ALUMNIDUBS

NEWS

Alumni Magazine for Durham University Business School Spring 2013 Issue 23

IN THIS ISSUE: A FAMILY AFFAIR//GETTING TO KNOW YOU//HAPPY RETIREMENT

‘Family firms have lowerinsolvency rates; they aremore profitable and havea higher percentage of female directors.’A Family Affair (see pages 8–11)

CONTENTSIN THIS ISSUE…

SCHOLARSHIP AWARD

Congratulations to Jon Kilmartin, thewinner of the Durham Executive MBAScholarship Competition. The competitionprovided a full-fee scholarship for theSchool’s Executive MBA programme, and Jon, who is based in London andcurrently working for global sports media,management and entertainment firm IMG,began his studies in January. To learn more about the programme visit:www.durham.ac.uk/business/degrees/mba/pt

OBE FOR ALUMNUS

MBA alumnus Moses Anibaba (2001)has been awarded an OBE in the latestUK New Year’s Honours list. Moses, who isDirector, British Council in Ghana, receivedthe award in recognition of his services to UK cultural interests in West Africa.

SUCCESS FOR CGLEE LANDMARKLEADERSHIP PROGRAMME

An innovative leadership programme for professional women in Saudi Arabiadelivered by the School’s Centre for GlobalLearning and Executive Education (CGLEE)was the first of its kind. Run in collaborationwith the British Council its aim is to enhancethe leadership skills, knowledge andattitudes of women in senior positions. The programme, which has been heavilyoversubscribed, has been received withgreat enthusiasm and another is plannedfor later this year. An online network hasbeen set up for the participants to shareexperiences and on-going learning.

EIU BUSINESS PROFESSOROF THE YEAR

Congratulations go to Dr Michael Guo whosuccessfully made it to the long list for the EIU Business Professor of the Year.The long list comprised ten professors whohad been nominated and voted for by theirstudents and alumni. The competitionattracted 222 nominations from 31universities worldwide and over 30,000votes were received. Four shortlistedcandidates will now compete in a live‘teach-off’ for the $100,000 prize.

You may have seen our announcementlast autumn that, following an extensiverebranding exercise, the School has beenrenamed Durham University BusinessSchool. The review, which consulted withmany of the School’s internal and externalstakeholders, sought to better align uswith the heritage and prestige of ourparent organisation, Durham University.

2013 will be a momentous year in thehistory of the Business School, mostnotably because by autumn we will beback in our newly extended and renovatedbuilding at Mill Hill Lane. This will bringtogether the majority of the School’s

faculty under one roof and will dramaticallyimprove the student’s facilities as well ascreate significantly more flexible space forstudents’ individual and group study, as well as hospitality. You can see fromthe work in progress picture that theredevelopment is coming along very nicely indeed.

By the start of the next academic year weaim to have increased our faculty numberto over 130, representing considerablegrowth over the past ten years. One of themost recent additions to the School is thenew Professor of Leadership, Robert Lord.Robert joins us from theUniversity of Akronwhere he held the position of DistinguishedProfessor of Psychology for 38 years.Another new faculty member is Dr Emmanuel Adegbite, Lecturer inAccounting who is the feature of our regular‘Introducing’ piece on page 25. I wishthem both a warm welcome to Durham.

This year also marks the end of anextensive exercise to co-ordinate theSchool’s research centres. With theoutcome of the Research ExcellenceFramework due in 2014, research, and its impact, continues to be high onthe School’s agenda. For that reason wehave taken this opportunity to share someof our faculty’s recent work: Dr Louise

Scholes recently joined Durham and hasbeen looking at the retail casualties ofsome of the UK’s best known brands andhow research has suggested that family-owned businesses may have had bettersurvival rates during what has been thebiggest recession in post-war Britain(pages 8–11). Another relatively newmember of staff is Dr Markku Jokisaari.Our article ‘Getting to know you’ looks atDr Jokisaari’s research on the importanceof social relations for new employees and how interaction between newcomersand more experienced members of anorganisation can sometimes mean thedifference between success and failurefor new recruits (pages 14–15). Andfinally, Professor Kevin Dowd discussesthe confidence in defined contributionpension schemes and its effects on future generations’ retirement plans(pages 20–21).

We are entering a very exciting, yetchallenging, time for the School. I welcome your contributions andcomments and invite you to put forwardany suggestions you may have as to how we might work together to furtherenhance the School’s future.

Professor Rob Dixon,Dean

SCHOOL NEWS

OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE PALATINE CENTRE

Durham University’s new Palatine Centrewas formally opened in October last year byNobel Prize winning scientist and Presidentof the Royal Society, Sir Paul Nurse.

The building houses key student servicesand the University’s headquarters on onesite and is the culmination of a four-year,multi-million pound developmentprogramme to create a hub at the heartof the University in Durham City. It bringstogether for the first time all student-facingservices, alongside the newly re-named andextended Bill Bryson Library, and the newDurham Law School.

HONORARY DEGREES AT WINTER GRADUATION

The University honoured four successfulnational and international figures in equalopportunities and human rights, sociology,music and natural burials at its WinterCongregation celebrations in January.Durham’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor ChrisHiggins, presented honorary degrees toprominent figures in their fields: Baroness

Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and EmergencyRelief Coordinator at the United NationsOffice for the Coordination of HumanitarianAffairs (honorary Doctor of Civil Law); Ken West MBE, the pioneer of naturalburials (honorary Master of Arts); musicianGraham Johnson OBE (honorary Doctor of Music), and Professor Huw Beynon, a distinguished industrial sociologist(honorary Doctor of Letters).

THE LINDISFARNE GOSPELS COMETO DURHAM

For three months this summer (July toSeptember), one of the world’s mostprecious books, the Lindisfarne Gospels,will be on show in an exhibition at DurhamUniversity’s Palace Green Library.

The exhibition will provide a compellingnew contemporary interpretation of thisunique book, and an extensive programmeof events including art and music,workshops and conferences, pilgrimagesand retreats, exhibitions and performanceswill be staged.

For the latest news and updatesabout the exhibition, visitwww.lindisfarnegospels.com

UNIVERSITY NEWS

4 news news news news news news news news

Pictured left: Ken West, Professor Higgins and Baroness Amos.

DEAN’S WELCOME5

We are now approaching the finalstretch of our time at Ushaw College,and whilst we have very much enjoyedthis impressive historic site, we arelooking forward to retuning to Mill HillLane where we will have access to thefirst class teaching facilities that wehave been telling you about for so long.You may be interested to visit theSchool’s website to view the on-sitetime lapse video footage to see how the redevelopment is progressing:www.durham.ac.uk/business

The contractors tell us that progressis on schedule and we should bere-occupying the building at the end ofthe summer, ready for the fresh cohortof students starting the new academicyear. When the School reopens, donorsand supporters of our ‘Take Your Seat’campaign will be able to proudly viewtheir plaques in one of the brand newlecture theatres. On page 12 you can read messages from some of thecontributors to the campaign and hearwhy they wanted to be remembered in this way.

As well as faculty collaboration, we havea number of alumni contributions to thisissue. Graham Kenny’s (MSc 1971)book on diversification strategy is thefocus of our book review and there is anopportunity to win a copy of the bookby answering the competition questionset by reviewer, Brad Atkinson (DBA2006) (page 22). To find out what analpha blogger is, read our regular Q&Afeature on page 17, which in this issueis on Lisa Pollack (BA 2004) who worksat the Financial Times. And alumnusBryan Morton (MBA 1996) shares why he decided to get involved in theSchool’s future by joining the School’sDevelopment Board on page 13.

As an international Business School,it comes as no surprise that we havealumni situated in all corners of theglobe. To support our members wehave launched the biggest programmeof international events that the Schoolhas ever had. In March we had sixevents within one week with staffvisiting locations including Mumbai,Frankfurt, Geneva, Sri Lanka and Delhi.These events provide great opportunities

to network with alumni, our Globalmasters students and prospectivestudents, as well as further professionaldevelopment and enhance careerprospects. Highlights of the events can be seen on pages 28–29.

Our programme of international events includes Leading Edge CareerWorkshops and the D8 Masterclassseries and could be coming to a citynear you! I encourage you to take alook at the ‘Dates for the Diary’ section

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ALUMNI – UPDATEin this issue and at the online eventscalendar to find out more aboutplanned visits to China, India, the USA and Canada.

Volunteering is a big part of DurhamUniversity culture and the BusinessSchool in particular is a big supporterof local community groups. The MBAelective – Project Sri Lanka – is an‘all-inclusive’ project bringing togetherstudents and staff with community and regional partners in activitieswhich aim to assist with both thereconstruction and regeneration oftsunami-devastated communities insouthern Sri Lanka. A volunteeringopportunity that might interest ourUK-based alumni is the Cranfield Trust, an organisation which seeks torecruit volunteers from the business

community to offer free managementconsultancy to charities. For informationcontact the Cranfield Trust directly.www.cranfieldtrust.org

We continuously look for ways in which we can improve our offering and member benefits package. Ourmost recent addition to the online‘Knowledge Portal’ is the Henry StewartTalks Marketing and ManagementCollection which offers free access to over 700 specially prepared audio-visual lectures delivered by leadingacademics and practitioners on a vastrange of business topics (see page 2).

Finally, I’d like to announce thewinners of the competition run atWinter Graduation. Two members ofthe network who had used our online

resources within a month of graduationwere selected at random to receiveprizes. Congratulations go to BenjaminChance (BA 2006), who won a £100iTunes voucher, and Philip Lesmana(MBA 2011–12), who won a £50Amazon voucher.

As always, I welcome any feedbackthat you have on this issue or thealumni network in general.Happy reading!

Best wishes

Alexandra McNinchAlumni Relations Manager

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Welcome to the first edition of DUBS Alumni News of 2013, the firstedition since the School changed its name from Durham BusinessSchool to Durham University Business School. Those of you whograduated prior to 1999 will have known the School in the days whenit was originally called Durham University Business School and will befamiliar with the ‘DUBS’ acronym. We believe that aligning ourselveswith the University in this way provides a great opportunity to strengthenour brand globally.

Use your talents and management expertise to support local charities

For more information or to get involved, please get in touch: Call: 01794 830338Email: admin@cranfieldtrust.org or visit our website: www.cranfieldtrust.org

Can you help us?

Page 6

As we review the latest retail casualtiesfor the first part of 2013, it looks likelythat the demise of more iconic Britishbusinesses will be inevitable this year.However, family-owned businesses seemto be bucking the trend, and some areeven set to prosper. So what are theirsecrets to riding out economic storms?Two recent studies suggest that thereasons might be more about long-termsurvival goals and not just down tocustomer loyalty to the name abovethe door.

UK businesses have recently experiencedthe worst trading conditions since 2008.And with the global financial crisistriggering the deepest recession in post-war Britain, the subsequent recovery hasbeen sluggish to say the least. Howeverone area of business may have suffered a little less: according to recent studies,family-owned firms were better off duringthe crisis. Indeed, some firms have goneso far as to claim that being a familybusiness had helped.

One explanation is that most family-ownedfirms benefited from a more cautiousstrategy during the boom years, whichleft them less exposed to the downturn in demand. However, as fears of acontraction loom in the final quarter of 2013, are family-owned businessesready to ride out the next storm?

Two recent research projects that compareand contrast family businesses with non-family businesses, and how they haveaddressed governance and performanceduring recession, have revealed interestingevidence about the resilience of thefamily business.

Dr Scholes was a co-author of the IFB(Institute for Family Business) ResearchFoundation report titled UK FamilyBusinesses: Industrial and GeographicalContext, Governance and Performance,which was compiled by NottinghamUniversity Business School (NUBS) and Leeds University Credit ManagementResearch Centre (CMRC) and publishedin 2010.

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A FAMILY AFFAIR

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Dr Louise Scholes joined Durham UniversityBusiness School last September as a SeniorLecturer in Entrepreneurial Management, andis an expert in family business. She previouslyworked as a research scientist for Unilever andachieved an MBA at Nottingham UniversityBusiness School. After securing a researchposition there in the Centre for ManagementBuy-out Research, she lectured in theEntrepreneurship Group.

Dr Scholes has taught undergraduate, postgraduate and MBA students and currently supervises PhD students. She is on the editorial board of theInternational Small Business Journal and her articles appear in a number ofmainstream academic journals. Her research interests include family firms,entrepreneurial activity, private equity and venture capital.

Here, we take a look at two recent research reports she co-authored for the IFB (Institute for Family Business) Research Foundation (ifb.org.uk).

The report investigates family businessesin the UK and focuses on their industrialand geographical context and theirgovernance and performance relativeto non-family businesses from 2007to 2009.

Her research was also pivotal in the reportThe UK Family Business Sector – Workingto grow the UK economy published in November 2011. This report wascommissioned by the IFB ResearchFoundation and prepared by OxfordEconomics as a comprehensiveevaluation of the UK family businesssector. The report uses data collected bythe Department for Business, Innovation,and Skills (BIS), and follows up on the2008 IFB Family Business Sector ReportUK Family Business Sector, An Institutefor Family Business by Capital Economics.

Drawing from up-to-date data, this latestIFB report looks at the performance offamily businesses in the financial crisisand subsequent recession compared to non-family businesses’ performance,and examines expectations over thecoming year.

Family businesses account for two-thirdsof firms in the UK private sector, andprovide 9.2 million jobs – 40 per cent of total private sector jobs. In simpleterms, this is 50 per cent more than the entire UK public sector and makesfamily firms the largest source ofemployment in the private sector.

While many companies are desperatelylooking for an effective survival plan,it seems that an alternative businessmodel does appear to be successfuland exists in the family business sector.Family firms are continuing to thrive and grow. In many cases, family firms are out-performing other businesses –a testament to their strength andresilience. At a time when the UKgovernment is highlighting the importanceof entrepreneurship as crucial to therecovery of the economy, what can welearn from this research?

The reports establish that there are threemillion family businesses in the UK,made up predominantly of Small andMedium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).Family firms generated revenues of £1.1trillion in 2010, or 35 per cent of privatesector turnover. Of these revenues, familyfirms made a £346 billion value-addedcontribution to UK GDP, or nearly aquarter of the total.These businesses areestimated to have contributed a staggering£81.7 billion in tax receipts to the UKExchequer, or 14 per cent of totalgovernment revenues in 2010.

18/04/2013 16:37 Page 8

BOB BURNS (USA), GEORGE BELL(AUSTRALIA), PETER PEARSON,LIZ THORLEY, AND GEOFF LODGE (UK)MSc Management Class of 1977

At our 35-year reunion in July last year,classmate Peter Pearson referred to our ‘life-changing year’ at the BusinessSchool in 1976–77 and indeed it was.Most, in fact all of us, left with a great‘can-do’ attitude which over the years hasenabled us to succeed, and even excel,in a number of fields.

Whilst the reunion provided anopportunity to remember, it also providedan opportunity to give back and for thatthe ‘Take Your Seat Campaign’ providedthe perfect way. Some of us have alreadynamed seats for ‘The Class of 1976–77Class Reunion’ and also in memory ofour beloved classmate Con Jenkins. We hope that more of our class will join in and name a few more.

This may just be the start – even now two1976–77 graduates are talking aboutcreating a fund to provide an annualscholarship for a local student.

I would like to encourage other classes to do the same.

ELAINE (YI) CHEN,CHINAFull-time MBA1998–99

I do so appreciate thelearning/educationopportunities that the

Business School gave to me back in 1998.That experience has benefited my careerin a profound way, as well as havingpaved my future in a decent manner,both financially and psychologically. Life is treating me well, so I’m taking up my social obligation to give back.

