European Business Review: Volume 20 Issue 6

Management theory and practice: bridging the gap through multidisciplinary lenses

Douglas Brownlie, Paul Hewer, Beverly Wagner, Göran Svensson

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue that critically examines topics informing long‐standing disputes concering the status of theory and practice in…

Producing and socializing relevant management knowledge: re‐turn to pragmatism

Jacqueline Fendt, Renata Kaminska‐Labbé, Wladimir M. Sachs

Management practice is progressing at unprecedented pace and often academia is lagging behind, if not totally irrelevant, both in management research and in education. This paper…

Exploring metaphor as an alternative marketing language

Ian Fillis, Ruth Rentschler

The main aim of this paper is to stimulate more relevant and critical ideas about marketing and the wider management field by exploring the actual and potential contribution of…

Theory and practice across disciplines: implications for the field of management

Ross Brennan

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate about the existence and nature of a “gap” between theory and practice in management.

Education for practice

Michael J. Baker

The purpose of this short opinion piece is to focus on the role of marketing, its theory and practice, and its relevance now and in the future.

A case of mistaken identity: theory, practice and the marketing textbook

Barry Ardley

One field in business where there is a purported gap between theory and practice is in marketing. This paper aims to examine one area of the debate, the degree of congruence…

What is postgraduate marketing education for? Observations from the UK

Edgar Centeno, Michael J. Harker, Essam B. Ibrahim, Lee‐Wei Wang

This paper seeks to highlight the significance of the recent debate on the “academic‐practitioner divide” for postgraduate marketing education in terms of informing objectives…

Purchasing theory and practice: an agenda for change

John Ramsay

The purpose of the article is to describe the consequences for the purchasing and supply management field of its current focus on the behaviours and concerns of extremely large…

Compromise is so … compromised: Goldilocks, go home

Morris B. Holbrook

This paper aims to discuss issues concerning the desirability of finding ways to close the gap between academic research and management practice – especially in the case of…

Note from the publisher

Vicky Williams

Outstanding Paper Award