| Oct 2007 | View back issues |
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| October 2007 | ||
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Click on any of the headlines to go to the story:
Award for sustained contribution to operation research 
Professor Colin Eden, Director of SBS’ International Division, has been awarded the Beale Medal by the Operational Research Society (ORS). The OR Society’s Beale Medal is awarded in memory of the late Martin Beale to give formal recognition to a sustained contribution over many years to the theory, practice, or philosophy of OR in the UK, or to some combination of those areas.The award is made to the individual who, in the opinion of the Awards Committee, has made the most outstanding sustained contribution to Operational Research. The Committee may also decline to make an award if it considers that none of the entries is of sufficient merit. Prof Eden The award will be made at the annual Blackett Lecture to be given this year by Sir Roy Anderson, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London on ‘Plagues and People – Planning for Pandemics’ at the Royal Society, London, on November 20. Back to top Book news 
Professor Sharon Bolton of the Department of Management recently launched the second of two new books published this year.Following the successful launch of ‘Searching for the Human in Human Resource Management’ in April this year, a second book – ‘Dimensions of Dignity at Work’ – was launched in August. The multi–contributor collection covers every aspect of the dignity at work debate and is at the forefront of a growing interest in this area as the first book of its kind to be published in the UK. Prof Bolton The sixth edition of ‘The Marketing Book’, by Professor Susan Hart of the Department of Marketing and Michael Baker, Emeritus Professor of Marketing at Strathclyde, has been published. Taking into account the emergence of new subjects and new authorities, they have renewed and added to the contents and contributor lists to make a comprehensive overview of all key themes for the modern marketer. Back to top Stockline disaster report 
Professor Phil Taylor (HRM), Professor Christine Cooper and Dr Andrea Coulson (both Department of Accounting and Finance) are among the authors of ‘The ICL Stockline Disaster: an Independent Report on Working Conditions Prior to the Explosion’. The report was produced by a multi–disciplinary research team with specialist knowledge in workplace health, risk, corporate crime, employment relations, architecture and accounting and also involved Dr Stirling Howieson of the Department of Architecture. The report did not attempt to duplicate the official investigation but examined the wider occupational health, safety and employment practices. It concluded that health and safety standards at the ICL factory in Maryhill, where 9 employees died and more than 40 were injured in an explosion in May 2004, were seriously deficient. The findings supported the need for a public inquiry that the families of the victims and ex–workers were calling for. The report received extensive media coverage and has been widely referred to in debates in the Scottish Parliament. It can be accessed fromhttp://www.hazards.org/icldisaster/index.htm. Back to top Accounting and Reporting on Climate: carbon and beyond 
Dr Andrea Coulson of Accounting and Finance has been awarded £15,000 by LloydsTSB Group to examine their approach to reporting on climate risk. Adapting to climate change requires the effective mobilisation of capital to underpin the public policy framework and banks are beginning to rise to this challenge.Despite growing demand for climate related disclosure, research based on the early stages of accounting for and reporting on climate suggest that a lack of symmetry between information provided by companies and demanded by investors is a problem for both parties. Dr Coulson Taking the bank as a case study for the financial sector, the aim of the proposed research is to critique the bank’s approach to accounting and reporting on climate related risks and opportunities in light of demand for climate disclosure and review institutional investor’s opinions on what is currently disclosed and what may be missing. The research programme will involve a programme of interviews and documentary review within the bank and key institutional investors. To date no such academic research has been funded by a bank. This provides a unique, high profile, engagement opportunity to examine Lloyds TSB’s position on climate and, in turn, examine investors’ current and future information demands more closely. Back to top Innovation grant 
Professor Chris Warhurst of the Department of Human Resource Management has been awarded a CRF European Travel Fellowship from the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE). His award will take him to the University of Duisberg and Essen in Germany, where he will carry out comparative research into low–waged work.The collaborative research, between Professor Warhurst and Achim Vanselow of the Institut Arbeit und Technic, will involve studies of low–wage work in Germany and the UK but, as part of a wider project on the issue, is also intended to inform policy in this area across the EU, in the UK and in the US. Prof Warhurst RSE provides scholarships, fellowships and prizes to universities in Scotland and around the world, and the awards are designed to ‘recognise and promote’ excellence by supporting outstanding scientists and innovators. Back to top Award winning paper on entrepreneurship A paper written by Dr Eleanor Shaw (Marketing), Professor Sara Carter (Hunter Centre) and Wing Lam (University of Central Lancashire) won the British Academy of Management’s Entrepreneurship Best Paper award. BAM ran from September 11–13 at Warwick Business School and Eleanor presented the paper on behalf of her co–authors. This is the third time they have won a best paper award for this particular piece of research – each time a different set of research findings have been presented. The paper looked at the role of gender in bank lending decisions to male and female entrepreneurs, and focused on the criteria and processes used by male and female loan officers. Back to top CPPR event 
