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| November 2008 | ||
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Strathclyde Business School is top of the league - breaking news  The University of Strathclyde's Business School is number one in Scotland, and among the top five in the UK, according to Monday 1 December's Financial
Times.The prestigious league table ranks the top 65 graduate business schools in Europe, with Strathclyde at number 17. Each school is judged on its performance in a range of criteria, from the salaries of alumni to the percentage of the faculty staff with a doctoral degree. Professor Susan Hart, Dean of Strathclyde Business School, said: "This is a fantastic achievement and is testament to the hard work and dedication of our staff and students. "As one of the biggest business schools in Europe, we are working in a globally competitive arena, and we strive to ensure our graduates are the best they can possibly be. "We will continue to work hard to ensure we continue to offer our students an education that will boost their careers, and an education that is informed by our cutting edge research." Strathclyde is among just one per cent of the world's business schools to boast the coveted 'triple accreditation' from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, EQUIS - the quality assurance scheme run by the European Foundation for Management Development; and AMBA - the Association of MBAs. Back to top 20th Anniversary of the Cranfield Trust Professor Stan Paliwoda, Department of Marketing, helped the Cranfield Trust celebrate its 20th anniversary, in the presence of its patron, HRH the Princess Royal, in the House of Lords, London, during late October. Originally a venture with Cranfield School of Management, to help charities achieve their maximum potential, the Trust recruits alumni volunteers to work with client organisations on a wide range of management issues. Following a partnership agreement signed last year, SBS is now a member of the Trust and actively recruiting alumni volunteers. Professor Paliwoda has been working this year as a volunteer consultant, with Glasgow-based charity, Emmaus. For information on volunteering opportunities, please contact Jane Whitworth at The Trust's new Edinburgh office: jane.whitworth@cranfieldtrust.org 
Back to top Wilson appointed to the board of GGA Professor Alan Wilson, Head of the Marketing Department has been appointed to the Board of GGA. GGA is an arts marketing and audience development agency, whose aim is to improve accessibility to arts and cultural events. GGA works in partnership with over 30 arts organisations, agencies and government bodies in Scotland. As well as increasing audience sizes, the agency aims to encourage audience diversity and an all round positive environment in which the Scottish arts sector can thrive. Back to top Wilson's Spanish Seminar Professor Alan Wilson has been invited to deliver a two day seminar at the start of December on qualitative research methods to Doctoral students at the University of Zaragoza in Spain. Back to top Business Mentors for Schools Young Enterprise Dunbartonshire is looking for volunteer business mentors from SBS, to help participating schools teams with their projects, specifically developing a business plan around a product of service of their choice. Young Enterprise Dunbartonshire has a long-standing relationship with the Department of Marketing, with academic staff such as Professor Alan Wilson, Prof. Kevin Ibeh, Dr Eleanor Shaw and Dr Ian Grant all advising school teams on marketing strategy. Although Saturday 29 November is the day when they bring their product promotion to the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow, they will be continuing with their projects for months afterwards right up to the end of March. So, if you are interested in getting involved, and are able to commit a couple of hours of your time over the next term please contact: Jack Rudram Chair, Young Enterprise Dunbartonshire Jack Rudram Associates Ltd 21 Queens Point Shandon Helensburgh G84 8QZ Tel: 01436 820906 Email: jack.rudram@btopenworld.com Back to top Article in Journal of Marketing Vogel, Verena, Evanschitzky, Heiner, Ramaseshan, B. Ram (2008): "Customer Equity Drivers and Future Sales" Journal of Marketing, Vol. 72, No. 6, 98-108. Research on linking operational marketing inputs to customer attitudes and customer behavior has been gaining significance concomitant with the growing recognition that customers are market-based assets. In response to this, researchers and practitioners have proposed several conceptual models. Despite recent advances in research, the results are still inconclusive as to the relationship between customer attitude and future sales. A reason for this could be due to the paucity of studies combining survey-based data with behavioral data to understand better the drivers of customer behavior. With that in mind, Heiner Evanschitzky and his colleagues investigate the effects of customer perceptions of key marketing actions on customer attitudes and actual customer behavior as reflected by future sales. The authors propose that customer perceptions of value, brand, and relationship-"customer equity drivers"-affect loyalty intentions and future sales. The results of the study, which is based on a sample of 5694 customers of a large European retailer, suggest that customer equity drivers can significantly predict future sales, even after controlling for the current sales level. For further details please contact: Heiner Evanschitzky, Professor of Marketing. Back to top Ennis on Branding SMEs