Globalization routes: The pursuit of conformity and distinctiveness by top business schools in India

Abstract

In this article, we examine how leading business schools in India orient themselves locally and globally while pursuing conformity and distinctiveness. We expect that these dynamics are particularly complex in ‘emerging’ economies such as India where liberalization and subsequent economic resurgence have led to more intense global exposure for business schools. By exploring changes in the way these responses are applied over time, we identify four globalization routes in the field. Furthermore, we show that these routes make up two broad zones of global–local interaction. In one, we point to the ability of global practices to serve both global and local compulsions, leading to the diffusion of global norms and practices. In the other, we point to how inherent paradoxes lead to possibilities for moderate and radical global distinctiveness.