| May 2008 | View back issues |
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| May 2008 | ||
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Relaunch of Economic Commentary The University of Strathclyde's Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI) today relaunched their Economic Commentary with the support of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC). The new partnership between PwC and University of Strathclyde's Business School provides the FAI with the support to continue and develop the Economic Commentary, which has been seen by many as the premier source of objective analysis of Scotland's economy. The University of Strathclyde Business School and PwC today also celebrated the launch of a new website (www.strath.ac.uk/frasercommentary) which will allow people to access the Economic Commentary, related reports, links to Scottish economic data, and to access archive copies. Susan Hart, Dean of the University of Strathclyde Business School said: "I am delighted that this partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers will enable the Fraser of Allander Institute to continue to publish the Economic Commentary, which has been an independent, authoritative and influential voice on the Scottish economy for more than 30 years." Frank Blin, head of UK regions for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said: "The Commentary has been integral in benchmarking Scotland's economic performance over the years. It has often pushed the boundaries in considering our approach to the economy and questioned the established way of thinking about issues. PwC felt it was vital that this piece of work was maintained and we are proud to sponsor the Economic Commentary going forward." The Economic Commentary was re-launched at Our Dynamic Earth on Tuesday 3rd June at an event attended by a cross section of business, politicians and public sector organisations. Back to top Strathclyde makes finals of AMBA MBA Student of the Year 2008  Congratulations to current MBA student Mamta Singhal, who has reached the final shortlist (4 candidates) for the prestigious
MBA student of the Year Award 2008, organised by the Association of MBAs (AMBA) and sponsored by The Independent.The event singles out high achievers from the MBA arena and every year AMBA-accredited business schools (currently, 148 schools in 68 countries) are invited to nominate one exemplary candidate to participate in the competition. Singhal, an alumnus of Strathclyde's Engineering faculty, was nominated not only for her academic and entrepreneurial talents, as an award winning product designer, but also for her contribution to the school – she has started a facebook group for all Strathclyde MBA staff, student, alumni and anyone else related to the degree. Strathclyde have been short-listed in previous years, with Stephen Koepplinger, winning the title in 2005. The announcement of the winner will take place on 6 November 2008, at the AMBA Annual Gala Dinner, London. Back to top AMBA presentation  Dr George Burt hosted a presentation from AMBA on Friday 2nd May, given by Carl Tams, about membership and membership
benefits of AMBA for MBA students and alumni. As part of the presentation Tams discussed networking through AMBA, the
importance of personal 'brand', state of the job market for MBA students and graduates including current job opportunities
open to members of AMBA, as well as forthcoming AMBA events that will be held throughout the UK that offer networking
opportunities for MBA students and alumni. The presentation was a success with students and it is an important part of the
ongoing relationship between Strathclyde and AMBA. The Scottish
Dr Burt
chapter of AMBA is currently organised by two Strathclyde
MBA graduates and they are active in organising events in Scotland. Watch this space!
