Alumni Magazine for Durham Business School Spring 2011 Issue 19

IN THIS ISSUE: INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE IN US AND EUROPEAN EQUITY TRADING//MAPPING ORGANISATIONAL VIRTUE//ENTERPRISE INVESTMENT IN CHINA//GETTING THINGS DONE

“we are in an ‘arms race’ of technology…think of a runner turning up at the start line for a competitive marathon race and turning to their right to see that the competitor has a formula one car”see page 16

agora NEW

S Business School

The 25th Anniversary of the Durham MBA at Durham Business School, 03 to 05 June 2011FRIDAY: The Durham Convention

ENTREPRENEURSHIP:James Averdieck, Founder and MD of Gu Chocolate Puds

BRAND MARKETING:Gavin Miller, CMI incorporating Edinburgh International Film Festival

LEADERSHIP:Rona Cant, Arctic Explorer/Adventurer

THE ECONOMY:Adam Shaw, Award winning financial reporter and BBC presenter

SUNDAY: A round of golf

Join fellow alumni for a round of Golf at Mount Oswald Golf Club.

For full details of how to sign up visit: www.agora.org.uk or email dbs.alumni@durham.ac.uk

In the evening, enjoy an insight into the world class beers of Durham Brewery, a local family-owned micro-brewery.There is no charge, but booking is essential.

SATURDAY: MBA Refresher Sessions

MARKETING:Professor Amanda Broderick

MANAGING PEOPLE:Dr Peter Hamilton

ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY:Professor Geoff Moore

FINANCE:Professor Bart Taub

LEADERSHIP:Professor Timothy Clark

INNOVATION:Dr Pierpaolo Andriani

Afterwards, enjoy an evening of good food and entertainment at the Alumni Ball at Durham City’s newest hotel – The Radisson Blu. (Tickets £30, booking essential).

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Dean’s Welcome Alumni – UpdateI would like to start by wishing allour alumni and supporters a happy,healthy and prosperous 2011.Something that I will alwaysremember about the outgoing yearis the series of fantastic studentinitiatives that raised money forcharity through sporting and socialactivities. In December, the currentfull-time MBA cohort kicked offtheir Class Gift appeal with aChristmas boat cruise on the RiverWear. Despite snow and freezingtemperatures, more than £1000was raised. The cohort is nowplanning a series of activitiesthroughout 2011 raise sufficientfunds to provide a scholarship for a future MBA student. Keepinformed of their next event andhow you can support them viaAgoraweb and our facebook pages.

We hope you will enjoy this latestedition of Agoranews, with its range of faculty and alumni contributions.Highlights in this issue include theprofile of alumnus and HighCommissioner, David Collins (page14), who talks about the varied andexciting career that has taken himacross five continents. We introducesocial media and digital networksexpert, Mariann Hardey, who recentlyjoined the DBS faculty (page 11), andhear about recent Local Associationactivities around the globe (page 18).

There is a wealth of research piecesthat cover investment in China (page6), issues on ethics in the modernworkplace (page 8), innovation inequity trading (page 16), and whatdrives motivation (page 22).

I am incredibly pleased to say that we now have more than 3000 alumniregistered on our online community,Agoraweb. Upon registering, membersreceive an Agora membership card andaccess to a range of business journalsand databases including EBSCO andDatamonitor 360. Also on the site are an international jobs board andrecordings of recent guest lectures. If you have feedback or suggestions for the alumni association, wish tobecome a member, or check if you are already registered, please emailme on a.l.sedgwick@durham.ac.uk.

Alexandra SedgwickAlumni Relations & Development Manager

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish a happy NewYear to you all. Following successful re-accreditationby EQUIS in December, the School received somemore good news in January when we learnt that DBSis positioned 55th in the world in the 2011 FinancialTimes Global MBA ranking. For more detail on thatstory visit our School news section. We hope that2011 continues to bring good news and greatdevelopments for Durham Business School.

Winter congregation took place onFriday 14 January and we welcomedover 250 graduates and guests to a celebratory reception at DBS – acollage of photographs of the day’sevents can be found on page 15. Manyof you will be aware that Bill Bryson is stepping down as Chancellor laterthis year so this was one of the lastopportunities to see him conferringdegrees at the Congregation ceremonyin Durham Cathedral. The Universityhas set up a discussion on LinkedInfor alumni to suggest who the nextChancellor should be. To contribute to the discussion about Bill’s successor,please visit the ‘Durham UniversityAlumni’ group on LinkedIn.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the forthcoming MBA’s 25thAnniversary Celebration Weekend.Dates and a full agenda are nowconfirmed. Events will include:refresher courses from current faculty in HR, Finance, Marketing,Leadership, Innovation and Ethics;guest lectures, and a chance to relaxand be entertained at a gala ball,complete with Durham University’s Big Band. Faculty, past and present,will be joining us to celebrate oursilver jubilee and we look forward to welcoming representatives fromacross the 25 years.

Speaking of our heritage and history,on page 25 new member of DBS staff,Jason Coleman, explains his role as Development Executive and itssignificance for the future of ourbusiness school. Jason and I wouldwelcome your ideas, comments, oroffers of support on this importantsubject.

Finally, I would like to thank everyonefor their support of the Schoolthroughout 2010, and I look forward to sharing many more successes withyou in 2011.

Professor Rob Dixon, Dean

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Enterprise Investment in ChinaEnterprise investment plays a major role both in long-runeconomic growth and in business cycle fluctuations. This is particularly relevant in the Chinese context, where fixedassets investment as a share of GDP has been exceptionallyhigh since the start of economic reforms, rising from anaverage of 29 percent between 1978 and 1993, to anaverage of 36 percent thereafter. Recent research showsthat it is enterprise investment (rather than household orgovernment investment) that distinguishes China from othercountries, and interprets most of the cyclical variation ofChina’s total investment over time as an outcome of theindustrial reforms, which led to a high share of industry in GDP. Understanding the determinants of enterpriseinvestment decisions in China is therefore important, in particular for policy purposes.

The effects of a high investment rateon the Chinese economy are, however,controversial. On the one hand, thehigh investment rate and dramaticinvestment-generated improvements in technology and productivity havebeen seen as the main driving forcesbehind China’s rapid economic growthover the last three decades. Forinstance, high investment broughtabout structural change and led to an enhancement in the efficiency of resource allocation: the fastaccumulation of capacity induced a reallocation of labour from low-productivity agriculture to high-productivity industry and servicesectors. On the other hand, theinvestment boom has been considereda primary source of the country’simbalances. There is concern that with an underdeveloped financialsystem, too much investment maycreate industrial overcapacity,generate inefficiency, and threatenprofits and employment in China.

I summarise here the findings of threepapers, all joint with Sai Ding fromGlasgow University and John Knightfrom the University of Oxford, whichare part of an ESRC-funded projectaimed at providing an understandingof the factors that influence Chinesefirms’ investment decisions. All threepapers make use of a panel of morethan 100,000 firms over the period2000-2007, drawn from the ChineseNational Bureau of Statistics.

Our first paper ‘Investment andfinancing constraints in China: doesworking capital management make a difference?’ analyses the linkagesbetween investment in fixed andworking capital and financingconstraints. We find that, in thepresence of adverse cash flow shocks,those firms characterised by highworking capital are able to adjust theirworking capital investment, keepingtheir fixed capital investment relativelyhigh. We then show that those firms

whose working capital investmentreacts most to cash flow shocks, andwhose fixed capital investment reactsleast to cash flow shocks are thosecharacterised by the highest fixedinvestment rates. This suggests thatgood working capital management may help firms to alleviate the effectsof financing constraints on fixedinvestment, and may provide anexplanation for why the financiallyconstrained private Chinese firms wereable to invest and grow at spectacularrates in recent years, despite severefinancing constraints.

Our second paper ‘Negative investmentin China: financing constraints andrestructuring versus growth’ attemptsto explain why despite high aggregateinvestment and remarkable economicgrowth, negative net investment iscommonly found at the microeconomiclevel. We test three hypotheses toexplain the existence and extent ofnegative investment in each ownershipgroup: what we term the efficiency (or restructuring) hypothesis, the (lackof) financing hypothesis, and the(slow) growth hypothesis. We find thatnegative investment by state-ownedfirms can be explained mainly byinefficiency: owing to over-investmentor mis-investment in the past, thesefirms have had to restructure and to get rid of obsolete capital in theface of increasing competition andhardening budgets. The financingexplanation holds for private firms,which have had to divest in order toraise capital. However, rapid economic

growth weighs against both effects for all types of firms, with a largerimpact for firms in the private and foreign sectors.

Our last paper ‘Does China overinvest?Evidence from a panel of Chinesefirms’ addresses the hotly-debatedquestion of whether or not Chinesefirms overinvest. We initially calculatemeasures of investment efficiency,which is typically negatively associatedwith overinvestment. Despite widedisparities across various ownershipgroups, industries and regions, we findthat corporate investment in China has become increasingly efficient over time. However, based on directmeasures of overinvestment that we subsequently calculate, we findevidence of overinvestment for alltypes of firms, even in the mostefficient and most profitable privatesector. We find that, in the privatesector, overinvestment is caused byexcess cash flow, while in the statesector it is attributable to the poorscreening and monitoring ofenterprises by banks.

Our findings have important policyimplications. Investment is typicallyviewed as a source of ‘boom-bust’cycles. The Chinese economy facesthe significant risk of its investmentboom turning to bust, as a consequence

of investment misallocation. This couldbring China’s rapid economic growth to an end. It is crucial for China toavoid the danger of switching from the current ‘virtuous circle’ (highinvestment, fast economic growth,robust confidence, and further highinvestment) to a ‘vicious circle’.

Our analysis will inform the currentdebate about the policy challengesstemming from China’s remarkablyhigh investment. The Chinesegovernment should curb imprudentinvestments by over-capitalized firmsand reduce inefficiency in capitalallocation and utilization. Resourcescould therefore be freed to boost socialspending and private consumption.

China has been an engine of globaleconomic growth, contributing onaverage one-quarter of the annualgrowth rate of the world economysince 1978. Reinforcing the resilienceof the Chinese economy is ofimportance for the promotion of globaleconomic development and worldpoverty reduction, especially in theface of the recent global economicslowdown. Hence, a thoroughunderstanding of the key growthdriving force, capital accumulation, is of serious significance not only for China, but also for the rest of the world.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATIONFor more faculty working papers and supplementary reading on investment in China by Alessandra, please visit www.dur.ac.uk/dbs/faculty/working-papers

Alessandra Guariglia joined DurhamBusiness School as Professor ofFinancial Economics in April 2009. She is Head of Department ofAccounting & Finance and Head of the Department of Economics.

Her research interests are in the areas of financial economics andmacroeconomics.

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Mapping organisational virtue How virtuous is your business?

In this article I would like to suggest that we can usefully get away from discussions ofCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and focus instead on ‘organisational virtue’, andalthough this might sound like a rather philosophical ‘take’ on organisations (and it is),I also want to demonstrate that it has very practical implications.

I want to suggest that there are two dimensions along which we can make a judgementabout organisational virtue and that we can make some sort of assessment of where anyorganisation is on those two dimensions, and do it over time so that we then have a map.I want to suggest that we can then see not only where we would like the organisation tomove to if it is to become ‘better’ (which does not necessarily mean more successful inconventional terms), but also how it might get there.

I will illustrate this with a practical and real-life example based on some of my research,although I shall not name the organisation to preserve its confidentiality.

Geoff Moore is Professor of BusinessEthics and Deputy Dean (Learning & Teaching). His research interestslie particularly in the application of virtue ethics to businessorganisations. He has publishedwidely on this and other aspects of Business Ethics/Corporate Social Responsibility and sits on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Business Ethics, Business EthicsQuarterly and Business Ethics: a European Review.

TWO DIMENSIONS FORORGANISATIONAL VIRTUEThe first dimension of organisationalvirtue is do with the purpose of theorganisation. Why are we here? Whatdifference do our goods or servicesreally make in contributing to a societythat is a better place to live? I am notaware that these kinds of discussiontake place with any regularity (or atall?) within corporate boardrooms. Nor does the conventional approach to CSR put such issues on the agendabecause CSR has become increasinglya strategic matter – aligning the CSRstrategy with corporate strategy so that it makes its contribution to thebottom line.

This is because conventional corporategovernance and the kind of CSR thatgoes with it – shareholder-orientedcorporate governance – assumes thatthis kind of debate is already decided.The ends of business are already givenand it’s all about shareholder value.But the way of thinking about businessthat I am advocating raises questions

on precisely this point. It suggests that the ends, or purpose, are neverabout shareholder value or, moregenerally, success, but are alwaysabout the contribution a businessmakes to society.

So the question that ought to be goingon inside a business (and on which we could form some kind of judgmenteven if not easily a quantitative one) is this: to what extent do the goodsand/or services that the businessproduces contribute to the overridinggood of the community? This isobviously challenging for tobaccocompanies, armaments manufacturersand so on (some of which, of course, dorather well in CSR terms). But even forother businesses these are serious andsignificant questions which ought todemand Board time on a regular basis.

The second dimension is to do withexcellence and success. The idea isthis. It is possible to ask a business,through its managers, what it means to be an excellent x, y or z type of

business. Managers seem to have nodifficulty talking about the excellenceof their products, customer service,the way they treat their staff, aboutbeing socially and environmentallyresponsible and so on. It is alsopossible to ask how the businessmeasures success. This leads toanother list, which is likely to befinancially oriented but also to have other measures like customersatisfaction that feed in to success.Then I’ve asked the managers to scorewhere the business is now on excellenceversus success out of 10 (so 8-2, 5-5,3-7 would all be possible scores but 7-5 wouldn’t). I’ve also asked themwhere the organisation has been in the past (to get the time dimension),and what they think the ideal score for any business is.

