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warwick business school alumni association magazine: summer 03

diary

Philippa Norman appointed Genentech VPThe appointment of Philippa Norman (MBA 1988–89, BSc Biochemistry 1982–85), to vice president, Global Supply Chain, was announced in Marchby leading biotechnology company Genentech (NYSE: DNA) from theirSouth San Francisco HQ. In this role, she has responsibility for Genentech’ssupply chain management organisation.

Previously vice president of Knowledge Acquisition at Ingenuity Systems,Philippa spent nine years at SmithKline Beecham PLC in supply chainstrategy development, manufacturing management and global logistics,culminating as vice president and director of a network of 10 manufacturingfacilities around the world. Early in her career, she worked in the UK at Eli Lilly & Co. and the Institute for Animal Health.

summer 2003www.wbs.ac.uk/alumni/nexus.cfm

7 Enterprising teaching at WBS

8 Shrewd investors

11 Hedging your bets

13 Business alchemy

14 How to pick a winner

16 Launching a business

18 Building bridges

19 Career development

22 Alumni adventurers

MBA 10 Year ReunionSaturday 20 September 2003Radcliffe House receptionfollowed by dinner at the Forest of Arden Hotel andCountry Club

Academic Update SeminarSaturday 18 October 2003 Radcliffe HouseTopic: Images of StrategySpeakers:Professors Karen Legge, John McGee, Robin Wensley,and David Wilson.

London Evening SeminarFebruary 2004

WBS Annual DinnerThursday 13 May 2004IOD, London

regional eventsRegional events are also heldoverseas, in the Midlands, Oxfordand London.

MidlandsThursday 11 September 2003Tuesday 18 November 2003

LondonFriday 3 October 2003Tuesday 11 November 2003Friday 5 December 2003

news:

A feature on Warwick Business School entitled ‘The Wonder ofWarwick’ in Ambassador in December, included a graduate’sperspective from Kevin Engelbretson (FMBA 2000–01) who nowworks as business product manager for telecoms company 02.

Congratulations to Lesley James (MAIR 1976–77)who was awarded a CBE in the New Year’sHonours list for services to the Partnership Fund Assessment Panel (DTI). Also to Joanne Segars (MAIR 1986–87) Board Member,Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority whowas awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthdayhonours list for services to the Pensions Industry.

honours for alumni

high praise from the Ambassador

WBS alumna Hedda Bird (DLMBA 1991–98)featured in the Financial Times on 11 February.Hedda is MD of 3C Training, which is pioneering atraining course delivered by telephone. The prosand cons of the course were discussed in the FT’sINSIDE TRACK: A classroom by conference call.For more information visit www.3Ctraining.co.uk

Geoff Percy, (EMBA 1985–89) Chief Executive ofAccantia, featured in the Daily Telegraph in earlyFebruary and the March issue of Trailblazermagazine – Growing Business. According to theDaily Telegraph, Geoff is the man who put the ‘can’in Accantia, which was formed as the result of amanagement buy out of the consumer businessfrom Smith & Nephew Plc in June 2000. Withsales of £94m last year, the Birmingham-basedhome of the Simple and Lil-lets toiletries brandscompetes strongly with Proctor & Gamble in thepremier league.

www.wbs.ac.uk/alumni/

Designed by Parenthesis +44 (0)24 7622 9658

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new look nexus – special 24 page edition: Your favourite alumni magazine has undergone a design makeover and we are eager to hear what you think of the new look. Please email your comments toPam.barnes@wbs.ac.uk and we will include a selection in the next issue, due out in January 2004.

news update

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Recognition in Brazil: WBS was the subjectof strong media coverage in Brazil inJune, with an article in Valor Economico,

the leading business daily paper,describing WBS as ‘a dream place forworld class executives’. The articlehighlighted the modernity of thecampus, its excellent quality of life andhow the university has risen fast invarious rankings to become a world classcentre of excellence. Don Antunes,Dean's Fellow (Strategic Management)was also interviewed on Brazil’s nationalradio and the WBS Football Managementcourse featured in Brazil’s top businessmagazine Economia.

Recruiting stars of the future: Warwick's continuing commitment toexcellence is shown by the recruitment of12 new faculty who will be joining WBSover coming months. We welcome:

Alberto Franco ORS, Philip Hancockand André Spicer IROB, Zoe RadnorOM, Zulfiqar Shaf, Kostas Koufopoulos,Silvia Rosetto, Giorgio Valente, SimunaScarparo AFIN. Three new Professors:Ruth Davies ORS, Richard Elliot andNigel Piercy MSM.

They come from as far afield as theUniversity of Melbourne, Australia, andthe Institute d’Economic Industrielle,Universite des Sciences Sociales,Toulouse, bringing a depth and range ofexperience to the already internationallyrenowned Warwick faculty.

WBS has risen to 34th position in the influential Financial Times World MBArankings, published in January, making it 8th in Europe, and 3rd in the UK, splitting Cambridge and Oxford (2nd and 4th respectively). WBS has now risen 20 places over the past three years.

‘This is great news, for both staff and students at WBS. It is also great news for our14,000 former students working around the world – a vindication for them thatthey studied at one of the best business schools in the world’ said Dr SimonCollinson, former Associate Dean for the Warwick MBA.

Further confirmation of WBS’s position as one of the world's top business schoolscame from The Financial Times Executive Education survey, published in May. The survey placed WBS 4th in the UK and 30th in the world, a rise on last year ofone place and three places respectively. The comprehensive survey looks at a rangeof issues from course design and value for money to food and accommodation.

WBS rises again in worldwide rankings

:

kicking off the new seasonJune 2003 saw WBS launch the second year of its highlysuccessful programme for Football Management.Developed in partnership with bodies from thefootballing community, the qualification is designed tocomplement existing coaching qualifications. The coursecontinues to receive media interest both here and abroad,as the new cohort includes such well-known names as ex-England players Tony Adams and Stuart Pearce.

solving a $40 billion riddleA team at WBS in the Innovation, Knowledge &Organisational Networks (IKON) Research has been awardeda £500,000 grant by The Economic and Social ResearchCouncil and the Engineering and Physical Sciences ResearchCouncil to research ways in which knowledge transfer canbe improved in the field of biomedical research. ‘No-oneknows the true value of the ‘lost’ research for the simplereason that it never makes it to market,’ says Jacky Swan,Professor of Organisational Behaviour at WBS.

changing studentsRavi Monteiro and Daniel Jones are the firstWBS undergraduate students to go on theexchange with Wharton School, University ofPennsylvania and will start their studies inSeptember. Wharton, the top-ranked USbusiness school, contacted WBS in theautumn to explore exchange possibilities andis currently the only UK business school withwhich they are working.

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Top honour for WBS ProfessorProfessor Sir George Bain was awarded

the honorary degree of LLD in the

Summer Degree Ceremonies at

Warwick in July. George worked at

WBS when it was the School of

Industrial and Business Studies. In 1970

he joined Hugh Clegg at Warwick to

take up the post of Deputy Director of

the internationally-recognised

Industrial Relations Research Unit. In

1974 he took over as its Director and

served in that role until 1981.

He accepted the post of Chair of the

School in 1983. It was in this role that

he transformed it into the leading

international business school it is

today, and changed the name to

Warwick Business School. In 1989 he

left WBS to become Head of London

Business School. He was knighted for

services to higher education and the

Low Pay Commission in 2001.

Warwick Business School has

long been known for its

entrepreneurial spirit. This

edition of Nexus is the ‘money’

issue with a series of articles on

entrepreneurship and finance.

Since the new year, WBS has

launched the Enterprise Teaching

Group which will ensure that this

expertise is brought to students

across a range of undergraduate

and postgraduate courses.

This Spring the Warwick

community lost two valued

members: Professors Peter Doyle

and Tony Steele, and we pay

our tribute to them both below.

We are very pleased to be able

to include here an article Tony

wrote for inclusion in Nexus on

how to increase the odds of

winning. This is complemented

by an article about Professor

Stewart Hodges’ research into the

options markets. There are also

articles from WBS alumni who are

using the knowledge

they gained at Warwick to

develop their corporate strategy

as entrepreneurs or in the

finance sector.

This autumn will see an almost

unprecedented influx to WBS of

first-rate new academic staff from

around the world. We are looking

forward to welcoming them to

the Warwick family and we

expect them to continue our

progress towards becoming the

best European business school.