Back to top Special conference 
Professor Roger Sandilands (Economics) was one of those invited to a special conference at the Fuqua School of Business at
Duke University, April 25-27, on 'Robert Solow and the Development of Growth Economics'.Nobel Laureate Robert Solow of MIT, now 83, himself participated fully in all of the 18 plenary sessions, and gave a dazzling public lecture in Duke University's Rare Manuscript Library on 'Does growth economics have a future? Does growth has a future? Are these questions related?'. Other conference speakers included well-known economists such as William Baumol (NYU), Stephen Durlauf (Wisconsin and editor of the New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics), John Toye (Oxford), and Nicholas Crafts (Warwick). Professor Sandilands' paper was entitled 'Solow and New Growth Theory Robert Solow from the Perspective of Allyn Young on Macroeconomic Increasing Returns'. Back to top ICAEW briefing Professors Andrew Marshall (Accounting and Finance) and Pauline Weetman, University of Glasgow, have published an ICAEW Centre for Business Performance Briefing entitled 'Managing Interest Rate Risk and Foreign Exchange Risk: Disclosure of Objectives, Policies and Processes'. The project investigates the ways in which companies report their objectives, policies and processes for managing interest rate risk and foreign exchange risk. Both Andy and Pauline acknowledge and thank Donald Campbell for the analysis of the questionnaire responses and for collecting the annual reports for the respondent companies. Back to top University of Strathclyde holds discussions with Morgan Stanley The University has been in discussions with Morgan Stanley to see if we can build a relationship in terms of projects, dissertations and possible employment opportunities that would be of benefit to both organizations. A meeting with Morgan Stanley took place on Wednesday 16th April with Patrick McColgan, Colin Grant, Brian Furman, Barbara Graham, Susan Hart and Valerie Belton. Back to top Accounting and Finance paper Ian Thomson presented a paper (co-authored with Shona Russell) 'Measuring Progress towards a Sustainable Scotland: Evaluating the role of Sustainable Development Indicators' at Newcastle Business School on 4th March 2008. Back to top Plenary speaker: Dublin Institute for Technology Ian Thomson was invited to be a plenary speaker at the conference 'A Demand-oriented Perspective on Sustainability' organised by the Dublin Institute for Technology, Dublin, held on 4th April 2008. Back to top BAM Special Interest Group presentation Ian Thomson was invited to present at the British Academy of Management Special Interest Group seminar on Teaching Corporate Social Responsibility, in London, on 23rd May 2008. Back to top Plenary speaker: Portugese Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research Ian Thomson will be a plenary speaker at the Portuguese Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research Annual Conference, taking place on the 16th-17th October 2008. Back to top Accounting & Finance papers 
Ian Thomson's paper with Shona Russell and Colin Dey (University of Dundee), 'Theorising Externalising Social Accounting', has
been accepted for presentation at the International Workshop on Social Audit, Social Accounting and Accountability, Charles
University of Prague, Czech Republic, 15th-16th May 2008.Ian Thomson's paper with Shona Russell 'Analysing the Role of Sustainable Development Indicators in Accounting for Constructing a Sustainable Scotland' has been accepted for publication in Accounting Forum. Patrick McColgan's paper, co-authored with David Hillier from University of Ian Thomson Leeds, 'Firm performance and managerial succession in family managed firms', has been accepted for the Journal of Business Finance and Accounting (JBFA) Capital Markets conference. The conference takes place at Lancaster in May this year, and papers accepted for the conference are typically published in the journal at the beginning of the following year. Patrick McColgan's paper entitled 'Asset sales and firm strategy: An analysis of divestitures by UK companies' has been accepted for the European Journal of Finance. The paper is co-authored by David Hillier and Samwel Werema. Back to top PWC presentation Two former students, Sharon Shaw and Gillian Cattell, now working with PricewaterhouseCoopers (risk and assurance) presented to third year treasury management students as part of the collaboration between PWC and this class. Back to top Accounting and Finance article in top ten cited articles Congratulations to Christine Cooper whose publication, 'The Non and Nom of Accounting for (M)other Nature', is listed as number 8 in the top ten cited articles from the Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ), as found by Publish or Perish. Back to top Expert Testimony 
In April of last year, an all-party committee of the Mexican Senate began a series of hearings (public enquiry) on the
subject of deregulation and privatization of their financial system seeking to understand why it had not had the beneficial