We can then map this on a simplegrid, as shown below – and this usesthe data from the research I’ve done toillustrate how it works in practice.

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A CASE STUDY: MAPPINGORGANISATIONAL VIRTUEIt seems clear that the virtuousorganisation has a good purpose and places the emphasis just on theexcellence side of success-excellence.The managers I interviewed on averagescored the ideal business as focusingon excellence over success by 5.1 to 4.9 – so they recognised the needfor some kind of balance but thatexcellence should be prioritised oversuccess. The vicious organisation (to use the technical term since theopposite of virtue is vice) occupies the bottom of the diagram though I suspect most organisations with a bad purpose are also successoriented (bottom left).

The business organisation in which I did my research had an interestinghistory – it had come about as a result of a merger of two separateorganisations A and B. So in this case I was able to get a sense of the position of the two organisationsbefore they merged. Hence A had thesuccess-excellence balance aboutright but did not have such a goodpurpose as B. B, however, was clearlymuch more success oriented. Themerger caused moderation on bothdimensions, so AB was less successoriented than B but had a better

purpose than A. In terms of where theorganisation was going (the mergerhaving happened relatively recently),the interviewees thought it was movingin the right direction as far as purposewas concerned (the dotted arrowpointing vertically up from AB) butalso moving in a more success-orienteddirection (the horizontal dotted arrow)as the achievement of financial resultsbecame more pressing. Combine thosetwo and it can be seen that theorganisation was moving away from the virtuous position – at roughly 90°to where it should be going if it wantedto be virtuous.

In one sense it is a fairly easy task tomap your own organisation onto a gridlike this although, as so often, it is theprocess (and wide engagement in it)that is important as well as the resultsthat emerge. But this should also leadto a discussion about which directionthe organisation is headed in, whetherthat is the desired direction and, if not, what might be done about it.And all of that ought to be a lot more profound than discussions of (strategic) CSR.

SO HOW VIRTUOUS IS YOURBUSINESS?

What is your current role?Officially, my title is Lecturer inMarketing, but I would rather work on the ‘hidden’ aspects of the role thatemphasise the positioning of digitaltechnology and the organisation of social information in everyday life.

What are the most challengingparts of your job?I find that the most challenging aspectsof the job involve the perpetuation andmomentum of academic thought intostudent knowledge. It is daunting howbright, savvy and engaged our students at Durham Business School are. As anacademic you need to be prepared tomake a fine-grained analysis of what is going on in the world around you; at cultural and social change, and,increasingly, the effect on consumerengagement, style and content. For me,these issues bubble to the surface asagenda for original research, activated by the transformation of research into a learning experience with students atDurham University. I constantly strive to respond to and fulfil their aspirationto participate in the many-to-manyconversations that perhaps we asacademics have traditionally enjoyedbehind closed doors.

What do you want to achieve?Rather ambitiously I would like to achievean open platform for a research andlearning dialogue. This means workingwith and from the students up, to be ableto apply the enhancement of their poolof intellectual capital into any learningagenda. If there is one thing that mytime as a student at university provided it was connections. For the students whoare privileged enough to attend DurhamBusiness School, the relationships thatthey develop will be formative for therest of their lives. A major achievementfor me would be for those students to be able to look back at their time atDurham and realise that the support,encouragement and inspiration toachieve a professional position cameabout because of academics like me.

What drives you?I once described myself as ‘ruthlesslyambitious’, what I meant was that I act upon and enjoy the independentcapability of being a professional womanin a role that is both completely dauntingand totally wonderful. It is this kind ofchallenge that gets me up early every day.

What was the best career adviceyou were given?Never ask something of anyone beforeyou have something that you can offer to them.

What advice can you offer to students andalumni thinking of an academic career?My advice for anyone in pursuit of anacademic career is to be inspired by yourday today and everyday. When you findthat topic of interest that can hold yourattention at any given time, then this will be a constant source of inspirationand you will want to interrogate it andcirculate it to others. This means thatacademia can itself be most rewarding,however the continual creation andrecreation of original ideas requiresattention and dedication. At times it canbe exhausting. But it is never, ever dull.

What are you currently working on at Durham Business School?I have several research agenda that I am working on. My leading project for2011 will be a prospective commercialcollaboration, researching digitalconsumer content in relation to realtime broadcast television. I am hopingthat there will be an opportunity to enjoyan innovative and creative researchdesign, and that this will add to thelearning culture for the students atDurham Business School. There is nogreater compliment than when theapplication of research concepts areunderstood, anticipated and usedamongst the upcoming professionalcommunity.

You can email Mariann at:e.mariann.hardey@durham.ac.uk

Dr Mariann Hardey, Lecturer in Marketing Mariann is a social media professional and academic. She is the BBCNorth East commentator for social media and digital networks. Sheread literature at the University of Sussex and later undertook aresearch MA followed by a PhD at the University of York. In her workMariann seeks to identify and understand how real social relationshipsaremediated through digital social networks andWeb 2.0 applications.Mariann is, therefore, a member of a new generation of academicsand researchers who have not only grown up digital with technology,but are pushing new research boundaries and ‘thinking futures’through them.

introducing......11

ORGANISATIONAL VIRTUE MAPPING “It seems clear that thevirtuous organisation has a good purpose andplaces the emphasis juston the excellence side of success-excellence.”

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1986 full-time MBA launched – evolved from the MSc in Management Studies. Durham

Business School launches MBA by distance learning in1988. AMBA accredits DBS’s full,

part-time and distance learning programmes in1994. More than 4,500 students

have completed the Durham MBA. More than 2,000 student were Global/Distance

Learners, they represented 124 countries. 72.6%male, 27.4% female.

There have been 5 Deans/Directors over the past 25 years: Rob Dixon, Tony Antoniou,

Tony Cockerill, John Marshall and John Machin. In 2011 DBS is placed 55th in the

world in the Financial Times Global MBA ranking. There are currently19 Durham MBAs work

for Durham University. In 2002 DBS entered the Financial Times Global MBA ranking.

We have 6 Directors of the Full-time MBA Programme, 5 Directors of the Part-time/Executive

MBA Programme,7 Directors of the Distance Learning MBA Programme. Alan Jessop has had

3 stints at FT Programme Director.

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Durham alumnus David Collins talks about lifeas the Canadian High Commissioner in Nairobi, Kenya.

David studied the MSc programme in 1978-79 (now known as the Durham MBA). Soon afterwardshe went abroad with the Canadian Diplomatic Service and is currently High Commissioner to Kenya,Uganda and Rwanda; Ambassador to Somalia, Eritrea and Burundi; and Permanent Representativeof Canada to the UN Organisations in Nairobi. This is his fourth ‘head of mission’ job, having servedpreviously in Romania, Pakistan and Malaysia.

Q.How do you feel your Durham degreeprepared you for your current role?

A. The bulk of my diplomatic career hasbeen spent as a trade commissionerso the commercial orientation of theMBA (MSc in my day) was usefultraining to ensure I was on the samewave length as my clients from theprivate sector. As an ambassador, anyform of advanced education is usefulfor stretching the brain cells andbeing mentally alert.

Q.Can you describe your typical day?A. Days are full, starting with a meetingwith senior managers in the embassy.There may be some trouble shootingregarding a consular case. There willbe visitors to meet in the office; I mayhave one or two outcalls, either ongovernment ministers or other seniorcontacts. Socially I may either give orbe invited to a business lunch and inthe evening there could be a nationalday reception or a dinner. Given thetime difference here, the end of myday often includes a telephone callwith Ottawa.

Q.What would you say has been themostsatisfying aspect of your career so far?

A. Career satisfaction can be measuredin many ways. What I have enjoyedabout a diplomatic career is theopportunity to be assigned todifferent regions of the world, in mycase the Americas, Europe, Asia andnow Africa. While the work may be a variation on the theme, each localeoffers different challenges. I wouldbe lying if I did not say that being the official representative of one’scountry overseas is deeply satisfying.

Q.What do you do to unwind? A. I still play a bit of tennis; golf I findvery frustrating! I tend to read a lotof biography and military history,and I am an amateur genealogist.

Q.Where do you envisage your careermight take you in the future?

A. I am close to the end of mydiplomatic career (I left Durham in 1979!). I would like to teach in the future or perhaps work for aninternational charitable organisation,if any would have me.

Q. If you had one piece of career advicefor Durham graduates starting outwhat would it be?

A. In terms of advice to graduates,I would suggest that one shouldbe bold in career choice andopportunity. Look for a challenge,perhaps in a difficult location. Definebroadly what you hope to achieve in the medium term and strive for it based on hard work, integrity andimagination – you need to separateyourself from the herd a bit. But,above all, try to have some fun inwhat you do.

Q&A15

January saw the annual Durham University WinterCongregation ceremonies in Durham Cathedral.

Presided over by University Chancellor Bill Bryson, they werea unique celebration for students and for their friends andfamilies, many of whom were visiting Durham for the firsttime from around the world.

Business School graduates included individuals from acrossmany programmes, including PhD, Full-time and DistanceLearning MBA, MA and MSc.

Here, we share a few highlights of the day.

GRADUATION

timeframes. As a result, the electronictrading industry of today employssignificant numbers of students ofmaths, engineering, decision sciencesand other quantitative masters and PhD students.

Trading was not always like this ofcourse. Open-outcry trading ‘pits’allowed human beings to engage intrading in centralised spaces (you canstill see this in action on the ChicagoBoard Options Exchange (CBOE)amongst others); of course though,humans have many limitations andwhen it comes to neurologicalprocessing speed, they are some waybehind the computer chip. Whilst the‘Big Bang’ in London 1986 started theshift from human to electronic formats,recent legislation in the US (Reg NMS –National Market System, 2005) and inEurope (MiFID – Markets in FinancialInstruments Directive, 2007) allowedan accelerated scenario to unfold. In Europe today, we have gone fromnational exchange monopolies to pan-European competition (with a dose oftransatlantic M&A thrown in). We haveseen new technologically advancedpseudo exchanges called Multi-lateraltrading facilities (MTFs) orchestrated as start-ups with sub 30 employeesoffering innovative technology, in somecases 10 times faster than the LondonStock Exchange and, crucially, 10 timescheaper – the cost/differentiationnirvana we all know of from Porter. Infact the first MTF, called ‘Chi-X’, is nowin the European top 3 venues in termsof market share, just three years afterinception. In the case of the UK market,as far as breaking a 200 plus year oldmonopolistic market goes – I think mostwould agree that is a pretty strongachievement. We have ‘electronic darkpools’ where traders can hide ordersaway from others for protection andhelp ensure that their orders do not give away too much information tocounterparts that would ultimately bedetrimental to the price they pay orreceive; we have ‘Smart Order Routing’which are highly intelligent orderhandlers deciding where best to execute

a traders order, and of course we have‘algorithms’ that decide when and howto execute. The US is no different, withnearly all of the above occurring in theUS some two years or so before Europe.In the US right now we have over 30markets to execute your stock order. To illustrate the point, the LSE now onlycontrols ~50% of FTSE 100 tradingand the New York Stock Exchange just~30% of US trading. None of thiscompetition could have been createdwithout highly sophisticated electronicproducts in place to optimize thetrading capabilities across the newmarkets. To put it simply, we are in an‘arms race’ of technology. The best wayto view these changes is to think of arunner turning up at the start line for acompetitive marathon race and turningto their right to see that the competitorhas a formula one car, complete with ahighly drilled pit team and some of thebrightest minds in science behind thecar production. It might surprise you toknow that there are still a good numberof ‘runners’ out there, who swear by thelatest trainers and sports drinks to givethem the edge…

Sometimes it can be a fine line betweenincremental and disruptive innovationand often there is a balance to be struckbetween the market demanding theproduct and the technologists pushingit. In equity trading, the shake up was,and still is, due to all of the above, but it was ultimately the legislativeliberalisation of the secondary equitymarkets that provided the macroenvironment for competition to thrive.Where we go now is not far removedfrom what many would regard as sciencefiction. Aside from geographic expansioninto Asia, India and South America, theprototype algorithms being tested inlabs are at a new level. Mechanisticlearning moving to genuine intelligenceand enhanced quantitative basedforecasting could well be at the next stage.

Someone recently asked me how it wasthat I ended up in the business. Withhindsight, I guess it was pretty obvious.

My father and both his brothers areaeronautical engineers, my grandfatherand his dad, naval engineers. On mymother’s side, everybody seems to workin finance or the computers industry.There is also the impact of DurhamBusiness School: the three modules of information systems, quantitativedecision analysis and DBS SeniorLecturer Pierpaolo Andriani’s Innovationand Technology course all played theirrole, and a lot of that knowledgecontinues to help me out today.

For more in depth insight into electronictrading have a look at some of Stuart’srecent pieces below:

• Journal of Trading, Winter 2010,Vol 5(1):www.iijournals.com/toc/jot/5/1

• Markit Magazine, Issue 10:www.markit.com/en/about/magazine/issue-10/mm10-randd.page?

