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Strathclyde rugby players celebrate success

Strathclyde Business School students and rugby players Jamie Dobie and Stafford McDowall have reason to celebrate – their club team Glasgow Warriors has just won the international United Rugby Championship in Pretoria in front of a crowd of 50,000 supporters.

Jamie is a third year undergraduate Business student while Stafford is doing a Business Management degree via a Graduate Apprenticeship.

The United Rugby Championship is a global club rugby league where 16 teams from five powerhouse nations compete across two hemispheres to become the URC champion. The URC is made up of four teams from Ireland, four from South Africa, four from Wales, two from Italy and two from Scotland.

Jamie (23), originally from Inverness, plays for Glasgow Warriors and is one of the youngest to sign for the club on a full-time basis.
A keen tennis player, Jamie played both rugby and tennis for a time before settling on rugby while at high school. He signed for Glasgow Warriors as a professional player at the age of 18. Jamie has represented Scotland at U16 and U18 level, captaining Scotland under-18s during 2018/19 season.

Stafford (26), originally from Dumfries, made his debut for Glasgow Warriors in October 2017, signing his first professional contact with them in 2018. He has played with Scotland internationally at U18 and U20 level and has also captained the Glasgow Warriors on several occasions.

The Glasgow Warriors played against the Vodacom Bulls in the June final, emerging winners with a 21-16 scoreline.

Jamie is supported at Strathclyde by a university scholarship, the Performance Sport Scholarship programme, which enables young athletes to flourish within their chosen sports as well as on an academic level. Each athlete receives support including flexible academic study options, strength and conditioning services at a world class facility, world-class sports science and medical support, athlete lifestyle support workshops, and financial assistance towards training and competition costs.

The two business school students also have two team-mates at Strathclyde – Max Williamson and Alex Samuel – who also played their part in the Glasgow Warriers success: both played in previous rounds of the competition and Max in the final, and both are also Performance Sport Scholars at Strathclyde.

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM): Women now as entrepreneurial as men in Scotland

Women are starting and running new businesses at virtually the same rate as men for the first time, while one in five entrepreneurs are non-white, according to new analysis of entrepreneurship activity in Scotland.

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report found 8.6% of working-age women were actively engaged in setting up a business or already running an enterprise in 2023, slightly lower than men at 9.8%, a difference which is not statistically significant.

Globally, GEM finds that the female to male gap in entrepreneurship rates is narrowing, but Scotland appears to lead the way on this.

Rates amongst the 250,000-strong non-white population in Scotland also reached a new high of 24.1% – around one in five of the estimated 300,000 individuals in the working-age population of 3.3 million 18-64-year-olds who are engaged in early-stage entrepreneurial activity.

At 9.1% Scotland’s overall ‘total early-stage entrepreneurial activity’ (TEA) rate, however, remains the lowest amongst the nations of the UK.

Regional differences

The GEM report – compiled by the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Strathclyde, surveyed 2,060 adults in Scotland – as well as 40 entrepreneurship experts – as part of the wider UK and global reports.

The Scottish poll found significant regional differences in TEA rates amongst men and women, with the North East having the lowest level of activity by women (9.6%) – at almost half the rate of men (18.6%) – whilst women had higher levels than men in Southern Scotland at 8% against 6.5%.

Among the Home Nations, Scotland’s TEA rate was nominally the lowest in 2023. Wales returned the highest TEA rate at 11.5% with England second at 10.8%, and Northern Ireland recording a TEA of 9.7%

Fear of failure remains a significant barrier to entrepreneurial activity in Scotland; while a third of Scots perceive good start-up opportunities in their area, more than 60% say a fear of failure would prevent them for establishing a business.

In addition, the entrepreneurship experts canvassed by the GEM survey rated 12 out of 13 conditions for entrepreneurialism in Scotland as ‘barely satisfactory’. These included entrepreneurial education in school, ease of financing, government policies and research and development transfer.

Growing diversity

Dr Samuel Mwaura, of the University of Edinburgh Business School, said, “The two major developments in 2023 are the record high rates for non-white individuals and women, reflecting a growing diversity amongst the countries business community.

“Effectively, of the 300,000 or so early-stage entrepreneurs setting up a business in Scotland in 2023, roughly half were women. This is a landmark moment of significant consequence for female entrepreneurship discourse and policy in this country.

