Management research and management practice: is the relevance gap closing?

Over the past decade, there has been much academic debate in management research circles bemoaning the fact that the management practitioners are not using the management research being produced in universities. These debates in the UK have focused on the research rigour and relevant question and on the need for new forms of social organisation for the production of management knowledge encapsulating concerns about the structure of business schools, the nature of management education and the conduct of research. Yet, despite this debate and the clamour for increased relevance, the amount of funding that the UK business schools are attracting directly from business is continuing to decline. The purpose of this article is to stimulate further debate on these issues.