Dr. Sean Ennis made a presentation on Branding for SMEs at a Seminar for Small Firms which was organised by the University of the Highlands and Islands / Highlands and Islands Links programme. The seminar took place at Forres on Tuesday October 28th. Back to top Shaw on Board of ISBE Congratulations to Professor Eleanor Shaw who has recently been elected onto the board of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE). Eleaner also became Treasurer of the British Academy of Management Special Interest Group in Entrepreneurship at the BAM conference in September. Back to top Professors Awarded an Outstanding Paper Award Professor Sara Carter and Professor Shaw were awarded an Outstanding Paper Award (2008) by the Emerald Literati Network for our paper, 'Social entrepreneurship: theoretical antecedents and empirical analysis of entrepreneurial processes and outcomes', published in the Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 14, No. 3, 2007 Back to top Ibeh Participates in the 34th Session of the OECD Working Party  Professor Kevin Ibeh recently participated in the 34th Session of the OECD Working Party on Small and Medium Enterprises and Entrepreneurship (WPSMEE) held in Paris 27-29 October, 2008. Prof Ibeh and his colleague (Professor Lester Lloyd Reason) presented the draft final report of
their OECD-commissioned study to national delegates from various OECD member States, invited non-member States and other participating
consultants. Their work reviewed the latest evidence on Top Barriers and Motivations for the Internationalisation of Small and Medium sized
and examined the extent to which current support provision across OECD and selected non-OECD Professor Kevin Ibeheconomies are responsive to the identified top barriers and motivations. Professor Ibeh and his colleague had earlier presented a preliminary report on this project during the 33rd Session of the OECD WPSMEE in Kansas May 6-7, 2008. Back to top Marketing Works Marketing Works is up and running on the graduate programmes in marketing. Students working in groups of four or five are developing applied and consultancy projects for a host of companies and third sector organizations. We have 20 projects this year, with 12 having an international focus and eight concentrating on marketing mainly within the UK. Long standing clients, including Sgurr Energy, Smith McLaurin, Lionheart Challenge, Blue Sky Experiences and Strathclyde Police, have this year been joined by Cycle Scotland, Nation1, Radio Magnetic, Thales, TUV NEL, DF Concerts, Dynamic Innovations, Think Research, Albyn Consultants, NetIDme, Emu Bands, International Women, V Group and Distance Lab. The aim of Marketing Works is for our graduate student, supervised by colleagues in the Marketing Department, to provide clients with a professional project, developed from their brief. Projects began in late October with students participating in a group working and leadership programme, delivered by Blue Sky Experiences. The groups are now busy getting to grips with their briefs, researching how their clients' markets, industries and organizational settings work, and understanding what role marketing plays. Clients will see interim presentations in mid-December, with the projects being completed for the end of March. For further details please contact: John Finch, Professor of Marketing. Back to top 'Virtual Campus, Real Learning' On 18th November the Business School ran its first seminar in the 3D online world Second Life. The speaker at the first event was Dr Peter Bennett of the UK Department of Health, presenting a seminar on "Risk Communication". This was the first seminar in what is an inter-departmental Business School initiative led by Howard Ramsay, John Quigley (both Management Science), Calvin Burns (Human Resource Management) and Andrea Coulson (Accounting and Finance). Support was also provided by David Paul (Management Science & European Policies Research Centre) and David Wootton in Industrial Engineering at Dalhousie University, Canada. Read more at http://www.gsb.strath.ac.uk/news/virtualcampus.asp 
Back to top Howick on 'Complexity' Dr Susan Howick gave an invited talk at an event on 'Complexity' organised by Inno.com in Brussels. The other speakers were Prof Jean Paul Van Bendegem (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Dr John Morecroft (London Business School) and Prof Peter Checkland (Lancaster University). Back to top MacBryde and Kosgi - Enterprising Glasgow Hasib Kosgi and Jill McBryde are featured in a recent article "Installing Change" in the Oct/Nov edition of Enterprising News to read the full article please go to http://www.gsb.strath.ac.uk/news/virtualcampus.asp Back to top Human Reliability - Working Paper  Working paper on Human Reliability - Tim Bedford has written a study of the human reliability analysis method CREAM (Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis Method) together with Clare Bayley of the University of Manchester. Their paper compares the two variants of CREAM - a
screening method and the full method - and shows that they are very consistent. However, they go on to show how screening methods can be
designed to achieve a guaranteed level of predictive accuracy for the full method. This kind of problem occurs frequently in business, where
"short cut" analysis tools are used without a thorough understanding of the level of risk involved in not following a more Tim Bedfordcomplete analysis.
The paper was written as part of an EPSRC sponsored project on Human Reliability that involved Strathclyde, Manchester, Lancaster, Cardiff,
Nottingham, Cranfield and LSE.
