| Apr 2009 | View back issues |
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| April 2009 | ||
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Strathclyde research sponsor of plc awards once more  Strathclyde Business School was once again the research sponsor for the Scottish Business Insider plc awards. Launched in 1998 by Scottish Business Insider and PricewaterhouseCoopers to celebrate and publicise outstanding achievements by the Scottish plc community, the awards
recognise not only strong performance but a wide range of other attributes with categories which continue to evolve to reflect the changing
business landscape.The awards, a major event in the Scottish corporate calendar, were held on April 22 at Glasgow's Hilton Hotel, and top impressionist Rory Bremner was this year's guest speaker. Strathclyde's independent research provides impartial data for the judges to make their decisions, with site visits carried out for the innovation, Susan Hartglobal reach and sustainability awards. Co-ordinated by SBS' learning resources manager Christine Reid, the process is a complex exercise involving six academics interviewing key staff from around ten companies. Ms Reid explains, "The detailed research and analysis of all Scottish plcs which is carried out enhances the overall credibility of the awards process. A wide range of evidence is studied each year as our role as research sponsor is to carry out a rigorous process of independent research." The academic staff involved this year included Professor Sara McGaughey (Department of Management), Professor John Finch (Marketing), Dr Jill McBryde (Management Science), Professor Robert Kalin, Dr Elsa Joao and Peter Booth (the David Livingstone Centre for Sustainability) and Richard Grey (Accounting and Finance) who assisted with the financially orientated awards. In her speech at the awards, SBS Dean Professor Susan Hart acknowledged that the past year's economic downturn had been a 'milestone year' for business. "This year's research has gone some way beneath the veneer of statistical reporting, recording the milestones of those firms we are celebrating here tonight. "Underlying the top performances we have consistently observed three key features. Our best plcs invest in innovation - in products and service as well as processes; invest in the creation of and nurture global connections; and in addition 'the best' are distinguished from 'the rest' by an increasing attention to development filtered through the lens of sustainability. "These characteristics describe the direction which drives the best corporate towards their future destinations. Across the board, the attention of Scotland's best corporate performers is fixed on innovation, internationalisation and sustainability." Winners of the awards this year were as follows: Scotland plc of the Year - Aggreko; Large plc of the year - Aggreko; AIM/Mid-cap plc of the year - Craneware; Sustainability - Robert Wiseman Dairies; Innovation - ProStrakan; Global Reach - Weir Group; Large Private Company of the Year - Brogan Holdings; Medium sized private company of the year - Wood MacKenzie Ltd; CEO of the Year - Tom Cross, Dana Petroleum. Back to top Economics department is partner in biofuel project The Department of Economics is a research partner in the BioMara, Sustainable Fuels from Marine Biomass, project. The project is a six million euro joint UK and Irish initiative that aims to demonstrate the feasibility and viability of producing biofuel from marine algae. With the European Parliament calling for 10% of road transport fuel to come from renewable sources by 2020, sustainable, industrial-scale biofuel production has become an urgent challenge. BioMara has received 4,874,414 Euros from the European Union's INTERREG IVA Programme, with additional funding from Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Crown Estate, Northern Ireland Executive and the Irish Government. The Strathclyde team from the Department of Economics is to consider the economic, social and techno-economic aspects of the generation of biofuel from algal biomass, primarily sea weed. The funding for this element of the project is 500,000 Euros over three years. The Strathclyde named investigators are Professor Kim Swales, Professor Peter McGregor, Dr Karen Turner and Mr Grant Allan. The primary task is to identify the benefits to the local Scottish and Irish communities which will be affected by these developments. The project builds on the department's expertise in local economic modelling. www.biomara.org  Scottish Energy Minister Jim Mather (far left) and Professor Kim Swales (third right) with other BioMara partners at the recent launch of the project in Scotland. Back to top EPRC contribution to Dutch policy review At the start of March, Professor Douglas Yuill participated in a policy round table with senior Dutch policymakers from the Ministry of Economic Affairs in The Hague to discuss the future of Dutch regional