Clusters are systems of localised economic activity and innovation. This report reviews current evidence on clustersand develops policy recommendations for the UK. It argues that clusters include multiple firms from related sectorsthat are co-located within a web of complex linkages and a...

In a global economy, regional economies are exposed to greater economic threats,but also opportunities. In the UK several strategies have been introduced to improvelocal and regional competitiveness. One important strategy is the promotion ofclusters – geographic concentrations of expertise...

We investigate how the research standing of universities informs academic researchers’ engagement with industry via collaborative research, contract research and consulting. We argue that the establishment of university-industry relationships is informed by three factors: faculty perceived...

The article argues that management fashions can be interpreted as processes of emerging professionalisation around particular bodies of management expertise. By integrating insights from research on professions and professionalisation, management fashions are analysed as attempts by specific...

The article explores three dimensions of institutional entrepreneurship: the type of activity pursued by institutional entrepreneurs, their skills and their field strategies. Evidence is presented on the emergence of the ‘Euroregion’, an organizing template used by local authorities situated...

Unlike studies on the vertical integration-performance relationship, we focus on disintegrating firms and investigate the performance consequences of vertical disintegration. We predict a positive disintegration effect on operating performance which is further conditioned on the initial degree...

This paper exploits a quasi-experimental setting to estimate the impact that a multi-dimensional group incentive scheme had on branch performance in a large distribution firm. The scheme, which is based on the Balanced Scorecard, was implemented in all branches in one division, but not in another...

This chapter advocates the good scientific practice of systematic research syntheses in Management and Organizational Science (MOS). A research synthesis is the systematic accumulation, analysis and reflective interpretation of the full body of relevant empirical evidence related to a question....

There is no doubt that management practices are linked to the productivity and performance of a company. However, research findings are mixed. This paper provides a multi-disciplinary review of the current evidence of such a relationship and offers suggestions for further exploration...

Drawing from advances in Organisation Studies and recent debates within Economic Sociology and the Sociology of Financial Markets, this paper proposes a theoretical framework that characterises the mutual adaptation between formal routines, rules and actual performances as iterative cycles of...