Cphbusiness’ research projects

In 2013, the business academies incurred an obligation to carry out research. What a fantastic opportunity!

Not that we are going to invade the universities’ turf. No, we will instead be responsible for practice-related and application-oriented research and development activities. The business academies will help ensure that new knowledge is provided and brought into use in both private businesses and public sector organisations. The business academies will therefore be collecting, processing, communicating and producing relevant application-oriented knowledge.

Applied knowledge has become a core task for business academies. The academies will be bridge-builders between universities, research funds, and companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The research activities will ensure that all study programmes are knowledge-based, allowing all students to obtain an education based on the latest knowledge within their field of study. And also, the research activities will contribute to ensuring that the new knowledge will benefit business communities.

At Cphbusiness, we have, of course, taken up the challenge with great ardour and interest. Research-based study programmes and courses are extremely relevant to our students. Several research projects have been launched on an ongoing basis, including:

• "Money talks"
• Management of young people
• Growth, innovation and business development for SMEs: Projects and project management as structurally basis and procedural facilitation.

The SME project is particularly relevant because:

• Danish SMEs generally make too small investments and have done so since the financial crisis,
• Much of the energy and driving force in the companies has been spent on surviving, while business and organisational development have been set back,
•  Project work is heavily gaining ground as a working method in all organisations. In principle, this method is particularly suited to making organisations more flexible, innovative and efficient.

What is already known about how SME’s work with operation and development?

• On the basis of the relatively few and limited surveys that have been conducted in Denmark and internationally, regarding SMEs’ practice related to project work, the practice appears to be somewhat unclear, uncertain and diverse. Today, projects are used for almost “everything”, and
• It is disconcerting that in Denmark the use of projects as a form of organisation - with regards to structure and process - is not further advanced.

A lot of money can be made - a managerial dilemma!

• On the basis of what we already know, there is a high probability that a good part of the resources and energy of SMEs are spent on more or less poor project work, and
• If we look at the starting point - that project work was used in order to develop and improve efficiency - SMEs have indeed ended up in a managerial dilemma - and this has led to a huge waste of resources.

The potential

• It is precisely here that a project like this can weigh in and show its qualitative relevance to Denmark, to the SMEs and the study programmes at the business academies in general, and
• There is a huge potential for the business academies in combining research and education. It will benefit teaching and mean that students’ legitimate expectations for exceptional instruction are met.

Jens Vestgaard
Lecturer at Cphbusiness