Research Areas

Accounting and Finance

The Accounting and Finance research theme is engaged in a range of research activity embracing critical, social and historical perspectives. We also look at market-based, experimental and regulatory perspectives, and behavioural finance.

Members of the theme have published in leading journals such as:

• Accounting, Organizations and Society
• Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal
• British Accounting Review
• The European Journal of Finance
• Critical Perspectives on Accounting

We have a strong track record of attracting PhD students. We have existing research strengths in three areas:

Research in this area considers the interconnected themes of accountability, governance, ethics, and sustainability. Researchers work on governance and ethics, asbestos liability reporting, social reporting and social impact measurement, and environmental responsibility in small business.

Find out more about the Accounting Governance and Accountability research group.

Research in this area considers gender, diversity and the accounting profession. It looks at corporate responsibility and the role of the accounting profession, using qualitative interdisciplinary approaches to explore the cultural and social issues facing managers, professionals and policy-makers in accounting and finance. It aims to drive improved understanding of professional practice.

Find out more about the research group.

Research in this area considers financial reporting for analysts and shareholders, capital markets, regulation, and emotional and behavioural finance. It also looks at pricing and performance of IPOs, earnings management and dividends, and performance evaluation.

Find out more about the Finance, Accounting, Control and Evaluation research theme.

This research theme conducts inter-disciplinary research in business, accounting and management history which is grounded in management and organisation studies.

The research interests include:

• cooperative and social enterprises
• growth and decline of companies and industries
• healthcare and governmental organisations
• international organisations
• imperialism
• labour relations and production systems
• philanthropy and entrepreneurship

Meet the staff in the Business, Accounting and Management History research theme.

The Economics theme covers a broad range of topics in the economics and finance disciplines, and we're able to offer supervision in these areas.

We house several research groups:

• Applied and Theoretical Microeconomic
• Economics of Safety, Health
• Environment and Risk
• Finance and Financial Economics

We're also able to offer supervision in most areas of microeconomics, macroeconomics and finance.

We currently offer four (voluntary) 10-credit modules of PhD-level teaching over the course of two years.

These are two 10-credit modules in econometrics (Applied Microeconometrics and Causal inference and quasi-experimental methods) and two 10-credit modules in advanced microeconomic theory.

The group also operates an external and an internal seminar series, and a dedicated PhD work-in-progress seminar.

Our staff conduct research into:

• applied econometrics
• applied microeconomics, including industrial, regional and public economics
• banking, empirical finance and risk management
• financial markets, insurance and behavioural finance
• general equilibrium, time and financial markets
• health, risk, safety, environmental and experimental economics
• labour economics and applications
• macroeconomics, trade, FDI and international economics

Meet the staff in the Economics research theme.

Members of the group have a wide range of research interests in the field of human resource management, organisation studies and management history. Currently, there are particular interests in the field of international political economy as well as in new patterns of work and organization, public sector management, gender and industrial relations.

Staff members engage in individual research and collaborate with others at universities across the UK and abroad.

Specific interests include:

Employee relations

• industrial relations and trade union renewal
• employee voice and representation
• embodied and aesthetic labour
• graduate careers

HR management

• human resource management and performance
• the application of Foucauldian and governmentality perspectives to HRM and management – especially to developments in public services in the UK
• public service mergers and multi–agency working in the public sector
• the ‘micro’ political economy of work, particularly inter-organisational structures and social networks
• entrepreneurial philanthropy

International

• the ILO and the ‘decent work’ agenda, the harmonisation of international aid
• business elites and corporate governance in France and the UK
• critical perspectives on international business, post socialist transition, migration and trans –nationalism

Society

• new working patterns in mental health services
• gender and work
• aging societies, older workers and the world of work

Meet the staff in the HRM, Work and Employment research theme.

Our research group activities broadly cover the areas of innovation, enterprise, entrepreneurship and policy.

We have particular interests in the development and pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities within and outside existing organizations. We're also interested in how emerging technology trends are interacting with new businesses, management and policy models.

Some specific areas of research and teaching expertise include:

Entrepreneurship

• corporate entrepreneurship
• entrepreneurial opportunities and new venture emergence
• innovation management and policy
• knowledge management and organizational learning

Technology

• technology and organisation
• e-business, e-government and e-learning
• information systems and social informatics

Our research focuses on how to contribute to the success of service organizations by improving the quality of their services, increasing their profitability, and stimulating service innovations.

The research is organized into three areas:

This area examines how to create an outstanding service experience and its impact on relationship performance.

This area examines how products and services are bundled to service solutions. It also looks at the role of external network partners in delivering these solutions.

This area examines how new technologies are designed to create novel services to improve either the service experience or improve company profitability.

In addition to these main themes, we are happy to consider other research topics as long as they have a link to services marketing research.

Our research theme looks at:

• lean operations (both manufacturing and service sectors, particularly health)
• manufacturing planning, scheduling including optimisation in stochastic environments
• layout optimisation
• manufacturing and business strategy

• group technology (applied to design and manufacturing processes)
• computer aided production management systems
• modelling, analysis and optimisation of manufacturing systems

The Strategy, Organizations and Society theme specialises in the use of social theory to explore major strategic and organizational issues.

Grounded in the critical and interpretative tradition,we have specific expertise in issues of power, discourse and change.

Core research areas are:

Power relations

• power and politics
• business elites and networks
• corporate philanthropy

Organisations

• organizational discourse, narrative and rhetoric
• societal and organizational crisis and change
• organizational culture and symbolism
• strategy process and practice
• professions