SAMUELTEDJASUKMANA, UKMSc in Finance& Investment2006–07

Benefiting from ‘TheDean’s Scholarship’

helped me greatly in financing my MScdegree study at DUBS. The degree hasproved to be very useful in my career.Participating in this ‘Take Your Seat’campaign is just one small way that I can give back to the School, andcontinue to be part of its certainlyvery bright future!

MARCOTULIOMATEUS,BRAZIL Global MBA2007

After years at the headof the family businessI realised that my

engineering training was not enough for me to deliver a top performance.Balancing a business, a family and anMBA was always going to be a challenge.Fortunately the very helpful support andflexibility provided by both the BusinessSchool and the MBA team enabled meto complete my degree and acquireknowledge that only a high-level globallyrecognised MBA offers. So, my donationis my symbolic way of saying thank you.

TOM MULLEN, USAFull-time MBA2008–09

For me, the BusinessSchool provided acharmed mixture oftravel, insight, and

camaraderie in a beautiful location. The experience changed my outlook onwhat’s truly important in life and for thatI am grateful. This is the reason I choseto support the ‘Take Your Seat’ campaign.

TAKEYOUR SEAT...Whilst the redevelopment at Mill Hill Lane is underway, alumni andfriends of the School have been invited to join our ‘Take Your Seat’campaign and sponsor a seat in one of the new lecture theatres.Some have sponsored a seat in their own name, some havecommemorated their class and some have chosen to dedicate theirdonation to the memory of a treasured classmate. Here are just someof the reasons why people have supported the School in this way.

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Dear DUBS alumni,

I hope you won’t mind me interrupting a page of your magazine to introduce myself. In 2011, a member of staff from DUBS came to see me in Oxford and asked me what my Durhamdegree meant to me fifteen years or so after graduation. The question took me by surprise because in truth, I committed myself to my work and family after graduating without ever really pausing to give any in-depth thought to my studies and their impact on my entrepreneurial successes inpharmaceuticals. Eighteen months on from that meeting, however, I have re-engaged with the School in a number of ways and write to encourage you to consider doing the same. Over the past year I travelled to Durham on several occasions and met with the Dean, members offaculty, and the School’s leadership team. I have been enthused by the School’s demonstration of itscommitment to underpin and inform its research and teaching with the skills that industry is seeking,both now and in the future (as well as one can predict!). The Dean is not only interested in what attributes are desirable in Durham, or the Square Mile, but in each and every continent of the world. Another thing that my visits served to remind me is that Durham is a unique university with an ability to appear far bigger an institution than it actuallyis. I recently learnt for instance that employers from around the world regard Durham as being amongthe top 20 universities globally for the employability of its graduates and that its sports participants leadthe way nationally in university team sports, two facts that I find incredibly encouraging.As well as developing its core strengths in academic and research excellence, the School is investing in its physical infrastructure. I encourage you to take a look on their website or better still to arrange tovisit – it really does look impressive. The business case for undertaking the expansion and refurbishmentconvinced me to support the project in the form of making a donation to name a room. Furthermore,myself and a few others who I will duly name and ‘shame’ as David Ellis, Brian Robinson, Graeme Belland John Lo have established a fundraising board to help identify others to support the project too.Why? Because it’s widely known that to produce the best graduates, a university needs to enrol the most gifted students, employ faculty of the highest calibre and provide infrastructure that meets theexpectations of a well-informed international student cohort. The Board doesn’t just seek help for the build project. There are many other equally worthwhile initiatives that would benefit greatly fromour philanthropic support and I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss these with you in moredetail. If you would like to get in touch then please contact the School’s Development Executive, Jason Coleman who, along with the Dean, represents the School on the Board, and he will make the necessary arrangements.I thank you for taking the time to read my letter and look forward to seeing many of you about the School, on future visits back to Durham City.

Bryan MortonMBA alumnus (Class of 1996)Pharmaceutical Entrepreneur.

For further details of how you can support current and prospective students, the buildingproject, or to learn about other ways to engage with the School contact Jason Coleman,Development Executive on +44 (0)191 344 5446 or jason.coleman@durham.ac.uk.

When it comes to staff retention, the UKfalls behind the rest of Europe and the US with employee resignations costingbusinesses up to £42 billion a year.

So, is there a solution to keeping newrecruits in the workplace? Two recentstudies highlight how making use ofsocialisation and interaction can help us to understand the success and failure of retaining new recruits.

Whether businesses are eager to maintainor even grow staff levels, it is crucial thatthey also consider the full costs of losingstaff voluntarily. For every employee that is lost, organisations have to meet the costsof advertising, hiring and retraining as well as the expense associated with payingfor overtime or temporary help. Lostproductivity and recruiting and trainingnew staff is an expensive business. Anyinsight into how to make that journey from newcomer to experienced employeepermanent is something companies can’tafford to ignore.

In The Oxford Handbook of OrganisationalSocialisation (The Oxford University Press),Dr Markku Jokisaari and Professor Jari-ErikNurmi review socialisation in ‘Getting theRight Connections? The Consequencesand Antecedents of Social Networks inNewcomer Socialisation’. Drawing on thelearning experience of newcomers inorganisations, they propose a theoreticalmodel and disclose how interactionbetween newcomers andmore experiencedmembers of an organisation can sometimesmean the difference between success andfailure for new recruits. And where previousstudies have mainly examined newcomers’

interactions with supervisors and co-workers, the authors highlight theimportance of the contribution of largersocial networks within an organisation to successful socialisation.

Scholars of organisational socialisationrecognise that socialisation is a learningprocess during which newcomers facemany different tasks that are critical totheir success in their transition into anorganisation. For example, one critical task for newcomers is to learn the skills and practices required to perform their job. This learning is then reflected in job performance.

Looking at the social network approachprovides a background to help understandthe role of social environment inorganisational socialisation – or the processthrough which a new employee learns to adapt to an organisational culture. By examining the social network factor, Dr Jokisaari and Professor Nurmi suggestthat the influence between networks andsocialisation is reciprocal: networks lead to learning, success and adjustment; this, in turn, leads to more learning and betternetwork development.

All OnboardIf socialisation is successful, it can lead to positive outcomes for new employees. Such positive outcomes include greater jobsatisfaction, better job performance, moreorganisational commitment, a reduction in stress and, ultimately, less desire to leavea job. These outcomes are particularlyimportant to an organisation looking toretain staff. In all, it is now recognised thatorganisational socialisation is a process

that fosters both companies to retain their new workers and new employees to learnorganisation-specific and job-specific skillsand practices, and adjust to the work.

Fewer future graduates will not have theoption of looking at a job for life and willneed to change careers often. Employees,therefore, face an increased number of job changes and related work transitionsincluding starting a variety of new rolesduring their careers. And with these newroles comes the need to learn organisation-and job-specific skills and practices, in addition to settling into to a neworganisational environment.

Hello, GoodbyeHowever well socialisation opportunitieshave been presented to newcomers, itmightbe that some feel they just don’t fit into a new organisation. The risk of voluntaryturnover is highest among new employees,showing, in part, that transition into a newjob can often be unsuccessful. For example,it has been estimated that in the EUcountries, about nine per cent of theemployed population changed employervoluntarily during a year. Obviously, there is a need to better understand the problems associated with transitionsinto new organisations, and the relatedsocialisation of new employees.

Previously, scholars of organisationalsocialisation have argued that theinteraction between newcomers andemployees in an organisation is the mainchannel through which newcomers canlearn their roles in the organisation. Dr Jokisaari’s study highlights how thesupervisor of a new employee is often a

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GETTING TO KNOW YOU…

person who typically has positional powerand related resources to foster newcomersocialisation, learning and the adjustmentto work. Supervisors have formal authorityand power to influence the formation ofnew employees’ roles in their job, and theirjob assignments. Supervisors also play acentral role in providing knowledge andfeedback through which role behaviours in the job and organisation are learned.Supervisors may also have the formalauthority to influence subordinates’advancement in the organisation, such as a recommendation for promotion, or allocating new job assignments.

Newcomers’ Social NetworksIn other research carried out by Dr Jokisaari,‘The Role of Leader-Member and NetworkRelations inNewcomers’ Role Performance’,published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior,employees were issued with questionnairesand supervisors were asked to rate thenewcomers’ job performance.

As part of the research, a survey, carriedout in Finland, gauged new employeesthree months after joining theirorganisation. The participants werepermanent employees, their previous jobexperience in the current occupationalfield was just under four years, 85 per centwere women, and the median age was 29.5years. Participants’ occupations includedengineers, marketing assistants, dentists,teachers, cooks, nurses, nurse assistants,physiotherapists and psychologists.

To indicate the quality of their leaderrelations, the employees graded suchstatements as: ‘I usually know where I standwith my supervisor’; and ‘I usually knowhow satisfied my supervisor is with me’. In addition, the employees evaluated theirsocial networks in the new workplace.

The results revealed that the structure ofthe newcomers’ networks related to theirjob performance, and that their networks,characterised by strong ties, related to theirwork-group performance. The quality ofthe newcomers’ leader-member relationsalso had a direct relationship to theirorganisation member performance.

In these studies, Dr Jokisaari also discusses‘network density’. This concept looks at the importance of connectivity, ie the moreinterconnected a person’s social ties are,the higher the network density. Networkresearch has argued that when people are

not interconnected, they offer moreheterogeneous information and advicethan persons belonging to a single group.In line with this, the characteristics of newemployees’ social networks are related totheir learning in the job which is reflectedin job and creative performance.

Ties that BindThe social network approach also arguesthat network-based resources foster careersuccess in the organisation. Through socialnetwork ties, people can obtain resourcessuch as credentials and referrals, whichmay endorse their advancement in theorganisation.Thesecredentialsandreferralsare particularly important among newemployees, since they may not yet havetheir own visibility in the workplace.Furthermore, job applicants and newemployees seem to benefit already in the recruitment phase from their socialnetwork ties. Applicants who have a social tie to the organisation or who arerecommended by a current employee in the organisation attain higher initialsalaries and present more appropriateresumes compared to those applicants whodo not have a social tie to the organisation.

Interestingly, when a new employee isrecruited through a personal relation, theyare less likely to quit their job compared to employees who were recruited throughformal channels such as recruitmentadvertising. New employees’ social networkssupport their adjustment to work. Forexample, close friendship ties in theworkplace relate to organisationalcommitment; conversely, a peripheralposition in social networks can beconnected to lower job satisfaction.

Dr Jokisaari’s studies highlight why it isimportant for organisations to make arobust plan for new starts when they jointhe ranks. These social relations will notonly help foster good associations, but theywill also directly impact on how successfula new employee’s transition will be intothe organisation – and, in turn, howsuccessful the organisation will be inretaining the employee after the initialsettling in period.

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Dr Markku Jokisaari is a recently appointed ResearchFellow at Durham University Business Schoolspecialising in organisational socialisation and workingrelationships. His latest work includes ‘The Role ofleader-member and network relations in newcomingperformance’ 2013. The focus of this piece is areview of his work on ‘Getting the right connection? The Consequences and Antecedents of Social Networks in Newcomer Socialisation’ which features in The Oxford Handbook of Organisational Socialisation.

To find out more about Dr. Jokisaari’swork, visit his staff profile on theSchool’s website.

D

Q. What is your current role?

A. I’m a reporter for the Financial Times’Alphaville blog covering financialmarkets and economics. As well aswriting, I do a lot of behind the sceneswork around the website and variousproject work.

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

A. That’s tough to decide. The Alphavilleblog providesme with a lot of pleasurein being able to explain complexfinancial topics in a digestible andfun way. Then there is the satisfying,but quite unexpected, upside ofgetting to meet people I admire. Only a week into my current job, I met Satyajit Das who is the author of my favourite book Traders, Gunsand Money. Reading that book guidedmy career path.

Q. What are your fondest memories of your time in Durham?

A. That’s easy, Academic’s ‘Office Hours’,of course! Throughout the week, I’d build up lists of questions for mylecturers and I’d go to almost all theirOffice Hours. Usually they each hadtwo hour-long drop-in sessions a week.Most of my classmates only showedup to these when there was some bigassignment due in the near future.For me, those extra two hours of one-on-one tuition were priceless.

Q. Do you feel that your Durhamdegree and connections have helped your career?

A. Until you get some real workexperience under your belt, you’regoing to be judged on your academicperformance. Part of that is down tothe marks you achieve, and part of it is the reputation of the academicinstitutions you attend. Having a gooddegree from Durham can help getyou in the door, but it’s up to you to take it from there.

It’s incredibly enjoyable to see someof the friends I made when at Durhamsucceed in their chosen career paths.There’s more to come from them for sure.

Q. What is the most exciting thing you have done since graduating?

A. I’m going to add ‘and terrifying’ after the ‘exciting’ part. When I firstgraduated (after doing an MPhil inEconomic and Financial Research at Maastricht University in theNetherlands), I went to work for a bank in New York City. I left after a couple of years and at the time I thought it’d take me a long time to find another job.

As it turns out, I didn’t have a periodof unemployment at all. I landed ajob at a financial data company inLondon and got some time to studyfor the Chartered Financial Analyst

Level 2 exam before taking on therole. Sometimes scary situations turnout for the best with a combination of luck and perseverance.

Q. If you were to offer some advice tocurrent students, what would it be?

A. Hard work and resourcefulness countfor just as much, if not more, thannatural intelligence. Don’t just studyto pass an exam – that’s a very short-termist perspective to take. Trulyknowing a topic is a good habit to get into when you’re a student.

Also if you don’t like what you’redoing admit that it wasn’t the rightdecision and try to change it today,not tomorrow. When I arrived atDurham I was convinced I wanted toread engineering as I enjoyed A-levelPhysics. As it transpired engineeringturned out not to be for me and Iswitched to economics after a year. A lot of people stay in situations theyknow aren’t right for them, don’t be that person if you can help it.

Q. What about your plans for the future?

A. I am keeping an open-mind! Thus far,hard work and luck have brought mesome very interesting opportunities. I don’t want to get too set in a fixedpath or I might not be as willing tojump to the next challenge when the chance comes.

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Business School alumna Lisa Pollack (BA Economics, 2000–04)talks about her career and life post-Durham. She is a reporterfor the Financial Times’ Alphaville blog, having previouslyworked as an analyst at Bank of America in New York Cityand for financial data company, Markit in London.

Q&AD 17/04/2013 10:01 Page 16

WINTER GRADUATION 2013On Friday 11 January 2013 Durham UniversityBusiness School students celebrated the successfulcompletion of their respective degrees by making theirway to Palace Green, processing into Durham Cathedraland taking part in what is one of the proudest momentsof a student’s University career – Congregation.

In turn each of the graduands proudly shook the hand of Professor Chris Higgins, the Vice Chancellor of DurhamUniversity, as they received their degree in recognition of their hard work. Following the formal ceremony, theBusiness School’s Alumni Network invited the new graduatesto continue their celebrations at a drinks reception inFisher House, Ustinov College. There presentations weremade by programme directors to students who had wonawards in recognition of their academic achievements.

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

18 19

MA MANAGEMENT AWARDS:Damian Grunow: Best Dissertation in MA Management Programmes

BEST ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE:Maria Condrea: Human Resource Management Michael Horrocks: Financial ManagementTobias Mies: Management

Overall Best Academic Performance in the MA Management Programmes was awarded to Michael Horrocks.

MSC FINANCE AWARDS:Shalala Bayramova: Best Dissertation in MSc Finance ProgrammesFang Zhang: Joint First Prize for the DUBS Trading Challenge (StockTrak) Jinfu Sun: Joint First Prize for the DUBS Trading Challenge (StockTrak)

BEST ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE:Alexandros Zormpalas: International Banking & Finance Bastian Schrapel & Chang Liu: Finance & Investment Charlotte Braeken: FinanceEric Gusmaroli: Corporate & International FinanceJonathan Humphrey: International Money, Finance & Investment Kamil Heydarov & Meiko-Lars Schmidt: Accounting & Finance Moritz Weber: Economics & Finance

Overall Best Academic Performance in the MSc Finance Programmes was awarded to Moritz Weber.