• FIX Global, Vol 3, Q4 2010:fixglobal.com/pdfs/201012/10-12_14.pdf

For those of you who read newspaperssuch as the Financial Times or WallStreet Journal, the broad equity newscontent – namely IPOs, earningsreleases, minor crashes, major crashes,volatility or general stock price news –may seem to have changed little overthe long term. However, beneath themacros of the investment decision liesthe world of trading (aka execution),and the changes that have occurred at this level, on both sides of the pond,are quite profound.

Computational technology has enterednearly every facet of life over recentyears, and cash equity trading is nodifferent. In fact, the changes in thispart of finance incorporate some of the most sophisticated computationalprogrammes in the world. In conjunctionwith existing quantitative and ‘voice’traders, the industry produces productssuch as modified adaptive algorithmswhich respond to differing scenariosand learn as they execute trades in thereal trading world; dark fibre networks –ultra fast dedicated cabling lines that

help facilitate trading at close to thespeed of light; co-location – theinstallation of some of the mostpowerful computer servers globally that are placed right next to the stockexchange to ensure that trades areconducted as quickly as possible. All ofthis comes integrated with sophisticatedquantitative electronic trading decisionmaking tools, referred to as alphamodels (a component of the morecommonly referenced black box), whichseek profit extraction and risk reductionacross milli, micro and nano second

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Innovation and Technological Changein US and European Equity TradingAt some point in our adult lives many of us choose to lookat, or invest in, stocks and shares, an ISA or a pension forexample. For others, trading cash equities is a day-to-dayjob, and some of us both invest and trade.

Just a decade ago alumnus StuartBaden Powell completed a MA inManagement at Durham BusinessSchool. He now heads up EuropeanElectronic Trading Strategy at RoyalBank of Canada Capital Markets.

Alongside this challenging and satisfyingjob, Stuart also enjoys contributing tovarious trading publications. Here heprovides an insight into thetechnological advances that havetransformed operations for investmentbanks over the past twenty years.

1. GERMAN AGORA After attending a recruitment fair inthe city and interviewing prospectiveExecutive MBA students, AlexandraSedgwick, Alumni RelationsManager, experienced some greatBerlin hospitality. She met with MBA alumni Andy Philip and Andrew Tretow, GLC student FlorianeGramlich and prospective GLCstudent Tara Schollemann, and they enjoyed dinner in Alpenstueckrestaurant on the east side of town.

2. JORDAN AGORA Jordanian alumni, along withDurham University staff; DavidThornber (Durham UniversityInternational Office) and his wifeLynn (DBS Marketing Team),gathered together at the KempinskiHotel in Amman in October.Business School alumnus Dr Zu’biAl-Zu’bi, Assistant Dean, Faculty of Business, University of Jordan,welcomed attendees from a range of disciplines including PhD, theExecutive MA in EnterpriseManagement, and the University’sMA Arabic-English Translationprogramme.

3. NIGERIA AGORA The Nigerian Local Association get-together took place at Goodiesrestaurant, Victoria Island, Lagos.The group described it as a wonderfulopportunity for members who hadstudied at Durham during the pastfew years to meet together asprofessionals. Highlights includedthe welcome address by the groupcoordinator Afolabi Obilade, whotalked about the need for membersto come together frequently, not onlyfor School events but also to engagein local dialogue and businessforums. The group membersdemonstrated that they are trueambassadors by inviting along twodistance learning students, who took the opportunity to tap into the experience of the Agora LocalAssociation members.

4. INDIA AGORA During a recent trip to India, DBSCareer Development Manager,Marcia Hoynes and Alumni RelationsManager, Alexandra Sedgwick metwith alumni in Hyderabad, Mumbaiand Delhi. The main event in Delhisaw alumni gather for a skills sessionon Emotional Intelligence followedby a guest lecture from MBAalumnus Sushil Prakash. The eveningreception at the Jaypee Vasant Hotelwas thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.

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Agora’s global network

local association news

Colin Ashurst is a Senior Teaching Fellow in MIS and is Directorof the Full-Time MA Programme at Durham Business School.

BOOKREVIEWThe Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley(Published by Profile Books 2001, ISDN 0385499841)

My research and teaching is aboutrealizing the strategic potential ofinformation technology. Essentiallythat’s about IT-enabled businesschange. In many cases, IT is anenabler of business innovation. Thismeans that, when we approach manyinvestments in IT within organisations,we need to consider how we are goingto encourage and enable innovation –which brings me to this book…

The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelleyprovides ‘lessons in creativity fromIDEO’ America’s leading design firm.Anyone who has been in one of myclasses will probably have seen theNightline video about IDEO – it showsa team working to make a newsupermarket shopping trolley in aweek. The book uses the story in thevideo as one of a number of examplesand sets out specific practices thatcontribute to innovation at IDEO.

Although the book was published in2001 and I’ve been using the video for years, I only read the book for thefirst time this year. Since then, in partthrough Amazon, I’ve been aware of a flood of books and articles aboutinnovation, creativity and design (see Further Reading).

I became interested in IDEO becausethey provide a great example of an agileproject process and show, for example,that agile thinking is not just abouttechnical stuff, it’s a much broaderapproach. I did a talk recently on ‘an agile way of life’ to illustrate this.More recently I’ve realized that youcan look at this in an entirely differentway – probably more as IDEOthemselves see it. I’m now looking at what it is that’s being designed andthe issues of innovation and designrather than just how you get there, the project process itself. For example,one major insight is that the classicrequirements-gathering process ofgoing out to ask users what they wantis seriously flawed. If innovation is the goal, they are unlikely to know the answer.

The approach put forward by IDEO isthat you need to get insights into theproblematic situation and then thedesign process is about creative ways of finding opportunities forimprovements. It seems to work.

‘Design thinking’ as set out by IDEOhas moved from product design toservice design and customer experiencedesign. They are also thinking abouthow to create an organisationalenvironment that enables innovation.

For those of us involved in projects of any sort, in the creative area, in IT and change or other aspects of theorganisation, this ‘design thinking’ is important. I think there will bemajor changes in how we approach ‘IT projects’ as we learn to take theseideas into account.

The Art of Innovation is not the lastword on design. It does provide someinspiring examples and some specificpractices that you could explore to startto develop a more innovative approachto IT and projects in other areas.

Further ReadingChange by Design by Tim Brown(2009) Harper BusinessThe Design of Business by RogerMartin (2009) Harvard Business PressThe Ten Faces of Innovation byTom Kelley (2006) Profile BooksAlso articles via EBSCO from Agoranet(www.agora.org.uk) include:Brown, Tim (2008) Design Thinking.Harvard Business Review, Jun 2008,Vol. 86 Issue 6, p84-92Catmull, Ed (2008) How Pixar FostersCollective Creativity. Harvard BusinessReview, Sep2008, Vol. 86 Issue 9,p64-72Coyne, Kevin P.; Clifford, PatriciaGorman; Dye, Renée. (2007)Breakthrough Thinking fromInside the Box.Harvard Business Review, Dec 2007, Vol. 85 Issue 12, p70-78

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COMPETITIONFor your chance to win a copy of the book visit: www.agora.org.uk/agoranews,follow the competition links and answer this question: Who was the leaddesigner of the iPod? Closing date: 29 April 2011.

BHARTENDU NARERAFULL-TIME MBA 2009-10Within two months of completing my studies, I was offered the role of Deputy Director, Logistics andBusiness Process Optimization withSamsonite South Asia, working out of Mumbai, India. Prior to this I hadcompleted an interesting LogisticsBusiness Project with Starbucks UKand Ireland, which set the tone for my new role. Making a functional shift from HR to Operations and from manufacturing to retail is a realachievement for me and one of themajor drivers for my taking up a full-time MBA programme. After 13 yearsof general management experiencewith the Indian Army and three yearsof HR experience with a Power MNC Iam very excited about this challengingrole. Samsonite’s tagline- ‘Life is a journey’- makes an interestingstatement on my career direction too!

DAVID ELLISBA SPANISH 1973-77FOUNDER OF THE FD ELLIS MBASCHOLARSHIP AT DBSI recently joined FTI as managingdirector in their Economic Consultingpractice, and I am based in the Londonoffice. Prior to this, I was a Directorwith Navigant Consulting and anAssociate Director with NERAEconomic Consulting in WashingtonDC and London. Previously I was afinance professor at Babson Collegeand Texas A&M University. During my

ten years in consulting I have givenwritten and oral evidence in casesinvolving derivatives and structuredfinance on over 25 occasions in theHigh Court, in US Federal and Statecourts, in international arbitrations,the New Zealand High Court, theWorld Trade Organisation and beforesecurities arbitration panels.

MARTIN IVANEKMA MANAGEMENT STUDIES FULL-TIME 2009-10Just after finishing my thesis I startedmy internship at A.T. Kearney’s Pragueoffice. I was lucky enough to beassigned to an interesting project inwhich I could show my qualities andskills (improved at Durham), which in the end earned me the full-timeposition of Business Analyst. Now I am looking forward to other interestingprojects, lots of travelling and furtherdevelopment of my expertise as amanagement consultant. And finally, I just have to mention how lovely it was to see all my friends at theCongregation ceremony (andafterwards) and to experience the great atmosphere of the town again!Best of luck to all of you, guys!

GARY BISHOP CURRENT GLOBAL MBA STUDENTMy charity, Justlife(www.justlife.org.uk), is due to openits first Health & Enterprise Centre in March this year and I am currently on target to complete my MBA in June.Without a doubt, winning the 2008DBS/Independent MBA Scholarshiphas enabled us to achieve a great dealmore than we would have thoughtpossible in such a short space of time.

JESSICA XIANG-FISCHERFT MBA 1998-99My company, SMART AND JOY, wasestablished in 2002 and is based inFrance. Working with my sister, who is based in Guangzhou, we import and export fashion ladies’ clothing to clients worldwide. Our products aredesigned in France and developed inChina. We are currently setting up afashion school in Guangzhou, the firstof its kind there.

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BARRY TUCKWOOD MBA TUTOR DISTANCE LEARNINGSINCE 1994I have had a few successes over thepast couple of years. In October 2009I had a short paper on Project Successpublished by The Evaluation Centre inthe UK, drawing on a wide range ofexperience and research. In May 2010I had a paper published under thegeneral heading of sustainability for aninternational geotechnical conference.The latter was based on materialdrawn from experience going back to1976, and requiring a lot of researchwith people I had previously workedwith (many of whom I had not seen for20 years). Their co-operation, whichwas vital to the paper, was freely andenthusiastically given, demonstratingthe importance of all networks. InDecember I joined the InternationalManagement Board of the Associationof MBAs (www.mbaworld.com) havingbeen elected for a three year term. I expect to learn from the experienceof being a board member, especially in understanding more of theinternational aspects of theAssociation’s work in accrediting MBA and DBA courses, and from their relationships with businessschools and employers.

BRAD ATKINSONDBA 2002-06Dr Brad Atkinson was recentlyappointed Chief of Cost Analysis &Evaluation within the Office of theChief Information Officer of theTRICARE Management Activity, acomponent of the Military HealthSystem (MHS) in Washington, DC. The MHS is a global medical networkwithin the Department of Defense thatprovides cutting-edge health care to all US military personnel worldwide.Equipped with 59 hospitals, 364health clinics and a $50 billionbudget, the MHS delivers the highestquality health care in the world to abeneficiary population of 9.6 millionservice members, veterans, and familymembers. Brad was a member of DBSDoctor of Business AdministrationCohort 1. His thesis examined the roleof innovation in the performance of UShospitals and he received his degree inDurham in January 2007. He residesin Bethesda, Maryland USA.

SAMIR TAGHIYEV FULL-TIME MBA 2009-10Originally from Azerbaijan, I relocatedto Saudi Arabia last September to begin working with the IslamicCorporation for the Development of Private sector (ICD) as a regionalManager for CIS countries in Jeddah,Saudi Arabia. ICD is a privatedevelopment arm of the IslamicDevelopment Bank Group. I shall soonbe on the move again and based inone of the former Soviet countries on permanent basis.

GAJENDRA BERHADEFULL-TIME MBA 2009-10My MBA Business Project with EdenFarm concerned developing a 5 yeargrowth strategy and during the projectI identified improvement opportunitiesin the inventory management systemfor the organisation. After consideringmy proposal the company offered meanother project on developing a betterinventory management system andforecasting model which also involvedaligning functional KPI’s with thestrategic plan. I came from amanufacturing background beforeworking with Eden Farm (wholesalefrozen food distribution) so this was a great learning experience and a goodopportunity to use the knowledge andexperience gained during my MBA.

CLASS NOTES

1 Barry Tuckwood

2. Brad Atkinson

3. David Ellis

4. Martin Ivanek

5. Gary Bishop

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Motivation is about choiceand effort. It’s about why wechoose some activities ratherthan others and why we putdifferent amounts of effortinto different activities or into the same activities on different occasions.

Motivation is one part of whypeople’s performance varies – theother parts include skill, ability,equipment and other people.Because these factors interact, it doesn’t always follow that lowmotivation necessarily leads to poor performance: the veryskilled may be able to producegood results even when notputting much effort in, or maybemachines do most of the work.Similarly there is no guaranteethat high motivation leads to high performance, though this is often the case.

Getting things doneBecause motivation is about how mucheffort we put in to our activities, ourmotivation at any particular time willdepend both on our total availablestore of mental and physical energyand on how we focus it. Someindividuals, like Tigger (the fictionaltiger-like character originallyintroduced in A. A. Milne’s book The House at Pooh Corner), seem to have boundless energy to devote to almost all their activities. Yet eventhey are more motivated towards sometasks than others. The rest of us, with a less bountiful store, are morenoticeably selective in where we direct our efforts.

