The Department of Operations Management (OM) is a large and diverse department conducting research and providing courses in the central processes and economy of production and service enterprises. The level of internationalisation was extended in 2004. The challenge for the future is to ensure the Department's presence in the right journals and at a number of central conferences. These considerations must form a greater part of the Department's strategic work. This field of education is linked in many ways to study programmes at all levels from first-year Economics and Business Administration to the PhD programme. The strategic challenge is to develop academic models of educational theory and practice for study programmes that are already working very well in many ways.

Highlights of 2004

Internationalisation

The Department's internationalisation efforts have focused on publication, participation in conferences and participation in various academic networks, including not least review work and membership of editorial committees. International publication is increasing, a trend that has been ongoing since the establishment of the Department. Participation in conferences is a means to establishing academic identity and visibility in an international perspective. OM's investments in conference participation is increasing steadily. Finally, a good number of researchers are participating in international review work in relation to both journals and conferences.

Partnership with the business community

It is OM's ambition to establish partnerships with the business community. This is reflected in external research funds of approximately DKK 9 mill. (which has been the case for the past four years) and a number of ATV PhD studentships. Another example of partnerships is the representation of Department staff on both national and international boards and committees.

The learning university

The Department's involvement to establish the learning university includes the development of academic efforts of educational theory and practice in initial-stage business economics, development of IT-based courses, e.g. for graduate students, and the development of new academic programmes, e.g. MSc. courses in innovation and various optional subjects. Furthermore, the HD programmes have been reviewed, including Process Management, reflecting the transformation and renewal of a previous study programme, and strategy work is being carried out to develop the SCM HD programme.

In general, OM conducts research into the processes and production conditions of enterprises, innovation, supply chains and working relations between enterprises and financial management in private and public enterprises. These research themes are interrelated, and most of the Department's research activities concern several of them. The Department's academic profile thus concerns the central processes of enterprises and the related management information. Examples are production, development, coordination, delegation as well as procurement and supply processes and financial management, quality assurance, production management and knowledge management tools. The Department has a heterogeneous theoretical profile typically based on various types of economic theory, organisation theory and sociological theory.

Research strategy

The Department's academic strategy is pursued within all its subjects, but the strategic ambitions are found in the coupling of subjects, often with particular emphasis on innovation, inter-organisational relations and performance management.

This strategy implies explicit incorporation of the management aspects of the central enterprise processes in the Department's research. The purpose of the research is to enhance the Department's position as a significant player in the field of operations management, supply chain management, financial management and business economics. This is achieved by creating relations between the four academic disciplines to ensure that the research projects are typically relevant to more than one discipline.

Research results

The figure below shows the development in the Department's research production.

The figure shows a steady increase in the number of international publications with characteristic variations every two years. The level of publication in Nordic-language journals is low, which probably reflects increased internationalisation. This is also seen from the growing number of proceedings, which involves increasing participation in international conferences. Obviously, the goal is to create an interrelationship between proceedings and international research publications with a certain time lag.

Research relations to practice

The number of Nordic-language – including Danish – publications is falling, which implies a shift in the Department's objectives. But there are also other relations to practice. The Department has many project relations to enterprises. The Center for Business Development and Management Technology is affiliated to the Department as a business research unit. Its activities are primarily financed by business enterprises and organisations. It appears from the figure below that the Department has a high, stable level of external funding, now amounting to approximately 125% of the basic funds. Of this, partnership funding accounts for the largest share.