Mission Statement
The History of History at WU
Economic and Social History has been taught at Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien since 1929 (then known as Hochschule für Welthandel). History was recognized as a curricular discipline early on, because interwar Austria was heavily dependent on its export trade. A successful merchant, according to public opinion at the time, needed to familiarize himself/herself with all aspects - including political, social and economic traditions - of Austria’s potential export markets. Starting in the late 1960s, after a period of methodological decline and isolation from the global academic community during World War II and its aftermath, WU’s economic historians contributed to rebuilding their country’s reputation as a place of solid academic teaching and top-quality research. During the 1970s,1980s, and 1990s, research activities focused mainly on the economic and social history of Austria in the interwar period, a subject of extreme relevance for an entire generation of scholars born in or shortly after the wartime years. In teaching, our Institute covered, and continues to cover, a wide range of topics: from a comparative analysis of the “wealth and poverty of nations” to the history of economic thought; from the study of the business cycle to the lives and careers of outstanding personalities in economic and business life.
Going global
As a consequence of both the fall of the Iron Curtain (1989-90) and the accession of Austria to the European Union (1995), emphasis in research has shifted to globalization, economic and social aspects of political integration, and the development of transformation economies in Eastern, South-Eastern and Central Europe. The recent introduction of bachelor’s programs at WU has resulted in a re-positioning of economic history within our academic programs, with new emphasis being placed on “the enterprise in a social context”, and on the socio-political relevance of economic leadership.
New challenges and the Business History Group
Responding to an increased interest in the long-term development of corporate enterprise and entrepreneurship, and acknowledging the challenge posed to businesses by an increasingly complex environment both social and natural, the Institute of Economic and Social History established the Business History Group (BHG). Through its teaching activities, the BHG makes practical experience from case study materials on the history of the modern business accessible to our students. Our research in business history focuses on entire sectors of the economy as well as on single enterprises, their strategic management, approaches to innovation, marketing, and corporate finance, and, last not least, their embeddedness in the political, social, and environmental context.
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