Skip to main content
European Commission logo print header

The creation of European management practice

Exploitable results

The focus of the CEMP programme on the creation of European management practice has of course implied that the European dimension has been central in the research. The studies undertaken have thus covered a large number of European countries. This has been accomplished through a co-operation with sub-contractors and colleagues throughout Europe. This means that representatives from most countries within the European Union - with the exception of Belgium, Luxembourg and Greece - have been involved in the programme in one way or another. In addition, persons from non-member European countries (Norway and Switzerland) and non-European countries (Australia, Canada, Israel, New Zealand, Turkey and the United States) have participated in CEMP events. This has no doubt implied a communication of European ideas to a wide audience. Also in terms of the presentation of the research results CEMP researchers have succeeded to cover most of the European countries. Of the more than one hundred presentations about one-third were made in Northern Europe, and one-third in mid-European countries, while about one-sixth each was made in Southern Europe and overseas, respectively. It can thus be no doubt that the CEMP programme has had a strong European dimension. This has been true both in terms of the object of study - the creation of European management practice - and in terms of collaboration between scientists and dissemination of research results. For the CEMP team this has been a most rewarding experience.
Concerning education the programme has primarily categorised different regions in Europe according to how they have responded to the influence for the American system of management education (Engwall and Zamagni, 1998). It is those parts of Europe that first developed their own indigenous traditions in business education that show the largest resistance to the American model. The pre-eminent example is Germany, with its own tradition of business economics. In Germany the modern MBA programmes have not gained any strong influence in the German business schools (Handelshochschulen). Another example of a country that has shown resistance to the US system is France. Countries where the American model has been regarded as a challenge to university education constitute another group. Italy and Spain are among those countries. A third group consists of countries where the American model has contributed to change a German model. The Nordic countries have gradually adopted the American business administration model within an organisational setting based on the German model. Also the Netherlands show a dual pattern by adopting both the German and American models within university structures. Finally, the last category is the late adopters of the American model. UK plays a significant role within that category, since UK is the country where the MBA programmes have expanded most rapidly in Europe. Since media is a highly heterogeneous field - general and specialised newspapers, academic research publications (books and journals) and university textbooks, magazines, popular books, etc. - the strategy of the CEMP research has been to examine in-depth three countries of different European business systems: - Denmark (as representative of Nordic business systems), - The United Kingdom, and - Italy (complemented with data from France and Spain as representation of the Southern European system). Regarding the structure of the field (types of media and relationships among types), it seems remarkably equivalent across business systems. In each of the countries studied there are one or two well-established newspapers specialised in business and economics with significant circulation, and a number of other specialised periodicals selling far fewer copies. All the important general newspapers carry sections on management. In each of the countries studied there are also one or two weeklies or monthlies usually patterned both in layout and content after the US examples of Business Week or Fortune. The United Kingdom is the only country whose periodicals enjoy a wide readership in other European countries, de facto becoming, European publications. However, they never reach the circulation of the national business newspapers. At the same time they act as role models for the national business periodicals in terms of design and content. Similarly, in book publishing there are some trends towards the emergence of a few dominant European actors such as Pearson. Despite national ownership of most media companies there are some indications for the increasing similarity of content. Business, management and economic matters have become an important part of the information available through the press, both daily and periodical. In the three countries explored, the “explosion” of the importance of these topics occurred in a similar point in time (mid-1980’s), with an ideological celebration of market forces and a sort of popular capitalism, both through entrepreneurship and through easier access to stock exchanges. In sum, there is a very high structural equivalence in the media, and increasing convergence of content across European business systems. In terms of the consulting field, CEMP research has revealed considerable differences in terms of the supply and the consumption of consultancy services in different parts of Europe. The results suggest broadly a North-South divide, with Germany, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries and the Untied Kingdom showing a significant level of consulting activities relative to their GDP. Among the southern European countries consulting activities appear highest in Spain. This means that large companies in these countries have fairly easy and rapid access to new management concepts through the consultancies - a fact confirmed by case study research. In terms of convergence, we also need to take into account factors determining the speed and extent to which these concepts are subsequently diffused throughout these economies. Here we need to look at the concentration of consultancy markets (where a low level indicates the presence of many small, usually locally based consultancies) and the reach of the consultants (where a high value suggests that consultancies also count many small and medium sized companies among their clients). According to these criteria, new management concepts can be expected to diffuse most widely in Germany, the Nordic countries, the Netherlands and Italy. Combining these two observations, we can therefore conclude that new management concepts will disseminate quickly and widely in Germany, the Nordic countries and the Netherlands. In the United Kingdom and Spain, they will also be received fairly rapidly, but their use will largely remain confined to a few, especially international companies. The situation in France and Italy is somewhere in the middle, because new management concepts are likely to reach them later. In the Italian case, though, subsequent convergence is likely to occur fairly quickly, especially in the more developed regions of the country, due to the presence of many small, locally based consultancies. Overall CEMP research shows that there are certain differences in the speed and extent of the convergence process in the various parts of Europe. The results indicate that these