2016 issue
Network
Authenticity
vAlues leAdership
Content Transparent leadership and values-based organisations
Alumni Careers Online Resources designed for you – no matter where your professional journey takes you:
MSc Business Analysis and Strategic Management Campus: past, present, future 10 years of MAP Research highlights International activity MBA projects Your network
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At the start of your journey • Webinars and guidance from the School’s specialist Postgraduate Careers Service • A video library of career insights from alumni • Discounted membership of the Association of MBAs
Changing direction • • • •
Sector and country guides and HR tools for career transition Online salary negotiation programmes Reduced cost subscriptions to international business publications Discounted access to Alliance MBS Executive Education programmes
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10 Approaching the board • Discounted membership to both the Institute of Directors and The Financial Times’ Non-Executive Directors Club and training programmes • Preferential rates on tailored corporate governance solutions • Access to thought leadership on issues affecting board practice and performance
your.manchester.ac.uk/ambscareers 2
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Welcome
A warm welcome to the latest issue of Network the magazine for alumni of Alliance Manchester Business School
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he last 12 months have been particularly memorable here at Alliance Manchester Business School and I have enjoyed every opportunity I have had to meet with you, our alumni, and hear about your successes. As you will know, at the end of last year we became Alliance Manchester Business School following a landmark donation, and in recognition of the long-standing support to the University, from Lord David Alliance of Manchester. We are now one of only four UK business schools to be endowed in this way. Since then, and with the support of Lord Alliance’s donation, the transformation to the School has continued. Work is progressing apace on both the redevelopment of Alliance MBS West and the construction of our new hotel and Executive Development Centre next door. Part of the University’s £1billion Campus Masterplan, both projects will enhance the learning experience for our students, delegates and alumni, and I look forward to welcoming you back to our new facilities in the future. You can see photographs and read more on page nine. As we continue to enhance our reputation as a leading centre for top quality business and management research, I was delighted that the donation has also enabled us to further invest in our research strengths across a range of disciplines. In 2015, we launched 12 Alliance-funded projects, which are already starting to produce results, and another eight were funded earlier this year. You can read more about each project on page ten.
As a former student of Alliance Manchester Business School, you are in good company. I was delighted that earlier this year I welcomed Simon Hayward, a recent DBA graduate, to launch his book on Connected Leadership at an event here at the School. On page four Simon has written our feature article on authenticity, values, and connected leadership where he talks about his research, his book and his DBA. As part of this year’s graduation ceremonies, I was thrilled that one of the University’s Outstanding Alumnus Awards went to alumna, Deborah Cohen MBE (MSc in Liberal Studies in Science, 1979). Deborah was recognised for her role in ensuring that the BBC excels in communicating science – in all its forms – to a variety of audiences. We are always keen to stay in touch with you and share your successes and I look forward to hearing from many of you in the forthcoming months and years. As part of our 58,000-strong alumni community, based across 176 countries, you are never far from the support, advice and networking opportunities on offer through local alumni groups. There are a host of complimentary online resources available to you as alumni. We have recently updated our careers web pages at your.manchester/ambscareers. They contain resources and tools designed for you to use at every stage of your post-graduation journey; including early-career stage resources for finding and securing the perfect role, mid-career transition support, insights from prominent and successful alumni and advice for building a non-executive portfolio.
Also this summer we launched our e-mentoring platform, The Manchester Network. It allows you to benefit from the expertise of your alumni colleagues from across The University of Manchester, through mentoring, email advice, CV review and more. This feature will be extended to current students from January. The application works in conjunction with LinkedIn and also acts as a great search tool for you to find and contact alumni with shared professional interests from right across the globe. You can find out about all the resources available and how you can get involved with the School and University at network.manchester.ac.uk. As we look forward to our 2016/17 academic year, I hope to meet many of you as I travel to some of our international centres and of course, here in Manchester. Professor Fiona Devine, Head, Alliance Manchester Business School
visit your.manchester.ac.uk/ network2016 to read the magazine online and watch exclusive videos and additional academic commentary on the stories in the magazine
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Authenticity, values, and connected leadership Ultimately, the companies that perform exceptionally well clearly demonstrate their mission, culture, and values. Forbes Magazine, Best Places to Work in 2016
Now organisations that want to thrive must seek to find a compelling set of values, exercise them authentically across their operations and communicate them clearly to their stakeholders. Alliance MBS alumni and students are leading the change:
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uthenticity and values are no longer just nice things to have. They can boost business performance. In recent years we have witnessed a breakdown of trust in organisations following many high-profile cases of mis-selling, mis-reporting and corruption. In some cases, the consequences have run into billions of pounds in damages and stock market value write-downs. Corporate amorality is a costly business. Leaders need to be role models for authenticity and values across organisations. If, for example, leaders behave in ways that show how much they prize integrity, organisational culture tends to reflect this. It is more likely that people across the business will deliver on their promises to each other and to customers.