MA/MSC MARKETING AWARDS:Syeda Mariam Humayun: Best DissertationLaura Molyneux: Best Academic Performance

MBA (FULL-TIME) AWARDS:Katharina Dolezil: Best Business Project/Dissertation (award sponsored by Alcatel-Lucent)Rebecca Walters: Best Academic Performance (award sponsored by SAGE)Weylin Poon: Best Business Project/Dissertation (award sponsored by Worshipful Company of International Bankers)

BETA GAMMA SIGMA MEMBERSHIP was awarded to the following students in recognition of their academic achievement:MBA (full-time): David Pallash, Isabel Velasco Gamboa, Katharina Dolezil, Priya Swamikuttan, Rebecca Walters, Sebastian Wolfgarten & Weylin Poon Global MBA: Claas Siegmueller & Nikolay Gorgiev Global MA Management: Sebastian Schubert

In the UK, this issue manifests itself in ashift away from traditional Defined Benefit(DB) schemes (schemes in which amember’s entitlements are specified, such as final salary schemes) to DefinedContribution (DC) schemes in which themember builds up their own pension potand gets the pension income this pot isworth. This change solves the problem ofpension funds running out of money bytransferring risks to the plan member, whonow has to take the daunting responsibilityfor their own pension and run the risk of an impoverished retirement if they get thiswrong. The days of generous DB pensionsare over – except for those already on themor high-level public servants whose benefitsare taxpayer financed.

With the shift to DC, the first issue thatarises is the contribution rate: how muchshould people save towards their pensionplan? This is where the fun begins.

For a start, few people appreciate the scaleof the contributions needed. Most peoplewould expect a pension in retirement equalto perhaps two thirds or three quarters oftheir final salary, which is the norm forpeople recently retiring in DB schemes.However, they imagine that can obtain suchpension with impossibly low contributionrates. To given an example, if a typical managed 25 saves, say, five per cent of his salaryin a DC pension scheme over a 40-year

horizon, illustrative simulations of myPensionMetrics DC pension model suggestthat he can expect a pension equal to around21 per cent (yes, 21 per cent: this is not atypo!) of final salary. The results for womenare worse – and sometimes much worse.

Then you have the problem of improvinglife expectancy: life expectancy has beengrowing strongly in recent decades. Higherlife expectancy might be a good thing forthe people who live longer – assuming thatthey have a decent pension to enjoy it –but it is a bad thing for the pensionsschemes that have to pay out for longer.Indeed, perhaps the biggest problemcurrently facing DB schemes is what ischeerfully known as the ‘toxic tail’ – the riskthat granny will not die as expected in hermid to late eighties but will survive well intoher nineties. This risk is potentially fatal tothe pensions industry.

There is also the issue of charges – the dirtysecret of the pensions industry. One thingthe industry is very good at is charging itsclients: there are fixed charges, charges for assets-under-management, charges for periods when the individual is notcontributing, charges for leaving a pensionschemes and various other charges too, my favourite being ‘Total Expense Ratio’charges which are meant to summarise all charges but often don’t. The industry is also very good at hiding charges from

members so they don’t realise how muchthey are actually paying. Not surprisingly,there is currently a lot of pressure on themto cut charges and make them moretransparent: the Pensions Minister, SteveWebb, recently warned the industry that on the charge issue he was ‘watching themlike a hawk’. The industry’s response isreminiscent of a child being dragged to the dentist.

Now add in longevity risk and realisticcharges, and our 25-year-old male is nowlooking at a pension income equal to onlyjust over 12 per cent (!) of his final salary.One can’t help wondering why he wouldbother: perhaps he should take PresidentObama’s advice to ‘seize the day’, ie, eat,drink and be merry and forget aboutpensions altogether.

The government’s response is to encouragepeople to join DC schemes by offering tax concessions and just recently, byintroducing auto-enrolment, in whichmillions of employees without privatepensions will be automatically enrolled in their employer’s pension plan unlessthey explicitly opt out. However, the taxconcessions would seem to be pointless: a private boast within the pensions industryis that they can extract all these forthemselves through cleverly designedcharge regimes. As for auto-enrolment,there is a very real danger that many peopleleast able to afford it will find themselvescontributing to pension schemes thatdeliver little back.

On balance, it is probably better to see thegovernment’s role in pensions as part ofthe problem rather than the solution. Overthe years, the government has periodically

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HAPPYRETIREMENT?

chopped and changed the system, oftenpulling the rug from those who had reliedon previous government promises. It hasalso gone in for policies, which my friend,the Reuters columnist Martin Hutchinson,aptly described as policies of sado-economics, in which the governmentpunishes groups it dislikes: a notoriousexample being the ‘euthanise the rentier’policy of the post-war years, whose aimwas to destroy the real incomes of thosewho lived on their savings – a policy whichsucceeded magnificently and pauperisedmany who had done the right thing andsaved for their pensions in earlier years.The government has also regularly raidedpension funds when it suited it (one thinksof Gordon Brown’s famous ‘pension raids’of the late 1990s), and since 2009 theBank of England has been underminingpensions through its Quantitative Easingpolicies, which are literally killing thereturns that pension funds can deliver.

One also has to consider the debt thatthe government has been issuing in vastamounts since at least the late 1990s.We are not talking here of just the ‘official’debt – this has just passed 80 per cent ofGDP and this is bad enough – but this ismerely the tip of the iceberg. The unofficialdebt – commitments entered into, but notprovided for; think of the Private FinanceInitiative, for example – is much bigger.Respectable estimates put it some between500 per cent and 1000 per cent of UK GDP.All this represents a very big can kickeddown the road for younger people to pick up.

Nor should one see the state pensionsystem as the solution. The state pensionsystem is massively under-funded and itsobligations are a major component of theunofficial government debt just mentioned.Fans of state pension schemes should also consider the fate of the Soviet statepension system, one of the glories of theSocialist System: this was very generousand promised pensions in some casesof 100 per cent of final salary.However, after the break up of theUSSR the state pension systems in ex-Soviet countries collapsedand many pensioners foundthemselves with nothing tolive on. This highlights thepoint that any pensionsystem is only as good as its solvency.

So what should young people do? Theconventional advice is that they shouldsave more and plan to retire later, andthere is certainly something to this. Myadvice is that if you choose a DC pension,go for one with low and transparent charges:PensionMetrics simulations show thatcharges are the key driver and will make a big difference to your pension. Don’t befooled by industry propaganda about high-charging fancy investment strategies: these don’t work but the industry likesthem because they are very profitable; in fact, they are very profitable preciselybecause of the high charges.

You should also consider ‘out of the box’alternatives. One I like is the ‘gold DIYpension plan’: buy gold and bury it in thegarden. Another I like is the oldest pensionscheme of all, the ‘DIY peasant pensionplan’: save, stash your wealth wherepredators can’t find it and have a bigfamily to look after you when you are old.This has been widely used for thousands of years and so presumably must havesomething going for it.

There is no question that young people aregetting a raw deal: the norm these days isthat they are saddled with college debts,have difficulty landing a good job, havelittle realistic prospect of getting on thehousing ladder until well into their thirtiesand face a lifetime of rising taxes to payoff all the cheques that theirelders have written onthem. And now weare telling them

that they don’t have any realistic prospectof a decent pension either. Not your fault,son, but if you wanted a good pension youshould have been born earlier.

This is a good recipe for an ugly andprotracted intergenerational war – and onesenses that young people are beginning to wake up. After all, why should they payfor all the benefits their elders will haveenjoyed when the system they paid intowon’t be there for them when they retire?Or, rather, if they retire: most won’t be ableto afford it.

From a pensions perspective, this is justa return to the long-run historical norm.From this perspective, a decent pensionis largely a feature of the 20th century.Most people before the 20th century nevergot one and most people after won’t getone either.

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The subject of pensions must be one of the most boring imaginable, but one thingthat is even less appealing is a long retirement lived out in grinding poverty. Yet allover the developed world, pension schemes are going through major reforms inresponse to a common threat. This threat is funding or, rather, the lack of it: manypensions schemes face the prospect of running out of money unless something is done to increase their ingoings or reduce their outgoings, or both.

Are you looking ahead with confidence to the daywhen you begin receiving your pension cheques?

Here Kevin Dowd,Professor of Financeand Economics atDurham UniversityBusiness School,shares his own,personal, views onpension schemes.

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For me this winter has been full of long days – given the current businessenvironment of economic and fiscaluncertainty and working for the CFO ofa large government healthcare agency in the Washington, DC area. Leftunchecked cynicism thrives in this current, zero-sum environment.

This was my mind set as I received a copyof Graham Kenny’s book, DiversificationStrategy: How to grow a business bydiversifying successfully. Dr Kenny weavesan appropriate blend of academic literatureand case studies to frame an operationaldefinition of diversification that cuts throughambiguity to establish a performanceframework and to identify the commoncharacteristics found in a panel of firmsthat have demonstrated excellence in theexecution of a diversification strategy.

Let me give you the bottom line up front:‘Diversification Strategy’ is a good read at less than 210 pages within four parts. It is also a pragmatic book that is writtenin a style that sounds more like the voiceof a trusted advisor than an academicresearcher. Kenny provides insight relatedto the internal dynamics of organisationalgovernance found in firms that havedemonstrated excellence in managingdiverse business units. Topics include howto balance the roles and responsibilitiesamong a central office and diverseoperational business units to provideeffective governance, how to measure

performance, how to achieve an effectivemix in decentralising business functionsand activities to develop competitiveadvantage.

The strategic management field hasadvocated diversification for decades,however in my experience of teachingstrategic management to undergraduatesand performing consulting engagements I have found the literature to be lacking.The result has been much discussion inacademic and trade literature on assessingcompetitive advantage, identifying corecompetencies and identifying marketopportunities to provide competitiveadvantage but little guidance in the mattersof building and governing organisations to execute that strategy. Admittedly, the literature created the concept of the celebrity CEO – a fragile conceit thatoften did not disentangle the personalityfrom the action, again falling short oftactical guidance.

Importantly, while Kenny does employ a panel of case study diversificationexemplars, his book is not a hagiography of the chief executives in those firms. Infact, in one chapter Kenny makes a strongcase that frames the history of a certaincelebrity CEO in an eye-opening re-assessment of his performance. Kennydoes take from his cases the facts andfundamentals of past performance toprovide compelling guidance on how to achieve the characteristics necessary

to create value. For example, part two of the book is essentially a work plan on how to navigate the art and science of implementing strategy to align yourorganisation’s architecture andgovernance successfully.

Part of Kenny’s thesis is the need to openthe mind to the meaning of diversification,to break some probably long held axioms,and to transform your operational thinking.Interestingly, his discussions of governanceand the role of common core functionswould benefit any organisation in findingefficiencies, not just organisations withdiverse business units. In writing this book,Graham Kenny has made the process of navigating the transformational pathsnecessary to implement effective corporateand business unit strategy easier for thosereaders who are willing to take the firststeps of that journey with him.

BOOK REVIEWDiversification Strategy:How to grow a businessby diversifying successfullyDr Graham KennyDr Brad Atkinson (DBA 2002–06) gives his verdict on this book writtenby fellow alumnus, Dr Graham Kenny (MSc Management 1970–71).

The School’s first internationalcommittee – DUBSIC – was launchedlast year in China. With ten alumnimembers, DUBSIC’s mission is to advance the School’s strategicobjectives in China. There are manyitems under discussion, but one that was tabled at the secondmeeting in December has alreadygained momentum.

Following on from the Leading Edge Careerworkshops held in Shanghai, Beijing andHK, where recent graduates were given theopportunity to meet companies who wererecruiting across various sectors, DUBSICmembers felt that more could be done onan on-going basis to help support recent

graduates and improve their employabilityprospects.With this aim inmind, a quarterly‘Alumni Career Expert Panel’ withexperienced alumni discussing topicalbusiness issues for the benefit of recentgraduates has been introduced.

The first of these expert panels, whichfocused on the theme of Digital Marketing,took place on 9 March in the Xin Tian Diarea of Shanghai. DUBSIC memberssourced the venue, identified appropriatepanellists, and planned delivery of theentire session. Panel members withexperience from across different sectors,shared their insight and participated in aQuestion & Answer session before chairingsmaller round table discussions on real-lifebusiness cases. Feedback has been

extremely encouraging. With 35 Durhamalumni in attendance, as well as a smallnumber of friends from other UKUniversities, indications are that delegatesare already eager to sign up for the nextevent planned for 15 June.

You can see from the photographs belowhow interactive and engaging the sessionproved to be. I would like to thank everyoneinvolved in arranging the event, but specialthanks must go to the masterminds behindthe idea, DUBSIC members, Ocean Wangand Lana Savanovich.

If you would like to learn more aboutDUBSIC and the School’s activities inChina, please join the Linkedin Group‘DUBS China’ or the Weibo account run byalumni ‘ DurhamAlumni’.

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DUBSIC (China) Sharing the Knowledge

To win a copy of the book answerthe following question:

Who is the investor and CEOnicknamed ‘The Oracle of Omaha’?

Email your answer along with yourname, address and course of studyto business.alumni@durham.ac.uk

Competition Time!

D 17/04/2013 10:01 Page 22

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What are the most challenging parts of your job? Balancing multiple commitments ranging from teachingand research related activities to fulfilling my administrativeduties is a challenge. Academics typically don’t have a nine-to-five job; it’s more like a job that never ends unless youchoose to pause for a bit.

What do you want to achieve? I aspire to deliver high quality learning experiences for all my students through research-led education. I also get great satisfaction from helping organisations, evencountries; improve their governance practices for thebenefits of all of their stakeholders.

What drives you? Excellence! Being an academic is challenging but veryinspiring. Watching students develop in their learning is extremely motivating. Seeing the usefulness of your own research, adding it to a body of knowledge, practice and policy provides a great ‘feel good factor’.

What was the best career advice you were given? To publish!

What advice would you offer to someone thinking of an academic career? Listen and learn… I would recommend talking to anacademic you aspire to be like. Given time, this shouldprovide you with an insight of what it is like to work inacademia and help you discover if it’s really what you want to do.

What are you currently working on at Durham UniversityBusiness School? Presently I am teaching an undergraduate BusinessAccounting and Finance module and a postgraduateFinancial Statement Analysis module, as well as working on my current research which relates to corporategovernance and responsibility in weak institutional contexts.

Dr Emmanuel Adegbite, Lecturer in Accounting

Emmanuel Adegbite joined the Business School in September 2012as a Lecturer in Accounting.

Researching, teaching and consulting in the broad area of Accounting andCorporate Governance, his work has been published across a wide range of peer-reviewed academic journals such as the Journal of Business Ethicsand International Business Review. His work also appears in books by leadingpublishers such as Palgrave MacMillan and Cambridge University Press.

His current and future research interests are focused on the governance andresponsibility of the modern corporation – a fast-growing area in businessmanagement literature – and he is willing to supervise doctoral students who are broadly interested in these areas. Emmanuel recently presented at a Durham University alumni event in Lagos, Nigeria.

introducing......