Motivation also has conscious andnon-conscious aspects. Much of whatadults do is the product more of habitthan conscious thought. The dailyprocess of going to work for many isliterally unmemorable. Regular workpatterns take on an unthinking rhythmand routine. It is perhaps only whenwe are confronted by an outsidequestioner, or circumstances change,that we ask ourselves ‘why’ we go towork or why we chose this particularwork. Maybe this is where the bigtheories of motivation, those that pointto the importance of our needs forexistence, friendship or personaldevelopment, become relevant.Perhaps the money or the friends orthe challenge are our ‘reasons’ forgoing to work. But are they our reasonsfor working hard (or not) when we getthere? This again makes the point thatit is not very helpful to talk of someonebeing motivated in some absolutesense but more useful to think interms of how strong someone’smotivation is towards a particularactivity at a particular time.

This specific motivation can comefrom a number of sources, those which are within ourselves, or intrinsicmotivation, and those outside ofourselves, or extrinsic motivation. Inbroad terms this mirrors the differencebetween doing something because you want to do it and doing somethingbecause somebody else wants you to do it. In most organisations, theaccent is on the latter. Hence it is nosurprise that it is extrinsic motivatorswhich have typically been the centreof managerial attention. Motivationtheories which emphasise theimportance of incentives andsubsequent rewards, both typically in monetary form, and their impact onthe sort of behaviour that is desired bymanagement naturally have featuredstrongly in management thinking.

Yet, we know from our own experienceplus the research of writers such asDeci & Ryan and even Maslow with his emphasis on self actualisation and his pioneering support of positivepsychology, that when people do what

they (themselves) want to do, they generally do it well and withcommitment. Their (intrinsic)motivation is heightened. Under thesecircumstances people are capable ofthe intense concentration that is afeature of ‘flow’, Csikzentmihalyi’sterm for an optimal state of balancebetween challenge and skill, whichtypifies the personal involvement andcommitment of the person to the taskthat they themselves have chosen andthat they commit their energy to.

The optimal experience of flow and ofbeing in ‘the zone’ is a feature reportednot just in the realm of sports andleisure but in a whole variety of worksituations, including surgeons and civil servants. Though not all aspectsof these situations are under thecontrol of the individual (surgeons, for example, work with teams of other skilled personnel), enoughopportunities exist for what is anintense and predominantly intrinsicmotivational process to take place.

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Nigel Van-Zwanenberg, a PrincipalTeaching Fellow, joined the BusinessSchool in 2005 and is currently thecourse leader for the BA Business.

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Jason Coleman talks about the next phase of development at the School’s Mill Hill Lane site.

The shape of things to comeI recently joined Durham BusinessSchool with the primary objective of attracting the significant fundingrequired to reconfigure and expand the existing school facilities. As wellas supporting both the School’s andthe University’s strategies, this projectis vital to address the pressurescreated by the growth in student andstaff numbers and to ensure that theSchool maintains its strong identity in these highly competitive times.

The School already has a great deal to be proud of; the high quality of itsresearch output and staff, its tripleaccreditation status, and theemployability of its graduates, to namea few. During the coming three yearsour mission is to communicate ourachievements and engage, not onlywith our current stakeholders, but also a wider global audience.

Through an ongoing series of meetingswith alumni and other business leaders,I will be communicating our strategyto develop the site at Mill Hill Lane.Since 2002, as well as The Foundationfor SME Development, the School has incorporated the Department of Economics and Finance. Whilstcurrently based elsewhere on campus,integrating Economics and Financewithin the School building will providea stimulating and cohesive learning,teaching and research environment,enabling colleagues to be co-located at one site.

Through my initial appointments I have sought to understand the level of engagement of our alumni with the University and their philanthropicinterests, in addition to exploringopportunities to access networks ofcontacts – including introductions tocorporations and other individuals whomay not have studied at Durham buthave an interest in our region, sector,global reach, the relevance of ourcurriculum or the quality of ourresearch. Whilst the ultimate goal is capital fundraising for the buildingproject, there are numerous otheropportunities for interested partners to connect with the School and theUniversity, sharing their passion forDurham with our aspiring student body.

More details of our development planswill be shared with you in due course,but key highlights include:

• Improving the design andfunctionality of our lecture theatres

• Extension of faculty officeaccommodation and researchcollaboration areas

• Addition of a large glazed circulationcorridor to the main part of thebuilding

• Enhanced breakout spaces for students

• Improved and centrally locatedstudent-facing services

• Enhanced catering facilities

• Refurbishment of on-site bedroomaccommodation

In addition there will be useableoutdoor space in the centre of thebuilding perimeter accessible fromnumerous points. A more efficientheating and water system isincorporated as well as plans for an ecological wetland area.

Our aim is to re-engineer DurhamBusiness School so that we providefacilities worthy of being at theforefront of today’s increasinglycompetitive global marketplace. To achieve this we must offer anenvironment fit for purpose andcommensurate with student, corporateand accreditation body expectations.To find out more information visit:www.dur.ac.uk/dbs/ about/development

I would welcome your ideas andencourage you to get in touch with me to share your thoughts.

This involves an interaction of all the components of performance;motivation, skill, other people,equipment, difficulty, challenge and so on, coupled crucially with rapid and specific feedback on the quality ofperformance. In these circumstances,performance, especially in terms ofquality rather than quantity, and theactivity itself are the main rewards –the epitome of intrinsic motivation.People in these situations seldommention external factors such as pay and indeed such factors are notusually tied directly to performance.And that is probably all to the good,

for there is research, hotly contestedthough it certainly is, that indicatesthat where people are engaged in anactivity which is essentially intrinsicallymotivated, the introduction of extrinsicrewards can actually reduce motivation.

Intrinsic motivation is potentially verypowerful, but it does heighten the roleof the individual and hence increasecomplexity for managers – uniformityis much easier. In times of increasinguncertainty, or indeed of increasingcertainty over cuts especially in thepublic sector, promoting the idea ofencouraging individuals to develop

and take control over their own work is risky and perhaps unattractive to those whose job is to manage. But some, possibly many, of thesemanagers may not be around in anycase and so the conditions may wellbe created that will favour intrinsicapproaches. In this case, a key role forsenior management will be to designwork that is potentially intrinsicallymotivating and to choose people whocan be intrinsically motivated by it.Competitive advantage will then comefrom the quality of output or serviceoffered to clients. Of course all this willmean wanting people to do things well.

Recently appointed to the role ofDevelopment Executive, Jason gained a BSc(Hons) Finance and Accounting degree and a Diploma in Performance Coaching beforepursuing a career in sales and marketing.Having worked across a variety of sectors,from prestige automotives to the foodindustry, he has a broad understanding of retail sales and marketing principles.

Central Extension – South Elevation

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“The daily process of going to workfor many is literally unmemorable.Regular work patterns take on anunthinking rhythm and routine.”

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Dates for the Diary SPEAKER EVENTS

ALUMNI WEBINAR‘Networking: Following upopportunities after an event’

13 April 2011, 14.00 – 15.00 (BST)Available globally

DURHAM SPEAKER SERIESPWC: SUSTAINABILITY

14 April 2011, 18.00 – 20.30London, UK

DURHAM SPEAKER SERIESSIMON BROOK, EUROPEANINVESTMENT BANK CLIMATEACTION – A PERSONAL VIEW

13 May 2011, 18.00 – 20.30Durham Business School, UK

DURHAM CONVENTION – DURHAMBUSINESS SCHOOL HOSTS ITS3RD ANNUAL CONVENTION –SPEAKERS INCLUDE:James Averdieck, Durham Alumnus,Entrepreneur and owner of GU Puds

Gavin Miller, Durham Alumnus andCEO at CMI incorporating EdinburghFilmhouse and EdinburghInternational Film Festival and Film Guild

Rona Cant, Arctic Explorer andinspirational communicator

Adam Shaw, Award-winningfinancial reporter and BBC presenter

03 June 2011, 11.00 – 18.00Durham Business School, UK

MBA 25TH ANNIVERSARY –CELEBRATION WEEKEND

03 – 05 June 2011(see page 2 for details)Durham, UK

RECRUITMENT EVENTS

PROVISIONAL DATES ANDVENUES FOR 2011 INCLUDE:

WORLD MBA TOUR Johannesburg, South Africa 29March

EDUCATION UK

Athens, Greece 16 & 17 April

AMBA FAIR

London, UK 16 April

PREVIEW/OPENEVENTS

MBA PREVIEW EVENTS

20 April 2011, 10.30 –14.15 hrs 24 May 2011, 10.30 – 14.15 hrs 22 June 2011, 10.30 – 14.15 hrs 21 July 2011, 10.30 – 14.15 hrs Durham Business School

Please note that dates and eventsare subject to change.

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KPMG-DURHAMUNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPDurham Business School hasannounced that it is working inpartnership with KPMG and theInstitute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales to develop aground-breaking new school leavers’programme from September 2011,aimed at broadening access to theaccounting profession. The innovativeproposal is for an initial intake ofaround 75 students, who will start a six-year programme leading to both a BSc in Accounting from DurhamUniversity and a professional charteredaccountancy qualification from theICAEW.

KPMG will pay the full University andProfessional tuition fees for eachstudent in addition to a starting salaryof around £20,000. During the degreephase, which will last for four years,students will spend part of the timestudying at Durham Business School,and part of the time working at KPMG.

NEW 4-YEARUNDERGRADUATE DEGREES The School is to launch two highlyinnovative undergraduate degrees in October 2011. The MBus and theMMarketing are, we believe, the firstfour-year undergraduate degrees inbusiness incorporating a Mastersqualification anywhere in the world.Aimed at inquisitive and investigativestudents, they place research-ledteaching and learning at the centre of the curriculum.

AND THE WINNERS ARE…Three successful applicants have beenselected for 2010 DBS/IndependentMBA Scholarship. One award wasmade for each of the School’s MBAprogramme modes: Full-Time,Executive and the Global MBA. The deserving winners are: for theFull-Time programme, Adetokunbo

Omotosho, who is based in Lagos,Nigeria and works as Divisional Head,Infrastructure & Enterprise Security at Interswitch Limited; Executiveprogramme, Annabel Cornish, based in Newcastle upon Tyne and ManagingDirector of The Zebra Group, a designand software development business;and the Global MBA programmewinner is Christel Adamou, who isbased in Nairobi, Kenya and works as an Associate Legal Officer for theUnited Nations. The Executive andGlobal winners have already beguntheir studies and the Full-Timeprogramme winner will join the School in September.

WELCOME The 2010 Executive MBA cohort met for the first time in January. UKprogramme participants were joined in Durham by the DBS/EBS ExecutiveMBA cohort (based in Germany), fortheir week-long induction programme.With an average age of around 38,they bring an excellent mix of skills,knowledge and experience. Twelve newPhD students have also recently joinedthe School; they represent a diversegroup of countries including: Greece,The People’s Republic of China,Armenia, Kuwait, Bosnia &Herzegovina and Jordan. This bringsthe number of PhD students to 140,and with 100 students on the DBAprogramme, we now have a total of240 Doctoral students.

School NewsThe School made significant progress in January when the results of the 2011Financial Times Global MBA Rankings were published, climbing 19 places to55th in the world. This equates to 17th in Europe and 9th in the UK, placingthe School ahead of competitors including Warwick, Strathclyde and Edinburgh.The global ranking comprises 28 European schools, 58 North American schools,ten Asian/Australasian schools, three schools from South America and oneschool from Africa. This is deserved recognition of all the hard work anddedication of our alumni, students, staff and faculty.

University NewsDBS PROFESSOR PRESIDENT OF BAMProfessor Timothy Clark, Dean ofGraduate School and Professor ofOrganisational Behaviour has beenelected President of the BritishAcademy of Management (BAM) for2011. Based in London and foundedin 1986, BAM boasts a proud historyof representing and developing thecommunity of management academicsfor the benefit of members, practisingmanagers, management education and society.

NORTH EAST DOCTORAL TRAINING CENTRE Durham and Newcastle universities are to receive over £9million from theEconomic & Social Research Council(ESRC) to establish a joint world-classDoctoral Training Centre to train thenext generation of social scientists.The new North East Doctoral TrainingCentre will bring together the researchstrengths of both universities, offeringstudents a wealth of opportunities towork with research leaders across awide range of social science subjectsand benefit from world-class trainingand resources.

FEELING NOSTALGIC FOR DURHAM? A new website promoting DurhamCity’s historic World Heritage Site(www.durhamwhs.com) has beenlaunched to mark the 25th anniversaryof the Cathedral and Castle achievingWorld Heritage status. Full offascinating facts and images, itprovides a comprehensive overview ofthe World Heritage Site’s significance,its history, its architecture, and currentevents and activities. It will also serveas on-line repository for research anddocuments. Durham Cathedral andDurham Castle, which is home toUniversity College, were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1986.

news news news news news news news news

FOR FURTHER INFORMATIONTo book places for these events, contact the person named, or the Alumni Team on: Email: dbs.events@durham.ac.ukTelephone: +44 (0)191 334 5277

WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP PROMOTE DBS?Prospective students, as well as the School, benefit from having alumni assist Durham academic staff with recruitment activities. If you feel able tovolunteer to help in this way please visit the events page at www.agora.org.uk

CONTENTS

IN THIS ISSUE...