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I completed my MBA at Alliance Manchester Business School in the 1980s and went on to build successful leadership consultancies. I started my current business Cirrus, in 2000. At the same time, I returned to AMBS to embark on my DBA. From my work with organisations such as Marks & Spencer, HSBC and Three, I witnessed the demands of leadership changing very significantly. It became clear that command-and-control leadership was simply incompatible with a more complex and less predictable business environment. I observed that most successful leaders connect people across organisations to strategic goals and to customers by developing a shared agenda through purpose, direction and values. They devolve decision-making responsibility and encourage a culture of collaboration. They stimulate a high degree of empowerment and trust that each
Dr Simon Hayward (MBA, 1986 and DBA, 2015), author of ‘Connected Leadership: How to build a more agile, customer-driven business’.
person and team will perform to the best of their ability. They increase agility through developing a learning culture that drives innovation and ruthless prioritisation. Values and authenticity are extremely important to them. I decided to make this move towards a more ‘connected’ style of leadership the focus of my DBA research. I also combined my academic research with 25 years of consulting experience to write a book, Connected Leadership, which was published by FT Publishing in 2015 – just after I was awarded my DBA. My research into large organisations, as well as my analysis of international research into leadership effectiveness, identified five key factors which contribute to a style of leadership suited to this networked world in which we live. Taken together, these factors
Connected Leadership:
The five leadership behaviours needed to build a more agile, customer-driven business
...successful leaders connect people across organisations to strategic goals and to customers by developing a shared agenda through purpose, direction and values.
build the strong connections which enable an organisation to achieve its goals and ultimate purpose in our rapidly changing world. Authenticity is one of the five factors of Connected Leadership. The other factors are purpose and direction, devolved decision-making, collaborative achievement, and agility. The benefits of connected leadership are both tangible in terms of the impact on performance and intangible in that `they create a high performing culture which provides sustainable advantage in the marketplace.” Authenticity is a pre-requisite for the quality of trust that is required for distributed leadership to work in practice. It suggests that leaders need to have high levels of self-awareness, a strong moral compass, the ability to make sense of information in a balanced way, and the ability to form open and transparent relationships. Leaders who act in an ethical way and who build relationships of trust engender stronger commitment among the people they lead than those who do not. Leadership based on balanced judgement and fairness of decision-making engages colleagues and encourages them to develop effective, connected relationships across the organisation, which ultimately leads to better customer experiences. At a personal level, this is about how leaders behave, based on their own values, and their personal authenticity. I am not talking about the values statement on your office or on your corporate website, I am talking about what is happening in reality - the actual values shared by you and your colleagues help to create the culture and
underpin the norms or assumptions on which the culture is based. So if integrity really is paramount in the organisation, the way all senior managers behave must reflect this. If anyone fails to do so, leaders need the courage not only to challenge them but eventually take steps to part company with them. Much of the focus of leadership development over the last two decades has been on developing inspirational or transformational leaders. Authentic leadership represents a more inclusive and less individualistic style of leadership than transformational leadership. It is more in keeping with the shared process of connected leadership. Research shows that authentic leadership encourages a positive culture in which people are motivated to give of their best. This results in increased levels of employee wellbeing which encourages engagement and people feeling more competent which, in turn, leads to improved productivity and people choosing to take increased responsibility. As a former chair of the Alliance MBS Alumni Association, I have always valued the views of my fellow alumni. If you’d like to share yours, please tweet me @SimonJHayward. I’d love to know what you think.
More online: Exclusive video interviews with Simon Hayward and Dr Nick Clifford your.manchester.ac.uk/ network2016
Purpose and Direction When people have a common understanding of why they exist as an entity, clarity on what they are trying to achieve and the strategy, there is a shared mission around which people can unite and flourish.
Authenticity Leaders who are trustworthy and build high quality relationships drive commitment. Low trust increases transaction costs, lowers brand value and causes difficulty in attracting, retaining and growing talent. Values-led leaders instil confidence, provide stability and increase shareholder value.
