Durham Business School, Alumni Newsletter, Autumn 2012 by Durham University Business School

NEWS

DBS

ALUMNI

Business School

IN THIS ISSUE: LESSONS ON LEADERSHIP FROM EURO 2012//FORAGING ECOLOGY AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR //BUSINESS PROJECTS BUSINESS POTENTIAL

“Senior leadership is but one component of an organisational system…” Lessons on leadership from Euro 2012 (see pages 16-18)

Alumni Magazine for Durham Business School

Autumn 2012 Issue 22

THE DBS ALUMNI OFFER. 75% OFF. The Economist’s alumni subscription offer To ensure that The Economist remains affordable for new graduates, we have created an alumni subscription rate. This allows university alumni to beneﬁt from The Economist’s award-winning journalism at a rate that is discounted against that of a regular subscription.

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

Dean’s Welcome As we look forward to another exciting year, I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the success of Durham Business School over the past 12 months.

There has been much to celebrate over the past 12 months, not least the cutting of the first sod and commencement of the expansion of the Business School. The rebuild and refurbishment project on the current Mill Hill Lane site will see Durham Business School undergo a major transformation resulting in an inspiring fit-for-purpose modern facility to match its teaching reputation. Works comprise an extensive remodel, including structural alterations to the current internal spaces and the creation of two new blocks of two and three storeys. The new blocks will be linked to the existing building and form two distinct courtyard areas. A new curved walkway, created through the use of structural glazing, will provide access to the courtyard areas. The School will also benefit from four new lecture theatres including a Harvard-style theatre that enables an interactive style learning experience. In order to limit its carbon footprint, the building will incorporate a number of sustainable features including a ground source heat pump system, solar controlled glazing and improved heating and air circulation systems. Work is due for completion

In anticipation of the physical expansion of the School, we have recruited to a number of new academic posts and in this issue, on page 19, we introduce one of the recent additions to the faculty – Professor Mike Humphreys. Recent successes for the School include our Global MBA being placed 7th in the world in the 2012 QS Distance Online MBA Ranking. This is currently the only report that ranks accredited online, distance and hybrid MBA programmes. Of the featured top ten schools, Durham Business School is one of only four that boasts triple accreditation from AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB. I would personally like to congratulate the Global Learning Centre for developing the programme, especially the blended learning elements of the course which make it such a popular choice for today’s busy professionals.

As a research led institution, it is imperative that we share what our academics are working on and make it as relevant to today’s business world as possible. In this issue we have a topical piece by Professor Birgit Schyns and Dr Graham Dietz titled ‘Lessons on Leadership from Euro 2012’ (pages 16-18), as well as an article on an area of marketing into which Dr Victoria Wells is researching – ‘Foraging Ecology and Consumer Behaviour’ (pages 10-11). To celebrate the end of another academic year, it is fitting that we share with you some great memories of our most recent Congregation ceremony. Pictures of our celebration reception at Palace Green Debating Chamber can be found on pages 20-21. Finally, the School will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2015 so I invite you to share with us your memories, mementos and photographs so that we can record its rich history. As we plan our celebrations please contact Alex McNinch at dbs.alumni@durham.ac.uk to share your contributions and ideas.

BUILDINGS UPDATE

RANKINGS NEWS

GLOBAL LEARNING CENTRE

As featured in the Dean’s Message, work on the expansion and refurbishment of the DBS Mill Hill Lane site continues apace. Demolition, excavation and rebuilding activities are well underway and the project continues to progress on programme. In addition, at Queen’s Campus the extension of the Wolfson Building is now complete and Business School marketing faculty along with postgraduate support staff, moved in at the start of August. This new facility provides 18 academic offices, an open plan research study area for 24 students, a seminar/study room for postgraduate students and an open plan office for support staff. With views over the River Tees, the building is an attractive setting for the new Experimental Science Lab which has a main laboratory with 23 experimental spaces for individual participants, a soundproof room for oneto-one observations, and a seminar room which can be set up for both group observations and individual experiments for up to 20 participants.

As well as the success of the School’s Global MBA in the QS rankings, the most recent Financial Times Masters in Finance Ranking placed our programmes 25th in the world and 7th in the UK – excellent progress and a rise since last year.

The first workshop in the Global Learning Centre’s new Customer Insights Programme for the Royal Bank of Scotland took place in May. Delegates numbered 15 and the programme, delivered by Dr Julie Hodges and Dr Mike Nicholson, concluded with an inaugural dinner in Durham Castle.

SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS The winner of the DBS/Independent MBA Scholarship (full-time) has been selected. Eunice Benedicto (pictured), an accounting analyst from Texas, USA, will join the full-time MBA 2012 programme in Durham this September. This is the seventh time the scholarship has been offered. The successful Executive and Global programme applicants (David Beeton and David Makepeace) were selected in December and began their studies at the start of this year.

In July Durham University hosted Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh as part of their Diamond Jubilee tour of the United Kingdom. The Royal couple visited Durham Castle, home to University College, where they had lunch with dignitaries and students in the Great Hall. They last visited Durham Castle in 2002 during Her Majesty’s Golden Jubilee celebrations. On that occasion The Duke of Edinburgh also travelled to Durham University’s Stockton campus to announce that it had been awarded the title of Queen’s Campus.

DURHAM’S NEW CHANCELLOR INSTALLED The installation, in June, of Sir Thomas Allen as the University’s new Chancellor was a magnificent occasion. Sir Thomas, 67, received the Chancellor’s robes and cap and took the oath of office at a ceremony in Durham Cathedral. He is the University’s 12th Chancellor, taking on the role from author Bill Bryson who attended the ceremony to hand over the robes of office to Sir Thomas.

I am once again delighted to have such a strong alumni contribution to this edition of our alumni magazine. In addition to Class Notes and Local Association News, we have a review of the book ‘Confessions of a Microfinance Heretic’, which was authored by alumnus Hugh Sinclair (BA 1992-95 and MSc 1996-97), and was published in July. The review is written by another alumnus – Sahil Malik (MBA 2009-10) and can be found on page 24. Hugh is also the subject of our Alumni Q & A feature (page 25).

JON LORD, COMPOSER OF THE DURHAM CONCERTO Jon Lord, a friend of the University, sadly died in July aged 71. His most well-known classical work, the ‘Durham Concerto’, was commissioned by the University for its 175th Anniversary in 2007. Jon is perhaps best known however as the keyboard player with Deep Purple. CDs of Durham Concerto, recorded at its World premiere in Durham, are available from the University’s online shop: http://shop.durham.ac.uk

One theory in this area, Ideal Free Distribution (IFD), is directly related to research on crowding behaviour and in particular is concerned with how crowding will lead to a forager moving to a different patch and when this would happen. As noted above, while much research in consumer behaviour has studied the antecedents of retail choice little research has studied the points at which consumers leave particular retail environments and why. Crowding, via social foraging theory may help to explore this.

In turn the prey is the food or other material the forager seeks within one or more patches. The obvious analogy here is the product, brand or service the consumer seeks to buy. From this animals make two main choices: ‘within patch choices’ (choices over which prey to consume), and ‘between patch choices’ (choice between shops or shopping areas).

Within Patch Choice Classic prey selection models make assumptions about animal behaviour, which appear to also be demonstrated in human consumption behaviour. An original assumption was that the predator is able to recognise prey types perfectly and

instantaneously but this, with both animal and humans, is not always the case. Foraging theory has suggested that it is more likely that signal detection is in operation; that in some foraging situations, predators learn that certain types of feeding opportunities are signalled by the occurrence of environmental events such as a light, other animals behaviour etc. Consumers also detect signals, the most obvious and commonly used being the brand mark or name. Classic prey models also originally made the assumption of optimality, that the profitability (the price vs value) of prey is known and all decisions are made based on this. More modern foraging theory reflects that predators may not act optimally for two reasons: misidentification of prey and sampling. This too seems to be the case for consumers. While consumers know the brands they buy often well (but often not as well as they think they do), they will sample other brands or products out of their usual repertoire, to test what else is out there and to ensure they’re not missing out, or alternatively, they are prompted to sample by price promotions. However this has not been extensively tested and foraging theory can provide the vehicle for this.

Between Patch Choices Current consumer research is based largely on the initial reasons to choose a retail environment including, for example, location, household income, family size and centre or shop attractiveness. Foraging theory highlights others areas, under-researched in the consumer literature which may be important. The decision to remain in a shop or patch, as well as how often to return to it, is of vital importance in foraging theory but these wider shopping patterns are less well known within consumer literature. While recent research has suggested that multishop trips are common (between 40-74 per cent depending on type of purchase) this significance is not reflected in the literature. Foraging theory devotes substantial time to multiple patch shopping patterns and accounts for these trips in terms of quality (and in particular changing quality) of patches and the need once again for sampling of alternatives. Utilising models studied widely in foraging theory (such as the marginal value theorem) will help us to understand these patterns of store choice better and concentrate on the multi-store patterns that are evident in so much of our consumer behaviour.

IFD is also concerned with the idea of competitive influence and how interactions between consumers could reduce search and purchase efficiency through to the extremes of kleptoparasitism (outright expropriation of food from its finder), areas which could add to the growing interest in consumer ‘misbehaviour’.

Social Foraging as a wider area looks directly at how two or more individuals concurrently influence each other’s energetic gains and losses and that there are identifiable, mutual relationships. This research also makes the distinction between aggregation (a group who happen to go shopping at the same time) and a social group (consumers who go shopping together). This leads on to questions regarding the efficiency of different group sizes and composition when shopping and the multitude of currencies (or reasons for shopping) that can affect this.