Back to top Insurance Risks Insurance Risks - Tim Bedford gave an invited presentation at Lloyds on 22 October, on the subject of Bayesian decision analysis methods for assessing insurance risks. This was part of a Lighthill Risk Network event on the uses of Bayesian networks in the (re-)insurance industry. Back to top The sky's the limit for Richard  A student from Cambuslang has graduated with a first class honours degree from the University of Strathclyde - and the highest set of marks
in accountancy and finance in a decade.Richard Barclay, 22, was born with cerebral palsy - a condition which affects movement and speech. But his hard work and can-do attitude have ensured his condition has never got in the way of success. By the age of three, he defied his condition by walking for the first time. Today, he is top of the class in a department ranked number one in the UK by the Complete University Guide. Richard said: "I am extremely competitive and have always had a determination to succeed in life. "The course has been extremely interesting and stimulating, especially the topics covered in the honours year. There is no denying the syllabus is Richard Barclaychallenging, and I will not miss the copious number of days and nights spent working on my dissertation! However, the rewards were worth the effort. "Now I'm seeking a dynamic career which will challenge me as much as university did, and one in which I can continue to carve out a successful legacy." Richard has already completed internships with leading auditing and investment firms, and is keen to build his career in the Finance sector. Among the first to congratulate him was Professor Andrew Marshall, Head of the University's Department of Accounting & Finance. Professor Marshall said: "Richard's marks were outstanding and the highest of any intake of students over the last ten years. His ability, work ethic and personality will make him a great asset for any company. "We are very proud of his achievements and look forward to watching his career progress. He has been a real inspiration to the people around him." In his spare time, Richard is an avid music fan and stays in close contact with his heroes from the American rock band, Toto. He said: "Music is my main passion, but as I was unable to pursue it due to limitations in my dexterity, I chose to play to my strengths and study a discipline that would stretch me intellectually. "I chose to study at Strathclyde Business School because of its reputation among employers. The department was also exceptionally proficient at catering for students' individual needs, which I was very appreciative of. "With a speech difficulty, oral presentations were always interesting! But if all else failed, humour usually won over the audience." Among those celebrating Richard's graduation at the Barony Hall were his parents and brother Graham. He added: "My family is very proud of my achievements, but they have never pressured me. They are extremely supportive of me regardless of what it is I'm doing, whether it's pursuing my hobbies, education or career. They just hope that I am able to find a job relatively quickly so I can start paying my way! "My attitude has always been that cerebral palsy makes me stand out from the crowd - so why not stand out even more by achieving excellence? I'd say this motto has been quite effective in life." Back to top Research funding from Munro Bridging Finance Congratulations to Andrea Coulson, who has started a new research project with Munro Bridging Finance. The company has committed a total of £12,000 plus expenses to the project and contracted £4,000 in the first instance for a pilot study. The research will focus on examining the nature of risk assessment in the bridging finance market. A number of you may recognise Kenneth Waterston is still gracing our corridors. Kenneth received last year's prize for best accounting student and best dissertation. This year he has taken up a place on the Faculty's MRes in Risk and Reliability sponsored by the EPSRC. His master thesis will be supervised by Andrea and based on a case study of risk assessment by Munro Bridging Finance. As a point of interest, Andy Allen Managing Director of Munro Bridging Finance is a departmental alumnus from the 1970s as is his number two Kenny Downs who more recently graduated in 2002. Andy Allen is also a member of the Strathclyde 100. He has agreed to provide a thought leadership presentation on risk and the financial crisis in the New Year hosted by the department. More details on this will be circulated in due course. Back to top Best Paper for Carter Sara Carter won the best paper award from the International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship with Dr Cristina Diaz Garcia, presented at the Diana International Research Symposium, Belfast 2008. Back to top Global Banking Alliance presentation Sara Carter made a Presentation at the Global Banking Alliance for Women Annual Summit in London 20-22 October. As a member of the Advisory Board of the Global Banking Alliance, she presented a paper at the closed session on 20/10/08 and chaired a panel session at the public session on 22/10/08. Back to top Mason a columnist - on occasion Colin Mason, who has a visiting chair in the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary's University Halifax Canada has become an occasional columnist for the Halifax Chronicle-Herald. His first column is on 'bootstrapping techniques' for cash starved entrepreneurs. http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1089707.html Back to top The Carter circuit The Hunter Centre's Head, Professor Sara Carter maximised a recent business trip to London