This edition of Bradford University School of Management’s digest of the latest business thinking features
- Quotas for women on boards
- Peer learning on the Ideas Bus
- Robert Peston on the Greek Economy
- Cutting the cost of an MBA
Please share your views here and on Twitter @BradManagement
STRATEGY & LEADERSHIP
Blog: Will quotas get the right women on boards?
Our Dean Dr Sarah Dixon shares her thoughts on the pros and cons of quotas coming out of debate at a panel discussion on Women on Boards in her latest blog.
She says: “One of the problems often cited in securing women onto boards is the lack of a pipeline of senior women with the type of leadership and management experience that counts in the selection process. More women than men graduate from university, yet fewer women than men make it to the top of the career ladder. Is it something in the female psyche that inhibits their career? Is it due to different values with respect to work/life balance? Or is it due to the predominance of men ‘at the top’ promoting their own image? Or maybe it is even simpler than that – women just don’t even think about the possibility of putting themselves forward for board positions?”
Ideas discussed at the event for how women can help themselves get onto boards included starting with the public sector to build your CV, making your interest in a board position known to your senior contacts in companies and showing executive search companies the benefits of different perspectives.
Sarah’s view that she is against quotas in principle but that positive action must be taken – and that quotas might be an answer – has invited comment from some top business people from across Europe. Corporate Communications Consultant Christopher Webb said: “The current system doesn’t even seem to get the right men on some boards, so I can’t see that quotas for female board members would do any harm.” Business consultant Rosena Robson responded: “What is most disappointing is that there is a great deal of denial that there is a problem by women and men, I like Christopher’s comment because it doesn’t asssume that all male directors are brilliant and by implication there is a lack of talent amongst women, which is clearly not the case.”
INNOVATION
Innovation Club: Peer learning on the Ideas Bus
Bradford University School of Management’s Innovation Club is a group of forward thinking companies from the region that are interested in learning from each other and working with the School to enhance their ability to innovate.
The Innovation Club will take to the road in September 2011 for its new ‘Ideas Bus’ initiative. The Ideas Bus will visit a number of companies to look at how they are innovating and share ideas. There will also be a round table discussion and visiting lecture at the School of Management.
Christos Kalantaridis, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation said: “Businesses want solutions now and the Ideas Bus is one of the ways that we are trying to open the School and our resources to organisations small and large – and link our research to their needs. It is all about peer learning and sharing ideas.”
To find out more about the Innovation Club, contact Professor Kalantaridis on C.Kalantaridis@bradford.ac.uk
FINANCE & SUSTAINABILITY
Robert Peston on the Greek economy
BBC Business Editor Robert Peston has been following the economic situation in Greece closely, in the wake of Eurozone finance ministers’ overnight decision to withhold payment of 12bn euros (£10bn) of emergency loans. He has discussed whether voluntary aid is a no go and why “letting Greece default in a disorderly, uncontrolled way would probably be a good deal worse for the global economy than Lehman’s collapse.”
Follow him via @Peston on Twitter or read his blog.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Practice-focused research from top European business school
We are launching our new Centre for Managerial Excellence (CME) on 30 June 2011. The Centre will enable the School to engage in business-focused research to address key global challenges for public, private and third sector organisations; students; and academics. The launch event will feature guest speaker Aleem Sheikh, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships with BP and a member of the School of Management Advisory Board. He will talk on “A perspective on Sustainable Business – China’s Energy Future and the World”. Click here to register to attend.
Cutting the cost of an MBA
Amongst other things, the School has remodelled some of the elective modules of its MBA course into concentrated blocks to allow students to specialise if they wish, as well as providing them with the option to take some of these modules at a partner institution in Europe. As a business school closely linked to organisations in the local and wider community, companies they work closely with who fund a student to join its highly ranked MBA programme in September 2011 or January 2012 are being offered discounts of up to 30%. For students who fund the Bradford MBA themselves, the School is offering up to 17 scholarships of up to £5,000 each, offered on a competitive merit basis. For more information, contact mba@bradford.ac.uk, visit www.bradford.ac.uk/management/fees or attend an MBA Preview Event.
