Business and Management Studies in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework

The Research Excellence Framework 2014 (REF 2014) was the 7th formal assessment of research in UK universities and other institutions of higher education. Participation in these assessments is voluntary, and institutions can decide which staff to include and under which discipline to include them. A hundred and one institutions chose to submit research in Business and Management Studies, and this work was assessed by a panel of academic researchers and research users nominated by a wide range of academic constituencies. The previous assessment exercise was conducted in 2008, and REF 2014 shows that the quality of UK research in Business and Management Studies, already high in 2008, has improved since then. The operation of the Business and Management Studies sub‐panel is described, the results are summarized, and a few caveats are discussed so as to aid the Business and Management Studies community in its endeavours to understand and evaluate the process and the results.     

Measuring Research Performance in Business and Management Studies in the United Kingdom: The 1992 Research Assessment Exercise*

This paper presents the results of a statistical analysis of the 1992 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE92) for the 85 business and management departments in UK institutions of higher education. The aims of the paper are, first, to construct a set of quantitative indicators of research outputs and inputs which can be used by individual departments for comparative purposes and second, to investigate the extent to which variations between departments in the research rating obtained in the RAE92 can be explained by these indicators of research outputs and inputs. One of the main findings is that around 80 per cent of the variation in the research rating obtained by business and management departments are accurately predicted by a regression model that contains only a small number of regressors. These include: size of department, articles in refereed academic journals, research students and research income.     

Evaluating cost efficiency in central administrative services in UK universities

This paper describes an attempt to evaluate cost efficiency in UK university central administration. The funding councils of higher education institutions have progressively evolved elaborate systems for measuring university performance in teaching quality and research. Indeed, funding of universities is linked to their performance in research. The allocation of resources between academic and administrative activities, on the other hand, has so far not been subject to scrutiny. Yet, expenditure on administration is typically some 30% of that allocated to academic activities. This paper sets up a data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework to identify practices leading to cost-efficient central administrative services in UK universities. The problems in defining the unit of assessment and the relationship between the inputs and the outputs are clearly demonstrated.     

Business and Management Impact Assessment in Research Excellence Framework 2014: Analysis and Reflection

The evaluation of research impact is likely to remain an important element of research quality audits in the UK for the foreseeable future. With this paper, we contribute to debates on impact and relevance of business and management studies research through an analysis of Research Excellence Framework 2014 impact scores within the business and management unit of assessment. We offer insights into the organizational contexts of UK business schools within which impact is produced, drawing attention to the issues of linkages with research intensity, grant income generation, research team size, career stage and gender of academics, and whether impact activity is focused on private or public sector organizations and national or international reach. We put forward recommendations for managers responsible for business schools and higher education policymakers regarding management and organizational policies and processes, as well as possible changes to the rules guiding future research excellence audits.     

Identifying the levels of strategy for a college or university

Little work has been done to date in applying the concept of strategy to non-profit organizations. This article focuses on strategic planning in the higher education setting and identifies the key strategic decisions areas for a college or university. Four levels of strategy are discussed and contrasted with the three levels typically used to described a complex, divisionalized business firm. Specific decision issues are identified for each strategy level and compared, where appropriate, to similar issues in the business sector. Finally, several avenues of research are suggested to enable better understanding of strategy content and process in institutions of higher education.     

Marketing planning for colleges and universities

History proves that institutions of higher education have been notoriously slow in adapting to changes in their environments, especially in their student-markets' needs. It is time for them to employ the techniques of strategic marketing planning used by the business sector. With adjustments made for their nonprofit nature and without comprising their cultural responsibilities, institutions of higher education could clearly better serve their students, benefactors, and communities by developing an ongoing system of environmental analysis and by acting on the insight they gain. This article demonstrates how institutions of higher education can implement strategic marketing planning. Frequent references are made to actual situations.     

