Unit of Assessment 17
Business and Management Studies

Our submission to UOA17, Business and Management Studies, encompasses research in Henley Business School and the Department of Economics. Our work covers a diverse range of topics including some at the core of their disciplines in, for example, econometrics and marketing, and others representing a unique mixture including coaching, historical finance, sports economics, and reputation.

• Top 20 in UK for research impact.
• 86% of our research overall rated 4* (world-leading) and 3* (internationally excellent).
• 100% of our research impact is rated 4* (outstanding) and 3* (with considerable significance).

Our research is organised in 6 Research Divisions:

• Business Informatics, Systems and Accounting (BISA): focuses on the management and analysis of data and information, with emerging topics such as data analytics and digitisation and their applications in accounting and financial management.
• Economics: research is focused on applied economics and social problems, with strong theoretical and empirical foundations. It covers business economics and finance, behavioural economics, labour and household economics, sports economics, and macroeconomics, especially monetary policy design.
• International Business and Strategy (IBS): contributes to international business and human resources management theory through a focus on innovation and effective personnel management. Current work includes how top management teams shape strategic outcomes, the restructuring of supply chains, the role of digitalisation and skills in the labour market.
• ICMA Centre (Finance): is an active collaboration with the securities industry, producing both enquiry-driven academic research and industry-focused research for financial institutions, corporations and government agencies.
• Leadership and Organisational Behaviour (LOB): working with practitioners as well as academic audiences, our research covers entrepreneurial ecosystems, digital business models, entrepreneurship in emerging economies, the co-creation of leadership, change leadership, ethics and sustainability, and governance and ethics in coaching services.
• Marketing & Reputation (M&R): delivers academic research and practitioner guidance in areas that include customer service excellence; reputation and responsible business knowledge; governance and board directorship; digital marketing and corporate responsibility, online consumer behaviour, and social media marketing.

Each research division hosts one or more research centres, which provide an organisational structure for more focused areas of activity:

• Centre for Euro-Asian Studies
• Centre for Economics Institutions & Business History
• Economic Analysis Research Group
• Henley Centre for Accounting Research & Practice
• Henley Centre for Customer Management
• Henley Centre for Entrepreneurship
• Henley Centre for Leadership
• ICMA Centre
• Informatics Research Centre
• John H. Dunning Centre for International Business
• John Madjeski Centre for Reputation

Staff and doctoral students

We submitted 105 staff in UOA17 (101 FTE), including 35 Professors, 28 Associate Professors, 42 Lecturers; 32 are Early Career Researchers.

Over the assessment period for REF2021, 242 students were awarded their PhD or Doctor of Business Administration. We generally have about 210 students at any one time, and in 2019/20 they came from 63 different countries, including the UK.

We are a member of the ESRC’s South-East Network for Social Science Doctoral Training Consortium (SeNSS), and Reading led the Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Programme in Climate Justice (2016-20).

Sector recognition

Selected examples of national and international recognition between 2014 and 2020:

• Fellows of the British Psychological Society (Professor Andrew Kakabadse, Professor Jonathan Passmore)
• Fellow of the British Academy of Management (Professor Andrew Kakabadse)
• Lifetime Achievement Award, British Academy of Management (Professor Abby Ghobadian)
• Fellow of the International Association for Applied Econometrics (Professor Mike Clements)
• Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences (Professor Abby Ghobadian, Professor Geoff Meen)
• Fellow of the British Academy (Professor Mark Casson)
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (Professor Mark Casson)

Examples of the impact our research has had at local, national and global levels.