Devolved Decision Making Sharing power across an organisation results in appropriate decisions being made closer to the customer, by people well equipped to make them, and in the best interests of both the customer and the organisation.
Collaborative Achievement Close working within teams and between teams ensures efficient working. Great team work is based on dialogue and mutual influence. Team members work closely with each other and reward structures emphasise collective rather than individual performance.
Agility In an increasingly uncertain world, employees should be enabled to adapt to changing circumstances, share what they learn and operate in a culture which supports experimentation without blame. They simplify processes and deliver the priorities brilliantly.
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The findings
The third sector: finding the model F
inding the right business model to achieve the goal of long-term financial sustainability is just as important for charities as it is for business and ultimately means the difference between success and failure in a highly competitive charity sector. The Alliance MBS Not-for-Profit project recently handed semester one Manchester MBAs this tricky dilemma and presented them with a charity urgently needing business analysis to move forward. From Generation to Generation (FG2G) runs a school-based programme, called Intergen, which brings young and old people together in schools to support and inspire each other. FG2G’s great idea brought retired and older adults into schools to spend time with youngsters who may be under-performing, thereby reducing loneliness in older adults and giving some children the extra time and attention they need to flourish. But amidst public funding cuts for schools and local communities, the charity’s current business model suffered a significant cash shortfall in 2014 and its chances of survival looked bleak. A rescue package of emergency funding from a long-time supporter, the Tudor Trust, plugged an urgent gap but was no long-term answer. The charity has a target to raise £100k in income this year with 40% of its income expected to come through donations and/or trusts. So the request to Manchester’s Not-for-Profit MBA project was simple and urgent: “What are the sustainable business models which will help us achieve our income target of £60k from our Intergen programme?”
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The current business model FG2G runs 7 clusters of 21 partner schools at 15 primary and six secondary schools in London and the North West. Funding comes from fees from the participating schools. Each cluster of one secondary school and two primary schools pays an annual fee of £3,000 and signs an annual or bi-annual contract with FG2G. The cluster and FG2G hire a local coordinator (usually someone aged 55+) who is paid an annual honorarium of £2,000 plus travel expenses. In terms of the charity’s internal operations the MBA team adopted desk research and the Business Canvas Model to analyse the charity’s current business model and design a new business model and benchmarking to identify good practices and potential partners. The team used SWOT analysis, risk matrix, cost-volume-profit method and sensitivity analysis. Data was gathered from FG2G staff, including coordinators and volunteers, head teachers in current partner schools as well as coordinators and volunteers at other organisations such as The Manchester United Foundation, The University of Manchester and Manchester Science Festival. On the funding opportunities side the team applied the PESTLE framework to understand the health care and community landscape and gathered data from education and health policy experts at the University and staff at NHS England. Qualitative and quantitative data was acquired from nine organisations and the team held regular client interactions with meetings, emails and telephone interactions and weekly status updates with the charity.
The investigation of the internal operations and benchmarking against good practices highlighted major concerns. The MBA students highlighted that the coordinators and volunteers were crucial in delivering the Intergen programme but the scarcity of these skilled human resources posed a major risk to the success of the programme. The lack of an organisational presence in Manchester for the London-based charity was also highlighted as a barrier to recruiting human resources and expanding operations to new schools. The MBA team considered the untapped potential in the large geography of schools available in both localities and recommended that with an increase in schools’ fees of around £250 per annum and six new clusters added every year then break-even point could be achieved by 2019. But with the quality of coordinators and funding being the two most critical factors in the core business operations, the team highlighted some specific and key next steps that the charity should take. Recommendations: • Redevelop the coordinators profile and introduce a mentoring scheme to recruit and retain coordinators. • Obtain funding from alternative sources in the boroughs of Manchester, Salford and Oldham where estimated funding of between £8,500 and £77,000 was potentially available. • Forge new partnerships with Manchester Community Central (Macc), Salford Community and Voluntary Services and The University of Manchester for joint activities and improved local presence.
Read the full project brief and add your comments on how you would approach the challenge. your.manchester.ac.uk/ network2016
Employers: take values to heart
MSc Business Analysis and Strategic Management Alliance Manchester Business School’s MSc Business Analysis and Strategic Management (BASM) replaces the traditional dissertation with a business-facing project, meaning students can apply the theory they have gained in the classroom to help local businesses respond to challenges they are currently facing.
