A Note On The Evolution Of The French Management Scholarship, 1994-2014

This editorial note1 pictures the evolution of French management scholarship, 10 years after the takeoff of research at the international level. It analyses the decoupling between the consolidation of the industry with the French research in Management which is still emerging. It suggests that institutionalized patterns have been imported from international bodies. To explore this evolution, we analyze the international image of French scholarship as it is revealed on the Web of Science. We discuss the relative evolution of business schools and university departments in research and their relative performances in terms of scientific production (number of articles) and visibility (number of citations). Finally, we consider the effects of on-going strategies and the sustainability of imitation during the industry’s consolidation phase. We show how strategic convergence and imitation lead to Red Queen Effects and prevent organizations from achieving and sustaining strategic differentiation in the medium term.