Dr Marisa Smith

Personal statement

Marisa has a Masters in Engineering from the University of Strathclyde in Manufacturing Engineering and Management.  She also has a PhD from the University of Strathclyde in Innovation Management in Service Operations.  Her doctoral research concentrated on contact centre operations, in particular how to influence innovation and change in contact centres.  She has carried out case studies with a number of different contact centres within the UK, to understand how their characteristics impact on their capacity to innovate.  Marisa has an interest in service innovation and her background as a manufacturing engineer in Rolls-Royce allows her to examine the differences between manufacturing and service environments.  She has published in international journals in the areas of innovation and the transference of manufacturing best practice into service companies.  Marisa also has direct knowledge transfer experience of implementing improvements into service based organisation.   

The main aims of my research so far have focused on understanding innovative behaviours in organisations and the factors which influence these behaviours.  My research interests are varied due to the wide range of factors which can influence innovative behaviours such as strategy, performance measurement, knowledge management, creativity but the focus always come back to how do these subjects influence an organisations ability to innovate.  

In general my research adopts a participative case study approach using a qualitative methodology usually through the use of interviews, observations or workshops to get to the heart of the issue under investigation.  

Drawing on her research and knowledge exchange work, Marisa is continually seeking to make her teaching relevant to the managers of the future. She also brings in fun aspects to her classes including the use of games and new technology to support the learning process.  Marisa also supervises a wide range of dissertation students including UG, PG, MBA and executive MBA.