Agoranews Issue 20 by Durham University Business School

NEWS

agora

IN THIS ISSUE: TRUST: THE BUILDING BLOCKS AND THE REPAIR KIT//VIRTUAL MENTORING// QUEEN’S CAMPUS DEVELOPMENTS//THE HOLY GRAIL OF SERVICE EXCELLENCE

“Securitisation – Taming the risks or camouflaging them?” see page 18

Alumni Magazine for Durham Business School

Autumn 2011 Issue 20

Business School

50% Discount for Alumni On Global MBA and MA short courses Building on our innovative blended learning model, we are proud to introduce the Global Executive Learning Programme (GEL) and the Global Manager’s Toolkit. These two short courses offer students the opportunity to sample our MBA and MA programmes without being tied to undertake the full degree. We offer a rolling cycle of Open Enrolment options every year, and our short courses are available on both taught and distance learning bases making our Global Programmes flexible enough to fit into the busy demands of modern life.

Global Manager’s Toolkit Aimed at graduate management trainees and managers who are at an early stage of their career, the global Manager’s toolkit offers a selection of short courses from our highly acclaimed MA in Management and MA in Marketing programmes. As the programme name suggests, these short courses have been specifically chosen to equip managers with a set of vital skills that cross the core functional areas of business, as well as specialist areas of business practice. Courses available as part of our global Manager’s toolkit are taken from our ‘conversion’ Part-time Masters programmes, and are suitable for everyone – irrespective of their disciplinary background.

Global Executive Learning (GEL) Programme Drawing modules from our acclaimed Global MBA, the GEL Programme brings you a specially selected suite of short courses from across the functional areas of business, developed and delivered by leading Durham faculty. This is your opportunity to sample our MBA programme without being tied to undertake a full degree, or to top up your previous MBA with the very latest management knowledge and insight.

Fees The prices for our courses are very competitive and for alumni we offer a fantastic 50% discount: Global Executive Learning Standard price £845 Agora members £425 Global Manager’s Toolkit Standard price £710 Agora members £355

Our short course options are available on a distance learning basis. So, whatever your motivation for joining us, the GEL Programme offers an innovative range of options that are accessible wherever you are in the world.

For further information about our short courses, please contact: Maria Arkless, Client Services Administrator, Global Learning Centre, Durham Business School, Mill Hill Lane, Durham, DH1 3LB, UK E: global.cpd@durham.ac.uk www.dur.ac.uk/dbs/glc/short-courses

Business School

CONTENTS IN THIS ISSUE… news news news news news news news news School News

Dean’s Welcome

SCENARIO THINKING – IN PRACTICE Co-authored by Professors George Wright, DBS and George Cairns, RMIT University, Australia, “Scenario Thinking: Practical approaches to the future” provides a practical, step-by-step guide to implementing the “intuitive logics” scenario method as well as showing how the conventional scenario method of intuitive logics can be augmented. Published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2011 – ISBN: 978-0-230-27156-2.

Following a chaotic year for UK universities, and considerable press and political speculation over Higher Education reform, fair access and visa restrictions, Durham Business School is well positioned for the challenging times ahead.

Our number one priority is to deliver a first class student experience. To do this we will continue to strive to deliver the highest quality teaching to our students whilst providing excellent facilities. Our state of the art Queen’s campus already boasts some of the best facilities the University has to offer. The planned construction, renovation and reconfiguration of the Mill Hill Lane building will provide a great deal more communal space for students to unite, but will also have high tech teaching facilities. This development is due to start in April 2012 and as we enter the final stage of planning for the project, I welcome any input from friends and supporters of the School. Along with our focus on teaching, DBS has always had a reputation as a research-led institution and I’m pleased to report that we have more than lived up to our reputation this year. In recent months a number of DBS researchers have had publications accepted at top-ranking journals. Professor Laszlo Polos successfully co-authored a paper on organisational mortality that will be published in Administrative Science Quarterly. It proposes innovative theoretical framework that casts new light on the contributory factors and various relationships that account for organisational failure. Dr Birgit Schyns,

meanwhile, has co-authored a paper on teaching implicit leadership theories. The article will appear in The Academy of Management Learning and Education, and discusses a novel approach to teaching in this area, incorporating drawing exercises that illustrate individuals’ diverse understanding of leaders and leadership. In addition to this, an article co-authored by Professor Parantap Basu will appear in the Journal of International Money and Finance. His paper addresses the area of uninsurable risk by examining market structures where private risk cannot be insured or can only be partially insured. These are by no means the only successes of this kind, as academics from across the School continue to produce work that reflects the quality of research being conducted here at Durham. Some of the research articles featured in this issue include ‘Building and restoring organisational trust’ by Dr Graham Dietz (page 8), ‘The Holy Grail of Service Excellence’ by Fiona Urquhart (page 26) and ‘Securitisation – taming the risks or camouflaging them’ by alumnus Russell Bradshaw (page 18). Should you wish to learn more about our Research Centres, our Research Officer, Martyn Griffin would be delighted to take your call.

This year has been as eventful as any and in this issue we share with you some of the School’s highlights, which include the MBA 25th Anniversary celebrations sponsored by Alcatel Lucent, the expansion of the School’s presence at Queen’s Campus and the launch of our International Corporate Forum in one of our key international markets, Shanghai. Finally, following three successive improvements in the Financial Times Global Full Time MBA rankings in recent years, we were delighted to see our Masters in Finance programmes positioned 28th in the world when the Financial Times published the results of their inaugural ranking of Masters in Finance programmes in June. This is a new addition to their ever expanding portfolio of Business School rankings and aims to provide an evaluation of the best masters’ programmes in finance offered by leading business schools across the globe. This confirms that our programmes are among the best in the world, an excellent result for both the School and the University.

PROFESSOR RICHARD CHAPMAN It is with deep regret that we announce the death earlier this year (15 April) of Professor Richard Chapman. Richard’s long association with Durham University began in 1971. As well as a spell as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, his varied roles included Emeritus Professor of Politics and Honorary Research Fellow at Durham Business School. SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS We are delighted to announce the names of the winners of the Alcatel Lucent MBA Scholarship and the FD Ellis MBA Scholarship. Sebastian Wolfgarten, who is based in Frankfurt, takes up his place on the fulltime programme in Durham later this year thanks to the generous sponsorship of global communications company Alcatel Lucent. In the same cohort will be the

winner of the FD Ellis Scholarship – Isabel Valesco. Isabel, a Colombian mechatronics engineer, lives in Bogota. The FD Ellis Scholarship is named in memory of the father of Dr. David Ellis, a former Durham University student who is now a leading international economics expert and a managing director in a top London business advisory firm. CORPORATE FORUM GOES TO CHINA Durham Business School is building on the success of its Corporate Forum event series, usually hosted at the School in Durham, and launching it on a global scale, with annual events taking place in key international business hubs. Recognising the importance of China in the global economy, the first event took place in Shanghai on 21 July 2011. Generously sponsored by one of the School’s corporate partners, the China Three Gorges Corporation, this interactive panel event was hosted in collaboration with partners Fudan University and the Hurun Report. As well as hearing Professor Alessandra Guariglia, DBS, speak on the topic ‘Growth and sustainability of Chinese firms: the role of productivity and Internationalisation’, attendees had the opportunity to meet members of global faculty, students and alumni.

Alumni – Update

NEW DOCTORAL TRAINING CENTRE IN ISLAMIC FINANCE Building on its expertise in Islamic finance and business related research, the University has launched a new doctoral training centre. A collaboration between DBS and the School of Government and International Affairs, the Durham Centre for Islamic Economics and Finance begins operating in the autumn.

A very warm welcome to the Autumn edition of Agoranews. Since the last issue, the Agora team have been hard at work exploring ways to enhance our alumni provision and I am delighted to introduce some of the resources and promotional discounts that we have acquired for the benefit of our members. You may recall that in a previous issue we highlighted the launch of the Global Learning Centre whose philosophy is to provide global business with innovative solutions to learning unconstrained by international borders and time zones. In view of Durham’s commitment to lifelong learning, the GLC have opened up some of their short courses to alumni, with a significant 50% discount to DBS alumni. More information and contacts details can be found on the inside cover of this issue.

Durham has been a centre for research in Islamic finance for over 25 years, with a significant history of PhD study. The new centre will build on this success and the international popularity of the annual Durham Islamic Finance Summer School.

With journalists present from several of the major Chinese newspapers, including The Shanghai Morning Post, The Xinmin Evening Post and The Shanghai Business Daily, this successful event will further build upon the School’s corporate relations in the country, as well as establishing new links and deepening existing partnerships.

Crowe commented: “I had a great time and there are some really talented students who were very enthusiastic. It was a lot of fun. Every part of the description of Durham given to me by Bill was true. It’s beautiful and the Cathedral is really impressive. What a place to learn.”

Professor Rob Dixon, Dean

NEW ANCIENT EGYPT GALLERY OPENS IN DURHAM The new Wolfson Gallery of Ancient Egypt in Durham University’s Oriental Museum was opened on 23 July by Craig Barclay (curator of museums at Durham University). The gallery has been funded by the DCMS/Wolfson museums and galleries improvement fund and the Friends of the Oriental Museum. The Oriental Museum has arguably the best Egyptian collection outside the British Museum but only a small proportion of the collection can be on display in Durham at any one time (currently part of the collection is in Taipai). Well worth a visit!

1. Leadership and management practices (i.e. role-modelling acceptable thinking and behaviour) 2. Strategies, including for finance, sales, marketing, operations and HR (i.e. setting priorities) 3. Cultural norms, beliefs and values (i.e. a shared understanding on how to think and act) 4. Structures, policies and procedures (i.e. constraints and incentives on handling work tasks) 5. The external governance regulating how the organisation can operate (i.e. externally-imposed constraints and incentives) 6. Public reputation (i.e. how the organisation is presented in the media and by industry bodies).

Not only do these six elements send out signals about the organisation’s trustworthiness, but they are also powerful influences on how employees undertake their work tasks. The report shows how each element can be configured to encourage trustworthiness, and discourage malfeasance and incompetence. That’s the ‘building’ part. The final part of the report provides practical guidance for trust ‘repair’ following a crisis. The authors recommend a four-stage response, with a range of tactics and options for each stage: the immediate response, a diagnosis, reforming interventions and finally an evaluation of progress. They discuss different repair responses, highlighting both good and poor practice. Reading the report will help prepare managers to deal with trust failures, and to consider in advance what responses are required to minimise the impact.

include Job Spider, a powerful online job-search tool that will give you access to more than 800,000 job opportunities. There are also links to external resources such as relevant industry websites and news publications. Enjoy using the site and remember to be career active! Other resources recently obtained for Agoraweb include ‘10 minutes with’ which is an educational website designed to help students and

RUS HE BU D NG B OCKS AND HE REPA R K CON NUED… GRADUA ON 17

In practice virtual mentoring can be a hybrid of telephone calls, video conferences, Skype calls, the exchange of emails, occasional texts and the odd face to face meeting if one or both of the parties has the opportunity to travel on business to the other’s location. This article suggests seven tips for successful virtual mentoring.

