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Although branding is now widespread among UK universities, the application of branding principles in the higher education sector is comparatively recent and may be controversial for internal audiences who question its suitability and efficiency. \ud This paper seeks to investigate how and whether the effectiveness of branding activity in the higher education sector should be evaluated and measured, through exploratory interviews with those who often drive it; UK University marketing professionals.\ud Conclusions suggest that university branding is inherently complex and therefore application of commercial approaches may be over simplistic. Whilst marketing professionals discuss challenges they do not necessarily have a consistent view of the objectives of branding activity although all were able to clearly articulate branding objectives for their university, including both qualitative and, to some extent, quantitative metrics. Some measures of the real value of branding activity are therefore suggested but a key debate is perhaps whether the objectives and role of branding in higher education needs to be clarified, and a more consistent view of appropriate metrics reached? Various challenges in implementing branding approaches are also highlighted.\ud

PurposeBranding in universities has become an increasingly topical issue among practitioners, with some institutions committing substantial financial resources to branding activities. Although it is receiving increased academic investigation, to date this has been limited. The particular characteristics of the sector present challenges for those seeking to build brands and it therefore seems timely and appropriate to investigate the common properties of those universities perceived as having successful brands; this paper aims to do that.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs qualitative research techniques in an exploratory study, examining the institutions perceived to be “successful” in terms of brand management, and seeking to explore any commonalities of approach or circumstance.FindingsThe findings and conclusions identify issues surrounding university branding activity. It was found that even among those brands considered “successful”, challenges such as lack of internal brand engagement and limited international resonance may be apparent. Certain common positive success factors are also suggested, however.Research limitations/implicationsExploration of the literature does point to a gap that makes this work challenging – a seeming lack of knowledge underpinning the precise objectives of university branding programmes. In other words; it is hard to measure how successful university brands are when there is little empirical literature on the aims of branding in universities.Originality/valueFrom an academic viewpoint gaps in current literature on branding in the education context are identified and the need for a model of brand management that addresses the particular qualities of higher education is reinforced.

This article discusses the development of critical hospitality management research (CHMR) and explores key issues that such approaches raise. The article is split into two parts. The first reviews contemporary writings that reflect the changing nature of hospitality management research and accounts for the emergence of a critical tradition. The second part identifies eight areas that are central concerns for the future development of CHMR: criticality, ethics and advocacy, scale, claims of legitimacy and research quality, representation, audience, affiliation, institutions and institutional contexts, and the relationship between management research and pedagogy. Associated questions and challenges are surfaced and conclusions drawn.

Branding in universities has become an increasingly topical issue, with some institutions committing substantial financial resources to branding activities. The particular characteristics of the sector present challenges for those seeking to build brands and it therefore seems to be timely and appropriate to investigate the common approaches of those institutions perceived as having successful brands.\ud This study is exploratory in nature, seeking to investigate how successfully UK universities brand themselves, whether they are distinct and if the sector overall communicates effectively. This is approached through examining the perspective of opinion formers external to universities but closely involved with the sector – a key stakeholder group in UK higher education \ud Overall, the research’s exploratory nature aims to further the debate on effective branding in UK higher education.\ud The findings and conclusions identify some issues surrounding university branding activity; most UK universities were considered to be distinct from one another, but few were seen to have real fully formed brands. Although a number of institutions that were seen as having more ‘successful’ brands were identified, it was argued that whilst many UK universities communicate their brand well enough to key stakeholders, they fail to consistently do this across all audiences. It was also suggested that UK universities may concentrate on areas of perceived immediate strategic importance (in terms of branding) to an extent where others are neglected.\ud \ud \ud

This paper reflects on the failure of a recent action learning intervention with a UK television company. The aim of the project was to gain insight into the reasons why the viewing figures of their factual programming channels were in decline and to develop a new strategy enabled by the action learning methodology. Unfortunately, this intervention was not successful and resulted in the project being cancelled after only one set meeting. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the reasons for this failure and to share my thoughts with others in the action learning community. The paper concludes that the reasons for this failed intervention were due to; my presence being considered by some set members as a threat to their credibility; a resistance to engage in the process of assumption breaking and reflective practice; and due to the perceived time it takes to apply the action learning methodology.

This paper explores the relationship between four key dimensions of service provision through adopting different partnership approaches. These dimensions are identified to describe partnerships as mandatory or voluntary and service provision based on contract or trust. Propositions about the nature and interaction of these variables are presented and combined as a heuristic suggesting complying, constraining and creating modes of partnership-working and service delivery. Examples are provided of these modes in practice. The paper concludes that this heuristic is a useful tool for practitioners to locate their form of partnership-based service delivery within the spectrum identified.

Branding in universities has become an increasingly topical issue with practitioners, with some institutions committing substantial financial resources to branding activities. It has, however, received only limited academic investigation, and as the particular characteristics of the sector present challenges for those seeking to build brands, it seems to be timely and appropriate to investigate potential barriers to branding. This exploratory study investigates the opinions of the ‘brand guardians’ of UK universities—Vice Chancellors, Principals and Rectors—on the barriers to successfully building brands and draws conclusions on their views of the key challenges facing successful branding activity in the sector. Implications for practitioners are also explored. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Branding in universities is a topical issue, but arguably few UK universities have fully developed ‘successful’ brands in the manner of commercial organisations. This qualitative paper explores the opinions of forty opinion formers on which UK universities have successful brands and the associations these brands have. Current literature on what constitutes a successful brand and current branding theory and practice in higher education is examined to give context to the work. Findings identify comparatively few institutions with ‘successful’ brands, but those that are suggested are considered for attributes, and limited commonality is found ; areas such as marketing communications, reputation, location and public relations are all argued to be contributory to successful brands. Perhaps more importantly, this research identifies certain institutions worthy of closer qualitative investigation towards generating a model of successful branding in higher education.

