Teaching Company Scheme Research Articles

University–business collaboration: facilitating improvement through partnership

This paper outlines a Teaching Company Scheme (TCS) Programme between the manufacturing sites of RHP Bearings Ltd and four universities, the theme of which is business improvement. The Programme is a unique endeavour to build active partnerships between the manufacturing sites of the company and academics. In the paper the benefits are reviewed and outcomes to the Associates, companies and academics examined. Guidance is also provided in setting up and managing this type of program.

Knowledge Transfer: Industry, Academia, and the Global Gift Market

People often assume that design is an international visual process, understood by everyone involved. When it comes to the global market, however, allowances have to be made for cultural differences. It is often a learning process among the parties concerned: designer, manufacturer, buyer, and consumer. Knowledge is exchanged among all of them. Knowledge transfer in the 1990s became a focus of management theory, as a way of stimulating and creating innovation, particularly in design and product development. The same decade saw the world shrinking because of modern communication technology and as business increasingly traded globally (Machlup, 1980; Naisbitt, 1982). “Knowledge is defined as the meaningful links people make in their minds between information and its application in action in a specific setting. Linking knowledge to action is a useful way to differentiate it from information” (Dixon, 2000: p.13). One sector in which the transmission of knowledge is at the core of its business is higher education. Universities in the United Kingdom offer a range of design and business support services, supplementing the traditional domain of teaching and research. Higher education in the UK trains new blood for industry, a large proportion of which find design- related work both in the UK and abroad. There is a commitment to share research expertise with the business community, and most British universities provide bespoke solutions to industry. Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) is a government- sponsored program that helps businesses to improve competitiveness and productivity through the better use of the knowledge, technology, and skills that reside within the UK knowledge base. KTP was formerly known as the Teaching Company Scheme (Ktponline, 2007) and has been developing since being set up in 1975, when the scheme focused on engineering projects. From this, the UK government’s scheme has embraced the knowledge transfer approach, focused it on the university research sector, and widened its remit to cover most of UK business. This paper sets out to explore some of the strengths and pitfalls of this academic-based knowledge transfer in the context of the global gift market, using case studies in the design and prototype development of a range of toys and seasonal items. Here the KTP scheme is not used for engineering-based products, but for products that are far more culturally specific. Universities have seen a growth in cultural studies, communications, and creative industries courses.

Design as an Integrated Process: Haley Sharpe Associates – Ten Years on

At the heart of any successful competitive strategy lies a set of distinctive competencies that form the basis of a firm's source of sustainable advantage. One increasingly valued but still frequently overlooked source of such advantage is design. The benefits of design investment at a strategic level to greatly assist competitiveness are well publicized (Cooper and Press, 1995; Walsh et al, 1992; Bruce and Bessant, 2002) discussing how design can significantly add value to the organization's product and service offerings. This paper looks at the impact of two successful TCS (Teaching Company Scheme) programmes that were conducted within Haley Sharpe Associates, a leading UK Interior Design consultancy in 1993, supervised by one of the paper's authors. As a result of TCS, design productivity within the company has doubled and new in-house design services have been established.

The persistence of autocratic management in small firms

TCS (previously the Teaching Company Scheme), claimed to be the UKs premier technology transfer mechanism, employs recent graduates to improve the competitiveness of primarily small and medium‐sized enterprises. The data are drawn from the author's experience of acting as academic supervisor on a two‐year TCS programme in PaperProds. Structuration theory acts as a “sensitising device” to the way in which the actions and discourses of owner‐managers in small firms exercise power. The author demonstrates the way in which managerial concerns with the “bottom line” gradually subverts broader conceptions of company “competitiveness” which include improving the skills, knowledge and commitment of shopfloor employees. In this particular programme the TCS associate found that he constantly had to reconcile the managing director's view that workers were disposable factors of production with his own implicitly “humanist” perspective.

Toward critical intervention in small and medium-sized enterprises: a case study

The mainstream systems literature has so far paid little systematic attention to the small business arena, despite this being potentially a very significant sector for the systems community, given its importance in the UK economy. Small, growing enterprises experience particular managerial problems. This paper provides an example of the practical benefits of a systems approach in a small company experiencing growth. It examines the process of an intervention which took place over a 2-year period in a small manufacturing company as part of the UK government's Teaching Company Scheme. An attempt to extend critical systems thinking into the small company environment is discussed, identifying the challenges and opportunities presented by the setting to researchers. The paper draws on Habermas' theory of communicative action to explore the extent to which the intervention was inclusive and critically reflective. Strategies adopted to support inclusive practice are explored and general lessons are drawn out.

Towards Critical Practice in a Teaching Company Scheme

The need to be socially aware during interventions presents academic researchers with a set of commitments which can he difficult to put into practice in the ‘real world’. This paper presents an attempt to extend critical practice in a small company undertaking a Teaching Company Scheme project. Some general lessons for interventions in small companies are drawn out.

