The Worldwide Diffusion of Business Education, 1881-1999: Historical Trajectory and Mechanisms of Expansion

Abstract

Abstract The universalistic and standardized organizational forms resulting from globalization as argued in this volume have without a doubt caused dramatic changes in the business arena. Businesses regardless of nationality have come to be viewed as similar-organizational actors that share universal and standardized characteristics. Challenges for businesses are expected to call for similar solutions, i.e. new managerial knowledge and skills, and to be carried out by rational actors. In order to meet the need for professional managers, we have witnessed, along with the massive expansion of higher education, a global explosion of professional management education throughout the twentieth century, across countries (Locke 1984, 1989; Engwall and Zamagni 1998)-from a handful of countries at the dawn of the twentieth century to more than 100 countries by the end of the same century.