European Business History Association (EBHA)

The European Business History Association (EBHA) is an academic association devoted to business history in Europe. It holds annual congresses (called conferences until 2013) and a bi-annual doctoral summer school. It is registered as a Scottish charity. Its constitution states its objectives as "to advance the education of the public concerning all aspects of the history of business and management in Europe and in the environment in which they operate and to promote research into all such aspects". Its aim is the organization of conferences and seminars, the publication of a newsletter and other materials, the encouragement of research in all aspects of business history, and specifically the promotion of collaborative projects based in several European countries such as The Performance of European Business in the 20th Century project per instance. The association was established to enhance inter-European contacts and promote extra-European links among business historians, to encourage the exchange of business history graduate students and to promote teaching and interest in all such aspects.

The discussions to establish a European Business History Association followed in the wake of the successful foundation of the Association of Business Historians in Britain . Informal talks between Hans Pohl (University of Bonn), Geoffrey Jones (then at the University of Reading), and Tony Slaven (University of Glasgow) resulted in an invited meeting of representatives from a number of European countries in October 1993. This meeting was hosted and chaired by Tony Slaven at the Centre for Business History in Glasgow. The participants were not representative in any objective sense, but were those known to the organisers. They were Rolv Petter Amdam (BI Norwegian Business School, Norway), Michael Bibikov (Russia), Per Boje (Denmark), Hans Pohl (Germany), Keetie Sluyterman (University of Utrecht, Netherlands), Mary Rose, Geoff Jones and Tony Slaven (UK). That meeting reviewed models for an EBHA, objectives, and necessary steps to shape and establish a new association. Subsequent meetings chaired by Tony Slaven followed rapidly in Bonn in February 1994 and in Rotterdam in June 1994. By this time the initial group had been joined by François Crouzet (France), Ulf Olsson (Sweden), and Even Lange (Norway). The meeting in Rotterdam at Erasmus University in June 1994 established the first draft of objectives, the conditions of membership, the structure to be adopted for office bearers and members of council, and election procedures. The Erasmus meeting also decided that it was necessary to take the proposals to a wider forum to gain support for the creation of a European Business History Association; it was also decided to establish a steering committee to plan a first conference.

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