In the shadow of Americanisation: The origins and evolution of management education and training in Argentina (1940s–1960s)

Abstract

This article examines the development of educational programs for developing managers in Argentina from the 1940s to the 1960s. Research on management education during this period has tended to be US-European focused and has looked at the impact of American models. In Argentina, new institutions began to emerge in the 1940s. This process gained momentum in the 1950s and flourished in the 1960s. Several US actors supported the institutionalisation of management education. This paper analyses the relationship between American influence and national actors in two cases: business education within the Facultad de Ciencias Económicas (FCE, Faculty of Economic Science) at the University of Buenos Aires, and executive education at the Instituto para el Desarrollo de Ejecutivos en la Argentina (IDEA, Argentine Institute for Executives Development). Rather than being clones of US models, they reflected a national re-interpretation of the overall US idea of the development of institutions for the education and training of people in managerial positions.