Chris Garnett
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n recent years there has been substantial talk in the media and in HR circles about the importance of the values organisations represent and the importance of leveraging this as part of an organisation’s ‘employer brand’. Chris Garnett, Head of Postgraduate Careers and Employability at Alliance Manchester Business School comments: “The 2008 financial crisis seemed to highlight this and, as a careers team we have accumulated anecdotal evidence of students favouring environments where there are opportunities to make a wider contribution to society. “The importance of an organisation’s values in attracting and retaining talent has long been recognised and the CIPD provides extensive guidance on developing these concepts. Key to this is ensuring your organisational values are linked to behaviours and attitudes throughout the organisation and that these are ‘lived’ on a daily basis by employers and their employees. Particularly when attracting talent this can form a key part of the psychological contract between employer and candidate, and so the values must match the real experience employees will have within the organisation. “Having worked with students for almost 10 years – a highly volatile 10 years – my experience is that the highest achievers have high levels of emotional intelligence, and their experience at the School helps them develop even further in this respect. The question is not just whether you present the values you need to attract these individuals but whether or not they will truly experience them within the organisation, as that leads to higher levels of engagement and – in turn – higher impact.”
Past projects Manufacturing: expansion into new markets Students researched potential markets and developed a strategy for future exports. NGO: Business support analysis Students mapped an opportunity sector and made recommendations for growth. Tech: Process improvement Students reviewed internal business process documentation, benchmarked this against competitors and gave recommendations for improvement.
The MSc project gives us a chance to focus on areas of our business that we usually don’t have the resources to address. For further information, please contact masters.career.management@ manchester.ac.uk
From 2017 onwards, alumni of the MSc Business Analysis and Strategic Management will be invited to complete the survey which features in the Financial Times Masters in Management ranking. The ranking pulls together information from both the School and from its alumni three years after graduation. If you graduated from this programme in 2014 you will be contacted from April 2017 onwards with information about the survey. The School’s performance in the ranking contributes to our position as a world-leading business school, so we hope as many of you as possible will contribute. For a school to be eligible for the ranking, at least 20% of its alumni must respond to the survey, with a minimum of 20 responses. Therefore it’s important that we have the best email address for the Financial Times to contact you on, so should your contact details have changed please go to your.manchester.ac.uk to update them. 7
Building the past, present and future
Then With the first major development of the Alliance MBS campus in over 40 years due for completion in 2017, we take a look back at the history of our estate and look to the future with new images of the redevelopment of Alliance MBS West.
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he School was founded in 1965 and its first premises were in Hilton Street, Manchester City Centre. In the same year, UMIST’s Department of Industrial Administration was renamed the Department of Management Sciences (later the Manchester School of Management) and was housed in the city centre Maths and Social Sciences building from 1970. In June 1971 the occupants of the Hilton Street site moved to MBS West - a "splendid new building in Booth Street West which has been specially designed for our needs". In 2004 the merger between the Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST was completed and the new Manchester Business School was formed with around 2000 students on campus - making it the largest business school in the UK.
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In summer 2015, the Precinct Centre Bridge across Oxford Road was demolished.
Alliance Manchester Business School’s international reputation and its prime location at the heart of the Oxford Road Corridor will soon be matched by an impressive modern building.
Now
The future
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he University of Manchester’s ten-year, £1 billion Campus Masterplan was launched in 2012. Progress is now well underway with the extensive work to transform the Alliance Manchester Business School campus to the benefit of the staff, students and visitors who use it. Over the summer, the Precinct Centre Bridge across Oxford Road was demolished. The 46-year-old bridge was taken down as a precursor to the remodelling and refurbishment of the existing properties adjoining Booth Street West.
lliance Manchester Business School’s international reputation and its prime location at the heart of the Oxford Road Corridor will soon be matched by an impressive modern building. The project will create a new hotel and executive education centre, as well as redeveloped School buildings, which will bring everything together on one side of Oxford Road. Overall, around 200,000 sq ft of Alliance MBS facilities will be refurbished. The phase one hotel and Executive Education Centre, both of which are due for completion in 2017, will provide a new home for the Business School’s corporate leadership and management programmes. Phase two plans include state-of-the-art teaching facilities for all our students and enhanced office accommodation for staff.