Ahead of the launch of the 2011/12 DBS Mentor Scheme, alumna and DBS Mentor Nicola Shearer reveals her tips on getting the most out of virtual mentoring. Nicola Shearer MBA MEng (Oxon) is a Global Coach and Director of Little Springtime based in Sierra Leone and UK. She has a track record of supporting leaders of FTSE 100 companies as well as Government at National Level. nicolashearer@littlespringtime.com

TIP 1: SHARING INFORMATION Whilst in face to face mentoring sessions, people can often quickly establish rapport through picking up on the tone of voice or facial expressions and mirroring body language. This can be harder to do via telephone or video conference which is why in virtual mentoring it is recommended that individuals focus on building rapport early on by sharing as much information about themselves as they find comfortable. In his book “Everyone Needs a Mentor” David Clutterbuck suggests using some of the following questions in order to tap into the emotional personality of the mentee/mentor. • What do you care passionately about? • What are you most proud of in your career? • What do you enjoy most about your work? • How would other people describe you? • What is your biggest ambition in work, outside of work? • Who do you admire and why?

TIP 2: DON’T JUMP STRAIGHT IN It is often good to start each virtual session in the same way you would start a traditional face to face mentoring session asking after health and families, the weather (if you are British) etc before jumping straight into the first agenda item. In some cultures it can be seen as very rude to go straight to business. TIP 3: CROSS-CULTURAL AWARENESS With virtual mentoring, there is a strong likelihood that individuals will be mentoring someone from a different culture and background be that international, gender, generational or regional. In this case the potential for stereotyping, which can reduce the effectiveness of the mentoring relationship, is high. It is therefore vital to spend some time in your virtual mentoring pair exploring each other’s culture. How is time viewed, what are the rules (written and unwritten), how is power shared/displayed, how do people view hierarchy and responsibility, how open are you with your emotions, how are decisions reached in that culture?

• My assumption is that your culture sees organisations as very hierarchical where the boss is always right and you don’t contradict or challenge him or her, is that correct for you? Tell me more about that. • My assumption is that you have a very optimistic attitude because you come from the USA where people have a very “can do” attitude. Is that true for you? TIP 4: TELEPHONE MANNER In virtual mentoring be aware that you may have a different tone of voice, body posture and manner when on the telephone or video conference as opposed to when talking to someone face to face. The difference is less noticeable in generations who grew up with universal access to mobile and internet phones but can be quite marked for those who did not. Try to ensure your telephone or video conference style is as relaxed and natural as your face to face style. TIP 5: DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE SILENCE Another difference is the degree to which individuals are comfortable with silence on the phone. A few seconds face to face silence when you can see someone planning to articulate their thoughts and feelings can be easier than the same amount of silence on the other end of the line. In western society people change radio channels after 4.5 seconds of silence – hardly enough time for a reflective sigh. Remember Nancy Kline’s assertion that the head that contains the issue also contains the solution – pause and let the silence continue – there is thinking going on.

With email, texts, telephone, Skype and video conferencing and the global nature of our businesses today, having a virtual mentor/ mentee can be as interactive and as beneficial as having a mentor in the next office.

Pete, Jim and Phil became good friends, regularly meeting for a beer after classes discussing, amongst other things, their business development ideas.

Now, more than ever, managing trust in the workplace is an essential management competence. Knowing how trust is built, supported and recovered helps to nurture positive working relationships, and trusting relationships at work have been proven to deliver real bottom-line benefits. A trusted organisation is more likely to produce superior performance and to enjoy repeat business with customers and investors, as well as be a great place to work. A trusted organisation is also more likely to recover effectively from a crisis. Yet, while trust is a strategically valuable asset, it is also elusive and in short supply in many organisations.

Meanwhile Phil’s interests lay in cloud computing and, realising how few such specialist companies there were, he decided to set up Atlas Infrastructure Management Limited. This is where the DBS connection really paid off. With the help of Pete and Jim’s company Sherpa, Phil raised the money (£250K) through local venture capital firm North Star and Angel investors. Now his business, offering pay-as-you-go hosted desktops which can make 70% power savings and a 20% saving on overall IT spend, has clients as far afield as Italy. Pete says: “I didn’t anticipate finding future business partners in the classroom; however the DBS network was invaluable to us.”

Hayley Ferguson, Alumni Coordinator

For more information on AtlasIM contact: pete@atlasim.co.uk

August 2011 saw the launch of the ground-breaking KPMG new school leavers’ programme in accountancy, the first of a number of new programme developments. This will be followed in September 2011 by new 3 and 4-year undergraduate courses in business and marketing, including innovative 4-year courses such as the MMarketing and MBus degrees combining an undergraduate and masters course in one. These will be followed in 2012 by a new suite of undergraduate finance programmes including 3 and 4-year accounting and finance courses.

Research and consultancy at Durham Business School is at the forefront of work on trust. A new report co-authored by Dr Dietz with his colleague Dr Nicole Gillespie (University of Queensland, Australia) and published by the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE), provides insights and guidance for any organisation that needs to (re-)build trust. The report, Building and Restoring Organisational Trust, starts from first principles, and shows how ‘trustworthiness’ is made up of three characteristics: ability, benevolence and integrity. A trustworthy organisation is one that operates effectively (ability), acts with due concern for the interests of its stakeholders (benevolence), and conducts itself honestly and fairly (integrity). This, then, is the first trust challenge for businesses: building a reputation for trustworthiness based

on demonstrating these three characteristics, consistently and willingly, day in and day out. It follows that getting any of the three characteristics badly wrong can damage a trusted reputation. That’s when understanding trust repair becomes critical, because the quality of the repair effort can make or break a firm – just ask News International. Sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the specially commissioned report was published in June this year by the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE: www.ibe.org.uk). Established in 1986 to encourage high standards of business behaviour based on ethical values, the IBE encourages high standards of business behaviour based on ethical values, and offers practical and confidential advice on ethical issues. The parallels with trust are obvious.

Continuing our ‘Introducing…’ feature, here we meet a recent addition to the School’s faculty: Professor Bart Taub, Professor in Finance

What is your current role? My title is Chair in Finance. At the moment I teach Corporate Finance on both the MA and MBA programmes; I also supervise dissertations for the MA and undergraduate economics and finance students.

Further information on all the current and future developments at the Queen’s Campus as well as the full 2020 Queen’s Campus development strategy can be found at www.dur.ac.uk/queens-campus/future

What are the most challenging parts of your job? A long time ago I went down to a classroom to administer a final examination in a PhD course I had just taught, Mathematics for Econometrics, only to find that a student had written this on the board:

Part B: Prove it. The real joke is that this really is my job. It helps if the theorems are about economics and finance! What do you want to achieve? Most of my research centres on one of two things. The first is how information is integrated into markets and the second is how the ability or failure to be able to keep promises affects economic outcomes. It turns out to be essential to think about both issues in dynamic ways, and I’ve had some successes. For example, a classic question in monetary economics is ‘what is the ideal rate of inflation?’ By interpreting this as a question about information, you can give an exact answer. As a second example

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Russell has consulted on a diverse range of topics, including working with Accenture in developing new analytical tools and with the Office for National Statistics on methods for improving the accuracy of Consumer Price Inflation measurements.

Agora is delighted to award the ‘2010/11 Mentor of the Year’ to Utsav Malhotra (MBA 06/07). As well as mentoring current students over the past few years, Utsav is one of our most dependable contacts within the alumni network whom we rely upon to help prospective students with their queries about the MBA programme.

When you first look through a microscope, or a telescope, you see a hidden world. Good theory similarly brings the world into focus and order in unexpected ways. My research on information and promises has already produced some surprises, and you get addicted to developing further improvements.

Securitisation

“It was argued and widely accepted during the pre-crisis period that diversifying exposure to credit risk through securitisation made the financial system more stable… the events of the financial crisis showed the opposite.” (ICB Calls for Evidence Paper 2010, Section 2.9) In addressing this aspect, the interim report contained recommendations for ring-fencing the handling of securitisation to prevent Retail

What advice can you offer to students and alumni thinking of an academic career? In my world there is unending potential for insight and discovery. There is a long history of people thinking that everything was known and discovered already, but we are constantly learning new things. A recent example is the light field camera, which allows you to vary the focus of a photograph after you have taken it. What a creative insight, and it is only a few years old. (My interest in it springs from its use of Fourier analysis.)

25 years This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Durham MBA and, to celebrate the occasion, the School threw open its doors for the first weekend of June to play host to over 150 guests. The weekend activities started early on Friday 03 June with the third annual Durham Convention, fast becoming one of the biggest business events in the region and this year generously sponsored by global communications specialists Alcatel Lucent.

The Convention, facilitated by TV presenter Wendy Gibson, boasted an impressive list of speakers including Arctic adventurer Rona Cant, Radio 4’s award winning financial reporter and presenter Adam Shaw, social media expert Tracy Playle, the face behind Pickle Jar Communications, and Durham economics alumnus James Averdieck, founder of speciality pudding brand, Gü.

A beer tasting by local micro-brewers, Durham Brewery, provided light entertainment on Friday evening, over which alumni, staff and visitors exchanged news and business cards.

A range of MBA refresher courses were offered on Saturday, on topics including Leadership, Finance, and Innovation. Well attended and receiving very positive feedback, these are set to become a regular addition to the Agora calendar.

Dean Rob Dixon said: “This weekend has highlighted the range and depth of the School’s activities. We have heard from some remarkable and inspirational speakers and brought together members of our global alumni network, enabling them to take advantage of networking opportunities, skills refresher sessions as well as re-visit our beautiful City.”

The Alumni Ball at Durham’s newest luxury hotel, the Radisson Blu, rounded off Saturday and, for those with energy left over, there was the opportunity for a round of golf on Sunday.

