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ICT, E-Business & Knowledge Management

This is the most diffuse area of the Centre's research, reflecting the varied character and enormously pervasive impacts of ICT. It draws together specialists from many disciplines, including information systems, marketing, strategy and organization behaviour.

A core part of this work arises from the interests of Clive Holtham, Nigel Courtney and colleagues in the practical applications of ICT for business and learning.

It also incorporates the former Innovation Research Unit, which was established with the support of Sir Alan Sugar to help UK businesses enhance their capacity to innovate in highly competitive markets. The primary focus of this research has been the management of innovation in service sectors, particularly finance (the biggest user of ICT). Recent projects include

Business Leadership in the Management of Intangible Assets

Hill and Knowlton/B&Q (2003). Researchers: Nigel Courtney, Chris Hendry and Clive Holtham.

This project results from Cass' path-breaking work in the EU-funded PRISM project on the measurement and reporting of intangibles. Hill and Knowlton is the UK's leading communications consultancy and is part of WPP, the world's leading marketing group. B&Q, which is sponsoring the project, recognises that its profitable growth and international expansion is increasingly dependent on the way it manages its intangible assets.

Results of Cass research into intangible assets were outlined at a seminar on 14 January 2004 that attracted 100 delegates from the business community.

B&Q, the world's third largest DIY retailer, commissioned the report to raise the profile and importance of intangible assets in the business community. Research has shown that OECD countries are annually investing 50-100 percent as much on the acquisition of knowledge as on physical assets, but this investment goes unreported.

"The turnout at the seminar is testimony to how important the issue of intangible assets has become to the business community. Intangible assets are an issue whose time has come", said Professor Chris Hendry, Associate Dean of Research.

The research highlights the importance of managing such intangible assets as brand value, knowledge, innovation and ways of reporting on intellectual capital through eight case studies of successful organisations.

"This has been an excellent example of co-operative applied business research, producing knowledge that is usable and relevant," said Professor Hendry.

The seminar featured presentations from Dr Nigel Courtney, Cass Honorary Visiting Fellow and lead researcher, and representatives of three of the organisations studied (B&Q, Bloomberg, and Whitbread) with four others (the UK Fire & Rescue Service, Celemi, Intercos, and mmO2) represented in a panel discussion.

Download the publication (1.5 MB pdf)

Facilitating Innovation through the Measurement and Management of Intangibles

£201,459 - Economic and Social Research Council (2003-2005). Researchers: Chris Hendry, Clive Holtham, Georges Selim, David Citron, Jim Brown, Jo Holden and Sally Woodward.

£201,459 - Economic and Social Research Council (2003-2005). Researchers: Chris Hendry, Clive Holtham, Georges Selim, David Citron, Jim Brown, Jo Holden and Sally Woodward.

It is widely accepted today that growth in the economy is driven primarily by the ability of companies to exploit their intangible assets, meaning their non-physical and non-financial resources. However, accountants tend to focus only on the physical assets (‘tangibles’) when valuing a firm and on other relatively ‘hard’ assets, even though future business performance and wealth-creation depend increasingly on ‘intangible’ sources of value (software, brands, patents, customer and supplier networks, research collaborations, firm culture, skills, know-how, and team-working). ‘Intangibles’ contribute particularly to innovation - bringing new products and services successfully to market.

The aim of the project has been to develop a fuller picture of the ‘intangible’ processes underlying innovation, and ideas for the better measurement of these, in the belief that better measurement will increase the attention managers give to the drivers of innovation and will lead to more transparent and accurate valuation of companies.

The project has involved four sets of activities:
1. Analysis of two large surveys in manufacturing (437 firms) and services (260 firms) to develop a robust model of the organisational drivers of innovation and the relationships between these.
2. Analysis of the annual reports of 150 companies on how they report on these ‘intangibles for innovation’.
3. Nine case studies of how these intangible innovation processes are reflected in company performance management systems in order to understand the potential for improved measurement.
4. Interviews and focus groups with investors, fund managers, venture capitalists, accountants, auditors and regulators to test their views on the potential for better forms of measurement and reporting of innovation.

The findings highlight key processes in innovation, and how these differ between manufacturing and services; how company reporting generally does not reflect these adequately; two broadly different approaches to managing and measuring innovation inside companies; and where the scope lies for improved reporting through the Operating and Financial Review (OFR).

