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Transatlantic Influence in the Shaping of Business Education: The Origins of IMD, 1946–1990

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2015

Thomas David  and
Janick Marina Schaufelbuehl
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Abstract

The history of the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), one of the most prestigious business schools in the world, highlights the role of multinationals in establishing business education in Europe and the problem of legitimacy. The creation of IMD's predecessors CEI and IMEDE by Alcan and Nestlé also illuminates the role of Harvard Business School in their development and the reciprocal influences of American and European management education after World War II.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 89 , Issue 1 , Spring 2015 , pp. 75 - 97
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 2015 

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References

1 Its original name was Alcan's Training School in Geneva. In 1948 it was renamed CEI; the name was then changed to International Management Institute (IMI) in 1982. In this contribution we will use the name CEI for the entire period.

2 Aluminium Limited had been created as a holding company in 1928 by the world's leader in aluminum, Alcoa, in order to handle the company's international investments and allow participation in international cartels. The company was renamed Alcan Aluminium Limited in 1966. It acquired the Alusuisse Lonza group in 2000, followed in 2003 by Péchiney; in 2007 it was bought by Rio Tinto and renamed Rio Tinto Alcan. On Aluminium Limited and Alcoa, see Smith, George David, From Monopoly to Competition: The Transformations of Alcoa, 1888–1986 (Cambridge, U.K., 1988)Google Scholar.

3 See Amdam, Rolv Petter, “Business Education,” in The Oxford Handbook of Business History, ed. Jones, Geoffrey and Zeitlin, Jonathan (Oxford, 2007), 588Google Scholar.

4 On the distinction between business schools based on the American model, created after World War II, and those that had emerged in Europe during the Second Industrial Revolution, from 1880 to 1920, see Amdam, Rolv Petter, Kvalshaugen, Ragnhild, and Larsen, Eirinn, “The Power of Content Revisited,” in Inside the Business Schools: The Content of European Business Education, ed. Amdam, Rolv Petter, Kvalshaugen, Ragnhild, and Larsen, Eirinn (Oslo, 2003), 11–26Google Scholar.

5 See ibid.; on the transformations of U.S. business schools from 1945 to 1970, see also Khurana, Rakesh, From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession (Princeton, 2007)Google Scholar, and Augier, Mie and March, James G., The Roots, Rituals, and Rhetorics of Change: North American Business Schools after the Second World War (Stanford, 2011)Google Scholar.

6 See especially Gemelli, Giuliana, “From Imitation to Competitive-Cooperation: The Ford Foundation and Management Education in Western and Eastern Europe (1950s–1970s),” in The Ford Foundation and Europe (1950s–1970s): Cross-Fertilization of Learning in Social Sciences and Management, ed. Gemelli, Giuliana (Brussels, 1998), 167–304Google Scholar; Gemelli, Giuliana, “American Influence on European Management Education: The Role of the Ford Foundation,” in Management Education, ed. Locke, Robert R. (Dartmouth, 1998), 239–69Google Scholar; Kipping, Matthias, “The Hidden Business Schools: Management Training in Germany since 1945,” in Management Education in Historical Perspective, ed. Engwall, Lars and Zamagni, Vera (Manchester, 1998), 95–110Google Scholar; Amdam, “Business Education”; Arena, Lise, “Les modèles nationaux d'enseignement de la gestion d'entreprise: Formes de capitalisme et modes d'organisation,” Entreprises et histoire 65 (Dec. 2011): 6–10Google Scholar.

7 See Rakesh Khurana, Kenneth Kimura, and Marion Fourcade, “How Foundations Think: The Ford Foundation as a Dominating Institution in the Field of American Business Schools” (Harvard Business School Working Paper No. 11-070, Boston, 2011), 1.

8 On the difference between substantive and symbolic resources that business schools rely on, see Khurana, Kimura, and Fourcade, “How Foundations Think.” Business schools in the United States also tried to seek academic legitimacy from universities, as Augier and March have demonstrated in Roots, Rituals, and Rhetorics, 22–31.

9 On this notion see Gemelli, “From Imitation to Competitive-Cooperation.”

10 Correspondence, 1973–1980, International Institute for Management Development IMD (1956–1972), Files of the Rectorat, 6405-6 (1), Archives of the University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland (hereafter AUL).