Finance secretary, John Swinney MSP, was among the speakers at the conference organised by the Centre for Public Policy for Regions (CPPR) on September 25: ‘Fiscal issues in Scotland: Lessons from Home and Abroad’ held at the Court Senate Suite. Professors from Strathclyde, Edinburgh and Glasgow universities were joined by independent economist experts and a European Commission economist to look at the future of public finance in Scotland.Professor Julia Darby of Strathclyde and CPPR spoke on the implications for Scotland and the UK Treasury of macro-economic stability and fiscal decentralisation. Issues on fiscal decentralisation in Scotland were explored further by Professor Brian Ashcroft of Strathclyde and CPPR, while two other Strathclyde and CPPR professors, Peter McGregor and Kim Swales, examined the economic consequences of tax changes for the Scottish Economy. Back to top Research ‘Down Under’ Professor Tom Baum of the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management has recently returned from a week at Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia, where he spent time working with colleagues on book and journal special issue projects during September. He also participated in a joint VU–Monash University seminar on collaborative research while ‘down under’.  Professor Betty Weiler (Monash University), Professor Leo Jago (Victoria University), Professor Brian King (Victoria University), Professor Tom Baum (Strathclyde) Back to top Criminal Justice colloquium Professor Christine Cooper, Department of Accounting and Finance, and Professor Phil Taylor, Department of Human Resource Management, attended the Scottish Consortium on Crime and Criminal Justice colloquium on the implications for penal policy of the privatisation of prisons on September 21. Christine and Phil have carried out research into private prisons and Christine was asked to make a speech at the consortium, convened by Baroness Vivien Stern. Other invitees included Rob Allen (director of the International Centre for Prison Studies), Niall Campbell (Chairman of SACRO) and Baroness Veronica Linklater (House of Lords), with a total of 28 people attending from various agencies. Back to top Keynote speaker at India conference Professor Phil Taylor of Human Resource Management was a keynote speaker and session facilitator at a major Indian conference on business process outsourcing, the ITES–BPO Strategy Summit, organised by Nasscom (National Association of Software and Service Companies) and held in Bangalore in August. The session topic was ‘Multi–lingual Contact Centers: Next Wave of Growth’. In drawing on research conducted over the last decade, and presenting an overview of the global market in multi–lingual call centres, Professor Taylor considered Scotland’s role in the provision of these activities. The session was sponsored by Scottish Development International and included presentations from prominent multinational and Indian business service providers. The high profile nature of Phil’s contribution led to extensive media coverage and a series of interviews with local and international press, including a podcast broadcast on the Kamla Bhatt show. Back to top David F Sobey Chair in Business appointment 
Professor Colin Mason of the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship has been appointed to the David F Sobey Chair in Business, a visiting position at the Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada. Sobeys Inc – which was started in Nova Scotia by David Sobey’s father Frank – is one of the major grocery supermarket chains in Canada.The Sobey School of Business is the largest and most respected business school in Atlantic Canada and is the only comprehensive business school in the region, offering PhD, MBA and EMBA programmes, in addition to a large undergraduate programme. In all, some 3000 full and part time students attend the school. Prof Mason This appointment is the culmination of 25 years of involvement with Canada by Colin. It started with his first sabbatical which he took at University of Ottawa, developed into an undergraduate course on Urban and Regional Development in Canada that he taught in the Department of Geography at University of Southampton, and expanded further with an ongoing longitudinal study of Ottawa’s technology cluster funded by the Canadian High Commission, British Academy and a Distinguished Visiting Professorship in the School of Management, University of Ottawa. He will spend approximately two months each year at Saint Mary’s University, spread over two or three visits. He plans to work on three research projects: learning by business angels; new business development by existing entrepreneurs; and policy responses in venture capital deficient regions – the case of Atlantic Canada. Back to top HRM student wins postgraduate prize 
