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Dr Louise Knight

Phone number
+44 (0)121 204 3605

Email
l.knight2@aston.ac.uk

Room number
Main Building 174

Profile
2007 – date:
I joined Aston University on October 1st 2007, as a Senior Lecturer.  I teach various management modules to MSc and BSc students, and supervise students’ research projects at BSc, MSc and PhD levels.  My ESRC-EPSRC Advanced Institute of Management funded research on collaborative management research with Professor Andrew Pettigrew (Oxford) is ongoing, and I continue to collaborate with Professor Annie Pye (Exeter), an expert on leadership and governance, on network learning and network leadership.

I am collaborating with ‘old’ and new colleagues on proposals for new research projects and PhD studentships on the themes listed above. 

1994 – 2007:
In 1994 I began part-time MPhil studies at the University of Bath’s Centre for Research in Strategic Purchasing and Supply (CRiSPS), which inspired me to move into research.  In 1996, I joined CRiSPS as a Research Officer.  On completing my part-time PhD studies in 2002, I was appointed Research Fellow and Deputy Director of CRiSPS.  In 2005, I was appointed Senior Research Fellow.

I was involved in a wide range of CRiSPS projects (see weblinks below), in particular the research partnership with the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency.  Other funders included the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, UK research councils – EPSRC and ESRC, and GS1UK (formerly e-centre).  I was a founder member of the International Study on Public Procurement and co-ordinator of its first workshop.

I undertook various advisory roles with the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency and the wider NHS, the Office of Government Commerce, and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

Qualifications & Education

Educational:

  • Doctor of Philosophy, University of Bath School of Management, September 2002

  • Master of Philosophy, University of Bath School of Management, October 1997

  • BSc (Hons), Geology, University of Southampton, 1986

Professional:

  • Post-graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply, Polytechnic of North London, 1989

  •  

    Professional Stage (1989) and Foundation Stage (1988), Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, qualification for membership by examination

Employment

  • 2007 – date: Senior Lecturer, Aston University

  • 1994 – 2007: University of Bath

  • 1987 – 1996: Industrial experience, various roles within London Underground

Teaching activity
Module tutor for MSc programmes (Engineering Management, Industrial Enterprise Management, Supply Chain Management):  EM4002 Strategic Management, EM 4030 Purchasing Strategy, Management and Process

Module tutor for final year undergraduate programmes (Logistics, Construction Management, Construction Project Management): LT3316 Purchasing and Strategy

Supervising MSc research projects and PhD studies

Research interests

  • Network learning – learning by groups of organizations as a group.  Building on the concept of organizational learning, investigating how complex interorganizational networks develop and change over time.  Especially concerned with learning process.

  • Network leadership – a critical perspective on leadership in/of complex interorganizational networks

  • Public procurement from a strategy and policy perspective.  In particular, the relationship between public purchasing practices and innovation, supply markets and supplier competitiveness.

  • Collaborative research in management and the social sciences – two forms: international collaborations amongst academics, and ‘co-production research’ in which practitioners actively participate in the research process working with academic researchers

Membership of Professional Bodies
Steering Group member, British Academy of Management Special Interest Group on Interorganizational Relations (BAM SIGIOR)

Member, Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, since 1988

Member, International Purchasing and Supply Education and Research Association (IPSERA), since 1995

Selected publications

Journal Articles:

  • Bakker, E., Zheng, J., Knight, L. and Harland, C. (2008) Putting e-commerce adoption in a supply chain context International Journal of Operations & Production Management,  Vol 28, No. 4, 313 - 330

  • Zheng, J., Knight, L., James, K., Harland, C. and Humby, S. (2007) An Analysis of Research on the Future of Purchasing and Supply Management.  Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, Vol 13, No 1, 69-83

  • Phillips, W.E., Knight, L., Caldwell, N.D. and Warrington, J. (2007) Policy through Procurement – the introduction of Digital Signal Process (DSP) hearing aids into the English NHS. Health Policy, Vol 80, No.1, 77-85

  • Zheng, J., Bakker, E., Knight, L., Gilhespy, H., Harland, C., Walker, H. (2006) A strategic case for e-adoption in healthcare supply chains. International Journal of Information Management, Vol 26, No.7, 290-301

