Transferring management knowledge into China: A conceptual model and case study

Abstract

The over-half-a-century collective experience of transferring management knowledge from the West into China is analysed based on a pragmatic conception of knowledge and a contingency model of transfer. Findings suggest that cross-border transmission will be more effective if actors (1) carefully investigate the transferabilities of ideals, tools and practice in management innovations, and (2) consciously pursue theoretically informed copying, adapting and mutual learning strategies. This allows a proposition that a culturally and institutionally sensitive perspective that nurtures international communities of knowing is crucial for globally informed indigenous management.