Noh Drama here, we're MBA students !

As a two times College Teaching prize winner in 2012 Justin O'Brien, MBA Director at Royal Holloway, University of London looks each year to grow and develop his teaching portfolio with new innovations and collaborations.  With a goal to provide at least five "pixie dust" moments (poignant and highly memorable learning experiences) for the prestigious full time MBA programme one of this years innovations was via an enterprising barter based collaboration with  Dr Emma Brodzinski from RHULs highly regarded drama department.

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The RHUL Drama department is going through a rather golden period at the moment, benefitting from a stunning refurbishment of the 'old boiler house' theatre space and across the A30 the building of a stunning new and state of the art theatre, to be named after leading English playright, Caryl Churchill, slated to open in Summer 2013.

The MBA group, having attended a Caryl Churchill production at the Royal Court theatre and participated in a get to know each other warm up session, were invited to attend a day long work shop with Dr Emma Brodzinski and professional actor,  Alex Turner, one of the founding members of of non zero one, the RHUL Drama department's resident theatre company 2012/13.  

The group were lead through a variety of exercises to help develop self-awareness and a sense of groupness, that saw many MBA candidates find themselves pushed into their discomfort zones quite quickly.  The approach was drawn from experience of developing a strong group ethos amongst professional drama troupes that demanded extensive use of movement, communications skills and reflection.

One exercise saw the group brain storm a number of different useless objects that they were then asked to go away and prepare a sales pitch for.  One of the ideas that required the use of the improvisation technique was plugging shampoo for bald people.  In addition to the development of creative thinking, students were required to work spontaenously in small groups to deliver an impact presentation of their ideas. 

The brief given to Emma Brodzinski, who designed and delivered this highly innovative workshop with collaboration from Alex Turner, sought to challenge the MBA students in a very different way and push them firmly into their discomfort zones.  Whilst some students struggled to connect with the activities, others found the final afternoons performance aspects a little bit too much out there.  The majority of participants in the whole workshop found it to be a rewarding and enjoyable experience. 

The drama sessions concluded with a performance piece in the Noh Theatre space.  Royal Holloway Drama look after Europes only Japanese Noh theatre (pictured below), a beautifully carved natural and untreated wooden construction, it is considered  by many as a holy space and used to present highly ritualised live performances.  Management students would never normally be provided access to this space

Jessica explained about the drama experience "It gave us the opportunity to experience management theory and practice in a way that was very different from what we've encountered in the classroom so far. It was refreshing to find how dramatic exercises such as developing a mock advert sketch or creating an abstract performance piece based on a work of poetry could be usefully complementary to our course. The workshops were also a great bonding opportunity for us -- we learned a lot about one another and discovered skills we didn't even know we had. "

Elena commented that "Anyone who worked as a part of a team in their job really appreciated these sessions. No one teaches you how to manage a room of over-excited people or read the intricacies of body language and energy levels when you start a new job. But those skills are essential for any leader. I will definitely be able to bring the skills from these sessions to the workplace."

Nathaniel Johnson said "I presumed that the Drama Development workshops were simply geared towards enhancing presentation skills, but I soon found that it was so much more.  I assumed that I would spend my time doing artistic re-enactments of dramatic pieces, but the activities proved to be enjoyable, relevant and extremely useful. 

The sessions enhanced my awareness of differing dynamics within groups and the activities focused on improving communication and collaboration.  The sessions contrasted the norms of our rigid lectures, coercing me beyond my comfort zone. However, participation was rewarded with a great experience, a greater understanding of myself, and my cohort.  Additionally, I discovered that my competitive MBA cohort, like to be silly and have a fun side too."

Dr Emma Brozinski felt the experiment was a great success.  The group were very engaged, and although she set her expectations a little lower, as none of the students had any background in drama, the enthusiasm and focus the MBA group brought to the enterprise to a highly successful conclusion. 

Justin O'Brien, in his role as MBA Director, stated "This is exactly the kind of activity that Royal Holloway MBA candidates appreciate.  It celebrates our strong arts based heritage, benefits from cross-disciplinary team teaching in a highly innovative format that sees students stretch and grow from a full range of learning experiences."

