Introduction
Introduction
The Centre for Business History in Scotland (CBHS), Scotland's only research unit in the discipline, was inaugurated in 1987 through generous funding made available to the University of Glasgow by the Aggregate Foundation, a Charitable Trust which also provides the Centre's operating revenue. The CBHS builds upon a long tradition of pioneering research in business history by the late Professor Sydney Checkland and by Professors Peter Payne and Tony Slaven who were successively Colquhoun Lecturers in Business History. Professor Slaven was subsequently named to the Chair of Business History and was the Centre's first director. The current chair-holder and director is Professor Ray Stokes, who took up the posts in late 2005, when the Centre also moved to its new home in the refurbished Lilybank House, Bute Gardens, Glasgow G12 8RT.
The prime objective of the CBHS is to encourage, facilitate and conduct research in all aspects of business history, with particular emphasis on corporate governance, innovation and organisational change. Developments in Scotland and the UK are naturally of considerable interest here, not least owing to the fine business archives collections held by the Glasgow University Archives. But comparative and international dimensions are central to the Centre's research programme.
CBHS is therefore both Scottish and international in scope, and it plays a part in the development of the discipline over a broad front. It does so by hosting a programme of seminars and conferences; by conducting research projects and encouraging individual scholarship; by supervision of research students; and by active participation in professional bodies at both national and international levels. The Centre is closely linked to the University's Archives Service, which manages the internationally renowned collections of Scottish Business Archives, one of the largest collections of business records in Europe. It also maintains a small library and provides facilities for visiting scholars.