Sophistry, Relevance and Technology Transfer in Management Research

Résumé du livre

This is a sophistic paper with no empirical data, no evaluation of performance indicators, and no managerial implications which examines the relationship between academic research and management practice. The Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) tradition is used as a case study to evaluate the proposition that IMP research has been sophistic and symbolic. In other words, the question is asked, Has the large body of empirical and conceptual research in IMP had as much impact on management practice as it should and, if not, why not? An analogy is seen between the field of scientific technology transfer and the transfer of IMP "management technology." The transfer process will take place no more naturally in the management sciences than in the hard sciences. It is recommended that it is in the area of technology transfer between the academic research community and the practitioners that the greatest scope for future investigation on this topic can be found. (LMH).