The age of Digital CRM has arrived !!

The Age of Digital CRM has (finally, eventually) arrived !!

"How odd !" I thought this morning when I logged onto my PC.  The day was not going well.  I had to clear my busy diary and work from home, nursing #1 son, whose sore throat and general illness prevented him from going to school today.  An experienced parent, I have learnt when one of my boys is really, genuinely sick.

I am also reminded by my ever-so successful and terribly busy fellow working but active parent chum H (vs. rarely seen upgrade v2.1) not to over share personal details on social media.  LoL (it doen't mean 'lots of love' any more...)

This week I commented on a (good) draft of a literature review on mCRM, having recently given the "over promise, under delivers" CRM lecture for second year Management undergrads.  With a culture of 'always on' mobile devices supporting push email, huge data processing warehouses and web 2.0, all the esential ingredients would appear to be in place for some genuinely individualised, appropriate and effective 121 marketing to be coming our way (or Customer Relationshp Management if you will.) 

For several years I have been using this YouTube clip from the Tom Cruise movie Minority Report (Cruise plays a pre-crime policeman, whose role is to intercept criminals just before they commit the deed) to bring alive the idea of the ultimate personalised, automated shopping experience.  Whilst retina scanning remains the preserve of passport authorities and airports (it is slower to catch on than most envisioned based on the technology deployment at Heathrow airport) the mobile device, technology convergence and wifi/bluetooth provide tech savvy entities with the opportunity to lead the implementation of contextually relevant mobile advertising.  Think of the 'Around Me' ap.  Never thought this would be useful, how wrong can you be ?  Spy on your family members location using the mobile fone tracker, lovin' it, to appropriate a McDonald's tag line.

I've had three inappropriate direct mail executions arrive at home (H advises not to be too detailed here) in the last week. 

(1) Someone claimed to have serviced our boiler before we moved in.."Dear Homeowner"..not going to use them, British Gas gave me a list as long as my forearm of issues around the rather cowboyesque instalation that will see me digging a drainage trench and filling it with little limestone chippings when the weather lets off.  I've already lagged an outside pipe, tried to fill a void that sucks all the heat out the house and spent £5 on a little, bendy, plastic, valve thing that will squirt over-flowing boiling water on your feet rather than spray you in the face.

(2) VW thanked me for my recent inquiry.  You know I love my Beetle.  How did they know I'd been looking at a Volvo V40 Cross Country ?  I certainly won't be buying a VW next unless they start manufacturing a 21st Century camper van, with a flat front and circular lights.  I hadn't actually made an inquiry with them.  My boys and their chums need more leg room than the Beetle can provide, however macho the new Beetle mark III is. 

(3) Johnnie Boden (once a close personal friend, whose annoying behaviour is nearly seeing him put on my barred friend list).  I need say no more.  Every week he offers me 20% or 25% or free something.  Or season sale.  Or pre-season special sale.  I am a free clothes peg for his XXL flowery shirts.  He can't bring them out quick enough.  I like them so much I even pay full price some times.  I wear them at campus on show pony days to illustrate my non-conformist yet conformist credentials. 
                         Collar, but not corporate. 

Unfortunately the offers are coming so thick and fast I don't believe them any more.  The designs I like are rarely featured in the sales in my size.  Come on little people - S and XS - help Johnnie out and buy your share of his ranges so I don't keep getting bombarded with enticingly empty offers.

This kind of slack marketing gives the profession (errm) a bad name like PPI mis-selling cold callers.

Anyway, back to Google.  I don't recall telling them when my birthday is, but so many logins require this data as part of your sign up (great for marketers to analyse the socio-demographic of their audience) I guess they know.  I never asked them to send me a birthday message, in fact, I don't think I would welcome such an intrusion.  Hence, my wry smile at seeing the Google cake logo on my search engine page.  This rather perfectly hit that balance of plesant surprise, but not uncomfortable leaning over your shoulder and gauping. 

I had to go back and check (lest it be some momentus world leaders birthday too), my hovering mouse had a subtle yet perfect text within it "Happy Birthday Justin !". 