11 Honegger, Claudia et al. , Konkurrierende Deutungen des Sozialen: Geschichts-, Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften im Spannungsfeld von Politik und Wissenschaft (Zurich, 2007), 304Google Scholar.

12 On this question, see Lars Engwall and Vera Zamagni, “Introduction,” in Management Education in Historical Perspective, ed. Engwall and Zamagni, 10–16; Gemelli, “From Imitation to Competitive-Cooperation,” 171.

13 One must note the CEI's former director Max Daetwyler's article “Case Study: The Centre d'Etudes Industrielles (CEI), Geneva,” in Managing a Management Development Institution, ed. Kubr, Milan (Geneva, 1982), 197–210Google Scholar, and the booklet published for IMEDE's twentieth anniversary, Insights into the History, Activities and Aspirations of IMEDE, 1957–1977 (Lausanne, 1977)Google Scholar.

14 On IPSOA, see Gemelli, “American Influence”; on INSEAD, see Barsoux, Jean-Louis, Insead: From Intuition to Institution (London, 2000)Google Scholar; on IESE, see Núria Puig, “Educating Spanish Managers: The United States, Modernising Networks, and Business Schools in Spain, 1950–1975,” in Inside the Business Schools, ed. Amdam, Kvalshaugen, and Larsen, 75.

15 Barsoux, Insead, 26.

16 See, for example, Jacqueline McGlade, “The Big Push: The Export of American Business Education to Western Europe after the Second World War,” in Management Education in Historical Perspective, ed. Engwall and Zamagni, 50–65.

17 For a pathbreaking study on these transnational exchanges, see Rodgers, Daniel T., Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age (Cambridge, Mass., 1998)Google Scholar; de Grazia, see also Victoria, Irresistible Empire: America's Advance through Twentieth-Century Europe (Cambridge, Mass., 2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

18 See Cailluet, Matthias Kipping and Ludovic, “Mintzberg's Emergent and Deliberate Strategies: Tracking Alcan's Activities in Europe, 1928–2007,” Business History Review 84 (Spring 2010): 79–104Google Scholar.

19 See Müller, Margrit, “The Case of U.S. Companies in Switzerland,” in American Firms in Europe: Strategy, Identity, Perception, and Performance, ed. Bonin, Hubert and de Goey, Ferry (Geneva, 2009), 105–28Google Scholar.

20 Harold Howe to McGeorge Bundy, 10 July 1972, Pa72-3550000, Ford Foundation Archives, Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. (hereafter FFA).

21 “Brochure: Center for Education in International Management,” 1971, 1990/4/135, CEI archives, University of Geneva Archives, Geneva, Switzerland (hereafter, CEI, AUG).

22 “Switzerland: Training Europe's Managers,” Economist, 1 July 1967, in 1990/4/144, CEI, AUG.

23 This assessment was made retrospectively by the managing director of Nestlé, Enrico Bignami, in a confidential internal report on February 8, 1968. Secrétariat Général (hereafter SG) 11746-C-1 A 1968–79, IMEDE archives, Historical Nestlé Archives, Vevey, Switzerland (hereafter IMEDE, AHN); see also Heer, Jean, Nestlé, cent vingt-cinq ans, 1866–1991 (Vevey, 1991)Google Scholar.

24 The genesis of IMEDE is summarized in a short text by Enrico Bignami in IMEDE, History, Activities and Aspirations, 17. See also Enrico Bignami to J. Rivollet, 10 Oct. 1955 and 28 Sept. 1956, SG 11746-C/33, IMEDE, AHN; “Report on Certain Aspects Mentioned at the Conference ‘Post-Graduate Education for Management,’” signed EB/MB, 30 Jan. 1956, SG 11746-C-1l 1956–1965, IMEDE, AHN.

25 Bignami to Rivollet, 10 Oct. 1955 and 28 Sept. 1956, SG 11746-C/33, IMEDE, AHN.

26 Enrico Bignami to Dean Chaffee E. Hall Jr., 12 July 1966, SG 11746-C-1 1956–1967, IMEDE, AHN.

27 See letter from R. J. White to Paul M. Haenni, 4 Mar. 1958, 1990/4/144, CEI, AUG.

28 Minutes of the meetings of the board of the foundation, 23 Apr. 1963 and 12 May 1969, 1990/4/134 and 135, CEI, AUG.

29 Note by Mariam K. Chamberlain, “Visit to CEI, 14 June 1967,” 16 June 1967, PA68-463-40000, FFA.

30 Bohdan Hawrylyshyn to Robert N. Anthony, 27 Feb. 1970, and Robert N. Anthony to Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, 13 Mar. 1970, both Robert N. Anthony Papers, Arch GA 4.11, box 3, Harvard Business School Archives, Boston (hereafter HBSA).

