Management Education as Modernization: The Historical Role of Modernizing Elites

In extant historiography, management education was exported by U.S. elites, particularly its philanthropic foundations, leading business schools, and academic experts and consultants, to the Global South in the mid-20th century. This Americanization of management education was part of the wider Cold War-era development and was motivated by the U.S. fight against communism and the drive to promote capitalist development across the Global South. Building on and challenging this historiography, this article sets out the significant role of Indian elites and their interests in the institutionalization of management education in the country, preceding and alongside the efforts of U.S. elites. Here, management education was part of the Indian state’s novel development efforts, post-independence, that fused state-led, centralized planning with capitalism and democracy, which were considered antithetical during the Cold War. The article argues that notwithstanding the significant ideological divides among the various international and national elites, it was their shared commitment to modernization that ultimately enabled the institutionalization of management education in India. The article is based on the historical efforts from 1947–1962 leading to the establishment of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad—the country’s premier management research and education institution.