Theorization and industry-based research project development: Bridging the industry–academia research gap

How the industry–academia collaboration gap can be effectively bridged continues to be a major issue of debate. In this context, we present a research perspective on and an explicit articulation of the manner in which academic research in business management could focus on theorization and suggest how this focus could be instrumental in developing industry-based academic research projects which are well-supported by the literature and which could at the same time contribute to the fulfilment of industry’s needs.

In this study, we use the term ‘theorization’ in its universal application – signifying either a contribution to an existing theory or the development of a new theory. However, our aim is to nurture the theorization process in a way that could contribute substantially to an existing industry need, so that industry–academia research gaps are bridged. In general, a theorization process requires the development of a coherent explanation that will lead to the formulation of hypotheses or propositions in response to a theoretical gap or inconsistency, or a debate in the literature. It is important to test those hypotheses or explore those propositions through empirical studies, centred on a combination of wider socio-economic issues in order to generate new practical insights, so that the theorization process can further be justified.

In addressing any socio-economic issue, it is crucial to contribute to the satisfaction of the needs of the stakeholder(s) concerned. Thus, for the purposes of this research, we attempt to analyse the ‘cause(s) and consequence(s) of stakeholder relationships and interactions’ (Shams, 2016: 676) as ‘stakeholder causal scopes’ (SCS) to identify stakeholders’ needs and value anticipation, so that value will be co-created in a way stakeholders expect and will accept (Shams, 2016). Such SCS analyses will not only identify the stakeholder’s need-based value anticipation but will also incorporate that socio-economic need as an important concern in the overall theorization process. Following this research focus and the theorization process, we present a case example to articulate concisely the core issues of a prospective research project on the international education industry, in order to explain how analysing SCS could be instrumental in identifying a theoretical gap and/or a research hypothesis or proposition relevant to a particular industry’s needs.

A common practice in marketing international education is to promote it through overseas agents. According to industry reports, there is lack of understanding of how overseas agents represent an international education brand (Shams, 2017). This could harmfully impact the reputation and image of the brand, as an overseas agent’s inappropriate representation could convey a misleading message to the target audience. This lack of understanding gives rise to a socio-economic problem related to the international marketing of the education-exporting countries who wish to grow their export markets or to protect their existing markets in the international education industry.

In order to identify a theoretical gap and build a coherent argument to develop a hypothesis or proposition, we approach the subject from the cross-disciplinary perspective of strategic management and relationship marketing. The theory of organizational dynamic capabilities focuses on the allocation of an organization’s resources to pursue a strategic direction designed to generate and preserve sources of competitive advantage (Peteraf et al., 2013; Teece et al., 1997). The strategic management literature argues that a firm’s possession of a ‘valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable’ (VRIN) reservoir of resources is fundamental to a sustainable competitive advantage (Barney, 1991). Critics of this approach argue that, because of commonalities and substitutability features, a competitive advantage would be unable to survive over time on the basis of the VRIN test, particularly in an industry that is subject to rapid changes in competitive market forces (Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000; Peteraf et al., 2013). The question, therefore, is whether the competitive advantage that derives from the rarity of a valuable resource can be sustained through the elimination from the resource of such commonalities and substitutability. This question highlights a theoretical gap between the existing understanding of how a firm ensures the sustained competitive advantage of particular resources and how it can effectively protect its VRIN resources from its competitors’ efforts to imitate them or develop a substitute utility or value.

Peteraf et al. (2013) recommend an analysis of a firm’s and its allied stakeholders’ overall learning experience of competitive market forces in order to identify the exceptional conditions that will render a valuable resource rare, inimitable and non-substitutable by competitors. In this vein, developing insights into the current and prospective relationships between a firm and its stakeholders through the lens of the relationship marketing concept would be valuable in identifying such exceptional conditions through an analysis of the SCS (Shams, 2016). The SCS might, in particular, include service encounters in relation to the stakeholders’ value anticipation and the respective competitive issues. There is support of this approach in the marketing literature, with Little and Marandi (2003) arguing that relationship marketing helps firms to gain a better understanding of stakeholders’ needs. This stakeholder-specific customized knowledge might be seen as an exceptional condition with respect to the stakeholder’s value anticipation, with the potential to render the resource rare, inimitable and non-substitutable by competitors. This provides us with a hypothesis to explore through empirical studies (Shams, 2016).