Human Resource Management under Institutional Constraints: The Case of Germany

Most human resource management (HRM) research has been conducted in countries that have relatively weak labour market institutions such as the UK and the USA. There is little research about the scope for and constraints on the adoption of HRM practices in countries with strong statutory regulations. The research presented here is based on 16 case studies of banks and chemical firms operating in Germany, that comply with the requirements of the German labour market institutions of collective bargaining, co-determination and initial vocational training, and hence operate under strong institutional constraints. The evidence presented shows that institutional features of the German system encourage the implementation of some ingredients of the HRM ‘recipe’ and inhibit others. It also indicates that constraining influences notwithstanding, a pluralist version of HRM appears to be quite compatible with the highly regulated German context.     

中国管理实践研究的研究主体与评价主体——基于金蝶的管理研究实践

随着中国管理实践研究的深入发展,其研究主体多元化的格局正逐渐清晰起来。除了高校和研究机构中的管理学者是重要的研究主体之外,诸如管理咨询机构、企业研究院等也日益成为不可忽视的研究力量。研究主体与评价主体之间存在多种不同的对应关系,这其中蕴藏着关于客户的深层次问题。金蝶的管理研究实践,不仅对这一问题予以回应,也引发了对由实践客户驱动的评价路径与策略的探索。管理学者可以寻求社会中的多股力量,来共同推动中国管理实践研究的发展及其评价系统的优化。     

Coaching- und Beratungsanliegen von Hochschullehrenden

In the last few years, there has been an increase in coaching and training for teaching staff at institutions of higher education??universities and colleges??to provide them with the skills to develop their roles and meet professional demands upon them. These services are usually provided by the institution??s own human resource department or external higher education institutions with teaching services. This article focuses on the typical concerns of the target group of lecturers teaching at academic institutions about teaching and the higher education system. It has been structured chronologically, to provide a frame of reference for coaching and guidance counseling services and serves as a guideline for such services in general.     

A Note on the Growth of Research in Service Operations Management

We present an empirical assessment of the productivity of individuals and institutions in terms of service operations management (SOM) research. We reviewed five mainstream operations management journals over a 17‐year time period to generate a sample of 463 articles related to service operations. The results indicate that SOM research has been growing and key contributions are being made by an array of researchers and institutions.     

Nonsense on Stilts: United Kingdom Perspectives on the Global Financial Crisis and Governance

This article explores the governance implications for the UK of the financial crisis. It locates the UK’s system as a differentiated polity within a system of multi-level governance, noting the importance of EU institutions in reassessing the regulatory framework for the finance industry. It explores the historical, political and theoretical context and argues that the reforms so far advocated remain a part of the new public management (NPM) paradigm. There is something of a mix of dynamics involved, and although the debates taking place are wide-ranging, they are rooted in the structures of the past and the present. UK governance needs to invest in its values as well as its institutions.     

Residual Wage Inequality and Immigration in the USA and the UK

This paper assesses the effects of immigration on the increasing residual wage inequality in the USA and UK from 1994 to 2008. It does so by using an extension of the Lemieux (2006) methodology, whereby counterfactual residual variances are constructed to account not only for composition effects (changes in education‐experience of the workforce), but also for increasing immigration in the labour force. The empirical analysis reveals that residual wage inequality is higher among immigrants than among natives. However, increase in immigration does not seem to represent the major force behind the increase in residual wage inequality for the USA and for the UK.     

基于政府隐性担保退出预期的金融机构违约风险重定价

取消政府隐性担保或将成为未来政策重点,这将引起隐性担保退出的市场预期,导致金融机构违约风险的重定价。在金融机构自身资产价值随机运动的情形下,文章分别分析了离散时间隐性担保与连续时间隐性担保下金融机构总资产价值的动态随机运动规律,在结构化模型框架内构建了考虑政府隐性担保预期的违约风险模型,度量了政府隐性担保退出过程中不同风险状态金融机构的违约概率与预期损失。研究表明：（1）随着政府隐性担保逐步退出,金融机构违约概率逐渐增加,预期损失呈现先增加后递减的过程。（2）金融机构资产价值波动率越大,杠杆率越高,在政府隐性担保退出过程中其违约概率与预期损失越大。     

The 1996 Research Assessment Exercise for Business and Management

A substantial component of government funding for university research in the UK is now based upon an evaluation of the quality of research being conducted in each university, on a subject by subject basis. This paper describes the processes involved in the 1996 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) for business and management studies. It is argued that the strength of the current process lies in the peer review of the quality of research outputs. In addition, some of the issues needing to be resolved in undertaking such an exercise are described and evaluated. Finally, based on the authors' exposure to the full range of management research currently being conducted in the UK, some suggestions are made regarding future research directions.     

