A study published by Ca’ Foscari links ‘small history’ with ‘big history’

 

A business is an ‘economic institution designed to endure’.  It is from this statement by one of the founders of business administration that Giovanni Ferrero (of the Venice School of Management, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice) takes his cue for the recently published study ‘La microstoria come metodo retrospettivo per l’economia aziendale’ (Micro-history as a retrospective method for business administration).

The study aims to re-establish a fruitful dialogue between business history and business administration. Ferrero begins by noting how the dialogue between history and management — which he explains was interrupted in the 1960s by a ‘scientific turning point’ that rejected contexts lacking statistical reliability — has been revived in the new century.  This revival has challenged methodological misunderstandings and explored the use of sources, as well as examining the theoretical value of history.

The research focuses on micro-histories as a method of historical investigation well suited to businesses. This method highlights the unique characteristics of each business experience, known as ‘historical exceptionalities’.  Linking individual business histories to theories of economic development can provide a better understanding of both what has happened and what is happening.  Put another way, it is precisely these business micro-histories, with their exceptionalities, that can reveal mechanisms which would otherwise remain invisible, giving voice to hidden elements and performing a heuristic function. As Favero explains, they are ‘almost like the tip of an iceberg or a clue to the discovery of secrets’.

Business histories thus become more than just narratives of personal events confined to individual organisations; they also provide clues and traces for testing broad interpretations of economic and social trends.  And all this is based on the premise stated at the outset: that the company is an ‘economic institution designed to endure’.

 

La microstoria come metodo retrospettivo per l’economia aziendale

Giovanni Favero

in “Le nuove tendenze dell’economia aziendale fondamenti, metodo e traiettorie del management contemporaneo’ (The new trends in business economics: foundations, methods and trajectories of contemporary management)

Chiara Mio, Marco Fasan, Carlo Marcon, Silvia Panfilo (edited by)

Books of Cà Foscari, 2026