They had even spelt my name right !   mCRM - bring it on....

Fast Fashion - Peter Schonbeck guest lecture

As you would expect from a leading MBA programme, at Royal Holloway we like to expose the student group to a variety of external speakers where ever possible, in what is frankly speaking a very packed and demanding schedule.  Thanks to our leading research reputation and long history as a place for thought leadership we are lucky to boast a rich and wide variety of guests who are keen to share and learn from interaction with RHUL staff and students.

A strong supporter of the MBA programme in recent years has been Peter Schonbeck who brings over 25 years work experience in the fashion industry, which includes senior positions with global brands such as Levi Strauss, Timberland, Tommy Hilfiger and Barbour. 

During Peter's guest lecture slot he covered the changes in the nature of the industry, with examples from high fashion companies such as Burberry, Levi Strauss, VF, Superdry, Inditex and Uni Qlo.  The sector that has been remarkable for experiencing strong growth, despite a challenging economic climate in the west since 2008, thanks to impressive sales in Asia, and the emergence of a cadre of people keen to show their wealth and status using luxury fashion clothing and accessories.  Many students find this phenomenon very intersting and it is a popular dissertation topic. 

Peter introduced the concept of fast fashion using the example of the highly successful Spanish fashion brand Zara, part of the larger Inditex group, which describes itself on its website Inditex.com (2013) as "One of the world's largest fashion retailers," with "eight store formats -Zara, Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home and Uterqüe - boasting 5,887 stores in 87 markets."  The fast fashion model breaks away from the traditional seasonal collections model by offering an ever evolving range of clothing with monthly updates of lines, seeking to reflect the latest innovations.  Staple classics (a little black dress or navy polo) are bulk manufactured with long order lead times and shipped using the lowest cost option to offer consumers strong value for money options.  Added to these are shorter runs of quick turn over items that might reflect an "in" colour or design that might be considered temporarily as high fashion, which are able to command the price premium their local (quicker) European manufacturing process carries.

Steve McQueen TM Barbour Waxed Jacket

The market push towards fast fashion and premium brands sees the middle market squeezed, according to Peter.  This seems to fit with Porter's concept of generic strategies, which identifyies just three key strategic options; low cost (fast fashion), differentiated (luxury) and focus.  Traditional brands such as privately controlled Barbour, who have historically benefitted from a conservative position in the outdoor clothing market, might be seen as a good example of a focus brand. 

Historically unencumbered by shareholder driven requirements to grow revenues and profits, the Barbour brand has been happy operating with relatively stable sales to traditional market segments. However, this is now changing.  Inspired by uncovering worn wax jackets from an elite forces veteran found in the archives and in good marketing style re-cycling an old idea but giving it a contemporary twist, conservative Barbour launched a new line recognising the iconic movie legend Steve McQueen.  As a keen biker, McQueen chose to wear a four pocket, belted variant of the traditional wax jacket, a design that pushes rain away from the legs whilst allowing freedom of movement.  The further development of quilted jackets and lighter summer apparel enabled Barbour to address the seasonality in its business and open into warmer climate markets such as Italy and Japan. 

One of the dangers Barbour has clearly considered is the risk attached to moving away from being an iconic, timeless brand and the potential roller coaster ride that can see fashion brands experience on a fast ride that includes twists and turns, highs and lows, and the danger of been seen as being out of fashion, rather than transcending it as Barbour did successfully for many years. 

More Nuts ? or More Caramel ?

More Nuts ?  or More Caramel ?

I found myself in B2B marketing a couple of weeks ago identifying the price (and product) taker position for most customers in the B2C context, which is often different in a B2B context where some proposition tailoring or development might reasonably be considered on both buyers and suppliers.

One of my favourite brands, McDonald's, came to mind to as an example.  Whether you love the gherkin or not, I doubt very much if you will get McDonald's to leave out the spicy green slither of pickled vitamins.  When you work with groups of truly global students it is always helpful to have a range of familiar global brands to use when you want to invite students to draw on their own experience.

