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Staff Profile

Professor Tom McGovern

Prof of Business History & Management

  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 1712
  • Address: Newcastle University Business School
    Room 4.16, 5 Barrack Road
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE1 4SE
Background

Introduction

Tom has an interest in the integration of history and organisational studies.  He is interested in taking a longitudinal, historical focus on strategy formation and implementation. He is particularly interested in industry emergence, organisational growth, decline and turnaround strategies. Tom is conducting research with Tom McLean on the growth and decline of companies in the North East of England from the mid-nineteenth century. This historical research is underpinned by a strong strategic and accounting focus. The two Toms are also investigating the development of Quaker-owned businesses in the North East.

Tom has been involved in several projects in the manufacturing, health and service sectors that have focused on transformational change and improving efficiency. This includes a KTP with Benfield Motors that was aimed at reducing costs and improving customer experience (with Chris Hicks, Tracy Scurry and Adrian Small). The KTP was rated as outstanding by Innovate UK and was classified as a best practice case study by the ESRC. Previous projects investigated transformational change in NHS North East (with Chris Hicks and Adrian Small). The North East Transformation System (NETS) was a region-wide strategy to transform the healthcare system in the North East. This was a joint project with the Wolfson Research Centre at Durham University that received funding of £500,000 from the National Institute for Health Research.

Tom is also working on a project with Chris Hicks that is evaluating the application of the 3P Lean design method in the NHS. The focus is on implementing participative design methods. The initiative was funded by the Health Foundation The research evaluated the development of a new design for the endoscopy ward and maternity unit at Gateshead Health Foundation Trust and the construction of an endoscopy unit at Sunderland Royal Hospital.

Tom and Chris were previously involved in the European Regions for Innovative Productivity (ERIP). This was a €3.3 million EU funded project to help small firms in the North Sea Region of Europe implement Lean processes.

Previous Roles and Responsibilities

Associate Director of the Leadership, Work and Organization Group.

Director of the Business, Accounting and Management History Research Group.

Director of the Management of Operations and Strategy Research Group

Chair of the LWO Undergraduate Exam Board.

Chair of the LWO Postgraduate Board of Studies

Member of the Work Allocation Model (WAM) group.

Member of the Research and Ethics Committee. 

Member of the PEC Committee.

Qualifications

BSc Economics (Loughborough University), MSc (London School of Economics), PhD (Warwick University)

Memberships

Academy of Management

Strategic Management Society

British Academy of Management

Association of Business Historians


Honours and Awards

KTP with Benfield Motors was awarded a grade A (Outstanding) by Innovate UK on 26 April 2016 and was made a best practice case by the ESRC on 20 October 2016.

Highly Commended Paper Award (2016) from Emerald Literi Network Awards for Excellence.

An Honourable Mention Award for Business History (2006) from the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada.

Informal Interests

Weight training, Kettlebell training.

Google Scholar: Click here.

Research

Research Interests

I am a member of the following research groups: Strategy, International Business and Society (SIBS); Management & Organisation (M&O); and Applied Microeconomics. My research interests are in (i) industry emergence, organisational growth, decline and failure, and turnaround strategies (ii) the role of change agents, transformational change and the implementation of Lean in manufacturing and service sectors (including the health service).

I have an interest in the integration of history with organisation studies, particularly as it applies to industry/organisational emergence and decline.


Research Roles

I was previously:

Director of the Business, Accounting and Management History Research Group.

Director of the Management of Operations, Strategy and Technology Research Group.

Principal Investigator and chair of the Academic Research Group for the ERIP project.


Postgraduate Supervision

Fahad Alanazi (Full-time PhD graduates in December 2023).

Chudi Ojeme (Full-time PhD graduated in July 2023).

Fatma Al Zadjali (Full-time PhD graduated in January 2021).

Iain Smith (Part-time PhD graduated in December 2018)

Fokion Oikonomidis (Part-time PhD graduated in December 2018).

Andy Hill (Part-time PhD graduated in July 2017).

Sarah McCafferty (Part-time PhD graduated in July 2014).

Jie Ma (Full-time PhD graduated in July 2014).

Nan Supajit Panichsakpatana (Full-time PhD graduated in July 2013).

Wen Xie (Full-time PhD graduated in December 2011).

Teerawut Tunnukij (Full-time PhD graduated in December 2008).

Lu Hsin-Che (Full-time MPhil graduated in June 2008).

Rispiand Rispiand (Full-time MPhil graduated in June 2008).


Current PhD Students

Manli Zhang (Full-time PhD from January 2023).

Ellie Chadha (Full-time PhD from January 2022).

Lok-Sang (Orlando) Kuan (Full-time PhD from September 2021).

Qasim Zureigat (Full-time PhD from January 2019).

Sameh Danina (Full-time PhD from 2017).


Esteem Indicators

KTP with Benfield Motors was awarded a grade A (Outstanding) by Innovate UK on 26 April 2016 and was made a best practice case study by the ERSC on 20 October 2016.

Emerald Literati Network Award for Excellence (25 May 2016), Highly Commended paper in Journal of Health Organization and Management.

Chair of the Academic Research Group for the ERIP project.

Member of the Strategic Steering Committee for the ERIP project.

Honourable Mention Award for Business History (2006) from the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada.

External Examiner Leeds University Business School (2016 - ).

External Examiner Manchester Metropolitan University (2009 - 2013).


Referee:

Business History; Critical Perspectives on International Business; International Journal of Production Economics; Human Relations; British Accounting Review; International Journal of Information Technology and Management; Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations E-Commerce Research and Applications; Management & Organizational History; Architectural Engineering and Design Management.


Funding

1. KTP Benfield Motors (£126,000) to instigate change and to improve effectiveness of operations.

2. The evaluation of service improvement through the design of space using the Lean 3P method (£40,950 grant from the Health Foundation)

3. European Regions for Innovative Productivity (ERIP) 3.3 million Euros (£2.6 million) from the Interreg IVB North Sea Region Programme. In conjunction with One NorthEast and academic, regional development agencies, and industrial partners in Belgium, Holland, Germany, Norway and Sweden.

4. An Evaluation of the North East Transformation System: A Scoping Study (£120,000 grant from the North East Strategic Health Authority). A collaborative project between Newcastle University Business School, the Institute for Health and Society, and the Wolfson Research Institute at Durham University.

5.An Evaluation of the North East Transformation System (£500,000 grant from the NHS SDO). A collaborative project between Newcastle University Business School, the Institute for Health and Society, and the Wolfson Research Institute at Durham University.

6. Previous grants totalling £191,863 from the Teaching Company Directorate, Arts and Humanities Research Fund, and from industrial companies.

Industrial Relevance

My research supports the Business School's internationalisation strategy and its objective of contributing to the economic prosperity of the North East. The project with Benfield Motors contributed to implementing change and process improvement in a major regional company. Research conducted in the NHS in the region focused on transformational change and service improvement. A second project with the NHS adopted a participative design to develop patient centred facilities. The ERIP project established Innovative Productivity Centres (comprising company exemplars, regional development agencies and universities) in North East England, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Norway and Sweden. The research provided an opportunity for SMEs to learn best practice from exemplar companies, encouraged learning across sectors, and developed learning on an international basis.

Teaching

Postgraduate Teaching

NBS8126 Strategic Management for the MBA programme. 
NBS8078 Strategy for Managers for the MSc International Business Strategy programme.

Publications