultation with different stakeholders. In September 2020, in light of the travel and immigration restrictions imposed by various countries, it was decided that the September 2021 meeting would be held online instead of in person .