A Methodology of Business History

Abstract

This article is a methodological proposal for business history case studies based on the recognition of some keys to understanding and elaborating cases. The methodology suggests different levels of analysis, a characterization of the dynamics of the company's action through the binomial difficulties/opportunities, the identification of periods of relative operational, organizational and strategic stability, the stages, and a flexible and pluralist use of economic theories, with a balanced relationship between history and theory. The article also offers a commented inventory of sources for the study of business cases.