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This case study examines the Argentinian privatization process that occurred in the early 1990s and which marked the start of the third phase of the history of public services in the country. The research focusses on the role played by a group of private companies in the privatization of the Buenos Aires Subway, an icon of the modernization of mass passenger transportation. It explores the background to the process, the alternative selling options available to the government and concerning the degree of public control that would be retained. It examines the effects of privatization on the economy of the country, on government debt and on the workers who lost their jobs as a result of the sale. The paper ends by describing the measures were taken during the transition from a bureaucratic management model to an entrepreneurial one.

El caso examina el proceso de privatización en la Argentina a comienzos de los años 90^..s cuando inició la tercera fase en la historia de los servicios públicos de ese país. Se centra en la exploración del proceso de transición hacia un conjunto de empresas privadas del Subterráneo de Buenos Aires, icono de modernización del transporte masivo de pasajeros Explora los antecedentes, las alternativas de venta por parte del gobierno, así como las relacionadas con el grado de control en manos de este último. Explora los efectos sobre la economía del país, la deuda del gobierno y el impacto sobre los trabajadores que no serían contratados luego de la privatización. Termina describiendo los cuidados adoptados en la transición desde una gestión de índole burocrática a otra de carácter empresarial.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the production of management knowledge in Argentina.

Based on a qualitative research strategy that draws on one of the authors' participant observation in the field of Argentine management education, selected data from Argentine universities, and a bibliometric study of local and foreign management journals.

Suggests that local academics are mainly engaged in the production of practitioner‐oriented management knowledge that is highly influenced by US popular market managerialism. Analyses the causes of the low level of production of indigenous academic knowledge, concluding that it can be explained by three related factors: the lack of financial resources to pursue independent scholarly research; the academic elite's lack of independence relative to the consulting elite; and the resulting patterns of cultural and social capital of Argentine management scholars. Concludes that that this situation might not be unique to Argentina, and that the hegemonic position of popular management discourse in developing countries is useful for those interest groups who benefit from managerialism.

Contributes to the largely neglected study of the processes of creation diffusion and consumption of management knowledge in developing countries