The Uncertain Middle: Innovation lessons for low carbon energy technology from demonstration projects and trials

Publicly funded demonstration projects and trials are widely used to reduce some of the uncertainties and other development issues associated with new technologies. Driven by the need to develop low carbon energy technologies, publicly funded demonstration projects and trials (DT) have been increasingly used to support innovation in the energy system.

The Ten Myths of Manufacturing: What does the future hold for UK manufacturing?

The recent recession has caused upheaval for the economies worldwide. The impact has been felt enormously all over and especially in the manufacturing sector. This report discusses significant data on China’s manufacturing industry that suggests they are already growing again despite recent events, while India has continued to maintain their efforts.

Building a strategy toolkit: Lessons from business

In an increasingly competitive business environment, the ability to spot and seize new opportunities, to plot a path of successful growth for an organisation, and to use resources effectively and efficiently, becomes paramount. Managers have a number of management tools at their disposal to help meet the challenges that they face.

Plastic Electronics: Putting the UK at the forefront of a new technological revolution

What does plastic electronics mean? Why are plastic electronics so valuable? Plastic electronics create possibilities for a wealth of low cost, high functionality products and smart materials; it could also mean a change of business models and the creation of new sources of customer value.

Outcome-based contracting: Changing the boundaries of B2B customer relationships

Outcome-based contracts (OBC) work effectively by only delivering specified outcomes then and only then does the customer pay. Rather than paying for activities and tasks the customer can benefit by knowing the outcome they require without the ins and outs of the process.

Agility in Services: Capabilities for Difficult Times

Before the recent recession we all experienced a period of rapid external change. Services on offer were operating in an agile and dynamic environment with increasing global competition mainly driven by emerging economies and new technologies.

Risk management gets personal: Lessons from the credit crisis

This recent credit crunch and ensuing global economic downturn has highlighted shortcomings with the management of many firms, and in particular with the risk management decision making in many organisations.

Radical Innovation: Making the Right Bets

Our research reveals that organisations, here in the UK and elsewhere, must face up to the complex challenges associated with exploring and developing radical ideas and innovations if they are to continue to be successful in the long term.

Racing For Radical Innovation: How motorsport companies harness network diversity for discontinuous innovation

The motorsport industry is a good example of how creativity, engineering, manufacturing and support services can be combined to produce world class innovations. As such it offers potential lessons for other organisations seeking to become more effective at the kind of radical innovation that provides sustainable competitive advantage.

Capability vs. Productivity: Identifying the weaknesses in the UK Retail Industry

This publication explores data collected from over 1,000 UK retail businesses and is part of a broad study looking into productivity in the UK retail industry and looks into the capabilities of these businesses in detail to investigates the relationship between capabilities and productivity.

High Value Manufacturing: Delivering on the Promise

What does high value manufacturing mean to manufacturers? How might UK manufacturing firms realise the vision of high value manufacturing?

Leadership of Business Schools: Perceptions, Priorities and Predicaments

UK business schools have grown rapidly over the last forty years.

Dancing With Gorillas: How SMEs Can Go Global By Forging Links With MNCs

For SMEs, interaction with the local subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs) provides tremendous opportunities for collaborative innovation which may form the basis for internationalisation, providing resources not normally available, and bestowing credibility and legitimacy which would otherwise be difficult to achieve.

Adapting to the China Challenge: Lessons from experienced multinationals

The rise of foreign direct investments into China has created the largest array of international mergers and acquisitions, alliances, joint ventures and partnerships ever witnessed. The research presented in this report has examined UK, European and US firms operating in China. Many of these firms have success stories of selling and producing in the world’s fastest – growing market helping firms benefit from this experience for firms elsewhere.

Is discontinuous innovation on your corporate radar? Twelve search strategies that could save your organisation

In a fast moving world, one of the biggest challenges facing organisations is dealing with discontinuous innovation (DI). Most organisations understand that innovation is an organisational imperative. They learn to listen to customers and constantly evolve their existing products and services, continuously improve their processes, so that they are not left behind by competitors.

The Future of Business School Faculty

The UK business schools are threatened by a potential shortage of faculty. Not only that but business schools face significant challenges within retention and development with data suggesting that there are worrying shortfalls in amounts of PhD students graduating and taking up faculty positions.

The Future of HR: How Human Resource outsourcing is transforming the HR function

This report takes a closer look at the prospects for the Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO) market – a key segment of the business process outsourcing market.

The Importance of meetings: How the structure of meetings affects strategic change in organisations

Meetings play a vital role in the formulation of strategy and strategic change within organisational life. What is the likelihood of proposals for change being made? It all depends on how the proposals are received in the organisation, it also depends on the type of strategy meeting and how it is conducted.

The International Success of British Companies: An Industry Perspective

This report examines the international success of British companies. It does this by measuring international success using global market share and international revenues; combining these in a matrix to create a visual representation of those industries in which British companies are internationally successful or not.

Making sense of workplace performance

We live in a chaotic world which moves at an incredible pace. At work we are bombarded with information via email, reports, documents, regulations and schedules. Faced with all this information it is no wonder people are unable to make rational decisions and at every point a decision is required. To help make sense of it all they construct simplified mental models which are then used to inform their actions.