For a review of key findings and publications, see: http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre

PRISM - The Measurement and Reporting of Intangibles and Intellectual Property

(1.6million Euros) - European Commission, Information Society Technologies Programme (2001-2003). Researchers: Clive Holtham, Chris Hendry, Nigel Courtney, Jim Brown, Sally Woodward, Clark Eustace, and a consortium of eight European universities.

This project, led by Cass Business School, originated in January 2000, when a European High-Level Expert Group on the Intangible Economy (HLEG) was set up at the request of the European Commission. Chaired by CUBS Honorary Fellow Clark Eustace, with Clive Holtham as Vice-Chair, the report published in October 2000 presented new evidence on the influence of business intangibles on corporate performance and productivity, with an assessment of the implications for companies, financial markets, public institutions and regulators.

Arising from this, an application was made by a consortium of European business schools, with Cass as lead partner, for a £1 million programme of research and dissemination, under the project acronym ‘PRISM’, with academic partners at IESE (Barcelona), University of Ferrara (Italy), Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm), TSM Business School (Enschede), University College (Cork), Copenhagen Business School, and Henley Management College, plus an International Business Advisory Council made up of senior managers from a dozen major companies and consultancies. The programme comprises five inter-linked research projects and the production of fifteen case studies on intangibles, with an active programme of dissemination through its website (www.EUintangibles.net), and a final end-of-project conference at Cass Business School in 2003. The Cass team is producing case studies on innovation and consultancy, with the first tranche of case studies published in March 2002

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Corporate Information Systems Review of Transport for London

(£87,000) - Industrial Sponsor (2001-2002). Researchers: Clive Holtham and Nigel Courtney.

This is an action research project, which applies the School's distinctive approach to developing a corporate information strategy in a major public utility. Two parallel sets of interviews are being conducted with the authority's top ten executives and a sample of senior operational managers, to be followed by a change workshop and the production of a formal information strategy. This is one of several projects where practitioners have used or are using the business school for an independent, research-based perspective, which they are increasingly unable to get from conventional consultancy.

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Corporate e-Business Strategies

 (£15,000) - Industrial Sponsor (2000-2001). Researchers: Doug Stace (Visiting Fellow, MacQuarie University, Australia), Clive Holtham and Nigel Courtney.

This project arises from the development of a typology of company approaches to e-business strategy, and a strategic change framework for implementing this. The emerging theory has been subjected to extended action research testing in a global insurance firm and a multinational accounting practice and, through independent third parties, with a sample of case studies in over 100 other organisations.

Stace, D., Holtham, C.W. and Courtney, N. (2001), ‘E-Change: charting a path towards sustainable e-strategies’, Strategic Change, Vol 10, No 7, pp 403-418

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Implementing e-business: Critical Success Factors

(2001-2002). Researchers Chris Storey and Mark Gabbott (Monash University, Australia).

This collaborative research with Monash University investigated how organisations develop and implement their e-business strategies, and the importance of organizational culture, project management and change management for the success of e-business. The first stage of the research investigated Australian organizations and ongoing research is extending this research to the UK.

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Best Practice in Workplace Design

(£30,000) - Design Council and Sparknow Ltd. (2000-2002). Researchers: Clive Holtham, Nigel Courtney and Victoria Ward (Visiting Fellow)

Current work centres on a Design Council project (£10,000 plus £20,000 commercial sponsorship) between Sparknow Ltd and CUBS, to produce multimedia case studies of best practice. Arising from its knowledge management research, the School has developed a particular competence in the design of workplaces to support the creation and sharing of knowledge, with an extensive range of academic publications. Earlier projects were concerned with the design of spaces for executive collaboration, implemented by Business School partners with DTI support in the landmark ‘Executive Studio’ near Heathrow Airport. Latterly, this has involved a series of action research interventions, typically working at or near Board level. The present Design Council project draws together much of that research for dissemination to senior management in the private and public sector (through, for example, Clive Holtham's membership of HM Customs and Excise Advisory Council on Knowledge Management).

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E-Learning - bespoke research for a 'Big 5' accountancy firm

(2001). Researcher: Nigel Courtney.

The evaluation of e-learning has resulted in the client deploying an e-Learning solution on a global basis for the continuing professional development of its staff.

Courtney, N. (2001). Report and recommendations for e-Learning solutions on e-business issues. CUBS and Private Client. May.