31 Jean-Constant Corthésy to Robert N. Anthony, 16 Mar. 1970, and Robert N. Anthony to Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, 9 Apr. 1970 and 1 Dec. 1970, all Robert N. Anthony Papers, Arch GA 4.11, box 3, HBSA.

32 Minutes of the meetings of the board of the foundation, 2 Oct. 1981 and 29 Sept. 1983, 1990/4/135, CEI, AUG.

33 Jean-Claude and Christa Maria Haenni, interviewed by Jean-Christophe Graz, University of Lausanne, 23 June 2001, Lausanne, Switzerland, unpublished document in possession of Graz.

34 Before CEI became a foundation, in 1956, the board of trustees was in charge of the school's affairs. “Report on Future Development of CEI,” Nov. 1973, 1990/4/134, CEI, AUG.

35 According to article 7 of the constitution act of the IMEDE foundation board (17 Dec. 1956), the board was run by a committee of five to seven people: three to five were appointed by Nestlé, one by the cantonal government, and one by the University of Lausanne (Enrico Bignami to Jean Golay, 26 June 1968, SG 11746 C-7, IMEDE, AHN). IMEDE Dean Luigi Dusmet felt some “discomfort” concerning IMEDE's independence and identity after Bignami's objection to a closer collaboration with INSEAD. Correspondence between Luigi Dusmet and Enrico Bignami, 9, 11, and 21 Oct. 1968, and letter from Henry Dougier (INSEAD) to Luigi Dusmet, 2 Oct. 1968, SG 11746-C-12 and 11746-C-14, IMEDE, AHN.

36 Minutes of the meetings of the board of the foundation, 18 Nov. 1970 and 19 Sept. 1972, 1990/4/135, CEI, AUG.

37 Bignami, confidential report on IMEDE's future, and letter from the general director of Nestlé Alimentana to IMEDE, 17 Aug. 1967, both SG 11746-C-51, IMEDE, AHN.

38 Paul M. Haenni, “A Comparison between CEI and IMEDE,” 1960, 1990/4/35, CEI, AUG.

39 Minutes of the committee meeting of 19 Aug. 1967, SG 11746 C-7, IMEDE, AHN.

40 IMEDE, History, Activities and Aspirations, 17.

41 “Le CEI. Ses objectifs, son programme, ses activités,” 1964, 1990/4/134, CEI, AUG.

42 Minutes of the meeting of the board of the foundation, 17 Apr. 1962, 1990/4/134, CEI, AUG.

43 Enrico Bignami to Jean-Constant Corthésy, 14 Aug. 1967, SG 11746-C-1 1956–1967, IMEDE, AHN.

44 B. Fuglistaller, “Report on the IMEDE and Nestlé Programs,” 25 Aug. 1958, SG 11746 C-45, IMEDE, AHN; J. R. Prout, “IMEDE Report,” 27 Oct. 1958, SG 11746 C-46, IMEDE, AHN; and Bignami, confidential report, SG 11746-C-51, IMEDE, AHN.

45 Dean Thomas A. Graves to Enrico Bignami, 17 May 1962, SG 11746-C-1l, IMEDE, AHN.

46 Minutes, 19 Aug. 1967, SG 11746 C-7, IMEDE, AHN; “Candidature éventuelle au cours d'Imede de XXX (1959–1960)” and letter from Enrico Bignami to Dean Thomas A. Graves, 23 May 1962, SG 11746-C-1 1956–65, IMEDE, AHN. On the importance of Nestlé in the intercorporate network in Switzerland, see David, Thomas et al. , De la “Forteresse des Alpes” à la valeur actionnariale: Histoire de la gouvernance d'entreprise suisse (1880–2010) (Geneva, 2014)Google Scholar. Thanks to the financial support of Nestlé, IMEDE was able to grant scholarships to students from developing and Eastern European countries. See letter from Thomas A. Graves, director of the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, to Dean Chaffe E. Hall Jr., 19 July 1965, SG 11746-C-1 1956–65, IMEDE, AHN.

