Call for papers

Colonising the periphery?  Carriers, contents and influence of US
management knowledge on Europe's boundaries

Istanbul Bilgi University
7-9 September 2001


The purpose of this conference is to examine the efforts to introduce US
management knowledge into peripheral countries in Europe during the second
half of the twentieth century.
There have been a large number of studies of the US influence on Europe
after the Second World War.  Much of the recent research has gone beyond
the earlier focus on the political and macro-economic dimensions and has
also looked at the impact of the American example on companies,
highlighting the changes in management ideas and practices.  Particular
attention has been devoted to the different carriers of US management
knowledge, including productivity centres, business schools, consultancies
and multinationals.  Much of this work has concentrated on the core
countries, e.g. Great Britain, West Germany, France and, to a lesser
extent, Italy.

The aim of this conference is to find out (1) whether similar efforts took
place in the smaller countries, located on Europe's periphery and (2) to
what extent these efforts where shaped by the country-specific
circumstances, for example their geo-political importance, their state of
economic development or their political regime.  We are inviting papers
dealing with all aspects of these issues, focusing namely on:
- The different carriers involved in this process, their emergence and
subsequent development, e.g. the US productivity missions, the national
productivity centres, non-governmental institutions such as the Ford
Foundation, existing and new business schools and universities, management
consultancies and foreign direct investment.  In addition, it seems
important to identify key individuals and to examine their role in this
process.

- The content of the American management knowledge exported to and received
in these countries, including, among others, the following questions:  What
kind of ideas were presented and perceived as "typically American"?  To
what extent were ideas about professional and efficient management linked
to those about the superiority of the free-market system?  Did the US
influence replace earlier approaches to management, both those of domestic
and foreign origin?

- The actual influence of American management ideas and practices:  Did
they lead to debates among leaders in business and government, the
transformation of existing or the formation of new political, economic and
social elites?  What kind of changes did they provoke in management
practice at the micro-economic level (in both private and public sector
organisations)?  To what extent were these ideas modified at the
implementation stage?  To what extent and by whom were these ideas and
practices resisted?

The conference is organised jointly by Istanbul Bilgi University and the
EU-funded research project on the Creation of European Management Practice
(CEMP).
Those interested in presenting a paper at this conference should e-mail a
two-page abstract to Beyza Furman (mailto:[log in to unmask]) by 15 May
2001.
 The selection committee, which also includes Arzu Iseri, Lars Engwall and
Matthias Kipping, will make and communicate its decisions by the end of
May.  Full papers will have to be circulated electronically to all
participants by 15 August 2001.
The organisers will pay for all the local costs (accommodation and food).
It might also be possible to make a contribution to travel costs in cases
where authors do not receive any funding from their home institution.

Ludovic Cailluet
Ecole Superieure Universitaire de Gestion (ESUG-IAE)
Universite des Sciences Sociales de Toulouse
2 rue Albert Lautman
31000 Toulouse
FRANCE

tel. +33 (0)5 61 63 37 05
fax. +33 (0)5 6123 84 33

http://www.univ-tlse1.fr/esug