面向我国国立研究机构的人力资源配置模型研究

当今世界,科学技术作为第一生产力的作用日益突出,科学技术作为人类文明进步的基石和原动力的作用日益凸显,而国立研究机构作为中国科研体系的国家队和中坚力量,它的地位和规模在整个科研体系中是举足轻重的,因此合理配置国立研究机构的人力资源具有重大的理论和现实意义。目前的人力资源配置研究多针对企业,而中国的国立研究机构有其自身的特点,不能套用企业的人力资源配置方法。中国科学院作为国家在科学技术方面的最高学术机构,作为科技事业的国家队和火车头,具有代表性,因此本文以中国科学院为例,利用问卷调查、专家访谈、文献调研等方法,对影响我国国立研究机构人力资源配置的因素进行研究,并将人力资源的配置看作一个决策问题,综合考虑了发展战略、人均经费当量、人员结构、学科建设等多个约束,采用自上而下和自下而上相结合的方法,建立了面向国立研究机构的人力资源配置模型。该模型克服了以往国立研究机构对子机构人员数量通过简单趋势外推等方法进行预测的做法,集成了历史数据和专家经验,既不脱离历史情况又能够反映机构的发展战略,是一种适合国立研究机构的人力资源配置方法。该方法在中国科学院的应用实践,验证了模型的有效性。     

基于双层网络的第三方支付机构与商业银行竞合演化机理研究

本文以中国第三方支付机构和商业银行为研究对象,借鉴演化博弈论思想和双层网络演化博弈仿真方法,剖析两类企业竞合互动的演化规律以及相关因素对演化稳定策略的影响。研究发现,第三方支付机构与商业银行竞合的演化稳定策略存在不确定性,合作收益的提升、合作成本的降低、违约惩罚的提高以及利益分配的合理性有助于提高两类企业的合作水平,推动两群体向合作主导演化。细化研究发现,两类企业体现出显著的异质性,第三方支付机构对相关因素的变化更为敏感,对利益的要求更低。同时各群体内部收益差距明显,实力较强的大型第三方支付机构和商业银行能够获得较高的合作收益和较多的合作机会,而中小第三方支付机构和商业银行难以从竞合中获得理想收益。     

管理研究与实践脱节的原因以及应对策略

管理研究与管理实践脱节最近引起研究者的强烈关注。它是指管理研究所得出的发现,或发展出来的理论并没有在具体实践之中得到有效应用。论文将其归纳为无关型、超脱型、应用型、传递型、落后型五种类型的脱节,并对脱节的原因进行了深入分析。我们认为,建立合理的管理研究成果评价机制、进行以问题和变革驱动的情境化研究、综合运用多种研究范式、成立跨学科的研究机构、建立有效的科学研究共同体、建立学术知识转化机制、强化研究的规范性,将是弥合管理研究与实践距离的有效对策。     

Begleitung anspruchsvoller Bildungswege: Coaching für Studierende

The institutions of higher education offer various advisory and consulting services for students, which increasingly rely on the counseling format coaching. The article shows which students can be reached and with which kind of needs and occasions can be dealt with in the scope of coaching. Furthermore, a special focus lies on student-oriented teaching and competency development in higher education and how these issues can be supported through coaching.     

Quality Cutting: Perceived Faculty and Staff Effects of State Budget Cuts on Institutional Quality

Product degradation is the deterioration of a commodity over time. Since the beginning of the 21st century, higher education in South Carolina has engaged in a process of cutting state funding to higher education. During this process questions emerged on the effects of the cuts on the many education programs that depend on state funding. The purpose of this study was to measure the perceptions of university faculty and administrators’ concerning the recent budget cuts in South Carolina and determine if the term product degradation can be appropriately applied to the educational product at state-supported four-year institutions in South Carolina.