You can read more about Dr Adegbite’s work and interests on the Academic Faculty section of the Business School website:www.durham.ac.uk/business

www.durham.ac.uk/business/alumni

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WHAT’S YOUR NEXT MOVE?Log on to www.durham.ac.uk/business/alumni and click on the Career Gateway/Resources/Video Library

For more information contact the DUBS Alumni Relations Team on+44 (0)191 3345 277 or via business.alumni@durham.ac.uk

Advance your career with DUBS Career Resources

JOHNNY CHOYMSc MANAGEMENT1978–79

Late last year Johnny was awardedQueen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubileemedal for significant contribution toCanadian society. Since immigratingto Canada 30 years ago he has beenactive in his community throughvolunteer work with non-profitorganisations. His involvement hasincluded: fundraising for charities,youth leadership training, healthcare,education, community policing, and family services. Despite familycommitments and the demands ofbeing a corporate executive, he hasgiven freely not only his time but also his professional skills andfinancial resources to many non-profit organisations.

LIZ SCOTTMBA (EXECUTIVE)2001–03

Earlier this year Liz gave birth toFrancesca, who is now four months old.Liz is now starting to dip back in to herwork with Rainbows End CoachingLimited where she holds the position of Director.

DUMISANI MSIBIMBA (FULL-TIME)2000–01

Dumisani has been appointed GroupManaging Director at SwazilandDevelopment Finance Corporation(FINCORP), one of the leadingdevelopment financial institutions in Swaziland. His primary role is toprovide strategic leadership for theentire organisation. Prior to this he was Deputy MD for the organisation.Dumisani currently also serves as theChairman of the Board of the YouthEnterprise Fund as well as being a Board Member of the Federation of Swazi Employers and Chamber of Commerce (FSE & CC) and a BoardMember of the Swaziland Enterprise & Entrepreneurship Program (SWEEP).

OCEAN WANGMBA (FULL-TIME)2008–09

Ocean Wang is currently planning hiswedding ceremony which will takeplace on 27 April 2013 in Shanghai.He met his wife, Jessie, at a Korn/FerryCoaching Certification Course and, last November, Marie Claire magazinefeatured an interview with the coupleabout their love story which waspublished as the cover story in the January 2013 China edition.

DR ELIAS GHANTOUSPhD IN ECONOMICS1973–80

Dr Elias Ghantous will be 75-years-oldthis year and is enjoying life in Beirutwith his wife Leila. The couple marriedin 1965 and are looking forward tocelebrating their 50th weddinganniversary in 2015. It was in 1973that Dr Ghantous secured a scholarshipfrom the British Council to study at theBusiness School, where he earned aPhD in Economics. In 2006 he wasawarded the Medal of Lebanese Merit(Ordre du Chevalier) by the Presidentof the Republic, in recognition of hisservices to Lebanon. He currentlyworks as an Economic Advisor to the State Minister.

CONRADO GONZÁLEZ VERAMBA (FULL-TIME)2005–06

After graduating with his MBA in 2006Conrado González Vera moved back tohis home country of Mexico where, in 2011, he was appointed the positionof Rector of the Universidad de LaCiénega del Estado de Michoacán de Ocampo. Conrado married Nallelyon 18 August 2012 and they aredelighted to announce that they areexpecting their first child. He’d like to encourage fellow alumni to keep in touch, either via Facebook or atconrad4u@hotmail.com

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GEMMA PANMA MANAGEMENT2002–05

Congratulations to Gemma Pan on the birth of her baby boy Ty AlexanderMcCaffrey (pictured). Ty arrived onFriday 22 February 2013 at 9:18pm;weighing 8lbs 14oz. Gemma and herhusband are currently living in the USand are looking forward to bringing Ty to Durham on his first holiday thissummer. Gemma was the main contactfor the Shanghai Local Association andis still very much active in the network,therefore well known by many of you.

STEVE CROMPTONBA BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION2009–12

When Steve completed his dissertationon enterprise social networks last year,there was little academic researchavailable and the enterprise sociallandscape is still being carved out by academics today. Since then hisdissertation has evolved in to a whitepaper being used by EnterpriseStrategies and Steve has now landed a job at Yammer (recently acquired by Microsoft). He is now part of theCustomer Success Team ensuring thatbusinesses are realising the value ofenterprise social and uses many of thechange management techniques taughtduring his time at Durham.

ALEXANDRA MELNIKOVAMSc FINANCE & INVESTMENT2004–05

We are delighted to be sending ‘double’congratulations to Alexandra Melnikovaon the birth of twins – Varvara and Boris.The adorable pair was born on Tuesday22 May 2012.

GABRIELA CASTRO-FONTOURABA ECONOMICS 1999–02

Gabriela has published an e-book with Enterprise Nation titled DoingBusiness with Latin America, whichshe would like ‘to be a first point ofcall for UK exporters interested inthese fascinating markets, from Brazilto Chile, from Mexico to Argentina and beyond’. Gabriela stresses that‘the book doesn’t have all the answers,but it does have some great questions,expert advice and case studies’.The e-book is available atwww.enterprisenation.com/shop/doingbusinesswithlatinamerica

EJINE OLGA NZERIBEMBA2000–01

Last October Red Star Express Nigeria,an affiliate of FedEx USA, launched anentrepreneurial book entitled InspiringGrowth – TheHistory of Red Star Expresswritten by DUBS alumnus Ejine OlgaNzeribe. The book was a part of RedStar Express Nigeria’s 20th anniversarycelebrations and delivers some hard-learned lessons that business peoplewill benefit from, draws out salientpoints in growing a business andshowcases a significant success story in the Nigerian business world.

JOHN HOODGLOBAL MBA1999–05

John Hood and his wife Paola arethrilled to announce the arrival, lastNovember, of baby John Paul. Havingmarried in May 2011 in Paola’s nativeMexico, they tied the knot again in December 2011 in MelbourneAustralia, where they currently live.

27

CLASSNOTES

1. Liz Scott2. Dumisani Msibi 3. Ocean Wang4. Dr Elias Ghantous5. Conrado González Vera6. Gemma Pan7. Alexandra Melnikova

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

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FRANKFURT Dr Christos Tsinopoulos led our first D8event in Frankfurt, Germany with histopic ‘Supply Chain: How well do yourcustomers and suppliers know yourproducts?’ The event was well attendedby both alumni and current studentsincluding 23 full-time MBA studentswho attended the event as part of theirInternational Study Week visit. Alumnivalued the opportunity to attend such a Masterclass and reminisced as theyspoke of the happy memories madeduring their time studying at the School.

GENEVA As part of our D8 series Dr Graham Dietzdelivered a workshop to 36 students,staff and alumni in Geneva entitled‘Trust in Uncertain Times’. Dr Dietz’sinteractive presentation entertainedthose in attendance focusing on howtrust is built, enhanced and sustainedamong colleagues and between leadersand their followers. Feedback from localalumni was very positive with ChristalAdamou stating, ‘It was just brilliant,many thanks to Dr Dietz for his excellentand entertaining presentation. I was alsograteful for meeting current and formerDurham peers on this occasion. Pleasecome back again’.

SRI LANKA On Friday 22 March Durham UniversityBusiness School held a gathering ofMBA students, prospective students,alumni and corporate guests at thestunning Mount Lavinia Hotel. TheBritish Colonial heritage hotel, located in a breath-taking beachfront locationclose to the Sri Lankan capital cityColombo, provided the perfect venue for our D8 event. The evening, led byProfessor Sue Miller, was themed on the topic ‘Strategy Success: GettingDecisions to Work’ and received verypositive feedback from attendees on its interesting topic and speaker.

MUMBAI Alumni and prospective students gatheredin Mumbai on Wednesday 20 March forthe most recent Alumni Leading EdgeCareer Workshop hosted by BusinessSchool Career Consultant, Fiona Ward.

The session started with a lively paneldiscussion led by corporate guests andsenior alumni who gave their perspectiveon the Indian labour market and currentrecruitment outlook within theirrespective firms. Guests benefited from insights into companies such asHSBC, Ernst & Young and Whiz MBAand shared their own experiences ofstrategies for differentiation in today’scompetitive marketplace.

The interactive workshop which followedfocused on giving alumni the tools toidentify career values, set appropriatecareer goals and create strategies toachieve these goals. Senior alumnishared their experiences with morerecent graduates.

The event forms part of a global series ofLeading Edge Career Workshops designedto aid recent graduates in their post-Durham employment journey. With anactive and committed alumni communityin India, further activities are planned in2013 including a D8 event with DurhamUniversity Business School Deputy DeanProfessor Geoff Moore on the topic‘Corporate Social Responsibility Matters’.

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Curtis Moore (President of the Association), Senator Kerryann Ifill, His Excellency Paul Brummell (the British High Commissioner), Mrs Brummell, Sophia Sam (alumni committee member) and Dr Grenville Phillips (Co-Director of CariMEC).

local association newsDUBS Alumni Global Network

CARIBBEAN The Durham Caribbean MBA AlumniAssociation held its annual dinner at the Barbados Yacht Club on Saturday 16 November 2012. The focus of theevent was the celebration of 10 years of Durham University offering its MBA in the Caribbean via its association with CariMEC and the recruitment of the partnership’s 200th student.

The event began with a cocktail receptionwhich was followed by addresses madeby the President of the Association,

Mr Curtis Moore; the British HighCommissioner, His Excellency Mr PaulBrummell; Dr Graham Dietz, on behalf of Durham University Business School;and the CEO of CariMEC, Dr ChristinaParkinson. The keynote speaker was Her Honour Senator Kerryann Ifill,President of the Senate and an alumnusof the Durham Caribbean MBA.

A magnificent buffet dinner followed,and then music and dancing. The eventalso included a raffle which raised $500for the National United Society for the

Blind as well as money for thedevelopment of the Caribbean AlumniAssociation. Prizes were donated bymany large organisations in Barbados.

The evening was a huge success andwell attended by 75 alumni, studentsand guests. The main photo (above)shows those guests still celebrating at the close of the event.

CARIMEC PRIZE FOR MOSTCONTRIBUTED TO THEPROGRAMME – Christian Paul

Presented by Dr ChristinaParkinson, the CEO of CariMEC.

DEAN’S PRIZE FOR BESTDISSERTATION & PHILLIPSASSOCIATION PRIZE FOR BEST PERFORMANCE –Rosanne Trotman

Presented by Dr Grenville Phillips.

ERNST & YOUNG PRIZE FOR TOP STUDENT – Richard Black

Presented by Mr Rendra Gopee,Partner at Ernst & Young.

6 June 2013

We look forward tohearing about yourevents and receivingphotographs. If yourequire any help inarranging a get-togetherplease do get in touch.

Local Associations are the perfectway to keep in touch with otherDurham University BusinessSchool alumni in your area. The next Global Get-together date is 6 June 2013. As usualthis is just a guide. If it is moreconvenient for your group to meetat another date and time pleasedo so.

If you are interested in joiningthese or any other groupsthroughout the world – in yourlocation or perhaps in a businessarea you frequent – please emailus and we will put you in touchwith a Local Association Leader.Alternatively, if there is not yeta Local Association in your area,contact the Alumni RelationsTeam and we can investigatesetting one up.

D 17/04/2013 10:01 Page 28

04 I DEAN’S WELCOME/NEWS 06 I ALUMNI UPDATE 08 I A FAMILY AFFAIR

12 I TAKE YOUR SEAT.../LETTER FROM BRYAN MORTON 14 I GETTING TO KNOW YOU… 17 I Q&A

18 I WINTER GRADUATION 2013 20 I HAPPY RETIREMENT? 22 I BOOK REVIEW/DUBSIC (CHINA) SHARING THE KNOWLEDGE

25 I INTRODUCING… 26 I CLASS NOTES

DATES FOR THE DIARY31

EVENTS

ALUMNI GLOBAL GET TOGETHER

Thursday 6 June 2013

D8 BEIJINGIan Whitfield

Financial Markets Thursday 13 June 2013

SHANGHAI ALUMNI PANEL Saturday 15 June 2013

D8 LONDON Dr Mike Nicholson

Crisis Management Thursday 11 July 2013

D8 MUMBAI Professor Geoff Moore

Corporate Social Responsibility Matters

Wednesday 24 July 2013

D8 DELHIProfessor Geoff Moore

Corporate SocialResponsibility Matters

Friday 26 July 2013

D8 & LEADING EDGE CAREER WORKSHOPS IN NORTH AMERICA

Autumn 2013(cities and dates TBC)

RECRUITMENTEVENTS

QS WORLD MBA TOUR Dubai – Friday 17 May 2013

ACCESS MBA FAIRS New York, USA – Wednesday22 May 2013

PREVIEW/OPENEVENTS

DURHAM UNIVERSITYBUSINESS SCHOOL MBAOPEN EVENT

Ushaw College, Durham, UKThursday 23 May 2013Friday 28 June 2013Monday 29 July 2013

For a list of preview and open events,please visit the Business Schoolwebsite atwww.durham.ac.uk/dbs/degrees/mba/ft/events

Please note that some dates, speakersand venues are provisional or yet tobe confirmed.

FOR FURTHERINFORMATIONTo book places for these events, contact the Alumni Relations Team on: E: business.alumni@durham.ac.ukT: +44 (0)191 334 5277

WOULD YOU LIKETO HELP PROMOTEDURHAM UNIVERSITYBUSINESS SCHOOL?We regularly attend recruitmentevents around the world and loveit when we are joined by alumni.Not only does it give us thechance to catch up with you,but prospective students reallyvalue the opportunity to speak withour graduates. If you would like to volunteer to help at suchan event in your country wewould like to hear from you.

31 I DATES FOR THE DIARY

28 I LOCAL ASSOCIATION NEWS

3

You may have seen our announcementlast autumn that, following an extensiverebranding exercise, the School has beenrenamed Durham University BusinessSchool. The review, which consulted withmany of the School’s internal and externalstakeholders, sought to better align uswith the heritage and prestige of ourparent organisation, Durham University.

2013 will be a momentous year in thehistory of the Business School, mostnotably because by autumn we will beback in our newly extended and renovatedbuilding at Mill Hill Lane. This will bringtogether the majority of the School’s

faculty under one roof and will dramaticallyimprove the student’s facilities as well ascreate significantly more flexible space forstudents’ individual and group study, as well as hospitality. You can see fromthe work in progress picture that theredevelopment is coming along very nicely indeed.

By the start of the next academic year weaim to have increased our faculty numberto over 130, representing considerablegrowth over the past ten years. One of themost recent additions to the School is thenew Professor of Leadership, Robert Lord.Robert joins us from theUniversity of Akronwhere he held the position of DistinguishedProfessor of Psychology for 38 years.Another new faculty member is Dr Emmanuel Adegbite, Lecturer inAccounting who is the feature of our regular‘Introducing’ piece on page 25. I wishthem both a warm welcome to Durham.

This year also marks the end of anextensive exercise to co-ordinate theSchool’s research centres. With theoutcome of the Research ExcellenceFramework due in 2014, research, and its impact, continues to be high onthe School’s agenda. For that reason wehave taken this opportunity to share someof our faculty’s recent work: Dr Louise

Scholes recently joined Durham and hasbeen looking at the retail casualties ofsome of the UK’s best known brands andhow research has suggested that family-owned businesses may have had bettersurvival rates during what has been thebiggest recession in post-war Britain(pages 8–11). Another relatively newmember of staff is Dr Markku Jokisaari.Our article ‘Getting to know you’ looks atDr Jokisaari’s research on the importanceof social relations for new employees and how interaction between newcomersand more experienced members of anorganisation can sometimes mean thedifference between success and failurefor new recruits (pages 14–15). Andfinally, Professor Kevin Dowd discussesthe confidence in defined contributionpension schemes and its effects on future generations’ retirement plans(pages 20–21).

We are entering a very exciting, yetchallenging, time for the School. I welcome your contributions andcomments and invite you to put forwardany suggestions you may have as to how we might work together to furtherenhance the School’s future.

