Issue 259 - June 2016

Ahead of the EU referendum, an expert panel from the School of Management will be taking questions from Cranfield staff and students, in what promises to be a lively debate. Dr Catarina Figueira, Professor Paul Baines and Emeritus Professor David Myddelton are among those confirmed and will argue for ‘Remain’ or ‘Leave’ in a Question Time-style event, which will be chaired by Dr Ruth Bender. It takes place on Wednesday 22 June at 17:30pm in Vincent Auditorium. More details to follow, with information of how to be in the audience. The interactive session will be live-streamed, and available to watch later.Join the debate or tweet your questions to #CranfieldEURef Save the date: Join the Cranfield referendum debate

Message from the Director…

I am pleased to be writing to you following an exciting few weeks for executive education. As you will have seen on this month’s lead story, our customised executive development programmes retained their global top ten position in the Financial Times rankings for the fourth consecutive year. Customised programmes were also rated first in the world for overseas programmes, reflecting our global reach. While rankings do not always paint the whole picture, it is particularly pleasing that a proportion of the criteria on which we are judged comes from our customers’ recommendations. An endorsement from them shows that we deliver on our promises and achieve results for their businesses. I would like to thank my many colleagues who make this all possible.

Aside from that, as the campaigning continues apace for the EU referendum, the School of Management has been adding its voice to the debate. A number of my colleagues, myself included, have been speaking at business events around the region in the run-up to this historic day and we have been exploring the arguments for ‘Remain’ and ‘Leave’. I shared a platform with, amongst others, the Rt.Hon Ann Widdecombe in a two-hour Question Time format in Milton keynes, which generated a lively debate amongst the panellists and an audience of 150 commited ‘Leave’ or ‘Remain’ voters. For an in-depth look at some of the business issues, take a look at some of the features on the SoM homepage, featuring Catarina Figueira, Joe Nellis, Richard Wilding and Paul Baines. You will see from the ‘In The News’ section that there has been a lot of media activity around the referendum, both in the UK and overseas, and I’m sure that, whether we ‘Remain’ or ‘Leave’, it’s a topic we’ll be continuing to debate for months to come.

Dr Ruth Bender

Professor David Myddelton

Dr John Glen Director, Centre for Customised Executive Development

Professor Paul Baines

Dr Catarina Figueira

Impact Showcase: from one expert to another Faculty from across the School of Management participated in the University’s recent Impact Showcase.

Start-up weekend

The Bettany Centre for Entrepreneurship hosted a start-up weekend to help current Cranfield students develop business ideas based on technologies developed on campus. Dr Shai Vyakarnam, Director of the Bettany Centre, said: “We’re really lucky to be part of a university populated with smart people, great technologies, and lots of unique ideas. We asked the students to present their ideas at the end of the weekend and it was inspiring to see them come up with and develop some brilliant business ideas. It was equally as refreshing to see their naturally business-minded approach to start-ups.” Students whose business ideas were particularly impressive will receive further mentoring support in order to potentially take their model to market. The Centre hosts three start-up weekends each year, with the next one coming up in November. The November weekend will challenge students to create a draft business model based on a technology developed by Cranfield University.

One of the School’s strategic priorities is to be recognised for outstanding and impactful research that meets the needs of its clients, and the showcase was an ideal way for colleagues to share their expertise and insight into effective research methods. • Dr Radu Dimitriu spoke about service brands • Professor Sue Vinnicombe • Dr Maarten van der Kamp explained the importance of putting an idea into action and creating a positive impact • Professor Clare Kelliher explored the notion of flexible working • Professor Liz Varga detailed why it is so important to be an efficient decision maker • Dr Akunna Oledinma discussed minimising waste in the food supply chain. Thanks to everyone who took part. highlighted her focus on increasing the number of women on UK corporate boards