Afﬂuent Foragers While foraging theory is predominately studied from the perspective of animal behaviour, another area of foraging theory, from anthropology and archaeology sheds additional light on foraging within human populations. This area explores ‘affluent or complex foragers’, who exist in habitats that are described as productive rather than harsh and provide a richer suite of natural resources, hence the foragers are more sedentary and a higher level of economic complexity is seen. While the behaviour of animal foragers is about ‘survival of the fittest’, the behaviour of affluent foragers is more complex and arguably has more similarities to human consumption behaviour.

Here we go again. Another reunion – dangerous events these. Memory is kind, reality is not. Some of us met up after 13 years in 1990. For others, the get-together in 2007 marked a gap of 30 years since we had last met. Then we just fell into an easy comradeship as though we had parted the day before. Extraordinary.

An essential element of a modern global business school is collaboration with the business world. One activity, that is highly beneficial to organisations,

Social Foraging

35 years after the MSc class of 1976-77 left Durham, they returned to the City they hold so dear and here, alumnus Peter Pearson recounts the tale of their reunion.

QUEEN’S HONOUR Congratulations go to former DBS staff member Sheena Maberly, (Careers Development Manager at DBS 2000-04), who was awarded the MBE for services to Her Majesty’s Prison Service in the Queen’s birthday honour’s list. Sheena’s current role is Regional Head of Learning, Skills & Employment North East Prisons.

Professor Rob Dixon, Dean

Social Foraging, compared to the other areas of foraging research studied above, has received far less academic attention but provides valuable insights into the potential behaviour of consumers and potential research areas for future research development.

The Spirit of Durham

Welcome to the autumn edition of your alumni magazine. We are now well and truly settled in our new (temporary) home at Ushaw College. Our new location is proving to be exceptionally popular with students and the alumni and external guests who have sampled the delights of the hospitality in the Parlour and Refectory. Our most recent guests were members of the MSc 1977 cohort who were celebrating the 35th anniversary of their graduation from the Business School. One of the natural born leaders of the group, Peter Pearson, kindly recounts tales of their reunion on pages 8-9.

University News DURHAM UNIVERSITY WELCOMES HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

Alumni – Update

DEAN S WE COME NEWS

Two central ideas within foraging theory are patch and prey. Patches are simply physical areas within a habitat, often well defined, in which an animal can find food or other materials it needs for survival. The obvious analogy for human consumers would be physical area such as a shop or a mall but the patch does not have to apply to definite physical boundaries and might instead form the acceptable shopping area or the shops the consumer is aware of or evaluates positively.

4 Those of you who are interested in supporting the future of the School will be pleased to learn that we are offering alumni and friends the opportunity to have their name engraved on a seat in one of the new lecture theatres. The ‘Take Your Seat’ campaign (detailed on page 7) has been created to facilitate alumni involvement in the redevelopment. All of the money raised through this campaign will be endowed to secure the future of Durham Business School.

From the outset the project supplied him with an abundance of new knowledge and networking opportunities – including the meeting Steve secured with their first potential client, Marks & Spencer. A fellow MBA student on study leave from M & S had heard Steve enthusing about his new venture and arranged for Steve and James to speak to the company’s head of sustainability, primarily to test the viability of their proposal. The unexpected bonus was a contract to sponsor five new native woodlands over the following year and Forest Carbon was launched, founded on a handshake at Paddington tube station later that day.

Undertaken as an alternative to the traditional dissertation, the connections made during a Business Project can offer real payback. Here two DBS MBA alumni talk about their experiences and the benefits.

In the meantime, Steve’s continuing research was providing access to leading government carbon offsetting policy makers who would, in the future,

For more information on this subject area you can contact Victoria on v.k.wells@durham.ac.uk.

According to Steve Prior (full-time MBA 2004-05), the success of Forest Carbon Ltd, the business he based on his own MBA project, can be attributed to two things: niche expertise and contacts.

Steve says the two best bits of advice he received during his MBA course were: a) contacts are vital and b) your dissertation or business project period is your opportunity to acquire an area of expertise that someone might be willing to pay for in the future. This advice

The acquisition of new contacts and knowledge was, he found, an easy and natural part of his project work when doors, usually closed, would be opened quite readily to a person undertaking research. In his case, the most significant new contact he made was with future business partner James Hepburne Scott who at the time was chair of the Scottish Forestry and Timber Association and an active lobbyist for the exploration of carbon markets by UK forestry.

BUSINESS PROJECTS BUSINESS POTENTIAL

So our group represented a 23 per cent turnout of the original 1976-77 cohort. Not bad really after 35 years, particularly as, sadly, one or two of our intake have passed on.

The appalling weather that hit the North East the previous weekend was still reﬂected in the ﬂooded River Wear. And it still rained! Our plans for long trips to Lindisfarne, Seaham and other places were abandoned. We initially restricted ourselves to Durham City and what a blessing this proved to be.

1. L-R Standing: Peter Manley, Geoff Moore, John Machin, Peter Pearson, Geoff Lodge, Bob Burns, John Thorley, George Bell, Jason Coleman. Seated: Liz Thorley, Anna Scharf, Alex McNinch, Therese Winter, Susan Burns, Brenda Machin. 2-3. Enjoying the atmosphere at Ushaw College. 4-10. Memories of Durham days – 1976-77.

Alexandra McNinch Alumni Relations Manager

A UMN UPDA E

Dr Victoria Wells is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Durham Business School. Her research falls in the general area of consumer behaviour and consumer responses to marketing actions.

Finally, following Alumni Coordinator Hayley’s move back to Ireland earlier this year, I am pleased to announce that Katharine Aspey joined the team in August. She has previously worked at both the University’s Durham and Queen’s campuses and as well as taking on this busy role, she is studying for a part-time masters in marketing management. I am sure you will join me in welcoming her to the School.

Looking Ahead So far the work has been theoretical and the next step is to collect data to do empirical analyses comparing consumer and animal behaviour directly. Of particular interest is the patch behaviour of consumers, in essence where they choose to shop and why. Developing an idea of consumers’ ‘shopping territory’ through mapping techniques and accompanied shopping trips will allow researchers to get a better idea of how and why consumers use the shops and shopping areas they do and how this changes over time. It is hoped that the outcomes of this research will help guide a wide range of professionals from marketers and retail owners to shopping centre developers and city and regional planners.

This reunion (July 2012) was no different. Bob Burns (US), Anna Scharf (Germany) and Peter Pearson (Surrey) were the ﬁrst to arrive, followed the next day by Geoff Lodge (Buckinghamshire), George Bell and his wife, Susan (Australia), Liz Thorley and her husband, John (Darlington) and a little later, Phil Owen (Russia via Bridgend, South Wales) still with snow on his boots. Again we all simply took up where we had left off – holding a pint! Unfortunately, Peter and Caroline Herborn (also from Australia) were unable to join us as Caroline had been injured in a car accident (fortunately not too seriously) that precluded ﬂying. We wish her a complete recovery.

commission him to write papers, attend conferences, and sit on expert panels in the UK and abroad. He also met international carbon industry experts and received funding to present his business project findings at the UN 2005 Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in Montreal. More recently Steve was invited to join the expert panel responsible for designing the UK’s new Woodland Carbon Code, the industry standard for carbon woodland projects. Speaking about contacts from his MBA days, Steve says: “It wasn’t just what they could ‘do’ for me – it was access to their knowledge and experience and also their challenges to my own research and ideas. It all meant that, in the end, we had a business that worked better.”

HE SP R

The soft magic of the place began to seep back once again into our DNA. We discovered nooks and crannies never come across before including the Old Fulling Mill, Museum of Archaeology and the Durham Heritage Centre and Museum – the passage of time was starkly demonstrated by some of us being able to claim pensioner concessionary ticket rates! The highlight of this reunion was on Friday with a tour of Ushaw College followed by a formal dinner presided over by Professor Geoff Moore, Deputy Dean (Learning and Teaching). Ushaw College, where the School is currently based during the development of the Mill Hill Lane site, is an astonishing building. We were fortunate to have as our guide Peter Seed, Director of Estates and Facilities at the college, who impressed us with his deep knowledge of the history of the buildings. We had met earlier with Bahadur Najak (‘Naj’) and were delighted that two more members of our faculty, Peter Manley and John Machin, with his wife, Brenda, were able to brave the rigours of the English summer and join us for the (absolutely delicious!) dinner. We expressed to Naj, Peter and John our continuing gratitude for what they had done for us during ‘our year’ in Durham. In saying a few words after the meal, Peter Pearson thanked Alumni Relations Manager Alex McNinch and Lynn Thornber for helping us to put together the reunion; announcing that the alumni present would back the ‘Take your Seat’ campaign and sponsor

one or more seats in the new Business School lecture theatre. We are hopeful those alumni not able to join us will also donate and participate in this, the most exciting development in the history of the Business School. Saturday saw us take advantage of some improved weather by visiting Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle. What a stunning place this is both for its architecture and for its world class art, ceramic and silver collections. After predinner refreshment back in Durham a decision was taken to have a meal in a certain Italian eatery. After an hour’s wait for a first course of minestrone whose coldness was only matched by its greasiness, six of the finest business management brains that Durham University Business School have ever produced staged a walk out, repairing to the chippy across the road. Fish & chips never tasted better! The remainder of the weekend included support of one or two of Durham’s other hostelries neglected during the previous three days and enjoying the City’s International Brass Festival which filled the streets with music.