When you have that eureka moment, you are the first and only person in the world who knows it. It’s kind of like having hole cards in a poker game that give you a lock – you feel a kind of inner serenity. But you might need to sweat a little to get from eureka to eureka. You can email Bart at: bart.taub@durham.ac.uk

A retail bank essentially operates to appropriately contain or avoid risk. A bank can’t conduct anything akin to alchemy by transferring, transforming or de-toxifying the risk. It is a self contained system that has therefore evolved sensible practices to either avoid the risk in the first place or absorb the erratic nature of default/delinquency. It does this either through the appropriate dilution of risk in its loan pool, or by holding a sufficient cushion of capital to smooth losses over time. This description of banking intermediation is often referred to as the “originate and hold” model (O&H) as banks could not trade or sell-on the loans that they had initiated. The risk stayed within the bank, and would be suitably visible to management, shareholder and regulatory oversight.

MODERN BANKING – ORIGINATE TO DISTRIBUTE, A.K.A. SECURITISATION Deregulation of the banking sector since the 1990s has led to the feasibility of banks selling-on loans, known as the “originate and distribute model” (O&D). This has led to a fundamentally different market structure whereby an increasing proportion of loans are packaged up and traded as securities on a secondary market (e.g. Asset Backed Securities such as Collateralised Debt Obligations – CDOs). Under this regime, tasks that would normally be the integrated responsibility of banks become dissected, with one of the most critical aspects, the pricing of risk and the supervision of borrower behaviour, being placed within the hands of secondary markets. However, with credit risk assessment (by the Originating bank) becoming separated from credit risk responsibility (resting with the Holding institution), it seems highly unlikely that the quality of loan evaluation would improve. Indeed evidence collected and published on the cusp of the crisis in 2008 demonstrates that securitised loans severely underperformed: “We find that borrowers with an active secondary market for their loans underperform their peers by about 9% per year in terms of annual, riskadjusted abnormal returns, over a three year period subsequent to the initial sale of their loans.” Berndt & Gupta (2008) “Moral Hazard and Adverse Selection in the Originate-toDistribute Model of Bank Credit.”

banks from becoming involved in the practice; a tentative step towards the re-instatement of Glass-Steagal type separations between Retail & Investment Banking. But would this separation help prevent future problems? To fully appreciate this we need to examine the historical role played by retail banks and compare it with the modern phenomena of securitisation.

SECUR SA ON AM NG HE R SKS OR CAMOU AG NG HEM

What was the best career advice you were given? If you can write the problem down clearly, you have a much greater chance of actually solving it.

Celebrating 25 years of the Durham MBA

N RODUC NG…… CE EBRA NG 25 EARS O HE DURHAM MBA

Banks therefore undertake various risk management strategies, to protect themselves from the potential abuse of trust by borrowers:

In response to the ICB’s “Calls for Evidence”, a 10 page paper was submitted by the author, exploring the role played by securitisation (e.g. mortgage backed securities) in the lead up to the crisis of 2007–2008. The importance of securitisation to the ICB was clearly outlined in their opening position paper:

As a thank you for achieving this accolade, the School sent Utsav a £100 Amazon voucher. His reaction to the award was “I think people give back for the love of their alma-mater”.

What drives you? There are two moments of truth. The first is the eureka moment when you figure something out that was previously obscure and difficult and technical. The second is when you publish it – then it is yours forever.

A retail bank undertakes matchmaking between borrowers and lenders. As an expert “intermediary” it has to skilfully manage two sides of a very delicate balance sheet; its assets and its liabilities. Depositors have to trust that the bank can honour any obligations – they expect their money to be fully reimbursable on demand. The bank then has to ensure that the quality of its lending does not put its finances at undue risk. Calling in a loan from a borrower has many complications and in cases where a borrower defaults, a bank is not guaranteed to obtain full compensation in returned monies.

In April of this year, the UK’s Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) released its interim report. This has been seen as a clear direction for where the final report (due in September) will lie. Much of the narrative surrounding the interim report has been on suggestions for making banking safer for the future and less likely to burden taxpayers in support of floundering financial institutions. However, a closer look at one aspect of the ICB’s findings suggests that they might not be as water tight as first thought.

OF THE YEAR

My main goal is to develop methods to gauge how information and promises interact. It turns out that for technical reasons this is incredibly hard. The payoff will be an improved ability to talk about asset markets and important phenomena such as recessions.

TRADITIONAL RETAIL BANKING – ORIGINATE TO HOLD

– taming the risks or camouflaging them?

MENTOR

To develop these sorts of abstract models, I think about applied economics. In the course of my research I’ve been inspired by babysitting cooperatives, taxi drivers, CEO pay, and cattle breeding.

FINAL EXAMINATION: Mathematics for Econometrics: Part A: Think of a theorem.

R UA MEN OR NG

Bart has been an academic for over 30 years, obtaining his PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago in 1981. He recently moved to Durham Business School from the Department of Economics at University of Illinois. His research interests include Macroeconomics, Asset Markets and Contract Theory and he has represented Durham University around the globe, most recently as a panel member at this year’s Shanghai Forum where he spoke on UK Bargaining Power and the Structure of Alliance Contracts.

In addition, there will be significant investment in the Library, Careers Service, social spaces and the general support infrastructure of the campus to underpin these academic developments.

In readiness for the new academic year, there will be an extended Business School presence on the third floor of the Ebsworth building and in 2012 a new 4th wing will be added to the Wolfson Research Institute. This major development will create state-of-the-art facilities for Durham Business School, allowing for a greater focus on research, postgraduate and undergraduate study in marketing, accounting, communication science and related business subjects to support the strategic development of Queen’s Campus as a centre of research excellence. The first floor will contain both staff offices and an experimental research laboratory. The Northern Deanery and Durham University will also be located in the new wing, sharing a new NHS primary care training facility.

In October 2011, two new masters courses in marketing will also be launched at the Queen’s Campus – the MA in Marketing Management designed to meet the needs of nonbusiness graduates and the MSc in Strategic Management designed as a specialist Masters for Marketing and Business graduates who want to learn, research and practice Marketing in a global context. Professionally-

from BP, Mattel Toys and the BBC), Building and Restoring Organisational Trust will be of interest to anyone who is responsible for building, enhancing or recovering trust within their organisation – whether they are leaders, managers, staff representatives or employees. The report is especially valuable to anyone working in Business Ethics/ Compliance, Organisational Development, HR and Public Relations, as well as managers, lawyers and consultants whose work is driven by a concern for ethical working practices, organisational reputation, and corporate responsibility.

RUS HE BU D NG B OCKS AND HE REPA R K

But trust is not just a matter of ethics; behaviour and ethical conduct, which the report provides compelling in turn has triggered a sense that research evidence that trust fosters public trust in business has declined. and sustains positive employee “This rising tide of distrust should attitudes and behaviours, underlies concern us all”, he writes. “Without effective working relationships, and trust, life for any organisation becomes contributes to superior levels of much more difficult. Everything it says organisational performance. In short, or does will be called into question. trust-based business costs less, and is People will be suspicious of its more productive and more enjoyable. motives. Ultimately they may refuse In his foreword to the report, Richard to share information or even to do Sexton, Head of Reputation and business with it”. Policy, PwC UK notes that as well Combining cutting-edge academic as being insightful, this report is research on the ‘science’ of trust with also timely. Recent high-profile prominent case studies of trust failure events have created a perception of and trust repair (including examples a disconnection between corporate

Trust: the building blocks and the repair kit.

Subsequently, Pete decided to combine his interim management business People Boutique with Jim’s company Interim Finance FD North East, together creating investment readiness business Sherpa Business Consultancy which specialises in helping companies raise venture capital and execute their business plan.

Ustav’s current mentee, Muhammad Armandi Oesman (Armand), said of his mentor, ‘he knows how to motivate people and he was able to give me a lot of insights about getting through the MBA based on his own experience’.

The DBS Mentor Scheme is continually recruiting new mentors. If you are interested in supporting a current student, please contact dbs.alumni@durham.ac.uk

Alexandra Sedgwick Alumni Relations Manager

However they hadn’t factored in the rest of the cohort, the people they’d get to know whilst studying and the impact that they would have on their future.

QUEEN S CAMPUS DE E OPMEN

TIP 6: LEARNING LOG Another aid to maintaining and building rapport remotely is for the mentee to keep a learning log and to share highlights and reflections via email. This not only helps to maintain continuity between sessions but can also stimulate quality questions at the next session as the mentor will have had time to digest the content. This log can help both the mentor and the mentee to spot patterns or repetitions that they may not have picked up in the speed of face to face conversations. Using the occasional text to check-in or communicate a success can be a real boost for both mentor and mentee. In the middle of a gruelling business trip getting a light hearted “Thanks for listening – I tried out what we discussed and it worked!” can be as uplifting as the mentee getting a “Well done” in response. TIP 7: GENEROUS LISTENING Finally remember that it is just as important to listen respectfully and generously during remote mentoring as it would be if the person were in the room with you. That means turning off other phones/ blackberries and refraining from checking emails – typing on a keyboard is not silent and can be heard on the other end of the line.

Finally a quick heartfelt thank you for all alumni and staff contributions to Agoranews in 2011.

As part of the University’s 2020 Queen’s Campus development strategy, Durham Business School will have an increased presence at Queen’s Campus, from Summer 2011, with a significant growth in student and staff numbers, new programmes of study at all levels and a corresponding development of teaching and research space and social facilities.

This year’s summer graduation marked the final set of ceremonies at which Chancellor Bill Bryson will preside. He will step down at the end of this academic year having held the post since April 2005 and doing a wonderful job as a great ambassador for Durham.

Share some assumptions you have about your mentor/mentee’s culture, and find out how accurate they are. For example:

We hope you enjoy this issue, which has the usual features such as the Alumni Q&A, book review and photos from our Summer Graduation BBQ as well as much, much more. As ever we hope you enjoy reading it and welcome any feedback or suggestions you may have on improving our communication to the Agora network.

His research focuses on trust repair after organisational failures, as well as trustbuilding across cultures. He also conducts research into the impact of HRM on performance. He has published over 15 articles in leading international journals, and is a regular speaker on trust.

All three had chosen DBS for its reputation, rankings and location.

introducing......

Following the formalities at the Cathedral the new graduates and their family and friends made the most of the sunshine by enjoying a barbeque back at the Business School.

Virtual Mentoring

Recently appointed to the role of Director of Full-Time Postgraduate Marketing Programmes, Dr Victoria Wells shares the School’s vision for its Queen’s Campus in Stockton.

DBS graduates for the summer ceremony once more enjoyed the magnificent setting of Durham Cathedral for their special day – how many other Universities can boast that they hold their celebrations at a World Heritage site?

