The Financial Times has recently identified the top 55 European Business Schools, based upon the five Financial Times business education rankings for 2006. Strathclyde is placed 32nd in the list ahead of other top ranked UK schools like Manchester, Cambridge, Henley, Nottingham and Leeds. SBS Dean, Professor Charles Harvey, expressed his delight at the result, commenting: "When you consider the many hundreds of business schools there are in Europe, many of them very good, it’s a fine tribute to our staff, students and alumni to see Strathclyde up there in the top two or three per cent."
Melissa McCrindle, Director of Marketing, added: "When you consider the effort that’s required to participate in these rankings, and the fact, that in many ways they are a bit of a lottery, it would be logical for a school to opt out. However, love them or loathe them, they are here to stay, and the payback in terms of recruitment and PR when they work well, is sizeable. We owe a great deal to the goodwill of our alumni in their responses, so many thanks for their continued support."

The Strathclyde MBA has recently been ranked in the Financial Times global rankings of the top Executive MBA programmes. Strathclyde achieved 52nd position out of 85 ranked business schools, placing it in the top 10 of participating UK business schools, and the top 20 of participating European Business Schools. Published on 23 October 2006, only 85 business schools were ranked out of a pool of 104 contenders. This is the 6th year that the Financial Times has published its ranking of Executive MBA programmes – part time MBA degrees for working managers, and the third time that Strathclyde has been included.

A presentation ceremony was held for this year’s 43 Strathclyde MBA graduates at the Gulf Hotel on Tuesday evening (28 November). 73% of the graduates were Bahraini and over a quarter of the 43 graduates were women. The number of graduates shows a huge increase in interest in the programme in comparison to previous years and we hope that next years figures will continue to follow this very positive trend.
His Excellency Sheikh Hisham bin Abdulaziz Al Khalifa, the Undersecretary for Resources and Services, Ministry of Education was the chief guest for the ceremony.
British Council Director, Sandra Hamrouni and Professor Colin Eden from the University of Strathclyde, as well as other British Council and University of Strathclyde officials were present to congratulate the graduates.
Ms Anthea Ameer and Ms Marwa Maskati both graduated with distinction and the Roy Jenkins Best Project Prize was awarded to Mohamed Yaseen Ali, Shaikh Khalid Al Khalifa and Shaikh Nawaf Al Khalifa for their group project on Strategic Management.
The graduates all spoke highly of the programme, which is administered by the British Council; Marwa Al Maskati (who received a distinction) said "the part–time MBA program in terms of modularity also provided me with a flexible and balanced work–study–life experience while ensuring a fast–tracked career progression. Upon completion, the MBA experience not only adds to our credibility as professionals but also provides unlimited networking potential to benefit from even after we have graduated!"

Bahrain Graduates

Mahdav Bellamkonda, one of Strathclyde’s most recent graduates of the full–time MBA programme, made the short–list for this year’s AMBA Student of the Year Award. Although pipped at the post at the Awards Dinner on 9 November 2006, Bellamkonda has made a remarkable achievement making it to the final of this prestigious international award, particularly when the incumbent title–holder, Stephen Koepplinger, was also a Strathclyde MBA course member!
This is the ninth year of the competition, run jointly by The Independent and the Association of MBAs (AMBA). It is designed to highlight the value of the MBA, both to business and to individuals looking for ways of developing their careers. Academic Madhav Bellamkonda achievement is important, but the short–listed students must have made a higher than normal contribution to their course. They have to be all–rounders who can keep up morale: MBA ambassadors. Nominations are invited from all AMBA accredited business schools – 119 business schools in 62 countries.

