Research Interests

Dr Paul Knott is a Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management. As well as teaching into the B.Com, M.Com and MBA programmes, he undertakes research and publication in strategic management, strategy-as-practice, and innovation management. The central theme of his research is the relationship between strategy tools, techniques and ideas and practitioner cognition and action. Current focus areas around this central theme include:

Strategy tools, cognition and action – how strategy practitioners take in and interpret information and methods, and how this affects their decisions and actions. For example, the 2015 paper ‘Does VRIO help managers evaluate a firm’s resources?’ (Management Decision 53:8, 1806-1822).

Strategy development processes – a practice perspective on how these operate in different contexts, including formal strategic planning in large multi-business firms (with Chatchai Thnarudee), and networks of firms in the distinctive informal sector in Ghana (with William Darbi).

Development of new high-technology ventures – including use of innovation tools and techniques, team learning, and outcomes (with Anton de Waal). For example, the 2013 paper ‘Innovation tool adoption and adaptation in small technology-based firms’ (International Journal of Innovation Management 17:3).

Although now a strategic management specialist, earlier he qualified as an engineer and gained experience in the UK aerospace industry.