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Our study proposes a resource environment view (REV) of competitive advantage by unpacking the environmental origins of a firm’s competitive advantage. The key tenet of the REV is that the heterogeneity and imperfect mobility of strategic factor markets and institutions across countries explain how firms based in different countries would likely both create and sustain a competitive advantage. In particular, our study introduces the notion of “the paradox of environmental embeddedness.” The paradox lies in the fact that the same environmental conditions – in terms of strategic factor markets and institutions – that enable firms to create a competitive advantage can paradoxically also create a situation in which it is more difficult for these firms to sustain an advantage. Another important aspect of our study is that, to enhance our understanding of how firms manage the paradox of environmental embeddedness, our study specifies the resource environmental conditions under which firms’ internal and external resource-oriented strategies – that is, the development of dynamic capabilities and interventions in the country resource environment – are more beneficial when managing the environmental paradox. Overall, our theorizing has important implications for strategic management theory and practice.

This paper explores the roles of institutional research (IR) units in higher education, examining both internal and external responsibilities and demands. The purpose of this paper is to encourage a broader strategic discussion of the missions and capacities of such academic institutional entities.

The methodology employed begins with a review of relevant literature, followed by critical observations of an experienced reflective practitioner. Beginning with the premise that academic institutions are central, the paper discusses the external environment of institutions and the requirements placed on their internal IR operations. A core question is presented: research for whom? Both traditional and alternative organizational models are discussed in this light. The paper then explores ways in which data needs might be aligned in order to provide accountable, useful and transparent information to all stakeholders, internal and external.

Findings show that the linking of internal information needs with those of external actors is key to effective operations; that IR units should seek to be a bridge between their institution and its environment so that effective information can be provided to all who need it. The paper is not designed as a detailed operational roadmap, but rather to highlight issues for examination within the context of specific institutional and agency situations.

Its originality stems from the focus on such linkages and the call for organizational leaders to recognize the full value of IR both within and across organizational boundaries.

This paper aims to look at the characteristics of internal quality assurance (IQA) systems of higher education institutions to understand whether these systems tend to reproduce a given model, externally defined and suggested to institutions, or rather to be shaped by institutions’ features and interests.

The study is supported in the analysis of the content of self-assessment reports of 12 internal QA systems certified, in Portugal, between 2012 and 2015. An analysis grid was used based on three categories: IQA systems’ historical framework, structural/managerial component and monitoring, assessment and continuous improvement.

Institutions tended to follow a “one size fits all” approach, meaning that external (European and national) quality assurance (QA) references were used in an identical way, giving origin to rather similar IQA systems. Institutional characteristics do not seem to have played a relevant role, eventually due to institutions’ will to obtain their systems’ certification and, thus, achieve a light-touch external QA.

The study was based on the analysis of only certified IQA systems and relies on document analysis. It would be interesting to also include non-certified systems, in a comparative perspective, complemented with data deriving from interviews and/or questionnaires with some of the actors involved in the certification process.

The study provides an understanding of how IQA systems are being implemented in Portugal. Thus, it can be of interest to other institutions as well as to QA agencies.

The study addresses a topic still relatively absent from research on QA in higher education, being of interest for researchers in the field.

During recent decades, research institutions have increased collaboration with other institutions since it is recognized as a good practice that improves their performance. However, they do not usually consider external collaborations as a strategic issue despite their benefits. The purpose of this paper consists of identifying different patterns of collaboration and internationalization of universities, with the aim of helping managers and policy makers to take decisions related to their national research policies.

Co‐authorship analysis has been used in conjunction with social network analysis to model inter‐institutional collaborations as networks, extracting these collaborations from the Web of Science database. Using several structural properties of the extracted networks and applying a statistical treatment, the main profiles of collaborations and internationalization have been obtained.

Obtained results distinguish three patterns of collaborations according to the intensity and scope of collaborations. The statistical treatment also provides a segmentation of universities according to their collaboration profiles. Finally, universities are represented in bi‐dimensional maps using external collaborations as a measure of similarity.

Although this study is restricted to English universities, it could probably be extended at least to other countries in the European Union or even other developed countries.

Research and institutions productivity are usually linked to the amount of received funding. The use of indicators related to internationalization of institutions can help to avoid a bias in favour of research quantity rather than quality, and towards a short‐term performance rather than a long‐term research capacity.

As a difference to previous works, this paper analyses networks of collaboration from the viewpoint of institutions. More specifically, the combination of social network analysis and factor analysis is used to identify patterns of collaboration among institutions. A longitudinal study is also included to demonstrate that the obtained categorization of universities is maintained over time.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the development of Viet Nam’s approach to higher education quality assurance during the past dozen years since its establishment, focusing on the achievements and challenges.

This is a desktop analysis study. The paper analyses the policies and practices related to the development of Viet Nam’s higher education accreditation system by reviewing associated literature.

The research has found out that there are several achievements, including: the development of the accreditation framework; establishment of accrediting agencies; completion of almost universities’ self-assessment reports; implementation of external assessment exercise at some institutions, a few of which were awarded accreditation certificates. However, there remain a number of challenges related to the independence of the accrediting agencies, human resources, accreditation standards and criteria, institutions’ awareness about accreditation and the pace of accreditation implementation.