This reunion enabled us to renew friendships, re-engage with the spirit of Durham, revisit the places associated with the year that changed our lives, and honour those who made that change happen. On all counts a very successful weekend. Please mark your diaries for July 2017!

If you feel inspired to reunite with your fellow cohort members, please contact the Alumni Team who will be happy to assist.

O DURHAM

To date the business has planted 3,500,000 trees across England, Scotland and Wales for partners including The Green Insurance Company, Stagecoach, Kwikfit, Mears Group, Hallmark, sofa.com and BWOC. Of the 60 projects – expected to capture over 750 000 tonnes of C02 – most are already registered with the Woodland Carbon Code with the rest to follow. Steve says he’s sometimes still surprised, and very pleased, to find himself working in such a green and pleasant world – the last place he expected an MBA would take him. Learn more about Forest Carbon here: www.forestcarbon.co.uk or email them on info@forestcarbon.co.uk

Cloud computing had become a buzz word surrounded by hype and misunderstanding. Clarification was essential. In the consumer space, all of the methods of synchronising documents among the growing number of devices (PC, mobile phone, tablet…) are cloud based. However, businesses worry about security in its broadest meaning and tend to refuse or limit the adoption of cloud storage despite obvious productivity gains and ease of use.

Until Steve (a former school headmaster) arrived at Durham he hadn’t given the Kyoto Protocol or ‘carbon’ woodlands much thought but it took just one inspirational lecture from Tony Cockerill – on the role of economics in solving environmental degradation – to set him on his new path. Later that year, when a business project in this field was offered, Steve grabbed it.

These issues provided an obvious way for Cyril to make use of recent learning from the core modules of the MBA

Relying on interviews to collect most of the research data turned out to be both an outstanding networking opportunity and the best way to discover the organisation’s operating model and culture. Cyril was able to meet and interview a wide range of specialists, who offered technical, marketing, strategic and operational perspectives from engineer graduate level to senior leadership. It took time and was challenging given the schedules of these ‘sources’ but the data collected was worth it and the contacts made proved to be invaluable, above and beyond the scope of the business project itself.

D8 is a worldwide series of events designed for our alumni, corporate partners and prospective postgraduate students, taking place in eight of our most significant markets throughout 2012 and 2013.

The accessibility of these specialists and their openness and willingness to refer Cyril to further contacts both within Vodafone Global Enterprise and outside, revealed a culture of openness and collaboration, with a big appetite for innovation and new challenges. Given the strategic importance of cloud storage and the growing commercial success of the enterprise tablet proposition, Cyril was given the opportunity to continue working with Vodafone Global Enterprise after his Business Project was completed. Further research led not only to a white paper but also to work around new propositions and products now coming to market.

In conjunction with the Global Learning Centre, the DBS Alumni Network has organised Continuing Professional Development workshops to enable alumni and students to engage with the School’s vision of lifelong learning, and to provide prospective students with the chance to experience DBS teaching.

For Cyril the decision to undertake a Business Project was motivated by the people he met at the DBS networking event – it proved to be an excellent choice.

Here are some of the events that have taken place to date.

MOSCOW: 19 APRIL 2012 – ARARAT PARK HYATT MOSCOW

DUBAI: 18 MAY 2012 – MONARCH DUBAI

HONG KONG: 12 SEPTEMBER 2012 – CITY UNIVERSITY

Theme: Crisis Management with Dr Mike Nicholson, Director of Durham Business School’s Global Learning Centre.

Theme: Finance for the non-financial manager delivered Dr Aly Salama, Deputy Director of the PhD programme and MBA module leader.

Theme: Derivatives in the News – Understanding the Dangers of Exotic Derivative Products with Ian Whitfield, Senior Teaching Fellow in Economics and Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Irina Tolstova, an MA GLC alumna SHANGHAI: 21 JULY 2012 – from the class of 2010 said: “It is INTERCONTINENTAL EXPO great that DBS is arranging networking Theme: Crisis Management with events for its students in almost every Dr Mike Nicholson, Director of country. I enjoyed the informative Durham Business School’s Global lecture by Dr Mike Nicholson on Crisis Learning Centre. Management and meeting with Durham alumni in Moscow. I am always inspired Ocean Wang, an MBA from the class by the leading faculty of DBS and this of 2008, enjoyed the event and said: is a great opportunity to meet my fellow “DBS Alumni – when we are together, students and alumni, as well as share we are stronger.” my experience at DBS with new applicants. These events make you feel a part of the big international family of DBS and I hope it will continue growing all over the world, including in Russia.”

NEW YORK CITY: 18 SEPTEMBER 2012 – INTERCONTINENTAL BARCLAY Theme: Trust in Uncertain Times with Dr Graham Dietz, Programme Director of the MA and MSc Management Programmes. TORONTO: 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 – INTERCONTINENTAL TORONTO CENTRE Theme: Trust in Uncertain Times with Dr. Graham Dietz, Programme Director of the MA and MSc Management Programmes.

D8 events are planned for London and India – details will be available in due course.

ORAG NG ECO OG AND CONSUMER BEHA OUR

Are we in love with our organisational leaders a little too much? Here DBS academics Professor Birgit Schyns and Dr Graham Dietz look at what football – in particular Euro 2012 – can teach us about management.

In psychological research, there is a phenomenon called the ‘Romance of Leadership’ (Meindl et al., 1995), which explores why, among all the things that might influence firm performance, it is leaders who are seen as the decisive influence, the vital variable that makes the real difference, especially when performance is unexpected, no matter if good or bad. In business, the late Steve Jobs was the obvious example of one man’s superordinate, mythologised status over his organisation, while Nick Buckle, of security firm G4S, is currently on the receiving end of a ‘romance of leadership’ backlash for his role in the Olympics security shortfall debacle. Romance of leadership is especially prevalent in sports. For national team coaches – the leaders – their task and role in a major tournament is not only to lead a disparate group of players to potential success; it is also about managing, and ideally fulfilling, a nation’s expectations of the team’s performance. Very often the personalitydriven media coverage assigns to the team managers complete responsibility for their team’s performance, good or bad, regardless of whether this is really in their scope to influence. To paraphrase Albert Camus, (almost) everything we two authors know about organisations we owe to watching football – which brings us nicely to the recent Euro 2012 tournament. Take the English. In major tournaments, England always “underperforms”. In fact, Kuper and Szymanski (2009) have shown that England actually perform completely in line with their average ranking and past performance – crashing out halfway (but always, always unjustly), usually in the quarter finals. This is, obviously, not in line with England’s (absurdly inflated) public expectations, leading to an unedifying witch-hunt that typically ends with the manager’s departure. This year seemed different. Expectations for the new manager, Roy Hodgson, were very low indeed, having only been

appointed weeks before the tournament began, to little fanfare and plenty of scepticism, and in defiance of an analysis-free media campaign in favour of Harry. A promising draw against the French raised expectations, which were heightened further after the 3-2 triumph over Sweden, after which Hodgson was suddenly characterised as having “the Midas touch” (BBC, 2012). Another fortunate win, over Ukraine, saw the romance of Hodgson’s leadership go

Fussball Bund’s decision to retain Löw, despite overseeing a string of ultimate ‘failures’ in the last three major tournaments, might be related to these expectations. Their planning is similarly long-term, but for Germany it is to build a national team that will end their 16year trophy drought in the near future. Germany fielded the youngest team in the Euros, and lost narrowly to Italy in the semi-finals. Both coaches will continue in their post.

Contrast England with teams like Denmark and Germany, who have trusted their managers more for the long-term. Morten Olsen has been the Danish coach since 2000 and Joachim Löw went from German assistant coach in 2004 to head coach in 2006. Again, let’s have a look at expectations: being a small nation with the accompanying caveat of a small pool of players to choose from, Denmark’s expectations of going far in international tournaments are rather modest. Indeed, qualifying may already be considered a success. And the Danes seem to understand that the best way to meet these expectations is to have a stable manager, who has significant influence over all aspects of Danish football, including youth development. German expectations are rather more ambitious; they expect to come home with the trophy. Indeed, the Deutsche

knowledgeable and motivated employees what the employees (are supposed to) do, but many players ignore or forget (players, and support staff), but it is apparent that individual brilliance is not tactics in the drama of a game. enough (witness Ibrahimovic for Sweden, Löw himself is reaping the benefits of Ronaldo for Portugal, Pirlo for Italy). a major overhaul of German football, Individual motivation, however powerful, which began after their calamitous early can be obstructed by a poor atmosphere exit from Euro 2000, when they lost all three group matches. The DFB undertook in the workplace. Netherlands coach a radical review of its player development, Bert van Marwijk could do nothing tactics, training, the entire infrastructure to overcome the ‘pathetic egos’ and and culture (The Guardian 27 June 2012). quintessentially Dutch fissures that Working with Bundesliga clubs, German broke out in his squad, with one player ‘new thinking’ has produced a more even leaking team tactics before enlightened type of player – not just matches. However, a positive team technically, but behaviourally as well. climate could not offset the skill level One word that is instilled throughout of the England players, who averaged their education is ‘demut’ – humility. just 36 per cent of possession in their That is to say don’t make an exhibition four matches. of yourself. Don’t be brash and selfish. Cesare Prandelli, the Italy coach, has “These are golden rules.” (Amy Lawrence, been widely praised for transforming The Guardian, 27 June 2012). the fortunes of the beaten finalists There are two interesting points about (The Guardian, 30 June 2012), notably in the climate of the group and individual the Germans’ management of change, with implications for competition in motivation, introducing consultation business. First, they got the idea from with the players, bestowing bespoke the French. Trying to copy, or adapt, attention on key players and imbuing successful others’ main ideas – a set of cultural values linking the team ‘mimetic isomorphism’ – is a sensible back to the fortunes of their country approach to effective management, but (with visits on foot to churches, and difficult to realise, because sustainable running training camps in the poorer strategic advantage is likely to be regions of Italy). systemic in nature, not down to one or As for systems and processes – tactics two components. Second, the French and formations, in sport – these clearly thrived in the late 1990s, their golden have an influence in terms of shaping generation winning the 1998 World Cup

