Networks as Resources, Organizational Logic, and Change Mechanism: The Case of Private Business Schools in Post-Socialism

The paper differentiates between three conceptualizations of organizational networks: as resources, as organizational logic, and as a change mechanism. We integrate and apply these conceptualizations in one of the first comprehensive studies of private business schools in post-socialism. Using case studies, content analysis of websites, and an open-ended survey of administrators, we show how East-West networks helped in establishing a new type of organization at the end of socialism, how schools use networking as a core organizational principle to enhance efficacy and legitimacy, and how their activities help build capitalism from the bottom up by transmitting market-based knowledge to post-socialist economic actors.

Nina BandeljEmail: