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Commoditising Learning: Cultural Economy and the Growth of for-Profit Business Education Service Firms in London

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  • Sarah Hall

    (School of Geography, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England)

  • Lindsay Appleyard

    (Centre for Household Assets and Savings Management, Institute for Applied Social Studies, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, England)

Abstract

Individuals working in graduate labour markets are increasingly expected to enhance their employability and career progression by undertaking lifelong education and learning within the workplace. Research has examined how graduates navigate this dynamic educational landscape, but the changing nature of educational providers has been comparatively neglected. In response, in this paper we examine the growth of for-profit business education service firms that have grown to meet the increased demand for lifelong learning and education by focusing on the financial business education sector in London. We develop cultural economy approaches to market making in order to understand how these educational service firms have developed by ‘stabilising’ new educational services and products that compete with, and seek to ‘destabilise’, more established forms of business education, particularly MBA degrees. In so doing, we position educational service firms as an important, yet hitherto neglected set of business services within economic geography. Moreover, by focusing on a relatively mature for-profit educational sector, the research presented in the paper has important implications for the development of educational landscapes beyond the case of financial business education as they become increasingly beholden to the activities of for-profit education service firms and wider discourses of markets in educational services.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah Hall & Lindsay Appleyard, 2011. "Commoditising Learning: Cultural Economy and the Growth of for-Profit Business Education Service Firms in London," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 43(1), pages 10-27, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:43:y:2011:i:1:p:10-27
    DOI: 10.1068/a42488
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. J V Beaverstock & P J Taylor & R G Smith, 1999. "The Long Arm of the Law: London's Law Firms in a Globalising World Economy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 31(10), pages 1857-1876, October.
    2. Brown, Phillip & Hesketh, Anthony, 2004. "The Mismanagement of Talent: Employability and Jobs in the Knowledge Economy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199269549.
    3. Brown, Phillip & Green, Andy & Lauder, Hugh, 2001. "High Skills: Globalization, Competitiveness, and Skill Formation," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199244201.
    4. Sarah Hall & Lindsey Appleyard, 2009. "'City of London, City of Learning'? Placing business education within the geographies of finance," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(5), pages 597-617, September.
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