Title: Transforming regional economic performance through business transformation

Authors: Les Worrall

Addresses: Management Research Centre, University of Wolverhampton Business School, Telford Campus, Telford, UK

Abstract: The UK economy has been characterised as trapped within the low wage-low skill equilibrium. Resource Based Theory (RBT) is a framework that can be used to develop public policy to encourage firms to break out of this cycle. This paper analyses firms in the West Midlands that have developed strategic, organisational development, management development and broader training initiatives radically to reinvent themselves. This analysis is used to develop a better understanding of the role of RBT as a medium for framing interventions to improve business performance and, ultimately, to improve the economic health of lagging regions.

Keywords: low-skill equilibrium; resource-based theory; RBT; organisational development; regional development; business support; economic performance; West Midlands; UK; United Kingdom; business transformation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMP.2007.012749

International Journal of Management Practice, 2007 Vol.2 No.4, pp.324 - 344

Published online: 13 Mar 2007 *

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