The corporate university at the crossroads of managerial thinking in organizations

Abstract

This article examines the origins and emergence of corporate universities, particularly in the French context. As organizational training structures, based on often prestigious academic partnerships, corporate universities are the legacy of multiple developments related to the structuring of managerial training in France. At the crossroads of these influences, they constitute a particular means of disseminating managerial thinking within organizations, while maintaining a certain specificity that stems from the intermediate position between university and company that their denomination suggests. This article uses a documentary approach to present the history of corporate universities and analyze the specific way in which they disseminate managerial ideas. The peculiarities specific to corporate universities, it is argued, represent a legacy as much as a means of disseminating managerial thinking.