Commercial and Corporate Activities of New University Business Schools

Commercial and corporate activities and the income they generate are of increasing importance to all UK higher education institutions. For new or modern university business schools in particular, the falling unit of resource attaching to undergraduate student teaching income and the virtual disappearance of research revenues as a result of the poor results in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise have combined to produce a scenario in which commercial activity is likely to be an increasing priority as business schools attempt to remain effective and solvent. While there has been considerable research into management development in general, there has been very little research into the structuring and operation of commercial activity in new university business schools. Indeed, what research there has been into university commercial activity has examined all UK universities at a level of aggregation that makes it impossible to determine levels of business school commercialization, let alone the level of individual performance. The research presented in this paper focuses on the commercial activity of new university business schools and reveals findings about the nature and choice of strategy, product portfolio, delivery, client expectations, organization and management structure. The evidence suggests that many business schools have a considerable way to go if they are to grow commercial revenue in what will be an increasingly competitive and volatile market.