Message from a Director - Cranfield School of Management ...

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2 FORUM May 2006 Dr David Butcher Director, Open Executive Programmes Message from a Director Much progress has been made in the last two years with the School’s open programme portfolio. Historically this has been one of Cranfield’s strengths, and we have been building on that. We have also made significant progress in developing our understanding of the executive development market and our competition in the business school sector, and as a result, we are becoming ever more clear about how to position our executive development offerings. We now have a portfolio spanning the full range of faculty interests, which the client world clearly endorses. In a highly competitive open programme market, Cranfield has one of the few growing portfolios, both in terms of revenue and product offering. We are moving rapidly up in the executive education rankings, with every prospect of being in the top ten globally within the next two years. Our progress is of course based on our long established ability to deliver high levels of practical relevance to our delegates, together with our state of the art facilities, and our highly professional client management and conference staff. However, increasingly we are able to leverage the output of faculty research in the open programmes, which therefore makes both their content and learning processes unique to Cranfield. Indeed, it is now a requirement of all new open programmes that their content is based primarily on our faculty’s own thinking and research. The consequence of all this progress is a portfolio we should be proud of as a School, and our aim is for it to be recognised as world class within the next five years. We are already well on the way to that. ’Intelligent’ Fabric earns BGP grad a Summer Success When George Costa came on the Business Growth and Development programme in 2001 his company Pro-Active Textiles was under attack from all sides. Cheap imports from China and over-supply were forcing him to re-invent his business, slashing his workforce from 500 to just eight. The programme gave him the chance to re-group and re-focus and now, five years on, he has launched what is becoming the ‘must have’ buy for the summer. George has developed Intelligent Fabrics, known as iFabric, which repel mosquitos and insects, giving continuous protection and withstanding repeated washing. His range of sarongs, bandanas, ankle and wrist bands are currently on sale in 125 Boots stores, and will soon be available in all 1,300 high street and airport outlets. He developed the idea with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine after hearing about fabric impregnated with natural mosquito repellent being used by the Taiwanese Army. The final impetus came when his young daughter suffered a severe allergic reaction to traditional mosquito repellent while on holiday in Cyprus. The story of how George re-invented his business was featured in The Sunday Times on April 9, in a lengthy feature which also mentioned his participation on the BGP programme. His products have also been featured in numerous other national newspapers and he was in great demand by both radio and TV, being interviewed by BBC Radio Five Live and on the ITV This Morning programme. Children wearing the iFabric sarongs and scarves, and carrying the company mascot Arny Bear who is also impregnated with the repellent to keep mosquitos away, are pictured above. School launches Nobel Lecture Series at Hay Festival The School of Management is sponsoring two lectures at the world famous Hay Festival, which runs from May 26 to June 4 at Hay-on-Wye in Wales and is sponsored by The Guardian. Dubbed “The Woodstock of the Mind” by former US President Bill Clinton, the festival has grown since its inception in 1988 into an international festival company based in Wales, organising events around the world. This year sees the launch of the Cranfield Nobel Series, featuring lectures by Nobel prizewinners Seamus Heaney (below) and Shirin Ebadi (right). Seamus Heaney will be in conversation with Peter Florence at the festival on May 29 when he will read and discuss his new poetry collection District and Circle. Heaney was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. Shirin Ebadi’s lecture, on June 3, is entitled Iran Awakening. The Iranian lawyer and human rights activist, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, will talk about her work championing the rights of women, children and political prisoners in Tehran. Her lecture will be delivered in Iranian with simultaneous translation into English. In addition to sponsoring the lectures the School will have an exhibition space at the festival where people can ‘post’ their thoughts and ideas following the lectures. There will also be a virtual forum - The Cranfield Thinkspace - where participants can share their thoughts. The most innovative ‘thought’ submitted to the forum at www.cranfieldsom.info/think will win a place on the School’s Confident and Creative Presentation course. News Corporate Partner ARM has joined EWS Railway Ltd as a founding partner of the Cranfield Corporate Partnership programme. ARM, based in Cambridge, designs technology that lies at the heart of advanced digital products, from mobile phones and digital cameras to game consoles and automotive systems. Membership of the programme is rectricted to 15 companies during the first year and offers members a wide range of benefits including a dedicated, online, members portal; access to the School’s latest research; preferential rates on selected programmes and early opportunities to meet and recruit Cranfield students. Bill Parsons, ARM Executive Vice President - Human Resources, said: “Cranfield teaches leading management theory grounded in very practical, applied terms - it is a school of management in touch with the real world. Two members of ARM’s Board, and a number of other senior managers, have undertaken MBAs at Cranfield. We are pleased to be members of the partnership and are confident that this collaborative environment will deliver excellent opportunities for all involved.” BGP keeps on Growing The School’s Business Growth and Development Programme will run three times during 2006, as demand for places keeps increasing. BGP is the UK’s biggest programme for ambitious owner-managers who want to accelerate their firms’ growth - and develop themselves as leaders. It has run every year since 1988 and over 750 businesses have taken part. In 2005 BGP expanded from one to two programmes a year and this year BGP is growing yet again, to a third programme which will run in September. One hundred owner-managers have already accepted places on the 2006 programmes - and the demand continues. Programme Director Gerard Burke (right) said: “We are responding to the demand in the market from ambitious ownermanagers who believe they can achieve more. We can help them accelerate their rate of growth - and build their own skills as business leaders. Businesses that take part are already outstripping their peers - and after BGP their sales and profits both grow faster.” A series of free BGP briefing seminars will take place on Monday 5 June 2006 and Monday July 10 at The Institute of Directors in London at 6.30 pm, and at Cranfield at 8.30am on Tuesday June 20 and 29. For more information see www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/groups/enterprise/credo/ CIMA Scholarship for MBA The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) has announced the award of a fully paid scholarship to a CIMA Sri Lanka member for the MBA programme. The scholarship, which will provide full tuition fees for a student to follow the full-time programme, is valued at approximately eight million rupees. The offer is available exclusively to Sri Lankan CIMA members who will be short-listed for the award based on a technical competition, and is currently being conducted by the CIMA Sri Lanka Division.
