Team management: final assembly of a Metop satellite in Friedrichshafen, Germany; repairs in space (far left)
In a globalized economy with heterogeneous, rapidly changing operating conditions, hyper-competition and greater internal complexity within companies, knowledge – including management knowledge – is a competitive factor with an increasingly short shelf-life. This short review of the development of management studies shows that our knowledge of management techniques and strategic management has progressed by leaps and bounds over the last forty years. At the same time, the subject has become more complex, which means that communicating management knowledge has become more challenging. In the future, the efficient use of knowledge as a competitive factor will depend on a closer marriage of research and practice. There is a will on both sides to forge such a bond. Universities increasingly provide for practical projects, case studies, internships,
lectures by practitioners, and further education programs for managers. Industry is investing more resources in its own ‘corporate universities’, but also in centralized institutions like the Center for University Development funded by the Bertelsmann Foundation, or the European School of Management and Technology currently being created in Berlin. This closer interaction could produce a fourth generation of strategic thought that distinguishes between individual company types, allocating the appropriate planning philosophy to each one. As a result, companies could benefit from strategic concepts tailored to their specific needs rather than having to make do with off-thepeg solutions.
Michael Kutschker studied business administration and was a manager in the private sector for ten years. In 1989 he accepted the Chair in General Business Administration and International Management at the University of StuttgartHohenheim. Since 1993 he has taught the subject at the Catholic University in Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. He has written numerous books on international management. In 2002, he and Stefan Schmid published the standard German-language text on the subject, Internationales Management. Links on this topic: www.aom.pace.edu Website of the Academy of Management. Members can access key management journals online. Not just for academics. www.competence-site.de Competence Center on ’strategic management’ with literature on management problems and links to experts.
optimus 1/2003 · Management | 17