You will have the opportunity

to meet some of them at

alumni events.

This May I attended the first

Warwick Business School dinner,

which was hosted by Lord Jeff

Rooker (MA IR 1971–72), at the

House of Lords. This distinctive

venue launched what I hope will

become a rich tradition as alumni

and students mixed with current

and past WBS staff.

I hope to meet many more of you

at the second Annual Dinner

which is planned for 13 May

2004 and will be hosted by

George Cox, Director General of

the Institute of Directors, in the

gracious Nash room of their

London headquarters.

Warwick Business School’s

foundation is superlative research

and teaching excellence and your

work, as Warwick graduates,

brings our reputation for quality

to over one hundred countries.

I look forward to your continuing

support.

Howard Thomas

:

:

a message from the Dean of WBS

tributeFor WBS, the Spring term was

overshadowed by the sad deaths

of two of the leading lights of the

School. Peter Doyle and Tony

Steele both joined WBS as

professors, both achieving this

promotion at an unusually young

age, and tragically both lost long

battles against cancer. This cruel

disease took them within weeks

of each other, at an age when

they still had much to give in

their careers.

Peter died on 30 March, and a

tribute event was organised

jointly by the University and

WBS on 20 May, in the Ramphal

Theatre on campus. A wide

spectrum of guests attended this

event, from top academics such

as Professor Sir George Bain,

Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s

University, Belfast, and past

Chairman of WBS who was

responsible for bringing Peter

Doyle to WBS, through to fellow

marketing professionals,

academics, past and present

students and alumni of WBS, and

Peter's family. Messages and

tributes were sent from as far

afield as India, Greece, Japan,

New Zealand and North America.

A commemorative book on Peter's

life and career is currently being

compiled; two copies of this will

be produced, one copy to be

given to the Doyle family, one to

be kept at WBS.

Tony died on 21 April, having

fought his illness to the end, and

insisting on leading the Critical

Issues in Management third year

core course for the Undergraduate

Programme at WBS this academic

year. His family and colleagues in

the Accounting and Finance

Group organised a gathering to

celebrate his life, following on

from the funeral. The event was

held at the University's Scarman

House, next door to WBS, and

included friends, family and

colleagues from academia and

the professions.

Tony and Peter were not only

absolute experts in the

academic sense, they were both

lively and entertaining

well-rounded individuals with a

great sense of humour. We will

miss their commitment to WBS

and their dedication and

enthusiasm for their own

subjects, for the wider world of

business study and research,

and their wish to improve and

extend the boundaries of

knowledge and expertise.

For more information visit w www.wbs.ac.uk/news/features/doyle.cfm w www.wbs.ac.uk/news/features/steele.cfm

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british cabinet officelooks to warwickProfessor David Wilson was invited by the House of Lords to teach Members of theHouse and senior civil servants, including Black Rod, about strategy implementationand effective organisation design. On Friday 28th March David led a three-hoursession with 30 Members and Civil Servants to help them identify where issues lie,which are critical, and how developments will be made in the future.

This is part of a larger process led by the Cabinet Office, which is looking at howParliament can be re-organised. They are particularly interested in how theHouse of Lords Committee Structure is organised, how information is conveyedinto the House, and on what basis they make decisions.

‘The Cabinet Office looks to Warwick for business expertise and trainingwhich is quite exciting,’ explains David. They will be seeking a partnerbusiness school to continue the process of improving decision-making andthis may well turn out to be Warwick Business School.

David Wilson is Professor of Strategic Management at Warwick BusinessSchool. He has served as an Advisor to the Cabinet Office and variousgovernment departments as well as to many private sector companies.His research interests are: strategic decision making and performance;comparative studies of public/private organisations; strategic change andpolitics in organisations; links between leadership, strategy andperformance and strategy implementation.

He was invited to lead the session at the House of Lords with George Cox, thehead of the Institute of Directors. Black Rod was part of the session because,as well as his famous ceremonial role, he oversees the committee structure inthe House of Lords. ‘The day had proved a great success,’ concluded David,‘and the House of Lords fully intends to follow up this initiative.’

On arrival, Palace of Westminster guides took

guests on a tour behind the scenes,

concluding in the House of Commons. With

its outside terrace overlooking the Thames,

the Cholmondeley Room provided a superb

setting for reminiscing over the excellent

dinner, as guests were reunited with former

lecturers, classmates, students and colleagues.

To the chimes of Big Ben, Dean Howard

Thomas proposed a toast to the School and

its successes, including the 5 star ranking

and the excellence and popularity of our

programmes, with our MBA programme

recently ranked above Oxford. Lord Rooker

responded with a witty speech recalling his

days at Warwick in the early ‘70s, and the

somewhat unconventional route his political

career has taken since.

Alumnus Mike Callanan confirmed: ‘The

venue, organisation, food and atmosphere

were all superb. As a result we had a

pleasurable and memorable evening. It will

be a hard act to follow.’ This event proved so

popular that tickets sold out within hours.

Next year’s Annual Dinner will be held in

the beautiful Nash room at the Institute of

Directors in London.

first for WBSAn historical event took place on Thursday

8 May, with the School’s first ever Annual

Dinner. As befitting a first, this premier

event was held at one of the most

prestigious venues in London, the House of

Lords. WBS alumnus Lord Jeff Rooker

(MAIR 1971–72) hosted a unique assembly

of over 120 invited guests, faculty, board

members, alumni, staff and current students.

An invited audience of faculty, alumni anddoctoral students attended a keynotelecture on organisational design byProfessor Nicolaj Siggelkow of WhartonSchool in May.

According to David Wilson, Professor ofStrategic Management: ‘This lectureshowed how some of the nostrums aboutthe appropriateness of organisationalstructure can be questioned. Using asimulation approach, Nicolaj demonstratedthat centralised, de-centralised andnetwork (liaison) could be equally effectivegiven certain contextual parameters.’

‘In particular, appropriate forms ofstructure - those which led to greater speedof action and decision making – werecontingent upon both the characteristics ofthe problem (simple versus complex) andthe environment facing managers (stableversus turbulent). Only in extreme cases ofstability or turbulence were Burns andStalker's nostrums that centralisedstructures are appropriate in stableconditions and decentralised structuresappropriate in turbulent conditionssupported. In all other cases,

the simulation demonstrated that a rangeof structures could be equally effective.’

These findings resonate with those foundby David and his colleagues who studiedthe relationships between implementationcharacteristics of strategic decisions andthe effectiveness (or otherwise) of theoutcome. They found that organisationalstructure did not feature as a key factor inthese processes. Successful decisions couldbe made in highly centralisedorganisations which were facing turbulentenvironments and vice versa. Indeed,structure itself only seems to matter whenit impedes decision processes. Unlessstructure gets in the way, then it seemsthere are no simple ideal types as proposedby earlier contingency models such asthose by Burns and Stalker.

Professor Siggelkow was invited to WBSby Andrew Pettigrew, WBS Dean Research.Andrew commented, ‘His workexemplifies the use of a variety of researchmethods to beam in on a consistentresearch theme’ how and why strategicchoices and changes in firms are linkable tofirm performance.

German-born Nicolaj has been in the USAsince 1990 and met his collaborator JanRivkin when he did his PhD at Harvard.Commenting briefly on his visit, Nicolajsaid: ‘I have known Andrew for a couple ofyears and was delighted to accept hisinvitation to Warwick. I am very impressedwith the new building and what Howardhas been telling me about studying theMBA by different disciplines and theability to switch between, which I feel maybe unique, particularly the distancelearning MBA with local tutors.’

keynote lecture

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book now!Forthcoming Warwick Open Programmes

For full programme information and booking details, contact Warwick Business School Executive Programme on tel 02476 524395 e-mail execqueries@wbs.ac.uk or visit our website at www.wbs.ac.uk/corporate

Short CoursesOctober 2003 2 Business & Responsibility: The Global Compacttbc Entrepreneurship

November 20033 Managing Knowledge17–18 Images of Strategy: The Impact on the Firm

January 200413–14 Marketing: Building and Managing Strong Brands27 Managing Critical B2B Relationships

Accredited Open ProgrammesDesigned for practising managers who wish to refine and formalise theirmanagement knowledge and skills, these practical courses are deliveredas 8 x 3-day modules over 18 months and lead to a University ofWarwick Diploma.

