Marcel Clermont

Measuring balanced effectiveness and efficiency of German business schools’ research performance

The selection, aggregation and analysis of research performance data acquired by the Centre for Higher Education (CHE) as well as its assessment method identifying leading research business schools are controversially discussed in literature and praxis. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) provides an alternative method to aggregate research performance data. Thereby however, business schools can achieve high effectiveness or efficiency scores by taking into account only some and not all indicators considered as relevant, resulting in an incomplete picture of business schools’ research performance. In this paper we therefore measure and analyze a new key performance indicator, the balance score respective the specialization degree of a business school by using the new method Balanced-DEA. This indicator reflects to which extent the research performance of a business school is balanced or specialized relative to predefined virtual balanced reference points.

Returns to scale of Business Administration research in Germany

In order to efficiently allocate academic resources, an awareness of the properties of the underlying production function’s returns to scale is of crucial importance. For instance, the question arises as to what extent an expansion of a university department’s academic staff would be advisable in order to utilize increasing marginal gains of research production. On the other hand, it is disputable whether an optimal university department size exists. Empirical studies covering these questions render various answers. In this paper, we analyse which properties of returns to scale the Business Administration research of universities in Germany exhibits. On the basis of research data from 2001 until 2009 provided by the Centre for Higher Education, and using Data Envelopment Analysis, we demonstrate that typically sized business schools show nearly constant returns to scale. Furthermore, we observe tendencies of decreasing returns to scale for large-sized business schools. Diverse robustness and sensitivity analyses confirm the validity of our inferred empirical findings.

Effectiveness and efficiency of research in Germany over time: an analysis of German business schools between 2001 and 2009

This article analyses the development of effectiveness and efficiency of German business schools’ research production between 2001 and 2009. The results suggest that effectiveness for most of the examined business schools increases initially. Then, however, a declining trend in the further course of time can be observed. Similar tendencies can be stated considering efficiency, even though they are slightly less pronounced. An analysis of the reasons for these observations reveals that the initial positive developments of effectiveness and of efficiency are mainly due to technology advances, whereas the following decreases are basically a result of technology backwardness. In regard to different types of business schools, a strong relation between the reputation of a school and the research effectiveness of that school becomes apparent. With reference to geographical regions, Western and Southern German business schools feature higher effectiveness than their Northern or Eastern counterparts do. This statement, however, is not valid in terms of efficiency.

Praxisorientierte Gegenüberstellung wertorientierter Kennzahlenkonzepte

Die praktische Umsetzung eines wertorientierten Steuerungskonzepts stellt eine grose Herausforderung dar. Zwar mangelt es in der Literatur nicht an Beitragen zu diesem Thema. Allerdings fehlt bislang ein umfassender Uberblick, der uber die Erorterung von Starken und Schwachen einzelner Kennzahlen hinaus auch auf deren Zusammenspiel abstellt. Vor diesem Hintergrund verfolgt dieser Beitrag das Ziel, eine Orientierungshilfe bei der Auswahl eines Kennzahlensystems zu geben, verstanden als kompatibles Bundel einer absoluten und relativen Periodengrose sowie einer Mehrperiodengrose. Anhand praxisorientierter Bewertungskriterien werden drei reprasentative Kennzahlensysteme gegenubergestellt und so weit wie moglich kontextunabhangig beurteilt.

Performance evaluation of teaching in higher education: a gap model and its application

Our paper presents a new performance evaluation tool for teaching, which concentrates on the interaction between the teacher and his students. The elements which enable this interaction are disclosed based on concepts and research results from educational sciences. These elements are structured by means of the gap model developed by Parasuraman et al. (1985), which provides the basis for revealing existing gaps in the interaction between a teacher and his students. To measure these gaps, a mixed method approach - consisting of interview, observation, survey, and document analyses - is proposed. The resulting information is structured with the help of a gap matrix. In order to analyse the particular information, a gap profile can be derived, which offers concrete indications for a critical reflection on a course. The practical benefits of the approach are demonstrated with the help of an exploratory analysis of teacher-specific and course-specific gap profiles.

Wissensvermittelnde Dienstleistungen an Hochschulen – Ansätze einer produktionstheoretischen Neukonzeption auf Basis des konstruktivistischen Lernparadigmas

Prozesse der Wissensvermittlung, wie z. B. Lehrveranstaltungen und Fortbildungen an Hochschulen, werden in der einschlagigen Literatur zumeist als Dienstleistungen eingestuft. Damit gewinnen Ansatze des Dienstleistungsmanagements fur die Planung, Steuerung und Evaluation entsprechender Vermittlungsprozesse an Bedeutung. Seit den 1970er-Jahren widmet sich das Hochschulmanagement als spezielle Dienstleistungslehre der „Verbesserung der Planungssysteme, die in den Hochschulen eingesetzt werden“ (Albach/Fandel/Schuler 1978, S. 14), und auch in anderen Bereichen der Managementforschung ruckt Wissensvermittlung zunehmend ins Zentrum des Interesses (Pastowski 2004, S. 171ff.; Leimeister 2012, S. 392ff.).

Nachhaltiges Entscheiden als multiperspektivisches Forschungsfeld – Überblick über die Forschung von Harald Dyckhoff und die Beiträge dieser Festschrift

Betriebliche Entscheidungen konnen nur dann nachhaltig getroffen werden, wenn sie langfristig zielgerichtet, multiperspektivisch durchdacht und theoretisch fundiert sind. Es zeichnet die Arbeiten von Harald Dyckhoff aus, dass er diese drei Aspekte stets im Blick hat. Dabei liegt ihm die theoretische Fundierung besonders am Herzen, was auch die Denomination seines Lehrstuhls an der RWTH Aachen als Unternehmenstheorie, insb. Nachhaltige Produktion und Industrielles Controlling zeigt; der Lehrstuhlname beinhaltet damit als einer von sehr wenigen in Deutschland den Begriff Unternehmenstheorie – und dies ganz bewusst an erster Stelle.