News

Groundbreaking book marks new chapter in partnership
Posted: 4 Mar 2012

New corporate governance theories and practices could make organisations look more closely at how they are run. That's a key outcome of work by academics at London South Bank University and their counterparts from Loyola College in India - which could create a new mindset in corporate governance thinking. And it could have wide-reaching implications for corporate management teams, workforces, customers and stakeholders in both the public and private sector.

In a new book, which has just been issued, the academics argue that corporate governance, while being a practical issue, is ultimately an ethical issue. They suggest that while academic institutions can't make people ethical, they can raise ethical awareness and help students - who are current or future managers - to become conscious of good ethical practices, thereby helping sound risk-taking, decision-making and good corporate governance. This key thinking is advocated in 'Making Corporate Governance Work', jointly edited by LSBU Professor Kenneth D'Silva, Director of the Faculty of Business Centre for Research in Accounting, Finance & Governance, and his Loyola counterpart Rev Dr Francis Andrew S J.

The book contains research presented at a major conference hosted jointly by LSBU and Loyola, when academics from both institutions and other Indian and European universities presented research papers. It reflects emerging thinking and fresh theories on corporate governance which should enable companies to more closely consider and evaluate how they are governed.

The conference and the launch of the book mark a new chapter in LSBU and Loyola College's close relationship, which spans more than a decade, with the two institutions jointly running MSc degrees in both Corporate Governance and International Business. Students from both institutions can spend a semester in each country as part of their studies.

Corporate governance is an emerging discipline and came to increased prominence in the early 1990s, following several corporate scandals, with developments in it now requiring greater overall corporate probity, transparency, accountability and equity.

Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing 'Educator of the year'
Posted: 29 Nov 2011

Congratulations to Beverly Barker for being named 'Educator of the year' by the Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing (IDM). Beverly's exceptional contributions to IDM were acknowledged and commended. The photo shows her being given the award by Terry Hunt, President of the IDM.

IDM is an educational trust and registered charity which is internationally recognised as the leading professional body for the development of direct, data and digital marketing. Beverly has worked with the IDM for over 17 years, regularly giving guest lectures around the subject of direct & digital marketing communications planning, both now, and when she was head of Carat Direct. She has been one of their external examiners for the last eight years and works with the IDM qualifications team on course development and as an assessor for the IDM Marketing Summer School.

No Waste: Managing Sustainability in Construction - by Dr Uly Ma
Posted: 18 Nov 2011

Dr Uly Ma, long-standing Visiting Fellow and principal consultant with Greenfile Developments, is the author of a new textbook, with accompanying CD. Entitled ‘No Waste: Managing Sustainability in Construction’, it examines the construction industry and explores how the industry can transform itself from the micro level of good site practices to setting the right policies to drive a company onwards.

Through the Learning Legacy project, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is sharing the knowledge and the lessons learned from the construction of the Olympic Park, to help raise the bar within the sector and act as a showcase for UK plc. The ODA mini report describes techniques that have been an integral part of the teaching within our Management Department's postgraduate programmes over the past few years. This year the 'NoWaste Lean Construction' project received the Special Achievements Award from the National Skills Academy for Construction London 2012 Award, and in 2009 the project was honoured the 'Most Effective Training' Award from the London 2012 Safety, Health and Environment Leadership Team (SHELT). For further details see the publisher's web page for this textbook.

Is internal audit fulfilling its role at central banks?
Posted: 15 Oct 2011

The September issue of FS Focus features an article (on pages 16 and 17) by Professor Jeffrey Ridley entitled "Is internal audit fulfilling its role at central banks?". The article highlights the increasing awareness of the important role that internal auditing plays in monitoring and improving the governance, risk management and control processes of central banks across the world. Internal auditing has been taught over many years in the Faculty's MSc Corporate Governance course as one of the pillars of good governance; this course was developed in collaboration with the UK Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. All internal auditors in central banks should reflect on the following comment by Sir Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, in his recent Mansion House speech (15th June, 2011): "The Bank must be fully accountable to Parliament and the public.".

Brilliant Employability Skills by Frances Trought
Posted: 9 Oct 2011

Brilliant Employability Skills, a new textbook by Frances Trought, emphasises the need for students, regardless of discipline, to create their own individual brand in order to compete successfully in today's highly competitive graduate market. It is just as important to be able to market yourself as it is to secure your degree. In today's job market having a degree is just one piece of the puzzle. A good degree no longer sets you apart from other candidates. The book will provide you with the tools and techniques to allow you to gain and communicate a range of employability skills and behaviours desired by employers. The focus of the book is students in their first and second year of study, although the tools can equally be applied to those students in their final year and Masters programmes. The book will aim to encourage students to start developing employability skills from their first day at University. For further details see the publisher's web page for this textbook.

'Engaging Public Sector Talent' Conference
Posted: 3 Oct 2011

London South Bank University's Faculty of Business (Department of Management) hosted a seminar at the recent 'Engaging Public Sector Talent' Conference in Westminster. Andrew Summers, Course Director for Postgraduate Certificate in Local Governance for Councillors, introduced our Masters in Public Administration (MPA) course and discussed the benefits of higher level education to career development and managerial effectiveness. For further information about our MPA courses visit www.lsbu.ac.uk/mpa.

