Dr Aliakbar Jafari of the Department of Marketing delivered a keynote speech at the 2nd Global Islamic Marketing Conference in Abu Dhabi in January 2012. Addressing marketing academics and practitioners working in Muslim societies, Dr Jafari emphasized that the advancement of knowledge in different areas of the marketing discipline in emerging economies and understudied contexts needs fresh methodological and epistemological approaches.
He elaborated on the hazards of 'Orientalist' and 'Self-Orientalist' approaches to theorisation in business and management, in general, and marketing, in particular, and called for self-reflexivity and self-critique. Dr Jafari stressed that further advancement of marketing theory should result in refining marketing practice and improving the quality of life for all human beings on the earth. Given the high profile of the conference attendants, Dr Jafari's speech was very well received.
Dr Frank Siedlok, Department of Management, picked up the award for the stream's "most energising reviewer" for APROS conference in December.
The 14th Asia-Pacific Researchers in Organization Studies Conference was held November 29-December 1 2011 and was held at the Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand.
The stream in question was "Liminal Organizing: Daring to Imagine and the Power of Ideas."
Dr Peter Keenan, research fellow, department of management, gave a presentation at Heriot-Watt Business School on December 2 to over 20 members of the Health Organisations & Research Network (HORNET) which comprises management researchers from the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, St Andrews, and Dundee Abertay. This was the second occasion that he has represented Strathclyde Business School, having done so the previous year.
The presentation was entitled 'Middle managers' emotional practices during strategic change'. This research highlighted the critical role of emotion during the strategy process, and examined how NHS and social work managers engaged in a radical approach to re-organising drug and alcohol services across Glasgow. The research also draws attention to the dilemma that researchers may face when carrying out emotional-related research and concludes by asking the question: should one 'run for the door' once interviews are over if tears are flowing and expletives are used aplenty, or stay and attempt to alleviate manager's distress which the interview process may have played a catalytic role by helping surface?
The research network is an informal grouping of academic researchers that has a particular focus on the organisations that deliver care; their forms, functions and dynamics, and their relationships with other agencies and stakeholders. The network is concerned with how healthcare delivery is designed, enacted and managed, as well as how that delivery is shaped by the external forces of, for example, regulatory efforts or new modes of health care funding. Underpinning such research enquiry is a desire to produce practical knowledge of value at both policy and managerial levels, knowledge that can assist with both insight and action.
HORNET workshops are held every six months. Those who carry out research within healthcare and who are interested in attending future HORNET workshops should contact peter.keenan@strath.ac.uk who will provide further details on request.
Professor Peter McKiernan, Department of Management, is addressing the plenary session of the first EFMD Research conference in Zurich next week. The conference takes place at the Lorange Institute of Business, February 14-15, with the theme, 'Conjectures and Future Directions'. This is followed by attendance at the plenary of the EFMD-ESMT (ESMT -European School of Management and Technology) Symposium in Berlin (March 1-2) where he will again be addressing the conference, followed by the plenary of the ABS Research Conference in London the week after that (March 12-13), at the British Library Conference Centre.
Professor McKiernan has also brokered a deal between the ABS and EURAM in making a new organisational body to reformulate and populate the ABS Journal Guide. This guide is used heavily throughout Europe in REF type exercises but has been criticised by various subject bodies like operational researchers and accountants for being unrepresentative. Professor McKiernan said, "The aim is to make the list a definitive one in Europe, using peer review. This should revolutionise the way we 'measure' research." Details of the new Guide will be announced at the annual ABS research conference.
Currently, Professor McKiernan is also editing a book on 'Hidden Champions' in central and eastern Europe. These are companies that lead their sector in some way but are not quoted publicly nor in the news very much. But they are still the engine of most economies. Sixteen countries are covered and around 40 researchers were engaged in the collection of the data.
Professor Sara Carter, Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, has been appointed to the Research Awards Advisory Committee of the Leverhulme Trust and has also been appointed as a Senior Editor of Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, a US based peer-reviewed journal. Professor Carter was formerly an Associate Editor between 2006 and 2010.
A two day workshop on Technology Roadmapping (TRM) took place on February 23 and 24 in the Centre for Corporate Connections. This workshop discussed to what extent TRM is a general tool for strategy, how TRM compared with other approaches and how it can be used as a basis for consensus as practice, particularly for SMEs.
The workshop involved developmental work, to include supporting new academic collaborations. The project team - including Norin Arshed (Hunter Centre) and Professor John Finch (Marketing) - is in discussion with journal editors about developing a special issue which will involve those attending the workshops.
Further information on the project can be found here.
The Department of Economics hosted the latest workshop of the Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE) Environmental and Energy economics group on February 9.
Around 20 attendees saw presentations by Ian Lange (University of Stirling), Shawn Mu (University of Dundee), Sarah Polborn (Aarhus University) and Neil Strachan (University College London). The event was co-organised at Strathclyde by Grant Allan and Isobel Sheppard of SBS's Fraser of Allander Institute.