Since the last issue went to print we have welcomed a new member to the team. Many of you will have already met Hayley Ferguson (at least virtually) who joined us earlier this year from The Centre for Life in Newcastle. She is a fantastic addition and huge asset to the team and I am sure you will all make her feel part of the Durham family.

The Agora team works closely with other departments across the School to enhance the student experience. One of our student engagement initiatives is the DBS Mentor Scheme and in this issue we announce this year’s ‘Mentor of the Year’ as well as sharing a practical guide on how to get the most from virtual mentoring (page 16). Thank you to alumna Nicola Shearer for providing this feature.

As Professor Dixon mentioned in his Dean’s message, the development of the Mill Hill Lane building is due to start early 2012. As part of our fundraising campaign we are inviting alumni to sponsor a seat in one of our new, state of the art lecture theatres. Alumni and supporters of the School who generously donate £250 will be honoured with a named plaque on their chosen seat for five years. We are

Queen’s Campus Development

How does that A-ha song go? – The Sun Always Shines on TV! It appears that the sun always shines on DBS Summer Graduation Day too (well, nearly always!)

To discuss your trust challenges with Dr Dietz contact him on +44 (0) 191 334 5401, or graham.dietz@durham.ac.uk

A UMN UPDA E

G R A D U AT I O N

The full report can be purchased from the Institute of Business Ethics (£25 to non-subscribers, £12.50 to subscribers). Available from www.ibe.org.uk

graduates understand the true nature of different jobs and identify the career paths that most suit them. One of the most important things when planning a career is to research the options that are available in the market. ‘10 minutes with’ houses a vast number of interviews with director level individuals and provides valuable insight into the true nature of different jobs. Recent uploads have included interviews with Head of Liquidity – Shell, Head of PR – Microsoft Xbox and Head of Talent Management – Panasonic. Full details are available on Agoraweb (www.agora.org.uk).

Another exciting student activity launched this year was the Class Gift. Through a series of charity events, the current MBA cohort has raised money to partially fund an MBA scholarship for the next cohort. We look forward to welcoming new student Sam Stroot who has been awarded the 2010/11 MBA Class Gift Scholarship.

To gain access to all alumni resources, including ResilientExec, contact dbs.alumni@durham.ac.uk

Recently acquired for DBS alumni, this resource offers a range of information available through powerful databases, articles and podcasts as well as links to external industry-recognised sources and useful interactive exercises. There is access to a wealth of information through premium research databases such as Lexis Nexis and OneSource, as well as exercises to help you to understand your career drivers and discover the right career path and ultimately, the right job. Tools available

The world of work is changing fast and continuing economic turbulence has created significant challenges for job seekers at all levels, irrespective of qualifications and experience. Employees can no longer expect to walk into a ‘job for life’ and it is therefore important that you are ‘Career Active’, pro-actively managing your career using a career plan with realistic goals and SMART objectives. Understanding the different types of contemporary career paths and how to navigate their complexities is vital. ResilientExec is a powerful online tool provided by HR Consultants Penna which can help you develop your career in the direction that is right for you.

The power of cohort connections

DEAN S WE COME NEWS

Key to the authors’ thinking is a model in which there are six elements that contribute to an organisation’s trustworthiness. These are:

The very structure of securitisation could be facilitating the exploitation of moral hazard and asymmetric information concerns that have dogged banking for centuries. Borrowers themselves may be making inferior loan judgements (with easy credit

enabling an “extend and pretend” lifestyle which they can’t realistically sustain), and/or loan originating firms could develop a tendency to ignore weak borrower circumstances (such as the spate of “self certification” mortgages). It would seem then that loan quality is compromised under secondary market handling, as a new outlet for risk transfers is enabled:

In the above framework, the Quantity and Quality of aggregate lending within an economy are deemed to be inversely related. Avoiding risk would lead to a lower Quantity of lending, but is likely to result in overall Quality improvements. As the evidence cited above suggests, transfer of risk encourages greater Quantity of lending, but at an overall lower Quality. The traditional O&H approach is prevented from risk transfer practices, therefore the expansion and contraction of credit issuance is limited by a bank’s own ability to avoid or absorb risk. However, in an O&D environment the ability to engage in risk transfer practices could reduce credit quality supervision, and therefore create increased levels of low Quality lending.

IN CONCLUSION The Independent Commission on Banking may well conclude that firewalls should be erected between Retail and Investment banks. However, the role of securitisation both maintains a mutually interdependent link between the two types of institution, plus places the overall system at higher risk by creating perverse incentives for lower quality lending within the economy. This is no longer a closed system, but instead an open system where risk ownership and responsibility can become complex and obfuscated. At the time of the crisis in 2007/2008 both Northern Rock & Lehman Bros already sat either side of the notional banking firewall. This argument has been used to dismiss the potential

effectiveness of such a compulsory demarcation. Such a split would indeed be little more than a Potemkin firewall; a flimsy masquerade that would provide no genuine safeguards at all. But this should not be concluded at the expense of ignoring a more fundamental point. These two fragile institutions shared in common a heavy reliance on Securitisation. Much of the debate about the market structure of banking seems to ignore this crucial issue, yet it seems certain that this was the underlying cause of their financial distress. We mustn’t forget that the practice of Originate and Distribute is still new territory, and currently one with a very patchy record. Given that the vertical fragmentation preserves an umbilical link between two distinct systems

(one required to be totally watertight, the other free to be more risky), it seems that we can’t yet declare that the future of banking is as safe as houses, until we confront this specific issue head-on. In November 2010 Russell submitted a paper to the Independent Commission on Banking, you can find it by visiting the ICB website (http://bankingcomm ission.independent.gov.uk) and searching under his name and ‘Responses Received’. The submission was heavily influenced by the macroeconomic concerns of excessive credit growth outlined in Peter Warburton’s book Debt and delusion: Central bank follies that threaten economic disaster. Published by Allen Lane (1999).

SECUR SA ON AM NG HE R SKS OR CAMOU AG NG HEM CON NUED…

C ASS NO ES

I have to admit to being biased here. I’ve had the privilege of working alongside Tim Clark for many years at the Business School and I think he’s not only an outstanding academic but also a really nice person, which does rather scupper any attempts at objectivity on my part and curtails my predilection for cheap comments, but stick with me… Reading this book can give a student a rather privileged entry into how the “Magic Circle” of management speakers do their thing. Tim and his co-author David Greatbatch analyse the performances of a handful of the world’s leading business gurus, people like Gary Hamel, Peter Senge, Tom Peters and Rosabeth Moss Kanter, and in so doing, throw some much needed light onto the “tricks” they employ when plying their trade. By which I mean in the kind of stories they tell, the way they structure their remarks and the careful way they work and handle their audience.

Tim, a professor of organisational behaviour at Durham, and David, a professor at Nottingham University, compare the techniques used by these leading business speakers, “gurus” as they term themselves, to those of politicians and preachers, and we see some surprising results. The authors show how these gurus establish their credibility and manage their ‘customers’, often with material that is solely geared to entertainment, humour and keeping the audience engaged. A story by one such speaker about how Sylvester Stallone got into the movies, turns out when checked online to have been made up! But then these speakers don’t necessarily let the truth stand in the way of a good story. If you need to give a presentation and want to make a good and lasting impression then perhaps a few evenings reading Tim and David’s book will both inform and enlighten you, and surely that can only be a good thing when you next have to stand up and speak in public.

Th H G S E n

‘Chris Ingram, founder of the Tempus media-buying group failed to raise £6 million pounds to prevent WPP gaining control of the company back in 1996. He said ‘I couldn’t do it: I just didn’t have the network.’ ‘Richard Reed, and other co-founders of Innocent smoothies, raised the much needed cash to start the company just by not only knowing rich people, and people who knew rich people, but also knowing those people who took them seriously.’ ‘James Dyson achieved success for his company by knowing: a lawyer friend of his brother in law who helped him set up the first company, a former beauty

BOOK REVIEWBOOK REVIEW 22

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Dean’s Welcome Following a chaotic year for UK universities, and considerable press and political speculation over Higher Education reform, fair access and visa restrictions, Durham Business School is well positioned for the challenging times ahead.

Professor Rob Dixon, Dean

news news news news news news news news School News SCENARIO THINKING – IN PRACTICE Co-authored by Professors George Wright, DBS and George Cairns, RMIT University, Australia, “Scenario Thinking: Practical approaches to the future” provides a practical, step-by-step guide to implementing the “intuitive logics” scenario method as well as showing how the conventional scenario method of intuitive logics can be augmented. Published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2011 – ISBN: 978-0-230-27156-2. PROFESSOR RICHARD CHAPMAN It is with deep regret that we announce the death earlier this year (15 April) of Professor Richard Chapman. Richard’s long association with Durham University began in 1971. As well as a spell as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, his varied roles included Emeritus Professor of Politics and Honorary Research Fellow at Durham Business School. SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS We are delighted to announce the names of the winners of the Alcatel Lucent MBA Scholarship and the FD Ellis MBA Scholarship. Sebastian Wolfgarten, who is based in Frankfurt, takes up his place on the fulltime programme in Durham later this year thanks to the generous sponsorship of global communications company Alcatel Lucent. In the same cohort will be the

CONFERENCE ON THE CHINESE CAPITAL MARKET In collaboration with the European Journal of Finance (EJF), the China Development and Research Centre at Durham Business School is to host a conference on 3-4 September 2011 on the topic of Chinese capital markets. Keynote speakers include: Jun Qian, Boston College and Wharton Financial Institutions Centre and Huiyao Wang, Harvard University and Centre for China and Globalization. NEW DOCTORAL TRAINING CENTRE IN ISLAMIC FINANCE Building on its expertise in Islamic finance and business related research, the University has launched a new doctoral training centre. A collaboration between DBS and the School of Government and International Affairs, the Durham Centre for Islamic Economics and Finance begins operating in the autumn. Durham has been a centre for research in Islamic finance for over 25 years, with a significant history of PhD study. The new centre will build on this success and the international popularity of the annual Durham Islamic Finance Summer School.

University News LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! Durham had a touch of Hollywood glamour earlier in the summer when actor Russell Crowe took time out to pass on his acting tips to students at the University. Crowe was visiting Durham following a longstanding invitation from his friend, the University’s Chancellor, Bill Bryson. Crowe commented: “I had a great time and there are some really talented students who were very enthusiastic. It was a lot of fun. Every part of the description of Durham given to me by Bill was true. It’s beautiful and the Cathedral is really impressive. What a place to learn.”

