Research & Commercial Activities

Dr Rob Willis

Director of Research at LAIBS

“At the Lord Ashcroft International Business School, we have a mission to develop people who are confident and inspired in their management practice to make a difference in their organisations. We have a reputation for business research, education and training with students, employers and professional bodies world-wide, built upon the innovative and cutting edge research we undertake; research that is published in internationally recognised academic journals and funded by the EU and ESRC, amongst others.

Our practice-based research agenda means that everything we do is focused on real-world management problems and dilemmas. If you want to conduct relevant professional research and undertake research that has a real impact on your organisation's performance, then the Lord Ashcroft International Business School is the place for you.”

Around the globe, during every hour of every day, business decisions are being made that shape our world. At the Lord Ashcroft International Business School (LAIBS) we are convinced that these decisions should be informed by a combination of high calibre applied business research and real world business insight, and this belief underlies all our research and commercial activity. As a leading practice-based business school, LAIBS is building its reputation on improving the relevance of business and management research without sacrificing academic rigour. Our aim is to blend leading academic theory with the most modern business and management practice, framing relevant research questions, adding new knowledge and insight - and most importantly solving real world business problems.

LAIBS has established the Institute for International Management Practice (IIMP) to provide an impetus to and focus for internationally recognised applied research that will make a genuine difference to business practice. A specific focus area is essential for the Institute to achieve the world-class status to which we aspire, and therefore we are placing particular emphasis on emerging and growth-oriented businesses, believing them to be vital to the future of wealth creation and social improvement in most economies of the world. IIMP's work is undertaken by academics from across LAIBS working in multi-disciplinary teams - usually alongside practitioners - and by our three established centres: - the Centre for Enterprise Development and Research (CEDAR), The Centre for Innovation in International Business (CIIB) and the IIMP Caribbean Centre.

LAIBS' wider research and commercial activity is undertaken by other Research Centres, such as the Centre for Transformational Management Practice. We have a well-respected and prominent team working on Centre for Social Enterprise, and our research in other areas, including Leadership, Public Service Change, Sustainability, Communications, Ethics and Culture, Corporate Social Responsibility and International Tourism, can be found detailed under Individual Research.

To ensure that our research and commercial activity is practical and relevant, we have engaged with over 500 businesses over the course of the last year (from start-ups to large multi-national corporations) in a variety of research, development and consultancy projects (see 'Our Clients'), and a number of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs). In addition, a number of Professors of Management Practice work part-time in LAIBS whilst continuing their regular roles as senior business executives. They provide an active link between business and academia, and ensure that our research is relevant and applicable to current business issues.

Our research environment is enlivened by our growing number of research students. There are currently 65 PhD, MPhil and DBA students registered on our research degree programmes and supervised by our key researchers. To find out more about our research degree opportunities and areas of research visit the section on Our Research Degrees.

To find out more about Anglia Ruskin ethics, research funding, research support, research related news, events and training, and our Research Development and Commercial Services (RDCS), please visit the Anglia Ruskin University Research and Expertise website.

Follow LAIBS on Facebook and Twitter

The Centre for Innovation in International Business (CIIB) Centre for Transformational Management Practice Centre for Social Enterprise