Globalization, university transformation and economic regeneration

Pressures from globalization and the knowledge‐based economy are transforming the traditional role of universities. Universities are being targeted by policy makers because they are the largest “knowledge‐based” institutions in the regions. They have concluded that universities will aid economic regeneration if they disseminate their knowledge and expertise through industry linked partnerships. The paper argues that this is a rationally driven economic strategic plan which fails to acknowledge that the alliance process is a very high risk strategy at the level of implementation, with reports of as many as two thirds failing. The direct causal link between universities and economic regeneration is contentious. The paper calls for greater understanding of the complex partnership process by drawing on the strategic alliance literature on how to minimize risk. It critically analyses the case of a long established partnership between university‐industry‐government – the teaching company scheme. Important governance issues are identified followed by an analysis of the two stages in the process of partner selection and implementation. The process is promoted as an exemplar to inform the increasing number of public/private sector partnerships.

The structural assessment of caravan holiday homes

Discusses the structural testing and subsequent calculations for caravan holiday homes to withstand snow‐loading criteria set out in EN BS 1647:1999. The project was undertaken as part of the requirements of a teaching company scheme.

Expanding Capabilities in a Mature Manufacturing Firm: Absorptive Capacity and the TCS

The term `absorptive capacity' (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990), which describes the ability to assimilate new knowledge and skills, has been widely adopted in the study of collaborative links between is used to examine the process by which participation in a Teaching Company Scheme (now know as TCS) helped develop managerial capabilities in a small manufacturing cnmopany over a two-year period. RSL is a family-owned business which has been in existence for forty years, has approximately 70 employees, and manufactures office supply equipment. It is concluded that improving absorptive capacity requires the introduction of new organisational routines which help codify tacit knowledge. Within RSL, such changes helped increase turnover by almost 25% during the two years the TCS programme was in operation.

The Pendine pathways project in the independent sector.

Recruitment and retention of staff, and the drive to provide quality care are challenges currently faced by nursing and residential homes in the independent sector. This article describes an innovative approach to tackling these issues. Under a teaching company scheme, a partnership was formed between the Pendine Park Nursing Home and the Centre for Learning Development to develop care and career pathways that are specific to the independent sector.

Beyond the routine: innovation management and the Teaching Company Scheme

The concept of routines, repetitive patterns of action, have been adopted in a wide range of academic disciplines including economics, psychology and sociology. Nelson and Winter (Nelson, R.R., Winter, S.G. (1982) An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Belknap Press of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London), used the concept of routines to build on evolutionary economics in their attempt to explain the way in which organisations innovate. However, there have been few attempts to identify the day-to-day social activity which contributes towards maintaining existing routines or, more importantly, the creation of new routines. In this paper we report on a Teaching Company Scheme (TCS) established between Aston Business School and Rotadex Systems Ltd. The programme was designed to improve the capacity for innovation within Rotadex. The data are based on the experience of the Teaching Company Associate, Martin Craven, in his role as the initiator of change within Rotadex. Hence, this research represents an attempt to “peel back the layers” of organisational activity by describing the processes by which new routines become institutionalised.

An Australian Technology Transfer Scheme

The UK-based based TCS (formerly the Teaching Company Scheme) has proven to be highly successful in fostering innovation and collaboration between research organizations and the wider industrial community. Of necessity, the scheme's administrative mechanisms are highly prescriptive. This paper compares and contrasts TCS with an Australian technology transfer scheme that has a specific focus on the manufacturing sector. The Australian programme has produced successful outcomes with few administrative controls.

Innovation and Organizational Change: Developments Towards an Interactive Process Perspective

Since the 1980s researchers have gradually revised the assumptions and research methods guiding their investigation of innovation. The ascendancy of processual perspectives, and more recently interactive process perspectives, in place of normative-variance perspectives, represents a shift in opinion. Scholars now contend that innovation is best understood as a dynamic, ongoing process during which actions and institutional structures are inextricably linked. Scholars adopting an interactive process perspective have however, largely ignored how innovation influences the reproduction of organizations, in part, because the interactive process model is underdeveloped. This paper traces the demise and growth of different approaches in the study of innovation and develops an argument for why structuration theory would enable a significant advancement in the formation of an interactive process perspective. In doing so, a model of innovation as structuration process is developed illustrating how innovation can change the conditions governing the reproduction of an organizational repertoire. The modification of an organizational repertoire reflects the constraining and enabling aspects of the structural arrangements (stocks of knowledge, resources, interests) that simultaneously mediate and yet are an outcome of the actions of individuals involved in the innovation pose. This perspective is used to model the implementation of new products and processes in Alpha, a medium-sized enterprise involved in a Teaching Company Scheme Programme.