A retirement lunch was held for Barry Moore of the Marketing Department on 17th November 2006. Barry had been a lecturer in the Marketing Department since December 1983 and had undertaken the duties of the Director of the MSc Marketing for around 12 years. He was also an active committee member of the Ross Priory club for many years. Outside of the University, Barry was also a very active member of the local Chartered Institute of Marketing branch, once again involved in a variety of positions within the regional committee. The retirement lunch was attended by friends throughout the University and by representatives of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Susan Hart, Gill Hogg and Rebecca Liu have been working on the MISSS – Marketing in Smart Successful Scotland – programme, sponsored by Scottish Enterprise. Based on the national concern that there are limited marketing skills within Scotland, this research project has looked at a number of inter–related issues regarding the deployment of marketing skills throughout Scottish industry and commerce. The research takes a multi–stakeholder approach, including marketers as employers, Scotland’s Top 100 firms, the SME sector, employment destinations of marketing graduates Susan Hart and an analysis of marketing opportunities for marketing graduates in Scotland. Finding are to be presented to the SE board in December. Inter alia, the research found positive association among marketing practices and heightened levels of profitability over a three year period.
In a related study, Susan Hart, Gillian Hogg and Stephen Tagg are studying the impact of marketing on Innovative Firms. This research examines the different types of marketing required for successful commercialisation of new products and services, taking a holistic view of marketing throughout both development and launch phases of the innovation process. Sponsored by Scottish Enterprise, there is an international comparative dimension to the study with similar industries in Ireland and Denmark, involving colleagues de Sousa at University College Dublin and Tore Kristensen of Copenhagen Business School.

Susan Hart has again been appointed Chair for the Judging Panel for the Marketing Excellence Awards Scotland 2007. Continuing the Marketing Department’s long standing involvement in the major marketing awards event in Scotland, this year’s competition extends to some 22 categories of marketing awards in three categories: Strategic Marketing, Marketing Communications and Champions of Marketing, which is people–focused.
Susan continues to co–ordinate, along with Christine Reid, SBS input to the Scotland PLC Awards.

A network which will help to sustain the future of British manufacturing has been launched by a lecturer at the University of Strathclyde.
Dr Jill MacBryde, a senior lecturer in Management Science, is asking academics and industry professionals to come together and assess ways of developing – and sustaining – a strong future for the manufacturing industries.
The Manufacturing Futures Network was launched at a workshop at Aston Business School Conference Centre in Birmingham on Dr Jill MacBryde Friday 17 November 2006.
Dr MacBryde said: "The idea of forming a network initially stemmed from a group of academics who were passionate about manufacturing. We hope that by bringing together a core of committed people from academia and industry, we can not only help safeguard UK manufacturing but develop and sustain it.
"Manufacturing has for centuries been a core part of the economy, producing value–added products and well–paid, highly skilled jobs. While nobody would deny the loss of a number of traditional manufacturing jobs, there are still thousands of active jobs in the sector.
"With innovative technology, management and people, manufacturing can have a very healthy future in the UK."
Speakers at the workshop will include representatives from Rolls Royce, Nissan, the Sector Skills Council (SEMTA), Renishaw and the Institute for Manufacturing at the University of Cambridge. The network is being supported by the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

A group from the current full–time Strathclyde MBA programme won the Yomp in Scotland title, in Dundee, last month.
On 16th November 2006, over 100 students came together to compete in ‘Yomp in Scotland’. The competition tested the competitive spirit of Scotland’s Higher Education Institutions, as they battled out their facilitation, negotiation and business start–up skills using Yomp, a business planning board game, as their tool.
The competition was held in the Caird Hall, Dundee, and saw participants enter with their teams to develop, plan and present a business strategy for a randomly assigned business scenario, which they tirelessly worked on during the day long competition.
The judging panel and panel of expert advisors was made up of top industry professionals from the fields of advertising and marketing, training, development and recruitment, accountancy and finance and Patent specialists.

On 7 November 2006, Jonathan Levie of the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship gave an invited public lecture entitled "Can Entrepreneurship be taught? is the wrong question" in the "Estrad – Open Lectures on Entrepreneurship and Small Business" series organised by ESBRI, the Swedish Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research Institute. Estrad is a platform where scholars meet practitioners, and a forum for new and lasting ideas. Around 150 entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship educators from schools and universities and students attended and the lecture was simultaneously webcast. Earlier in the day, Dr Levie Jonathan Levie led a workshop for 80 entrepreneurship educators from Swedish High Schools and Universities entitled: "Tips and Techniques for Entrepreneurship Educators".

