The Historical Development of Business Schools

Abstract

History matters, particularly for organizations. This has been pointed out in research on organizational learning (March 1999), in organizational psychology (Weick 1979, 1995), and in organizational sociology (Hannan and Freeman 1989; cited after Krücken 2002: 23). Since the character of an organization develops over decades, its study requires historical exploration. Its character may be largely set during its initial years, which points to the path-dependent character of organizational structures. Stinchcombe (1965) provided evidence that existing organizations are imprinted by the environment period of their founding. Similarly, Kimberly (1975) and Boeker (1989) argue that the basic structure and configuration that organizations adopt is strongly influenced by environmental and contextual factors when the organization is started.