Members of the School’s staff publish in world-leading journals such as MIT Quarterly, Human Relations, Organisation Studies, British Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Annals of Tourism Research, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice and European Journal of Information Systems. They play leading roles in many professional, industrial and academic organisations such as the Advanced Institute of Management, the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and the Institute of Hospitality.

In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), 90 per cent of the School of Management’s work was rated as internationally recognised, with 40 per cent classed as internationally excellent and 10 per cent as world leading.

Research and teaching activity within the School is divided into three Divisions, each with a number of research interests:
• Division of Management
• Division of Business Development
• Division of Hospitality and Tourism

PhD programme

The School of Management is firmly committed to the support, guidance and training of research students in order to equip them to become academic researchers or to gain employment in a wide range of sectors. Research students are encouraged to take up the various training opportunities offered by the University and the School. The School has recognition for its research training programme from the ESRC, a mark of the high standard of its PhD programme.

Research students are considered to be an integral part of the School’s research community and there are many opportunities to work closely with some of the world’s leading researchers in their fields.

Since 2001, the School has secured in excess of £4 million in external funding for its research activity.

In addition to the traditional PhD we also offer a Doctor of Business Administration programme.

Division of Business Development Research Groups

Uniting this Division’s research is an interest in the emergent nature of business development. We have particular strengths in the changing nature of retail development, the internationalisation of business and management, and in the relational dimensions of business development. Specific research strands include:

Centre for Comparative Studies on Organisational Learning in International Settings (COLIS)

COLIS aims to develop and support research in key areas intersecting organisation studies and international management to advance theory and to provide practical insights into learning in international settings. Our aim is to facilitate the development of world-class, distinctive, highly relevant, interdisciplinary and comparative research based on theories of international management, organisational learning and institutionalism.

www.surrey.ac.uk/management/research/centres/colis

Retail Management

Research areas include, but are not limited to:
• E-retailing
• Retailing and consumption
• International retailing
• The evolution of retail systems
• Logistics
• Food retailing
• Retail planning and regulation
• Small shops

www.surrey.ac.uk/management/specialism/retail

International Management, Strategy and Enterprise

Research areas include, but are not limited to:
• Internationalisation and transnational institution building
• Learning and development in international organisations
• Inter-organisational collaboration
• Organisational analysis
• Strategic organisation
• Foreign direct investment strategies
• Comparative international management
• Strategic decision-making processes
• Comparative business systems
• Business Network Analysis
• Ethnic and minority enterprise
• Entrepreneurship education
• Franchising and small business management

www.surrey.ac.uk/management/specialism/international

Marketing

Research areas include, but are not limited to:
• Consumer behaviour
• Services marketing
• Customer loyalty
• Branding
• Online consumer behaviour
• E-marketing and e-business
• Experiential marketing
• Fashion marketing
• International marketing and globalisation
• Higher education marketing
• HE governance
• Advertising, promotion and product placement

www.surrey.ac.uk/management/specialism/marketing

Division of Management Research Groups

The Division is particularly strong in the fields of innovation and creativity, systems management and international finance. Specific research strands include:

The Centre for Management Learning and Development (CMLD)

Research in CMLD is concerned with understanding the processes which facilitate the learning, development, growth and transformation of individuals and the organisations of which they are a part. 

www.surrey.ac.uk/management/research/centres/cmld 

Accounting and Financial Management

Research areas include, but are not limited to:
• Debt markets and instruments including credit risk
• Credit default swaps and asset backed securities
• Bank failures
• Fixed interest strategies and financial contracting
• Corporate governance
• Emerging capital markets
• IPOs
• Mergers and acquisitions

www.surrey.ac.uk/management/specialism/finance

People and Organisations

Research areas include, but are not limited to:
• Organisational innovation and creativity
• Emotional and aesthetic dimensions of organisation
• Human resource strategies
• The psychology of intuition and decision making
• Human resource development
• Coaching and leadership
• Complicity and whistle-blowing
• Organisational trust and justice
• Professional knowledge sharing
• Diversity and workplace relationships
• Visual research methods

www.surrey.ac.uk/management/specialism/po

Health Care Management

Research areas include, but are not limited to:
• Business process management
• Team-based processes
• Quality processes in health care
• Medical technology innovation
• Medical accreditation and training

www.surrey.ac.uk/management/specialism/healthcare

Operations Management and Management Information Systems

Research areas include, but are not limited to:
• Data and information fusion
• Information management and exploitation
• Usability and human–computer interaction
• Large-scale information systems and virtual environments
• Digital economy
• IT and marketing
• Operations management

www.surrey.ac.uk/management/specialism/ops

Division of Hospitality and Tourism Research Groups

The University of Surrey is recognised as being in the top five as a world-class centre for pure and applied tourism and hospitality research. In addition to two industry-sponsored professorships, Professor John Tribe is the Editor-in-Chief of the world’s leading tourism research journal, Annals of Tourism Research. Specific research strands include:

Tourism Management

Research areas include, but are not limited to:
• Sustainability and ethics
• Education and theory
• Human resources and employment
• Demand modelling and forecasting
• Culture and heritage
• Visuals and visuality
• Social tourism
• International events management

www.surrey.ac.uk/management/specialism/tourism

Hospitality and Food Management

Research areas include, but are not limited to:
• Hospitality operations management
• Travel catering
• Productivity
• Quality and service innovation
• Consumer behaviour and nutrition

www.surrey.ac.uk/management/specialism/hospitality