Warwick Diploma in Applied ManagementNext course starts 8 October 2003

Warwick Diploma in Service LeadershipNext course starts 24 November 2003

In Spring of 2003 Warwick Business Schoollaunched the Enterprise Teaching Group.This formalises the change for the long-standing research group, the Centre forSmall and Medium Sized Enterprises,which now shares its expertise with currentWBS students through teaching.

A whole series of entrepreneurship coursesare being taught to Warwick undergraduatestudents with nearly 700 students takingcourses over the coming year. These rangefrom, ‘Understanding enterprise’ taught byDr Francis Greene, through to ‘Criticalissues in management’ taught by ProfessorDavid Storey. Innovatively, several coursesare aimed at Warwick undergraduates whoare taking science or engineering degreesbut who will undoubtedly need businessskills in the future.

All variants of the Warwick MBA also takecourses taught by the Enterprise Group.There have always been a subset ofWarwick MBAs who go on to start their

own businesses directly after their course,but from the pattern of the alumnidatabase it is clear that most WarwickMBAs will be self-employed at some pointin their careers. There are also a number ofstudents on the MBA course each year whoare already entrepreneurs. For example,Sara Shailer who had started her projectmanagement company, Accompli, in 1995graduated with the Warwick MBA this July.‘The modular programme of study reallyworked well with running a business at thesame time,’ she commented.

The mythical entrepreneurNigel Sykes and Dr Andrew Burketeach Warwick MBAs a course called‘ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND NEW VENTURECREATION’. The course has two majorthemes: entrepreneurial behaviour and theentrepreneurial process. Students learn whatis involved in setting up a business, theproblems of growing a business and thepreparations and role of the business plan.

Can entrepreneurship or entrepreneurialbehaviour be taught or is it innate? ‘I amprobably quite unorthodox,’ says NigelSykes. ‘People need to find out who they areand how they fit with other capabilities. I focus less on the notion of theentrepreneur and more on theentrepreneurial team, the importance ofdeveloping our talents, and application ofthe skills learned on other courses.

‘The course becomesentrepreneurship in action.Everyone has a talent andcan make a valuablecontribution so that is theteaching approach I take’

Where is the money?Especially in the current climate, findingfunding for a new venture can be tough. On the very popular new course, DrAndrew Burke seeks to provide studentswith an understanding of the venturecapital market from different perspectives:that of the investor in a venture capitalfund, the entrepreneur, and others whowork in the sector. He looks at what VC’sdo and how they seek to add value, heexamines legal aspects and themanagement of a VC fund. He also teachesthe financial economics which underlienew venture finance.

Headed by David Storey, the EnterpriseTeaching Group comprises StephenBatstone, Andrew Burke, Francis Greene,and Nigel Sykes

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The launch of the new International Journalof Entrepreneurship Education attractedinternational media attention at WBS andthe Mercia Institute of Enterprise. Editorialboard members from the world's leadingbusiness schools and economics

departments including Harvard, MIT,Berkeley, UCLA, Warwick, Cambridge andINSEAD attended the launch, where Dr Andrew Burke (WBS and UCLA) one ofthe Journal's founding editors, stated, ‘Theconstant features that are associated with

successful entrepreneurship are skills andperspectives that can largely be taught.These are the skills that the Journal will bepromoting.’ The IJEE is published by SenateHall Academic Publishing. Details areavailable at www.sentatehall.com

WBS hosts international launch

enterprising teaching at WBSNi

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‘David and I both think ourManagement Sciences degrees fromWarwick gave us many different skillsas well as the perspective to see whatinterlinks and forms a whole’

David Tilles (BSc, Man. Sciences, 1971–74)

met Clive Gillmore (BSc, Man. Sciences,

1979–82) for the first time when he

interviewed him for a job at the British

merchant bank, Hill Samuel. Now they run

an extremely successful London based investment

management firm, Delaware International Advisers, as

Managing Director and Deputy Managing Director

respectively. A winner of the 2001 Queen's Award for

international trade, their company mainly invests on

behalf of North American based pension funds,

endowments and foundation clients like Pfizer, State of

New York and Stanford University in stock markets

throughout the world. They have seen their share of

this huge and competitive US market double over the

last five years, and in spite of the volatility in the

international investments, they have stayed focused on

providing their clients with above index returns for all

their products at low levels of risk.

‘David was the entrepreneurial catalyst,’ Clive explains.

In 1990 David moved with his entire team of nine

international investment professionals from Hill Samuel

to set up a new company. ‘It was less of a risk for the rest

of us because we were a bit younger, but we all agreed to

no change in our salaries and no bonuses for two years,’

remembers Clive, which even as one of the youngest in

the team, meant a substantial reduction in income after

nearly ten years successful work in the City.

‘We knew our future as a team lay elsewhere,’

says David. ‘We had a few choices but Delaware

Investments, a US-based asset management company,

offered to fund our whole team for two to three years

for no return and agreed to give us access to their

domestic client base and US mutual funds capability.

They also gave us equity ownership in the business.

We were bringing them our experience of international

markets at a time most American pension funds

invested very parochially.’

‘David saw that there was huge potential growth in this

segment of the global financial services industry. At that

time the average US pension fund might only have an

international allocation of 2%-4% and we expected that

proportion to grow to over 15%,’ Clive explains.

‘There was a lot of investment theory at the time on the

benefit of diversification and when you combine

domestic US and foreign investments together you can

lower total portfolio volatility and have the potential to

increase return’.

‘The first year was hard work,’ remembers David.‘It took three years to get our first $1 billion underour management for fifteen or so clients’In the following years many US, Canadian, Japanese,

Australian and South African pension funds embraced

international investment and Delaware. David and

Clive's new company, Delaware International Advisers,

was able to grow from the initial team of ten in 1990 to

just under 100 people today. The assets under their

management have grown from $20 million for one

client to $16,000 million for over 70 large institutional

clients. They have been one of the fastest growing

companies in the City with over 90% of their annual

sales coming from overseas customers.

‘It was David's entrepreneurial vision to be in the right

place at the right time, but he also brought together a

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shrewd investors continued:

Warwick Business School’s Master’s degreein Financial Mathematics (MSFM) takessome of the cleverest mathematical brains,teaches and trains them for one year, andwhen they graduate they are snapped upon the employment market by financialinstitutions. Each summer, MSFM studentsare available for projects with companies.

‘Our students do exciting projects for companies,’ explains Professor Stewart Hodges who is the AcademicDirector of the programme. ‘The projectsare on topics like risk measurement andmanagement, derivatives valuation,investment management, financialengineering, and computational work.This year projects will be completed for

companies including: JP Morgan, DeutscheBank, Foreign and Colonial, Baring AssetManagement, and London ClearingHouse.’

The companies work with Stewart to setthe projects, and then he manages thestudents to ensure they deliver a usefulreport back. Assignments run from theend of June to mid-September andcompanies do not incur any costs unlessthey require students to travel.

If you think you may be able to offer anMSFM student project, please contactProfessor Stewart Hodges onstewart.hodges@wbs.ac.uk

multi-skilled team. For example, I can lead

aspects of our investment side but also

involve myself in winning new business.

David and I both think our Management

Sciences degrees from Warwick gave us

many different skills as well as the

perspective to see what interlinks and

forms a whole,’ says Clive.

Their team has remained remarkably

steady, with six out of nine of the original

company founders still with Delaware.

Over time they have recruited 35

investment professionals and only ever

lost five. They credit this stability, sense of

team spirit and loyalty with much of their

success in achieving good investment

results and retaining clients. By keeping

the company fairly compact, based in a

single location, always on one floor with

open plan offices and the management in

accessible glass fronted offices, everyone

feels a strong sense of esprit de corps.

Probably most importantly, every member

of the team shares in the same incentive

plan. Thirty percent of the company's

profits are put in an incentive pool and

shared out amongst all of the staff so that

employees feel motivated to see the

company succeed.

So how can they guarantee a reasonable

return in the current climate, ride out

the market's boom and bust of the

past few years, the long-standing

recession in Asia, and keep adding to

their client base?

