Institutions, environments and money : analysis of the three inquiries into management education in Australia

There have been three enquiries into management education in Australia over the last thirty years. These are the Cyert, Ralph and Karpin reports. The institutional and environmental circumstances leading to these reports are described and their recommendations examined. Subsequent implementation of the recommendations forms the basis of assessment as to how institutional forces can influence outcomes. Greater attention is paid to the Karpin report as this was the most extensive and the most critical of Australian managers. The 2006 publication of The Boston Consulting Group’s Value Creator’s Report provided a good opportunity to compare Karpin’s recommendations with the subsequent performance of Australian industry. It was concluded that the institutional and environmental changes which occurred during the 1990s had a significant impact upon business performance and subsumed Karpin’s observations and recommendations.