The odyssey of management knowledge to transforming societies: a critical review of a theoretical alternative.

While discussions about management knowledge transfer to the former socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) seem to be popular, they often suffer from serious shortcomings with respect to their basic assumptions. Starting with a critical evaluation of prevailing frameworks, the authors introduce institutional theory as an alternative approach to this topic. Based on these theoretical foundations, they develop some propositions that support a deeper understanding of how the transfer of management knowledge into this highly complex region works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]