Courtney, N. (2001). e-Learning Evaluation Workshop. CUBS and Private client. July.

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Creating the Infrastructure for the Responsive Organisation

(£520,000) - DTI/EPSRC (1996-99). Researchers: Clive Holtham, Mark D'Cruz, Ashok Tiwari, Nina Patel, Martin Rich

This project was carried out under the ESRC's Computer Supported Collaborative Work Programme, and involved the development and exploitation of groupware with major commercial partners, Bull, Esmerk, Infosys and Touche Ross, and a club of 24 other commercial organisations. Among the outputs was the ‘Dynamic Knowledge Network’, a new method for the creation of knowledge through structured asynchronous group processes. A second product was the ‘Electronic Boardroom’, in which participants in a conventional boardroom communicate using laptops and GroupSystems software to brainstorm and prioritise issues and ideas, and develop collective solutions. Dozens of live events using this technique were studied, and wider lessons drawn from these experiences.

Holtham. C.W. and Courtney, N. (2001), ‘Developing managerial learning styles in the context of the strategic application of information and communications technologies’, International Journal of Training and Development, 5, 1, 23-33

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Innovation and the Management of Strategic Change in UK General Insurance

1999-2001). Researchers: Robert Davies andAxel Johne

This is the one of the most detailed studies conducted in the UK General Insurance sector, and involved the development and analysis of eight case studies of UK insurance companies. The work has been reported the Financial Times.

Johne, F.A. and Davies, R.G. (2000), ‘Innovation in medium sized insurance companies: how marketing adds value’, International Journal of Bank Marketing, 18, 1, pp. 6-14.

Johne F.A. and Davies, R.G. (1999), ‘Approaches to stimulating innovation in mature insurance companies’, British Journal of Management (Special Issue), 10, 19-30.

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The Impact of Knowledge Management on New Service Development

(£12,000) - Coopers & Lybrand (1998-99). Researchers: Chris Storey and David Kelly.

This project investigated how service companies manage knowledge for new service development - specifically, their strategies and tactics to create, transfer and store knowledge during new service development. The project demonstrated the link between these processes and success in new service development.

Storey, C. and Kelly, D. T. (2000), ‘New Service Development: Initiation Strategies’, International Journal of Service Industry Management, 11, 1, 45-62.

Storey, C. and Kelly, D. T. (2001), ‘Measuring the Performance of New Service Development Activities: An Exploratory Study’, Service Industries Journal, 21, 2.

Storey, C. and Kelly, D. T. (2002, forthcoming), ‘Innovation in Services: The Need for Knowledge Management’, Australasian Marketing Journal.

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The Extent, Causes and Implications of Skill Deficiencies in Telecommunications and Banking/Finance

 (£119,050) - Department for Education and Employment (1999-2000). Researchers: Chris Hendry, Clive Holtham, Sally Woodward, Ann Brown, Jane Harvey-Cooke, Carol Vielba, Kostis Christodoulou, James Brown, Paul Dobson, Nigel Courtney, Chris Rowley, Edward Alport, Simona Spedale.

This project was commissioned by the DfEE, together with studies of five other sectors and a national survey, to provide input to the National Skills Task Force, established by David Blunkett to advise him on future skill needs. It involved 20 case studies and reports on the two sectors, with the final report to the Minister in May 2000. The project is concerned with skill needs, recruitment difficulties, and skill gaps, in the light of technological and market changes affecting key sectors of the UK economy, and with how companies identify their emerging skill needs and resource these. It is driven by the perception that in some sectors British firms have tended to under-perform and pursue sub-optimal business strategies because of inadequate skills. Identifying the nature of these problems and what ‘best practice’ companies do is vital for the success of the UK economy.

Hendry, C., Woodward, S., Brown, A., Christodoulou, K., Brown, J., Rowley, C., Alport, E., Holtham, C., Courtney, N. and Spedale, S. (2000). Employers Skill Survey: Case Study - Telecommunications Sector. London: Department for Education and Employment, 83pp.

Woodward, S.A., Hendry, C., Alport, E., Cook, J.H., Vielba, C.A., Dobson, P. and Hockaday, N. (2000). Employers Skill Survey: Case Study - Banking, Finance and Insurance Sector. London: Department for Education and Employment, 75pp.

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