differences are mainly driven by - The existence of global management knowledge institutions, and - Language capabilities in a given country. The United Kingdom therefore has particularly advantageous conditions for the adoption of new management concepts and ideas. Due to its strong position in management education and publishing the London based institutions are spreading new ideas inside and outside Europe. Concerning other parts of Europe, the Scandinavian countries appear to be fast to adapt new management ideas due to a high fluency in English and the existence of global actors. In middle Europe, Germany and the Netherlands are also rapid to acquire new ideas due to the presence of global actors, mainly consultants, and the availability of local translators. In France, however, new concepts appear to be adopted later and to a lesser extent. The southern European countries also show a diverse picture. While in Spain business schools and consultancies diffuse new ideas to the large companies, there are doubts regarding the diffusion to small companies. Like France, Italy seems to be less influenced by global management ideas, although there are regional variations.
CEMP research has shown that management practice has evolved in waves, which differ significantly in terms of the dominant ideas, the focus of management attention, and the role of top managers. A first wave occurred in the period from the 1880s to the 1970s with a major expansion between the 1920s and the 1950s. The focus during that period was on the production unit and the dominant ideology was scientific management developed by Frederick W. Taylor. During this wave the role of the top manager was primarily that of a specialist. However, already in the 1920s a second wave started, although its major expansion did not occur until the period from the 1960s to the 1980s. In this wave the focus was moved from the production unit to the corporation. The dominant ideology concerned strategy and structure rather than scientific management, and the main proponent of the ideology was Peter F. Drucker. The role of the manager was no longer that of a specialist but that of a generalist. This wave has not yet finished, although it is on the decline. The most recent shift has emerged in the last two decades and became increasingly dominant during the 1990s. In this period the emphasis started to shift from corporate organisation and strategy towards the management of internal and external relationships. The co-ordination and control of such intra- and interorganisational networks is partly enabled through the fast development of information technology. A number of new management practices, concepts and tools have rapidly evolved at the same time, as there has been a tremendous rise of the management knowledge industry. However, there are differences between the fields in terms of their reaction to the changes in management practice. While popular management publications and consulting seem to be first in capturing new trends, there is more inertia when it comes to academic publications and management education. One of the distinctive features of the most recent wave is the polarisation within each of the three fields of the management knowledge industry. While the national level is gradually losing influence, the global and the local levels are becoming more important. On the global level each field is characterised by the emergence of large and highly visible actors pushing for convergence. CEMP data show that consultants and a few media conglomerates are most advanced in terms of acting on a global level. There are also a few international business schools. However, in general, management education remains nationally driven. At the same time, parts of the management knowledge industry, especially the small consultancies, are very active on the local level. When it comes to content, the research points to a gradual blurring of the boundaries of the fields. The blurring occurs because some actors belong to several fields and the fields are increasingly overlapping. For instance, consultants have started to co-operate with business schools by organising joint events. At the same time business school are offering consulting- type services in the form of tailor-made programmes for specific companies. Media companies have also expanded their education-related activities. Some publishing companies have started to organise training events. They are also influencing education through ranking of business schools. In the same way companies are increasingly influencing educational institutions through external academic funding and the participation in accreditation projects. As a result of all these developments, there is a tendency for the management knowledge industry as a whole to use the same labels and to diffuse similar ideas. In terms of diffusion, CEMP research confirms the importance of management education, media and consulting. However, their function is not limited to the transfer of management knowledge. In the third wave of management practice companies have to defend their action in relation to various internal and external stakeholders, especially players on the global financial markets. The legitimisation function of the different institutions within the management knowledge industry has therefore increased significantly. At the discourse level there is also strong evidence for a growing importance of these institutions in the promotion of convergence. They especially contribute to the creation of a common management language and its translation to a local context. For the latter, local actors play a significant role as translators for global models. Overall it is clear that consultants and parts of the media are the most important actors promoting convergence. They do this by diffusing standardised labels globally and by translating them into local and national contexts. In comparison education is still dominated by national institutions, which means that they have less of influence on the convergence process. Due to the blurring of boundaries the labels and underlying ideas are becoming increasingly similar across all of the institutions. However, despite these strong tendencies for convergence, there is considerable room for variation at the organisational level. This is due to the possibility of actors to de-couple labels from practice as well as the translation occurring at local levels. In this context it should be noted that neither de-coupling nor translation are necessarily smooth and uncontested processes. CEMP research also shows that most of the dominant and visible actors at the global level in consulting and media, but to a more limited extent in education, are of American origin and ownership. This means that the role models and the providers of labels and underlying ideas for European actors are coming from the United States. The main role of the European actors seems to be the translation of these labels and ideas into the local context. Thus, some of the ideas originating in European management practice might be packaged and sold back to Europe by dominant US actors in the management knowledge industry. The fact that most ideas are packaged in the United States might also be behind the extent of de-coupling and the friction occurring in the translation process in Europe.

Searching for OpenAIRE data...

There was an error trying to search data from OpenAIRE

No results available