As a truly global traveller (I have visited McDonald's in more than 45 countries worldwide) I know that Mickey D's offers a pretty similar (but not identical) short order menu everywhere.  Okay - strictly speaking Burger King did promote a customisable burger experience (along with flame grilled burgers and toasted buns) with a tag line along the lines of "Have it Your Way" allowing choice of ketchup and onions.  Fortunately, this didn't come up.

Randomly I then picked on a Snickers and suggested it would not be reasonable to ask a confectonary retailer to increase the amount of nuts in the bar, nor change the mix of fluffy mallow and chewy caramel. 

Imagine my surprise and quite frankly speaking, embarassment, when a week later I noticed strange labels on my favourite chocolate bar.  What's this I thought ?  More Caramel, More Nuts ?  Limited Edition. 

Does 'Limited Edition' engender a sense of urgency "buy me now or regret it forever" ?

Clearly following the current trend (possibly initiated in UK by Walkers crisps) for engaging consumers and putting out new product development into production, allowing consumers themselves to influence the final decision. 

Clever, thought I.  (I'm going as an oversized Yoda in an authentic Jedi dressing gown to a fancy dress party soon, needing to adopt his sentence structures, am I).  They can assess the produce sales speed and figure out if consumers prefer a mixture that has more of either of the key ingredients.  But, engaging my logistics/supply chain management MBA learning, it soon dawned on me this was going to be less clear.  Assuming even numbers of product delivery and identical point of sale display might see the more popular item put on reorder and result in sales demand pulling through the more popular product (our B2B Marketing class voted for more Nuts, I was up for more caramel with a sizeable minority).  However there are a number of potential pitfalls in this methodology.  What if consumers preferred the (not available) original formulation ?  What if  (as happened in our College shop - packed full of sweets and very popular with students) most popular option sold out, and the reorder didn't happen until the rest of the stock was also sold ?  Or worse still - what if boxes were put on special offer (2 for 90p) down the back and withdrawn from the regular point of sale. 

Being different - not an obvious brand attribute ?

Indeed, the samples I bought for inclass consumption were found nestling with the current Kit Kat promotion - four flavours, the strongest consumer vote sees it reach mainstream production (if only for a limited period).  This heavily promoted TV advertising campaign seeks to encourage consumers and fans to vote using Facebook.  Rather than tapping into actual consumer behaviour (n.b. issues with Snickers research methods) they are looking to engage the market and express their feelings towards the brand and register their attitudinal preferences.  Of course, facebook can enable a 'fair' vote (one person, one vote) except we know that professional bloggers and alike have been known to have multiple online personalities.  And of course, a single vote does not allow for differentiation by numbers of servings - surely it is important to consider the views of heavy buyers more that those of infrequent consumers.  It is dissertation proposal deadline tomorrow, I've clearly been far to focussed in critiquing possible methodologies.

Obviously Mint is in there as a decoy - the only time chocolate should be consumed with mint is after a very good dinner party and a glass or two of wine.  The idea of Chocolate fudge again is a bit of a personal no-no.  Anyone born outside the world of Cadburys "chocolate flavoured coating" as the EU requires the labelling of our high fat, low on cocoa formulation will question just how much dust from the coca bean is present.  "Yum, yum ! - cardboard and brown dust."  So the choice is clearly Coconut (unusual) or Hazelnut.  I went Coconut & it was ok - but not amazing.

Wasabi: zingy horseradish taste similar to chilli chocolate

Kit Kat have done this kind of democratic, virtual-and-digital market engagement before I'm told, with peanut butter winning out.  It's clever, it appears to work. I'm not sure it really is about creating new product formulations or clever brand extensions, merely putting in place a change for a while.  But I wonder at what point will these kinds of actions just become just random noise and lack traction ?  

Personally I prefer the Japanese duty free specials, four fingers (not the chunky) in a boxed set - Sakura or my most favourite - the green coloured, wasabi flavoured Kit Kat.  (pictured above right).

At this point, I've come to my senses and recognised that I've entered marketing geek territory and time to get stuck into something else. 

The Royal Holloway 2012 Cohort - Who we are ?

