The Origins and Evolution of Management Education and Training in Argentina, 1940s?1960s

LLUCH ANDREA

Cartagena

Congreso; Business History Conference; 2019

Business History Conference

The demand for managers increased during the second wave of foreign direct investment in Latin America that followed World War II. The human resource management (HRM) literature has suggested that multinationals (MNEs) were forced to re-evaluate of their global staffing options when the demand for global managers began to increase. However, in Argentina, the need to redesign strategies for managing foreign subsidiaries began at an earlier date, as a consequence of the Great Depression. Building on previous research, this paper will discuss the changes in multinationals? staffing strategies for top executive positions in Argentina from after World War II up to the 1960s. The intention is to correlate this process with the strategies and actions MNEs implemented to promote and develop infrastructure for training company management staff in Argentina. The paper proposes that what shaped the debate on management education was not formal education systems for training executives but rather a series of private initiatives led by the largest companies, especially multinationals, which led to the development of the first executive education programs. This is a qualitative study that provides empirical evidence and describes the staffing strategies of leading US firms operating in Argentina in the selected period. The paper draws on valuable, original records belonging to official and private institutions that played a part in developing management education in Argentina.