Alumni – Update A very warm welcome to the Autumn edition of Agoranews. Since the last issue, the Agora team have been hard at work exploring ways to enhance our alumni provision and I am delighted to introduce some of the resources and promotional discounts that we have acquired for the benefit of our members. You may recall that in a previous issue we highlighted the launch of the Global Learning Centre whose philosophy is to provide global business with innovative solutions to learning unconstrained by international borders and time zones. In view of Durham’s commitment to lifelong learning, the GLC have opened up some of their short courses to alumni, with a significant 50% discount to DBS alumni. More information and contacts details can be found on the inside cover of this issue.

The power of cohort connections graduates understand the true nature of different jobs and identify the career paths that most suit them. One of the most important things when planning a career is to research the options that are available in the market. ‘10 minutes with’ houses a vast number of interviews with director level individuals and provides valuable insight into the true nature of different jobs. Recent uploads have included interviews with Head of Liquidity – Shell, Head of PR – Microsoft Xbox and Head of Talent Management – Panasonic. Full details are available on Agoraweb (www.agora.org.uk). The Agora team works closely with other departments across the School to enhance the student experience. One of our student engagement initiatives is the DBS Mentor Scheme and in this issue we announce this year’s ‘Mentor of the Year’ as well as sharing a practical guide on how to get the most from virtual mentoring (page 16). Thank you to alumna Nicola Shearer for providing this feature. Another exciting student activity launched this year was the Class Gift. Through a series of charity events, the current MBA cohort has raised money to partially fund an MBA scholarship for the next cohort. We look forward to welcoming new student Sam Stroot who has been awarded the 2010/11 MBA Class Gift Scholarship. As Professor Dixon mentioned in his Dean’s message, the development of the Mill Hill Lane building is due to start early 2012. As part of our fundraising campaign we are inviting alumni to sponsor a seat in one of our new, state of the art lecture theatres. Alumni and supporters of the School who generously donate £250 will be honoured with a named plaque on their chosen seat for five years. We are

currently designing an interactive tool which displays the lecture theatre in question and enables you to select a seat and write the message you would like to be seen on your plaque. This part of the website should go live late Autumn so keep your eyes peeled. Should you wish to share ideas and thoughts on this initiative please contact me via email: dbs.alumni@durham.ac.uk Since the last issue went to print we have welcomed a new member to the team. Many of you will have already met Hayley Ferguson (at least virtually) who joined us earlier this year from The Centre for Life in Newcastle. She is a fantastic addition and huge asset to the team and I am sure you will all make her feel part of the Durham family. We hope you enjoy this issue, which has the usual features such as the Alumni Q&A, book review and photos from our Summer Graduation BBQ as well as much, much more. As ever we hope you enjoy reading it and welcome any feedback or suggestions you may have on improving our communication to the Agora network. Finally a quick heartfelt thank you for all alumni and staff contributions to Agoranews in 2011. Alexandra Sedgwick Alumni Relations Manager

When Pete Watson, Jim Brown and Phil Richardson signed on for a part-time (Executive) MBA in 2006 they were strangers. Each had expected the MBA to change them; they knew that would have to work hard, but that they would learn a lot. All three had chosen DBS for its reputation, rankings and location. However they hadn’t factored in the rest of the cohort, the people they’d get to know whilst studying and the impact that they would have on their future. Pete, Jim and Phil became good friends, regularly meeting for a beer after classes discussing, amongst other things, their business development ideas. Subsequently, Pete decided to combine his interim management business People Boutique with Jim’s company Interim Finance FD North East, together creating investment readiness business Sherpa Business Consultancy which specialises in helping companies raise venture capital and execute their business plan. Meanwhile Phil’s interests lay in cloud computing and, realising how few such specialist companies there were, he decided to set up Atlas Infrastructure Management Limited. This is where the DBS connection really paid off. With the help of Pete and Jim’s company Sherpa, Phil raised the money (£250K) through local venture capital firm North Star and Angel investors. Now his business, offering pay-as-you-go hosted desktops which can make 70% power savings and a 20% saving on overall IT spend, has clients as far afield as Italy. Pete says: “I didn’t anticipate finding future business partners in the classroom; however the DBS network was invaluable to us.”

Hayley Ferguson, Alumni Coordinator

For more information on AtlasIM contact: pete@atlasim.co.uk

Dr Graham Dietz, co-author of Building and Restoring Organisational Trust, is a Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour at Durham Business School. Prior to this he worked at Erasmus University Rotterdam, and the London School of Economics where he completed his PhD. His research focuses on trust repair after organisational failures, as well as trustbuilding across cultures. He also conducts research into the impact of HRM on performance. He has published over 15 articles in leading international journals, and is a regular speaker on trust.

Trust: the building blocks and the repair kit. Research and consultancy at Durham Now, more than ever, managing trust in the workplace is an essential Business School is at the forefront of work on trust. A new report co-authored management competence. Knowing by Dr Dietz with his colleague Dr Nicole how trust is built, supported and Gillespie (University of Queensland, recovered helps to nurture positive Australia) and published by the working relationships, and trusting Institute of Business Ethics (IBE), relationships at work have been provides insights and guidance for proven to deliver real bottom-line any organisation that needs to benefits. A trusted organisation is (re-)build trust. more likely to produce superior The report, Building and Restoring performance and to enjoy repeat Organisational Trust, starts from business with customers and investors, as well as be a great place first principles, and shows how ‘trustworthiness’ is made up of three to work. A trusted organisation is also more likely to recover effectively characteristics: ability, benevolence and integrity. A trustworthy from a crisis. Yet, while trust is a organisation is one that operates strategically valuable asset, it is effectively (ability), acts with due also elusive and in short supply concern for the interests of its in many organisations. stakeholders (benevolence), and conducts itself honestly and fairly (integrity). This, then, is the first trust challenge for businesses: building a reputation for trustworthiness based

But trust is not just a matter of ethics; behaviour and ethical conduct, which in turn has triggered a sense that the report provides compelling public trust in business has declined. research evidence that trust fosters and sustains positive employee “This rising tide of distrust should attitudes and behaviours, underlies concern us all”, he writes. “Without effective working relationships, and trust, life for any organisation becomes contributes to superior levels of much more difficult. Everything it says organisational performance. In short, or does will be called into question. trust-based business costs less, and is People will be suspicious of its more productive and more enjoyable. motives. Ultimately they may refuse to share information or even to do In his foreword to the report, Richard business with it”. Sexton, Head of Reputation and Policy, PwC UK notes that as well Combining cutting-edge academic as being insightful, this report is research on the ‘science’ of trust with also timely. Recent high-profile prominent case studies of trust failure events have created a perception of and trust repair (including examples a disconnection between corporate

from BP, Mattel Toys and the BBC), Building and Restoring Organisational Trust will be of interest to anyone who is responsible for building, enhancing or recovering trust within their organisation – whether they are leaders, managers, staff representatives or employees. The report is especially valuable to anyone working in Business Ethics/Compliance, Organisational Development, HR and Public Relations, as well as managers, lawyers and consultants whose work is driven by a concern for ethical working practices, organisational reputation, and corporate responsibility.

Key to the authors’ thinking is a model in which there are six elements that contribute to an organisation’s trustworthiness. These are: 1. Leadership and management practices (i.e. role-modelling acceptable thinking and behaviour) 2. Strategies, including for finance, sales, marketing, operations and HR (i.e. setting priorities) 3. Cultural norms, beliefs and values (i.e. a shared understanding on how to think and act) 4. Structures, policies and procedures (i.e. constraints and incentives on handling work tasks) 5. The external governance regulating how the organisation can operate (i.e. externally-imposed constraints and incentives) 6. Public reputation (i.e. how the organisation is presented in the media and by industry bodies).

But trust is a complex idea, and so the report is not a simplistic how-to’ guide. The authors do not shy away from addressing some of the very real paradoxes and contradictions in building and repairing trust. Insights from practitioners who have lived through major trust repair efforts provide guidance for reflection and action. The report is already being distributed widely within many of the IBE’s leading corporate clients. The full report can be purchased from the Institute of Business Ethics (£25 to non-subscribers, £12.50 to subscribers). Available from www.ibe.org.uk To discuss your trust challenges with Dr Dietz contact him on +44 (0) 191 334 5401, or graham.dietz@durham.ac.uk

G R A D U AT I O N How does that A-ha song go? – The Sun Always Shines on TV! It appears that the sun always shines on DBS Summer Graduation Day too (well, nearly always!) DBS graduates for the summer ceremony once more enjoyed the magnificent setting of Durham Cathedral for their special day – how many other Universities can boast that they hold their celebrations at a World Heritage site? This year’s summer graduation marked the final set of ceremonies at which Chancellor Bill Bryson will preside. He will step down at the end of this academic year having held the post since April 2005 and doing a wonderful job as a great ambassador for Durham. Following the formalities at the Cathedral the new graduates and their family and friends made the most of the sunshine by enjoying a barbeque back at the Business School.

Recently appointed to the role of Director of Full-Time Postgraduate Marketing Programmes, Dr Victoria Wells shares the School’s vision for its Queen’s Campus in Stockton.

Queen’s Campus Development

As Director of Full-Time Postgraduate Marketing Programmes, I am excited not only about the launch of our two new marketing masters programmes, which will allow us a greater focus on marketing teaching, but also about the investment and physical development at the Queen’s Campus itself. The new developments will allow us to foster a research led, business focused approach to our work and our student’s education. The development of an experimental lab in the Wolfson extension is also exciting for our research programmes, enabling us to work at the forefront of technology and utilise exciting new methodologies in our work. As part of the University’s 2020 Queen’s Campus development strategy, Durham Business School will have an increased presence at Queen’s Campus, from Summer 2011, with a significant growth in student and staff numbers, new programmes of study at all levels and a corresponding development of teaching and research space and social facilities. August 2011 saw the launch of the ground-breaking KPMG new school leavers’ programme in accountancy, the first of a number of new programme developments. This will be followed in September 2011 by new 3 and 4-year undergraduate courses in business and marketing, including innovative 4-year courses such as the MMarketing and MBus degrees combining an undergraduate and masters course in one. These will be followed in 2012 by a new suite of undergraduate finance programmes including 3 and 4-year accounting and finance courses. In October 2011, two new masters courses in marketing will also be launched at the Queen’s Campus – the MA in Marketing Management designed to meet the needs of nonbusiness graduates and the MSc in Strategic Management designed as a specialist Masters for Marketing and Business graduates who want to learn, research and practice Marketing in a global context. Professionally-

recognised and business-engaged, these research-led programmes will allow students to develop a specialist skills set in Marketing and realise the vision for Queen’s as a research-led campus with a distinctive offering based on interdisciplinary research which has strong links to the local region and community as well as international relevance and impact. More information about all of the new courses can be found on the Durham Business School website: www.dur.ac.uk/dbs/degrees In readiness for the new academic year, there will be an extended Business School presence on the third floor of the Ebsworth building and in 2012 a new 4th wing will be added to the Wolfson Research Institute. This major development will create state-of-the-art facilities for Durham Business School, allowing for a greater focus on research, postgraduate and undergraduate study in marketing, accounting, communication science and related business subjects to support the strategic development of Queen’s Campus as a centre of research excellence. The first floor will contain both staff offices and an experimental research laboratory. The Northern Deanery and Durham University will also be located in the new wing, sharing a new NHS primary care training facility.