Royal Holloway Founders building seen through Windsor windows

Once again our MBA course has been highly attractive to students from all over the world. The 2012/13 cohort of 35 (pictured above) has grown 20% on the previous year, in spite of a 30% reduction in applications. Changes to the post study work visa arrangements have seen applications drop off significantly from India, a historically strong market. Early anecdotal evidence shows that Royal Holloway MBA has been successful at attracting more, high caliber students whilst many institutions have seen their programme enrolments reduce.  

The gender balance is fairly even with 54% women and 46% men, wholly appropriate for a College that is proud of its historical origins as a Victorian ladies college. This is an important and unusual feature of the Royal Holloway MBA programme. At other leading UK MBA programmes and as seen with AMBA accredited Universities data the MBA gender breakdown usually sees around a 70% male and 30% female blend, indicating that the MBA is often a more masculine dominated course. AACSB, another global programme accreditation body, shows parity across the sexes when looking at all masters degrees.

Our students' varied business backgrounds

An essential entry requirement is extensive work experience, again the sheer variety evidenced in the MBA work profiles is very impressive. It includes; digital marketing, project management, IT, banking, insurance, finance, accounting, aviation, NGO (United Nations) administrative, entrepreneurial, charities, beverages brand manager and Disneyland.

Royal Holloway is proud of its AMBA accreditation which requires MBA students to have at least three years postgraduate work experience. This experience will come to bear towards the end of their year-long programme when they are required to work in groups as management consultants and recommend a viable solution to a real business problem set by one of our industry partners.

Where do our students come from?

The 35 students hail from 21 different countries; USA, UK, Bermuda, India, Russia, Senegal, South Korea, South Africa, China, Japan, Colombia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Turkey, Latvia, Israel, Canada, and Mexico providing a truly international learning experience. It is believed that this is the first time all of the populated continents of the world have been represented on the full time Royal Holloway MBA.

The Royal Holloway MBA 2012/13 Cohort - Where do they come from ?

 

 

Thorpe Park: The Royal Holloway MBA business engagement

For a second succssive year, The Royal Holloway MBA group of 34 temporarily left their leafy campus setting and hectic schedule of classes to visit the nearby "Thrills Capital" of the UK.  MBAs, drawn from all over the world, are particularly keen to visit organisations first hand to get a stronger appreciation of how business in the UK works.

Thanks to the generous partnership of Thorpe Park management team, MBA students were able to hear about the challenges of a quite remarkable business, which not only faces the typical challenges of a leisure business, a particularly wet summer, the 2012 Olympics, and competing for share of spend in a slow growing economic context, but one that also includes a  special ecological considerations, operating as it does in a site surrounded by a wetlands wildlife sanctuary. 


Thorpe Park is one of 93 attractions that form the Merlin Group, a global operator that currently lies second only to Disney.  In close proximity to other Merlin Group attractions (Legoland and Chessington) the Thorpe Park mission is carefully targetted at the mercurial 16-24 age group.  The Royal Holloway MBA group were given five real business questions to respond to after having been given the chance to visit the park 'behind the scenes' and fire questions at a panel of Thorpe Parks senior management.

Having worked together in groups to address the set questions the Thorpe Park management team will be hosted on the Royal Holloway campus to hear what the students recommend.  It is hoped the fresh and challenging perspectives, pitched using newly acquired analysis and presentation skills, will provide some genuinely helpfull insights for the Thorpe Park management team. 

The 10 Commandments

Can you talk the talk and walk the walk ?  The best advice I could ever give a new people manager.

 

The 10 Commandments 

(for managing people)

1. Recognize peoples' effort

2. Act on poor performance

3. Stop fire fighting - start planning

4. Delegate and stop meddling

5. Make informed decisions

6. Stop controlling - start influencing

7. Communicate more

8. Take more business risks

9. Ask for feedback

10. Be seen to be doing 1-9 above

I have a little card on my desk, it dates from before Y2K (the IT panic concept that saw us all run around undertaking risk assessments and major software/system updates just incase computers thought we had gone back to 1900 not 2000 due to the DD-MM-YY date convention used inside many computer chips.  This, much like my local firework display this year, was a bit of a damp squib).