during late October, when she presented a keynote speech at a House of Commons reception for the Women's Enterprise International Study Group on 28/10/08, acted as a panellist at the Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR) Women's Enterprise Policy Round Table held at BERR, and attended a reception at 11 Downing Street on 30/10/08 to launch the Prowess Women's Enterprise National Policy Centre. Back to top MSc in Entrepreneurship Hits the Headlines The MSc in Entrepreneurship, recently launched in the UAE, has hit the headlines in Gulfnews.com, an article titled Taking "Educated" Risks by Manal Ismail - to view this article go to: http://www.gulfnews.com/notes/Education/10256163.html Back to top Chris Huxham Has Been Made A Fellow of BAM Congratulations to Professor Chris Huxham who has been made a Fellow of the British Academy of Management. Chris's final report of her AIM Senior Fellowship received an "Outstanding" grade from the ESRC; Cropper S, Ebers, M, Huxham, Chris, and Ring, Peter Smith. (eds) Handbook of interorganizational relations. 2008. Oxford, Oxford University Press. was OUP's best seller at the EGOS and BAM conferences. Steve Cropper, Mark Ebers and Peter Ring are Visiting Profs in DoM. Back to top Bolton debates at the Battle of Ideas 2008 Sharon Bolton, Professor of Organisational Analysis, Department of Management, was a key speaker at the Battle of Ideas 2008 weekend in London November 1st and 2nd. The Battle of Ideas is a two-day annual festival of high-level, thought-provoking debate organised by the Institute of Ideas and hosted by the Royal College of Art. Sharon took part in a debate entitled 'Picking on the Apprentice: is there an epidemic of bullying at work?'. She argued that there is a danger in talking of bullying as an epidemic as this holds a very real risk that workplace concerns are reduced to individuals and their failed inter-personal relations at work, and in doing so we fail to look at important structural issues and changes in contemporary workplaces. Back to top Attitudes towards Work-Life Balance  An ESRC WAM-Net One-Day Seminar, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow21 January 2009 10.30am to 4.00pm, McCance Building, Lecture Theatre 1 Organised by WAM-net (Network on Work Attitude Measures) and GeNet (ESRC Research Network on Gender Inequalities in Production and Reproduction) This is the fifth in an ESRC series of seminars which focus on ways of measuring and surveying work attitudes. Previous seminars at the Universities of Bath, Cambridge, Cardiff and at the Institute of Education in London, have covered issues related to work orientations, evaluations of attitude measures, and different disciplinary perspectives to work attitude measurement. The Strathclyde seminar, which is hosted by Dora Scholarios Dora Scholariosfrom the Department of Human Resource Management, will focus on attitudes to work-life balance, including both conceptual papers and reports from ongoing empirical survey work. (Further information www.strath.ac.uk/hrm/wam-net) Speakers include: Jackie Scott, University of Cambridge (GeNet); Diane Houston, Dept of Psychology, University of Kent; Jane Elliott & Maggie Hancock, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education London; Laura Biggart, Centre for Research on the Child and the Family, University of East Anglia; Stephen Wood, Institute of Work Psychology, Sheffield University. There is no charge for the event, but all delegates must register with Lenka Banovcova (ssplb@bath.ac.uk). Back to top Warhurst on Finnish and unfinished business Professor Chris Warhurst of the Department of Human Resource Management was one of three international speakers invited to participate in the Federation of Finnish British Societies' Annual Autumn Seminar. The event was hosted by the British Embassy in Helsinki and Professor Warhurst's talk, 'Unfinished Business: Scotland and the Dis-United Kingdom', will be published in the Societies' magazine in the New Year. Back to top Taylor audits Scotland's call centres Professor Phil Taylor of the Department of Human Resource Management has recently completed his latest audit on the call/contact centre sector in Scotland. Key findings from taylor's report were presented by the Enterprise Minister, Jim Mather, to the Customer Contact Association Convention in Edinburgh on 18th November. Back to top Taylor's keynote for Unite Professor Phil Taylor gave keynote presentations to trade union Unite's international school held in Esher, Surrey (19-21 November 2008). Phil led sessions on the ‘Global Crisis in Financial Services' and 'The Offshoring of Business Services'. Back to top Nickson on Procurement  Professor Dennis Nickson of the Scottish Centre of Employment Research in the Department of Human Resource Management recently presented a
workshop on procurement, re-tendering and the social care workforce at the Community Care Providers Scotland (CCPS) conference, Facing the
Future: New Realities in Social Care and Support. The research, which is being led by Dr Ian Cunningham, is examining the impact of
re-tendering of social care services on voluntary sector workforce morale and commitment and the implications for national workforce policy
and planning. Dr Cunningham and Professor Nickson are conducting the research on behalf of the Voluntary Sector Social Services Workforce Unit (VSSWU). The workshop presentation, based on the initial findings of the research, was to Professor Dennis Nickson representatives from a variety of voluntary organisations and local authorities. The final research report will be published. Back to top |
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