‘We take a long view on fundamental

value. We are consistent and systematic in

our investment approach over time, and

this has proved itself,’ says David. ‘Our

average international portfolio has only

fifty companies, and with 24 equity

analysts this means that the team can

focus on knowing fewer companies, in

greater depth over a longer term

evaluation period. This marks us out

relative to competitors who tend to

try to cover too many companies

superficially and trade the holdings in

their portfolios frequently.’

‘Investment fund management is about

people and methodology,’ says Clive.

‘For Equity markets we use a long term

dividend discount model which is based

on profit flows. We focus on return and

our approach is income based. This is a

better long term map.’ Considering that

Delaware has retained both its clients

and staff over the internet boom when

offering low-risk and non-speculative

returns was extremely unfashionable,

they must know what works.

‘I see two challenges in our future and you

have to have the vision to know you are well

positioned no matter what happens,’ says

Clive. ‘The financial services industry is

going to consolidate in the medium term

and in the longer term we have the

influence of demographics. People will live

longer and they will need to give greater

emphasis to income. Our income based

approach to equity evaluation fits this

scenario very well as does our capability in

managing Global Fixed Income instruments.

We believe our firm is well placed in both

the medium and the long term.’

David and Clive obviously share a long

and successful history together and they

both credit their Warwick degrees with

starting them off. David relates an

anecdote of their first meeting when he

interviewed Clive for a job at Hill Samuel.

‘I asked him about his degree from

Warwick. I inquired where the University

of Warwick was. Then why isn't it called

University of Coventry? As he dealt with

that, I asked him about the 'sciences' part

of his Management Sciences degree and

questioned could management really be

scientific? In the end, of course, I told him

I had the same degree from the same

University, and despite that hired him!’

Financiers of tomorrow, current students Jianping Feng and MiaoChen are doing their MSc projects with London Clearing House

If you were to have bet in the Martell GrandNational horse race on a 1-10 horse, a horsethe bookies think has a 90% chance ofwinning, then for every pound you bet youwould get £1.13 back if your bet paid off.On the other hand, if you bet on a realoutsider, with a 100-1 chance, you could win a fantastic return.

What about the expected returns on thesebets? We know that on average the bookieswin, but they expect to win more on somekinds of bets than on others. The averagesshow that the expected return to the punteris worst on outsiders (which really deserveeven longer odds) and best on the favourites(which should have slightly shorter ones).

For bets on strong favourites the punter canexpect a small positive return, whereas for allother bets the expected return is negative.

Professor Stewart Hodges, at WarwickBusiness School’s Financial Options ResearchCentre (FORC), and a team of internationalcollaborators have recently completed someresearch to examine if the above premisetranslates from horse race betting to options markets.

‘We investigated this for the S&P 500 futures,the FTSE 100 futures, and the BritishPound/US dollar futures for the 17 years from 1985 through 2002,’ explains Stewart.‘We found that there was a definiterelationship between calls on the FTSE 100with three months to expiration. Moreover,there are slight profits from deep-in-the-money calls on the S&P futures andincreasingly greater losses as the call optionsare out-of-the-money.’ They did not find thebias on the FTSE 100 futures but a significantlong-shot bias does exist for the deepest out-of-the money options.

‘For the put options in both markets, one andthree month horizons, we found there wasevidence that investors are usually overpayingfor all put options as an expected cost ofinsurance,’ continues Stewart, ‘the patterns ofaverage return map onto the betting averagereturn.’

This is primarily of interest to institutionalinvestors like Goldman Sachs and DeutscheBank where those who use options fortrading or hedging will be able to make use ofthis extra information to guide them.

Further reading: ‘The favourite / long-shotbias in S&P 500 and FTSE 100 Index futuresoptions: the return to bets and the cost ofinsurance’ FORC preprint 2003/125 availablefrom stewart.hodges@wbs.ac.uk

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hedging your betsby Emily Fay

Tim Soar (EMBA1991–97) has livedin Japan, Argentina,Venezuela, Franceand Spain. A nativeEnglish speaker, he also speaksfluent Spanish and French

The former Commercial Director andGeneral Manager of MG Rover inArgentina, recently moved with hisfamily to Barcelona, Spain. Last yearTim started his own executive interimmanagement consultancy, ProyectosLimited providing specificmanagement and project resource tocompanies throughout Europe.

His latest assignment teamed him up with MG Rover again, this time as Interim Sales Director of MG RoverEspaña in Madrid for a 5 monthperiod to achieve a number of specific objectives.

‘My experience has been gained indynamic international environments,where it is paramount to define keyproject goals with multi-culturalstakeholders and shareholders, andthen achieve them,’ says Tim. Overthe last 18 years he has worked mainlywithin the automotive industry onmajor business development projects,both commercial and manufacturing.

‘I enjoy the challenges of working indifferent cultures and languagesenormously and really believe that wehave still only scratched the surface interms of inter-EU collaboration. TheEMBA gave me some fundamentals ofthinking that are applicable and validin my day-to-day work wherever I amin the world. Of great value to mewere the experiences and differentapproaches we shared amongst thediverse participants during the EMBA.’

In 1997, VanessaCouchman (MBA1989–90) fulfilledher ambitions ofliving and workingin France by settingup as a freelanceconsultant andbusiness writer

‘Today, I suspect that the MBA is often a springboard for new businessstart-ups. When I took mine it wasusually a stepping-stone from onecorporate career to another. No exception, I went from thepublishing industry via the MBA to the Audit Commission.

I did not have the courage to go it alone straight from Warwick, and the corporate experience I gained afterwards was essential,’ explains Vanessa.

After leaving the Audit Commission,she started with a small client base. A local contact was invaluable, guidingher through the systems and language.According to Vanessa, ‘Once set up,modern communications technologymade it possible to work remotely andmuch of my work is done via emailand Internet. Having the contacts tostart with made all the difference.’

Now she has a thriving client base,mainly in the public sector. The mainadvantage of working as I do is thelifestyle. I do come to England on amonthly basis to see clients, carry outprojects and market myself. Workingas I do does not seem to have been abarrier to securing assignments.’

Setting up your own business is neversimple but Vanessa would seem tohave achieved the best of both worlds.

Members of the WBS IKON group havereleased a new book that draws togethersome of the major strands of the unit’sresearch. Managing Knowledge Work bySue Newell, Maxine Robertson, HarryScarbrough & Jacky Swan. Published byPalgrave Press, Managing Knowledge Workis aimed at academics, students andpractitioners who are involved instudying, teaching, practising andmanaging knowledge work, the bookprovides a coherent and integratedaccount of the critical issues involved.

Max Moullin (MSc MSOR 1974–75) hasrecently written Delivering Excellence inHealth and Social Care published by Open University Press. According to theforeword ‘Its review of the differentapproaches to measuring quality and topromoting excellence in health andsocial care is comprehensive andthorough.’ Max is a senior lecturer inTQM and Organisational Excellence atSheffield Hallam University. Furtherdetails can be obtained fromwww.amazon.co.uk

Disabled parents are the subject of atimely new book by WBS alumnusRichard Olsen (MA Sociology of Labour1987–1989; PhD Industrial Relations,1989–1993). The book, Parenting andDisability: Disabled Parents' experiences ofRaising Children, published by the PolicyPress, is the product of work carried outat the Nuffield Community Care StudiesUnit, University of Leicester.www.prw.le.ac.uk/nccsu/

Gerardo Patriotta obtained his PhD inIndustrial and Business Studies at WBS(1995–99). Now Associate Professor ofStrategic Management at the RotterdamSchool of Management, ErasmusUniversity, Gerardo reports the release ofhis first book with Oxford UniversityPress. Organizational Knowledge in theMaking – How Firms Create, Use, andInstitutionalize Knowledge. This book aimsto fill the gap between theory, method,and practice by developing aphenomenological approach to the studyof knowing in the context of organizing.www.oup.com

hot off the press

entente cordiale

One of the main accusations hurled atBusiness Schools is that of irrelevance to thereality of the business ‘coalface’. No matterhow much the academic defends the needfor academic rigour, research excellence, theneed to deliver a set number of academicjournal articles per year or the fact that theirdepartment has to be run like a business…the fact is that these accusations of ivorytower behaviour will emerge.

Professor David Storey from the BusinessSchool’s CSME (Centre for Small andMedium-sized Enterprises) has achieved areputation as the academic in the field ofSME research. His accolades (in the academicworld) are numerous: So my question is:does David’s work help businesses?