“In business, the late Steve Jobs was the obvious example of one man’s super-ordinate, mythologised status over his organisation, while Nick Buckle, of security ﬁrm G4S, is currently on the receiving end of a ‘romance of leadership’ backlash for his role in the Olympics security shortfall debacle.”

into overdrive, only to come crashing back to planet Earth after England were outclassed by Italy in – yes – the quarter finals. Happily for Hodgson, his short tenure (and apparently genial manner with his media tormentors) means he has been spared the brickbats. How long this will last into the World Cup qualifiers we shall see.

ESSONS ON EADERSH P ROM EURO 2012

Celebration was the order of the day on Thursday 28 June as Business School students proudly donned their graduation robes and processed into historic Durham Cathedral. In the presence of family, friends and staff, the graduands shook the hand of Sir Thomas Allen, the newly installed Chancellor of Durham University, and made the final transition to being a proud graduate of Durham University.

Professor Mike Humphreys, Professor of Organisation Studies Mike Humphreys joined Durham Business School earlier this year. As a National Coal Board scholar he graduated in Chemical Engineering in 1970 from Leeds University. Subsequently he went to work for the National Coal Board, moving into further education in 1974. He taught chemistry before taking up a post in science education at Bolton Institute of Higher Education. It was then that he secured a masters and PhD from Nottingham University, specialising in the management of technical education in Egypt and Turkey. He is now a respected specialist in the field of organisational studies and has written several papers and articles on organisational identity and management systems.

Can their entire system be copied, and can it last? The brackets in the previous sentences provide the answer, to both questions. The first step, we suggest, is to see the system, not love the leader.

With this in mind, returning to Euro 2012, and working from the bottom of the Burke-Litwin model up, teams and organisations of course need skilful,

introducing......

Spain have just completed a spectacular and awe-inspiring treble of successive tournament triumphs: they have a shrewd coach in Vicente del Bosque, they have the players, including the extraordinary Andres Iniesta; the team enjoys a cohesive and productive workplace climate (for the most part) and a culture in which giving the ball away is sinful; and they have (almost) perfected a rare and (currently) irresistible system of playing. They seem to have it all.

In the modules we teach at Durham, and in much of our research, we are careful to stress that senior leadership is but one component of an organisational system, and that performance has to be understood as a product of the complex interactions between the different system components, and the environment. The Burke-Litwin model (1992) of organisational change is one such depiction of a systemic approach to understanding what determines performance. Understanding where the problem(s) is or are, in which variable(s), is the key to organising for success.

GRADUATION

and Euro 2000, but they have performed poorly ever since. Likewise, most of the teams rushing to implement the ‘Moneyball’ approach to sport have learned two painful but obvious lessons: one, performance is relative to what others do, not absolute and, two, competition is creative and destructive, and hence unpredictable. The glory of football in particular is its persistent capacity to confound easy predictions, to surprise and bewilder. Success turns on moments. In his 2007 book, ‘The Halo Effect’, Phil Rosenzweig makes similar points on the delusion of simple explanations.

What do you want to achieve? That’s a difficult question to answer. I shall be 65 years old in December this year and feel that I have already achieved more than I would have been able to predict as a young man. Being a reasonably well-published researcher, a fairly successful teacher, and a supportive colleague is enough for me.

Photo: Iurii Konoval/Shutterstock.com

Lessons on Leadership from Euro 2012

BUS NESS PRO EC S BUS NESS PO EN A

What was the best career advice you were given? I can’t recall ever being given any career advice!

What advice can you offer to students and alumni thinking of an academic career? I would have to know the individual student or alumnus rather well before I would presume to give them any What drives you? advice. Several of my former PhD I try to avoid feeling driven – I prefer students now have academic careers to think that life just seems to ‘happen’ and I would encourage them to to me. aim high in their research and publication strategy.

The ceremony, known as Congregation, is a wonderful opportunity to mark the culmination of the great amount of work and commitment that each graduate has undertaken in order to be awarded their degree. Congregation is the term Durham uses to describe its graduation ceremonies and means a gathering of members and friends of the University to witness and celebrate the conferring of degrees. This year, over a period of four days, 3,366 graduands from over 80 countries attended the Durham Congregation ceremonies.

What are you currently working on at Durham Business School? I’m working on several things at present including: a paper on autoethnography with Professor Mark Learmonth, Durham Business School’s Deputy Dean (Research); a paper on power and organisational space with Dr Alison Hirst, University of Bedfordshire; a paper on the political marketing of the extreme right with Dr Mona Moufahim, Nottingham University Business School and Dr Patrick Reedy, Hull University Business School; and a paper on jazz and entrepreneurship with Professors Deniz Ucbasaran and Andy Lockett from Warwick Business School.

After the formalities, despite the English ‘summer’ rain, celebrations continued with a drinks reception in the Durham Union Society Debating Chamber on picturesque Palace Green. This afforded the opportunity for the School to confer some of its own awards, with presentations made by programme directors for a range of achievements see below:

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES DBS/EBS EXECUTIVE MBA Marco Zohren: Winner, Highest Average Mark Christoph Maixner: Second place, Highest Average Mark EXECUTIVE MA IN ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT Jansen Reyes: Winner, Highest Average Mark Ian Robinson: Second place, Highest Average Mark GLOBAL MBA Christine Wilson: Highest Average Overall and Highest Mark Dissertation Paul Allen: Highest Average Overall Global MBA (Finance) Arshia Bhatti: Highest Mark Dissertation part-time MA Kin Fung Chow: Highest Average Overall part-time MA Roseanne Trotman: Dean’s prize for Best Dissertation – Executive MBA Caribbean EXECUTIVE MBA 10 John Alexander: Best Dissertation and Best Overall Academic Achievement BETA GAMMA MEMBERSHIP was awarded to the following students in recognition of their academic achievement. Executive MBA: John Alexander, Christopher Flynn, Sinno Salvatore, Tim Forber and Zaneta Whitworth. Global MBA students: Christine Wilson, Paul Allen, Kun Fun Chow and Arshia Bhatti.

You can read more about Professor Humphrey’s research interests on the Academic Faculty section of the Business School website: www.durham.ac.uk/dbs

ESSONS ON EADERSH P ROM EURO 2012 N RODUC NG…

The School’s postgraduate graduates received their degrees at the morning ceremony, whilst its undergraduate’s achievements were recognised at Congregation event in the afternoon.

GRADUA ON

Q&A

C ASS NO ES

JOHN HANNAH MSC MANAGEMENT 1979-80 I have very fond memories of Durham and the Business School, and look forward one day to returning with my partner Jennifer. A few years back in recognition for rescuing a lady from an attack, Jennifer and I were invested for bravery by the Governor of New South Wales (Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir) at a ceremony in Government House in Sydney. We received our awards together, and walked down the aisle holding hands. The Bravery Medal is two below the Victoria Cross among the Bravery awards, and on the full list of awards 7th above the Order of Australia. I had sustained several injuries including a broken neck, back and hip, which has just been replaced. Now, after two-and-a-half years, I am finally getting back to normal. MARKO IVANCEVIC GLOBAL MBA 2009-11

After seven years o

I recently graduated from Durham and I will begin my career path on the Civil Service Fast Stream as a Policy Advisor in the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills starting this October. Being only 21, I will be one of the youngest members in the department – the average age for first year Fast Streamers is 26. I am confident that my Durham education has equipped me to meet the challenge.

C ASS NO ES

MARY DOUGLASS MA MARKETING MANAGEMENT 2011-12

TARUN PHOGAT FT MBA 2010-11

I originally came to Durham University as an exchange student in 2009 and had such an enriching time that I created a short-term summer abroad programme for students from my home university, the University of California, to study in Durham and York in July 2012. The programme was successful and the students loved living in the Durham Castle. I got to serve as the on-site coordinator and had a lovely time showing the students why Durham is so perfect. This programme will run every other year and will hopefully strengthen the relationship between Durham and the University of California.

I am currently working as a Senior Buyer in Landmark group LLC, headquartered at Dubai (UAE). My work involves procurement of home furniture mainly from China, Turkey, Malaysia, USA and India for 100+ stores in 15 countries. Neetu and I got married in India in July 2012. When I first met her I was immediately drawn to her beautiful eyes, big smile and easy going personality and I knew she was just perfect. We had a fantastic day and friends from around the world – including many Durham Alumni (now of course friends for life) Stefan Wilke, Germany; Ben Clarke, UK; Anna Kranz, Germany; Alice Panepinto, UK; Barbara Sabitzer, Palestine, and Richard Wilson, UK.