policy. Professor Yuill presented an invited paper to launch the debate, providing a comparative assessment of key policy challenges facing the Netherlands, based on policy experiences and lessons from other European countries. The key issues addressed in the paper concerned the forms and justification of regional policy, its spatial and sectoral focus and mechanisms for policy delivery. The paper also considered issues relating to the coordination of regional and innovation policies. The research drew on the output from the EoRPA research programme (comparative regional policy research across Europe), which is funded by national governments in ten European countries, including the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. Back to top RSAI Fellowship  Professor Bernard Fingleton (Department of Economics) has been elected a Fellow of the Regional Science Association International. The RSAI
Fellows Award was initiated in 2001 "to honor a select group of members of the Association who have made important scholarly and research
contributions to the field of regional science."Professor Fingleton is one of only 50 recipients of this prestigious award to date; he will receive his award at the November 2009 annual meeting of The North American Regional Science Council (a supranational section of RSAI) in San Francisco. Only three British academics have won this award previously, and other Fellows in the field of Economics include Tony Venables (Oxford, elected 2009), Masahisa Fujita, Kyoto University, JAPAN, Jacques Thisse, Catholic Prof Bernard FingletonUniversity of Louvain, Belgium, J. Vernon Henderson, Brown University, USA, John M. Quigley, University of California, Berkeley, USA, Richard Arnott, Boston College, USA, Ann Markusen, University of Minnesota, USA, Harry H. Kelejian, University of Maryland, USA, Takatoshi Tabuchi, University of Tokyo. RSAI has a worldwide membership exceeding 3000. The RSAI was founded in 1954, and is an international community of scholars interested in the regional impacts of national or global processes of economic and social change. It takes a multi-disciplinary approach to facilitate new theoretical insights for tackling regional problems, and this provides opportunities for academics within the Association to engage more fully with planners and policy makers. Back to top Annual research colloquium The Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management is holding its fourth annual Doctoral Research Colloquium addressing the theme 'Moving Forward in Hospitality and Tourism Research' on May 22. The colloquium is open to postgraduate researchers in hospitality, tourism, events and leisure management from across Scotland and provides a relatively informal event for researchers to share their research as well as develop their personal networks and enhance their presentation skills. Back to top Marketing professor in music industry discussion  Professor John Finch of the Department of Marketing is a panel member at Soma Skool, which is taking place on May 1 at City Halls in Glasgow.
Soma Skool is an educational event encompassing the music industry and outlying creative sector.Soma Skool was launched in 2003, and encompasses an invigorating step-by-step explanation of how an original track is created including: the design and impact of visual and graphic artwork; the filming and editing of a video utilising cutting-edge software; and the delineation of marketing and business plans. In order to enhance the 'business awareness' of its attendees theProfessor John Finch programme includes presentations, panel discussions and question and answer sessions with leading figures from within the music and creative industries. Professor Finch will be discussing 'the credit crunch and the music industry'. SBS also has a stand at the event to promote undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Back to top Hunter Centre professor's talk on family business sector Professor Sara Carter, of the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, was one of the speakers at the latest Cross Party Group on the Scottish Economy on March 25. The meeting explored the importance of the family business sector to the Scottish Economy, particularly in a time of economic downturn. The Cross Party Group comprises MSPs, private and public sector agencies and trade unions who meet regularly in the Scottish Parliament to investigate issues of significance to the Scottish economy. Back to top Tourism conferences Kostas Tomazos, Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management PhD student, together with the department's Professor Richard Butler, presented a paper entitled, "Volunteer Tourism - the New Ecotourism?" at the 4th International Scientific Conference Contemporary Developments in Tourism, Travel and Hospitality in Rhodes, Greece (April 3-5). Professor Butler was also an invited keynote speaker at the International Conference on Sustainable Tourism Management at Maejo University, Chiang Mai, Thailand (March 27-29). His keynote paper was entitled, "Benefits to Communities from Sustainable Tourism."  Professor Butler at the International Conference on Sustainable Tourism Management in Thailand Back to top New Zealand fellowship for Hunter Centre professor  Professor Colin Mason (Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship) has just returned from New Zealand where he was holder of a prestigious William