Professor Sreevas Sahasranamam of the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow, said, “Over the past three years, early-stage entrepreneurial rate in Scotland has settled at around 10 percent of the population – broadly similar in the last three years since COVID-19.

"However, it is worth highlighting that a panel of entrepreneurship experts judged the context for entrepreneurship in Scotland to be generally mediocre, with the level of support for women’s entrepreneurship worryingly evaluated as less than satisfactory scoring under three out of ten."

Professor Stathis Tapinos of Strathclyde Business School at the University of Strathclyde, said, “While Scotland reached new milestones with female and minority ethnic early-stage entrepreneurial activity, concerns remain around rates of established business, fear of failure, and the general context for entrepreneurship in Scotland with worrying evaluations by the expert panel.

“Understanding these and other issues related to entrepreneurial attitudes, perceptions and activity in the country is important for policy and practice as entrepreneurship has important implications for the economy and many societal dynamics.”

Board of Editors appointment for Hunter Centre academic

Dr Aylin Ates, Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation, has been appointed as a member of the Board of Editors at RTM (Research-Technology Management) journal.

Research-Technology Management (RTM) is an award-winning peer-reviewed journal in the fields of innovation management, R&D management, and technology management. The journal has been publishing practitioner-oriented original research since 1957. RTM seeks articles that connect innovation and strategy theories to the practice of innovation management. RTM is the journal of Innovation Research Interchange (IRI), a division of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

Aylin said, “I’m delighted to be appointed as a member of the Board of Editors at RTM. RTM aims to bridge theory with practice for impactful research, which aligns well with my work in manufacturing, SMEs, strategy and resilience."

Marketing Department presents end of year prizes to students

As The Marketing Department closes on another successful year, they were delighted to celebrate the hard work and dedication of students with Best in Marketing Class Prizes.

Elizabeth McKee and Dr Jane Johnstone hosted a prize giving ceremony, awarding students with certificates and vouchers.

First year students Promise Forti and David Allan won Best in Class for Introduction to Marketing and Entrepreneurship. Second Year Prizes were awarded to Niamh Casey for Understanding Consumers and Markets, and Cara Olivia for Services and Retail Marketing. In Third Year, Prizes went to Anna Shields for Marketing Communications in the Digital Age, and Chloe McDerment for Marketing Strategy in an International Context.

Six postgraduate students receive GARP scholarships

Six Strathclyde postgraduate students from the Department of Accounting and Finance have been awarded scholarships to complete the Financial Risk Management (FRM) exam with the Global Association of Risk Professional (GARP).

GARP is a non-partisan, not-for-profit membership organisation serving the risk management industry. Founded in 1996, GARP advances the profession through education, research and promotion of best practices through the GARP Risk Institute, GARP Benchmarking Initiative and an array of informational and certification programmes. GARP has 200,000 members in more than 190 countries and territories and has certified more than 50,000 professionals.

These scholarships will cover the FRM Part II Exam, including the exam fee and e-books.  The FRM Exam Part I is a 100-question multiple choice exam emphasising the tools used to assess financial risk: foundations of risk management, quantitative analysis, financial markets and products, and valuation and risk models. Part I is offered via computer-based testing (CBT) in May, August, and November 2024.  On completion of this students would then go on to complete the part II exam.

The FRM is the true standard for educational excellence in risk management and a gateway to achieving new career heights in the risk profession. It has an elite network that spans over 80,000 individuals employed at the world’s top banks, asset management firms, consulting firms, and regulators.

When the FRM launched 25 years ago risk management was more of a loosely defined function than a profession. From the beginning GARP made sure the programme was shaped by top risk minds, guaranteeing it would evolve to meet the real-world needs of both practitioners and their firms. Risk management took a leap forward following the Global Financial Crisis, and the FRM cemented its status as the gold standard of risk certifications by preparing candidates to succeed in this newly prominent field.

Professor Andrew Marshall was instrumental in bringing these scholarships to Strathclyde Business School and he has successfully awarded these to the benefit of students for a number of years now.

Strathclyde joins the EconBiz Partner Network

Lorna McNally, Research & Learning Support Manager in the Andersonian Library and Business Faculty Librarian for Strathclyde Business School, recently attended the EBSLG conference at the Prague University of Economics and Business. While there, she signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Thorsten Meyer, Chief Librarian and Deputy Director of ZBW – Leibniz-Information Centre for Economics.

Strathclyde is now a member of the EconBiz Partner Network, joining partner libraries from across the world to share knowledge and best practice, and to enable open access to research in business and economics.

