Five Key Challenges for the Management of UK Defence: An Agenda for Research?

Abstract

This paper is conceptual in nature and reviews five of the key management challenges that are facing those charged with the management of the UK Defence. It is argued that similar challenges face many Western governments, albeit the solutions are likely to be country-specific. Given the paucity of academic research into the general area of defence management, there is considerable potential for focused application of ideas and concepts from a broad range of disciplines. This will help improve the UK's ability to maintain its peacetime military capability efficiently whilst retaining the capacity to conduct opera-tions effectively. Whilst the paper does not seek to recommend solutions for the issues identified, it does seek to expose the essential features as a means of broadening the reader's understanding of the nature of the challenge-and, hence, to help shape the re-search agenda.