The bespoke student spaces will feature bright, open learning spaces as well as a new library, catering outlets and an impressive main entrance. The public realm surrounding the School will also be improved and a new retail and leisure development built at ground floor level bringing new shops and restaurants to the area for students, staff and visitors to enjoy.
To learn more about the redevelopment of the campus visit www.masterplan.manchester.ac.uk See more images and videos of our campus’ past, present and future your.manchester.ac.uk/network2016
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10 years of MAP
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or ten years, the Manchester Access Programme (MAP) has been offering a 'slice of university life' to teenagers who may otherwise not access higher education. To date MAP has readied 62 students to begin undergraduate programmes at Alliance Manchester Business School, taking them through a two-year programme, incorporating around 50 hours of study and workshops. MAP works with students from lowparticipation areas: those who have experienced care provision, received free school meals, or attend state schools with a lower than average performance rate. The criterion also extends to students experiencing personal or family issues, and those whose families have never before benefited from university education. Ultimately, MAP is a route into the world of graduate work for students who may never otherwise have explored it – and, for the University, it cements a commitment to social responsibility in our local community and to delivering outstanding learning experiences, without boundaries or barriers. Ten years on, we caught up with one of the School’s first ever MAP scholars - Shazada Ahmed - who told us about the experience of blazing a trail and the long lasting effect it has had on his life:
My immediate family have very little formal education, so it was a very big thing for my parents and me for me to get into university. Attending various workshops, classes and actually going in to the University on a regular basis as part of the programme really helped me to prepare for the transition from college. As part of the programme I had to complete an assignment, which involved a big commitment on my part. Having support through this from an academic adviser was great – she pointed me in the right direction when I needed help.
Typically ¾ of MAP students come from lowest income households.
To date MAP has readied 62 students to begin undergraduate programmes at Alliance Manchester Business School.
Many of our MAP scholars are supported financially by alumni - the total amount raised for undergraduate access scholarships so far is
£4,573,000 (and counting)
To read case studies of other students who have completed MAP or to find out more about how you can support the programme visit www.mapis10.manchester.ac.uk
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Research highlights: Alliance projects We became Alliance Manchester Business School in September 2015, following a landmark donation from Lord Alliance of Manchester and his fellow Trustees of the Alliance Family Foundation. The donation is being invested in our new building to enhance the learning experience for all students, and to drive our research agenda forward. We are investing in a series of innovative new research projects through the Alliance Manchester Business School Strategic Investment Fund.
Big data Forum the northern powerhouse and devolution Business and human rights Establishing one of the world’s first business and human rights networks at a business school.
Advanced training opportunities for phd students A series of specialist training opportunities to enhance learning experience and employability.
institutional investors, financial innovation and the real economy Research analysing the influence institutional investors have on corporate decisions; financial innovations; new classes of institutional participants; and globalisation and the increasing interdependence between financial markets and the real sector of the economy.
Designed to bring together researchers focusing on issues of economic advantage and disadvantage, and of governance in the context of devolution.
health services research centre Establishing a world-leading research centre in the study of health policies, and organisations that provide health and social care services.
Modelling the behavioural foundations of strategy
Supporting an Alliance MBS network of excellence in big data analytics.
regional industrial systems and networks The project will analyse and understand the processes of successful industrial regeneration.
employee gentleness in care settings Two ethnographic case studies of employee gentleness - one in a palliative care setting and another in a social care setting.
Just Work in Greater Manchester A research programme supporting the development of a new University of Manchester Institute that will research work and employment issues.
portfolio diversification and corporate finance Research examining the effects of a firm owner’s portfolio diversification on corporate policies.
Globalisation and responsible production network A network strengthening cross-disciplinary research at The University of Manchester; and engaging with policymakers and organisations in Rising Power countries.
Development and testing of theory on the behavioural foundations of firm performance, using agent-based modelling. A further eight projects have been approved for 2016/17, covering diverse topics including corporate risk, housing and transport in the context of the Manchester devolution, energy innovation and data-driven modelling.
read about the projects in more detail www.research.mbs.ac.uk/alliance-projects
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A year of global activity
shanghai Our China Centre held their inaugural Graduation Party in September last year at an event attended by 50 graduate representatives and their families. This year a large delegation of students visited Manchester to undertake the official graduation ceremonies in July and the team hosted a special graduation celebration for all graduating MBA students at the home of Manchester City Football Club – the Ethiad Stadium
Our word-wide centres host activities and engagement opportunities across their regions – here are just some of their highlights from the last 12 months…
The Centre has also developed a series of company visits, spearheaded by graduates who act as guides for the day. In June alumni in Shanghai visited Microsoft’s China headquarters as guests of alumnus George Xue (Global MBA, 2016), Head of Business Development at Microsoft.
são paulo Professor Fiona Devine led a delegation of academics and administrators from the School on visits to Rio de Janeiro and our South America Centre in São Paulo with the objective of building a greater awareness of the School’s work locally.
