Business History in Poland: Current State and Future Potential

Abstract

Purpose: This article explores the gap in the business history literature devoted to Central and Eastern Europe and discusses the potential of conducting business history research in Poland.

Methodology: This is an explorative and tentative study based on a recently developed database of 387 Polish companies which are more than 100 years old.

Findings: The article explores the reasons behind the lack of business history debate in the Polish academia and discusses its future potential. We argue that given the size of population and a unique historical context, the Polish sample is worth studying as it can provide valuable contributions to well established debates in the feld of business history debates covering issues such as continuity, longevity, and survival strategies.

Research limitations and implications: This is an explorative and tentative study and therefore has several limitations, including a limited scope of companies included in the database, sources of data, and poor quality of corporate archives.

Originality and value: This is the frst article explicitly discussing the potential of conducting business history studies in the context of empirical data concerning Polish long-lived companies.