YVETTE REID EXECUTIVE MBA CARIBBEAN 2004-09

Da e

he D a

In 2003 when Durham Business School decided to offer the MBA program to the Caribbean with the base in Barbados, I seized on the opportunity and became part of the first cohort, and by extension, became one of the “guinea pigs”! Despite suffering illness, by the grace of God, I was able to complete the program and had the privilege of attending my graduation ceremony at Durham’s Cathedral in 2009.

BOOK REVIEW 24

BOOK RE EW Q&A

OCA ASSOC A ON NEWS DA ES OR HE D AR

Dean’s Welcome As we look forward to another exciting year, I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the success of Durham Business School over the past 12 months.

in September 2013 and until then we have temporarily relocated to Ushaw College on the outskirts of the City. If you are interested to learn more about the redevelopment, please visit www.dur.ac.uk/dbs/about/development In anticipation of the physical expansion of the School, we have recruited to a number of new academic posts and in this issue, on page 19, we introduce one of the recent additions to the faculty – Professor Mike Humphreys. Recent successes for the School include our Global MBA being placed 7th in the world in the 2012 QS Distance Online MBA Ranking. This is currently the only report that ranks accredited online, distance and hybrid MBA programmes. Of the featured top ten schools, Durham Business School is one of only four that boasts triple accreditation from AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB. I would personally like to congratulate the Global Learning Centre for developing the programme, especially the blended learning elements of the course which make it such a popular choice for today’s busy professionals.

news news news news news news news news School News BUILDINGS UPDATE

RANKINGS NEWS

GLOBAL LEARNING CENTRE

SAUDI ARABIAN VISITORS A group of 20 Executive MBA students from King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia came to Durham for an International Study Week in June. Their visit included a four-day course on International Strategic Management and a London tour with a company visit hosted by BBC Television Centre. QUEEN’S HONOUR Congratulations go to former DBS staff member Sheena Maberly, (Careers Development Manager at DBS 2000-04), who was awarded the MBE for services to Her Majesty’s Prison Service in the Queen’s birthday honour’s list. Sheena’s current role is Regional Head of Learning, Skills & Employment North East Prisons.

University News DURHAM UNIVERSITY WELCOMES HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN In July Durham University hosted Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh as part of their Diamond Jubilee tour of the United Kingdom. The Royal couple visited Durham Castle, home to University College, where they had lunch with dignitaries and students in the Great Hall. They last visited Durham Castle in 2002 during Her Majesty’s Golden Jubilee celebrations. On that occasion The Duke of Edinburgh also travelled to Durham University’s Stockton campus to announce that it had been awarded the title of Queen’s Campus.

HONORARY DEGREES During Congregation ceremonies held over four days in June, honorary degrees were awarded to a range of luminaries including: Philip Pullman (DLitt), David Inshaw (DLitt), Biddy Baxter (DLitt), Jeremy Vine (DCL), Brent Cheshire (DSc), Charles Wilson (DCL), John Rutter (DMus), Irina Bokova (DLitt), and Gary Fildes (MSc). JON LORD, COMPOSER OF THE DURHAM CONCERTO Jon Lord, a friend of the University, sadly died in July aged 71. His most well-known classical work, the ‘Durham Concerto’, was commissioned by the University for its 175th Anniversary in 2007. Jon is perhaps best known however as the keyboard player with Deep Purple. CDs of Durham Concerto, recorded at its World premiere in Durham, are available from the University’s online shop: http://shop.durham.ac.uk

Alumni – Update Welcome to the autumn edition of your alumni magazine. We are now well and truly settled in our new (temporary) home at Ushaw College. Our new location is proving to be exceptionally popular with students and the alumni and external guests who have sampled the delights of the hospitality in the Parlour and Refectory. Our most recent guests were members of the MSc 1977 cohort who were celebrating the 35th anniversary of their graduation from the Business School. One of the natural born leaders of the group, Peter Pearson, kindly recounts tales of their reunion on pages 8-9.

You may recall that in the last issue I wrote about improvements that the School has made to the alumni network over the past 12 months. Changes we have made include a greater focus on serving our international alumni. We have introduced a programme of refresher seminars events and enhancing recruitment and networking opportunities with the inclusion of prospective students and external contacts of the School. Subsequently, the D8 initiative was launched in eight of our most significant markets – visit pages 14-15 to read more about the D8 schedule and the six cities that DBS has already taken by storm! I am once again delighted to have such a strong alumni contribution to this edition of our alumni magazine. In addition to Class Notes and Local Association News, we have a review of the book ‘Confessions of a Microfinance Heretic’, which was authored by alumnus Hugh Sinclair (BA 1992-95 and MSc 1996-97), and was published in July. The review is written by another alumnus – Sahil Malik (MBA 2009-10) and can be found on page 24. Hugh is also the subject of our Alumni Q & A feature (page 25). An essential element of a modern global business school is collaboration with the business world. One activity, that is highly beneficial to organisations,

is the free consultancy we provide in the form of student Business Projects. These projects, which are an assessed part of the students’ studies, often lead to new opportunities. This is the subject of our feature on pages 12-13. Cyril Lebel (MBA 2010-11) was given the opportunity to work on a project for Vodafone over the summer of 2011 and has continued to do so, while Steve Prior (MBA 2004-05) set up his own business, Forest Carbon Ltd following his successful business project. Many of you may be curious to know how the development work is progressing at Mill Hill Lane. Our on-site video cameras are capturing all the action and this will be made available soon on our website as a series of monthly time-lapse videos. www.durham.ac.uk/dbs/about/ development Those of you who are interested in supporting the future of the School will be pleased to learn that we are offering alumni and friends the opportunity to have their name engraved on a seat in one of the new lecture theatres. The ‘Take Your Seat’ campaign (detailed on page 7) has been created to facilitate alumni involvement in the redevelopment. All of the money raised through this campaign will be endowed to secure the future of Durham Business School.

The UK has been buzzing with Olympic expectations since 2005 but it all came to fruition in London this summer, and what a spectacle it turned out to be! We would love to hear from you if you have Olympics or Paralympics stories and photographs to share. If you have any feedback on the magazine or the alumni association in general, please do get in touch as I would be delighted to hear from you. Finally, following Alumni Coordinator Hayley’s move back to Ireland earlier this year, I am pleased to announce that Katharine Aspey joined the team in August. She has previously worked at both the University’s Durham and Queen’s campuses and as well as taking on this busy role, she is studying for a part-time masters in marketing management. I am sure you will join me in welcoming her to the School.

Alexandra McNinch Alumni Relations Manager

The Spirit of Durham 35 years after the MSc class of 1976-77 left Durham, they returned to the City they hold so dear and here, alumnus Peter Pearson recounts the tale of their reunion. Here we go again. Another reunion – dangerous events these. Memory is kind, reality is not. Some of us met up after 13 years in 1990. For others, the get-together in 2007 marked a gap of 30 years since we had last met. Then we just fell into an easy comradeship as though we had parted the day before. Extraordinary. This reunion (July 2012) was no different. Bob Burns (US), Anna Scharf (Germany) and Peter Pearson (Surrey) were the first to arrive, followed the next day by Geoff Lodge (Buckinghamshire), George Bell and his wife, Susan (Australia), Liz Thorley and her husband, John (Darlington) and a little later, Phil Owen (Russia via Bridgend, South Wales) still with snow on his boots. Again we all simply took up where we had left off – holding a pint! Unfortunately, Peter and Caroline Herborn (also from Australia) were unable to join us as Caroline had been injured in a car accident (fortunately not too seriously) that precluded flying. We wish her a complete recovery. So our group represented a 23 per cent turnout of the original 1976-77 cohort. Not bad really after 35 years, particularly as, sadly, one or two of our intake have passed on. The appalling weather that hit the North East the previous weekend was still reflected in the flooded River Wear. And it still rained! Our plans for long trips to Lindisfarne, Seaham and other places were abandoned. We initially restricted ourselves to Durham City and what a blessing this proved to be.

one or more seats in the new Business School lecture theatre. We are hopeful those alumni not able to join us will also donate and participate in this, the most exciting development in the history of the Business School. Saturday saw us take advantage of some improved weather by visiting Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle. What a stunning place this is both for its architecture and for its world class art, ceramic and silver collections. After predinner refreshment back in Durham a decision was taken to have a meal in a certain Italian eatery. After an hour’s wait for a first course of minestrone whose coldness was only matched by its greasiness, six of the finest business management brains that Durham University Business School have ever produced staged a walk out, repairing to the chippy across the road. Fish & chips never tasted better! The remainder of the weekend included support of one or two of Durham’s other hostelries neglected during the previous three days and enjoying the City’s International Brass Festival which filled the streets with music.

If you feel inspired to reunite with your fellow cohort members, please contact the Alumni Team who will be happy to assist.

Foraging Ecology and Consumer Behaviour We generally believe our behaviour is very different to that of the non-human animals around us but recent work has shown that it may be quite similar. Building on work in behavioural psychology, animal experimentation and information foraging, Dr Victoria Wells, a member of the Marketing faculty at Durham Business School, is exploring the relevance of foraging ecology models to consumer behaviour. Patch and Prey Two central ideas within foraging theory are patch and prey. Patches are simply physical areas within a habitat, often well defined, in which an animal can find food or other materials it needs for survival. The obvious analogy for human consumers would be physical area such as a shop or a mall but the patch does not have to apply to definite physical boundaries and might instead form the acceptable shopping area or the shops the consumer is aware of or evaluates positively. In turn the prey is the food or other material the forager seeks within one or more patches. The obvious analogy here is the product, brand or service the consumer seeks to buy. From this animals make two main choices: ‘within patch choices’ (choices over which prey to consume), and ‘between patch choices’ (choice between shops or shopping areas).

