THE DETERMINANTS OF RESEARCH GROUP PERFORMANCE: TOWARDS MODE 2?*

This paper explores the determinants of performance of research groups in the context of the emergence of knowledge as a key intangible asset. It focuses specifically on how best to configure knowledge producers for optimal effectiveness in the current research environment. It explores the under‐researched area of the organization and management of research groups located in and at the interface of university research and focuses on medical and medical‐related research groups. The discussion is embedded within the current debate concerning modes of organization in knowledge production. Factors identified with high‐achievement are: strong leadership; finding, motivating and retaining talent; strategies of related diversification; strongly linked theory and practice and, in particular, network connectedness. Such groups exhibit an increasingly complex internal environment, facilitating a flexible response to an increasingly complex external environment. It finds evidence of Mode 2 working, with increasing use of collaborative strategies and some evidence of a thematic emphasis emerging, although to a lesser extent than the literature suggests, since participants are still working from a strongly disciplinary base. Driven by the more competitive environment, both intellectual and commercial forms of entrepreneurship are present. At the hub of this complex web of inter‐related factors is network connectedness, which proves to be centrally facilitative in mobilizing the other necessary resources.