In addition, there will be significant investment in the Library, Careers Service, social spaces and the general support infrastructure of the campus to underpin these academic developments. Further information on all the current and future developments at the Queen’s Campus as well as the full 2020 Queen’s Campus development strategy can be found at www.dur.ac.uk/queens-campus/future

introducing...... Continuing our ‘Introducing…’ feature, here we meet a recent addition to the School’s faculty: Professor Bart Taub, Professor in Finance Bart has been an academic for over 30 years, obtaining his PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago in 1981. He recently moved to Durham Business School from the Department of Economics at University of Illinois. His research interests include Macroeconomics, Asset Markets and Contract Theory and he has represented Durham University around the globe, most recently as a panel member at this year’s Shanghai Forum where he spoke on UK Bargaining Power and the Structure of Alliance Contracts. What is your current role? My title is Chair in Finance. At the moment I teach Corporate Finance on both the MA and MBA programmes; I also supervise dissertations for the MA and undergraduate economics and finance students. What are the most challenging parts of your job? A long time ago I went down to a classroom to administer a final examination in a PhD course I had just taught, Mathematics for Econometrics, only to find that a student had written this on the board: FINAL EXAMINATION: Mathematics for Econometrics: Part A: Think of a theorem. Part B: Prove it. The real joke is that this really is my job. It helps if the theorems are about economics and finance! What do you want to achieve? Most of my research centres on one of two things. The first is how information is integrated into markets and the second is how the ability or failure to be able to keep promises affects economic outcomes. It turns out to be essential to think about both issues in dynamic ways, and I’ve had some successes. For example, a classic question in monetary economics is ‘what is the ideal rate of inflation?’ By interpreting this as a question about information, you can give an exact answer. As a second example

one can ask how property rights affect the economic development of poor countries. Are good property rights the chicken or the egg? By interpreting this as a question about promises, you can explain why some poor countries grow more slowly than our previous theories had predicted. My main goal is to develop methods to gauge how information and promises interact. It turns out that for technical reasons this is incredibly hard. The payoff will be an improved ability to talk about asset markets and important phenomena such as recessions. To develop these sorts of abstract models, I think about applied economics. In the course of my research I’ve been inspired by babysitting cooperatives, taxi drivers, CEO pay, and cattle breeding. What drives you? There are two moments of truth. The first is the eureka moment when you figure something out that was previously obscure and difficult and technical. The second is when you publish it – then it is yours forever. When you first look through a microscope, or a telescope, you see a hidden world. Good theory similarly brings the world into focus and order in unexpected ways. My research on information and promises has already produced some surprises, and you get addicted to developing further improvements.

What was the best career advice you were given? If you can write the problem down clearly, you have a much greater chance of actually solving it. What advice can you offer to students and alumni thinking of an academic career? In my world there is unending potential for insight and discovery. There is a long history of people thinking that everything was known and discovered already, but we are constantly learning new things. A recent example is the light field camera, which allows you to vary the focus of a photograph after you have taken it. What a creative insight, and it is only a few years old. (My interest in it springs from its use of Fourier analysis.) When you have that eureka moment, you are the first and only person in the world who knows it. It’s kind of like having hole cards in a poker game that give you a lock – you feel a kind of inner serenity. But you might need to sweat a little to get from eureka to eureka. You can email Bart at: bart.taub@durham.ac.uk

Celebrating 25 years of the Durham MBA

years

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Durham MBA and, to celebrate the occasion, the School threw open its doors for the first weekend of June to play host to over 150 guests.

The weekend activities started early on Friday 03 June with the third annual Durham Convention, fast becoming one of the biggest business events in the region and this year generously sponsored by global communications specialists Alcatel Lucent.

A beer tasting by local micro-brewers, Durham Brewery, provided light entertainment on Friday evening, over which alumni, staff and visitors exchanged news and business cards. A range of MBA refresher courses were offered on Saturday, on topics including Leadership, Finance, and Innovation. Well attended and receiving very positive feedback, these are set to become a regular addition to the Agora calendar. The Alumni Ball at Durham’s newest luxury hotel, the Radisson Blu, rounded off Saturday and, for those with energy left over, there was the opportunity for a round of golf on Sunday.

Virtual Mentoring In practice virtual mentoring can be a hybrid of telephone calls, video conferences, Skype calls, the exchange of emails, occasional texts and the odd face to face meeting if one or both of the parties has the opportunity to travel on business to the other’s location. This article suggests seven tips for successful virtual mentoring.

Share some assumptions you have about your mentor/mentee’s culture, and find out how accurate they are. For example: • My assumption is that your culture sees organisations as very hierarchical where the boss is always right and you don’t contradict or challenge him or her, is that correct for you? Tell me more about that. • My assumption is that you have a very optimistic attitude because you come from the USA where people have a very “can do” attitude. Is that true for you? TIP 4: TELEPHONE MANNER In virtual mentoring be aware that you may have a different tone of voice, body posture and manner when on the telephone or video conference as opposed to when talking to someone face to face. The difference is less noticeable in generations who grew up with universal access to mobile and internet phones but can be quite marked for those who did not. Try to ensure your telephone or video conference style is as relaxed and natural as your face to face style. TIP 5: DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE SILENCE Another difference is the degree to which individuals are comfortable with silence on the phone. A few seconds face to face silence when you can see someone planning to articulate their thoughts and feelings can be easier than the same amount of silence on the other end of the line. In western society people change radio channels after 4.5 seconds of silence – hardly enough time for a reflective sigh. Remember Nancy Kline’s assertion that the head that contains the issue also contains the solution – pause and let the silence continue – there is thinking going on.

The DBS Mentor Scheme is continually recruiting new mentors. If you are interested in supporting a current student, please contact dbs.alumni@durham.ac.uk

MENTOR OF THE YEAR Agora is delighted to award the ‘2010/11 Mentor of the Year’ to Utsav Malhotra (MBA 06/07). As well as mentoring current students over the past few years, Utsav is one of our most dependable contacts within the alumni network whom we rely upon to help prospective students with their queries about the MBA programme. Ustav’s current mentee, Muhammad Armandi Oesman (Armand), said of his mentor, ‘he knows how to motivate people and he was able to give me a lot of insights about getting through the MBA based on his own experience’. As a thank you for achieving this accolade, the School sent Utsav a £100 Amazon voucher. His reaction to the award was “I think people give back for the love of their alma-mater”.

DBS MBA alumnus Russell Bradshaw is a practising statistician and research analyst with more than 15 years experience of analysing quantitative research data. He studied with the full-time MBA cohort 2005/2006 and was awarded both a distinction grade and the Sage prize for best academic achievement. Russell has consulted on a diverse range of topics, including working with Accenture in developing new analytical tools and with the Office for National Statistics on methods for improving the accuracy of Consumer Price Inflation measurements.

Securitisation – taming the risks or camouflaging them? In April of this year, the UK’s Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) released its interim report. This has been seen as a clear direction for where the final report (due in September) will lie. Much of the narrative surrounding the interim report has been on suggestions for making banking safer for the future and less likely to burden taxpayers in support of floundering financial institutions. However, a closer look at one aspect of the ICB’s findings suggests that they might not be as water tight as first thought. In response to the ICB’s “Calls for Evidence”, a 10 page paper was submitted by the author, exploring the role played by securitisation (e.g. mortgage backed securities) in the lead up to the crisis of 2007–2008. The importance of securitisation to the ICB was clearly outlined in their opening position paper:

TRADITIONAL RETAIL BANKING – ORIGINATE TO HOLD A retail bank undertakes matchmaking between borrowers and lenders. As an expert “intermediary” it has to skilfully manage two sides of a very delicate balance sheet; its assets and its liabilities. Depositors have to trust that the bank can honour any obligations – they expect their money to be fully reimbursable on demand. The bank then has to ensure that the quality of its lending does not put its finances at undue risk. Calling in a loan from a borrower has many complications and in cases where a borrower defaults, a bank is not guaranteed to obtain full compensation in returned monies. Banks therefore undertake various risk management strategies, to protect themselves from the potential abuse of trust by borrowers:

IN CONCLUSION The Independent Commission on Banking may well conclude that firewalls should be erected between Retail and Investment banks. However, the role of securitisation both maintains a mutually interdependent link between the two types of institution, plus places the overall system at higher risk by creating perverse incentives for lower quality lending within the economy. This is no longer a closed system, but instead an open system where risk ownership and responsibility can become complex and obfuscated. At the time of the crisis in 2007–2008 both Northern Rock & Lehman Bros already sat either side of the notional banking firewall. This argument has been used to dismiss the potential

DBS’s Librarian Colin Theakston reviews

Management Speak: Why We Listen to What Management Gurus Tell Us by DBS Professors David Greatbatch and Timothy Clark (Published by Routledge 2005) I have to admit to being biased here. I’ve had the privilege of working alongside Tim Clark for many years at the Business School and I think he’s not only an outstanding academic but also a really nice person, which does rather scupper any attempts at objectivity on my part and curtails my predilection for cheap comments, but stick with me… Reading this book can give a student a rather privileged entry into how the “Magic Circle” of management speakers do their thing. Tim and his co-author David Greatbatch analyse the performances of a handful of the world’s leading business gurus, people like Gary Hamel, Peter Senge, Tom Peters and Rosabeth Moss Kanter, and in so doing, throw some much needed light onto the “tricks” they employ when plying their trade. By which I mean in the kind of stories they tell, the way they structure their remarks and the careful way they work and handle their audience.

