ABSTRACT
Previous research on management fashions demonstrated regularities in their development, with an initial period of dormancy (Abrahamson 1999), a subsequent phase of growth when fashionable concepts become commercialized, and consecutive decline phase. Empirical data indicate that fashion lifecycle can be characterized as a Bell-shaped curve (Abrahamson 1999; Kieser, Hegele, Klimmer 1998: 25), with time and attention of market participants 13 as variables. Research reveals also increasingly shorter fashion lifecycles, and higher peak points of the curves, leading researchers to the conclusion that any new management fashion is stronger and more popular but also shorter lasting than the previous ones (Kieser, Hegele, Klimmer 1998: 25).