Professor Rob Dixon,Dean

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DEAN’S WELCOME

SCHOLARSHIP AWARD

Congratulations to Jon Kilmartin, thewinner of the Durham Executive MBAScholarship Competition. The competitionprovided a full-fee scholarship for theSchool’s Executive MBA programme, and Jon, who is based in London andcurrently working for global sports media,management and entertainment firm IMG,began his studies in January. To learn more about the programme visit:www.durham.ac.uk/business/degrees/mba/pt

OBE FOR ALUMNUS

MBA alumnus Moses Anibaba (2001)has been awarded an OBE in the latestUK New Year’s Honours list. Moses, who isDirector, British Council in Ghana, receivedthe award in recognition of his services to UK cultural interests in West Africa.

SUCCESS FOR CGLEE LANDMARKLEADERSHIP PROGRAMME

An innovative leadership programme for professional women in Saudi Arabiadelivered by the School’s Centre for GlobalLearning and Executive Education (CGLEE)was the first of its kind. Run in collaborationwith the British Council its aim is to enhancethe leadership skills, knowledge andattitudes of women in senior positions. The programme, which has been heavilyoversubscribed, has been received withgreat enthusiasm and another is plannedfor later this year. An online network hasbeen set up for the participants to shareexperiences and on-going learning.

EIU BUSINESS PROFESSOROF THE YEAR

Congratulations go to Dr Michael Guo whosuccessfully made it to the long list for the EIU Business Professor of the Year.The long list comprised ten professors whohad been nominated and voted for by theirstudents and alumni. The competitionattracted 222 nominations from 31universities worldwide and over 30,000votes were received. Four shortlistedcandidates will now compete in a live‘teach-off’ for the $100,000 prize.

SCHOOL NEWS

OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE PALATINE CENTRE

Durham University’s new Palatine Centrewas formally opened in October last year byNobel Prize winning scientist and Presidentof the Royal Society, Sir Paul Nurse.

The building houses key student servicesand the University’s headquarters on onesite and is the culmination of a four-year,multi-million pound developmentprogramme to create a hub at the heartof the University in Durham City. It bringstogether for the first time all student-facingservices, alongside the newly re-named andextended Bill Bryson Library, and the newDurham Law School.

HONORARY DEGREES AT WINTER GRADUATION

The University honoured four successfulnational and international figures in equalopportunities and human rights, sociology,music and natural burials at its WinterCongregation celebrations in January.Durham’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor ChrisHiggins, presented honorary degrees toprominent figures in their fields: Baroness

Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and EmergencyRelief Coordinator at the United NationsOffice for the Coordination of HumanitarianAffairs (honorary Doctor of Civil Law); Ken West MBE, the pioneer of naturalburials (honorary Master of Arts); musicianGraham Johnson OBE (honorary Doctor of Music), and Professor Huw Beynon, a distinguished industrial sociologist(honorary Doctor of Letters).

THE LINDISFARNE GOSPELS COMETO DURHAM

For three months this summer (July toSeptember), one of the world’s mostprecious books, the Lindisfarne Gospels,will be on show in an exhibition at DurhamUniversity’s Palace Green Library.

The exhibition will provide a compellingnew contemporary interpretation of thisunique book, and an extensive programmeof events including art and music,workshops and conferences, pilgrimagesand retreats, exhibitions and performanceswill be staged.

For the latest news and updatesabout the exhibition, visit:www.lindisfarnegospels.com

UNIVERSITY NEWS

news news news news news news news news

Pictured left: Ken West, Professor Higgins and Baroness Amos.

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We are now approaching the finalstretch of our time at Ushaw College,and whilst we have very much enjoyedthis impressive historic site, we arelooking forward to returning to Mill HillLane where we will have access to thefirst class teaching facilities that wehave been telling you about for so long.You may be interested to visit theSchool’s website to view the on-sitetime lapse video footage to see how the redevelopment is progressing:www.durham.ac.uk/business

The contractors tell us that progressis on schedule and we should bere-occupying the building at the end ofthe summer, ready for the fresh cohortof students starting the new academicyear. When the School reopens, donorsand supporters of our ‘Take Your Seat’campaign will be able to proudly viewtheir plaques in one of the brand newlecture theatres. On page 12 you can read messages from some of thecontributors to the campaign and hearwhy they wanted to be remembered in this way.

As well as faculty collaboration, we havea number of alumni contributions to thisissue. Graham Kenny’s (MSc 1971)book on diversification strategy is thefocus of our book review and there is anopportunity to win a copy of the bookby answering the competition questionset by reviewer, Brad Atkinson (DBA2006) (page 22). To find out what analpha blogger is, read our regular Q&Afeature on page 17, which in this issueis on Lisa Pollack (BA 2004) who worksat the Financial Times. And alumnusBryan Morton (MBA 1996) shares why he decided to get involved in theSchool’s future by joining the School’sDevelopment Board on page 13.

As an international Business School,it comes as no surprise that we havealumni situated in all corners of theglobe. To support our members wehave launched the biggest programmeof international events that the Schoolhas ever had. In March we had sixevents within one week with staffvisiting locations including Mumbai,Frankfurt, Geneva, Sri Lanka and Delhi.These events provide great opportunities

to network with alumni, our Globalmasters students and prospectivestudents, as well as further professionaldevelopment and enhance careerprospects. Highlights of the events can be seen on pages 28–29.

Our programme of international events includes Leading Edge CareerWorkshops and the D8 Masterclassseries and could be coming to a citynear you! I encourage you to take alook at the ‘Dates for the Diary’ section

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ALUMNI – UPDATEWelcome to the first edition of DUBS Alumni News of 2013, the firstedition since the School changed its name from Durham BusinessSchool to Durham University Business School. Those of you whograduated prior to 1999 will have known the School in the days whenit was originally called Durham University Business School and will befamiliar with the ‘DUBS’ acronym. We believe that aligning ourselveswith the University in this way provides a great opportunity to strengthenour brand globally.

in this issue and at the online eventscalendar to find out more aboutplanned visits to China, India, the USA and Canada.

Volunteering is a big part of DurhamUniversity culture and the BusinessSchool in particular is a big supporterof local community groups. The MBAelective – Project Sri Lanka – is an‘all-inclusive’ project bringing togetherstudents and staff with community and regional partners in activitieswhich aim to assist with both thereconstruction and regeneration oftsunami-devastated communities insouthern Sri Lanka. A volunteeringopportunity that might interest ourUK-based alumni is the Cranfield Trust, an organisation which seeks torecruit volunteers from the business

community to offer free managementconsultancy to charities. For informationcontact the Cranfield Trust directly.www.cranfieldtrust.org

We continuously look for ways in which we can improve our offering and member benefits package. Ourmost recent addition to the online‘Knowledge Portal’ is the Henry StewartTalks Marketing and ManagementCollection which offers free access to over 700 specially prepared audio-visual lectures delivered by leadingacademics and practitioners on a vastrange of business topics (see page 2).

Finally, I’d like to announce thewinners of the competition run atWinter Graduation. Two members ofthe network who had used our online

resources within a month of graduationwere selected at random to receiveprizes. Congratulations go to BenjaminChance (BA 2006), who won a £100iTunes voucher, and Philip Lesmana(MBA 2011–12), who won a £50Amazon voucher.

As always, I welcome any feedbackthat you have on this issue or thealumni network in general.Happy reading!

Best wishes

Alexandra McNinchAlumni Relations Manager

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Use your talents and management expertise to support local charities

For more information or to get involved, please get in touch: Call: 01794 830338Email: admin@cranfieldtrust.org or visit our website: www.cranfieldtrust.org

Can you help us?

As we review the latest retail casualtiesfor the first part of 2013, it looks likelythat the demise of more iconic Britishbusinesses will be inevitable this year.However, family-owned businesses seemto be bucking the trend, and some areeven set to prosper. So what are theirsecrets to riding out economic storms?Two recent studies suggest that thereasons might be more about long-termsurvival goals and not just down tocustomer loyalty to the name abovethe door.

UK businesses have recently experiencedthe worst trading conditions since 2008.And with the global financial crisistriggering the deepest recession in post-war Britain, the subsequent recovery hasbeen sluggish to say the least. Howeverone area of business may have suffered a little less: according to recent studies,family-owned firms were better off duringthe crisis. Indeed, some firms have goneso far as to claim that being a familybusiness had helped.

One explanation is that most family-ownedfirms benefited from a more cautiousstrategy during the boom years, whichleft them less exposed to the downturn in demand. However, as fears of acontraction loom in the final quarter of 2013, are family-owned businessesready to ride out the next storm?

Two recent research projects that compareand contrast family businesses with non-family businesses, and how they haveaddressed governance and performanceduring recession, have revealed interestingevidence about the resilience of thefamily business.

Dr Scholes was a co-author of the IFB(Institute for Family Business) ResearchFoundation report titled ‘UK FamilyBusinesses: Industrial and GeographicalContext, Governance and Performance’,which was compiled by NottinghamUniversity Business School (NUBS) and Leeds University Credit ManagementResearch Centre (CMRC) and publishedin 2010.

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A FAMILY AFFAIRDr Louise Scholes joined Durham UniversityBusiness School last September as a SeniorLecturer in Entrepreneurial Management, andis an expert in family business. She previouslyworked as a research scientist for Unilever andachieved an MBA at Nottingham UniversityBusiness School. After securing a researchposition there in the Centre for ManagementBuy-out Research, she lectured in theEntrepreneurship Group.

Dr Scholes has taught undergraduate, postgraduate and MBA students and currently supervises PhD students. She is on the editorial board of theInternational Small Business Journal and her articles appear in a number ofmainstream academic journals. Her research interests include family firms,entrepreneurial activity, private equity and venture capital.

Here, we take a look at two recent research reports she co-authored for the IFB (Institute for Family Business) Research Foundation (ifb.org.uk).

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The report investigates family businessesin the UK and focuses on their industrialand geographical context and theirgovernance and performance relativeto non-family businesses from 2007to 2009.

Her research was also pivotal in the report‘The UK Family Business Sector – Workingto grow the UK economy’ published in November 2011. This report wascommissioned by the IFB ResearchFoundation and prepared by OxfordEconomics as a comprehensiveevaluation of the UK family businesssector. The report uses data collected bythe Department for Business, Innovation,and Skills (BIS), and follows up on the2008 IFB Family Business Sector Report‘UK Family Business Sector, An Institutefor Family Business’ by Capital Economics.

Drawing from up-to-date data, this latestIFB report looks at the performance offamily businesses in the financial crisisand subsequent recession compared to non-family businesses’ performance,and examines expectations over thecoming year.

Family businesses account for two thirdsof firms in the UK private sector, andprovide 9.2 million jobs – 40 per cent of total private sector jobs. In simpleterms, this is 50 per cent more than the entire UK public sector and makesfamily firms the largest source ofemployment in the private sector.

While many companies are desperatelylooking for an effective survival plan,it seems that an alternative businessmodel does appear to be successfuland exists in the family business sector.Family firms are continuing to thrive and grow. In many cases, family firms are out-performing other businesses –a testament to their strength andresilience. At a time when the UKgovernment is highlighting the importanceof entrepreneurship as crucial to therecovery of the economy, what can welearn from this research?

The reports establish that there are threemillion family businesses in the UK,made up predominantly of Small andMedium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).Family firms generated revenues of £1.1trillion in 2010, or 35 per cent of privatesector turnover. Of these revenues, familyfirms made a £346 billion value-addedcontribution to UK GDP, or nearly aquarter of the total. These businesses areestimated to have contributed a staggering£81.7 billion in tax receipts to the UKExchequer, or 14 per cent of totalgovernment revenues in 2010.

KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILYResearchers uncovered characteristicssuch as family firms having older directors(around 51 years) than non-family firms(around 49 years), and that the averageage of directors increases for non-familyfirms as the firm size increases. Also, ingeneral, family firm directors tend to bemore experienced than non-family firmdirectors. Although this disappears asfirm size grows, family firm directors havemore industrial directorship experienceregardless of the firm size. Directors oflarge firms tend to be more experiencedoverall regardless of firm category, familyor non-family. Out of 300,000 family firmsin 2009, around 52,000 had non-familydirectors on board. The 2010 study foundthat family firms tended to have a greaterpercentage of female directors (around44 per cent) than non-family firms(around 32 per cent).

Family-owned businesses are mostlyinvolved in agriculture and extraction (89 per cent), hotels and restaurants (85 per cent), and in wholesale and retail trade and repairs (77 per cent), and these are distributed evenly amongthe UK regions (around 30 per cent) with the exception of London where thepercentage of family businesses is as lowas 20 per cent. However, Yorkshire andScotland have lower incidences of familyfirms compared to the other parts of theUK among large sized firms.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST?So, is the secret to success really down tokeeping it in the family? Dr Louise Scholessays that family firms have been moreresilient during the recession: ‘The survivaland resilience of family firms is vital tothe UK economy. Family firms have lowerinsolvency rates; they are more profitableand have a higher percentage of femaledirectors. They have been particularlyresilient in this recession’.

Vince Cable, the Secretary of State forBusiness, Innovation and Skills in thecoalition government, said in a forewordto last year’s IFB report that: ‘Familyfirms have a strong presence and includemany businesses which are now powerfulexemplars of British industry. Thegovernment is firmly on the side ofenterprising family businesses andenterprise more generally.’

FAMILY PLANNINGThe research also indicated that legislationhas generally been supportive of thefamily business sector in recent years,but there are still opportunities toencourage further growth throughtargeted policy measures.

The IFB, for example, has called for thegovernment to boost enterprising familyfirms by removing discrimination in the tax system, cutting red tape andbureaucracy around employmentlegislation and working with family firmsto plan for the future and secure jobs.

Accessing credit to fund investment will continue to be a critical issue. Theevidence in the 2011 report indicatesthat attention needs to continue to befocused on ensuring the flow of credit tosmaller family businesses. It is suggestedthat the government could also help withthe creation of a bond market accessibleto medium-sized companies, which wouldfill an existing void.

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STRONG FOUNDATIONSAfter the banking collapse in 2008, the proportion of SME family businessesapplying for finance rose from 18 percent to 30 per cent in 2010. SME familyfirms increased their demand for externalfinance to obtain working capital, ratherthan to fund investment projects duringthe recession.

In 2009 both medium-sized and largefamily firms had higher ratios of retainedearnings to total assets than did theirnon-family counterparts. This may havebeen linked to the relative balance sheetstrength of family firms prior to therecession and the lower risk taking nature of family firms.

RECESSION-PROOFAs demand for credit rose during therecession, the report also indicates thatfamily firms were more successful inobtaining external finance. Of the SMEfamily firms that applied for externalfinance in 2010, 76 per cent weresuccessful compared to 68 per centof non-family SME firms.

Family businesses also appeared to beless vulnerable to corporate dissolutions;while insolvency rose in family firms, they were lower than for their non-familycounterparts. Again, this was perhaps a reflection of stronger balance-sheetfundamentals prior to the recession.

Obviously, the recession did affect familyfirms’ survival rates. The corporateinsolvency rate rose in 2009 for bothfamily and non-family businesses. Theincreases are significant in proportionateterms, with the insolvency rate of smallfirms more than doubling to 1.6 per cent,for medium-sized firms more than triplingto 2.67 per cent, and for large firmsincreasing by over a factor of four to 3.23 per cent.

FLYING THE NESTAs for future expectations and strategies,SMEs were asked whether they anticipatethe closure or full transfer of their businesswithin the next five years. In both the 2008and 2010 surveys, a higher proportion of family businesses expected the closureor transfer of their business compared tonon-family firms. In 2010, 29 per cent offamily businesses (860,000 family SMEs)expected the closure or transfer of theirbusiness compared to 17 per cent of non-family businesses.

