Abstract
<jats:p>This book argues that Ottoman-Turkish business history should not be reduced to the history of companies alone, but should instead be examined through entrepreneurial networks, families, small-scale production units, legal-institutional arrangements, and relations with the state. Its main aim is to identify the conceptual, methodological, and empirical contributions that Ottoman economic history offers to business history. In this respect, the book first discusses the conceptual boundaries and approach of the field, and then evaluates the main body of knowledge provided by Ottoman economic history through entrepreneurial networks, artisans and small producers, and institutions, law, and market access. It further examines the transformations that took shape in the late Ottoman period around port cities, corporatization, and new business forms, as well as the continuities and ruptures extending into the Republican era. Finally, by addressing official and private archives, trade directories, memoirs, and institutional publications, the study proposes a critical, multi-source, and mixed research framework for Ottoman-Turkish business history. In this sense, the book is conceived less as a completed synthesis than as a foundational introduction and a research agenda. Keywords: Ottoman-Turkish business history, Ottoman economic history, Entrepreneurial networks, Family firms, Port cities, Corporatization, Legal and institutional structures, State-business relations.</jats:p>