Evans Fellowship in the Department of Management at the University of Otago in Dunedin. The University of Otago was judged to be New
Zealand's top university in its recent equivalent to the RAE. Professor Mason gave a number of seminars and lectures including a public
lecture on "Financing the Entrepreneurial Economy in the Crisis" which formed part of a lecture series sponsored by the Otago School of
Business and Bank of New Zealand. Professor Mason met the Dean of the Otago School of Business who emphasised Professor Colin Masonhis desire to foster stronger links with SBS - there is already a student exchange programme in existence, while the School's Director of Business Research Graham McGregor is planning to visit Strathclyde in early May. In addition, Ken Deane, formerly of SBS's Marketing Department, is the current Head of the Marketing Department at Otago Business School. Back to top Accounting and finance lecturer's conference news  Ian Thomson (Accounting and Finance) attended a CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) Advocates conference at the University
of Stirling Management Centre on March 26 which introduced the new CIMA syllabus and accreditation. CIMA also provided an analysis of
Strathclyde accounting and finance students' examination performance since 2001 which was well above average.Mr Thomson also attended a UKERC (UK Energy Research Centre) workshop on 'Restructuring Choice: Energy and Social Demand' at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford from April 7-9, and has been invited to be a plenary speaker at the Ian ThomsonBritish Accounting Association Special Interest Group on corporate governance. This event takes place at the head offices of ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) on May 27. Back to top HRM presentation for ESRC seminar series Professor Philip Taylor of the Department of Human Resource Management gave an invited presentation on March 6 at the business school in Loughborough as part of an ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) seminar series on the 'Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Career and Migration'. The theme of the session was off-shoring and outsourcing and Professor Taylor's topic was 'From boom to where? Work and employment in Indian Business Process Outsourcing'. Back to top Accountancy article highly cited An article by Professor Andrew Marshall (Accounting and Finance), written with Chai Ni Ho, is among the top 20 articles that have received the highest citations by the academic community, helping to raise the profile of the Applied Financial Economics Letters journal considerably. The article is entitled, 'Determinants of UK swap spreads'. He received a letter of thanks and recognition from the journal and publisher. Back to top HRM journal work Professor Dennis Nickson, head of the Department of Human Resource Management, is the guest co-editor of the latest edition of Gender, Work and Organisation (Vol 16, No3). The special edition focuses on gender and service work. Amongst the papers in the special edition is a paper on emotional, aesthetic and sexualised labour in interactive services by Professor Nickson and Professor Chris Warhurst, also HRM. Back to top EPRC reports on Czech Presidency Conference  Professor John Bachtler (European Policies Research Centre) was the Rapporteur for an International conference - "Future of the Cohesion
Policy and Integrated Local Development" - organised by the Czech Presidency of the European Union. Held at the Zofin Palace in Prague on
March 26-27, the conference brought together senior officials from the 27 EU Member States, as well as from EFTA (European Free Trade Association) and pre-accession countries, and from European institutions.The conference was opened by the Czech Minister for Regional Development, Cyril Svoboda, and covered three themes: the experience and lessons learned from Cohesion Policy; the future of Cohesion Policy Professor John Bachtlerafter 2013; and the role of integrated local development in fostering cohesion. At the end of each day, Professor Bachtler provided a review of the conference sessions, highlighting the main elements of the presentations and debate. He presented a paper on the outcome of the Conference to the Informal Meeting of Regional Policy Ministers on April 22-24 at Mariánské Lázně. www.eu2009.cz Back to top Keynote presentation at Netherlands conference Dr Paul Lynch, Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, recently gave the opening keynote presentation