04 I DEAN’S WELCOME /ALUMNI UPDATE 06 I ENTERPRISE INVESTMENT IN CHINA 08 I MAPPING ORGANISATIONAL VIRTUE

10 I MAPPING ORGANISATIONAL VIRTUE CONTINUED…/INTRODUCING

12 I 2011 MARKS THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DURHAM MBA

14 I ALUMNI Q&A /GRADUATION

16 I INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE IN US AND EUROPEAN EQUITY TRADING

18 I LOCAL ASSOCIATION NEWS/BOOK REVIEW 20 I CLASS NOTES

22 I GETTING THINGS DONE 24 I GETTING THINGS DONE CONTINUED…/THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME

26 I NEWS/DATES FOR THE DIARY

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Dean’s WelcomeI’d like to take this opportunity to wish a happy NewYear to you all. Following successful re-accreditationby EQUIS in December, the School received somemore good news in January when we learnt that DBSis positioned 55th in the world in the 2011 FinancialTimes Global MBA ranking. For more detail on thatstory visit our School news section. We hope that2011 continues to bring good news and greatdevelopments for Durham Business School.

Winter congregation took place onFriday 14 January and we welcomedover 250 graduates and guests to a celebratory reception at DBS – acollage of photographs of the day’sevents can be found on page 15. Manyof you will be aware that Bill Bryson is stepping down as Chancellor laterthis year so this was one of the lastopportunities to see him conferringdegrees at the Congregation ceremonyin Durham Cathedral. The Universityhas set up a discussion on LinkedInfor alumni to suggest who the nextChancellor should be. To contribute to the discussion about Bill’s successor,please visit the ‘Durham UniversityAlumni’ group on LinkedIn.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the forthcoming MBA’s 25thAnniversary Celebration Weekend.Dates and a full agenda are nowconfirmed. Events will include:refresher courses from current faculty in HR, Finance, Marketing,Leadership, Innovation and Ethics;guest lectures, and a chance to relaxand be entertained at a gala ball,complete with Durham University’s Big Band. Faculty, past and present,will be joining us to celebrate oursilver jubilee and we look forward to welcoming representatives fromacross the 25 years.

Speaking of our heritage and history,on page 25 new member of DBS staff,Jason Coleman, explains his role as Development Executive and itssignificance for the future of ourbusiness school. Jason and I wouldwelcome your ideas, comments, oroffers of support on this importantsubject.

Finally, I would like to thank everyonefor their support of the Schoolthroughout 2010, and I look forward to sharing many more successes withyou in 2011.

Professor Rob Dixon, Dean

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Alumni – UpdateI would like to start by wishing allour alumni and supporters a happy,healthy and prosperous 2011.Something that I will alwaysremember about the outgoing yearis the series of fantastic studentinitiatives that raised money forcharity through sporting and socialactivities. In December, the currentfull-time MBA cohort kicked offtheir Class Gift appeal with aChristmas boat cruise on the RiverWear. Despite snow and freezingtemperatures, more than £1000was raised. The cohort is nowplanning a series of activitiesthroughout 2011 to raise sufficientfunds to provide a scholarship for a future MBA student. Keepinformed of their next event andhow you can support them viaAgoraweb and our facebook pages.

We hope you will enjoy this latestedition of Agoranews, with its range of faculty and alumni contributions.Highlights in this issue include theprofile of alumnus and HighCommissioner, David Collins (page14), who talks about the varied andexciting career that has taken himacross five continents. We introducesocial media and digital networksexpert, Mariann Hardey, who recentlyjoined the DBS faculty (page 11), andhear about recent Local Associationactivities around the globe (page 18).

There is a wealth of research piecesthat cover investment in China (page6), issues on ethics in the modernworkplace (page 8), innovation inequity trading (page 16), and whatdrives motivation (page 22).

I am incredibly pleased to say that we now have more than 3000 alumniregistered on our online community,Agoraweb. Upon registering, membersreceive an Agora membership card andaccess to a range of business journalsand databases including EBSCO andDatamonitor 360. Also on the site are an international jobs board andrecordings of recent guest lectures. If you have feedback or suggestions for the alumni association, wish tobecome a member, or check if you are already registered, please emailme on dbs.alumni@durham.ac.uk

Alexandra SedgwickAlumni Relations & Development Manager

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Enterprise Investment in ChinaEnterprise investment plays a major role both in long-runeconomic growth and in business cycle fluctuations. This is particularly relevant in the Chinese context, where fixedassets investment as a share of GDP has been exceptionallyhigh since the start of economic reforms, rising from anaverage of 29 percent between 1978 and 1993, to anaverage of 36 percent thereafter. Recent research showsthat it is enterprise investment (rather than household orgovernment investment) that distinguishes China from othercountries, and interprets most of the cyclical variation ofChina’s total investment over time as an outcome of theindustrial reforms, which led to a high share of industry in GDP. Understanding the determinants of enterpriseinvestment decisions in China is therefore important, in particular for policy purposes.

The effects of a high investment rateon the Chinese economy are, however,controversial. On the one hand, thehigh investment rate and dramaticinvestment-generated improvements in technology and productivity havebeen seen as the main driving forcesbehind China’s rapid economic growthover the last three decades. Forinstance, high investment broughtabout structural change and led to an enhancement in the efficiency of resource allocation: the fastaccumulation of capacity induced a reallocation of labour from low-productivity agriculture to high-productivity industry and servicesectors. On the other hand, theinvestment boom has been considereda primary source of the country’simbalances. There is concern that with an underdeveloped financialsystem, too much investment maycreate industrial overcapacity,generate inefficiency, and threatenprofits and employment in China.

I summarise here the findings of threepapers, all joint with Sai Ding fromGlasgow University and John Knightfrom the University of Oxford, whichare part of an ESRC-funded projectaimed at providing an understandingof the factors that influence Chinesefirms’ investment decisions. All threepapers make use of a panel of morethan 100,000 firms over the period2000-2007, drawn from the ChineseNational Bureau of Statistics.

Our first paper ‘Investment andfinancing constraints in China: doesworking capital management make a difference?’ analyses the linkagesbetween investment in fixed andworking capital and financingconstraints. We find that, in thepresence of adverse cash flow shocks,those firms characterised by highworking capital are able to adjust theirworking capital investment, keepingtheir fixed capital investment relativelyhigh. We then show that those firms

Alessandra Guariglia joined DurhamBusiness School as Professor ofFinancial Economics in April 2009. She is Head of the Department ofAccounting & Finance and Head of the Department of Economics.

Her research interests are in the areas of financial economics andmacroeconomics.

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whose working capital investmentreacts most to cash flow shocks, andwhose fixed capital investment reactsleast to cash flow shocks are thosecharacterised by the highest fixedinvestment rates. This suggests thatgood working capital management may help firms to alleviate the effectsof financing constraints on fixedinvestment, and may provide anexplanation for why the financiallyconstrained private Chinese firms wereable to invest and grow at spectacularrates in recent years, despite severefinancing constraints.

Our second paper ‘Negative investmentin China: financing constraints andrestructuring versus growth’ attemptsto explain why despite high aggregateinvestment and remarkable economicgrowth, negative net investment iscommonly found at the microeconomiclevel. We test three hypotheses toexplain the existence and extent ofnegative investment in each ownershipgroup: what we term the efficiency (or restructuring) hypothesis, the (lackof) financing hypothesis, and the(slow) growth hypothesis. We find thatnegative investment by state-ownedfirms can be explained mainly byinefficiency: owing to over-investmentor mis-investment in the past, thesefirms have had to restructure and to get rid of obsolete capital in theface of increasing competition andhardening budgets. The financingexplanation holds for private firms,which have had to divest in order toraise capital. However, rapid economic

growth weighs against both effects for all types of firms, with a largerimpact for firms in the private and foreign sectors.

Our last paper ‘Does China overinvest?Evidence from a panel of Chinesefirms’ addresses the hotly-debatedquestion of whether or not Chinesefirms overinvest. We initially calculatemeasures of investment efficiency,which is typically negatively associatedwith overinvestment. Despite widedisparities across various ownershipgroups, industries and regions, we findthat corporate investment in China has become increasingly efficient over time. However, based on directmeasures of overinvestment that we subsequently calculate, we findevidence of overinvestment for alltypes of firms, even in the mostefficient and most profitable privatesector. We find that, in the privatesector, overinvestment is caused byexcess cash flow, while in the statesector it is attributable to the poorscreening and monitoring ofenterprises by banks.

Our findings have important policyimplications. Investment is typicallyviewed as a source of ‘boom-bust’cycles. The Chinese economy facesthe significant risk of its investmentboom turning to bust, as a consequence

of investment misallocation. This couldbring China’s rapid economic growth to an end. It is crucial for China toavoid the danger of switching from the current ‘virtuous circle’ (highinvestment, fast economic growth,robust confidence, and further highinvestment) to a ‘vicious circle’.

Our analysis will inform the currentdebate about the policy challengesstemming from China’s remarkablyhigh investment. The Chinesegovernment should curb imprudentinvestments by over-capitalized firmsand reduce inefficiency in capitalallocation and utilization. Resourcescould therefore be freed to boost socialspending and private consumption.

China has been an engine of globaleconomic growth, contributing onaverage one-quarter of the annualgrowth rate of the world economysince 1978. Reinforcing the resilienceof the Chinese economy is ofimportance for the promotion of globaleconomic development and worldpoverty reduction, especially in theface of the recent global economicslowdown. Hence, a thoroughunderstanding of the key growthdriving force, capital accumulation, is of serious significance not only for China, but also for the rest of the world.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATIONFor more faculty working papers and supplementary reading on investment in China by Alessandra, please visit www.dur.ac.uk/dbs/faculty/working-papers

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Mapping organisational virtue How virtuous is your business?

In this article I would like to suggest that we can usefully get away from discussions ofCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and focus instead on ‘organisational virtue’, andalthough this might sound like a rather philosophical ‘take’ on organisations (and it is),I also want to demonstrate that it has very practical implications.

I want to suggest that there are two dimensions along which we can make a judgementabout organisational virtue and that we can make some sort of assessment of where anyorganisation is on those two dimensions, and do it over time so that we then have a map.I want to suggest that we can then see not only where we would like the organisation tomove to if it is to become ‘better’ (which does not necessarily mean more successful inconventional terms), but also how it might get there.

I will illustrate this with a practical and real-life example based on some of my research,although I shall not name the organisation to preserve its confidentiality.

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Geoff Moore is Professor of BusinessEthics and Deputy Dean (Learning & Teaching). His research interestslie particularly in the application of virtue ethics to businessorganisations. He has publishedwidely on this and other aspects of Business Ethics/Corporate Social Responsibility and sits on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Business Ethics, Business EthicsQuarterly and Business Ethics: a European Review.

TWO DIMENSIONS FORORGANISATIONAL VIRTUEThe first dimension of organisationalvirtue is do with the purpose of theorganisation. Why are we here? Whatdifference do our goods or servicesreally make in contributing to a societythat is a better place to live? I am notaware that these kinds of discussiontake place with any regularity (or atall?) within corporate boardrooms. Nor does the conventional approach to CSR put such issues on the agendabecause CSR has become increasinglya strategic matter – aligning the CSRstrategy with corporate strategy so that it makes its contribution to thebottom line.

This is because conventional corporategovernance and the kind of CSR thatgoes with it – shareholder-orientedcorporate governance – assumes thatthis kind of debate is already decided.The ends of business are already givenand it’s all about shareholder value.But the way of thinking about businessthat I am advocating raises questions

on precisely this point. It suggests that the ends, or purpose, are neverabout shareholder value or, moregenerally, success, but are alwaysabout the contribution a businessmakes to society.

So the question that ought to be goingon inside a business (and on which we could form some kind of judgmenteven if not easily a quantitative one) is this: to what extent do the goodsand/or services that the businessproduces contribute to the overridinggood of the community? This isobviously challenging for tobaccocompanies, armaments manufacturersand so on (some of which, of course, dorather well in CSR terms). But even forother businesses these are serious andsignificant questions which ought todemand Board time on a regular basis.

The second dimension is to do withexcellence and success. The idea isthis. It is possible to ask a business,through its managers, what it means to be an excellent x, y or z type of

business. Managers seem to have nodifficulty talking about the excellenceof their products, customer service,the way they treat their staff, aboutbeing socially and environmentallyresponsible and so on. It is alsopossible to ask how the businessmeasures success. This leads toanother list, which is likely to befinancially oriented but also to have other measures like customersatisfaction that feed in to success.Then I’ve asked the managers to scorewhere the business is now on excellenceversus success out of 10 (so 8-2, 5-5,3-7 would all be possible scores but 7-5 wouldn’t). I’ve also asked themwhere the organisation has been in the past (to get the time dimension),and what they think the ideal score for any business is.

We can then map this on a simplegrid, as shown below – and this usesthe data from the research I’ve done to illustrate how it works in practice.

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A CASE STUDY: MAPPINGORGANISATIONAL VIRTUEIt seems clear that the virtuousorganisation has a good purpose and places the emphasis just on theexcellence side of success-excellence.The managers I interviewed on averagescored the ideal business as focusingon excellence over success by 5.1 to 4.9 – so they recognised the needfor some kind of balance but thatexcellence should be prioritised oversuccess. The vicious organisation (to use the technical term since theopposite of virtue is vice) occupies the bottom of the diagram though I suspect most organisations with a bad purpose are also successoriented (bottom left).