In the News Highlights of media coverage during March and April include: Consulting Review, Capgemini’s magazine for consultants and key contacts, featured an article by Professor Keith Goffin, Dr Rick Mitchell and Dr Palie Smart about why innovation should be embedded within an organisation. MBA Business, AMBA’s quarterly publication, included Professor Michael Osbaldeston’s top three business books. Executive MBA Director Graham Clark and Ian West (EMBA 2005) were also quoted extensively in the popularity and value of EMBA programmes. The Financial Times (April 24) featured the announcement that the School has been selected by Shell as one of four universities worldwide as an academic partner in its Project Academy. This news was also featured by the Austin Business Journal, WebWire (Atlanta), Austin American Statesman, eSource Canada Business News and ft.com The Sunday Times (April 23) produced its annual Rich List which included Nigel Doughty (MBA 1984), and Elena Ambrosiadou (MBA 1988). The Times (April 20) profiled Warren East (EMBA 1990), chief executive of ARM Holdings. It also featured the School’s new programme ‘Performance at the Limit’ in its Course Watch column. The Weekly Telegraph and www.telegraph.co.uk (April 18) reported that the Cranfield Centipede would be running in the London Marathon. The Daily Telegraph (April 18) reported Cranfield research into the number of board directors from ethnic minority backgrounds. FT.com (April 12) reported the launch of the Cranfield Corporate Partnership - an initiative aimed at allowing industry and education to work together to develop a mutually beneficial relationship. The Financial Times (April 11) published a letter by Dr Arnoud Franken following the article ‘Big bang in defence’. FT.com (April 9) commented on the growing number of schools in China that have forged links with their counterparts in other countries of the world. The article mentioned the School’s relationship with the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai. The Sunday Times (April 9) profiled former Business Growth and Development programme participant George Costa who was forced to dramatically change his company due to foreign competition. See page 2. The Financial Times (April 8) quoted Marek Szwejczewski in a profile of Anthonty Alan Foods. He stated the importance of picking suppliers carefully to ensure they are closely tied to the interests of your company. The Sunday Times (April 2) quoted Martin Clarke on research he’s carried out with senior managers from five thriving UK organisations which shows that as businesses become more dependent on stakeholders, being able to work with those with competing interests is crucial. Logestic Magazine published an article by Professor Richard Wilding about supply chain risk management. The magazine is based in Santiago, Chile, but is distributed across Latin America. America Economia featured the new Director’s Diversity Bursaries available to international students applying for the 2006/07 MBA programme from China, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Africa. The Times (March 23) named Cranfield as one of Europe’s ten most popular talent pools for MBA recruits. Personnel Today (March 21) reported the latest Recruitment Confidence Index findings which reveal that UK employers are recruiting from Easter Europe to fill combat skill shortages. Retail Week (March 15) quoted Dr Paul Chapman in an article about source tagging. Retailers can save time and money by persuading manufacturers to tag products at source. Source tagging involves attaching tags, such as electronic article surveillance or radio frequency ID (RFID) tags, to products in factories. The Financial Times (March 15) quoted Dr Richard Schoenberg’s views on mergers in an article about integrating two companies . The Times (March 23) featured the new Challenging the Managerial Mindset programme in its Course Watch column. Media coverage Online Details of all School of Management media mentions (both press and broadcast) are available via a searchable online database at www.cranfield.ac.uk/university/press/activity/ Details of all School media mentions from January 1, 2005, are included on the database which is updated on a daily basis by the School’s Press Office. FORUM May 2006 3 Media Watch Professor Mike Sweeney was interviewed by BBC Three Counties radio on April 19 following the announcement of the closure of the Peugeot plant. Séan Rickard appeared on Sky News on April 9, commenting on the possibly impact of bird flu in the UK. He was also interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live’s breakfast programme on April 7 on the same subject. Murray Steele was interviewed by BBC Radio 5 Live on April 3 on behavioural motivation from a business perspective. It followed several outbursts, both on and off the football pitch, by Manchester City manager Stuart Pierce. Professor Michael Osbaldeston was interviewed on BBC 3 Counties Radio on March 17, following the news that the School had been awarded development funding of £375,000. Financial Times Masters School of Management faculty secured three features in the recent Mastering Uncertainty series, published by the Financial Times and sponsored by Ernst and Young. Professor Keith Goffin and visiting lecturer Dr Rick Mitchell contributed an article about new product development; Dr Andrew White (who was commissioned to write the piece before he left Cranfield) and Professor John Bessant wrote about how companies can embrace new ways of thinking; and Professor Richard Wilding had a feature published on uncertainty and chaos in the supply chain. The newspaper is publishing another four-part Mastering series from May 29, this time on Mastering Financial Management. Three members of Cranfield faculty have been commissioned to write for this series: Professor Keith Goffin, Professor Andy Neely and Dr Marek Szwejczewski (with Sri Srikanthan).
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