To declare my interest, I am anentrepreneur who has run restaurants,sound recording studios and trainingcompanies. Currently, I run The Directors’Centre, a management consultancy thatworks with fast-growing businesses. I amauthor of two best-selling business books.In a former life, I worked at the CSME,acting as Programme Director for severalprogrammes that worked exclusively withentrepreneurs or their bankers or theiradvisers. My interest has always been indelivering value for money ‘interventions’to clients, irrespective of the source oracademic rigour of the offerings. All I wantis tools that work to give to my clients.

So, the question for me, as an entrepreneur,has to be: ‘Does David Storey’s work addvalue to the clients I work with?’ and theanswer is ‘Yes’.

David’s book ‘Understanding The SmallBusiness Sector’, and his work with ‘TheTen Percenters’ with Deloitte and Touche,both focus on the needs and theenvironment in which businesses live.

As a business speaker, I pride myself onusing plain English, yet my work isunderpinned with David’s work.

The whole small business industry wasshaken by David’s challenge to the old viewthat investing in start-ups is a good thing –David said and proved that to get thebiggest bang for your buck, governmentsshould invest in the successful high growthbusinesses which are more likely to producemore jobs than the start-ups. This was theraison d’etre for the creation of theBusiness Link movement in 1991.

It was David who revealed that highgrowth businesses tend to be more focusedon marketing than the run-of-the-millaverage business. He also noted how thereally good businesses tend to focus on thetriad of strategy, marketing, and teams.

David likened the skills of the entrepreneur to those of a whitewater rafter – obsessed with getting into the right current (=marketing!), but aware thatthe outside environment can also destroyyou (=strategy).

Essentially, David challenged howgovernment had dealt with small business.As a result of his work, it is no longerpossible to assume that ‘helping smallbusinesses’ or ‘helping start-ups’ can be

seen as a good thing…unless the initiativecan demonstrate value for money. Inessence he has set the agenda for theprovision of business support so that it will‘do what it says on the tin’.

And how does David’s body of work sit inthe real world? Has he made a difference? I think that the answer is ‘Yes’.

In the seminar room or with clients, theexcellent fast-growth businesses really areobsessed with David’s triad: strategy,marketing and teams; the issue here is tocommunicate this with the aspiringbusiness. In government small businesspolicy and in the Business Link movement,David’s challenges to the effectiveness ofbusiness support have changed the waythat success has been measured.

David and I set up what has become knownas the biggest and the best trainingprogramme for UK bankers along withworld-class training for business advisersand their businesses. These programmestook the theory and fed it to the coalface –theory and practice worked together. Andthe results were incontrovertible: the banksaw market share and profits increase,business advisers saw their clients’ profitsincrease and our entrepreneurs saw theirturnover and profits increase. And thesesuccesses become the stamping ground toinvestigate what made them successful,which feeds more research and moretraining and consultancy.

Robert Craven is Author of Kick-Start YourBusiness and Customer Is King (Forewordby Sir Richard Branson). The Financial Timeshas recently described him as ‘theentrepreneurship guru’. He runs themanagement consultancy for growingbusinesses, The Directors’ Centre.E rc@thedc.co.uk w www.thedc.co.uk

business alchemy:

In February 2003, Adrian Finn, a part C distance learningMBA student, used his entrepreneurial skills, his savingsand re-mortgaged his home to set up his own consultancy,EpurchasingPlus.

‘I had always intended to start my own business eventuallybut I was never totally clear as to what form this wouldtake. Doing the MBA provided the clarification and thenecessary pointers I needed to consider,’ explains Adrian.

His company provides ePurchasing solutions, particularly e-auctions and collaborative solutions, to medium to largesized enterprises, targeting organisations wishing to generaterapid returns from their respective ePurchasing investments.

According to Adrian, ‘To succeed, you need a clear strategybased on some thorough market research. Cash flow iscritical, plus lots of self-belief. Making use of all possiblecontacts and opportunities is a must in securing those firstfew contracts. We are currently dealing with about 30-40medium to large organisations, with turnovers from £22mto £280m. They are using e-auctions on anything fromenergy and telecoms through to office paper and rawmaterials, with savings averaging 16%.’

With an expected turnover for the first year of £250kAdrian looks set to continue bidding in a strong market. For more information visit www.epurchasingplus.co.uk

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turning theory into practiceby Robert Craven

a strategy to tip the odds in your favourby Professor Tony Steele

step one: Carefully assess the first opportunity. Use this first opportunityto learn as much as you can about what is on offer

step two: Reject this first opportunity

step three: Accept the next opportunity that is as least as good as thefirst opportunity that you turned down

Although we live in an uncertain world rich with unknown opportunities, this does not mean we are victims of chance. There are strategies that can tip the odds in our favour. Here is a rule that guarantees to improveyour chances of making a good choice…

In general, the choices you have to make, once you haveunwrapped them, walked around and mulled them over,can be either a top choice – a winner; a grade two – an alsoran; or a grade three – a loser.

It does not matter how you label them, or the criteria thatyou apply to judge the choices as they reveal themselves,they can be classed as average, below average or aboveaverage. Only with experience will you eventually learnwhat to look for. We have to learn on the job. If there arethree grades, then in the face of your ignorance there is aone in three chance that you will end up with a belowaverage choice.

A third of the time below average Using the rule you can change things in your favour. Toend up with a below average choice you need to gothrough three steps. When the opportunity appears, youstudy it closely. You do not know how it compares toothers that may arise. You have to decide with limitedinformation. You do not realise it is a below average choice.In any event, the rule is to reject it.

The next opportunity arises. If it is a below average option,then since it is as good as the choice you have just turneddown, you will accept it. To end up with a below averagechoice using the rule, you need to have the misfortune of

one loser following another. A one in three chancefollowed by another one in three chance. This is bad luck,but will only occur one in nine times. A rule that reduces abelow average choice from one in three times down to onein nine seems useful.

Two thirds of the time above averageHaving reduced your chances of making a below averagechoice, the rule must have improved your chances ofmaking an above average choice. The chances of picking awinner can be worked out similarly. If the first option wasabove average, then the rule says you will not settle foranything less. You will pick a winner for sure. You mayhave to wait for the next prospect that is as least as good asthe one you turned down.

The chance that the first option is a winner is one in three,but there are more chances of ending up with a winner. Ifthe first option you turned down was an also ran or a loserthen the rule states that you wait for something equal orbetter. You wait for the next option and only choose it if itis an also ran or a winner. The chance it is a winner is 1 in2. So another way of picking a winner is to first pick anaverage followed by a winner, or a below average followedby a winner. The chance of picking a winner has risen.

The rule has doubled the odds of picking a winner, fromone third of the time to two thirds of the time.

Life can be big consequences following from small actions.Randomness, unpredictability, chaos are also opportunities.We can tip the odds in our favour.

above average ‘a winner’ 1 in 3 6 in 9average ‘an also ran’ 1 in 3 2 in 9below average ‘a loser’ 1 in 3 1 in 9

odds without odds usingchoice the rule the rule

how to pick

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With events in Hong Kong, Germany,Greece and Kenya, as well as the LondonEvening Seminar, the Warwick Debate,the first ever WBS Annual Dinner, reunions and the Summer Ball, the spring and summer terms have been action-packed.

Hong KongWBS alumna Yvonne Leung (BSc ManSci1984–87) was elected President of WarwickGraduates Association (Hong Kong) at theirannual dinner in January. Johnny Li(DLMBA 1987–92) remains Vice Chairman.WBS Undergraduate Danny Fung has been

awarded the WGAHK scholarship, the veryfirst Warwick scholarship established by alocal alumni association outside the UK.One of the after dinner speakers was SueBeech, Assistant Programme Manager ofthe MBA by Distance Learning programmeat WBS.

GermanyThe second get-together of WBS Alumni in Munich was held in March, organised by Christian Hoefter (FMBA 01-02). He says: ‘The get-together was great funand everyone thoroughly enjoyed theevening. We met old friends and revivedthe good spirit of our study.’

KenyaWBS Alumni met in the Nairobi Safari ClubHotel on Sunday 23 March. Committeemembers of the Warwick Alumni-KenyaChapter came along to talk about socialevents and community activities. The eventwas hosted by Ann Jackson, Marketing andInternational Relations Officer at WBS.

