 The evolution of popular management ideas: an exploration and extension of the old wine in new bottles metaphorAnders Ortenblad International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, 2007, vol. 2, issue 4, 365-388 Abstract: This paper tells the stories of the emergence and evolution of four management ideas: organisational learning, the learning organisation, the learning company and knowledge management. It explores, evaluates and extends the 'old wine in new bottles' metaphor, and its relevance for the coining and naming of management fashions. The paper neither totally contradicts nor fully agrees with the wine–bottle metaphor. Labels of management ideas sometimes do not seem to be so new after all. Labels also seem to be more important than what the wine–bottle metaphor indicates; they might also affect the content. Consequently, it should rather be 'semi-old wine in old, recycled bottles'. The label seems to be less important for the more academic idea of organisational learning, in that it has experienced a split into two ideas that both go under the same label, and therefore should be understood as 'new wine in old bottles'. Keywords: knowledge management; labelling process; learning companies; learning organisation; management concepts; management fashion; metaphor; organisational learning; management ideas. (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijmcph:v:2:y:2007:i:4:p:365-388 Access Statistics for this article More articles in International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.