Our research centre
promotes independent academic research

The research center at the Centre for Business History in Stockholm conducts independent research projects that focus on the development of Swedish business over time. The projects are financed by external trusts and research grants.

Our research centre focuses on cross-industry research projects in order to show the societal impact of business in general. We run research projects that focus on previously untold parts of Swedish business history. The research projects we run or participate in are financed by scientific funds and research foundations. In our book shop you’ll find many of the reports and books that our research centre has contributed to.

Head of research Anders Houltz manages the centre, with its vast network of academic contacts and strategic issues. He is also project manager for research-preparatory projects. He does all this together with Benito Peix Geldart, Ph. D. in history, senior researcher and archivist, and when necessary with the support from the Centre for Business History’s many other resources.

Current projects

“Wicanders” researches and portrays three generations of the entrepreneurial family Wicander, who from the 1880s until the 1980s built a “cork empire” and then bequeathed their summer house to the state – i.e. the Prime Minister’s recreational residence Harpsund
”Nordic Industrial Heritage Culture in the 2020s”, a collaboration between the Centre for Business History and researchers from the Nordic-Baltic countries to analyse the current role of industrial heritage.
”Transport Heritage Collections”, a collaboration with the museum sector to make road, rail and aviation archives and collections a resource for historical research and for the Swedish Transport Administration’s management of cultural environments.
“Goal conflicts create opportunities: learning from the North where green industry meets cultural heritage values “. The green transition in industry is necessary to meet the challenges of the age of climate change. It creates new opportunities but also conflicts of interest between new and existing venues. How can industrial and cultural-historical sustainability work together? This collaborative project, financed by Vinnova, seeks answers to that question and tests ways to make industrial heritage a resource in the green transition.

Recently completed projects:

Contemporary documentation of the Corona pandemic’s effects on business life. From March 2020 to early 2024, we continuously collected material – in the form of in-depth interviews, surveys and media clips – about how Swedish companies handled the effects of the corona pandemic. The material has been made freely available for research and the first research papers are now being written.
Olof Söderberg. A three-year research and book project, led by Benito Peix Geldart, which in 2023 resulted in the book “Olof Söderberg – trade leader, industrialist, community builder”. The project took up where Benito’s previous project about Pelle Söderberg, father of Olof Söderberg, left off, a project that resulted in the book Stålpionjären.

Academic advisory board

The advisory board’s task is to discuss research strategies, projects and collaborations, but also to spread knowledge about the Centre for Business History within the research community. The board includes:

Lena Andersson-Skog, professor of economic history at Umeå University
Göran Blomqvist, former CEO of the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond
Orsi Husz, professor of economic history at Uppsala University
Oskar Broberg, Ph.D, senior lecturer in economic history at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg
Anna Williams, Professor at Department of Literature and Rhetoric at Uppsala University.