This research in this report is built on the argument that deployment and sustainability are key aspects of improvingmanufacturing businesses. The research is based on eight case studies of companies that have usedthe Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) Lean production programme or...

Do “Anglo-Saxon” management practices generate higher productivity only at the expense of lousywork-life balance (WLB) for workers? Many critics of “neo-libéralisme sauvage” have argued thatincreased competition from globalisation is damaging employees’ quality of life. Others have...

We use an innovative survey tool to collect management practice data from 732 medium sizedmanufacturing firms in the US, France, Germany and the UK. These measures of managerialpractice are strongly associated with productivity, profitability, Tobin’s Q, sales growth and survivalrates....

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...

Twenty years ago strategy was synonymous with formalised strategic planning. Nowadays, althoughstrategic planning systems still exist in organisations, they are not seen as the main or only vehiclethrough which strategies actually develop. It is recognised that other managerial processes play...

This document offers an introduction to work that the AIM Fellows have recently undertaken on management topics relatedto one or more of five priority issues. The priority issues, selected for their potential to help public sector policy-makers andpractitioners in their efforts to achieve...

This report builds on discussions that took place at the fourth UK Management Research Forum organised by AIMResearch, the Chartered Institute of Management and the Department of Trade and Industry. In summary, the reportcontends that:• Leaders both motivate employees and design effective...

This Briefing Note considers recent trends in specialisation, outsourcing and offshoring of businessservices.Specialisation within a firm happens when a firm organises an activity in a specialised unit, for example,when a firm moves payroll activities out of the back office of a factory, and...

The motorsport industry is a high value-added and highlyinnovative business sector. The UK’s leading racing carmanufacturers are world class centres of research, developmentand engineering. However, individual firms in the sector do nothave the range and depth of capabilities to...

In December 2003 Richard Lambert released his report on business-university collaboration, which highlightedmany examples of good collaboration, but called for further development and investment.1 The Lambert Review alsorecognised that the UK Government is pursuing an agenda of regionalisation...