GreeceGatherings in Athens were well attended in April and June, organised by MariaChryssoulaki (MBA 1997–98) and Tina Iordanidou (MBA 1999–00). In June, WBS Professor John McGee’s topic was‘New Strategies for a New Economy’ at the Athenaeum Intercontinental Athens. The presentation was followed by dinner at the poolside. The evening proved anexcellent opportunity to meet prospectiveWarwick students, catch-up with fellowWarwick alumni and participate in a topical presentation.

See page 23 for more event reviews.The WGAHK annual dinner

We are constantly looking at ways to developand improve communications to our Alumni,particularly with our flagship magazineNexus. Over the past six months, we haveundertaken a comprehensive design review of the magazine, with the involvement andsupport of members of the WBS AlumniBoard, faculty and staff at WBS. The quality ofdesign concepts submitted was extremelyhigh and we are pleased to announce thatParenthesis, a design company based locally,conceived the winning design for this special24-page issue.

Due out in January 2004, the Winter issue

will focus on Marketing, with articles from

top academics and successful marketeers.

As always, we welcome your input, so please

email Pam.barnes@wbs.ac.uk with articles

relevant to the marketing sector.

New look for Nexus

alumni out and about

alumni event in athens: Dimitris KadisMaria Chryssoulaki (left) & Tina Iordanidou (right)

The Alumni Team (left to right) Caroline Hughes, Emily Fay, Pam Barnes, Nicola Price, Sue Cresswell

We welcome Nicola Price and Caroline Hughes to the Alumni team. Nicola provides essential organisational skills and administrationsupport , while Caroline’s role will be consolidating the wonderful alumni support we receive from our contacts around the world,to organise global business networks and special interest groups.

themoney

issue

warwick business school alumni association magazine: summer 03

recess10nlaunching a business in a

steps tosuccessRupert Howell started his firstbusiness, the ad agency HHCL,in 1987 three weeks beforeBlack Monday and sold it in1997 for £24 million

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1 Get the geneSingle-minded determination is the

wellspring of entrepreneurial success,

and you need plenty of it. Have you

got the gene? If you’re not ready to

bet your house on your new business,

the answer is no.

2 Get the ideaIn theory, the easy bit. But how good

is your idea? How big is the market,

how much of it can you corner and

how tough is the competition?

3 Get the experienceLifelong adman Howell’s experience,

reputation and contacts give him a

head start. In a perfect world, you’d

have the same, but thriving businesses

have been set up by people with no

knowledge of the sector.

4 Get the timingThe difference between success and

failure is often a matter of timing –

like selling your dot.com shares before

the market crashed. Catching a wave

on a surfboard requires a combination

of skill, instinct and luck.

5 Get the incentiveThink about what you want to gain

from the venture – fun, money,

independence, lifestyle, self-esteem,

making a difference – and be sure

your business plan delivers. If you

aren’t motivated, no-one else will be.

6 Get the teamFind partners with skills and personalities

that complement your own and the

whole team should become more than

the sum of its parts. Employ a mate

only if they really are the best person

for the job.

7 Get the propositionWhat will you offer customers that they

can’t get somewhere else, and how are

you going to make them buy it?

8 Get the structureProper systems and procedures minimise

growing pains and maximise your chance

of success.

9 Get the moneyRaising money is tough – be prepared

to knock on a lot of doors and to have

them slammed in your face. Put up as

much of your own capital as you can –

risking your own shirt will help persuade

investors that you are serious. Then do

your sums, print up your business plan

and get on with it.

10 Get going‘Action this day’ was Churchill’s motto

and it should be yours. Success depends

on making things happen. If you don’t

do it nobody else will.

hy consider starting a

business during a

recession? ‘When you start

a business you have no

costs to cut which makes

you competitive to existing firms,’

explains Rupert, ‘during a recession there

is a lot of disaffected talent around, and

clients are often struggling and are ready

to look at more radical or novel solutions.’

Your first step is to form a strong team.

During a presentation to Warwick Business

School MBA students, Rupert let them in

on one of his secrets to success: having the

right person as an equal financial partner

will mean the difference between success

and failure. ‘Once you have your team,

you need to decide on your short-term,

medium-term, and long term goals,’

explains Rupert. The short-term goal is

‘to survive’, the toughest achievement for

any start-up.

When he started HHCL, he and his partners

wanted to establish, within five years, a

genuinely new brand in the UK advertising

marketplace. They did this, winning

‘Agency of the Year’ awards in 1990 and

1994, and Agency of the Decade in 2000.

By any reckoning HHCL was a success for

Rupert and his partners, making them all

millionaires within a decade of its launch,

as well as winning a place at the top table

in the cut-throat world of advertising

agencies. Rupert attributes much of this

success to their revenue maximisation

strategies. Staff were trained in negotiating

skills. They set minimum fee levels,

pioneered Payment by Results, chased

debt. ‘And we learned from our mistakes!’

concludes Rupert.

All of this was put in place by Robin Price,

his ‘secret weapon’, the financial brain

behind Rupert’s ideas. Finally, as a start-up,

HHCL had very low costs, and minimising

costs remained an essential part of their

profit strategy, even as they grew and

flourished.

Rupert has been exploring several new

business ideas recently and believes that

everything he learned during the last

recession is equally applicable now.

‘If anything this is a tougher recession

because it also involves a correction of

the dot-com bubble. But the principle

of minimising all costs and maximising

revenues from current customers still

applies,’ says Rupert.

He has found raising funds the biggest

obstacle, this time around. He explains:

‘the more ambitious the idea, the more

risk is inherently involved – and the

private equity market is very risk-averse

at the moment. In the end a pure start-up

may be the best way to get going.’

Rupert Howell’s Ten Steps to Start-Up

as written in Management Today magazine, April 2003, by Andrew Davidson.

Rupert has now joined McCann Erickson,

reputedly the worlds’ largest advertising

agency as president, Europe, Middle East

and Africa (EMEA) and Chairman, UK and

Ireland Group.

One of the highlights in Liverpool’ssuccessful bid for European Capital ofCulture 2008 was its massive potential forregeneration and its commitment togenuine community engagement.

One company which has made a strongcontribution and continues to play anactive role in the city’s regeneration isheaded by WBS alumnus Chris Shokoya-Eleshin (DLMBA 1995–01). Nigerian-bornChris is chief executive of Shokoya-EleshinConstruction, the prominent ethnicminority business he founded in 1994 inLiverpool. His company specialises in urbanregeneration projects and securing socio-economic benefits to targeted communities.Chris was acclaimed by the UKGovernment in its Competitiveness WhitePaper as an example of Britain’s newgeneration of entrepreneurs.

Chris took the decision to launch Britain’sfirst black owned construction andregeneration company, when he was unableto find work in the industry, despite beingboth qualified and experienced.

From the beginning, training was a focalpart of the business. Chris explains: ‘Theprincipal aims are to train local people ingeneral construction, constructionmanagement, business administration andIT. We want to ensure local people haveaccess to employment opportunities created by the development, and improvecommunity involvement in arearegeneration.’ Since launching the business in 1994, more than 1,000 trainees have benefited from the NVQgeared programmes.

According to Chris: ‘Our present andcontinued success is a testament to ourability to be competitive and profitablewithin our field. Whilst addressing futureemployment needs, our emphasis isprimarily to support and assist localcontractors and sub-contractors withinminority communities. This enables bothourselves and those contracted to us, toprovide employment and training for thepeople within these local communities.’

As a main contractor in Britain, emergingfrom a minority community, Shokoya-Eleshin Construction has proved it is

possible to combine a social conscience anda wide knowledge of the hopes andaspirations of minority groups in inner cityareas, with the ability to work within themainstream of the construction industry.

In 2002, the company had 150 staff, aturnover of more than £1.75m and won atop Inner City 100 award. Chris explains,‘Since then we have down sized slightly butare currently rebuilding these figures. Weare now expanding internationally, and arecurrently in consultation with thegovernment of Namibia and the HousingMinistry of the Republic of South Africa.’