Is the UK's Science Base Performing? - Sept 08

The ability to create a competitive and thriving economy is partly dependant on knowledge production and innovation. So how well is the UK performance in these important areas?

When Organisations Change - Sept 08

Organisational change is a fact of business life. With globalisation, increased competition, and improved technology, organisations are moving towards flatter organisational models.

From Modern to Paternalistic: How Does Your Firm Type Affect Your Performance? - Jan 07

This briefing helps managers and owners in small firms, and, in particular, family firms, to under stand and examine the relationship between employment relations and performance.

How Does UK Retail Productivity Measure Up?

Detailed data at store level reveals how the UK is lagging behind the US and other international competitors in retail productivity. Productivity is an important indicator of competitiveness and economic health.

'Who Does What' and 'Who Gets What': Capturing the Value From Innovation

Who benefits from Innovation? The issue of who benefits from innovation is a complex one. The answer is not always the innovator. It may be other firms that are needed to get an innovation to market (complementary assets), or even those who produce imitations and adapted versions of the original innovation.

Is Organisational Learning a Myth?

Do we always learn from our successes and failures? This report suggests that organisations should learn from their successes and failures, a project which turns out to be a great organisational success should provide useful information that increases the chances of future successes. Similarly it might be imagined that a venture that turns out to be nothing short of disastrous should become an example of what not to do, with the organisation taking the lessons from that failure and ensuring that such failure isn’t repeated in the future.

Attention HQ: Strategies for UK Subsidiary Companies

How an organisation can manage the relationship with international HQ in such a way that attracts sufficient resources and decision making power to determine the future of the subsidiary, in a way that benefits both the parent company and the UK?

The Asian Century: Opportunities and Challenges for the UK

There is no hiding from the economic rise of the developing economies, and in particular that of China and India.

The Future of Business Schools in the UK: Finding a path to success

Since the 1960s business schools have prospered in the UK. Now, however, there are signs that the success story is coming to an end.

Acting on Information: Performance Management for the Public Sector

How can the public sector use performance data more effectively to support decision- making and produce improvements? The report looks at the challenges of converting performance data into insights and then acting on those insights.

Signing Up for Competitive Advantage: How Signature Processes Beat Best Practice

Research shows that while best practice is an essential component of competitive success for organisations, it is not enough to confer long term sustainable advantage. It is merely the ticket to the game.

Biotech Clusters in the UK: Challenges and opportunities

The biotech industry will play a crucial role in the future economic wealth of the UK. Delbridge and Kasabov explored over 165 companies across 3 regions in the UK in the biotech industry and assess the challenges facing the UK, in its attempt to close the gap between themselves and the US.

Give and Take: Understanding attitudes to learning in the collaborative process

Give and Take explores the disordered world of collaboration between organisations. Collaboration is often undefined and difficult to manage; however it often results in successful knowledge sharing, knowledge transfer and knowledge creation.

Intelligent Design: How managing the design process effectively can boost corporate performance

What is Design? Design – the purposive application of creativity to all the activities necessary to bring ideas into use either as product (service) or process innovations.

Dealing with Discontinuity: How to sharpen up your innovation act

Disruptive events happen every once in a while causing successful well-managed companies to thrive and carry on doing what they do, but just a little bit better. However, this is not always the case the characteristics that make it successful in stable conditions can hinder its ability to detect or exploit change.

The Ambidextrous Organisation

Does your organisation respond to well change? Is your organisation good at maximising potential? If so, do you have the competitive advantage?

Leading for Innovation: The Impact of Leadership on Innovation

Can the UK boost innovation? If so how? This report explores the productivity gap between the UK and its major competitors such as US, France and Germany. In order to close the gap between the UK and it competitors they must move towards innovation and competing on value rather than low costs.

The Cluster Effect: How Clusters Policy Can Make the UK More Competitive

What are clusters? Are the benefits of clusters real? Would public policy help their development?

Making Best Practice Stick: How UK Firms Can Increase Productivity by Adopting Leading-Edge Working Practices

Why do firms struggle to make best practice stick? This report explores the productivity gap between the UK and its international competitors such as the US, France, Germany and Japan. It is argued the adoption of leading working practices can help UK firms close the gap. For a firm to be effective in best practice they must adapt to their circumstances and incorporate new practices in order to innovate, enabling them to recognise value of external knowledge and apply it.

Offshoring: Myth and Reality What the global trade in business services means for the UK

Offshoring – the practice of sourcing business services from overseas – ignites controversy. The loss of UK jobs in business services to foreign providers makes headline news. The implication is that the UK has become less competitive in the business services market. But what is the reality? What is the economic impact of increased international trade in business services on UK firms?

Pathways to Value: How UK firms can create more value using innovation strategically

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) now known as BIS, UK Manufacturing Policy, (published in 2004) highlights how the UK needs to become a high value economy. By improving the UK’s competitive position and emphasising the importance of innovation for UK firms; will this help them transition from competing on the basis of costs to competing on the basis of value?

I-Works Report: How high value innovation networks can boost UK productivity

I-works focuses on B2B networking, innovation and improving the UK economy, through competitiveness.