The primary limitation of this study is the research methodology which merely relies on document analysis. It would be more credible if the findings could be triangulated with data taken from other sources such as interviews with key stakeholders.

On the basis of the analysis of achievements and challenges at both macro and micro levels, discussion and recommendations are made for future policy-making and management in the field of higher education accreditation.

This chapter considers how higher education has enticed and interacted with corporations. This chapter explores how higher education behaves, in the aggregate, with a set of external partners, including businesses. It concludes with a discussion of how higher education should behave, given its external partners, in the modern context in which it finds itself. Discussion topics in this chapter include expectations of external partners; tactics to attract and retain business engagement and support; and internal organization by higher education to address corporate relations, ethics, and effective strategic planning. The Network of Academic Corporate Relations Officers' (NACRO) ideas and models are discussed. A set of guiding principles focused on Strategic Corporate Alliances by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is highlighted.

Policy instruments are specific policies – policy content, which is associated not just with policy texts, but also with how they are negotiated and practised (Dolowitz & Marsh, 2000; Fimyar, 2008). In the context of Bologna, policy instruments are Bologna action lines (such as the credit system, the study cycles, etc.).

This Chapter explains the development of the Bologna instruments in Ukraine until 2014 through the interaction of the policy continuity and change. In particular, I review how the development of the Bologna instruments in Ukraine was triggered and guided by the Bologna action lines, as well as by the old national higher education policies. I look at the cases of four Bologna instruments. They are the system of credits, the study cycles, the diploma supplement and quality assurance. All of these instruments have been developed through the reconfiguration of the pre-Bologna policies, which were chosen by the Ministry to represent these instruments. Namely, the national module system became the basis for the Bologna system of credits. The pre-Bologna education-qualification and scientific cycles made a foundation for the Bologna study cycles. The old national diploma supplement was a reason for the delay in dealing with the Bologna diploma supplement, given that a diploma supplement existed. The national diploma supplement was taken as the Bologna instrument even though their structure and content differed. Apart from this, the pre-Bologna higher education quality assurance policies started representing the Bologna quality assurance instruments at the outset of the reform in Ukraine.

The examination of these four cases of policy instruments shows that their development began with a mere change of labels for the old policies and proceeded with building up innovations to gradually alter the old national higher education policies.

The authors meta-analyze research on the diversification–performance relationship to empirically establish the impact of home-country formal institutional quality on this relationship. Prior research assumes that a country’s formal institutional quality negatively affects the diversification–performance relationship, especially when it involves unrelated diversification. However, empirical evidence for these propositions is inconclusive because existing studies consider blocks of countries with limited institutional heterogeneity. To provide more clarity, this study aims to consider the diversification–performance relationship across developed, emerging and developing countries.

The meta-analysis relies on a sample of 293 effect sizes of the diversification–performance relationship from 76 primary studies across 15 countries between 1988 and 2019. The sample excludes effects sizes from papers that consider both product and international diversification to control for complex interactions between the strategies, as well as papers that did not consider both related and unrelated diversification.

The results confirm that stronger home-country formal institutions weaken the diversification–performance relationship by decreasing the relative efficiency of internal markets versus external ones. Further, the effect is less negative for related diversification because this strategy can better exploit market frictions in countries with stronger formal institutions and more efficient external markets than its unrelated counterpart.

The study contributes to the literatures on the diversification–performance relationship and home-country governance by providing robust evidence for how formal institutional quality impacts the efficacy of related and unrelated diversification.

Traditionally the role of the external examiners in UK universities or more formally Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is that of quality assurance (QA). Typically, an experienced academic who is not affiliated with the HEI (i.e., someone from another university) is invited to act as an external examiner for a particular course or a module. The external examiner’s primary role is to provide impartial and independent advice to ensure academic standards are upheld for a degree program; and that the degree is comparable with similar programs across the country and that the achievements of students are also comparable with students on courses at other universities. This primary role makes external examiners highly valued people in UK universities, and as a result, their views are nearly always taken seriously. Over and above this recognized primary role of QA, external examiners can also be engaged by the host university in other ways. These additional roles or tasks of the external examiner can help enhance teaching and learning in higher education. This chapter will reflect on the range of roles, including the ones that go beyond QA.

External examining activity is a recognized indicator of subject expertise and peer esteem. It also evidences understanding of quality assurance, course, and assessment design. As such, it contributes to the enhancement of an academic CV and may impact on promotion and career prospects. Fair access to external examining opportunities is thus an equity issue for universities. In the context of race equality, where both staff and students of color in academia show consistently differential outcomes to their White counterparts, professional development can mitigate disadvantage, especially where it is focused on access to opportunity. Professional development for external examiners has been an underdeveloped area but the recent establishment in the UK of the Degree Standards Project has begun to address this. The authors propose that there is nevertheless a gap in provision to support academics who aspire to become external examiners but who have had no previous experience. This chapter describes an institutional initiative to promote access to initial external examining roles through professional development and reports on participant outcomes. Evaluation data suggest that an approach such as this can help with obtaining a first appointment and may help to mitigate some of the barriers of access to external examiner roles for staff of color. The authors argue that the sector urgently needs to diversify the ethnicity of the external examiner pool in order to provide an essential critical lens which could impact on the equity of degree outcomes for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic students.