Strathclyde will now begin work with ZBW colleagues to harvest Strathclyde’s scholarly economic content for the EconStor repository, increasing dissemination through services such as RePec, search engines and academic databases. More than 700 institutions across the world use EconStor to disseminate their publications.

Case Centre scholarship for Hunter Centre academic’s cybersecurity project

Dr Sharon Lemac-Vincere, Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation, has been awarded a scholarship by The Case Centre to develop a strategic business case study on cybersecurity, with a focus on the space sector and NASA.

This scholarship will be used to create resources linked to the case, which Sharon hopes will enhance both academic research and practical application in these critical fields.

Female entrepreneurship event

Dr Norin Arshed, Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation, was involved in an event on female entrepreneurship that Strathclyde Business School co-hosted and sponsored.

Entitled “Female Entrepreneurship at the Periphery – Where Imperfections are Gifts," it was held on June 11, from 10.30am to 12.30pm at the Civic House in Glasgow.

The session had a number of engaging lineup of speakers, inspiring stories and action-oriented discussions, and concluded with a networking lunch.

Norin Arshed was invited by Professor Bill Harley, Chair of the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies (SAMS)  to become a SAMS Trustee. She starts her role as a Trustee on 1st August.

Award for PGR students

SEDA UK (Staff and Educational Development Association), in collaboration with JISC, have awarded the University of Strathclyde Doctoral Researchers Group’s Doctoral School Multidisciplinary Symposium (DMS) 2023 Committee the Student Partnership Impact Award 2024.

Valerie Ingram and David Scott, postgraduate researchers at the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation, are two of the 12-strong group of postgraduate research students from across the University who won the award.

Valerie’s research is about education and how it can change the entrepreneurial mindset to be more ethical and sustainable. David’s research is focused on the theme of followership.

Seven postgraduate students receive CFA Level 1 scholarships

Seven Strathclyde postgraduate students from the MSc in Finance and the MSc Investment and Finance have been awarded scholarships to complete level 1 of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).  The Department is an Affiliate Institution to the CFA and this allows students to achieve one of the highest distinctions in the investment management profession.

The CFA charter gives students expertise and real-world skills in investment analysis.  There are more than 190,000 professionals who have been recognised globally for their commitment to ethics and professionalism.

These scholarships will pay for the students to undertake level 1 CFA exam which covers the following topics:

• Ethical and Professional Standards
• Tools
  • Quantitative Methods
  • Economics
  • Financial Statement Analysis
• Portfolio Management and Analysis
  • Corporate Issuers
  • Portfolio Management
• Assets
  • Equity Investments
  • Fixed Income
  • Derivatives
  • Alternative Investments

Our MSc programmes in Finance and Investment & Finance will ensure that most Level I candidates have already mastered many introductory financial concepts as part of their studies.

KWC Global features in Diamond Jubilee event

As part of the University of Strathclyde’s Diamond jubilee, Strathclyde Business School hosted an event featuring Russell Wardrop from KWC Global.

Russell delivered an excellent keynote on “How to Make the Rain” which was attended by our current MBA students, as well as MBA alumni who were back on campus taking electives and our wider Masters students with a focus on celebrating the University of Strathclyde’s Diamond Jubilee.

The students were taught about the art of selling and more specifically making elevator pitches about themselves.

Camila Rae, MBA External Engagement Officer, who organised the event, said, “The energy in the room was exceptional - thanks again to Russell and the KWC team for this inspirational session!”

Russell Wardrop said, “It was a pleasure to come and work with such a vibrant and charming group.”

PhD student blog

As part of her studies, PhD student Lin Batten, Department of Work, Employment and Organisation, published an article on the Common Agricultural Policy and wrote a short blog about it for the Strathclyde Law Blog.

The blog post can be read on the Law School webpage

SEED involved in Celtic FC survey

The Celtic FC Fans’ Survey 2024 was launched on Tuesday, July 2 – a project developed in collaboration with Strathclyde Business School’s Executive Education and Development department (SEED).

Celtic Football Club is seeking the opinions of their fanbase to help guide the decision-making at the Club, and Strathclyde were asked to get involved as an impartial provider to design, monitor and analyse the results of the survey. This is the biggest survey to ever be commissioned by Celtic FC and demonstrates the importance of supporter engagement to the Club. SEED is delighted to be able to assist the Club in strengthening the voice of their fans.