income and employment effects predicted by the World Bank and other advisors to the government.The Senator directing the enquiry invited Penny Ciancanelli of Accounting & Finance to join the group of academics, both domestic and foreign, to present expert testimony to the committee. Penny's submission places the Dr Ciancanelli current situation facing Mexico in an international context, comparing the conduct of the key suppliers of credit (in Mexico this is commercial and development banks) in selected developed and developing countries. Penny's appearance was scheduled for 30 April 2008 but due to unforeseen developments has been rescheduled for a yet to be determined date in September. Back to top Guardian rankings Strathclyde Business School has done well in the Guardian newspaper rankings, with business and management studies ranking 1st in Scotland, and 6th in UK. Read more at the Business School website or on the Department of Management news pages. Equally good news can be found in the Independent newspaper's Good University Guide, where our Accounting and Finance Department has had fantastic success by achieving 1st in UK for this subject area. Read more on this story. Back to top EPRC research presented at EU Slovenian Presidency Conference 
EPRC research on Structural Funds was presented as part of an EU Slovenian Presidency 'Conference on the Future of Cohesion
Policy' held in Maribor on 7-8 April 2008. The paper by Professor John Bachtler, one of four invited expert contributions, discussed the evidence for the variable performance of Cohesion policy over the past 15 years and highlighted the role of institutional capacity as an explanatory factor. The Conference - which involved over 170 invited participants representing all 27 Member States, the European Commission, European Parliament, European Court of Auditors and other international institutions - was arranged in the context of the current EU budgetary review to re-examine the rationale of EU Cohesion policy in terms of its structure, scope and objectives, as well as possible improvements to the delivery mechanisms. This EPRC contribution to the Slovenian Presidency represents the fifth consecutive EU presidency in which EPRC has been invited to play a role by drafting policy papers, chairing debates or presenting conference papers. Back to top International debate on evaluation methodologies 
As part of a major EU-funded research project evaluating the management and implementation of Cohesion policy, EPRC hosted
an international meeting of researchers from 21 countries in Brussels on 21-22 April. The meeting was convened to examine the issues of efficiency and sustainability of management and implementation systems, as well research on spillovers and added value of EU systems relative to national management practices, and also the integration of sustainable development. Participants discussed evaluation approaches from various national perspectives and the applicability and utility of different evaluation methods. The meeting was the first stage of a programme of research which will run until May 2009 with the aim of evaluating ex post how well management and implementation systems for Cohesion policy performed in the 2000-2006 period. Back to top Reseach Seminar – Outsourcing to the Voluntary Sector: The Employment Implications 
On Tuesday 29 April, 2008, Dr Ian Cunningham from the Department of Human Resource Management, hosted a research seminar
entitled 'Outsourcing to the Voluntary Sector: The Employment Implications'. The aim of the seminar was to bring together
academics and policy-makers from across the UK to present research papers concerning the impact of government outsourcing
on employment issues in the UK voluntary sector. Related to this was the aim to use the seminar to build research links
between participants. The seminar represented the first opportunity for this group of researchers to come together to
discuss their work. Delegates to the
DrCunningham seminar included academics from the Universities of Strathclyde, Cardiff, Leeds, Cranfield, Oxford Brookes and Limerick, as well as representatives from National Council for Voluntary Organizations and the trade union Unison. A wide range of papers were presented on the day exploring government policy on outsourcing to the sector, the skill needs of the voluntary sector workforce, human resource policies in the era of contracting, graduate recruitment, pay and conditions, union organizing, comparisons with outsourcing in Germany and changes to the psychological contract in the sector. The organizers of the seminar are currently in the process of developing a future publication from the papers. In the long-term, it is hoped these research links will lead to joint working and possible future funding bids. If anyone would like to hear more about the seminar contact Dr Ian Cunningham in the Department of Human Resource Management on extension 3972 or by emailing ian.cunningham@strath.ac.uk. Back to top Shirley Lerner Memorial Lecture On 1 May 2008, Professor Phil Taylor of the Department of Human Resource Management gave the Shirley Lerner Memorial Lecture to a well-attended meeting of the Manchester Industrial Relations Society. The title of his lecture was 'Globalisation Myths and Realities - the Offshoring of