BOOK REVIEWB

Kristine Le, a current DBS MBA student, explains why she was delighted to read

The Network Effect by DBS alumnus Tony Newton and his colleague Judith Perle (Published by Management Advantage Ltd, 2011)

During a meeting with my mentor – Steve, the successful consultant/ director of First Ascent Group – I asked him to suggest one skill I should work on improving, to succeed in business. The answer Steve gave was ‘networking’. Why is networking so important for our careers? I spotted a book called ‘The Network Effect’ on Alex Sedgwick’s desk just a few days later and she kindly let me borrow it. Many examples in the book prove Steve’s point. ‘Chris Ingram, founder of the Tempus media-buying group failed to raise £6 million pounds to prevent WPP gaining control of the company back in 1996. He said ‘I couldn’t do it: I just didn’t have the network.’ ‘Richard Reed, and other co-founders of Innocent smoothies, raised the much needed cash to start the company just by not only knowing rich people, and people who knew rich people, but also knowing those people who took them seriously.’ ‘James Dyson achieved success for his company by knowing: a lawyer friend of his brother in law who helped him set up the first company, a former beauty queen friend to promote his products, a respected businessman who was an old friend of his father to join the Board, a Canadian he sat next to on the plane who later became head of Dyson’s North American operations.’

These examples, to list just a few, demonstrate that success does not come from pure luck. Rather, it comes from having a strong network to turn to when you are in great need of help. So who would have thought that networking is all about giving, rather than receiving? The key point to success in networking is the willingness to extend your help and offer to connect people in your network with each other. This in turn helps them become more open to sharing their own networks with you. Networking is also about having fun while meeting new people and enjoying a meaningful conversation, regardless of what they have to offer.

And finally, practice makes perfect. The key to success in networking is to keep diving in, practising and learning from the experiences. Soon enough, the skills will become your second nature, even if you weren’t born an excellent networker. My verdict? An excellent book!

This book offers an excellent range of tips and examples of how to start a conversation, keep it going and even how to step away when it is time to meet someone else in the room. The ‘Five corner’ goal is my favourite. Set a goal to meet at least five people: one from the middle of the room, and four from the corners. Networking is also like gambling. If you are in, without knowing what you’ll get out of the people you meet, you have a 50 percent chance of winning. However, if you refuse to take the risk and stay out of the game, you’re guaranteed a zero percent chance to win.

BOOK REVIEW

CLASS NOTES

GORDON MITCHESON-SMITH DISTANCE LEARNING MBA 2002–2006 I have recently become a Fellow of the Strategic Planning Society. The fellowship recognises individuals who have accrued substantial knowledge and experience in the field of strategy and show a commitment to maintaining and developing professional management skills. My MBA from Durham was a major factor in achieving this status. The Strategic Planning Society (founded in 1967) promotes research and best practice in strategic thought and action. The SPS was instrumental in the development of strategy as a management science, and publishes the leading international academic journal ‘Long Range Planning’. Since achieving my MBA, I have spent time as a consultant and interim manager in the technology sector (software and biotech) and am currently working as Corporate Strategy Manager for CITBConstruction Skills, the Sector Skills Council and Industry Training Board for the UK construction industry.

AIZHAN YERMEKBAYEVA HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT 2009–2010 After graduating I spent four months job hunting until finally acquiring a temporary job as PA to the deputy CEO of National Medical Holding JSC (NMH). In March, NMH took the decision to create a new company to which they would outsource and centralise all of the HR functions of their six affiliate hospitals and implement an advanced human resource management system. At this point I had established a good relationship with the members of the Board and they offered me a permanent position within the new company as HR Consultant. Needless to say I was overwhelmed as I never thought that I would obtain such a prestigious position so early on. My job is to hire qualified staff to provide HR services and develop advanced HR policies and procedures for healthcare organisations. I look after the employer/employee handbook, recruitment and selection policies, performance management, performance appraisal and motivation programmes, and training and development policies. I’m also involved in the financial and organisational part of this project, monitoring it every step of the way. I am delighted to have had the opportunity to study HRM at DBS as it has more than prepared me for this challenging role in HR.

TOM MULLEN FT MBA 2008–2009 I recently finished writing a book I have been working since before the Durham programme began. Titled ‘Vino Expressions – People, Wine, and Loving Work’, it includes interviews with 50 people from a dozen countries throughout the world who are involved with the world of wine. These include wine and barrel makers, artists, a tour guide, a chef, a sommelier, a vineyard ecologist, and others. The text is complemented by 120 colour photos taken by the author. The book explores what makes people love their work, even though the career they choose might not necessarily be easy or lucrative. The book was edited by Barbara Kral-Hasty, who was in the same MBA cohort as me at Durham. Barbara is also a marketing consultant for the book. The book is available online to be read on Amazon’s Kindle e-reader, or can be downloaded from www.vinoexpressions.com

GEORGE BAMPAROUTSIS MSC ACCOUNTING & FINANCE 2009–2010 After graduating from DBS with an MSc Accounting and Finance, I started applying for jobs all over Europe whilst undertaking an internship as an accounting assistant in Athens. Fortunately, exactly when my internship period was about to finish I received an offer from IBM to work as an accounting analyst in their International Services Centre in Bratislava, Slovakia. During my interviews it became clear that a degree obtained from DBS was highly respected amongst employers, and I believe it helped me to stand out from the crowd. After five months in the job, I feel that the knowledge I gained from my degree has been extremely useful in helping me adjust smoothly into my new position. During my time at DBS I had the opportunity to improve upon many skills including team-working, leadership and time management. Personally I feel that these skills, as well as the academic knowledge I gained from studying at such a high level, are of great importance. I believe that for any European student like me, it would be extremely difficult to get a job with a multinational company, such as IBM, without studying abroad. I believe a Masters degree from DBS gives you a great boost to start your career and obtain the position of your dreams. If you would be interested in a job at IBM I would be more than happy to refer any DBS alumni. My email address is georgebabar@hotmail.com

BOB BURNS MSC MANAGEMENT STUDIES 1976–1977 Our 30th reunion of the DBS Class of 1976–77 was so successful that we have decided to do it again next year! Last time we had nine members who gathered over three days, with the reunion culminating in a grand dinner with several former members of the faculty. We stayed at one of the University colleges so we had plenty of time to reminisce about what Peter Pearson called that “life-changing” year in our lives. Plans will soon be completed and circulated to all of our old classmates. Those already confirmed are Peter Pearson, Simon Woods, Anna Shirley Scharf, Liz Thorley, Phil Owen, Geoff Lodge, George Bell, Bob Burns and “Naj”, our first faculty member. Please do let the Alumni Team know if you are interested in attending this great event. We are looking to arrange it in either July or August of next year and hope to see you all there!

JAY SINGGIH BA ECONOMICS 2006–2010 After graduating from Durham Business School in June 2010, I decided to return to Jakarta, Indonesia. Since August 2010, I have been working in the Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory (Transaction Advisory Services) Division at Ernst & Young, where my main role is in Financial Advice. This includes advice on Mergers & Acquisitions, Lead IPO, Infrastructure, and Public Private Partnerships. In addition to this, I have recently taken on a new role as Chairman of the Young Professionals Group at the British Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia (BritCham Indonesia), with the aim of “Facilitating Trade & Investment between Indonesia and Britain”. BritCham Indonesia’s partners include the British Embassy in Jakarta (UK Trade & Investment “UKTI” in Indonesia) and the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KADIN Indonesia), where the aim of the Chamber is to further the interests of British Companies in Indonesia, encourage cooperation between British and Indonesian businesses and governments, and bring about sustainable growth in trade and investment between the two countries.

1. Gordon Mitcheson-Smith 2. Aizhan Yermekbayeva 3. Tom Mullen 4. George Bamparoutsis 5. Jay Singgih

The Holy Grail of Service Excellence Service excellence is currently exciting much interest in business circles. Confusion abounds â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in part due to the fact that the topic crosses the boundary between process and philosophy, and is therefore hard to define. However this combination of heart and practicality is also its great strength, and the reason why organisations that have embarked on the journey are enjoying cost savings, rave reviews and revenue increases. In her article Fiona Urquhart tracks the history of its evolution, describes how and why it works, and outlines the areas in which that it can save costs. Presented here is an extract. To read the full article, visit the careers section at www.agora.org.uk

Mention the words Service Excellence, We all know what good service is, and the usual response is “Oh, of don’t we? We certainly know bad course, we have been doing that service when we are unlucky enough for years, all our staff have regular to encounter it – a too common customer service training. “People occurrence! Bad service leaves us hear the word ‘Service’; they miss feeling disappointed, frustrated, and the concept of ‘Excellence’. Yet there undervalued. The likelihood that is a world of difference! Customer we would subject ourselves again service is of course, a vital aspect is remote, so we don’t return to the of Excellence, but, in exactly the company; we feel aggrieved and need same way as advertising is the tip to “sound off” about it. Time was, we of the Marketing iceberg, customer would have done so to a few friends service is the most visible part of and family (research says up to 20 Service Excellence. people (ACSI survey 1994), and our grievances would have had a very short EXCELLENCE BEGINS WITH Y half-life. Today, we are more inclined In Aronofsky’s haunting 2010 film to do our complaining online, via Black Swan, the Ballet Director Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, or a Thomas Leroy tells his principal host of other social networking sites, dancer, Nina. or on a personal blog. The potential for damage is greater than ever; the “Perfection is not just about control; electronic record, once created it is also about letting go.” acquires a life of its own, and will come up in searches for years to Nina has spent years in painstaking come. The digital world has extended training perfecting her technical the life of disgruntled customer competences, but her performance stories into eternity. does not reach her desired level of perfection until she is able to open So much for poor customer service; her heart to feel passion and engage business has a new Holy Grail – with life and her audience. Then she Service Excellence. What does that shines! Organisations too can devote mean from a customer perspective? years of attention to techniques which Well, outstanding customer service will make them very good performers, is a good start, but is only a subset but it is not until they are able to of Service Excellence. In fact, a better engage passionately with their name would be simply Excellence. customers that they earn the It can apply to organisations large accolade of excellence. and small, and in service or in manufacturing sectors; it works X Y or Z? across all functions, and all levels Management authors and gurus have of personnel. Unlike earlier service sought to create a recipe for delivering and quality initiatives, Service more revenues, more profit, and Excellence blends process and greater shareholder value for decades. philosophy, and imbues companies McGregor’s Theory X and Y proposed that espouse it with a charming two types of manager; Theory X sprinkling of magic dust that makes managers viewed people other than them a joy to do business with. themselves as inherently work-shy, lacking ambition, needing coercion, and strict control to achieve goals. Theory Y managers created teams

of people who found work as natural as rest or play, were self-motivated when committed to the goals, enjoyed responsibility, taking decisions and the rewards of success. William Ouchi in 1981 extended this concept by his picture of a Theory Z manager. These managers developed a close bond with their team, made long term commitments to new recruits, developed team talents and promoted team decision making. The majority of businesses at the time had a ‘hire ‘em, fire ‘em’ approach. These theories and their successors are steps on the path, each offering a glimmer of insight to what can nurture the virtuous circle of happy staff, happy customers, and happy shareholders. McGregor’s book ‘The Human Side Of Enterprise’ presents these as opposing management styles, and in many ways, they are. Nevertheless, exactly as Nina’s performance needed a blend of technical competence and passion, outstanding managers need a blend of disciplined system and heart. Excellence begins with the heart (Theory Y), but needs a foundation of Theory X measurement, process and discipline. The truth is, all of these approaches, even the apparently controlling, and negative Theory X form a piece of the excellence mosaic. The figure below suggests the qualities associated with the two approaches. Figure 1: Features of Process and Philosophy Linked to Theory X and Y respectively

