In recent years, business research has shown little interest in its own intellectual history. There are various reasons for this, such as the enormous growth of the subject and its successful internationalisation. This left little time for retrospective self-assurance, as well as little room for the development of disciplinary independence within a multidisciplinary environment. However, forgetting one's own discipline can lead to reinventing solutions to problems instead of building on existing approaches, and there is a risk that the constituent problems and questions will be lost.
In German-language business research, there has therefore been renewed interest and effort to raise awareness of important contributions to the history of business administration and the subject's origins. This book makes an important contribution to this endeavour. Building on previous discussions, it focuses on production, operations research, innovation, marketing, finance, sustainability management, public business administration, non-profit organisations, and international management.
The authors identify and discuss notable ideas and contributions to the discipline's development. As well as looking back, they also consider the current state of the discipline. Based on this, they derive possible future lines of development.
The publication of the first part covers a range of subdisciplines within the field of business research. We look forward to the next ones!