Artificial Insemination Breeds Sterile Technology

This paper contends that ‘technology transfer’ cannot be achieved by straightforward sale and purchase transactions. While any given technology may be describable in abstract terms, its effective use depends upon understanding and motivation in individuals. Achieving this harmony between theory and practice is a subtle process, most easily realized by prolonged interaction between donors and recipients, during which the two parties often change roles. The UK's government-sponsored TCS (formerly known as the ‘Teaching Company Scheme’) is an effective means of bringing about this intercourse, as is the ‘Intermediate Institute’ approach of the Warwick Manufacturing Group's academic–industry partnership.

Decision Making at the Firm Level: The of a Criminal Legal Aid Case Management System

The Criminal Legal Aid System, in Scotland as in England, is under severe economic strain. A key element in the legal profession's response should be reliance on IT in improving the efficiency of criminal legal aid case management. This paper is a work-in-progress report on our involvement (under a Teaching Company Scheme Project) with a Glasgow criminal practice and their use of an existing case management and automation tool. Although the focus of the research is on improving the scope of the present system, our work has involved us in an exploration of decision-making processes at the level of the firm and the role of computerisation and automation at all levels in the firm. More specifically, our investigations focus on the interaction of the fee earners and paralegals in the use they make of information and how, applying management science techniques, they could improve on that use. This in turn led to a reconsideration of how the case management system uses information available to the differing levels of “decision makers” within the firm. This creates an interesting contrast with the “decision making” process at the level of adjudication.

Managing Operations Improvements through Relational Capabilities in the Context of Small-Firm Networks

The development of operations improvements in the network operations of a small nutritional products company is reported upon. New product development, and improvements in network process productivity and quality, have been the primary foci of a two-year programme conducted under the UK's Teaching Company Scheme. A critical concern for the operation of any network is the development and management of operational and relational capabilities, and in the case presented here it is contended that the major cause of operations inefficiencies was the absence of relational capabilities between the core firm and other members of their supply network. Specific problems encountered with the core firm's supply partners proved difficult to resolve, not due to lack of technical or operational ability, but almost exclusively as a result of poor levels of inter-organisational relations. The core firm studied was small, and lacked power relative to suppliers in a number of areas critical to the performance of the network. Applying Sako's trust classification scheme, we contest that small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME)-led networks depend on the development of relational capabilities that set out to build appropriate levels of trust in order to affect operations improvements: indeed, these are the very capabilities that are fundamental to the operational capabilities of the network and its actors.

TCS gives industry food for thought

This paper highlights the effectiveness of TCS (the Teaching Company Scheme) in improving the performance and competitiveness of companies in the food‐processing industry. The industry is swinging towards the more efficient production of safe, high‐quality foods, a change propelled by UK and EC legislation and by market forces. Developing and implementing new process procedures and systems, exploring and developing novel ingredients, new products and market sectors are projects that require heavy investment of time, resources and personnel. However, many small and medium‐sized food‐processing companies lack the resources necessary to carry out such strategic projects. TCS is a highly successful government scheme that stimulates innovation and facilitates technology and knowledge transfer in most business and industry sectors, including the food industry, by supporting partnerships between companies and the UK’s knowledge base (universities and research organisations and institutions). It also enables companies to recruit and train high‐calibre graduates seeking careers in industry.

Technology transfer for SMEs

The Teaching Company Scheme (TCS) promotes the transfer of people, technology and skills between universities and business and seeks to enhance the competitiveness of small and medium-sized companies. The authors discuss the origin of TCS and the activities of the Plymouth TCS Centre. The TCS programme at Rigibore Ltd. is described. The benefits of a TCS programme are outlined.

Technology transfer: an examination of the UMIST Total Quality Management Teaching Programme

The Teaching Company Scheme (TCS) is a UK Government initiative to encourage technology transfer between higher education and industry. This paper reports on a critical examination of one such TCS Programme, the UMIST Multi–Company Total Quality Management Programme. The findings indicate that technology transfer and exchange have taken place in both directions with the multi–company nature of the program increasing the velocity of transfer, and that all three partners have benefited from the collaboration. A number of factors have been identified which have limited the effectiveness of the Programme, including changes in industrial supervisor, calibre of Associates, level of quality management understanding in the companies and the degree to which Associates have created a synergistic effect.

Evaluation of skill requirements and training in contract electronics manufacture

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are increasingly using subcontractors who have special skills for the manufacture of their products and whose effectiveness is primarily based on their ability to manage a varying workload efficiently. Within the contract electronics manufacturing industry the retention and development of the correct mix of people and skills is therefore essential. This paper highlights the main areas researched to date in a Teaching Company Scheme project investigating the factors affecting the specification of a skills structure within a contract manufacturing organisation.