Although strong foundations and acommitment to future generations meanthat family businesses may be more able tofight for survival, the family business sectordoes need government support in order to prosper in the long term. The generalconsensus was that government actioncould help give family firms access to basicsupport, such as market intelligence.

Dr Scholes adds: ‘The ability of familyfirms to innovate is vital for their survivaland the coherence of the family and theirculture can enhance innovation andincrease survival rates. Families that are too risk averse may limit innovationand have lower survival rates.’

You can read more on Dr Scholes’ workand publications on her staff profile on the Business School website atwww.durham.ac.uk/business

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‘Of the SME family firmsthat applied for externalfinance in 2010, 76 per centwere successful comparedto 68 per cent of non-familySME firms.’

BOB BURNS (USA), GEORGE BELL(AUSTRALIA), PETER PEARSON,LIZ THORLEY, AND GEOFF LODGE (UK)MSc Management Class of 1977

At our 35-year reunion in July last year,classmate Peter Pearson referred to our ‘life-changing year’ at the BusinessSchool in 1976–77 and indeed it was.Most, in fact all of us, left with a great‘can-do’ attitude which over the years hasenabled us to succeed, and even excel,in a number of fields.

Whilst the reunion provided anopportunity to remember, it also providedan opportunity to give back and for thatthe ‘Take Your Seat Campaign’ providedthe perfect way. Some of us have alreadynamed seats for ‘The Class of 1976–77Class Reunion’ and also in memory ofour beloved classmate Con Jenkins. We hope that more of our class will join in and name a few more.

This may just be the start – even now two1976–77 graduates are talking aboutcreating a fund to provide an annualscholarship for a local student.

I would like to encourage other classes to do the same.

ELAINE (YI) CHEN,CHINAFull-time MBA1998–99

I do so appreciate thelearning/educationopportunities that the

Business School gave tomeback in 1998.That experience has benefited my careerin a profound way, as well as havingpaved my future in a decent manner,both financially and psychologically. Life is treating me well, so I’m taking up my social obligation to give back.

SAMUELTEDJASUKMANA, UKMSc in Finance& Investment2006–07

Benefiting from ‘TheDean’s Scholarship’

helped me greatly in financing my MScdegree study at DUBS. The degree hasproved to be very useful in my career.Participating in this ‘Take Your Seat’campaign is just one small way that I can give back to the School, andcontinue to be part of its certainlyvery bright future!

MARCOTULIOMATEUS,BRAZIL Global MBA2007

After years at the headof the family businessI realised that my

engineering training was not enough for me to deliver a top performance.Balancing a business, a family and anMBA was always going to be a challenge.Fortunately the very helpful support andflexibility provided by both the BusinessSchool and the MBA team enabled meto complete my degree and acquireknowledge that only a high-level globallyrecognised MBA offers. So, my donationis my symbolic way of saying thank you.

TOM MULLEN, USAFull-time MBA2008–09

For me, the BusinessSchool provided acharmed mixture oftravel, insight, and

camaraderie in a beautiful location. The experience changed my outlook onwhat’s truly important in life and for thatI am grateful. This is the reason I choseto support the ‘Take Your Seat’ campaign.

TAKEYOUR SEAT...Whilst the redevelopment at Mill Hill Lane is underway, alumni andfriends of the School have been invited to join our ‘Take Your Seat’campaign and sponsor a seat in one of the new lecture theatres.Some have sponsored a seat in their own name, some havecommemorated their class and some have chosen to dedicate theirdonation to the memory of a treasured classmate. Here are just someof the reasons why people have supported the School in this way.

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Dear DUBS alumni,

I hope you won’t mind me interrupting a page of your magazine to introduce myself. In 2011, a member of staff from DUBS came to see me in Oxford and asked me what my bachelordegree in pharmacology from Aberdeen University and my MBA from Durham meant to me manyyears after graduation. The question took me by surprise because in truth, I committed myself to my work and family especially after graduating from DUBS without ever really pausing to give any in-depth thought to my studies and their impact on my entrepreneurial successes in pharmaceuticals.Eighteen months on from that meeting, however, I have re-engaged with the School in a number of ways and write to encourage you to consider doing the same. Over the past year I travelled to Durham on several occasions and met with the Dean, members offaculty, and the School’s leadership team. I have been enthused by the School’s demonstration of itscommitment to underpin and inform its research and teaching with the skills that industry is seeking,both now and in the future (as well as one can predict!). The Dean is not only interested in what attributes are desirable in Durham, or the Square Mile, but in each and every continent of the world. Another thing that my visits served to remind me is that Durham is a unique university with an ability to appear far bigger an institution than it actuallyis. I recently learnt for instance that employers from around the world regard Durham as being amongthe top 20 universities globally for the employability of its graduates and that its sports participants leadthe way nationally in university team sports, two facts that I find incredibly encouraging.As well as developing its core strengths in academic and research excellence, the School is investing in its physical infrastructure. I encourage you to take a look on their website or better still to arrange tovisit – it really does look impressive. The business case for undertaking the expansion and refurbishmentconvinced me to support the project in the form of making a donation to name a room. Furthermore,myself and a few others who I will duly name and ‘shame’ as David Ellis, Brian Robinson, Graeme Belland John Lo have established a fundraising board to help identify others to support the project too.Why? Because it’s widely known that to produce the best graduates, a university needs to enrol the most gifted students, employ faculty of the highest calibre and provide infrastructure that meets theexpectations of a well-informed international student cohort. The Board doesn’t just seek help for the build project. There are many other equally worthwhile initiatives that would benefit greatly fromour philanthropic support and I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss these with you in moredetail. If you would like to get in touch then please contact the School’s Development Executive, Jason Coleman who, along with the Dean, represents the School on the Board, and he will make the necessary arrangements.I thank you for taking the time to read my letter and look forward to seeing many of you about the School on future visits back to Durham City.

Bryan MortonMBA alumnus (Class of 1996)Pharmaceutical Entrepreneur.

For further details of how you can support current and prospective students, the buildingproject, or to learn about other ways to engage with the School contact Jason Coleman,Development Executive on +44 (0)191 344 5446 or jason.coleman@durham.ac.uk.

When it comes to staff retention, the UKfalls behind the rest of Europe and the US with employee resignations costingbusinesses up to £42 billion a year.

So, is there a solution to keeping newrecruits in the workplace? Two recentstudies highlight how making use ofsocialisation and interaction can help us to understand the success and failure of retaining new recruits.

Whether businesses are eager to maintainor even grow staff levels, it is crucial thatthey also consider the full costs of losingstaff voluntarily. For every employee that is lost, organisations have to meet the costsof advertising, hiring and retraining as well as the expense associated with payingfor overtime or temporary help. Lostproductivity and recruiting and trainingnew staff is an expensive business. Anyinsight into how to make that journey from newcomer to experienced employeepermanent is something companies can’tafford to ignore.

In The Oxford Handbook of OrganisationalSocialisation (The Oxford University Press),Dr Markku Jokisaari and Professor Jari-ErikNurmi review socialisation in ‘Getting theRight Connections? The Consequencesand Antecedents of Social Networks inNewcomer Socialisation’. Drawing on thelearning experience of newcomers inorganisations, they propose a theoreticalmodel and disclose how interactionbetween newcomers andmore experiencedmembers of an organisation can sometimesmean the difference between success andfailure for new recruits. And where previousstudies have mainly examined newcomers’

interactions with supervisors and co-workers, the authors highlight theimportance of the contribution of largersocial networks within an organisation to successful socialisation.

Scholars of organisational socialisationrecognise that socialisation is a learningprocess during which newcomers facemany different tasks that are critical totheir success in their transition into anorganisation. For example, one critical task for newcomers is to learn the skills and practices required to perform their job. This learning is then reflected in job performance.

Looking at the social network approachprovides a background to help understandthe role of social environment inorganisational socialisation – or the processthrough which a new employee learns to adapt to an organisational culture. By examining the social network factor, Dr Jokisaari and Professor Nurmi suggestthat the influence between networks andsocialisation is reciprocal: networks lead to learning, success and adjustment; this, in turn, leads to more learning and betternetwork development.

All OnboardIf socialisation is successful, it can lead to positive outcomes for new employees. Such positive outcomes include greater jobsatisfaction, better job performance, moreorganisational commitment, a reduction in stress and, ultimately, less desire to leavea job. These outcomes are particularlyimportant to an organisation looking toretain staff. In all, it is now recognised thatorganisational socialisation is a process

that fosters both companies to retain their new workers and new employees to learnorganisation-specific and job-specific skillsand practices, and adjust to the work.

Fewer future graduates will not have theoption of looking at a job for life and willneed to change careers often. Employees,therefore, face an increased number of job changes and related work transitionsincluding starting a variety of new rolesduring their careers. And with these newroles comes the need to learn organisation-and job-specific skills and practices, in addition to settling into a neworganisational environment.

Hello, GoodbyeHowever well socialisation opportunitieshave been presented to newcomers, itmightbe that some feel they just don’t fit into a new organisation. The risk of voluntaryturnover is highest among new employees,showing, in part, that transition into a newjob can often be unsuccessful. For example,it has been estimated that in the EUcountries, about nine per cent of theemployed population changed employervoluntarily during a year. Obviously, there is a need to better understand the problems associated with transitionsinto new organisations, and the relatedsocialisation of new employees.

Previously, scholars of organisationalsocialisation have argued that theinteraction between newcomers andemployees in an organisation is the mainchannel through which newcomers canlearn their roles in the organisation. Dr Jokisaari’s study highlights how thesupervisor of a new employee is often

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GETTING TO KNOW YOU…

Dr Markku Jokisaari is a recently appointed ResearchFellow at Durham University Business Schoolspecialising in organisational socialisation and workingrelationships. His latest work includes ‘The Role ofleader-member and network relations in newcomingperformance’ 2013. The focus of this piece is areview of his work on ‘Getting the right connection? The Consequences and Antecedents of Social Networks in Newcomer Socialisation’ which features in The Oxford Handbook of Organisational Socialisation.

a person who typically has positional powerand related resources to foster newcomersocialisation, learning and the adjustmentto work. Supervisors have formal authorityand power to influence the formation ofnew employees’ roles in their job, and theirjob assignments. Supervisors also play acentral role in providing knowledge andfeedback through which role behaviours in the job and organisation are learned.Supervisors may also have the formalauthority to influence subordinates’advancement in the organisation, such as a recommendation for promotion, or allocating new job assignments.

Newcomers’ Social NetworksIn other research carried out by Dr Jokisaari,‘The Role of Leader-Member and NetworkRelations inNewcomers’ Role Performance’,published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior,employees were issued with questionnairesand supervisors were asked to rate thenewcomer’s job performance.

As part of the research, a survey, carriedout in Finland, gauged new employeesthree months after joining theirorganisation. The participants werepermanent employees, their previous jobexperience in the current occupationalfield was just under four years, 85 per centwere women, and the median age was 29.5years. Participants’ occupations includedengineers, marketing assistants, dentists,teachers, cooks, nurses, nurse assistants,physiotherapists and psychologists.

To indicate the quality of their leaderrelations, the employees graded suchstatements as: ‘I usually know where I standwith my supervisor’; and ‘I usually knowhow satisfied my supervisor is with me’. In addition, the employees evaluated theirsocial networks in the new workplace.

The results revealed that the structure ofthe newcomers’ networks related to theirjob performance, and that their networks,characterised by strong ties, related to theirwork-group performance. The quality ofthe newcomers’ leader-member relationsalso had a direct relationship to theirorganisation member performance.

In these studies, Dr Jokisaari also discusses‘network density’. This concept looks at the importance of connectivity, ie the moreinterconnected a person’s social ties are,the higher the network density. Networkresearch has argued that when people are

not interconnected, they offer moreheterogeneous information and advicethan persons belonging to a single group.In line with this, the characteristics of newemployees’ social networks are related totheir learning in the job which is reflectedin job and creative performance.

Ties that BindThe social network approach also arguesthat network-based resources foster careersuccess in the organisation. Through socialnetwork ties, people can obtain resourcessuch as credentials and referrals, whichmay endorse their advancement in theorganisation.Thesecredentialsandreferralsare particularly important among newemployees, since they may not yet havetheir own visibility in the workplace.Furthermore, job applicants and newemployees seem to benefit already in the recruitment phase from their socialnetwork ties. Applicants who have a social tie to the organisation or who arerecommended by a current employee in the organisation attain higher initialsalaries and present more appropriateresumes compared to those applicants whodo not have a social tie to the organisation.

Interestingly, when a new employee isrecruited through a personal relation, theyare less likely to quit their job compared to employees who were recruited throughformal channels such as recruitmentadvertising. New employees’ social networkssupport their adjustment to work. Forexample, close friendship ties in theworkplace relate to organisationalcommitment; conversely, a peripheralposition in social networks can beconnected to lower job satisfaction.

Dr Jokisaari’s studies highlight why it isimportant for organisations to make arobust plan for new starts when they jointhe ranks. These social relations will notonly help foster good associations, but theywill also directly impact on how successfula new employee’s transition will be intothe organisation – and, in turn, howsuccessful the organisation will be inretaining the employee after the initialsettling in period.

15

To find out more about Dr Jokisaari’swork, visit his staff profile on theSchool’s website.

Q.What is your current role?

A. I’m a reporter for the Financial Times’Alphaville blog covering financialmarkets and economics. As well aswriting, I do a lot of behind the sceneswork around the website and variousproject work.

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

A. That’s tough to decide. The Alphavilleblog providesme with a lot of pleasurein being able to explain complexfinancial topics in a digestible andfun way. Then there is the satisfying,but quite unexpected, upside ofgetting to meet people I admire. Only a week into my current job, I met Satyajit Das who is the author of my favourite book Traders, Gunsand Money. Reading that book guidedmy career path.

Q.What are your fondest memories of your time in Durham?

A. That’s easy, Academic’s ‘Office Hours’,of course! Throughout the week, I’d build up lists of questions for mylecturers and I’d go to almost all theirOffice Hours. Usually they each hadtwo hour-long drop-in sessions a week.Most of my classmates only showedup to these when there was some bigassignment due in the near future.For me, those extra two hours of one-on-one tuition were priceless.

Q.Do you feel that your Durhamdegree and connections have helped your career?

A. Until you get some real workexperience under your belt, you’regoing to be judged on your academicperformance. Part of that is down tothe marks you achieve, and part of it is the reputation of the academicinstitutions you attend. Having a gooddegree from Durham can help getyou in the door, but it’s up to you to take it from there.

It’s incredibly enjoyable to see someof the friends I made when at Durhamsucceed in their chosen career paths.There’s more to come from them for sure.

Q.What is the most exciting thing you have done since graduating?

A. I’m going to add ‘and terrifying’ after the ‘exciting’ part. When I firstgraduated (after doing an MPhil inEconomic and Financial Research at Maastricht University in theNetherlands), I went to work for a bank in New York City. I left after a couple of years and at the time I thought it would take me a longtime to find another job.

As it turns out, I didn’t have a periodof unemployment at all. I landed ajob at a financial data company inLondon and got some time to studyfor the Chartered Financial Analyst

Level 2 exam before taking on therole. Sometimes scary situations turnout for the best with a combination of luck and perseverance.

Q. If you were to offer some advice tocurrent students, what would it be?

A. Hard work and resourcefulness countfor just as much, if not more, thannatural intelligence. Don’t just studyto pass an exam – that’s a very short-termist perspective to take. Trulyknowing a topic is a good habit to get into when you’re a student.

Also if you don’t like what you’redoing admit that it wasn’t the rightdecision and try to change it today,not tomorrow. When I arrived atDurham I was convinced I wanted toread engineering as I enjoyed A-levelPhysics. As it transpired engineeringturned out not to be for me and Iswitched to economics after a year. A lot of people stay in situations theyknow aren’t right for them, don’t be that person if you can help it.