PhD student Pauline Anderson of the Scottish Centre for Employment Research (SCER) in the Human Resource Management department has been awarded the prize for best postgraduate paper at the recent Work, Employment and Society Conference hosted by Aberdeen University. Competition for the postgraduate prize was stiff, with the awarding judges commenting that all of the short–listed papers were of publishable standard. The paper was entitled, ‘Stuck in the Middle: Problems with Recruitment, Skill and Training in Intermediate Occupations in the Hourglass Economy’, and examines UK and Scottish labour market data. She argues that although there is an expansion of jobs at the top and the bottom of the occupational hierarchy, intermediate jobs such as those of skilled trades are notMs Anderson disappearing. However training for them is in a state of flux, being stretched upwards and downwards. Back to top New members of staff in HRM department Professor Paul Stewart has joined the department of Human Resource Management from Stirling University where he held a Chair in the Department of Management and Organisation. His research focuses on the changing nature of the social relations of work and employment in a range of industries, including the automotive and aerospace sectors, the NHS, local government, and banking and finance. He has carried out his research in the UK and across Europe as well as Brazil, Canada and Japan. Paul has a long standing interest in comparative employment relations and is currently looking at new forms of unionism in Japan. He was editor of the leading journal Work, Employment and Society from 2002–2004 and has led large research teams funded by the ESRC and the EU. HE is also a lead player in the highly regarded GERPISA network that links over 300 academics from across the world to undertake comparative research on the automotive sector. As someone with a considerable track record of theory–led applied research, Paul adds considerable expertise and experience in some areas of the department’s existing strengths, whilst bringing an additional focus on the manufacturing sector and comparative employment relations. Another new member is Dr Jenny Rodriguez who has joined the department as a teaching fellow, initially for two years. She received her doctorate from the University of Manchester in 2007, which focused on organisational culture and construction of gender in the public sector of the Dominican Republic. She has 10 years of experience working in human resources in the public sector in the Dominican Republic and her first academic position was research assistant at the University of Santiago de Chile, which was followed by a lectureship in HRM. At Strathclyde Jenny will be contributing mainly to courses concerning human resource development, as well as bringing a welcome comparative perspective to modules on international HRM. Back to top Graduation ball Tickets are still available for the annual Strathclyde Business School Graduate Ball, to be held this year in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Argyle Street, Glasgow on November 2 at 7 for 7.30pm. The invitation to the ball is extended to all current and graduating course members, SBS alumni members throughout the world and family and friends. The price per ticket is £45 and includes a five–course dinner, welcome drink and band, playing ceilidh and disco music. To book a ticket, email wendy@gsb.strath.ac.uk as soon as possible. Back to top National Student Satisfaction Survey Strathclyde participated for the first time in the National Student Satisfaction Survey last academic year. The results were published in THES in September and the University came out joint 44th out of 109 institutions. The THES also published ‘most satisfied’ and ‘least satisfied’ outcomes by subject, and SBS came out as having the most satisfied students in the Management Studies category. Back to top Strathclyde graduate restanding as a director of AMBA 
Steve Hooker, MBA graduate, is re–standing for his second and last term as a director on the Association of MBAs (AMBA) board. Steve, along with fellow Strathclyde MBA graduate Matt Watts, has served a three year term on the board which has seven elected members. The Association represents MBA graduates from 139 business schools, providing support and services to prospective MBA students, MBA students and graduates, business schools and employers.Steve is currently a purchasing manager for Burton’s Foods, and previously worked for B&Q ⁄ Kingfisher and Mars Inc. His objective is to make AMBA a world class organisation that members, globally, want to join. Back to top Business school staff needed to attend Liaise 2007 Liaise, a networking event conceived and organised by students within the University of Strathclyde with the support of Strathclyde Business School and the Communications Office, is looking for staff to attend and support the event. This year, the event will take place on the evening of Tuesday, October 30, at the Glasgow Hilton Hotel. The event aims to bring together students, companies, academics and alumni to network in the context of an enjoyable evening with a view to introducing companies to Strathclyde’s ‘brightest and best’ graduating students, and give the students the opportunity to understand more about corporate life and career opportunities in an informal environment. With the event continuing to attract top companies, support is needed from the business school. Staff tickets cost £30 and include a wine reception, four–course dinner and a high–profile keynote speaker. Further information is available at www.strath.ac.uk/liaise or if you wish to attend, contact the Liaise committee on ex 4021 or email liaise@strath.ac.uk Companies confirmed for the event include: Accenture, BDO Stoy Hayward, BP, Centrica, CIMA, Deloitte, Enterprise Rent–a–Car, First Scotrail, Graham Technology, JP Morgan, KPMG, Marks & Spencer, McKinsey & Company, Morgan Stanley, Procter & Gamble, Shell, Total E&P and Wolseley. Back to top International Risk Analysis workshop Professor Tim Bedford of Management Science was recently an invited speaker at the Statistics and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI) opening workshop on Risk Analysis, Extreme Events and Decision Theory. Tim spoke on the use of expert judgement and quantifying risk models. SAMSI is funded by the US National Science Foundation, and organises year–long programmes. One result of the workshop is the establishment of working groups in different areas, amongst others, Service Sector Risk and Adversarial Risks.  Professor Bedford with James Hammitt of Harvard University Back to top |
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