Excursus: Isomorphism — The Case of Entrepreneurship Professorships

Abstract

The analysis of the historical development of business schools has shown that the organization of academic business education seems to be partly isomorphic across countries. In many respects, this structural homogeneity is particularly widespread in the organizational field of higher education. For example, despite the peculiarities of an applied subject, the formal structure of business administration as academic subject certainly resembles the organization of other academic fields, such as the natural sciences, theology, or the humanities. Looked at in a comparative and historical perspective, business schools show a high degree of standardization and shared norms not only across disciplines but also across countries. There is probably a greater consistency among marketing professors worldwide than there is among the direct colleagues in the management faculty within a particular business school (see also Hardy et al. 1984).