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Asia Pacific Journal of Management

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05-06-2017 | Perspectives

Making impact through industry-focused research: An Asia Pacific perspective

Author: Hao Tan

Published in: Asia Pacific Journal of Management | Issue 3/2017

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Abstract

This Perspectives paper draws attention to what I would call “industry-focused research” as an approach in management research that I believe can potentially contribute to the improvement of non-academic impact of the research. Industry-focused research refers to a type of studies in management that are based on an in-depth understanding of particular industry environments and that take account of the contextual details of the industries under investigation. Given that the industrial context in different locations tends to vary, industry-focused research can also contribute to the contextualization of management research in the Asia Pacific region.

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I propose to use the term “industry-focused research” (IFR), rather than “industry studies,” because the latter commonly refers to the sort of industry analyses that are usually carried out by management consultancies or market research firms, with the main purpose being to inform investment decisions. IFR focuses on academic research.

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This is despite academic outlets such as the Industry Studies and Public Policy Department of the journal POM accepting that findings from studies of a specific industry do not need to be generalized to other industrial settings (http://www.poms.org/2006/12/industry_studies_public_policy.html).

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A list of those impact case studies is shown in the Appendix. Details of all impact case studies are available from the REF Impact Case Studies Database at http://impact.ref.ac.uk/CaseStudies/search1.aspx

An accurate estimate is difficult regarding the proportion of empirical studies based on data from a single industry setting in the management literature. The claim is thus based on the author’s personal perception only.

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http://impact.ref.ac.uk/CaseStudies/CaseStudy.aspx?Id=38389

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Title: Making impact through industry-focused research: An Asia Pacific perspective
Author: Hao Tan
Publication date: 05-06-2017
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Asia Pacific Journal of Management / Issue 3/2017
Print ISSN: 0217-4561
Electronic ISSN: 1572-9958
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-017-9521-4

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