This caps off a fantastic year for the Centre, which was recognised as Most Influential MBA School in the country at the SINA China Education Awards.
Opportunities for research collaboration were identified with local business schools; students, alumni and the British business community had opportunities to engage with the visiting faculty members; and Professor Devine and other academics conducted interviews with relevant business publications in the region. During Professor Elaine Fernley’s visit to Brazil this year she renewed the School’s agreement with Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) and discussed future opportunities for the partnership, thus reinforcing our presence in Brazil and South America, with a consistent approach to market and an increase in support to students and alumni. The MBS delegation in Brazil, from left: Katia Pina, Edmin Amann,
indiana In February we were delighted to announce that we are partnering with Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business to launch a joint MBA programme leading to degrees from both institutions.
Nigel Banister, Ana Vitelli, Jane Crombleholme, Daniel Hampson, Maria Nedeva, Rudolf Sinkovics, Fiona Devine, John Murphy, Maja Zehfuss and Emma Rose.
dubai Our Middle East Centre launched the region’s first original research to understand the drivers and barriers to creativity and innovation in the unique context of the GCC region. The research project was launched to coincide with the School’s 50th anniversary, and the UAE’s year of Innovation in 2015, and the initial results will be shared later this year– as a part of the Middle East Centre’s 10th anniversary celebrations in Dubai. In addition, the Centre marked the School’s 50th anniversary with a range of events, including a special celebratory breakfast networking the presence of Head of School Professor Fiona Devine. The event combined networking, presentations and a panel discussion on the outlook for the global, regional and local economies. The Centre will also host its fourth graduation ceremony in November, at which Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, United Arab Emirates Minister of Culture, Youth and Social Development will address the congregation. Graduating students of the Class of 2015 in Dubai.
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Elaine Fer China as t
Manchester Amongst the many celebratory activities marking the 50th anniversary in Manchester, our team ran a campaign celebrating the North West’s Most Original Thinkers – individuals who challenged the norms, took risks and changed the world. Members of the public were encouraged to vote using polling cards and social media and more than 500 votes were cast. The eventual winner was alumnus of the University Alan Turing – the pioneering computer scientist who was highly influential in the development of computer science, resulting in the development of the Turing machine, which many have considered to be the first computer. Head of School, Professor Fiona Devine said: “We are proud to be part of a city and region that is home to so many people who think outside the box, take risks and change the world.”
rneley congratulates graduates from the Centre in they visit Manchester.
singapore
In conversation: Hian Seng Tang; President of The University of Manchester Alumni Association for Singapore, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell and Professor Andre Geim.
The Singapore Centre undertook a pioneering collaboration with the School’s Executive Education team – working with Wits Business School to deliver a one-day workshop on strategic leadership and innovation for a delegation from the South African Transport Education Training Authority. Also in Singapore, the Centre celebrated the School’s 50th anniversary with a gala dinner, attended by 230 alumni, students, key partners and eminent guests of the school. Many alumni of the School were also present when the University of Manchester Alumni Association's Singapore annual networking event hosted President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell and Nobel Prize Winner, Professor Sir Andre Geim for an “in conversation with” event, attended by over 150 alumni and distinguished guests.
hong Kong Late last year our East Asia Marking the School's 50th anniversary in Hong Kong. Centre signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in Greater China and Hong Kong establishing a preferential discount on fees for the global MBA programme for all ACCA full members and Fellows. In addition, ACCA members can now undertake the finance-accelerated route that awards certain module exemptions from the total Global MBA modules The centre also celebrated numerous events to mark the School’s 50th anniversary, the 10th anniversary of the MBS Alumni Association’s presence in the region and the Centre’s relocation to new premises in the heart of Causeway Bay. A series of seminars were organised throughout the year to deepen students and alumni understanding of worldwide economics and over 120 alumni and students gathered for a grand celebration of MBS’s 50 years of achievement in the presence of Professor Fiona Devine, Head of School.