The business organisation in which I did my research had an interestinghistory – it had come about as a result of a merger of two separateorganisations A and B. So in this case I was able to get a sense of the position of the two organisationsbefore they merged. Hence A had thesuccess-excellence balance aboutright but did not have such a goodpurpose as B. B, however, was clearlymuch more success oriented. Themerger caused moderation on bothdimensions, so AB was less successoriented than B but had a better

purpose than A. In terms of where theorganisation was going (the mergerhaving happened relatively recently),the interviewees thought it was movingin the right direction as far as purposewas concerned (the dotted arrowpointing vertically up from AB) butalso moving in a more success-orienteddirection (the horizontal dotted arrow)as the achievement of financial resultsbecame more pressing. Combine thosetwo and it can be seen that theorganisation was moving away from the virtuous position – at roughly 90°to where it should be going if it wantedto be virtuous.

In one sense it is a fairly easy task tomap your own organisation onto a gridlike this although, as so often, it is theprocess (and wide engagement in it)that is important as well as the resultsthat emerge. But this should also leadto a discussion about which directionthe organisation is headed in, whetherthat is the desired direction and, if not, what might be done about it.And all of that ought to be a lot more profound than discussions of (strategic) CSR.

SO HOW VIRTUOUS IS YOURBUSINESS?

ORGANISATIONAL VIRTUE MAPPING “It seems clear that thevirtuous organisation has a good purpose andplaces the emphasis juston the excellence side of success-excellence.”

What is your current role?Officially, my title is Lecturer inMarketing, but I would rather work on the ‘hidden’ aspects of the role thatemphasise the positioning of digitaltechnology and the organisation of social information in everyday life.

What are the most challengingparts of your job?I find that the most challenging aspectsof the job involve the perpetuation andmomentum of academic thought intostudent knowledge. It is daunting howbright, savvy and engaged our students at Durham Business School are. As anacademic you need to be prepared tomake a fine-grained analysis of what is going on in the world around you; at cultural and social change, and,increasingly, the effect on consumerengagement, style and content. For me,these issues bubble to the surface asagenda for original research, activated by the transformation of research into a learning experience with students atDurham University. I constantly strive to respond to and fulfil their aspirationto participate in the many-to-manyconversations that perhaps we asacademics have traditionally enjoyedbehind closed doors.

What do you want to achieve?Rather ambitiously I would like to achievean open platform for a research andlearning dialogue. This means workingwith and from the students up, to be ableto apply the enhancement of their poolof intellectual capital into any learningagenda. If there is one thing that mytime as a student at university provided it was connections. For the students whoare privileged enough to attend DurhamBusiness School, the relationships thatthey develop will be formative for therest of their lives. A major achievementfor me would be for those students to be able to look back at their time atDurham and realise that the support,encouragement and inspiration toachieve a professional position cameabout because of academics like me.

What drives you?I once described myself as ‘ruthlesslyambitious’, what I meant was that I act upon and enjoy the independentcapability of being a professional womanin a role that is both completely dauntingand totally wonderful. It is this kind ofchallenge that gets me up early every day.

What was the best career adviceyou were given?Never ask something of anyone beforeyou have something that you can offer to them.

What advice can you offer to students andalumni thinking of an academic career?My advice for anyone in pursuit of anacademic career is to be inspired by yourday today and everyday. When you findthat topic of interest that can hold yourattention at any given time, then this will be a constant source of inspirationand you will want to interrogate it andcirculate it to others. This means thatacademia can itself be most rewarding,however the continual creation andrecreation of original ideas requiresattention and dedication. At times it canbe exhausting. But it is never, ever dull.

What are you currently working on at Durham Business School?I have several research agenda that I am working on. My leading project for2011 will be a prospective commercialcollaboration, researching digitalconsumer content in relation to realtime broadcast television. I am hopingthat there will be an opportunity to enjoyan innovative and creative researchdesign, and that this will add to thelearning culture for the students atDurham Business School. There is nogreater compliment than when theapplication of research concepts areunderstood, anticipated and usedamongst the upcoming professionalcommunity.

You can email Mariann at:mariann.hardey@durham.ac.uk

Dr Mariann Hardey, Lecturer in Marketing Mariann is a social media professional and academic. She is the BBCNorth East commentator for social media and digital networks. Sheread literature at the University of Sussex and later undertook aresearch MA followed by a PhD at the University of York. In her workMariann seeks to identify and understand how real social relationshipsaremediated through digital social networks andWeb 2.0 applications.Mariann is, therefore, a member of a new generation of academicsand researchers who have not only grown up digital with technology,but are pushing new research boundaries and ‘thinking futures’through them.

introducing......11

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1986 full-time MBA launched – evolved from the MSc in Management Studies. Durham

Business School launches MBA by distance learning in1988. AMBA accredits DBS’s full,

part-time and distance learning programmes in1994. More than 4,500 students

have completed the Durham MBA. More than 2,000 student were Global/Distance

Learners, they represented 124 countries. 72.6%male, 27.4% female.

There have been 5 Deans/Directors over the past 25 years: Rob Dixon, Tony Antoniou,

Tony Cockerill, John Marshall and John Machin. In 2011 DBS is placed 55th in the

world in the Financial Times Global MBA ranking. There are currently19 Durham MBAs work

for Durham University. In 2002 DBS entered the Financial Times Global MBA ranking.

We have 6 Directors of the Full-time MBA Programme, 5 Directors of the Part-time/Executive

MBA Programme,7 Directors of the Distance Learning MBA Programme. Alan Jessop has had

3 stints as Full-time Programme Director.

2011 MARKS THE25TH ANNIVERSARYOF THE DURHAM MBA

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Durham alumnus David Collins talks about lifeas the Canadian High Commissioner in Nairobi, Kenya.

David studied the MSc programme in 1978-79 (now known as the Durham MBA). Soon afterwardshe went abroad with the Canadian Diplomatic Service and is currently High Commissioner to Kenya,Uganda and Rwanda; Ambassador to Somalia, Eritrea and Burundi; and Permanent Representativeof Canada to the UN Organisations in Nairobi. This is his fourth ‘head of mission’ job, having servedpreviously in Romania, Pakistan and Malaysia.

Q.How do you feel your Durham degreeprepared you for your current role?

A. The bulk of my diplomatic career hasbeen spent as a trade commissionerso the commercial orientation of theMBA (MSc in my day) was usefultraining to ensure I was on the samewave length as my clients from theprivate sector. As an ambassador, anyform of advanced education is usefulfor stretching the brain cells andbeing mentally alert.

Q.Can you describe your typical day?A. Days are full, starting with a meeting

with senior managers in the embassy.There may be some trouble shootingregarding a consular case. There willbe visitors to meet in the office; I mayhave one or two outcalls, either ongovernment ministers or other seniorcontacts. Socially I may either give orbe invited to a business lunch and inthe evening there could be a nationalday reception or a dinner. Given thetime difference here, the end of myday often includes a telephone callwith Ottawa.

Q.What would you say has been themostsatisfying aspect of your career so far?

A. Career satisfaction can be measuredin many ways. What I have enjoyedabout a diplomatic career is theopportunity to be assigned todifferent regions of the world, in mycase the Americas, Europe, Asia andnow Africa. While the work may be a variation on the theme, each localeoffers different challenges. I wouldbe lying if I did not say that being the official representative of one’scountry overseas is deeply satisfying.

Q.What do you do to unwind? A. I still play a bit of tennis; golf I find

very frustrating! I tend to read a lotof biography and military history,and I am an amateur genealogist.

Q.Where do you envisage your careermight take you in the future?

A. I am close to the end of mydiplomatic career (I left Durham in 1979!). I would like to teach in the future or perhaps work for aninternational charitable organisation,if any would have me.

Q. If you had one piece of career advicefor Durham graduates starting outwhat would it be?

A. In terms of advice to graduates,I would suggest that one shouldbe bold in career choice andopportunity. Look for a challenge,perhaps in a difficult location. Definebroadly what you hope to achieve in the medium term and strive for it based on hard work, integrity andimagination – you need to separateyourself from the herd a bit. But,above all, try to have some fun inwhat you do.

Q&A

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January saw the annual Durham University WinterCongregation ceremonies in Durham Cathedral.

Presided over by University Chancellor Bill Bryson, they werea unique celebration for students and for their friends andfamilies, many of whom were visiting Durham for the firsttime from around the world.

Business School graduates included individuals from acrossmany programmes, including PhD, Full-time and DistanceLearning MBA, MA and MSc.

Here, we share a few highlights of the day.

GRADUATION

For those of you who read newspaperssuch as the Financial Times or WallStreet Journal, the broad equity newscontent – namely IPOs, earningsreleases, minor crashes, major crashes,volatility or general stock price news –may seem to have changed little overthe long term. However, beneath themacros of the investment decision liesthe world of trading (aka execution),and the changes that have occurred at this level, on both sides of the pond,are quite profound.

Computational technology has enterednearly every facet of life over recentyears, and cash equity trading is nodifferent. In fact, the changes in thispart of finance incorporate some of the most sophisticated computationalprogrammes in the world. In conjunctionwith existing quantitative and ‘voice’traders, the industry produces productssuch as modified adaptive algorithmswhich respond to differing scenariosand learn as they execute trades in thereal trading world; dark fibre networks –ultra fast dedicated cabling lines that

help facilitate trading at close to thespeed of light; co-location – theinstallation of some of the mostpowerful computer servers globally that are placed right next to the stockexchange to ensure that trades areconducted as quickly as possible. All ofthis comes integrated with sophisticatedquantitative electronic trading decisionmaking tools, referred to as alphamodels (a component of the morecommonly referenced black box), whichseek profit extraction and risk reductionacross milli, micro and nano second

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Innovation and Technological Changein US and European Equity TradingAt some point in our adult lives many of us choose to lookat, or invest in, stocks and shares, an ISA or a pension forexample. For others, trading cash equities is a day-to-dayjob, and some of us both invest and trade.

timeframes. As a result, the electronictrading industry of today employssignificant numbers of students ofmaths, engineering, decision sciencesand other quantitative masters and PhD students.

Trading was not always like this ofcourse. Open-outcry trading ‘pits’allowed human beings to engage intrading in centralised spaces (you canstill see this in action on the ChicagoBoard Options Exchange (CBOE)amongst others); of course though,humans have many limitations andwhen it comes to neurologicalprocessing speed, they are some waybehind the computer chip. Whilst the‘Big Bang’ in London 1986 started theshift from human to electronic formats,recent legislation in the US (Reg NMS –National Market System, 2005) and inEurope (MiFID – Markets in FinancialInstruments Directive, 2007) allowedan accelerated scenario to unfold. In Europe today, we have gone fromnational exchange monopolies to pan-European competition (with a dose oftransatlantic M&A thrown in). We haveseen new technologically advancedpseudo exchanges called Multi-lateraltrading facilities (MTFs) orchestrated as start-ups with sub 30 employeesoffering innovative technology, in somecases 10 times faster than the LondonStock Exchange and, crucially, 10 timescheaper – the cost/differentiationnirvana we all know of from Porter. Infact the first MTF, called ‘Chi-X’, is nowin the European top 3 venues in termsof market share, just three years afterinception. In the case of the UK market,as far as breaking a 200 plus year oldmonopolistic market goes – I think mostwould agree that is a pretty strongachievement. We have ‘electronic darkpools’ where traders can hide ordersaway from others for protection andhelp ensure that their orders do not give away too much information tocounterparts that would ultimately bedetrimental to the price they pay orreceive; we have ‘Smart Order Routing’which are highly intelligent orderhandlers deciding where best to execute

a traders order, and of course we have‘algorithms’ that decide when and howto execute. The US is no different, withnearly all of the above occurring in theUS some two years or so before Europe.In the US right now we have over 30markets to execute your stock order. To illustrate the point, the LSE now onlycontrols ~50% of FTSE 100 tradingand the New York Stock Exchange just~30% of US trading. None of thiscompetition could have been createdwithout highly sophisticated electronicproducts in place to optimize thetrading capabilities across the newmarkets. To put it simply, we are in an‘arms race’ of technology. The best wayto view these changes is to think of arunner turning up at the start line for acompetitive marathon race and turningto their right to see that the competitorhas a formula one car, complete with ahighly drilled pit team and some of thebrightest minds in science behind thecar production. It might surprise you toknow that there are still a good numberof ‘runners’ out there, who swear by thelatest trainers and sports drinks to givethem the edge…

Sometimes it can be a fine line betweenincremental and disruptive innovationand often there is a balance to be struckbetween the market demanding theproduct and the technologists pushingit. In equity trading, the shake up was,and still is, due to all of the above, but it was ultimately the legislativeliberalisation of the secondary equitymarkets that provided the macroenvironment for competition to thrive.Where we go now is not far removedfrom what many would regard as sciencefiction. Aside from geographic expansioninto Asia, India and South America, theprototype algorithms being tested inlabs are at a new level. Mechanisticlearning moving to genuine intelligenceand enhanced quantitative basedforecasting could well be at the next stage.

Someone recently asked me how it wasthat I ended up in the business. Withhindsight, I guess it was pretty obvious.

My father and both his brothers areaeronautical engineers, my grandfatherand his dad, naval engineers. On mymother’s side, everybody seems to workin finance or the computers industry.There is also the impact of DurhamBusiness School: the three modules of information systems, quantitativedecision analysis and DBS SeniorLecturer Pierpaolo Andriani’s Innovationand Technology course all played theirrole, and a lot of that knowledgecontinues to help me out today.