Social Foraging Social Foraging, compared to the other areas of foraging research studied above, has received far less academic attention but provides valuable insights into the potential behaviour of consumers and potential research areas for future research development. One theory in this area, Ideal Free Distribution (IFD), is directly related to research on crowding behaviour and in particular is concerned with how crowding will lead to a forager moving to a different patch and when this would happen. As noted above, while much research in consumer behaviour has studied the antecedents of retail choice little research has studied the points at which consumers leave particular retail environments and why. Crowding, via social foraging theory may help to explore this. IFD is also concerned with the idea of competitive influence and how interactions between consumers could reduce search and purchase efficiency through to the extremes of kleptoparasitism (outright expropriation of food from its finder), areas which could add to the growing interest in consumer ‘misbehaviour’.

Affluent Foragers While foraging theory is predominately studied from the perspective of animal behaviour, another area of foraging theory, from anthropology and archaeology sheds additional light on foraging within human populations. This area explores ‘affluent or complex foragers’, who exist in habitats that are described as productive rather than harsh and provide a richer suite of natural resources, hence the foragers are more sedentary and a higher level of economic complexity is seen. While the behaviour of animal foragers is about ‘survival of the fittest’, the behaviour of affluent foragers is more complex and arguably has more similarities to human consumption behaviour.

BUSINESS PROJECTS BUSINESS POTENTIAL Undertaken as an alternative to the traditional dissertation, the connections made during a Business Project can offer real payback. Here two DBS MBA alumni talk about their experiences and the benefits.

According to Steve Prior (full-time MBA 2004-05), the success of Forest Carbon Ltd, the business he based on his own MBA project, can be attributed to two things: niche expertise and contacts.

Go to any business school, Steve says, and you’ll keep hearing the word ‘contacts’ – which is why so many invest in an MBA. It’s a well-founded perception that a business school is where fortunechanging networking opportunities can be found. But at Durham Steve discovered that the old adage, ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ can be turned on its head. He says that what you know comes first because your most valuable contacts will be the ones who expect you to have something of your own to offer. Steve says the two best bits of advice he received during his MBA course were: a) contacts are vital and b) your dissertation or business project period is your opportunity to acquire an area of expertise that someone might be willing to pay for in the future. This advice

proved to be correct and Forest Carbon stands firmly on the foundation of his business project (on UK forestry in emerging carbon markets), with Steve’s co-owner and co-founder being someone he interviewed during the research process. The acquisition of new contacts and knowledge was, he found, an easy and natural part of his project work when doors, usually closed, would be opened quite readily to a person undertaking research. In his case, the most significant new contact he made was with future business partner James Hepburne Scott who at the time was chair of the Scottish Forestry and Timber Association and an active lobbyist for the exploration of carbon markets by UK forestry.

Steve and James soon realised that, between them, they had the knowledge and contacts to create a standard-setting voluntary forestry offsets business. “Meeting James halfway through my project was a turning point”, says Steve. “Suddenly we were building and testing an actual business model and the science behind it.” Until Steve (a former school headmaster) arrived at Durham he hadn’t given the Kyoto Protocol or ‘carbon’ woodlands much thought but it took just one inspirational lecture from Tony Cockerill – on the role of economics in solving environmental degradation – to set him on his new path. Later that year, when a business project in this field was offered, Steve grabbed it.

Cyril Lebel (full-time MBA 2010-11) made the decision to take on a Business Project with Vodafone Global Enterprise during a networking event organised at DBS and has since joined the company as Global Service Manager. programme. He was especially Created in 2006 with fewer than 50 enthusiastic about applying some of people, Vodafone Global Enterprise has grown exponentially reaching over 1,200 the frameworks around the diffusion of innovation discussed during the employees in 2012. Cyril’s Business ‘Strategic Innovation’ elective with Project focused on cloud storage and Dr Pierpaolo Andriani. its adoption in the enterprise. Cloud computing had become a buzz word surrounded by hype and misunderstanding. Clarification was essential. In the consumer space, all of the methods of synchronising documents among the growing number of devices (PC, mobile phone, tablet…) are cloud based. However, businesses worry about security in its broadest meaning and tend to refuse or limit the adoption of cloud storage despite obvious productivity gains and ease of use. These issues provided an obvious way for Cyril to make use of recent learning from the core modules of the MBA

D8 is a worldwide series of events designed for our alumni, corporate partners and prospective postgraduate students, taking place in eight of our most significant markets throughout 2012 and 2013. In conjunction with the Global Learning Centre, the DBS Alumni Network has organised Continuing Professional Development workshops to enable alumni and students to engage with the Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vision of lifelong learning, and to provide prospective students with the chance to experience DBS teaching. Here are some of the events that have taken place to date.

MOSCOW: 19 APRIL 2012 – ARARAT PARK HYATT MOSCOW

DUBAI: 18 MAY 2012 – MONARCH DUBAI

HONG KONG: 12 SEPTEMBER 2012 – CITY UNIVERSITY

Theme: Crisis Management with Dr Mike Nicholson, Director of Durham Business School’s Global Learning Centre.

Theme: Finance for the non-financial manager delivered Dr Aly Salama, Deputy Director of the PhD programme and MBA module leader.

Theme: Derivatives in the News – Understanding the Dangers of Exotic Derivative Products with Ian Whitfield, Senior Teaching Fellow in Economics and Director of Undergraduate Studies.

D8 events are planned for London and India – details will be available in due course.

Lessons on Leadership from Euro 2012 Are we in love with our organisational leaders a little too much? Here DBS academics Professor Birgit Schyns and Dr Graham Dietz look at what football â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in particular Euro 2012 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; can teach us about management.

In psychological research, there is a phenomenon called the ‘Romance of Leadership’ (Meindl et al., 1995), which explores why, among all the things that might influence firm performance, it is leaders who are seen as the decisive influence, the vital variable that makes the real difference, especially when performance is unexpected, no matter if good or bad. In business, the late Steve Jobs was the obvious example of one man’s superordinate, mythologised status over his organisation, while Nick Buckle, of security firm G4S, is currently on the receiving end of a ‘romance of leadership’ backlash for his role in the Olympics security shortfall debacle. Romance of leadership is especially prevalent in sports. For national team coaches – the leaders – their task and role in a major tournament is not only to lead a disparate group of players to potential success; it is also about managing, and ideally fulfilling, a nation’s expectations of the team’s performance. Very often the personalitydriven media coverage assigns to the team managers complete responsibility for their team’s performance, good or bad, regardless of whether this is really in their scope to influence.

“In business, the late Steve Jobs was the obvious example of one man’s super-ordinate, mythologised status over his organisation, while Nick Buckle, of security firm G4S, is currently on the receiving end of a ‘romance of leadership’ backlash for his role in the Olympics security shortfall debacle.”

Take the English. In major tournaments, England always “underperforms”. In fact, Kuper and Szymanski (2009) have shown that England actually perform completely in line with their average ranking and past performance – crashing out halfway (but always, always unjustly), usually in the quarter finals. This is, obviously, not in line with England’s (absurdly inflated) public expectations, leading to an unedifying witch-hunt that typically ends with the manager’s departure.

This year seemed different. Expectations for the new manager, Roy Hodgson, were very low indeed, having only been

German expectations are rather more ambitious; they expect to come home with the trophy. Indeed, the Deutsche

To paraphrase Albert Camus, (almost) everything we two authors know about organisations we owe to watching football – which brings us nicely to the recent Euro 2012 tournament.

Germany and Denmark’s patient perspective chimes with research into football manager tenure which shows that frequent upheaval and leadership change does not improve team performance (Bridgewater, 2006; Hughes et al., 2010). Indeed, teams such as Denmark and Germany may be spot on to resist the romance of leadership, and their attention to other factors affecting performance suggests a more systemic view of managing for success. In the modules we teach at Durham, and in much of our research, we are careful to stress that senior leadership is but one component of an organisational system, and that performance has to be understood as a product of the complex interactions between the different system components, and the environment. The Burke-Litwin model (1992) of organisational change is one such depiction of a systemic approach to understanding what determines performance. Understanding where the problem(s) is or are, in which variable(s), is the key to organising for success. With this in mind, returning to Euro 2012, and working from the bottom of the Burke-Litwin model up, teams and organisations of course need skilful,