LIMITATIONS OF X Sound managerial processes, supported by systems such as ISO 9000, can deliver a very high level of customer service, enabling the organisation to meet customer expectations in the majority of cases. There will be mechanisms in place to deal with exceptions, where things go wrong and need to be recovered, and generally, things run as clockwork. This falls short of service excellence, which begins with a mission, to engender a culture of delighting, rather than merely satisfying the customer. Processes are an important element of delivering delight, because meeting customer needs is the foundation stone of excellence. Excellence needs the solid basis of efficient processes as a structure on which to craft customer delight. Customer delight takes the concept of satisfaction to the next level; satisfaction does not prompt conversations or recommendations, delight does!

segmentation, targeting and positioning to deliver the appropriate quality and type of products and services for the customer segments. Communication with customer segments is initiated by a brand that speaks their language, in a relevant manner. All of these aspects can be achieved through detailed research, sound strategic planning, and good management of creative agencies. And the mix of these things

will deliver a quality of product and/or service that will effectively meet the needs of the customers, and ensure customer satisfaction. This process focus, though rarely has customers clamouring for more, or raving on a blog about their delight. That must be inspired by the spontaneity of confident, happy people with the right attitude, and that is where philosophy takes up the cause.

Figure 2: The crossover between process and philosophy in delivering excellence

Excellence is the pinnacle of a hierarchy (shown in Figure 2) which starts with a solid understanding of the customers the organisation serves, enabling an accurate process of

Fiona Urquhart is Module Leader for the Service Excellence module on Durham Business Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Global Learning MBA. She has also established The Exchange at Durham, a group which enables businesses and academics to share and test theories and experiences of Service Excellence. Through Excellence 3, with partners Annette Rowe and Fiona Thompson, Fiona helps organisations create their own journeys to excellence. She can be contacted at fiona.urquhart@btinternet.com

Q&A DBS alumna Shalini Kurukulasuriya talks about life at Durham and as Vice President for Projects and Transitions at AMBA Research Lanka (Private) Limited. Shalini spent over seven years in Durham, firstly as an Economics Undergraduate and then as a postgraduate studying MSc Corporate & International Finance. She then went on to become a member of the Economics faculty where she spent two and a half years before returning to Sri Lanka after receiving an irresistible job offer. Nowadays Shalini is responsible for financial analysis and research into target companies for AMBA Research’s clients. She is enjoying life in Colombo, but has fond memories of Durham and hopes to visit again soon. Q. How do you feel your Durham degree prepared you for your current role? A. In addition to completing my undergraduate and postgraduate studies at Durham, I subsequently had the privilege of teaching at the Department of Economics and Finance for over 2 years. Apart from the obvious academic benefits, the collective experience profoundly shaped the open and respectful manner in which I approach my interpersonal interactions. This is especially valuable in my current role as VP-Projects and Transitions at Amba Research, where I’m responsible for coaching multicultural teams on developing investment analysis skills. Conveying negative feedback tactfully is a critical aspect of their ongoing improvement. Q. If you had one piece of advice for Durham graduates starting out what would it be? A. Don’t be afraid to take the path less travelled when embarking on a career. Finding your true calling/passion is sometimes a process of trial and error. So it is important not to let the fear of failure prevent you from taking the plunge and exploring different

paths, although it may not seem like the most obvious or popular choice. Q. What are your fondest memories of Durham? A. Cooking ‘Kiribath’, a traditional Sri Lankan dish for 200+ people at the International Students Banquet for three consecutive years holds many fond and comical memories. Others include (this is by no means an exhaustive list) my first glimpse of the magnificent Cathedral and Castle, meeting up with friends for afternoon tea at Vennels café and those contemplative walks along the River Wear. Q. What would you say has been the most satisfying aspect of your career so far? A. Leading multicultural teams across a variety of equity research projects and using my expertise to hone their skills and help them shine in their respective roles. Q. Where do you envisage your career taking you in the future? A. I’m very hopeful about Sri Lanka’s prospects as a high end investment research outsourcing hub. So I see myself continuing to build my career in Sri Lanka, with short secondments overseas. Since the

industry is at still at a nascent stage with many moving parts I hope to work on developing a nimble skillset which will enable me to seize challenging opportunities as they present themselves. Q. What do you do to unwind? A. I usually swim and find it incredibly therapeutic and relaxing. I’m also working on improving my game of tennis. More recently, I’ve taken up the piano and have almost completed the beginner’s level! Q. What would you describe as your main strengths and how have these led you to where you are today? A. A passion for lifelong learning, a commitment to excellence, and patience. I firmly believe these strengths have helped me persevere in my chosen path and become more resilient to withstand the inevitable bumps along the road to building a fulfilling career and living a well rounded life in general. Q. Do you keep in contact with many people you met at Durham? A. Absolutely; although we are separated by geography, some of my closest friends are still those I met during freshers’ week back in October 1995.

local association news Agora’s global network 1. BEIJING AGORA The Beijing Global Get-Together took place on Thursday 10 March 2011 with a number of DBS alumni meeting with Local Association leader Abby Wang in a bar in the city. The Beijing Association meets on a regular basis and Abby commented, “We had a good time and I see new faces each time. It’s good to keep this loop growing.”

2. RUSSIA AGORA Alumni Relations Manager, Alexandra Sedgwick, visited Moscow on Tuesday 12 April 2011 with DBS alumnus Alexey Buditskiy as part of an MBA Recruitment visit. Alex and Alexey held an alumni get-together in the capital that evening and a number of DBS alumni attended. They shared a meal and Alex experienced some authentic Russian cuisine.

3. PAKISTAN AGORA – NEW! The new Pakistan Agora Local Association was set up in April 2011 by Local Association Leader Anushe Hussain. Anushe is working closely with the Agora alumni team to organise future alumni get-together events. If you would be interested in joining the group, please do contact us. A Facebook page has been set up for the association. To access this please search for ‘Pakistan Agora Local Association’.

4. SINGAPORE AGORA In May, Jonathan Sim stepped down as leader of the Singapore Agora Local Association. The new association leader is Arsalan Amjad. Arsalan is hoping to arrange an alumni event soon to get to know you all a little better.

5. JORDAN AGORA The Jordanian get-together was held on Friday 03 June 2011 at the Kempinski Hotel in Amman. Local Association Leader Zu’bi Al-Zu’bi reported that the group had reminisced about the good old days at Durham.

current DBS students met with alumni. The event took place at Centro bar in the city and an enjoyable evening was had by all. The final Global Get-Together date for this year is 08 December. If you are interested in joining one of our Local Associations or setting up your own, please contact dbs.alumni@durham.ac.uk.

6. SOUTHERN AGORA On Thursday 07 July Alumni Relations Manager, Alexandra Sedgwick met with local DBS alumni in London. The event was arranged with the help of Local Association Leaders Nikhil Kulkarni and Natasha Ellah. The group met at the 5th View bar in Piccadilly for drinks and had a good turnout with over 20 alumni attending.

7. SHANGHAI AGORA During a recent trip to Shanghai, Daniela Slanickova, Head of International and External Relations, and Ian Lincoln, Senior Teaching Fellow/Deputy Director of UG Studies, along with a group of

Dates for the Diary DURHAM SPEAKER SERIES

RECRUITMENT EVENTS

PREVIEW/OPEN EVENTS

‘LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT’

We are holding a number of recruitment fairs across the UK, Europe, UAE and North and South America between October and December of this year. For more information on these events please visit the Business School website at: www.durham.ac.uk/dbs/news/ recruitment

MBA PREVIEW EVENTS

Adrienne McFarland, People Services Director, Sage UK & Ireland 20 October 2011 Durham Business School MOTIVATION ‘RELEASE YOUR TALENT AND ACHIEVE GREAT SUCCESS’

05 October 2011, 10.30–14.30 10 November 2011, 10.30–14.30 09 December 2011, 10.30–14.30 06 January 2012, 10.30–14.30 Durham Business School Please note that some dates, speakers and venues are provisional or yet to be confirmed.

Richard Denny, business growth specialist 17 November 2011 Durham Business School RESEARCH EVENT

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

Topic and venue to be confirmed 1 December 2011 London, UK SPEAKER EVENT Topic and venue to be confirmed 09 February 2012 London, UK ENTREPRENEUR PANEL Topic to be confirmed 08 March 2012 Durham Business School SPEAKER EVENT Topic and venue to be confirmed 19 April 2012 London, UK ANNUAL DURHAM CONVENTION Speakers to be confirmed 15 June 2012 Durham Business School

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION To book places for these events contact the Alumni Team on: Email: dbs.events@durham.ac.uk Telephone: +44 (0)191 334 5277

NEWS

agora Alumni Team Alexandra Sedgwick, Alumni Relations Manager Hayley Ferguson, Alumni Coordinator Room 215, Durham Business School Mill Hill Lane Durham DH1 3LB UK t: f: e: w:

+44 (0)191 334 5277 +44 (0)191 334 5218 dbs.alumni@durham.ac.uk www.agora.org.uk

UK Agora Local Associations Northern Agora (based in Durham) Southern Agora (based in London) International Agora Local Associations Athens Beijing Caribbean Denmark Frankfurt Ghana Hong Kong Hungary Indonesia Japan Malaysia Mexico Norway Pakistan Shanghai Singapore South America Switzerland United States of America

Canada Egypt Gibraltar India Jordan Nigeria Russia South Africa United Arab Emirates

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

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