Mimicry and Revival: The Transfer and Transformation of Management Knowledge to India, 1959-1990

Abstract

This paper examines the early transfer of management knowledge to India, with particular attention to the relationship between the institutional context and the content of management knowledge. It identifies a shift in the relationship with foreign management knowledge, from mimicry to revival, from adopting U.S. models to identifying uniquely Indian equivalents. The initial transfer process encouraged researchers to eventually identify a body of management knowledge recognizably "Indian." The argument is that rather than treating Indian management knowledge as a fixed essence, it should be seen as an active construction, the effect of the initial transfer process and the consequent creation of elite institutions and an academic class.