Q.What about your plans for the future?

A. I am keeping an open-mind! Thus far,hard work and luck have brought mesome very interesting opportunities. I don’t want to get too set in a fixedpath or I might not be as willing tojump to the next challenge when the chance comes.

17

Business School alumna Lisa Pollack (BA Economics, 2000–04)talks about her career and life post-Durham. She is a reporterfor the Financial Times’ Alphaville blog, having previouslyworked as an analyst at Bank of America in New York Cityand for financial data company, Markit in London.

Q&A

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WINTER GRADUATION 2013On Friday 11 January 2013 Durham UniversityBusiness School students celebrated the successfulcompletion of their respective degrees by making theirway to Palace Green, processing into Durham Cathedraland taking part in what is one of the proudest momentsof a student’s University career – Congregation.

In turn each of the graduands proudly shook the hand of Professor Chris Higgins, the Vice Chancellor of DurhamUniversity, as they received their degree in recognition of their hard work. Following the formal ceremony, theBusiness School’s Alumni Network invited the new graduatesto continue their celebrations at a drinks reception inFisher House, Ustinov College. There presentations weremade by programme directors to students who had wonawards in recognition of their academic achievements.

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

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MA MANAGEMENT AWARDS:Damian Grunow: Best Dissertation in MA Management Programmes

BEST ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE:Maria Condrea: Human Resource Management Michael Horrocks: Financial ManagementTobias Mies: Management

Overall Best Academic Performance in the MA Management Programmes was awarded to Michael Horrocks.

MSC FINANCE AWARDS:Shalala Bayramova: Best Dissertation in MSc Finance ProgrammesFang Zhang: Joint First Prize for the DUBS Trading Challenge (StockTrak) Jinfu Sun: Joint First Prize for the DUBS Trading Challenge (StockTrak)

BEST ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE:Alexandros Zormpalas: International Banking & Finance Bastian Schrapel & Chang Liu: Finance & Investment Charlotte Braeken: FinanceEric Gusmaroli: Corporate & International FinanceJonathan Humphrey: International Money, Finance & Investment Kamil Heydarov & Meiko-Lars Schmidt: Accounting & Finance Moritz Weber: Economics & Finance

Overall Best Academic Performance in the MSc Finance Programmes was awarded to Moritz Weber.

MA/MSC MARKETING AWARDS:Syeda Mariam Humayun: Best DissertationLaura Molyneux: Best Academic Performance

MBA (FULL-TIME) AWARDS:Katharina Dolezil: Best Business Project/Dissertation (award sponsored by Alcatel-Lucent)Rebecca Walters: Best Academic Performance (award sponsored by SAGE)Weylin Poon: Best Business Project/Dissertation (award sponsored by Worshipful Company of International Bankers)

BETA GAMMA SIGMA MEMBERSHIP was awarded to the following students in recognition of their academic achievement:MBA (full-time): David Pallash, Isabel Velasco Gamboa, Katharina Dolezil, Priya Swamikuttan, Rebecca Walters, Sebastian Wolfgarten & Weylin Poon Global MBA: Claas Siegmueller & Nikolay Gorgiev Global MA Management: Sebastian Schubert

In the UK, this issue manifests itself in ashift away from traditional Defined Benefit(DB) schemes (schemes in which amember’s entitlements are specified, such as final salary schemes) to DefinedContribution (DC) schemes in which themember builds up their own pension potand gets the pension income this pot isworth. This change solves the problem ofpension funds running out of money bytransferring risks to the plan member, whonow has to take the daunting responsibilityfor their own pension and run the risk of an impoverished retirement if they get thiswrong. The days of generous DB pensionsare over – except for those already on themor high-level public servants whose benefitsare taxpayer financed.

With the shift to DC, the first issue thatarises is the contribution rate: how muchshould people save towards their pensionplan? This is where the fun begins.

For a start, few people appreciate the scaleof the contributions needed. Most peoplewould expect a pension in retirement equalto perhaps two thirds or three quarters oftheir final salary, which is the norm forpeople recently retiring in DB schemes.However, they imagine that can obtain suchpension with impossibly low contributionrates. To give an example, if a typical managed 25 saves, say, five per cent of his salaryin a DC pension scheme over a 40-year

horizon, illustrative simulations of myPensionMetrics DC pension model suggestthat he can expect a pension equal to around21 per cent (yes, 21 per cent: this is not atypo!) of final salary. The results for womenare worse – and sometimes much worse.

Then you have the problem of improvinglife expectancy: life expectancy has beengrowing strongly in recent decades. Higherlife expectancy might be a good thing forthe people who live longer – assuming thatthey have a decent pension to enjoy it –but it is a bad thing for the pensionsschemes that have to pay out for longer.Indeed, perhaps the biggest problemcurrently facing DB schemes is what ischeerfully known as the ‘toxic tail’ – the riskthat granny will not die as expected in hermid to late eighties but will survive well intoher nineties. This risk is potentially fatal tothe pensions industry.

There is also the issue of charges – the dirtysecret of the pensions industry. One thingthe industry is very good at is charging itsclients: there are fixed charges, charges for assets-under-management, charges for periods when the individual is notcontributing, charges for leaving a pensionscheme and various other charges too, my favourite being ‘Total Expense Ratio’charges which are meant to summarise all charges but often don’t. The industry is also very good at hiding charges from

members so they don’t realise how muchthey are actually paying. Not surprisingly,there is currently a lot of pressure on themto cut charges and make them moretransparent: the Pensions Minister, SteveWebb, recently warned the industry that on the charge issue he was ‘watching themlike a hawk’. The industry’s response isreminiscent of a child being dragged to the dentist.

Now add in longevity risk and realisticcharges, and our 25-year-old male is nowlooking at a pension income equal to onlyjust over 12 per cent (!) of his final salary.One can’t help wondering why he wouldbother: perhaps he should take PresidentObama’s advice to ‘seize the day’, ie, eat,drink and be merry and forget aboutpensions altogether.

The government’s response is to encouragepeople to join DC schemes by offering tax concessions and just recently, byintroducing auto-enrolment, in whichmillions of employees without privatepensions will be automatically enrolled in their employer’s pension plan unlessthey explicitly opt out. However, the taxconcessions would seem to be pointless: a private boast within the pensions industryis that they can extract all these forthemselves through cleverly designedcharge regimes. As for auto-enrolment,there is a very real danger that many peopleleast able to afford it will find themselvescontributing to pension schemes thatdeliver little back.

On balance, it is probably better to see thegovernment’s role in pensions as part ofthe problem rather than the solution. Overthe years, the government has periodically

20

HAPPYRETIREMENT?The subject of pensions must be one of the most boring imaginable, but one thingthat is even less appealing is a long retirement lived out in grinding poverty. Yet allover the developed world, pension schemes are going through major reforms inresponse to a common threat. This threat is funding or, rather, the lack of it: manypension schemes face the prospect of running out of money unless something is done to increase their ingoings or reduce their outgoings, or both.

Are you looking ahead with confidence to the daywhen you begin receiving your pension cheques?

Here Kevin Dowd,Professor of Financeand Economics atDurham UniversityBusiness School,shares his own,personal, views onpension schemes.

chopped and changed the system, oftenpulling the rug from those who had reliedon previous government promises. It hasalso gone in for policies, which my friend,the Reuters columnist Martin Hutchinson,aptly described as policies of sado-economics, in which the governmentpunishes groups it dislikes: a notoriousexample being the ‘euthanise the rentier’policy of the post-war years, whose aimwas to destroy the real incomes of thosewho lived on their savings – a policy whichsucceeded magnificently and pauperisedmany who had done the right thing andsaved for their pensions in earlier years.The government has also regularly raidedpension funds when it suited it (one thinksof Gordon Brown’s famous ‘pension raids’of the late 1990s), and since 2009 theBank of England has been underminingpensions through its Quantitative Easingpolicies, which are literally killing thereturns that pension funds can deliver.

One also has to consider the debt thatthe government has been issuing in vastamounts since at least the late 1990s.We are not talking here of just the ‘official’debt – this has just passed 80 per cent ofGDP and this is bad enough – but this ismerely the tip of the iceberg. The unofficialdebt – commitments entered into, but notprovided for; think of the Private FinanceInitiative, for example – is much bigger.Respectable estimates put it some between500 per cent and 1000 per cent of UK GDP.All this represents a very big can kickeddown the road for younger people to pick up.

Nor should one see the state pensionsystem as the solution. The state pensionsystem is massively under-funded and itsobligations are a major component of theunofficial government debt just mentioned.Fans of state pension schemes should also consider the fate of the Soviet statepension system, one of the glories of theSocialist System: this was very generousand promised pensions in some casesof 100 per cent of final salary.However, after the break up of theUSSR the state pension systems in ex-Soviet countries collapsedand many pensioners foundthemselves with nothing tolive on. This highlights thepoint that any pensionsystem is only as good as its solvency.

So what should young people do? Theconventional advice is that they shouldsave more and plan to retire later, andthere is certainly something to this. Myadvice is that if you choose a DC pension,go for one with low and transparent charges:PensionMetrics simulations show thatcharges are the key driver and will make a big difference to your pension. Don’t befooled by industry propaganda about high-charging fancy investment strategies: these don’t work but the industry likesthem because they are very profitable; in fact, they are very profitable preciselybecause of the high charges.

You should also consider ‘out of the box’alternatives. One I like is the ‘gold DIYpension plan’: buy gold and bury it in thegarden. Another I like is the oldest pensionscheme of all, the ‘DIY peasant pensionplan’: save, stash your wealth wherepredators can’t find it and have a bigfamily to look after you when you are old.This has been widely used for thousands of years and so presumably must havesomething going for it.

There is no question that young people aregetting a raw deal: the norm these days isthat they are saddled with college debts,have difficulty landing a good job, havelittle realistic prospect of getting on thehousing ladder until well into their thirtiesand face a lifetime of rising taxes to payoff all the cheques that theirelders have written onthem. And now weare telling them

that they don’t have any realistic prospectof a decent pension either. Not your fault,son, but if you wanted a good pension youshould have been born earlier.

This is a good recipe for an ugly andprotracted intergenerational war – and onesenses that young people are beginning to wake up. After all, why should they payfor all the benefits their elders will haveenjoyed when the system they paid intowon’t be there for them when they retire?Or, rather, if they retire: most won’t be ableto afford it.

From a pensions perspective, this is justa return to the long-run historical norm.From this perspective, a decent pensionis largely a feature of the 20th century.Most people before the 20th century nevergot one and most people after won’t getone either.

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22

For me this winter has been full of long days – given the current businessenvironment of economic and fiscaluncertainty and working for the CFO of a large government healthcare agency in the Washington, DC area. Leftunchecked cynicism thrives in this current, zero-sum environment.

This was my mind set as I received a copyof Graham Kenny’s book, DiversificationStrategy: How to grow a business bydiversifying successfully. Dr Kenny weavesan appropriate blend of academic literatureand case studies to frame an operationaldefinition of diversification that cuts throughambiguity to establish a performanceframework and to identify the commoncharacteristics found in a panel of firmsthat have demonstrated excellence in theexecution of a diversification strategy.

Let me give you the bottom line up front:‘Diversification Strategy’ is a good read at less than 210 pages within four parts. It is also a pragmatic book that is writtenin a style that sounds more like the voiceof a trusted advisor than an academicresearcher. Kenny provides insight relatedto the internal dynamics of organisationalgovernance found in firms that havedemonstrated excellence in managingdiverse business units. Topics include howto balance the roles and responsibilitiesamong a central office and diverseoperational business units to provideeffective governance, how to measure

performance, how to achieve an effectivemix in decentralising business functionsand activities to develop competitiveadvantage.

The strategic management field hasadvocated diversification for decades,however in my experience of teachingstrategic management to undergraduatesand performing consulting engagements I have found the literature to be lacking.The result has been much discussion inacademic and trade literature on assessingcompetitive advantage, identifying corecompetencies and identifying marketopportunities to provide competitiveadvantage but little guidance in the mattersof building and governing organisations to execute that strategy. Admittedly, the literature created the concept of the celebrity CEO – a fragile conceit thatoften did not disentangle the personalityfrom the action, again falling short oftactical guidance.

Importantly, while Kenny does employ a panel of case study diversificationexemplars, his book is not a hagiography of the chief executives in those firms. Infact, in one chapter Kenny makes a strongcase that frames the history of a certaincelebrity CEO in an eye-opening re-assessment of his performance. Kennydoes take from his cases the facts andfundamentals of past performance toprovide compelling guidance on how to achieve the characteristics necessary

to create value. For example, part two of the book is essentially a work plan on how to navigate the art and science of implementing strategy to align yourorganisation’s architecture andgovernance successfully.

Part of Kenny’s thesis is the need to openthe mind to the meaning of diversification,to break some probably long held axioms,and to transform your operational thinking.Interestingly, his discussions of governanceand the role of common core functionswould benefit any organisation in findingefficiencies, not just organisations withdiverse business units. In writing this book,Graham Kenny has made the process of navigating the transformational pathsnecessary to implement effective corporateand business unit strategy easier for thosereaders who are willing to take the firststeps of that journey with him.

BOOK REVIEWDiversification Strategy:How to grow a businessby diversifying successfullyDr Graham KennyDr Brad Atkinson (DBA 2002–06) gives his verdict on this book writtenby fellow alumnus, Dr Graham Kenny (MSc Management 1970–71).

To win a copy of the book answerthe following question:

Who is the investor and CEOnicknamed ‘The Oracle of Omaha’?

Email your answer along with yourname, address and course of studyto business.alumni@durham.ac.uk

Competition Time!

The School’s first internationalcommittee – DUBSIC – was launchedlast year in China. With ten alumnimembers, DUBSIC’s mission is to advance the School’s strategicobjectives in China. There are manyitems under discussion, but one that was tabled at the secondmeeting in December has alreadygained momentum.

Following on from the Leading Edge Careerworkshops held in Shanghai, Beijing andHong Kong, where recent graduates weregiven the opportunity to meet companieswho were recruiting across various sectors,DUBSIC members felt that more could bedone on an on-going basis to help support

recent graduates and improve theiremployability prospects.With this aim inmind, a quarterly ‘Alumni Career ExpertPanel’ with experienced alumni discussingtopical business issues for the benefit ofrecent graduates has been introduced.

The first of these expert panels, whichfocused on the theme of Digital Marketing,took place on 9 March in the Xin Tian Diarea of Shanghai. DUBSIC memberssourced the venue, identified appropriatepanellists, and planned delivery of theentire session. Panel members withexperience from across different sectors,shared their insight and participated in aQuestion & Answer session before chairingsmaller round table discussions on real-lifebusiness cases. Feedback has been

extremely encouraging. With 35 Durhamalumni in attendance, as well as a smallnumber of friends from other UKUniversities, indications are that delegatesare already eager to sign up for the nextevent planned for 15 June.

You can see from the photographs belowhow interactive and engaging the sessionproved to be. I would like to thank everyoneinvolved in arranging the event, but specialthanks must go to the masterminds behindthe idea, DUBSIC members, Ocean Wangand Lana Savanovich.

If you would like to learn more aboutDUBSIC and the School’s activities inChina, please join the Linkedin Group‘DUBS China’ or the Weibo account run byalumni ‘ DurhamAlumni’.