As a Warwick Business School alumnus, the continuing success of WBS is alsoimportant to Chris, who was delighted

when The Financial Times recently rankedthe Warwick MBA above that of Oxford.Chris maintains, ‘What my experience ofthe Warwick MBA has done is to confirmthat much of what I had instinctivelyundertaken to start my business concurredwith the main schools of thought toachieve success. Although I am sure I donot always do the right thing, I sleep better after a day of inspired guessing and problem solving, and I am generallymore resilient.’

Chris is a keen supporter of WBS andjoined in the celebrations of the School’sachievements at the first WBS annualdinner at the House of Lords in May.www.shokoya.com

building bridges‘We want to ensure local people have access toemployment opportunities created by the developmentand improve community involovement in arearegeneration.’ Chris Shokoya-Eleshin

By P

am B

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Chris

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No.1

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International Business NetworkThis autumn will see the launch of a WBS Marketing Interest Group. ‘There hasalready been so much enthusiasm for the project from alumni,’ explains Caroline Hughes, who has been appointedto launch the worldwide WBS AlumniBusiness Network.

‘The idea is to help WBS alumni toestablish networks by industry sector orregion or year group,’ explains Caroline,‘and then to link these into current studentgroups and research groups to leverageWBS’s world class excellence.’

‘I chose marketing to start because WBS isrenowned in this area and because so manyof our alumni work in this field,’ saysCaroline. ‘We are also really lucky that thisautumn will see two new marketingprofessors starting at WBS. Additionalenergy will come from the strong MBAstudent interest group.’

Caroline will launch this inaugural groupon the WBS website where alumni willbe able to see events, vacancies, mentors,relevant research, and much more. This will be the start of a series of networkswhich will invovle WBS alumni in over 100countries.

Find your perfect mentor‘Networking is the most important part ofyour career strategy,’ explains ElaineHewens, the new Manager of the MBACareer Development Centre.

‘You should use the alumni programme toextend your network so that when or if youneed it you will be prepared,’ continuesCaroline Hughes. ‘If you are enjoyingsuccess in your professional life, then youcould be looking at how you can reach outto help the next generation.’

At whatever stage of your career you mayfind yourself, a bit of advice or the sharingof expertise can always help. Sixty alumnihave already volunteered as mentors. Toaccess a mentor or to volunteer yourselfsimply follow the links from the alumniwebsite to Mentors.

VacanciesCompanies and recruitment consultantscontact the Alumni Office regularly withvacancies. These are circulated to alumnimonthly in the e-newsletter and displayedon the website. To subscribe just email:alumni@wbs.ac.uk with your request andfull name. The jobs range from graduatetrainee positions to employers seeking a PhD qualification and ten years expertise.

Employers can submit a vacancy, and job-seekers can browse vacancies currentlyavailable at www.wbs.ac.uk/alumnifollowing links to careers.

Employers’ resourcesGraduates of WBS are amongst the mosthighly sought after in the market. With adegree from a business school rankedwithin the top four in the UK, 10th inEurope and 36th worldwide, our graduatesare a valuable asset to any organisation.

You can advertise your organisation’svacancies, free of charge, directly to themost able candidates. You can also view the CVs of current Warwick MBA studentsand recent graduates. www.wbs.ac.uk/corporate/candidate_searchContact the Alumni Office on:alumni@wbs.ac.uk

Careers advice and coachingYou can consult a variety of sources for careers advice and coaching such as one-to-one careers advice from theUniversity of Warwick Careers Servicewww.warwick.ac.uk/careers

Helpful organisationsOutside organisations which may be able to assist you:

The Association of MBAs www.mba.org.uk –listing of events and much more.

The Global Workplace www.global-workplace.com –jobs database, networking events, employerinformation, and directory. Contact WBSAlumni Office for a link to free registration.

MBA Exchangewww.mbaexchange.com –free CV listing service for MBAs.

MBA Direct www.executives-direct.com –a specialist candidate listing service forAlumni with a postgraduate degree.

Institute of Directors www.iod.com –a worldwide network of directors providingservices and support to company directors.See advertisement on page 21.

AppointmentsAndrew MacLeod (DLMBA 1989–93) hasrecently been appointed ManagingDirector of leading globalcommunications provider MCI's Europe,Middle East and Africa (EMEA) operations.Commenting on his appointment,Andrew said: ‘I am really excited aboutthe opportunity to establish MCI as thepre-eminent brand for globalcommunications across the EMEA region.’Prior to joining MCI, he served as ChiefOperating Officer of Cable and Wireless Global.

Coutts Information Services, based inRingwood, has appointed Jack Broadley(MA Organisation Studies 1999–01) asGroup HR/Business Director. Paul Farden(DLMBA 1996–01) has joinedTransmitton’s management team asfinancial director from Aga Foodservicegroup. Moeller Holdings GmbH hasappointed Paul Corbett (EMBA 1995–98),managing director for its UKheadquarters, Moeller Electric Ltd.

the marketing debate

Ian Ewart, Director of Marketing for HSBCRepublic, presented a case-study to Dr ScottDacko’s Warwick MBA Class on 18 June.Ian, a Warwick graduate, delivered asummary of a proposed marketing strategyfor the Bank.

‘The students were extremely happy withthe opportunity to vigorously analyse suchan important and ground-breakingmarketing strategy case,’ Scott Dackoaffirmed. This was followed by an all-encompassing debate. ‘As a means toactively facilitate learning about marketingstrategy among Executive MBAparticipants,’ Scott continued, ‘I would saythat this innovative active learningapproach that we developed was ideal. Wehave Ian and HSBC Republic PrivateBanking to thank for making possible thisfascinating and live case study debate.’

Proposed marketing strategy Numerous organisations in the privatebanking industry are now competing tomeet the financial needs of affluentindividuals worldwide. HSBC Republic hasadopted the view that an organisationoperating in this environment cannot be aone-size-fits-all organisation – that is,meeting the needs of all affluentindividuals equally well. The firm’smarketing strategy up to this point can becharacterised as one of striving to meet thefinancial needs of high net worthindividuals but not focusing on thefinancial needs of very high net worthindividuals.

Now, HSBC Republic has decided to pursuea big idea for profitable growth: shiftingfocus from high net worth clients to veryhigh net worth individuals as clients. Themarketing strategy required to make thishappen successfully, however, has manyimportant elements, including establishing

the right branding, financial products,services, staffing, training, communication,and culture.

Student responses FORThe students who agreed that the proposedmarketing strategy would work stated thatone of the major reasons for this wasclients would trust HSBC, with itsinternational spread, more than others inthe industry. Students felt that HSBC had astrong global brand and that theproposition had been clearly defined.Students agreed that from Ian’spresentation HSBC would be able to cross-sell, to develop customer networks, and toappeal to the changing demographic of ayounger wealth market. In summary, thesestudents said, if any private bank couldmeet the marketing challenge HSBC could.

Student responses AGAINSTSome student groups were concerned abouthow HSBC Republic, composed of anumber of private banks that hadpreviously had strong brands, wouldengender customer loyalty strong enoughto support an active viral marketingapproach. Some students felt that theprivate banking arm could be workingagainst the main brand. Students whoworked in the car industry explained theirmarketing worked best when all productswere in the same position. Some of thestudent groups felt that the name – HSBCRepublic – would not add benefit inmarketing to the target audience. Onestudent group was concerned that astrategy that shifted from high net worthindividuals to very high net worthindividuals could alienate currentcustomers who might well be future veryhigh net worth themselves.

ConclusionIan welcomed the students’ commentssaying, ‘Some of the insights were veryinteresting and it is useful to get a realoutside look at a project in which one hasbeen so heavily involved.’ He also spoke tosome of the points the students had raised.In particular he explained how clientmigration would be managed so customersfound that whatever their worth they weregetting a better service. He explained howpricing was being used to facilitate this buthe also talked about an innovative productwhere if there was no performance therewould be no fee. He expanded on how aviral marketing approach could work andhow staff were being trained. He alsostressed that private banking is arelationship business and that HSBC was in for the long haul.

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ARE ARE YOUYOU QUAL IF IED TO BE AQUAL IF IED TO BE A D IRECTORD IRECTOR??

T 020 7766 8842 E chartered.director@iod.com W www.iod.com/charteredQuote ref: wbs03

As a director and an MBA, As a director and an MBA, you are just a short step you are just a short step

from qualifying as afrom qualifying as a

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CIS strongly supports the Chartered Director programme, which providesa ’gold’ standard in director training and development. When voting on

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are offering a are offering a special opportunity for you special opportunity for you

to qualify as a Chartered Director, to qualify as a Chartered Director,

the professional the professional qualification for directors.qualification for directors.

