Strathclyde Business School is once again the research sponsor for the PricewaterhouseCoopers and Scottish Business Insider plc Awards in what is the twelfth year of the prestigious awards.Strathclyde Business School is once again the research sponsor for the PricewaterhouseCoopers and Scottish Business Insider plc Awards in what is the twelfth year of the prestigious awards.
Strathclyde has been involved from the beginning in providing the essential research needed to judge the award categories.
The awards - a major event in the Scottish corporate calendar - are to be held on April 21 at Glasgow's Hilton Hotel, and the host this year is former barrister and television and radio personality Clive Anderson.
As well as the companies involved, key figures in the Scottish corporate market, comprising lawyers, accountants, bankers and corporate financiers, attend to make up an audience of around 550 people.
Strathclyde's independent research provides impartial data for the judges to make their decisions, with site visits carried out for the innovation, global 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), Dr Elsa Joao, Dr Jane Andrews and Peter Booth (the David Livingstone Centre for Sustainability), and Richard Grey (Accounting and Finance) who assisted with the financially orientated 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 judging panel this year is chaired by Jack Perry, former Scottish Enterprise chief executive and other members are Otto Thoresen, Aegon UK chief executive, Chris Parr, chief executive of papermaker Tullis Russell, and Kevin Lyon, the former head of 3i in Scotland and non-executive director with a number of companies across the UK.