Professor Alan Wilson was the invited speaker on the 1st of December at a fellows dinner of the Chartered Institute of Marketing in Singapore. His presentation is entitled "Marketing Research in an Integrated Information Age".
During November, Wilson was also the invited speaker at a Marketing Research Society Scotland event in the Corinthian, Glasgow. His presentation was entitled: "Respondents: Is there anybody out there?".

Professor Alan Wilson

The Department of Marketing hosted the company plan review event for Young Enterprise Dunbartonshire on 2nd November. Approximately 60 senior school children from East and West Dunbartonshire schools came to the University and received coaching from business advisors and Marketing Honours students on their Young Enterprise Company Plans. A Senior marketing representative of Scottish Enterprise also gave a presentation to the school children. This event is one of a number of activities where the University’s Marketing Department is working in collaboration with local schools. Professor Alan Wilson of the Marketing Department has also been appointed to the Area Board of Young Enterprise Dunbartonshire.

A new specialist programme on Executive Coaching has begun, a collaboration between SBS and the Engineering faculty for business advisers in the Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service (SMAS), a group based in Scottish Enterprise. The programme aims to equip the advisers with the attributes of an Executive Coach so that they can more effectively attract, engage with and have an impact on leaders and their teams in manufacturing organisations. Programme Director Dr Stephen Gibb said "The advice and support networks around business are waking up to the potential that re–thinking their role in Dr Stephen Gibb terms of coaching offers. SMAS has acted quickly and is a leader in taking the opportunity to integrate coaching skills into their working practices. The results of this will be something that many in similar roles throughout the UK will look to and learn from, representing a great boost to SBS reputation".

Professor Hugh Scullion, Department of Management, and Strathclyde International Business Unit reports two recent publication successes:

1. "Changing Patterns of Global Staffing in the Multinational Enterprise: Challenges to the Conventional Expatriate Assignment and Emerging Alternatives", JOURNAL OF WORLD BUSINESS. 2007 Forthcoming (with D. Collings)
2. "The Development of Female Global Managers: The Role of Hugh Scullion Mentoring" JOURNAL OF BUSINESS ETHICS

In addition, he has accepted two invitations to present research papers at international seminars at Bergen Business School, Norway and Tilburg University, Netherlands.

The inaugural Postgraduate Leadership Seminar got off to a great start on Tuesday 14 November 2006, with a full house of SBS post–graduate students attending Professor Charles Harvey’s talk on "The Principles and Practices of BREAKOUT STRATEGY".
The intention of these Seminars, most likely to be held 2 or 3 times a year, is to bring postgraduate students together from across the Faculty at a special, intellectually stimulating, and sociable event. The Dean, a Vice Dean Harvey Dean or Associate Dean will host each seminar, and it is hoped that a programme of top business people, leaders, or leading academics will engage SBS’s postgraduate community across the board.

It was standing room only for Professor Robert Wright’s engaging lecture on Thursday 30 November 2006, in the Court Senate Lecture Theatre.
The Department of Economics Professor’s talk on "Scotland’s Demographic Decline: What the Government Should be Doing and Why" was introduced by Professor Andrew Hamnett, Principal of the University of Strathclyde, and attended by academic and political colleagues, current students, business people and local press.

Prof. Robert Wright

The Marketing Staff v Honours Students 5 a side football match on Thursday 23rd November ended in victory for the staff team, 10–9. The staff squad of Kevin Ibeh, Jim Hamill, Ian Grant, Keith Dinnie, Kevin Cloherty, Sean Ennis, Michael Marck Ingrid Kajzer–Mitchell and Juliette Wilson may have had a combined age of more than double the student team, but they made up for it in footballing skill.

Around 150 new graduates attended the Graduate School of Business’s Annual Ball on Friday 3 November 2006, People’s Palace and Winter Gardens, Glasgow.
Graduates from the MBA, including attendees from the Swiss international Centre, MBM and MSc BITS programmes partied until the small hours.
It is intended that next year’s event will be a much bigger affair, and opened out to all post–graduates across the faculty. A venue has not yet been confirmed, but the newly refurbished Kelvingrove Art Galleries and Museum is a likely choice.

Department staff joined students in celebrating their achievement.