Dr Mehdi Boussebaa
BSc, MEB, MA, PhD
Job Title:
Senior Lecturer in Organisational Studies
Subject Group:
Key Research Interests:
Globalisation (especially in the professional services and management education sectors); control and coordination in multinationals; comparative organisation studies; English as the lingua franca of international business
Research Interests
Mehdi Boussebaa is a Senior Lecturer in Organisation Studies at the University of Bath. Prior to joining Bath in 2009, he was a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Centre for Professional Service Firms within Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, where he now retains a role as an International Research Fellow. He grew up in France and Algeria, completed his undergraduate studies at Cass Business School, City University London, and holds a PhD (ESRC-funded) from the University of Warwick. His primary research investigates the organisational, institutional and power implications of globalisation. He has examined these mostly in the context of management consultancies (focusing in particular on international assignments, global teams and cross-national knowledge flows). He recently extended his research to the offshore service outsourcing industry and is currently working on new projects in the management education sector. His research has been published in edited books and top Organisation Studies journals. In 2012, he received the Dean's Award for Research Excellence at Bath. He sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Professions and Organization (OUP) and is a member of the American Academy of Management and the European Group for Organizational Studies. Before joining academia, Mehdi spent 2½ years working for an American telecoms research and consulting firm in London. He was also a summer analyst on a joint LSE-McKinsey project researching management practices in France, Germany, the UK and the USA.
PhD Supervision
Mehdi Boussebaa welcomes enquiries from prospective PhD students interested in researching globalisation, especially in the professional services sector (e.g. consulting, engineering, law) and the management education field. Also welcome are enquiries from students wishing to undertake cross-national comparative studies of management and organisation.
Publications
Jump to:
Refereed journals papers | Book Sections | Other publicationsRefereed journal papers
Boussebaa M, Sturdy A & Morgan G (forthcoming) Between the global and the local? Knowledge sharing, social embeddedness and geopolitical power in professional service multinationals. International Journal of Human Resource Management
Boussebaa M, Morgan G & Sturdy A (2012) Constructing global firms? National, transnational and neocolonial effects in international management consultancies. Organization Studies, 33(4):465-486. DOI:10.1177/0170840612443454
Taminiau Y, Boussebaa M & Berghman L (2012) Convergence or divergence? A comparative analysis of informal consultant-client relationship development practices in Britain, France and Germany. The Service Industries Journal. 32(10):1707-1720. DOI:10.1080/02642069.2012.665902
Greenwood R, Morris T, Fairclough S & Boussebaa M (2010) The Organizational Design of Transnational Professional Service Firms. Organizational Dynamics, 39(2):173-183. DOI:10.1016/j.prgdyn.2010.01.003
Boussebaa M (2009) Struggling to Organise Across National Borders: The Case of Global Resource Management in Professional Service Firms, Human Relations. 62(6):829-850. DOI:10.1177/0018726709104544
Boussebaa M & Morgan G (2008) Managing Talent Across National Borders: The Challenges Faced by an International Retail Group, Critical Perspectives on International Business. 4(1):25-41. DOI:10.1108/17422040810849749
Book Sections
Boussebaa M & Morgan G (Forthcoming) Transnational professional service businesses: emergence, drivers, structures and outcomes. In Empson L, Muzio D, Broschak J & Hinings B (Eds) Oxford Handbook of Professional Service Firms Oxford: Oxford University Press
Boussebaa, M. (2012). La construction de la multinationale "apatride": le cas des entreprises mondiales de services professionnels. In A. Mendez, R. Tchobanian & Vion, A. (Eds), Mondialisation, travail et compétences: les dynamiques sociétales en question. Armand Colin
Boussebaa, M. (2011). The Global Organizational Design of the ‘Big Four’ [opening case]. In Peng, M. W. & Meyer, K. E., International Business. Cengage.
Boussebaa, M. & Morgan, G. (2010). Amplifier Consulting – Managing a ‘Global’ Project [end of chapter case study]. In Daft, R., Willmott, H. and Murphy, J., Organisational Theory & Design. Thomson, Cenge Learning. Click here for article 
Spicer, A. & Boussebaa, M. (2009). ‘Managing Conflict: The Curious Case of Neuro-Linguistic Programming.’ In P. Hancock & M. Tyler (Eds), The Management of Everyday Life. Palgrave.
Other publications
Boussebaa M (2012) Power, conflict and control in global professional service Firms. Novak Druce Centre Insights No 10 Oxford: Said Business School, University of Oxford.
Boussebaa M (2012) The globalization of professional service firms (and its limits). The Bath Perspective. Edition 18. School of Management, University of Bath
Greenwood, R., Morris, T., Fairclough, S. & Boussebaa, M. (2011). The rise of the multiplex professional service firm. Novak Druce Centre Insights, No. 1. Oxford: Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
Boussebaa, M. (2008). When the Party's Over: The Dark Side of Consulting. Review of Les nettoyeurs by V. Petitet. Organization, 15(3): 467-77.
Boussebaa, M. (2008) Are Consultants Simply Bluffing? Review of Sociologie du conseil en management by M. Villette. Organization, 15(2): 298-300.