23

DUBSIC (China) Sharing the Knowledge

www.durham.ac.uk/business/alumni

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WHAT’S YOUR NEXT MOVE?Log on to www.durham.ac.uk/business/alumni and click on the Career Gateway/Resources/Video Library

For more information contact the DUBS Alumni Relations Team on+44 (0)191 3345 277 or via business.alumni@durham.ac.uk

Advance your career with DUBS Career Resources

25

What are the most challenging parts of your job? Balancing multiple commitments ranging from teachingand research related activities to fulfilling my administrativeduties is a challenge. Academics typically don’t have a nine-to-five job; it’s more like a job that never ends unless youchoose to pause for a bit.

What do you want to achieve? I aspire to deliver high quality learning experiences for all my students through research-led education. I also get great satisfaction from helping organisations, evencountries; improve their governance practices for thebenefits of all of their stakeholders.

What drives you? Excellence! Being an academic is challenging but veryinspiring. Watching students develop in their learning is extremely motivating. Seeing the usefulness of your own research, adding it to a body of knowledge, practice and policy provides a great ‘feel good factor’.

What was the best career advice you were given? To publish!

What advice would you offer to someone thinking of an academic career? Listen and learn… I would recommend talking to anacademic you aspire to be like. Given time, this shouldprovide you with an insight of what it is like to work inacademia and help you discover if it’s really what you want to do.

What are you currently working on at Durham UniversityBusiness School? Presently I am teaching an undergraduate BusinessAccounting and Finance module and a postgraduateFinancial Statement Analysis module, as well as working on my current research which relates to corporategovernance and responsibility in weak institutional contexts.

Dr Emmanuel Adegbite, Lecturer in Accounting

Emmanuel Adegbite joined the Business School in September 2012as a Lecturer in Accounting.

Researching, teaching and consulting in the broad area of Accounting andCorporate Governance, his work has been published across a wide range of peer-reviewed academic journals such as the Journal of Business Ethicsand International Business Review. His work also appears in books by leadingpublishers such as Palgrave MacMillan and Cambridge University Press.

His current and future research interests are focused on the governance andresponsibility of the modern corporation – a fast-growing area in businessmanagement literature – and he is willing to supervise doctoral students who are broadly interested in these areas. Emmanuel recently presented at a Durham University alumni event in Lagos, Nigeria.

introducing......

You can read more about Dr Adegbite’s work and interests on the Academic Faculty section of the Business School website:www.durham.ac.uk/business

JOHNNY CHOYMSc MANAGEMENT1978–79

Late last year Johnny was awardedQueen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubileemedal for significant contribution toCanadian society. Since immigratingto Canada 30 years ago he has beenactive in his community throughvolunteer work with non-profitorganisations. His involvement hasincluded: fundraising for charities,youth leadership training, healthcare,education, community policing, and family services. Despite familycommitments and the demands ofbeing a corporate executive, he hasgiven freely not only his time but also his professional skills andfinancial resources to many non-profit organisations.

LIZ SCOTTMBA (EXECUTIVE)2001–03

Earlier this year Liz gave birth toFrancesca (pictured), who is now fourmonths old. Liz is now starting to dipback in to her work with Rainbows EndCoaching Limited where she holds theposition of Director.

DUMISANI MSIBIMBA (FULL-TIME)2000–01

Dumisani has been appointed GroupManaging Director at SwazilandDevelopment Finance Corporation(FINCORP), one of the leadingdevelopment financial institutions in Swaziland. His primary role is toprovide strategic leadership for theentire organisation. Prior to this he was Deputy MD for the organisation.Dumisani currently also serves as theChairman of the Board of the YouthEnterprise Fund as well as being a Board Member of the Federation of Swazi Employers and Chamber of Commerce (FSE & CC) and a BoardMember of the Swaziland Enterprise & Entrepreneurship Program (SWEEP).

OCEAN WANGMBA (FULL-TIME)2008–09

Ocean Wang was married on 27 April2013 in Shanghai. He met his wife,Jessie, at a Korn/Ferry CoachingCertification Course and, lastNovember, Marie Claire magazinefeatured an interview with the coupleabout their love story which waspublished as the cover story in the January 2013 China edition.

DR ELIAS GHANTOUSPhD IN ECONOMICS1973–80

Dr Elias Ghantous will be 75-years-oldthis year and is enjoying life in Beirutwith his wife Leila. The couple marriedin 1965 and are looking forward tocelebrating their 50th weddinganniversary in 2015. It was in 1973that Dr Ghantous secured a scholarshipfrom the British Council to study at theBusiness School, where he earned aPhD in Economics. In 2006 he wasawarded the Medal of Lebanese Merit(Ordre du Chevalier) by the Presidentof the Republic, in recognition of hisservices to Lebanon. He currentlyworks as an Economic Advisor to the State Minister.

CONRADO GONZÁLEZ VERAMBA (FULL-TIME)2005–06

After graduating with his MBA in 2006Conrado González Vera moved back tohis home country of Mexico where, in 2011, he was appointed the positionof Rector of the Universidad de LaCiénega del Estado de Michoacán de Ocampo. Conrado married Nallelyon 18 August 2012 and they aredelighted to announce that they areexpecting their first child. He’d like to encourage fellow alumni to keep in touch, either via Facebook or atconrad4u@hotmail.com

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CLASSNOTES

GEMMA PANMA MANAGEMENT2002–05

Congratulations to Gemma Pan on the birth of her baby boy Ty AlexanderMcCaffrey (pictured). Ty arrived onFriday 22 February 2013 at 9:18pm;weighing 8lbs 14oz. Gemma and herhusband are currently living in the USand are looking forward to bringing Ty to Durham on his first holiday thissummer. Gemma was the main contactfor the Shanghai Local Association andis still very much active in the network,therefore well known by many of you.

STEVE CROMPTONBA BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION2009–12

When Steve completed his dissertationon enterprise social networks last year,there was little academic researchavailable and the enterprise sociallandscape is still being carved out by academics today. Since then hisdissertation has evolved in to a whitepaper being used by EnterpriseStrategies and Steve has now landed a job at Yammer (recently acquired by Microsoft). He is now part of theCustomer Success Team ensuring thatbusinesses are realising the value ofenterprise social and uses many of thechange management techniques taughtduring his time at Durham.

ALEXANDRA MELNIKOVAMSc FINANCE & INVESTMENT2004–05

We are delighted to be sending ‘double’congratulations to Alexandra Melnikovaon the birth of twins – Varvara and Boris(pictured). The adorable pair was bornon Tuesday 22 May 2012.

GABRIELA CASTRO-FONTOURABA ECONOMICS 1999–02

Gabriela has published an e-book with Enterprise Nation titled DoingBusiness with Latin America, whichshe would like ‘to be a first point ofcall for UK exporters interested inthese fascinating markets, from Brazilto Chile, from Mexico to Argentina and beyond’. Gabriela stresses that‘the book doesn’t have all the answers,but it does have some great questions,expert advice and case studies’.The e-book is available atwww.enterprisenation.com/shop/doingbusinesswithlatinamerica

EJINE OLGA NZERIBEMBA2000–01

Last October Red Star Express Nigeria,an affiliate of FedEx USA, launched anentrepreneurial book entitled InspiringGrowth – TheHistory of Red Star Expresswritten by DUBS alumnus Ejine OlgaNzeribe. The book was a part of RedStar Express Nigeria’s 20th anniversarycelebrations and delivers some hard-learned lessons that business peoplewill benefit from, draws out salientpoints in growing a business andshowcases a significant success story in the Nigerian business world.

JOHN HOODGLOBAL MBA1999–05

John Hood and his wife Paola arethrilled to announce the arrival, lastNovember, of baby John Paul. Havingmarried in May 2011 in Paola’s nativeMexico, they tied the knot again in December 2011 in MelbourneAustralia, where they currently live.

27

1. Liz Scott2. Dumisani Msibi 3. Ocean Wang4. Dr Elias Ghantous5. Conrado González Vera6. Gemma Pan7. Alexandra Melnikova

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

28

Curtis Moore (President of the Association), Senator Kerryann Ifill, His Excellency Paul Brummell (the British High Commissioner), Mrs Brummell, Sophia Sam (alumni committee member) and Dr Grenville Phillips (Co-Director of CariMEC).

local association newsDUBS Alumni Global Network

CARIBBEAN The Durham Caribbean MBA AlumniAssociation held its annual dinner at the Barbados Yacht Club on Saturday 16 November 2012. The focus of theevent was the celebration of 10 years of Durham University offering its MBA in the Caribbean via its association with CariMEC and the recruitment of the partnership’s 200th student.

The event began with a cocktail receptionwhich was followed by addresses madeby the President of the Association,

Mr Curtis Moore; the British HighCommissioner, His Excellency Mr PaulBrummell; Dr Graham Dietz, on behalf of Durham University Business School;and the CEO of CariMEC, Dr ChristinaParkinson. The keynote speaker was Her Honour Senator Kerryann Ifill,President of the Senate and an alumnusof the Durham Caribbean MBA.

A magnificent buffet dinner followed,and then music and dancing. The eventalso included a raffle which raised $500for the National United Society for the

Blind as well as money for thedevelopment of the Caribbean AlumniAssociation. Prizes were donated bymany large organisations in Barbados.

The evening was a huge success andwell attended by 75 alumni, studentsand guests. The main photo (above)shows those guests still celebrating at the close of the event.

CARIMEC PRIZE FOR MOSTCONTRIBUTED TO THEPROGRAMME – Christian Paul

Presented by Dr ChristinaParkinson, the CEO of CariMEC.

DEAN’S PRIZE FOR BESTDISSERTATION & PHILLIPSASSOCIATION PRIZE FOR BEST PERFORMANCE –Rosanne Trotman

Presented by Dr Grenville Phillips.

ERNST & YOUNG PRIZE FOR TOP STUDENT – Richard Black

Presented by Mr Rendra Gopee,Partner at Ernst & Young.

FRANKFURT Dr Christos Tsinopoulos led our first D8event in Frankfurt, Germany with histopic ‘Supply Chain: How well do yourcustomers and suppliers know yourproducts?’ The event was well attendedby both alumni and current studentsincluding 23 full-time MBA studentswho attended the event as part of theirInternational Study Week visit. Alumnivalued the opportunity to attend such a Masterclass and reminisced as theyspoke of the happy memories madeduring their time studying at the School.

GENEVA As part of our D8 series Dr Graham Dietzdelivered a workshop to 36 students,staff and alumni in Geneva entitled‘Trust in Uncertain Times’. Dr Dietz’sinteractive presentation entertainedthose in attendance focusing on howtrust is built, enhanced and sustainedamong colleagues and between leadersand their followers. Feedback from localalumni was very positive with ChristalAdamou stating, ‘It was just brilliant,many thanks to Dr Dietz for his excellentand entertaining presentation. I was alsograteful for meeting current and formerDurham peers on this occasion. Pleasecome back again’.

SRI LANKA On Friday 22 March Durham UniversityBusiness School held a gathering ofMBA students, prospective students,alumni and corporate guests at thestunning Mount Lavinia Hotel. TheBritish Colonial heritage hotel, located in a breath-taking beachfront locationclose to the Sri Lankan capital cityColombo, provided the perfect venue for our D8 event. The evening, led byProfessor Sue Miller, was themed on the topic ‘Strategy Success: GettingDecisions to Work’ and received verypositive feedback from attendees on its interesting topic and speaker.

MUMBAI Alumni and prospective students gatheredin Mumbai on Wednesday 20 March forthe most recent Alumni Leading EdgeCareer Workshop hosted by BusinessSchool Career Consultant, Fiona Ward.

The session started with a lively paneldiscussion led by corporate guests andsenior alumni who gave their perspectiveon the Indian labour market and currentrecruitment outlook within theirrespective firms. Guests benefited from insights into companies such asHSBC, Ernst & Young and Whiz MBAand shared their own experiences ofstrategies for differentiation in today’scompetitive marketplace.

The interactive workshop which followedfocused on giving alumni the tools toidentify career values, set appropriatecareer goals and create strategies toachieve these goals. Senior alumnishared their experiences with morerecent graduates.

The event forms part of a global series ofLeading Edge Career Workshops designedto aid recent graduates in their post-Durham employment journey. With anactive and committed alumni communityin India, further activities are planned in2013 including a D8 event with DurhamUniversity Business School Deputy DeanProfessor Geoff Moore on the topic‘Corporate Social Responsibility Matters’.

29

6 June 2013

We look forward tohearing about yourevents and receivingphotographs. If yourequire any help inarranging a get-togetherplease do get in touch.

Local Associations are the perfectway to keep in touch with otherDurham University BusinessSchool alumni in your area. The next Global Get-together date is 6 June 2013. As usualthis is just a guide. If it is moreconvenient for your group to meetat another date and time pleasedo so.

If you are interested in joiningthese or any other groupsthroughout the world – in yourlocation or perhaps in a businessarea you frequent – please emailus and we will put you in touchwith a Local Association Leader.Alternatively, if there is not yeta Local Association in your area,contact the Alumni RelationsTeam and we can investigatesetting one up.

DATES FOR THE DIARY31

EVENTS

ALUMNI GLOBAL GET TOGETHER

Thursday 6 June 2013

D8 BEIJINGIan Whitfield

Financial Markets Thursday 13 June 2013

SHANGHAI ALUMNI PANEL Saturday 15 June 2013

D8 LONDON Dr Mike Nicholson

Crisis Management Thursday 11 July 2013

D8 MUMBAI Professor Geoff Moore

Corporate Social Responsibility Matters

Wednesday 24 July 2013

D8 DELHIProfessor Geoff Moore

Corporate SocialResponsibility Matters

Friday 26 July 2013

D8 & LEADING EDGE CAREER WORKSHOPS IN NORTH AMERICA

Autumn 2013(cities and dates TBC)

RECRUITMENTEVENTS

QS WORLD MBA TOUR Dubai – Friday 17 May 2013

ACCESS MBA FAIRS New York, USA – Wednesday22 May 2013

PREVIEW/OPENEVENTS

DURHAM UNIVERSITYBUSINESS SCHOOL MBAOPEN EVENT

Ushaw College, Durham, UKThursday 23 May 2013Friday 28 June 2013Monday 29 July 2013

For a list of preview and open events,please visit the Business Schoolwebsite atwww.durham.ac.uk/dbs/degrees/mba/ft/events

Please note that some dates, speakersand venues are provisional or yet tobe confirmed.

FOR FURTHERINFORMATIONTo book places for these events, contact the Alumni Relations Team on: E: business.alumni@durham.ac.ukT: +44 (0)191 334 5277

WOULD YOU LIKETO HELP PROMOTEDURHAM UNIVERSITYBUSINESS SCHOOL?We regularly attend recruitmentevents around the world and loveit when we are joined by alumni.Not only does it give us thechance to catch up with you,but prospective students reallyvalue the opportunity to speak withour graduates. If you would like to volunteer to help at suchan event in your country wewould like to hear from you.

Alumni Relations TeamAlexandra McNinch (nee Sedgwick), Alumni Relations ManagerKatharine Aspey, Alumni Coordinator

Durham University Business SchoolAlumni Relations TeamUshaw CollegeDurhamDH7 9RHUK

t: +44 (0)191 334 5277f: +44 (0)191 334 5218e: business.alumni@durham.ac.uk

UK DUBS Alumni Network Local AssociationsNorthern (based in Durham)Southern (based in London)

International Local Associations

designed by crombiecreative.comCROM/01/13/013

ALUMNIDUBS

NEWS

Canada Caribbean China, Beijing China, Shanghai DenmarkEgypt GermanyGhana Gibraltar Greece Hong Kong Hungary India Indonesia Japan

JordanMalaysiaMexico New ZealandNigeriaNorway Pakistan Russia SingaporeSouth AfricaSouth AmericaSwitzerlandTurkeyUnited Arab EmiratesUnited States of America

To be put in contact with other alumni in your area, please contact the Alumni Relations Team.