47 Daetwyler, “Case Study,” 209–10.

48 Paul M. Haenni and Henry H. Atkins, “Future Development of CEI,” memo sent to Alcan in view of the upcoming meeting of the board of trustees of CEI, 28 Mar. 1955, 1990/4/171, CEI, AUG.

49 Bignami, confidential report, SG 11746-C-51, IMEDE, AHN.

50 Ibid.

51 Letter from Holbrook R. Davis, assistant director of CEI, to Melvin T. Copeland, HBS, 2 Apr. 1948, and his reply of 12 May 1948, 1990/4/139, CEI, AUG.

52 See Gemelli, “From Imitation to Competitive-Cooperation,” 177.

53 Their friendship is mentioned in a Ford Foundation letter from Richard M. Catalano to S. T. Gordon, 26 May 1966, PA68-463-40000, FFA.

54 Haenni and Atkins, “Future Development of CEI.”

55 Donald K. David to Paul M. Haenni, 3 Oct. 1955, 1990/4/145, CEI, AUG.

56 Paul M. Haenni to Stanley F. Teele, 6 Mar. 1957, 1990/4/146, CEI, AUG.

57 Stanley F. Teele to Paul M. Haenni, 12 Mar. 1957, 1990/4/146, CEI, AUG.

58 E. Henry, “Report on IMEDE,” 24 Apr. 1968, SG 11746-C-1 A 1968–79, IMEDE, AHN.

59 IMEDE, History, Activities and Aspirations, 9.

60 See Gemelli, “From Imitation to Competitive-Cooperation,” 178; Dennis Hevesi, “Robert N. Anthony Dies at 90; Made Accounting Easier to Learn,” New York Times, 18 Dec. 2006; Enrico Bignami to Joseph E. Slater, Ford Foundation, 10 Mar. 1966, SG 11746-C-57, IMEDE, AHN.

61 See Luigi Dusmet, “Recruiting Trip to Boston, October 22, 23 and 24, 1970,” 27 Oct. 1970, SG 11746 C/103, IMEDE, AHN.

62 H. K. Philips to Jean-Constant Corthésy, 29 Sept. 1964, Arch GA 80.20, box 8, folder 16, George A. Smith Papers, HBSA.

63 See IMEDE, History, Activities and Aspirations, 55. HBS's influence was in reality even more important, since six professors came from the University of Virginia's business school, which had been modeled on HBS; see Khurana, Higher Aims, 277.

64 White to Haenni, 4 Mar. 1958, 1990/4/144, CEI, AUG.

65 This was also one of the weaknesses of IPSOA; see Gemelli, “American Influence,” 255.

66 Bignami, confidential report, SG 11746-C-51, IMEDE, AHN.

67 Claude Rivière, “Wider Training for Wider Markets,” Vision: The European Business Magazine, July/Aug. 1972.

68 Henry, “Report on IMEDE,” SG 11746-C-1 A 1968–79, IMEDE, AHN.

69 Robert N. Anthony in IMEDE, History, Activities and Aspirations, 10. In 1964, IMEDE had designed more than four hundred case studies based on European enterprises; see report by J. Golay on the relations between HEC and IMEDE, 1964, SG 11746 C-7, IMEDE, AHN.

70 Kenneth R. Andrews to Arthur B. Moss, 21 Apr. 1959, Arch GA3, box 79, folder 8, Kenneth Andrews Papers, HBSA.

71 Georges A. Fiechter, secretary general of IMEDE, to Thomas H. Carroll, vice president of the Ford Foundation, 1 Dec. 1959, L9-3150000, FFA.

72 Clark E. Myers, IMEDE, to Thomas H. Carroll, vice president of the Ford Foundation, 2 Nov. 1959, L9-3150000, FFA.

73 Bower, Joseph L., “The Teaching of Strategy: From General Manager to Analyst and Back Again?” Journal of Management Inquiry 17, no. 4 (Dec. 2008): 270Google Scholar.

74 Fiechter to Carroll, 1 Dec. 1959, L9-3150000, FFA.

75 Minutes of committee meeting of 23 Aug. 1968, SG 11746 C-7, IMEDE, AHN; White to Haenni, 4 Mar. 1958, 1990/4/144, CEI, AUG.

76 IMEDE, History, Activities and Aspirations, 50.

77 Enrico Bignami to Thomas A. Graves, 4 July 1966, and Albert Smith to Enrico Bignami, 3 Aug. 1966, both Arch GA 80.20, box 8, folder 10, George A. Smith Papers, HBSA.