For more in depth insight into electronictrading have a look at some of Stuart’srecent pieces below:

• Journal of Trading, Winter 2010,Vol 5(1):www.iijournals.com/toc/jot/5/1

• Markit Magazine, Issue 10:www.markit.com/en/about/magazine/issue-10/mm10-randd.page?

• FIX Global, Vol 3, Q4 2010:fixglobal.com/pdfs/201012/10-12_14.pdf

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Just a decade ago alumnus StuartBaden Powell completed a MA inManagement at Durham BusinessSchool. He now heads up EuropeanElectronic Trading Strategy at RoyalBank of Canada Capital Markets.

Alongside this challenging and satisfyingjob, Stuart also enjoys contributing tovarious trading publications. Here heprovides an insight into thetechnological advances that havetransformed operations for investmentbanks over the past twenty years.

1. GERMAN AGORA After attending a recruitment fair in

the city and interviewing prospectiveExecutive MBA students, AlexandraSedgwick, Alumni RelationsManager, experienced some greatBerlin hospitality. She met with MBA alumni Andy Philip and Andrew Tretow, GLC student FlorianeGramlich and prospective GLCstudent Tara Schollemann, and they enjoyed dinner in Alpenstueckrestaurant on the east side of town.

2. JORDAN AGORA Jordanian alumni, along with

Durham University staff; DavidThornber (Durham UniversityInternational Office) and his wifeLynn (DBS Marketing Team),gathered together at the KempinskiHotel in Amman in October.Business School alumnus Dr Zu’biAl-Zu’bi, Assistant Dean, Faculty of Business, University of Jordan,welcomed attendees from a range of disciplines including PhD, theExecutive MA in EnterpriseManagement, and the University’sMA Arabic-English Translationprogramme.

3. NIGERIA AGORA The Nigerian Local Association

get-together took place at Goodiesrestaurant, Victoria Island, Lagos.The group described it as a wonderfulopportunity for members who hadstudied at Durham during the pastfew years to meet together asprofessionals. Highlights includedthe welcome address by the groupcoordinator Afolabi Obilade, whotalked about the need for membersto come together frequently, not onlyfor School events but also to engagein local dialogue and businessforums. The group membersdemonstrated that they are trueambassadors by inviting along twodistance learning students, who took the opportunity to tap into the experience of the Agora LocalAssociation members.

4. INDIA AGORA During a recent trip to India, DBS

Career Development Manager,Marcia Hoynes and Alumni RelationsManager, Alexandra Sedgwick metwith alumni in Hyderabad, Mumbaiand Delhi. The main event in Delhisaw alumni gather for a skills sessionon Emotional Intelligence followedby a guest lecture from MBAalumnus Sushil Prakash. The eveningreception at the Jaypee Vasant Hotelwas thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.

Local Associations are the perfect wayto join in the DBS Global Get-Togetherevents. Forthcoming dates include: 9 June, 8 September and 8 December.As usual these are just a guide. If it ismore convenient to meet at anothertime and date then please do so. Anyhelp you need arranging get-togethersplease do get in touch. We particularlylook forward to hearing about yourevents and receiving photographs.

If you interested in joining these or any other groups throughout theworld (your location or perhaps abusiness area you frequent), pleaseemail us and we will put you in touch.

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Agora’s global network

local association news2

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Colin Ashurst is a Senior Teaching Fellow in MIS and is Directorof the Full-Time MA Programme at Durham Business School.

BOOKREVIEWThe Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley(Published by Profile Books 2001, ISDN 0385499841)

My research and teaching is aboutrealising the strategic potential ofinformation technology. Essentiallythat’s about IT-enabled businesschange. In many cases, IT is anenabler of business innovation. Thismeans that, when we approach manyinvestments in IT within organisations,we need to consider how we are goingto encourage and enable innovation –which brings me to this book…

The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelleyprovides ‘lessons in creativity fromIDEO’ America’s leading design firm.Anyone who has been in one of myclasses will probably have seen theNightline video about IDEO – it showsa team working to make a newsupermarket shopping trolley in aweek. The book uses the story in thevideo as one of a number of examplesand sets out specific practices thatcontribute to innovation at IDEO.

Although the book was published in2001 and I’ve been using the video for years, I only read the book for thefirst time this year. Since then, in partthrough Amazon, I’ve been aware of a flood of books and articles aboutinnovation, creativity and design (see Further Reading).

I became interested in IDEO becausethey provide a great example of an agileproject process and show, for example,that agile thinking is not just abouttechnical stuff, it’s a much broaderapproach. I did a talk recently on ‘an agile way of life’ to illustrate this.More recently I’ve realized that youcan look at this in an entirely differentway – probably more as IDEOthemselves see it. I’m now looking at what it is that’s being designed andthe issues of innovation and designrather than just how you get there, the project process itself. For example,one major insight is that the classicrequirements-gathering process ofgoing out to ask users what they wantis seriously flawed. If innovation is the goal, they are unlikely to know the answer.

The approach put forward by IDEO isthat you need to get insights into theproblematic situation and then thedesign process is about creative ways of finding opportunities forimprovements. It seems to work.

‘Design thinking’ as set out by IDEOhas moved from product design toservice design and customer experiencedesign. They are also thinking abouthow to create an organisationalenvironment that enables innovation.

For those of us involved in projects of any sort, in the creative area, in IT and change or other aspects of theorganisation, this ‘design thinking’ is important. I think there will bemajor changes in how we approach ‘IT projects’ as we learn to take theseideas into account.

The Art of Innovation is not the lastword on design. It does provide someinspiring examples and some specificpractices that you could explore to startto develop a more innovative approachto IT and projects in other areas.

Further ReadingChange by Design by Tim Brown(2009) Harper BusinessThe Design of Business by RogerMartin (2009) Harvard Business PressThe Ten Faces of Innovation byTom Kelley (2006) Profile BooksAlso articles via EBSCO from Agoranet(www.agora.org.uk) include:Brown, Tim (2008) Design Thinking.Harvard Business Review, Jun 2008,Vol. 86 Issue 6, p84-92Catmull, Ed (2008) How Pixar FostersCollective Creativity. Harvard BusinessReview, Sep 2008, Vol. 86 Issue 9,p64-72Coyne, Kevin P.; Clifford, PatriciaGorman; Dye, Renée. (2007)Breakthrough Thinking fromInside the Box.Harvard Business Review, Dec 2007, Vol. 85 Issue 12, p70-78

COMPETITIONFor your chance to win a copy of the book visit: www.agora.org.uk/agoranews,follow the competition links and answer this question: Who was the leaddesigner of the iPod? Closing date: 29 April 2011.

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BARRY TUCKWOOD MBA TUTOR DISTANCE LEARNINGSINCE 1994I have had a few successes over thepast couple of years. In October 2009I had a short paper on Project Successpublished by The Evaluation Centre inthe UK, drawing on a wide range ofexperience and research. In May 2010I had a paper published under thegeneral heading of sustainability for aninternational geotechnical conference.The latter was based on materialdrawn from experience going back to1976, and requiring a lot of researchwith people I had previously workedwith (many of whom I had not seen for20 years). Their co-operation, whichwas vital to the paper, was freely andenthusiastically given, demonstratingthe importance of all networks. InDecember I joined the InternationalManagement Board of the Associationof MBAs (www.mbaworld.com) havingbeen elected for a three year term. I expect to learn from the experienceof being a board member, especially in understanding more of theinternational aspects of theAssociation’s work in accrediting MBA and DBA courses, and from their relationships with businessschools and employers.

BRAD ATKINSONDBA 2002-06Dr Brad Atkinson was recentlyappointed Chief of Cost Analysis &Evaluation within the Office of theChief Information Officer of theTRICARE Management Activity, acomponent of the Military HealthSystem (MHS) in Washington, DC. The MHS is a global medical networkwithin the Department of Defense thatprovides cutting-edge health care to all US military personnel worldwide.Equipped with 59 hospitals, 364health clinics and a $50 billionbudget, the MHS delivers the highestquality health care in the world to abeneficiary population of 9.6 millionservice members, veterans, and familymembers. Brad was a member of DBSDoctor of Business AdministrationCohort 1. His thesis examined the roleof innovation in the performance of UShospitals and he received his degree inDurham in January 2007. He residesin Bethesda, Maryland USA.

SAMIR TAGHIYEV FULL-TIME MBA 2009-10Originally from Azerbaijan, I relocatedto Saudi Arabia last September to begin working with the IslamicCorporation for the Development of Private sector (ICD) as a regionalManager for CIS countries in Jeddah,Saudi Arabia. ICD is a privatedevelopment arm of the IslamicDevelopment Bank Group. I shall soonbe on the move again and based inone of the former Soviet countries on permanent basis.

GAJENDRA BERHADEFULL-TIME MBA 2009-10My MBA Business Project with EdenFarm concerned developing a 5 yeargrowth strategy and during the projectI identified improvement opportunitiesin the inventory management systemfor the organisation. After consideringmy proposal the company offered meanother project on developing a betterinventory management system andforecasting model which also involvedaligning functional KPI’s with thestrategic plan. I came from amanufacturing background beforeworking with Eden Farm (wholesalefrozen food distribution) so this was a great learning experience and a goodopportunity to use the knowledge andexperience gained during my MBA.

CLASS NOTES

BHARTENDU NARERAFULL-TIME MBA 2009-10Within two months of completing my studies, I was offered the role of Deputy Director, Logistics andBusiness Process Optimization withSamsonite South Asia, working out of Mumbai, India. Prior to this I hadcompleted an interesting LogisticsBusiness Project with Starbucks UKand Ireland, which set the tone for my new role. Making a functional shift from HR to Operations and from manufacturing to retail is a realachievement for me and one of themajor drivers for my taking up a full-time MBA programme. After 13 yearsof general management experiencewith the Indian Army and three yearsof HR experience with a Power MNC Iam very excited about this challengingrole. Samsonite’s tagline- ‘Life is a journey’- makes an interestingstatement on my career direction too!

DAVID ELLISBA SPANISH 1973-77FOUNDER OF THE FD ELLIS MBASCHOLARSHIP AT DBSI recently joined FTI as managingdirector in their Economic Consultingpractice, and I am based in the Londonoffice. Prior to this, I was a Directorwith Navigant Consulting and anAssociate Director with NERAEconomic Consulting in WashingtonDC and London. Previously I was afinance professor at Babson Collegeand Texas A&M University. During my

ten years in consulting I have givenwritten and oral evidence in casesinvolving derivatives and structuredfinance on over 25 occasions in theHigh Court, in US Federal and Statecourts, in international arbitrations,the New Zealand High Court, theWorld Trade Organisation and beforesecurities arbitration panels.

MARTIN IVANEKMA MANAGEMENT STUDIES FULL-TIME 2009-10Just after finishing my thesis I startedmy internship at A.T. Kearney’s Pragueoffice. I was lucky enough to beassigned to an interesting project inwhich I could show my qualities andskills (improved at Durham), which in the end earned me the full-timeposition of Business Analyst. Now I am looking forward to other interestingprojects, lots of travelling and furtherdevelopment of my expertise as amanagement consultant. And finally, I just have to mention how lovely it was to see all my friends at theCongregation ceremony (andafterwards) and to experience the great atmosphere of the town again!Best of luck to all of you, guys!

GARY BISHOP CURRENT GLOBAL MBA STUDENTMy charity, Justlife(www.justlife.org.uk), is due to openits first Health & Enterprise Centre in March this year and I am currently on target to complete my MBA in June.Without a doubt, winning the 2008DBS/Independent MBA Scholarshiphas enabled us to achieve a great dealmore than we would have thoughtpossible in such a short space of time.

JESSICA XIANG-FISCHERFT MBA 1998-99My company, SMART AND JOY, wasestablished in 2002 and is based inFrance. Working with my sister, who is based in Guangzhou, we import and export fashion ladies’ clothing to clients worldwide. Our products aredesigned in France and developed inChina. We are currently setting up afashion school in Guangzhou, the firstof its kind there.

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1. Barry Tuckwood

2. Brad Atkinson

3. David Ellis

4. Martin Ivanek

5. Gary Bishop

1 2 3 4 5

Motivation is about choiceand effort. It’s about why wechoose some activities ratherthan others and why we putdifferent amounts of effortinto different activities or into the same activities on different occasions.

Motivation is one part of whypeople’s performance varies – theother parts include skill, ability,equipment and other people.Because these factors interact, it doesn’t always follow that lowmotivation necessarily leads to poor performance: the veryskilled may be able to producegood results even when notputting much effort in, or maybemachines do most of the work.Similarly there is no guaranteethat high motivation leads to high performance, though this is often the case.

Getting thi 22

ngs doneBecause motivation is about how mucheffort we put in to our activities, ourmotivation at any particular time willdepend both on our total availablestore of mental and physical energyand on how we focus it. Someindividuals, like Tigger (the fictionaltiger-like character originallyintroduced in A. A. Milne’s book The House at Pooh Corner), seem to have boundless energy to devote to almost all their activities. Yet eventhey are more motivated towards sometasks than others. The rest of us, with a less bountiful store, are morenoticeably selective in where we direct our efforts.

Motivation also has conscious andnon-conscious aspects. Much of whatadults do is the product more of habitthan conscious thought. The dailyprocess of going to work for many isliterally unmemorable. Regular workpatterns take on an unthinking rhythmand routine. It is perhaps only whenwe are confronted by an outsidequestioner, or circumstances change,that we ask ourselves ‘why’ we go towork or why we chose this particularwork. Maybe this is where the bigtheories of motivation, those that pointto the importance of our needs forexistence, friendship or personaldevelopment, become relevant.Perhaps the money or the friends orthe challenge are our ‘reasons’ forgoing to work. But are they our reasonsfor working hard (or not) when we getthere? This again makes the point thatit is not very helpful to talk of someonebeing motivated in some absolutesense but more useful to think interms of how strong someone’smotivation is towards a particularactivity at a particular time.