  • Harland, C., Knight, L., Lamming, R. and Walker, H. (2005) Outsourcing: Assessing the risks and benefits for organisations, sectors and nations.  International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol 25, No. 9, 831-850

  • Knight, L. and Harland, C. (2005) Managing Supply Networks: Organizational roles in network management.  European Management Journal , Vol 23, No. 3, 281-292

  • Knight, L. and Pye, A. (2005) Network Learning: an empirically-derived model of learning by groups of organizations.  Human Relations, Vol 58, No 3, 369-392

  • Caldwell, N., Walker, H., Harland, C., Knight, L., Zheng, J. and Wakeley, T. (2005) Promoting Competitive Markets: The Role Of Public Procurement. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, Vol 11, No.5-6, pp.242-251

  • Knight, L and Pye, A. (2004) Exploring the relationships between network change and network learning.  Management Learning, Vol 35, No 4, pp. 473-490

  • Knight, L. (2002) Network Learning: Exploring learning by interorganizational networks.  Human Relations, Vol 55, No. 4, pp.427-453

  • Harland, C.M. and Knight, L.A. (2001).  Supply Strategy: A Corporate Social Capital Perspective.  Research in the Sociology of Organizations, JAI Press, Feb (Annual), pp. 151-183

  • Harland, C. and Knight, L. (2001)  Supply Network Strategy: Role and Competence Requirements.  International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol 21, No. 4, April, pp. 476-489

  • Faes, W., Knight, L. and Matthyssens, P. (2001).  Buyer Profiles: An empirical investigation of changing organizational requirements. European Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management, Vol. 7, No.3, pp. 197-208

  • Knight, L. (2000) Learning to Collaborate: A study of individual and organizational learning, and interorganizational relationships. Journal of Strategic Marketing, Vol. 8, pp.121-138

Book:

  • Knight, L.A., Harland, C.M., Telgen, J., Callender, G., Thai, K.V. and McKen, K.E. (Eds)  (2007) Public Procurement; International Cases and Commentary.  London: Routledge

Book chapters:

  • Knight, L. and Pye, A. (2007) The Search for Network Learning: some practical and theoretical challenges in process research. In: Gößling, T., Jansen, R. and Oerlemans, L. (eds.) Inside Networks: A process view on multi-organisational partnerships, alliances and networks,  Edward Elgar, pp.163-191

  • Harland, C., Knight, L. and Cousins, P. (2004) Supply Relationships.  In: New, S. and Westbrook, R. (eds.) Supply Chains: Concepts, Critiques and Futures. Oxford: Oxford University Press

  • Knight, L. and Harland, C. (2001)  Outsourcing: A national and sector level perspective on policy and practice in Erridge A., Fee, R. and McIlroy, J. (eds.) Best Practice Procurement: Public and Private Sector Perspectives.  Gower, pp. 55-62

  • Forrest, S, Stokoe, H. and Knight, L. Case Study: The supply of pharmaceuticals in NHS hospitals - setting up a strategy in Brown, S.E., Lamming, R.C., Bessant, J.R. and P Jones, (2004) Strategic Operations Management 2nd Edition, Elsevier, UK,pp 239-240

Conference papers, working papers, etc:

  • Knight, L. and Pye, A. (2006) Multiple Meanings of ‘Network’: some implications for interorganizational theory and research practice.  University of Bath School of Management Working Paper Series.
    (http://www.bath.ac.uk/management/research/pdf/2006-12.pdf).

  • Pettigrew, A. and Knight, L. (2007) Process and Performance in International Collaborative Research.  Academy of Management Conference, Philadelphia, August 2007.

  • Knight, L. and Pettigrew, A. (2007) Explaining process and performance in the co-production of knowledge: a comparative analysis of collaborative research projects.  Paper presented at the Organization Studies Third Summer Workshop, June 7-9,Rethymno, Crete.

  • Pye, A. and Knight, L. (2005) Network Leadership:  A new perspective on leadership? Paper presented at the Leadership conference, 12-13 Dec (Lancaster).