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Professor Stuart MACDONALD

Professor of Information and Organisation

Room 225
Phone 0114 22 23446
Fax 0114 222 3348

email : s.macdonald@shef.ac.uk

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email : Personal Email Address

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Biographical Review

Stuart Macdonald has a BA in History and Geography from Cambridge and a Ph.D. in Agriculture from Newcastle upon Tyne. He lectures in Technology Management and on Information. He is European editor of the journal Prometheus.

His research has long been concerned with the role that information plays in innovation and in change more generally. Most of the research is strongly empirical, generally involving long-term investigation within organisations. An approach that makes information central to enquiry does not fit comfortably within the boundaries of a single discipline and has necessarily been pursued in several. This is reflected in publication in the journals of many disciplines - economics, physics, geography, history, engineering, electronics, agriculture, management. Inevitably, the research has become inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary. Much of it has been carried out overseas, a great deal in Australia. The aim of the research is always to contribute to understanding and thereby to both corporate strategy and government policy.

Recent research projects include:

• The Information Contract between Client and Management Consultant
• Education and Training in the Innovation of SMEs
• Partnerships in Theory and Practice
• ¬Formal Collaboration and Informal Information Networks
• The Role of Patent Information in Innovation
• University Patenting
• The Quality of Management Research
• Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation in SMEs
• The Benefits of Piracy
• Innovation in China

Select Publications

`Measurement or management?: Revisiting the productivity paradox of information technology´ (with D. Kimbel and P. Anderson), Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung (Quarterly Journal of Economic Research), 69, 4, 2000, pp.601-617.

'The interview in management research. A cautionary tale for journalists' in H. Tumber (ed.), Power, Professionals and Policy: Essays in Honour of Jeremy Tunstall, Routledge, London, 2000, pp.259-77.

'Managing with method: Information for innovation' in D. Lamberton (ed.), Managing the Global: Globalization, Employment and Quality of Life, I.B. Tauris, London, 2001, pp.209-21.

'A dynamic view of technological acquisition' (with A. James), International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 3, 1-2, 2001, pp.120-41.

`Learning from management consultants: the lesson for management researchers´ (with M. Simpson), Prometheus, 19, 2, 2001, pp.117-33.

'In bed with a stranger: Finding partners for collaboration in Esprit' (with R. Marschan-Piekkari and D. Assimakopoulos), Science and Public Policy, 28, 1, 2001, pp.68-78.

'Technology transfer or innovation? Technology business incubators and science and technology parks in the Philippines' (with R. Joseph), Science and Public Policy. 28, 5, 2001, pp.330-44. Re-published for electronic distribution by iDISC in Brasilia for the World Bank.

`The IT productivity paradox revisited: Technological determinism masked by management method?´, International Journal of Information Technology and Management, 1, 1, 2002, pp.1-29.

`A dual approach to understanding information networks´ (with D. Assimakopoulos), International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 1, 1, 2002, pp.1-16. Republished in International Journal of Technology Management, 25, 1-2, 2003, pp.96-112.

`Exploring the hidden costs of patents´ in Peter Drahos and Ruth Mayne (eds), Global Intellectual Property Rights: Knowledge, Access and Development, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2002, pp.13-39.

'Worlds apart: Patent information and innovation in SMEs' in R. Blackburn (ed.), Intellectual Property and Innovation Management in Small Firms: Results from a Research Programme, Routledge, London, 2003, pp.123-43.

`Espionage, economic and industrial´ in J. Mokyr (ed.), Oxford Encyclopaedia of Economic History, Oxford University Press, New York, 2003.

`Personal networks and IT innovation within the Esprit and IST Programmes: Some evidence from the UK´ (with D. Assimakopoulos), Innovation: Management, Policy and Practice, 5, 2003, pp.15-28.

`Bearing the burden: Small firms and the patent system´, Journal of Information, Law and Technology, 1, 2003.

`Review essay´ of Ovum, Productivity and Organisational Transformation: Optimising Investment in ICT, Prometheus, 22, 1, 2004, pp.99-107.

`The interview in international business research: Problems we would rather not talk about´ (with Bo Hellgren) in Rebecca Piekkari and Catherine Welch (eds), Handbook of Qualitative Research for International Business, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2004, pp.264-81.

'Esprit: Europe's response to US and Japanese domination in information technology' (with D. Assimakopoulos and R. Marschan-Piekkari) in R. Coopey (ed.), Information Technology Policy. An International History, OUP, Oxford, 2004, pp.247-63.

`Inexperience and inefficiency in information transactions: Making the most of management consultants´ in David Rooney, Greg Hearn and Abraham Ninan (eds), The Knowledge Economy Handbook, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2005, pp.229-44.

`When means become ends. Considering the impact of patent strategy on innovation´, Information Economics and Policy, 16, 1, 2004, pp.135-58. Also published in Portuguese as `Quando os meios se tornam os fins: Considerando o impacto da estrategia de patentes sobre a inovacao´ in C. Furnival and L. Costa (eds), Informacao e Conhecimento: Aproximando Areas de Saber, EDUFSCar, Sao Carlos, 2005, pp.119-60.

`The cost of control. Speculation on the impact of management consultants on creativity in the BBC´, Prometheus, 22, 1, 2004, pp.43-70.

`Coping with failure: The manager, his consultant, his consultant´s method - and information technology´, Journal of International Business and Entrepreneurship, 2, 2, 2004, pp.54-63.

Chinese science parks: a cautionary exploration´ (with Yunfeng Deng), International Journal of Technology Intelligence and Planning, 1, 2004, pp.1-14.

`Acknowledging the purpose of partnership´ (with T. Chrisp), Journal of Business Ethics, 59, 4, 2005, pp.307-17.

`Out of control: Personal networks in European collaboration´ (with Rebecca Piekkari), R&D Management, 35, 4, 2005, pp.441-53.

 `Loyalty or betrayal? Information for innovation in the organisation´, International Journal of Technology Intelligence and Planning, 2, 1, 2006, pp.22-32.

`Babes and sucklings: Management consultants and novice clients´, European Management Journal, 24, 6, 2006, pp.411-21.

`Ring a ring o' roses: Quality journals and gamesmanship in Management Studies´ (with J. Kam), Journal of Management Studies, 44, 4, 2007, pp.640-55.

Forthcoming

`Education and training for innovation in SMEs: A tale of exploitation´ (with D. Assimakopoulos and P. Anderson), International Small Business Journal, 25, 1, 2007, pp.77-95. Also to be published in Paolo Quattrone (ed.), European Universities in Transition: Issues, Models, and Cases, Elgar, Cheltenham, Spring 2007.

`Intellectual property rights for SMEs in South-east Asia: Strategy and policy´ (with T. Turpin) International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management.

`Aardvark et al. … : Quality journals and gamesmanship in Management Studies´ (with J. Kam), Journal of Information Science

`Quality journals and gamesmanship in Management Studies´ (with J. Kam), Management Research News.