and Euro 2000, but they have performed poorly ever since. Likewise, most of the teams rushing to implement the ‘Moneyball’ approach to sport have Löw himself is reaping the benefits of learned two painful but obvious lessons: a major overhaul of German football, one, performance is relative to what Individual motivation, however powerful, which began after their calamitous early others do, not absolute and, two, can be obstructed by a poor atmosphere exit from Euro 2000, when they lost all competition is creative and destructive, three group matches. The DFB undertook and hence unpredictable. The glory of in the workplace. Netherlands coach a radical review of its player development, football in particular is its persistent Bert van Marwijk could do nothing tactics, training, the entire infrastructure capacity to confound easy predictions, to overcome the ‘pathetic egos’ and and culture (The Guardian 27 June 2012). to surprise and bewilder. Success quintessentially Dutch fissures that broke out in his squad, with one player Working with Bundesliga clubs, German turns on moments. In his 2007 book, even leaking team tactics before ‘new thinking’ has produced a more ‘The Halo Effect’, Phil Rosenzweig matches. However, a positive team enlightened type of player – not just makes similar points on the delusion climate could not offset the skill level technically, but behaviourally as well. of simple explanations. of the England players, who averaged One word that is instilled throughout just 36 per cent of possession in their their education is ‘demut’ – humility. Spain have just completed a spectacular four matches. and awe-inspiring treble of successive That is to say don’t make an exhibition tournament triumphs: they have a of yourself. Don’t be brash and selfish. Cesare Prandelli, the Italy coach, has “These are golden rules.” (Amy Lawrence, shrewd coach in Vicente del Bosque, been widely praised for transforming they have the players, including the The Guardian, 27 June 2012). the fortunes of the beaten finalists extraordinary Andres Iniesta; the team (The Guardian, 30 June 2012), notably There are two interesting points about enjoys a cohesive and productive in the climate of the group and individual the Germans’ management of change, workplace climate (for the most part) with implications for competition in motivation, introducing consultation and a culture in which giving the ball business. First, they got the idea from with the players, bestowing bespoke away is sinful; and they have (almost) the French. Trying to copy, or adapt, attention on key players and imbuing perfected a rare and (currently) successful others’ main ideas – a set of cultural values linking the team irresistible system of playing. ‘mimetic isomorphism’ – is a sensible back to the fortunes of their country They seem to have it all. approach to effective management, but (with visits on foot to churches, and difficult to realise, because sustainable running training camps in the poorer Can their entire system be copied, and strategic advantage is likely to be regions of Italy). can it last? The brackets in the previous systemic in nature, not down to one or sentences provide the answer, to both As for systems and processes – tactics two components. Second, the French questions. The first step, we suggest, and formations, in sport – these clearly thrived in the late 1990s, their golden is to see the system, not love the leader. have an influence in terms of shaping generation winning the 1998 World Cup what the employees (are supposed to) do, but many players ignore or forget tactics in the drama of a game.

Photo: Iurii Konoval/Shutterstock.com

knowledgeable and motivated employees (players, and support staff), but it is apparent that individual brilliance is not enough (witness Ibrahimovic for Sweden, Ronaldo for Portugal, Pirlo for Italy).

introducing...... Professor Mike Humphreys, Professor of Organisation Studies Mike Humphreys joined Durham Business School earlier this year. As a National Coal Board scholar he graduated in Chemical Engineering in 1970 from Leeds University. Subsequently he went to work for the National Coal Board, moving into further education in 1974. He taught chemistry before taking up a post in science education at Bolton Institute of Higher Education. It was then that he secured a masters and PhD from Nottingham University, specialising in the management of technical education in Egypt and Turkey. He is now a respected specialist in the field of organisational studies and has written several papers and articles on organisational identity and management systems.

What was the best career advice you were given? I can’t recall ever being given any career advice!

You can read more about Professor Humphrey’s research interests on the Academic Faculty section of the Business School website: www.durham.ac.uk/dbs

GRADUATION Celebration was the order of the day on Thursday 28 June as Business School students proudly donned their graduation robes and processed into historic Durham Cathedral. In the presence of family, friends and staff, the graduands shook the hand of Sir Thomas Allen, the newly installed Chancellor of Durham University, and made the final transition to being a proud graduate of Durham University.

The School’s postgraduate graduates received their degrees at the morning ceremony, whilst its undergraduate’s achievements were recognised at Congregation event in the afternoon. After the formalities, despite the English ‘summer’ rain, celebrations continued with a drinks reception in the Durham Union Society Debating Chamber on picturesque Palace Green. This afforded the opportunity for the School to confer some of its own awards, with presentations made by programme directors for a range of achievements see below:

CLASS NOTES

JOHN HANNAH MSC MANAGEMENT 1979-80

TEJASWY RAMA FT MBA 2009-10

I have very fond memories of Durham and the Business School, and look forward one day to returning with my partner Jennifer. A few years back in recognition for rescuing a lady from an attack, Jennifer and I were invested for bravery by the Governor of New South Wales (Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir) at a ceremony in Government House in Sydney. We received our awards together, and walked down the aisle holding hands. The Bravery Medal is two below the Victoria Cross among the Bravery awards, and on the full list of awards 7th above the Order of Australia. I had sustained several injuries including a broken neck, back and hip, which has just been replaced. Now, after two-and-a-half years, I am finally getting back to normal.

My wife and I married on 11 March in Vishakapatnam, India. Sridevi is a Chartered Accountant from Mumbai. We have had a rocking time and are getting ready for our Malaysian tour next month.

MARKO IVANCEVIC GLOBAL MBA 2009-11 After seven years of clinical research in North America, working for Philips Healthcare on its managing research project with academic partners, Universities of Michigan and Chicago, I am moving to the Philips Headquarters in the Netherlands, as Senior Scientist in charge of the global body/oncology MR research programme.

ANH DAO NGUYEN MA HRM 2004-05

I am now the Managing Director of ‘Dress Up And Dance Ltd’ in London, which is focused on inspiring children’s imaginations. To celebrate London Olympics 2012, Dress Up And Dance has a variety of UK-themed sportswear to encourage children to be GARY BISHOP more athletic as healthy mind needs GLOBAL MBA healthy body. Coming from a developing 2009-11 country like Vietnam but living in I graduated this summer from my MBA London, I want to build a closer at the Cathedral and my charity Justlife relationship between the UK and Vietnam. So I intend to introduce has been going great guns since we started back in 2009. Justlife provides a range of products made in the UK health and social care interventions for to Vietnam, and products made in Vietnam – particularly from disabled the homeless and vulnerably housed and earlier this year we made it through children – to the UK. To find out more about my business, email me at to the semi-finals of the National info@dressupanddance.co.uk Lottery Awards. Unfortunately we did not receive quite enough votes to be in Thank you to my tutors and friends the televised final, but we were pleased at Durham for giving me the ability to make my dreams come true. as a relatively small outfit to be recognised. Later this year we will be LINDSEY GLEASON launching a project in Brighton where I have just relocated to with my family. MA MANAGEMENT 2011-12 To learn more about Justlife visit www.justlife.org.uk

Earlier this year I won the first round of Durham’s Dragons’ Den Competition and then competed in the Grand Final in June – where I was awarded 2nd place. The new company GLEAS will put student-athletes directly in contact with international university coaches and athletic departments. We’re focusing on the UK at the moment and will be launching our website soon.

I’ve recently accepted a position at iLUKA for the London 2012 Olympics, it is an international sponsorship agency which connects global brands at global sporting events. I have Durham Business School to thank for the creation of GLEAS as well as my involvement with the Olympics, I became aware of iLUKA through Team Durham. EVA XINJING LIU MSC FINANCE 2006-07 My husband and I studied MSc Finance & Investment together in Durham, graduating in January 2008. Afterwards we moved to London and found jobs. We had a wonderful wedding in Athens in July 2011 and several of our classmates attended. We recently celebrated our one-year anniversary in a lovely Thai restaurant in London. JOHNNY LUK BSC NATURAL SCIENCES (BIOLOGY, BUSINESS AND GEOGRAPHY) 2009-12 I recently graduated from Durham and I will begin my career path on the Civil Service Fast Stream as a Policy Advisor in the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills starting this October. Being only 21, I will be one of the youngest members in the department – the average age for first year Fast Streamers is 26. I am confident that my Durham education has equipped me to meet the challenge.

MARY DOUGLASS MA MARKETING MANAGEMENT 2011-12

TARUN PHOGAT FT MBA 2010-11

YVETTE REID EXECUTIVE MBA CARIBBEAN 2004-09 In 2003 when Durham Business School decided to offer the MBA program to the Caribbean with the base in Barbados, I seized on the opportunity and became part of the first cohort, and by extension, became one of the “guinea pigs”! Despite suffering illness, by the grace of God, I was able to complete the program and had the privilege of attending my graduation ceremony at Durham’s Cathedral in 2009.

1. John Hannah 2. Eva Xinjing Liu 3. Tejaswy Rama 4. Anh Dao Nguyen 5. Lindsey Gleason 6. Yvette Reid 7. Tarun Phogat

Confessions of a Microfinance Heretic – How Microlending Lost Its Way and Betrayed the Poor Sahil Malik (MBA 2009-10), gives his verdict on this recently published book written by fellow alumnus Hugh Sinclair (BA Economics 1992-95 and MSc International & Corporate Finance 1996-97). Most of us have heard about microfinance, and it’s almost magical claim of being the panacea for all ills for the world’s poor. Having worked entirely in microfinance since the 2000s, Hugh Sinclair presents an insider’s view of how this sector really works. His bold and scathing exposés on many well-known global microfinance institutions (MFIs) and funds leave the reader spellbound. Hugh explains that few MFIs actually benefit the poor (with some of them charging interest rates as astronomical as 144 per cent), and that many of them channel funds for their own selfinterest. The case of LAPO in Nigeria is one such example of an MFI where the author has followed up on his suspicions of their wrongdoing. Hugh’s ethical standpoint makes him a crusader in this field, and he proceeds to whistle blow on the activities of his employer at the time, a Dutch microfinance fund, upon learning of its continued ‘assistance’ to LAPO in Nigeria. It is also interesting to read about Hugh’s experiences in Mozambique and Nicaragua, where he investigates the real story beneath the rosy picture being presented by MFIs. Hugh does not let any lead fizzle out; he follows it till he gets more evidence for his work.