This specific motivation can comefrom a number of sources, those which are within ourselves, or intrinsicmotivation, and those outside ofourselves, or extrinsic motivation. Inbroad terms this mirrors the differencebetween doing something because you want to do it and doing somethingbecause somebody else wants you to do it. In most organisations, theaccent is on the latter. Hence it is nosurprise that it is extrinsic motivatorswhich have typically been the centreof managerial attention. Motivationtheories which emphasise theimportance of incentives andsubsequent rewards, both typically in monetary form, and their impact onthe sort of behaviour that is desired bymanagement naturally have featuredstrongly in management thinking.

Yet, we know from our own experienceplus the research of writers such asDeci & Ryan and even Maslow with his emphasis on self actualisation and his pioneering support of positivepsychology, that when people do what

they (themselves) want to do, they generally do it well and withcommitment. Their (intrinsic)motivation is heightened. Under thesecircumstances people are capable ofthe intense concentration that is afeature of ‘flow’, Csikzentmihalyi’sterm for an optimal state of balancebetween challenge and skill, whichtypifies the personal involvement andcommitment of the person to the taskthat they themselves have chosen andthat they commit their energy to.

The optimal experience of flow and ofbeing in ‘the zone’ is a feature reportednot just in the realm of sports andleisure but in a whole variety of worksituations, including surgeons and civil servants. Though not all aspectsof these situations are under thecontrol of the individual (surgeons, for example, work with teams of other skilled personnel), enoughopportunities exist for what is anintense and predominantly intrinsicmotivational process to take place.

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Nigel Van-Zwanenberg, a PrincipalTeaching Fellow, joined the BusinessSchool in 2005 and is currently thecourse leader for the BA Business.

This involves an interaction of all the components of performance;motivation, skill, other people,equipment, difficulty, challenge and so on, coupled crucially with rapid and specific feedback on the quality ofperformance. In these circumstances,performance, especially in terms ofquality rather than quantity, and theactivity itself are the main rewards –the epitome of intrinsic motivation.People in these situations seldommention external factors such as pay and indeed such factors are notusually tied directly to performance.And that is probably all to the good,

for there is research, hotly contestedthough it certainly is, that indicatesthat where people are engaged in anactivity which is essentially intrinsicallymotivated, the introduction of extrinsicrewards can actually reduce motivation.

Intrinsic motivation is potentially verypowerful, but it does heighten the roleof the individual and hence increasecomplexity for managers – uniformityis much easier. In times of increasinguncertainty, or indeed of increasingcertainty over cuts especially in thepublic sector, promoting the idea ofencouraging individuals to develop

and take control over their own work is risky and perhaps unattractive to those whose job is to manage. But some, possibly many, of thesemanagers may not be around in anycase and so the conditions may wellbe created that will favour intrinsicapproaches. In this case, a key role forsenior management will be to designwork that is potentially intrinsicallymotivating and to choose people whocan be intrinsically motivated by it.Competitive advantage will then comefrom the quality of output or serviceoffered to clients. Of course all this willmean wanting people to do things well.

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“The daily process of going to workfor many is literally unmemorable.Regular work patterns take on anunthinking rhythm and routine.”

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Jason Coleman talks about the next phase of development at the School’s Mill Hill Lane site.

The shape of things to comeI recently joined Durham BusinessSchool with the primary objective of attracting the significant fundingrequired to reconfigure and expand the existing school facilities. As wellas supporting both the School’s andthe University’s strategies, this projectis vital to address the pressurescreated by the growth in student andstaff numbers and to ensure that theSchool maintains its strong identity in these highly competitive times.

The School already has a great deal to be proud of; the high quality of itsresearch output and staff, its tripleaccreditation status, and theemployability of its graduates, to namea few. During the coming three yearsour mission is to communicate ourachievements and engage, not onlywith our current stakeholders, but also a wider global audience.

Through an ongoing series of meetingswith alumni and other business leaders,I will be communicating our strategyto develop the site at Mill Hill Lane.Since 2002, as well as The Foundationfor SME Development, the School has incorporated the Department of Economics and Finance. Whilstcurrently based elsewhere on campus,integrating Economics and Financewithin the School building will providea stimulating and cohesive learning,teaching and research environment,enabling colleagues to be co-located at one site.

Through my initial appointments I have sought to understand the level of engagement of our alumni with the University and their philanthropicinterests, in addition to exploringopportunities to access networks ofcontacts – including introductions tocorporations and other individuals whomay not have studied at Durham buthave an interest in our region, sector,global reach, the relevance of ourcurriculum or the quality of ourresearch. Whilst the ultimate goal is capital fundraising for the buildingproject, there are numerous otheropportunities for interested partners to connect with the School and theUniversity, sharing their passion forDurham with our aspiring student body.

More details of our development planswill be shared with you in due course,but key highlights include:

• Improving the design andfunctionality of our lecture theatres

• Extension of faculty officeaccommodation and researchcollaboration areas

• Addition of a large glazed circulationcorridor to the main part of thebuilding

• Enhanced breakout spaces for students

• Improved and centrally locatedstudent-facing services

• Enhanced catering facilities

• Refurbishment of on-site bedroomaccommodation

In addition there will be useableoutdoor space in the centre of thebuilding perimeter accessible fromnumerous points. A more efficientheating and water system isincorporated as well as plans for an ecological wetland area.

Our aim is to re-engineer DurhamBusiness School so that we providefacilities worthy of being at theforefront of today’s increasinglycompetitive global marketplace. To achieve this we must offer anenvironment fit for purpose andcommensurate with student, corporateand accreditation body expectations.To find out more information visit:www.dur.ac.uk/dbs/about/development

I would welcome your ideas andencourage you to get in touch with me to share your thoughts.

Recently appointed to the role ofDevelopment Executive, Jason gained a BSc(Hons) Finance and Accounting degree and a Diploma in Performance Coaching beforepursuing a career in sales and marketing.Having worked across a variety of sectors,from prestige automotives to the foodindustry, he has a broad understanding of retail sales and marketing principles.

Central Extension – South Elevation

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KPMG-DURHAMUNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPDurham Business School hasannounced that it is working inpartnership with KPMG and theInstitute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales to develop aground-breaking new school leavers’programme from September 2011,aimed at broadening access to theaccounting profession. The innovativeproposal is for an initial intake ofaround 75 students, who will start a six-year programme leading to both a BSc in Accounting from DurhamUniversity and a professional charteredaccountancy qualification from theICAEW.

KPMG will pay the full University andProfessional tuition fees for eachstudent in addition to a starting salaryof around £20,000. During the degreephase, which will last for four years,students will spend part of the timestudying at Durham Business School,and part of the time working at KPMG.

NEW 4-YEARUNDERGRADUATE DEGREES The School is to launch two highlyinnovative undergraduate degrees in October 2011. The MBus and theMMarketing are, we believe, the firstfour-year undergraduate degrees inbusiness incorporating a Mastersqualification anywhere in the world.Aimed at inquisitive and investigativestudents, they place research-ledteaching and learning at the centre of the curriculum.

AND THE WINNERS ARE…Three successful applicants have beenselected for 2010 DBS/IndependentMBA Scholarship. One award wasmade for each of the School’s MBAprogramme modes: Full-Time,Executive and the Global MBA. The deserving winners are: for theFull-Time programme, Adetokunbo

Omotosho, who is based in Lagos,Nigeria and works as Divisional Head,Infrastructure & Enterprise Security at Interswitch Limited; Executiveprogramme, Annabel Cornish, based in Newcastle upon Tyne and ManagingDirector of The Zebra Group, a designand software development business;and the Global MBA programmewinner is Christel Adamou, who isbased in Nairobi, Kenya and works as an Associate Legal Officer for theUnited Nations. The Executive andGlobal winners have already beguntheir studies and the Full-Timeprogramme winner will join the School in September.

WELCOME The 2010 Executive MBA cohort met for the first time in January. UKprogramme participants were joined in Durham by the DBS/EBS ExecutiveMBA cohort (based in Germany), fortheir week-long induction programme.With an average age of around 38,they bring an excellent mix of skills,knowledge and experience. Twelve newPhD students have also recently joinedthe School; they represent a diversegroup of countries including: Greece,The People’s Republic of China,Armenia, Kuwait, Bosnia &Herzegovina and Jordan. This bringsthe number of PhD students to 140,and with 100 students on the DBAprogramme, we now have a total of240 Doctoral students.

School NewsThe School made significant progress in the 2011 Financial Times Global MBARankings which were published in January, climbing 19 places to 55th in theworld. This equates to 17th in Europe and 9th in the UK, placing the Schoolahead of competitors including Warwick, Strathclyde and Edinburgh. The globalranking comprises 28 European schools, 58 North American schools, tenAsian/Australasian schools, three schools from South America and one schoolfrom Africa. This is deserved recognition of all the hard work and dedication of our alumni, students, staff and faculty.

University NewsDBS PROFESSOR PRESIDENT OF BAMProfessor Timothy Clark, Dean ofGraduate School and Professor ofOrganisational Behaviour has beenelected President of the BritishAcademy of Management (BAM) for2011. Based in London and foundedin 1986, BAM boasts a proud historyof representing and developing thecommunity of management academicsfor the benefit of members, practisingmanagers, management education and society.

NORTH EAST DOCTORAL TRAINING CENTRE Durham and Newcastle universities are to receive over £9million from theEconomic & Social Research Council(ESRC) to establish a joint world-classDoctoral Training Centre to train thenext generation of social scientists.The new North East Doctoral TrainingCentre will bring together the researchstrengths of both universities, offeringstudents a wealth of opportunities towork with research leaders across awide range of social science subjectsand benefit from world-class trainingand resources.

FEELING NOSTALGIC FOR DURHAM? A new website promoting DurhamCity’s historic World Heritage Site(www.durhamwhs.com) has beenlaunched to mark the 25th anniversaryof the Cathedral and Castle achievingWorld Heritage status. Full offascinating facts and images, itprovides a comprehensive overview ofthe World Heritage Site’s significance,its history, its architecture, and currentevents and activities. It will also serveas on-line repository for research anddocuments. Durham Cathedral andDurham Castle, which is home toUniversity College, were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1986.

news news news news news news news news

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Dates for the Diary SPEAKER EVENTS

ALUMNI WEBINAR‘Networking: Following upopportunities after an event’

13 April 2011, 14.00 – 15.00 (BST)Available globally

DURHAM SPEAKER SERIESPWC: SUSTAINABILITY

14 April 2011, 18.00 – 20.30London, UK

DURHAM SPEAKER SERIESSIMON BROOK, EUROPEANINVESTMENT BANK CLIMATEACTION – A PERSONAL VIEW

13 May 2011, 18.00 – 20.30Durham Business School, UK

DURHAM CONVENTION – DURHAMBUSINESS SCHOOL HOSTS ITS3RD ANNUAL CONVENTION –SPEAKERS INCLUDE:James Averdieck, Durham Alumnus,Entrepreneur and owner of GU Puds

Gavin Miller, Durham Alumnus andCEO at CMI incorporating EdinburghFilmhouse and EdinburghInternational Film Festival and Film Guild

Rona Cant, Arctic Explorer andinspirational communicator

Adam Shaw, Award-winningfinancial reporter and BBC presenter

03 June 2011, 11.00 – 18.00Durham Business School, UK

MBA 25TH ANNIVERSARY –CELEBRATION WEEKEND

03 – 05 June 2011(see page 2 for details)Durham, UK

RECRUITMENT EVENTS

PROVISIONAL DATES ANDVENUES FOR 2011 INCLUDE:

WORLD MBA TOUR Johannesburg, South Africa 29March

EDUCATION UK

Athens, Greece 16 & 17 April

AMBA FAIR

London, UK 16 April

PREVIEW/OPENEVENTS

MBA PREVIEW EVENTS

20 April 2011, 10.30 –14.15 hrs 24 May 2011, 10.30 – 14.15 hrs 22 June 2011, 10.30 – 14.15 hrs 21 July 2011, 10.30 – 14.15 hrs Durham Business School

Please note that dates and eventsare subject to change.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATIONTo book places for these events, contact the person named, or the Alumni Team on: Email: dbs.events@durham.ac.ukTelephone: +44 (0)191 334 5277

WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP PROMOTE DBS?Prospective students, as well as the School, benefit from having alumni assist Durham academic staff with recruitment activities. If you feel able tovolunteer to help in this way please visit the events page at www.agora.org.uk

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Business School

Alumni Development TeamRoom 215, Durham Business SchoolMill Hill LaneDurhamDH1 3LBUK

t: +44 (0)191 334 5277f: +44 (0)191 334 5218e: dbs.alumni@durham.ac.ukw: www.agora.org.uk

UK Agora Local AssociationsNorthern Agora (based in Durham)Southern Agora (based in London)

International Agora Local Associations Athens Beijing Canada Caribbean Denmark EgyptFrankfurt Ghana Gibraltar Hong Kong Hungary IndiaIndonesia Japan JordanMalaysia Mexico NigeriaNorway Russia Shanghai Singapore South Africa South AmericaSwitzerland United Arab Emirates United States of America

To be put in touch with other alumni in your area contact the Alumni Team.

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