The Business History Conference, held annually at various Turkish universities since 2018, will convene this year on November 14 at İstanbul Bilgi University’s santralistanbul Campus. Serving as a platform for dialogue on business history—a field still emerging in Türkiye—the conference brings together scholars from diverse disciplines, including business administration, economics, sociology, and history.

Turkish scholars have explored critical themes such as management knowledge and practices, German and French investments in the Late Ottoman period (Kurt and Şehitoğlu, 2022), local enterprises and organizations (Akgöz, 2023; Soydemir and Erçek, 2023), the influx of German professors in the early Republican era (Üsdiken and Çetin, 2001), and post-WWII Americanization under the Truman Plan following Türkiye’s NATO accession (Üsdiken, 2004; Yalçınkaya and Koraltürk, 2020). While paradigm shifts characterized this early period, later events like the 1964 Johnson Letter and 1968 protests also reshaped academic and practical discourse.

A telling example is a 1968 speech by Prof. Dr. Mehmet Oluç, founding dean of Istanbul University’s Faculty of Business, at a National Productivity Center conference:

“Let me state clearly: I dislike the term sevki idare. It is archaic, cumbersome, and time-consuming. I prefer the modern terms management and administration” (p. 777).

Such statements underscore the evolution of management terminology in Türkiye’s local context—a reflection of the country’s broader socio-political and cultural metamorphosis. Against this backdrop, Türkiye’s political, economic, and cultural landscape continued to transform at a dizzying pace. Following the 1980 military coup and Türkiye’s subsequent economic liberalization, management knowledge and practices increasingly integrated into global frameworks, ushering in diverse international models (Özen and Berkman, 2007).

A retrospective analysis of Türkiye’s business transformation highlights the value of discipline. Business history not only deepens our understanding of locally specific management practices but also informs financial and industrial policies at micro- and macro-levels while helping identify sources of competitive advantage (Dirlik and Leblebici, 2016).

In this respect, The Business History Conference aims to foster dialogue, knowledge exchange, and debate—not only showcasing emerging research but also promoting interaction among scholars from diverse backgrounds.

We would be honored to welcome all academics with an interest in business history to the 8^th  Business History Conference. Your participation will enrich our collective dialogue as we explore Türkiye’s dynamic managerial heritage and its global connections.

With warm regards,

On behalf of the Advisory Board

Enes Kurt & Cemil Ozan Soydemir 

References

Akgöz, G. (2023). In the Shadow of War and Empire: Industrialisation, Nation-Building, and Working-Class Politics in Turkey. Brill.

Dirlik, S., & Leblebici, H. (2016). Türkiye’deki İşletmelerin tarihini anlamada iktisadi, politik, sosyal ve yasal bağlamın önemi. İstanbul Üniversitesi İşletme Fakültesi Dergisi, 45, 140-153.

Kurt, E., & Şehitoğlu, Y. (2022). The transformation of the Turkish defence Industry from the time of the Ottoman Empire to the Republic of Turkey, 1834-1950. Revista de Historia Industrial-Industrial History Review, 31(86), 143-174. https://doi.org/10.1344/rhiihr.38009

Oluç, M. (1968). Endüstride Prodüktivite Semineri. Milli Prodüktivite Yayınları. 28-31 Mayıs 1968, İstanbul.

Özen, Ş., & Berkman, Ü. (2007). Cross-national reconstruction of managerial practices: TQM in Turkey. Organization Studies, 28(6), 825-851. https://doi.org/10.1177/017084...

Soydemir, C. O., & Erçek, M. (2023). State and transforming institutional logics: the emergence and demise of Ottoman cooperatives as hybrid organizational forms, 1861–1888. Business History, 65(3), 423-453. https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2020.1802429

Üsdiken, B. (2004). Exporting managerial knowledge to the outpost: penetration of ‘human relations’ into Turkish academia, 1950-1965. Management learning, 35(3), 255-270. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507604045605

Üsdiken, B., & Çetin, D. (2001). From Betriebswirtschaftslehre to human relations: Turkish management literature before and after the Second World War. Business History, 43(2), 99-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/713999221

Yalcinkaya, A., & Koraltürk, M. (2020). Yayınlan(ma)mış Hatıralar Bağlamında Türkiye’de Yükseköğretimin Amerikanizasyonu: Kurucu Kadroya İlişkin Anlatılar ve İşletme İktisadı Enstitüsü. Journal of Research in Business, 5(1), 28-55.