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MBA students at work and play in Tokyo
Working with:
Projects embed value for alumni Your mission, should you choose to accept it: A global technology company has a customer that is undergoing its own major global business expansion with multiple subsidiaries across three continents. Your task is to investigate, identify and prioritise opportunities with the subsidiaries in order to maximise the technology company’s sales not only to the customer but through the customer to any or all of its subsidiaries. Sounds like a perfect theoretical MBA scenario. At least it would do if it were not a very real situation faced by a group of Manchester MBA students looking to complete the full-time MBA Consultancy Project. University of Manchester MBA alumna Siobhan Clarke was the catalyst for the project at the American multinational technology company Cisco. Why go down the MBA student route? “One of the key things for us was to drive this as a project with young, talented consultants who could bring fresh perspectives said Cisco’s Global Account Director Andres Mino. “But obviously we are based in San Francisco and the students in Manchester,” added Siobhan. “So we leveraged the technology using Cisco WebEx, video, Telepresence and Spark and gave all the students access to those tools to create a dynamic working environment. That enabled us to move a lot faster – it was like 24-hour working with regular touch points a couple of times a week where everyone was on the call.”
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Andres added: “We could see from the start this relationship was surpassing our expectations. They immediately pushed our thinking. Within the first two weeks the students had presented data to us which gave us insight into our customer that we hadn’t considered before. Their different experiences and backgrounds were really valuable.
One of the key things for us was to drive this as a project with young, talented consultants who could bring fresh perspectives. “We took a decision to put the students in front of the board members of our customer. We opened the meeting but they delivered the message from beginning to end and, in a completely different working environment and foreign culture, they did a fantastic job. “They were flawless presentations. When you’re at that age and your work experience is limited you would expect there to be nervousness and hesitation but there was none of that.
“At the end of the process with the students we knew we had more than a working relationship – we had made a connection and from our point of view we were hooked. This is now a central part of our annual business and if we can engage in similar projects for 6-8 weeks a year not only would that save us an enormous amount of time but also money: there were many productivity gains from this process that we could not have achieved doing it ourselves with people on the pay roll. “Hopefully we can do this again next year it makes absolutely good business sense.” Working with us to develop projects is one of the ways that you can invest in the future of our students. Course supervisors will help you to design and steer a cost effective, professional consultancy project that can take place anywhere in the world. For information about the different programmes on offer for alumni volunteers and the ways that you can get involved please contact us at alumnioffice@mbs.ac.uk.
Watch an interview with Siobhan and Andres about the experience of commissioning an MBA International Business project and working with the students your.manchester.ac.uk/ network2016
Number of alumni
58,193 MBA programmes
25%
6
Number of countries where alumni are located
176 1
25%
Sao Paolo Shanghai
Global centres
Hong Kong Singapore
UK
2
3
Liechtenstein
Kyrgyzstan
Professional sectors Finance
3565
Sales
3069
Consulting
Volunteer alumni graduates of AMBS as a percentage of all University alumni volunteers
20% Of all MBA projects offered to final year students in 2016, percentage offered by alumni
44%
USA
MSc programmes
Executive Education
1600
India
Countries with only one alumnus/alumna
5%
Total number of hours alumni have volunteered to support students this year
5
Trailblazers
Eritrea
22%
4
Singapore
China
Turks & Caicos
DBA and PhD
Dubai
Where are our alumni?
Undergraduate programmes
4%
Manchester
Climbing the ladder
2501
Operations
2409
Marketing
3967
1871
Business Development
2753
1763
Program & Project Management Entrepreneurship
1580
1579 Information Technology
571 400 Managers Directors Managing Directors CEOs
Human Resources
Working for Fortune 500 companies
1386 1270
1 Cricket team owner
2
1 Bollywood Star
1 Stand-up Comic
Major Generals
Working for FTSE 100 companies
366 402
Number of alumni contactable by email
41,287
Number of alumni connected to us via social media
17,796
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A digital version of this magazine is available with access to exclusive additional material – including interviews, videos, image galleries and more. your.manchester.ac.uk/network2016
@AMBSalumni
Alliance Manchester Business School Alumni (Official)
MBS_alumni
Alliance Manchester Business School Alumni
Alumni Relations Alliance Manchester Business School The University of Manchester Dover Street Building Dover Street Manchester M13 9PL United Kingdom +44 (161) 275 6485 alumnioffice@mbs.ac.uk www.mbs.ac.uk/alumni
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