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The 26th Annual Congress of the European Business History Association
The 26th Annual Congress of the European Business History Association was organized by the Centre for Business History at BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo Norway from August 24-26, 2023. The theme of the congress was The Relevance of Business History. A total of 140 papers were presented, organised in 43 sessions. From all sessions, there were reports of a good atmosphere, well-prepared papers, valuable contributions from appointed discussants and engaging plenary discussions.
Patrick Fridenson, Professor of International Business History at Centre de Recherches Historiques I'EHESS gave a thought-provoking keynote lecture titled “How can we make the past speak?" Fridenson was also awarded the EBHA Lifetime Achievement Award.
In addition to the academic program, the organisers invited to several social gatherings. A welcome reception was held in BI's rooftop canteen on the Thursday. On Friday, the congress participants were invited by the Oslo municipality to a reception at the Oslo City Hall. The congress participants were greeted by the deputy major of Oslo Abdullah Alsabeehg (who turned out to be a historian by training who had been taught by Even Lange, Norway´s first professor in Business History!) and received a tour of the City Hall, famous for hosting the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony. The congress was concluded with a Gala Dinner at the Thon Hotel Storo, where most of the participants were staying during the congress.
During the Gala dinner, the EBHA Best Paper Prize for the best paper on European business history was awarded. The winners were Juha-Antti Lamberg, Antti Sihvonen & Jarmo Taskinen (from University of Jyväskylä School of Business and Economics, Finland) with Henrikki Tikkanen (Aalto University School of Business, Helsinki, Finland) for their paper: “That escalated quickly: Emotions and the production of oral history during the political aftermath of a merger”.