78 Minutes, 23 Aug. 1968, SG 11746 C-7, IMEDE, AHN.

79 Albert Smith to Enrico Bignami, 19 Jan. 1965, and Enrico Bignami to Albert Smith, 26 Jan. 1965, both Arch GA 80.20, box 8, folder 10, George A. Smith Papers, HBSA.

80 See Rivière, “Wider Training for Wider Markets.”

81 Moulton, Harper W., The CER Evaluation Guide to Executive Programs, Corporate Education Resources (San Antonio, 1987), 37Google Scholar.

82 See Gemelli, “From Imitation to Competitive-Cooperation,” 214–15, 234, 246.

83 See Khurana, Higher Aims, and Gemelli, “From Imitation to Competitive-Cooperation.”

84 F. Champion Ward, report to McGeorge Bundy, “Management Education in Europe,” 21 Mar. 1968, PA68-463-10000, FFA.

85 Luigi Dusmet, report to Enrico Bignami, 15 Sept. 1967, copy sent to C. Roland Christensen, 15 Sept. 1967, Arch GA 80.20, box 9, folder 5, George A. Smith Papers, HBSA.

86 Chaffee E. Hall Jr. to Enrico Bignami, 13 Aug. 1965, SG, 11746-C-57, IMEDE, AHN.

87 Richard M. Catalano to J. E. Slater, 20 May 1966, L65-5380000, FFA.

88 Mariam K. Chamberlain, report to Marshall A. Robinson, “Memoirs of Fontainebleau, September 11–14, 1967,” 22 Sept. 1967, L65-5380000, FFA.

89 Dusmet, report to Enrico Bignami.

90 Enrico Bignami, note, 23 Apr. 1969, SG 11746-C-57, IMEDE, AHN.

91 Albert Smith to Enrico Bignami, 6 Aug. 1969, George A. Smith Papers, Arch GA 80.20, box 8, folder 10, HBSA.

92 Howard V. Perlmutter, author of the classic paper “The Multinational Firm and the Future,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 403 (Sept. 1972), was at the time teaching at IMEDE. Mariam K. Chamberlain, report to Marshall A. Robinson, “Management Education in Europe,” 8 May 1967, L65-5380000, FFA.

93 Albert Smith to Enrico Bignami, 16 May 1967, Arch GA 80.20, box 9, folder 5, George A. Smith Papers, HBSA.

94 “Meeting with Professor J. K. Galbraith,” 18 Feb. 1969, SG 11746-C-57, IMEDE, AHN.

95 Minutes of the meeting of the board of the foundation, 21 June 1968, 1990/4/36, CEI, AUG.

96 Jean-Yves Eichenberger to Mariam K. Chamberlain, 21 June 1967, PA68-463-10000, FFA.

97 “Switzerland,” 1990/4/144, CEI, AUG.

98 Harold Howe to McGeorge Bundy, 10 July 1972, PA72-3550000, FFA.

99 Ibid.

100 Mariam K. Chamberlain, report to Marshall A. Robinson, 25 Jan. 1973, PA72-3550000, FFA.

101 This sum was combined with $100,000 CEI had obtained from the Clark Foundation. Marshall A. Robinson, “CEI,” note, 10 Feb. 1976, PA74-5030000, FFA; Ford Foundation to Max Daetwyler, 18 Oct. 1978, PA78-8700000, FFA.

102 Paul M. Haenni to Donald K. David, 18 June 1959, 1990/4/146, CEI, AUG.

103 Donald K. David to Paul M. Haenni, 24 June 1959, 1990/4/146, CEI, AUG.

104 On the links between the Ford Foundation and the Salzburg Seminar, see Inderjeet, Parmar, “Combating Anti-Americanism: American Foundations and Public Diplomacy,” in The Political Consequences of Anti-Americanism, ed. Higgott, Richard and Malbasic, Ivona (London, 2008), 29–44Google Scholar. See also Paul M. Haenni to Neil W. Chamberlain, 31 July 1959, 1990/4/146, CEI, AUG.

105 Mariam K. Chamberlain, “Visit of B. Hawrylyshyn,” note, 22 Nov. 1971, PA68-463-20000, FFA.

106 Enrico Bignami to Dean Chaffee E. Hall Jr., IMEDE, 29 July 1965, SG 11746-C-57, IMEDE, AHN.