Management fashions refer to the relatively short-lasting popularity of concepts, approaches and tools, used by corporate managers to reduce the environmental complexity and facilitate change management initiatives. The theory of management fashions was proposed in the 1990s by Eric Abrahamson, and Krzysztof Klincewicz applied the approach to analyze the changing popularity of commercial solutions, including management bestsellers, consulting services, software systems, methodologies and approaches to organizational change, training courses, professional certifications and corporate positions. Management fashions turned out to be key drivers for the development of the management knowledge industry, consisting of consulting companies, computer firms, publishing houses, professional institutes, and other organizations involved in the launching and the promotion of new management techniques. The research supplemented the existing body of knowledge by focusing on the supply-side of management fashions, particularly the strategies and marketing techniques of solution vendors, and proposed a model of relations between management ideas and tangible solutions, explaining how bestselling ideas are turned into objects and institutions. The book was first released in 2006, and its second edition was published in 2009.