Two Postgraduate Students Publish Conference Papers
Posted: 14 Jul 2011

Two of our recent MSc Information Technology students - Abbas Nadwani and Jonathan Tanner - have published conference papers based upon their project management related dissertations at the 2011 European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies (Caen, France). Their papers are respectively entitled "A Proposed Mixed Methods Approach to eServices Project Appraisal" and "Project Organisation and the 'Communities of Practice' Theory: Exploring the Connectivity", and were presented within the Project Management and Research Methodology stream organised by Dr Gary Bell and Professor Jon Warwick (Department of Business). The papers were well received and produced some interesting academic discussions within the stream. The students wrote the papers and they were edited by Gary and Jon. Gary supervised the dissertations and is extremely pleased with achievements of both students. Moreover, the Project Management stream was a great success, and it will contribute to the development of our new Masters Course in Project Management (2012). Abbas is on the left in the photo above, Gary is on the right.

Dr John Egan to become Chairman of the Academy of Marketing
Posted: 13 Jul 2011

Congratulations to John Egan who will be taking over as Chairman of the Academy of Marketing from December 2011. The post is currently held by Professor Ruth Ashford, Dean and Pro-VC of Manchester Metropolitan University. Dr Egan will take up the Chair for an initial period of three years.

Founded in 1966 the Academy of Marketing is a Learned Society that represents the interests of marketing teachers, trainers and researchers, in the United Kingdom. The Academy holds an annual Marketing Conference, which attracts between 400 and 500 delegates each year and 2011 was its 43rd such event. Since 1993 the Academy has also run a Doctoral Colloquium preceding the main Conference. It has over 20 Special Interests Groups many of whom hold workshops and conferences during the year. In January 2010 membership of the Academy stood at over 500 of which over 95% are marketing academics. Although the majority are based in the UK there are members from Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America and Australasia.

Masters in Public Admin. & Management International Summer School
Posted: 7 Jul 2011

London South Bank University hosted the 2011 International Summer School (ISS) for the Masters in Public Administration programme between 29 June and 5 July, 2011. The ISS is an integral element of the MPA and a highlight of the course.

Held at the National School of Government in Sunningdale Berkshire, this week-long summer school brings together current part-time mature students from nine universities across Europe who hold senior positions in management in the public sector and who study part-time.

The theme of this year's ISS was the impact of financial cutbacks and the crisis in public management and the effect on service delivery.

Providing an exciting and challenging context for international and comparative discussions, the delegates are divided into cross-national working groups faced with solving various tasks, including the preparation of a presentation on the final day. Apart from generating professional public management networks covering most of Europe, the inter-cultural, social atmosphere also forms lasting friendships.

Run by a collaboration of prestigious European universities, including LSBU, the ISS provides a pan-European dimension on the MPA courses of the participating institutions. Other participating universities include: Copenhagen Business School, Bocconi University, Erasmus University, Esade, Hint and Hist University Norway, Limerick University and Potsdam University.

For further information about the ISS or the MPA, please visit www.lsbu.ac.uk/mpa or email Chrissie Oldfield, Senior Lecturer and Course Director.

LSBU Marketing Careers Evening is 'the best network'
Posted: 26 May 2011

The sixth Marketing Careers Evening, organised by Mel Godfrey, Anita Peleg and Kim Roberts of LSBU's Management Department, was once again a resounding success.

The event attracted over 130 guests, mostly current students, who heard from LSBU marketing alumni and a leading industry guest speaker, and then developed their networking skills over a drink with the alumni.

Students were treated to presentations from LSBU alumnus Ed Sexton, who graduated from LSBU in 2003 and is now a Marketing Manager for UBM Built Environment, and from guest speaker Sharon Reid, Deputy Managing Director, from leading PR company JCPR Edelman. Both speakers gave insights into their sectors, and top tips on career progression.

A panel of 20 LSBU alumni, who are now professionals working in organisations including ad agencies, banks and dotcoms, then took centre stage for a Q&A session.

For further details see this LSBU news article.

4th edition of Relationship Marketing textbook
Posted: 4 April 2011

Congratulations to John Egan on the recent publication of the 4th edition of his textbook on Relationship Marketing, published by Financial Times Press. The following is taken from the book's preface.

"Exploring relational strategies in marketing continues to acknowledge the role that relationship marketing (RM) plays in modern management and establishes the contexts in which RM is most beneficially exercised. This is not, however, a 'how-to' text on relationship marketing, customer relationship management or any of the various relational business subject areas (complete with prescriptive solutions). Rather, this book seeks to generate questions and debate and encourage individual responses to particular marketing situations.rn rnThe book is not without bias. It is most definitely written from the viewpoint of marketing as an art rather than a science, and my concerns regarding the mathematical manipulation of sometimes spurious data no doubt resonate in the text. Despite this one fundamental bias, I have attempted to be objective. This does not negate, however, the responsibility of the reader to make up his or her own mind as to whether to accept or refute any of the positions taken in the text. While reading this book, maintain a healthy scepticism and question conclusions and research findings in whatever way you see fit."