Index: django/core/management/__init__.py
===================================================================
--- django/core/management/__init__.py	(revision 8295)
+++ django/core/management/__init__.py	(working copy)
@@ -104,7 +104,9 @@
         # Find the project directory
         try:
             from django.conf import settings
-            project_directory = setup_environ(__import__(settings.SETTINGS_MODULE))
+            settings_mod = __import__(settings.SETTINGS_MODULE, {}, {}, 
+                             [settings.SETTINGS_MODULE.split('.')[-1]])
+            project_directory = setup_environ(settings_mod)
         except (AttributeError, EnvironmentError, ImportError):
             project_directory = None
 
@@ -310,6 +312,7 @@
 
     # Set DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE appropriately.
     os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = '%s.%s' % (project_name, settings_name)
+    return project_directory
 
 def execute_from_command_line(argv=None):
     """