MBA applicant Vijay asked for an overview on the companies that we work with and appeared more generally interested in learning more about post study employment options and typical pathways taken by MBA alumni.
Industry relationships
MBA students at Royal Holloway get to interact with a range of companies – the refreshed programme puts a much greater focus on embedded guest speakers, field visits & real business consultancies.
Next year we are more formally embedding our marketing consultancy with Thorpe Park (part of the Merlin Entertainment group who are second to Disney worldwide) we are lucky to have Jack (one of our history masters graduates) as our key contact, we are currently discussing how BT (formerly British Telecom) one of the giants in UK connections technology might offer up a real strategic consultancy project in the term two programme.
This summer for the group business consultancies we are working with Ricoh (Japanese tech giant) on an exciting 3D printer project for the distance learning MBA programme, a link that has recently developed thanks to Indian MBA Alumna contact Nitasha, who works for them locally in Staines.
The full time campus MBAs are working with our long standing global chemical coatings partner Norman Hay for the group business consultancy – they have made a number of job offers to RoHo students in recent years & thus very interesting from an employability perspective. Alumna Moran has acted as the in house consultancy project co-ordination role for two years now and senior change consultant and MBA Arlette has offered her deep industry experience as a strategic angel.
Additionally, thanks to a relationship brokered by alumna Anna (English), Verizon offer MBA students the opportunity to bid for applied dissertation - they are interested in our MBAs as a try before you buy talent spotting activity – their impressive EUMEA campus HQ is nearby in Reading. We actively encourage MBA students to select real business problems from real companies for their dissertation whereever feasible. We are just starting conversations with global logistics operator DHL, looking at a number of employability angles, where RoHo MBA Vineet is now working too.
College MBA employability support;
Katharine is the School of Management's newly appointed year in business co-ordinator, her role is to develop strong relationships with national and local employers to identify a range of internship and employment opportunities for Royal Holloway talent.
Emma is the specialist MBA careers advisor, who uses her industrial psychology and training experience to offer a range of group sessions during the MBA year and offers 121 tailored careers support throughout the programme. Emma works as part of the University of London careers service - the largest in UK, offering students a huge array of opportunities.
Rosie in the alumni office is the MBA specialist contact point and one of their exciting new offers is a alumni mentoring offer.
Embedded gust speakers in 2014/15 included:
MN5135 Financial Analysis and Markets (McSweeney)
(i) Mazars LLP, Partner in the Corporate and Public Interest Markets Group, on long-term business sustainability and the role of boards of directors in achieving that aim;
(ii) Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, Manager, Corporate Reporting, Financial Reporting Faculty, on relationships between changes in financial reporting standards/practices and financial markets;
(iii) East London Small Business Centre, Lead Start Up Business Adviser, on different cost-volume-profit management strategies in the retail fashion industry;
(iv) Information Security Auditor/Consultant on information security and auditing.
MN5136 Consumers and Markets (Eckhardt)
(i) Kodak, Chief Marketing Officer;
(ii) SABMiller, Corporate Communications Manager;
(iii) Future Cities Catapult, Executive Director;
(iv) British Airways, Revenue Management Senior Manager;
(v) Thorpe Park Resorts, Education Facilitator;
(vi) Photojournalist Jeff Widener (best known for ‘Tank Man’, the image of a lone man confronting a column of tanks in Tiananmen Square during the 1989 protests);
(vii) Royal Holloway Historian Dr Emmett Sullivan on ‘truth’ and revisionist perspectives on public history with reference to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and Thirteen Days (2001).
MN5137 Strategy, Technology and Operations in a Globalised World (Dyerson)
(i) Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI), Consultant on AMSCI as UK initiative with a fund of up to £125m to develop supply chains’ competitiveness, sustain or create new employment opportunities, and create better synergies and sustained collaborative relationships throughout supply chains that participate in this initiative;
(ii) Prophetic Technology, Strategy Director, on the future of supply chains;
(iii) Nestlé Waters North America, Senior Manager Business Analytics, on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems;
(iv) Information Security Group, Royal Holloway, on cybersecurity;
(v) Prof Heejin Lee, Yonsei University, Korea, on ICT and standardisation.
MN5138: People, Leadership and Organisations (Howorth)
(i) Ashford and St. Peter’s NHS Hospital Trust, Non-Executive Director, on organisations as systems;
(ii) SEM Consulting, Managing Partner, on leadership, as the management of meaning and culture, and change, including managing conflict;
(iii) Hanover Jackson, Director, on motivation and engagement;
(iv) fasting Training, Managing Director, on organizational culture, business ethics and the management of diversity and difference;
(v) David Micallef, Entrepreneur and Business Investor.