Reputation and brand management are topical issues in UK higher education but previous research has often focused on marketing practitioners within higher education (HE) institutions rather than the senior, strategic leaders. This paper, however, examines university Chief Executives’ understanding, attitudes and interpretation of reputation and brand management.\ud \ud Current literature on defining reputation and brand, research on branding in higher education, and the role of leaders in brand management, are examined to give context to the work. Research was conducted through interviews with Vice-Chancellors, Principals and Rectors from a selection of fourteen universities representing three different ‘generations’ (the 1992 universities, those formed in the mid-20th century, and older institutions)\ud \ud Whilst the work is exploratory in nature it does highlight this as a rapidly evolving area of perceived importance and discusses conclusions on some of the external and internal issues related to reputation and brand management in this sector.\ud

A study, funded by Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, was undertaken in 2000-2001 to give an up-to-date view of the current experience of outsourcing and externalisation in libraries, museums and archives. Case studies of purchasers recognised as pioneers in the field, and of providers, were undertaken, and results validated by two focus groups. Outsourcing, particularly under the impetus of Best Value, was found to be relatively widespread and sophisticated in the public library and special library sectors. Thinking and practice in academic libraries lag behind. Museums and archives show some implementation, particularly under the influence of Best Value.

This paper examines the relationship between migrants’ social networks, the processes of language acquisition and tourism employment. Data collected using netnography and interviews are used to identify the strategies that Polish workers in the UK use to develop their language skills. The paper highlights the roles played by co-workers, co-nationals and customers in migrants’ language learning, both in the physical spaces of work and the virtual spaces of internet forums. It also shows how migrant workers exchange knowledge about the use of English during different stages of their migration careers: prior to leaving their country of origin and getting a job, during their employment and after leaving their job. Implications for academic inquiry and human resource management practice are outlined.

This paper attempts to explore the effectiveness of UK universities’ websites. The area of branding in higher education has received increasing academic investigation, but little work has researched how universities demonstrate their brand promises through their websites. The quest to differentiate through branding can be challenging in the university context, however. It is argued that those institutions that have a strong distinctive image will be in a better position to face a changing future. Employing a multistage methodology, the web pages of twenty UK universities were investigated by using a combination of content and multivariable analysis. Results indicated ‘traditional values’ such as teaching and research were often well communicated in terms of online brand but ‘emotional values’ like social responsibility and the universities’ environments were less consistently communicated, despite their increased topicality. It is therefore suggested that emotional values may offer a basis for possible future online differentiation.

Employing intrinsically motivated individuals has been proposed as a means of improving public sector performance. In this article, we investigate whether intrinsic motivation affects the sorting of employees between the private and the public sectors, paying particular attention to whether extrinsic rewards crowd out intrinsic motivation. Using British longitudinal data, we find that individuals are attracted to the public sector by the intrinsic rather than the extrinsic rewards that the sector offers. We also find evidence supporting the intrinsic motivation crowding out hypothesis, in that, higher extrinsic rewards reduce the propensity of intrinsically motivated individuals to accept public sector employment. This is, however, only true for two segments of the UK public sector: the higher education sector and the National Health Service (NHS). Whilst our findings inform the literature on Public Service Motivation (PSM), they also pose the question whether lower extrinsic rewards could increase the average quality of job matches in the public sector, thus improving performance without the need for high-powered incentives.

This paper examines the processes through which a commercial bar is transformed into a hospitable space. Drawing on a study of a venue patronized by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual/transgender consumers, it considers how social and commercial forms of hospitality are mobilized. The paper argues that hospitable space has an ideological, normative and situational dimension. More specifically, it suggests the bar’s operation is tied to a set of ideological conceptions, which become the potential basis of association and disassociation among consumers. It examines the forces and processes that shape who participates in the production and consumption of hospitality and how. Finally, it considers the situational, emergent nature of hospitality and the discontinuous production of hospitable space. Rather than focusing exclusively on host-guest or provider-customer relations, which dominates existing work on hospitality, the paper examines how consumers’ perceptions, actions and interactions shape the production of hospitality. By doing so the paper offers an alternative approach to understanding queer spaces, bar operation as well as hospitality.

This paper reviews the published articles on eTourism in the past 20 years. Using a wide variety of sources, mainly in the tourism literature, this paper comprehensively reviews and analyses prior studies in the context of Internet applications to tourism. The paper also projects future developments in eTourism and demonstrates critical changes that will influence the tourism industry structure. A major contribution of this paper is its overview of the research and development efforts that have been endeavoured in the field, and the challenges that tourism researchers are, and will be, facing.

Emotion in business-to-business service relationships regarding cargo services is explored. The service relationship is characterised by mutual trust and cooperation. Contact is mainly via telephone or e-mail with some face-to-face interactions and participants providing a complex, multi-skilled seamless service. Experience rather than training plays a vital role with long-term service relationships built up and maintained. Emotional sensitivity is acquired partly by experience and a repeat customer base but mainly through a genuine desire to help and get to know others. In contrast to the view of emotional labour bringing managerial control or adverse affects to service staff, the emotion engendered by this work is authentic expression bringing personal satisfaction.