Industry reports acknowledge that the major competitive education destinations, including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, modify their student visa rules so frequently as to adversely impact from time to time on their competitive advantage (Mahmood, 2012). Therefore, to sustain or retrieve their competitive advantage, industries like international education, which encounter frequent changes in competitive forces, need to identify exceptional conditions from their stakeholders’ perceptions by analysing their SCS. In a recent study, an international student in Australia explained, ‘one of the reasons influencing my decision to study in Australia is its proximity to Singapore’ (Shams, 2016: 685). ‘Proximity’, which could be a prospective exceptional condition for Australia (as a non-academic need of international students), has been identified by previous studies (Phang, 2013; Singh et al., 2013) as one of the decision-making factors of international students, particularly those from Southeast Asian countries, which constitute the largest market for the international education industry (International Students Australia, 2015; UNESCO, 2014). Thus, a major motivation behind the choice of study destination by Southeast Asian students is proximity to home and, consequently, proximity should be an important component in the organizational and social marketing communications of Australian universities (Vrontis et al., 2015) in the promotion of their international education services.

In the context of this article, the promotion of proximity by Australian international education providers reflects a core customer value and leverages a unique, inimitable and non-substitutable competitive advantage, at least with regard to the other major international players. Thus. proximity acts in both practical and communication terms as a significant student-choice motivator (Melanthiou et al., 2017; Vrontis et al., 2007) that reinforces the competitive advantage of Australian universities. As a result, if, in the subjective evaluation of prospective Southeast Asian international students, the other usual decision-making factors (quality of education, post-graduation career prospects, etc.) are perceived as approximately equal in the various study destination options, ‘proximity’ becomes not just another factor but, in fact, the critical factor influencing the final choice, playing the decisive role for the student in favour of Australia, which outplays the competitive advantage of other major international education destinations and provides Australian universities a VRIN advantage.

Similarly, according to another recent study, the United Kingdom is the global leader in international student satisfaction, in comparison to other major competitive international education destinations, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany and New Zealand (O’Malley, 2015). Therefore, through its leading position, the United Kingdom enjoys a differentiating VRIN – at least, until another competitive education destination unseats it from its supreme position with regard to international student satisfaction. Although based on subjective responses, that ranking is likely to be perceived by prospective students as the result of an objective evaluation through the publication of studies and of league tables in, for example, QS World University Rankings and Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

Following these arguments, an industry-based research project on the European international education industry could be developed to analyse the causes and consequences of the European international students’ relationships and interactions with their host country’s academic and non-academic stakeholders. The purpose would be to understand students’ perceptions of their international education experience in order to identify VRIN exceptional conditions, such as those discussed above (‘proximity’ and ‘global leader in international student satisfaction’). Eventually, the identification of such VRIN advantages would be instrumental in sustainably differentiating, branding and promoting European international education services in relation to students’ academic and non-academic needs. As a result, Europe’s differentiated brand positioning in global education markets would be aligned with international students’ value anticipation.

Since this process of identifying and leveraging VRIN advantages would be instrumental in differentiating European international education in global markets and attracting global talent, the research project would contribute to the European Commission’s (2013) vision of marketing the region as the world’s centre of excellence in education. In order to develop adequate insights to contribute to this vision (or need), such a project should be implemented across different European countries: incorporating as many international education host countries as possible would be instrumental with regard to both promoting the European international education distinctively in the global education markets and enriching its quality assurance processes.

An added benefit of such a SCS-centred research approach is its general applicability to practically any education market, industry and operational perspective. However, the relational issues of analysis (how people behave and interact with others) should correspond to the specific situation of the targeted market and industry (Gummesson, 2002). For example, the relational issues between different stakeholders of the European international education industry and its Southeast Asian target market may or may not be similar to those of stakeholders in the European international education industry and its Latin American target market. Correspondingly, such relational issues will vary across different industries, depending on the dominant sector-specific forces. Therefore, the generalizability of the scope of such an SCS-centred research approach will be greater if the stakeholder-centred relational issues (e.g. the behavioural pattern and/or the relevant competitive forces) are similar.