WBS alumnus Phil White (MBA 2000–01) likes a challenge. He began the yearby doing a sponsored Three Peakendurance walk with former classmateAlex Clark. Ultimately, they onlymanaged two peaks – Ingleborough wasa peak too far apparently! Undeterred,Phil then journeyed to Costa Rica forthree months to work voluntarily as atrekking leader on youth developmentcharity Raleigh International’s fifthexpedition.

Phil led three different parties ofventurers aged 17–25, through the LaAmistad national park in Costa Rica, aBiosphere Reserve and World Heritagesite. Ten years ago, Phil’s ownexperience as a Raleigh venturer onexpedition to Chile had a lasting

influence. ‘I had a great time and found that completing the adventure sectionof my expedition made me realise if Ireally put my mind to something Icould achieve it. I took the opportunityto come back to offer the sameformative experience to others.’

For more information on RaleighInternational vist www.raleigh.org.uk

The world record attempt by RobAbernethy (FMBA 2000–01) andcolleague Mike Noel-Smith to rowunaided across the Indian Ocean, in aidof charity, came to a dramatic endwhen Mike sustained a serious headinjury that made it impossible for themto continue. They were too far offshorefor rescue by air, which prompted a raceagainst time by the Australian Navyfrigate Newcastle. They were picked up1,500 miles west of the Australian coast,a story widely followed by theinternational media.

Rob and Mike launched their 23 ft boatfrom Carnavon in Western Australia onSaturday 19 April 2003, aiming to landon Reunion Island, 400 miles East ofMadagascar, some 70 days later - adistance of 4,400 Nautical Miles. Theyhoped to raise £250,000 for SPARKS, thechildren’s health charity. Over theensuing 45 days, the two former BritishArmy officers battled 25-ft waves, 30-knot winds and torrential rain. Rob’sfinal email from the boat tells the story,‘We have gone through the worst stormimaginable since Mike sustained hishead injury, which has compounded his condition and damaged the boat in key areas.

‘To top it all we rolled the boat about12 hours ago and remained 'turtle' for two minutes, which was veryscary indeed.’

Mike and I started this together andalthough I would love to crack on andfinish this for everyone, not only is theboat unable to do so, but I feel that myplace is with my mate as he returns toshore.’

Now firmly back on dry land and fullyrecovered, Rob and Mike are looking atopportunities to share their incredibleexperience with others. As Rob says:‘We feel we have quite a bit to offer interms of strategy development,sensitivity analysis, motivating teams,self belief and positive thinking inovercoming some pretty dire obstacles!’

WBS Team wins 3rd place in EuropeanAlumni Business Cup Regatta

The 2003 ABC sailing regatta took place

over 3 days in May in Brittany, France.

With teams this year from INSEAD,

Imperial, Cranfield, IMD, ISA/HEC,

Bocconi as well as Warwick and crew

members from all over Europe and

further afield, this event tests the crew’s

skill and teamwork to the full.

Warwick crew skipper Michael

Sutcliffe (FMBA 1994–95) reports:

‘Between them, this year’s Warwick

crew had competed in the BT Global

Challenge, Round Britain and Fastnet

races, as well as numerous Solent and

cross channel races. Consequently,

decisions were often made by

committee, defying all the usual

maritime traditions.’

Warwick raced consistently throughout

– finishing 1st in an Olympic course

and a close 2nd in the longest and

most tactical passage race, with other

accrued results always in the top four.

WBS Alumni Team: Mark Thomas,

Richard Hughes, Melanie Dixon

Lander, Caroline Watson, Liz Savage;

Tony Di Stefano, Michael Sutcliffe

(skipper).

two men in a boat

costa rican trek

sailing tosuccess

Mike Noel-Smith (left)Rob Abernethy (right)

Phil (centre) celebrates his birthday with his venturer group

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London Evening SeminarAt the beginning of 2002, Warwick waschosen as the partner for the ‘PrudentialUniversity’, a programme targeting 250 keyinfluencers in their business over a two yearperiod. As part of the growing relationship,Prudential hosted an evening seminar attheir London HQ for WBS alumni and thePrudential University alumni, attended byover 90 people. WBS Professor of Strategy &Organisation and Associate Dean Research,Andrew Pettigrew’s topic was 'Doesleadership make a difference toorganisational performance?' The event wasvoted a success both in terms of contentand the networking opportunities afforded.

When Jacqueline Keith (formerly Langford) FMBA 1996–97

married Donald Keith, FTSE Deputy Chief Executive, in

Roxburghshire on 24 May 2003, she was reunited with

some former classmates. Photo left to right:

James Layard, Deborah Yiasoumi (formerly McFadden),

Jacqueline, Fawzia Pirbhai, Mark Schwarz,

Jonathan Dibble

Warwick Debate‘The Warwick Debate: RegulatingAccountancy – the Way Forward’ took placeon campus in March. At this joint AMBA –WBS event, the keynote speakers were PeterWyman, President, Institute of CharteredAccountants in England and Wales and asenior partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers,and Richard Barker, Research Fellow,International Accounting Standards Board.Warwick’s Keith Hoskin, Professor ofAccounting, chaired an extremely thoughtprovoking discussion.

ReunionsThe Classes of 1967 and 1972 attended ajoint reunion on campus on 5 April,organised by the WGA, with a receptionhosted by the WBS Alumni office. The Classof 1977 were reunited on Saturday 17 Mayand 40 former WBS undergrads and post-grads attended a reception at WBS ScarmanRoad, where they met with former lecturersand classmates, in some cases for the firsttime in many years.

Peter Summerfield (MSC Management 1975–76), Director –Global Procurement, Rolls-Royce, demonstrated his sparringskills when he returned to campus in May to speak to MBAstudents on Leadership

CelebrationsAnother highlight of the WBS calendartook place on Friday 11 July, when theMBA graduating class of 2003 celebrated instyle with a Summer Ball. Friends, studentsand alumni gathered at the ChesfordGrange Hotel, Kenilworth, for an eveningof wining, dining and dancing, with theopportunity to make their fortune on thecasino tables!

events review

Reun

ions

The WBS Midlands Alumni Group met in July at The Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon, hosted by WBSalumna Vanessa Markey (FMBA 2000–01)

WBS Alumni Board advancesThe Warwick Business School Alumni Board has been hard at work since itsinception in September 2002. Amongst its accomplishments over the past twelvemonths: the launch of two additionalregional UK branches, two Alumni eventsin Athens, the inaugural WBS MBA 10 Year reunion, and much more. If you are interested in learning more about theBoard's activities or in becoming a memberof the WBS Alumni Board, please contact:alumni@wbs.ac.uk or write to the Deanof Warwick Business School.

Online directory of alumni

Access to Harvard Business Review

Calendar of forthcoming events

Latest school and alumni news

Volunteer alumni mentors

Career resources and vacancies

Networking

To log on to view the directory or to access library

information you will need your alumni number.

This is your old student number and is printed on the

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alumni@wbs.ac.uk, who will supply it to you.

www.wbs.ac.uk/alumnia wwwealth of information

Alumni Office

Warwick Business School

University of Warwick

Coventry CV4 7AL

United Kingdom

T +44 (0)24 7652 2813

F +44 (0 24 7652 3719

E alumni@wbs.ac.uk

w www.wbs.ac.uk/alumni

Pam Barnes

Alumni Publications Officer

T +44 (0)24 7652 4396

E Pam.Barnes@wbs.ac.uk

Sue Cresswell

Events Co-ordinator

T +44 (0)24 7657 3967

E Sue.Cresswell@wbs.ac.uk

Caroline Hughes

Alumni Networks Co-ordinator

T +44 (0)24 7652 8487

ECaroline.Hughes@wbs.ac.uk

Nicola Price

Alumni Relations Assistant

T +44 (0)24 7652 2813

ENicola.Price@wbs.ac.uk

In-house photography by

John Weatherly

Nexus is the magazine of

the Alumni Association,

Warwick Business School

T +44 (0)24 7652 4306

The views contained in Nexus are

those of contributors and not

necessarily those of Warwick Business

School or the University of Warwick