Business Services from the UK to India'. Back to top Management Science paper accepted for publication Marisa Smith & Robert van der Meer (Management Science) - 'Factors Influencing an Organisations ability to Manage Innovation: a Structured Literature Review and Conceptual Model' by Marisa Smith, Marco Busi, Peter Ball and Robert van der Meer. Accepted for publication in the International Journal of Innovation Management. It will be published in September 2008 Vol. 12 No. 3 Back to top Paper presented at ESReDA seminars Babakalli Alkali of Management Science presented a paper (May 13-14, 2008) at the 34th ESReDA seminar and 2nd joint ESReDA/ESRA seminar 'on supporting technologies for advanced maintenance information management' in San Sebastian, Spain. Back to top Recent Management Science invited talks Fran Ackermann – Invited talk at Warwick University: 'SODA2: the JOURNEY approach to strategy development' Fran Ackermann – Invited talk at Leicester University: 'Cognitive and Cause mapping' Jason Whalley - Invited speaker at the following workshop: Public and private regulation in the European telecommunications industry, European University Institute, Florence, Italy. The workshop was organised by the Robert Schuman Centre for advanced studies and the Florence School of Regulation. The talk was titled 'Combining policy initiatives to encourage the uptake of broadband'. Back to top Undergraduate scholarships NEL's Management Consultancy Group working in collaboration with the Department of Management Science in the Strathclyde Business School are in the 3rd year of an agreement to provide two three-year scholarships on an annual basis to undergraduate students. These scholarships have been carefully designed to not only to relieve students from financial pressure (and therefore enable them to concentrate on their studies) but also give them work experience and a vital honours year project. The company's objectives are twofold, firstly to raise the profile of the company with undergraduates (with the aim of recruiting high calibre candidates), and secondly to support the developing talent base in Glasgow. The Department likewise is keen to provide students with the means of integrating theory with practice and continue its tradition of working closely with industry. The successful students this year are Claire Ormiston & Mohammod Sheikh. Back to top Young Enterprise Dunbartonshire The Marketing Department recently hosted the Finals of Young Enterprise Dunbartonshire involving schools from East and West Dunbartonshire. The Young Enterprise Initiative involves senior pupils at secondary schools setting up a company with shareholders. The company then produces products and services which they sell to make a profit. During the awards ceremony, the Marketing Department's own trophy for the best marketing strategy was awarded to a team from Bearsden Academy. 
Young Enterprise Dunbartonshire winning teamwith Professor Alan Wilson, Head of Department of Marketing Back to top Invited speaker 
In mid May Doctoral student Edgar Centeno was invited to lecture at the Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain.
Edgar lectured to business honours students, and the lecture was entitled 'Global and local brand strategies: A personal
account at Coca-Cola Company', within a programme sponsored by the International Trade Promotion Agency of Andalucía and
Universidad Pablo de Olavide.Edgar also presented a Research Seminar to the Business Faculty entitled 'Exploring the construction of SME brands'. Due to the success of these lectures Edgar has been invited to return in mid January 2009 to lecture in the Master's Mr Centeno International programme, a course in international marketing mix. Back to top Students placed in L'Oreal eStrat8 Challenge A team of three MSc International Marketing students - Yuan Shi, Jiashen Sun and Peng Zong - won through to second place in Western Europe on the L'Oreal eStrat8 Challenge – The Ultimate Business Game. This win is a highly creditable result for the University and the students. 
L'Oreal eStrat8 Challenge team
Back to top World Economic Forum 
Ron Bradfield was a participant in the recent World Economic Forum on the Middle East held at Sharm El Sheihk, Egypt, from
18-20 May. Several months prior to the workshop Ron worked with Dr Robert Bood from the Netherlands and the WEF scenario
team to develop 3 global scenarios which set the Middle East Forum's theme - 'Learning from the Future'. At a WorkSpace
session at the Forum facilitated by Nik Gowing of the BBC World News, participants focused on the consequences, challenges,
opportunities and strategic options implied by the three scenarios for the world in 2025 – the Sustainable World,
Multipolar World and Hyperlinked World, and concluded with action items required in the region
RonBradfield to realise the best possible outcome by 2025 in each scenario. Details of the Forum can be found on the WEF's website. Ron has previously worked with the WEF editing 'deep dive' scenarios developed for a range of countries in the GCC, following from the 'GCC Countries and the World: Scenarios to 2025' exercise. Back to top |
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