Department Member, School of Management
ICHEM
Thesis Title: Strategic management of offshore branch campuses in transnational higher education institutions: global synergy versus local responsiveness
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Prof. Jeroen Huisman
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About
My research is about the strategic entrepreneurial evolution of subsidiaries in transnational professional service enterprises on the dichotomy of global integration versus local responsiveness. In particular, I have focused on the transnational higher education institutions, which are operating on a free-market economic infrastructure while being non-profit organisations by nature. Therefore, my theoretical work is rooted in the literature of strategic management, international business and non-profit organisational studies. The model I have developed is constructed by two building blocks, using institutional theory and the resource-based view. It suggests a hybrid structure for creating competitive advantage for transnational knowledge-intensive service firms, particularly universities. It provides a useful analytical tool for compartmentalising the different types of complexities in such organisations. The theoretical model has been empirically tested by both qualitative and quantitative methods at the firm level. A number of hypotheses have been generated, which can be tested not only in the context of transnational universities, but also in similar industries.
One of my theoretical papers entitled "Managing offshore branch campuses : An analytical framework for institutional strategies" has been published online ahead of print in JSIE. My second theoretical paper entitled "Strategic balance for the transnational professional service firm: A hybrid model for universities’ foreign direct investments" is almost at the point of submission to JMS. Moreover, I have conducted a different research on the change of service consumer behaviour in which I employed Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Currently, the massive collected data set for this work is being analysed.
There are three more empirical articles in the pipeline, which will be finalised upon the completion of my analysis. I also have a book chapter in a forthcoming SAGE handbook.
My future research plan includes extending this contribution into some other adjacent fields (e.g. law and accounting firms) in order to carry out cross-industry/sector comparisons. Moreover, I am inclined to focus on controlling mechanisms of firm-consumer relationships in small to medium size professional service firms (e.g. management consultancy firms).