Hugh has not merely talked about MFIs which do not work. He has also given instances of successful MFIs in Mongolia and South America that have worked wonders for the poor. This helps create a more balanced picture and also affirms the fact that not all MFIs and funds are corrupt.

All in all, I would recommend Confessions of a Microfinance Heretic, as this is indeed a book that will make you question efforts made to tackle global poverty. It will also make you think twice about the claims made by many MFIs and funds about their role in empowering the needy.

The reader will marvel at Hugh’s dogged pursuit in taking on corrupt MFIs such as LAPO almost singlehandedly. His hard work does pay off, as microfinance ratings agencies eventually do downgrade LAPO. Hugh also offers suggestions on tackling the rot in the sector, so it is not a case of merely exposing wrongdoing and not offering remedial solutions.

One feels proud that a fellow Durham Business School graduate has done such ground breaking work, which can truly help the global microfinance sector introspect on its weaknesses and correct its mistakes. Learn more about Hugh Sinclair in the Q & A feature on page 25.

Even a lay reader will enjoy reading Confessions of a Microfinance Heretic as Hugh explains the intricacies of this sector in a simple manner. His personal anecdotes about the challenges of working in some of the world’s most inhospitable places add colour to the book. Additionally, one feels that as an author, Hugh has deep insight, knowledge and experience in the field of microfinance. His work on the ground lends him credibility, as he is not merely ‘preaching’ about the subject. Apart from Hugh’s own expertise in the field, he has backed up all his points with in-depth research.

BOOK REVIEW

Q&A Hugh Sinclair (BA Economics 1992-95 and MSc International & Corporate Finance 1996-97) talks about his career and life post-Durham. He is the author of Confessions of a Microfinance Heretic which is reviewed on page 24. Hugh worked with Barclays before and during his undergraduate degree in Economics at Durham. Graduating in 1995, he spent a year travelling and working in South America, returning to Durham to do an MSc, after which he worked in corporate finance at ING Barings. He studied an MBA in 1999 at IESE Business School in Barcelona and, after a brief spell at Enron, moved into the microfinance sector, where he works to this day. He has since lived in Mexico, Holland, Mozambique, Mongolia and Argentina.

Q. What is your current role? A. I am a board director of an Ecuadorian bank and a microfinance consultant, based mainly in South America. I also increasingly work in renewable energy. Q. What are your fondest memories of your time in Durham? A. Lazy summer afternoons by the river ‘revising’; Adrian Darnell’s course ‘Econometric Theory’; jumping out of aeroplanes at Peterlee Parachute Centre; the Geordie accent; and walking through Durham at 6am on a Sunday after a heavy snowfall before anyone else was awake. Q. Do you feel that your Durham degree and connections have helped your career? A. I returned to Durham to do an MSc, this provided the basis for my entire career. I’m still in contact with some of the professors and friends I made some 20 years on. Durham is a superb university and not so intense as to exclude having fun.

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

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

A. In 2001 Nick Alcock (a friend from Durham) and I set the Guinness World Record for the fastest motorcycle journey from the north coast of Alaska to the Southern tip of South America.

A. Take a year off after you graduate and explore, learn a new language, focus on what you really want to do – what makes you passionate, and not upon what appears ‘sensible’ or a ‘wise career choice’. The wisest career is the one that you love the most. Also, if you have the chance to continue studying, a masters or a PhD, take it. Such decisions become harder each year, and the working world will always be there when you finish studying.

Q. What prompted you to write your book – Confessions of a Microfinance Heretic? A. After a decade working in the microfinance sector I became disillusioned. The sector had grown into a ‘fashion’ and those so generously financing this bubble were largely unaware of the reality of what actually happened in the developing countries. I wanted to explain this reality, in an attempt to improve what could be a very powerful tool to fight poverty, but is alas all too often abused.

Q. What about your plans for the future? A. Now branded as a whistle-blower my options are increasingly limited, but I never worry too much about the future, something always turns up. I may do a PhD; or open a pizza restaurant; or remain in finance – but I’m not losing any sleep over which it will be. If this book prompts investors and regulators to improve the microfinance sector I would love to be involved in the clean-up, but if not, I think I’ll try something new. It’s never too late to change.

local association news DBS Alumni Global Network

L to R: Gemma Pan (MA 2002-03), Alex McNinch, Abby Wang (MA 2004-05), Richard Chen (MBA 2002-03), Elaine Chen (MBA 1998-99), Alex Hu (MBA 1999-00), Professor Rob Dixon, Reggie Lai (MBA 2000-01), and Ocean Wang (MBA 2008-09).

SHANGHAI

JORDAN

Over the summer, Professor Rob Dixon, Dean of Durham Business School, and Alex McNinch, Alumni Relations Manager, launched the first DBS International Committee (DBSIC) in China.

Local Association Leader, Zu’bi Al-Zu’bi, organised a get-together with fellow Durham alumni in Amman, Jordan during August, to celebrate the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

Active members from the alumni community were invited to join the committee and help to move forward the School’s agenda in China. Their principle objectives include encouraging the continued flow of high-achieving students and developing a support network for recent graduates in order to assist them in the advancement of their careers. The next meeting is scheduled for December 2012.

HYDERABAD In June, David Thornber, Durham University Regional Manager (South & Central Asia), visited India to represent the University at a number of admissions fairs. Alumni based in the Hyderabad area took the opportunity to hold a gettogether at the Sailing Club Annexure to honour his visit.

BEIJING Christine (Huifang) Liang was recently appointed as the new Local Association Leader in Beijing. After finishing her MBA in 2002, Christine worked for several years in an investment bank in Hong Kong. She intends to continue former leader Abby Wang’s great work in connecting alumni via networking and social events. Christine would welcome any ideas you have for strengthening the network. Please contact dbs.alumni@durham.ac.uk and we will forward your suggestions. Abby Wang recently started her own business in sea fishing (www.luremaniac.com) and we want to take this opportunity to thank her for all she has done for the Beijing Local Association and we wish her every success in her new venture.

Local Associations are the perfect way to keep in touch with other DBS alumni in your area. The final Global Get-together date for this year is 6 December. As usual this is just a guide. If it is more convenient for your group to meet at another date and time please do so. If you are interested in joining these or any other groups throughout the world – in your location or perhaps in a business area you frequent – please email us and we will put you in touch with a Local Association Leader. Alternatively, if there is not yet a local association in your area, contact the Alumni Team and we can investigate setting one up. We look forward to hearing about your events and receiving photographs. If you require any help in arranging a get-together please do get in touch.

ging The MBA Class of 1987 are arran rday a reunion lunch in London on Satu Foster 17 November. Classmates Nicola Stephanie (née Fraser), Derrick Ahlfeldt and help Dale are coordinating the event with initial good a had have they and DBS from you are response from their invitation. If find a 1987 MBA graduate and want to via la Nico act cont se plea out more details. dbs.alumni@durham.ac.uk for full

Dates for the Diary EVENTS

RECRUITMENT EVENTS

PREVIEW/ OPEN EVENTS

DURHAM SPEAKER SERIES

QS MBA FAIRS

Brand Strategy – Jo Fairley, co-founder of Green & Black’s Chocolate

Dublin, Ireland – 2 October London, UK – 6 October Frankfurt, Germany – 20 October

For a list of preview and open events, please visit the Business School website at www.durham.ac.uk/dbs/degrees/ mba/ft/events

25 October Andaz Hotel, London, UK

ACCESS MBA FAIRS

Leadership – Howard Webb, UK Premiership Referee 29 November Durham Business School, Ushaw College, Durham, UK

LOCAL ASSOCIATION GLOBAL GET-TOGETHER 6 December

Geneva, Switzerland – 13 October Vienna, Austria – 15 October Sofia, Bulgaria – 8 November Bucharest, Romania – 10 November Dubai, UAE – 24 November

QS WORLD GRAD FAIRS Paris, France – 6 October London, UK – 27 October

BRITISH COUNCIL FAIRS Athens, Greece – 3 and 4 November Cyprus – 7 and 8 November

WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP PROMOTE DBS? We regularly attend education fairs around the world and love it when we are joined by alumni. Not only does it give us the opportunity to catch up with you, but prospective students really value the opportunity to speak with our graduates. If you would like to volunteer to help at a fair in your country we would like to hear from you.

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

Please note that some dates, speakers and venues are provisional or yet to be confirmed.

NEWS

DBS

ALUMNI

Alumni Team Alexandra McNinch, Alumni Relations Manager Katharine Aspey, Alumni Coordinator Durham Business School Alumni Team Ushaw College Durham DH7 9RH UK t: +44 (0)191 334 5277 f: +44 (0)191 334 5218 e: dbs.alumni@durham.ac.uk UK DBS Alumni Network Local Associations Northern UK (based in Durham) Southern UK (based in London) International DBS Alumni Network Local Associations Athens Beijing Canada Caribbean Denmark Egypt Frankfurt Ghana Gibraltar Hong Kong Hungary India Indonesia Japan Jordan Malaysia Mexico New Zealand Nigeria Norway Pakistan Russia Shanghai Singapore South Africa South America Switzerland Turkey United Arab Emirates United States of America To be put in contact with other alumni in your area, please contact the Alumni Team.

Business School

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