at the Salon de Wyswert Lines of Flight conference 2009 organised by Stenden University, The Netherlands. The theme of the conference was Innovative Research Methods in Service Studies. Dr Lynch presented a paper describing an investigation through literature of perspectives on the hospitality consumer experience which employed sociolinguistic analysis of an autobiographical account. Working with Dr Martha Robinson, sociolinguist at University of Edinburgh, the interdisciplinary analysis elicited subjective effects of managerial methods that are often overlooked through more conventional studies, giving rise to implications for the teaching of management. Back to top Strathclyde student wins sponsorship Thales Land & Joint Systems UK has chosen to sponsor a Strathclyde student as part of its sponsorship programme. The sponsorship scheme was open to Strathclyde students studying International Business and Modern Languages. All nine Strathclyde students put forward were interviewed and the final decision was between two candidates, with the winning student being Ashley Fitzpatrick, currently in her third year of IBML. Mark Fisher of Thales commented that all the candidates from Strathclyde were 'of a very good standard.' Thales were so impressed with Ashley that, instead of starting the sponsorship from September this year, she is to be sponsored for her final term this year and offered a paid placement for the summer. Back to top Strathclyde team makes semi-finals of IBM Universities Business Challenge A team of third year students from SBS successfully outperformed dozens of teams from across the UK to make it through to the semi-final of the prestigious IBM Universities Business Challenge. The team, one of seven teams entered from the business school, was sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland, who covered their entry fees. The Business Challenge, which is open to teams from universities across the UK, runs over several weeks, with each team making regular decisions affecting their company’s performance. After the initial round, a small number of high performing teams were invited to the semi-finals, which took place intensively over a 24 hour period. The semi-final was very closely run with the Strathclyde team vying for top spot with one other team. The final winner remained undecided until the very last moment, when the Strathclyde team very narrowly missed qualification for the finals. Congratulations to David McDonald, Yousuf Kerr, Andrew Storey and Veronica Lee-Thompson for their impressive performance. Back to top New online support for incoming students SBS is introducing a dedicated forum for incoming students that will be run by current business school students. Following feedback from the current first year students in the faculty about the value of online discussions with other students, a forum will run on the website from August until the start of term to allow new students to contact others on their course and find out about life at Strathclyde. The forums will be run by nominated students who have just completed first year to give an accurate and relevant view on life at Strathclyde. Back to top Procter and Gamble prize for second year Management Development Programme The top student teams from MDP2 presented their ideas for potential businesses linked to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games to Procter and Gamble staff - Kevin Feehan and Michelle Crossan, both Strathclyde alumni - on March 25. Prizes were awarded to all three final teams, and the winners were named as Charisma Events. Michelle Crossan, UK Fine Fragrances Brand Manager, said, "We heard three great ideas, all of which were unique in their positioning and value add. My immediate reaction was that these second year students are presenting and thinking at a level beyond their years. The presentations were engaging, insightful and convincing." www.strathmdp.com  (left to right) Wen Hao Teo, Ang Jingwen, Peter Cameron, Kara Young, Kevin Feehan (Procter & Gamble), Michelle Crossan (Procter & Gamble), Stephen Rutherdale and Jennifer Scahill. Back to top In the news Professor Richard Butler (Hospitality and Tourism Management) was a participant in a Radio Scotland broadcast on April 14 on the Macauley and Co programme, when he was invited to discuss the state of Scotland's beaches and coastal resorts. Professor Colin Mason (Hunter Centre) was interviewed by the National Business Review, New Zealand's top business journal, and the Otago Daily Times. http://www.odt.co.nz/news/business/50453/seek-support-business-angels-says-entrepeneur Professor Mason was quoted in April's Scottish Business Insider in a business education feature entitled, "Instilling the will to win". Stewart Dunlop of the Fraser of Allander Institute appeared on the Scotland Today news during GMTV on April 8, being interviewed regarding RBS's plans to axe 9000 jobs. Back to top |
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