A learning campus - safe space where MBAs experiment with new leadership styles

It was something my then boss Paul Giblin had us print up for every manager in the BA Germany organisation for our conference that year.  I think it was a pretty snappy management philosophy even back then when my hair was thick and curly.  I keep it on my desk now, even though formally I no longer have anyone reporting to me.  As I have matured and gained more experience I note that the wisdom contained within this ten short paragraphs is more appropriate now that ever before.

Feedback sandwich start & end with positives

'Act on poor performance' is something that I need to keep reminding myself.  (With exceptions) my impression of the civil service is one where many of the great (and some of the awful) commercial managerial practises have really yet to manifest themselves.  When coaching students in groups I often suggest that giving feedback (using the feedback sandwich approach - lots of positive bun with a meaty developmental centre, but start and end on positives) and explaining (using a factual approach) is very helpful.  Most people do not wish to annoy or disappoint others, its unintentional and perhaps because noone has ever told them before.  Take a big breath, find the right moment and give it your best shot (honest and true, but diplomatically, of course.)  Starting the process with "You know what your problem is..." and alike are NOT recommended. 

I need it to remind me that I have a nasty tendency to do everything over email (my wife jokingly suggests that I would even have proposed over email, given half a chance...) and No. 7 "Communicate more" is there to remind me that informal corridor chats are not work denying opportunities but the chance to deepenend and widen my networking, you just never know when someone will be able to thrust an idea or solution into your lap.  In my role supporting the Royal Holloway MBA this week I found myself regretting that I had not done something face-to-face, whilst painfully wordsmithing a series of email tennis communications.

In a blame culture where criticism is rarely in front of the at fault individual, it is often the case that the giving and receiving of honest and meaningful feedback is an approach that is lacking.  We all want to improve, building trust in your colleagues to be able to tell you where you are over stepping the line or have been a bit too much is important.   Looking out for what people are NOT saying is also key, perhaps they do not feel comfortable telling you how they feel. 

Number 10 always makes me smile.  When we came up with this list - the first five were easy, the next four came slowly.  The last one - the all important tenth - that made sense of the 10 commandments title we'd rather irreverently developed - always felt like a filler.  But actually, of course, demonstrating your managerial/leadership philosophy is crucial, perhaps most aptly demonstrated in the "walk-the-talk" expression.  I am proud to have played a small role in support Paul Giblin putting his pocket book management in ten simple bullet points. 

Can implement a few of these ten commandments ?

Justin O'Brien

What differentiates Royal Holloway's MBA ?

The  Royal Holloway University of London offers a very appealing MBA programme with the following key differentiators;

• Interactive learning that draws on academic expertise and extensive peer industry experience

• Week long cross-cultural study tour to a European city

Leafy campus

• Quiet leafy campus, allowing concentration on studies, but easy access to central London for rich cultural and social entertainment options

• Highly diverse cohort - one of the UK leaders for diversity - wide range nationalities, business experience and gender balance (rare on MBA)
  
  
• Quality assurance signified by AMBA (Association of MBAs) accreditation

• Strong MBA identity and extensive formal and social interactions allows profound friendships to develop and long lasting network creation

Culturally diverse

• End of programme live business consultancy challenge, (real business, real question) putting theory into practise by demonstrating group problem solving

• Skill development in the context of multi-facetted business engagement, with a range of interesting companies


• Growing alumni networks around the world, particularly useful for internationally oriented careers

• Strong international reputation for critical and international research, challenging examination of theory

Networking in action

• Industry speakers, professional body events, business engagement exercises and company visits offered across the year

Stunning campus environment

• Royal Holloway is a friendly and safe mid-sized campus university, its human scale allows you to feel part of things very quickly

• The School of Management has a leading international research reputation that supports the global resonance of the University of London brand – nobody asks “Where is that ?”

Dynamic student group

• Study at a very modern, dynamic business school located in the heart of a beautiful and clean campus, with a long heritage as a place of higher level learning that dates back to Queen Victoria. Offers a big wow factor for visiting family members and friends

• Stimulating and life changing learning within a boutique sized, highly international and diverse peer group of experienced professionals drawn from a wide industry base. Experience extensive in class interactions in intimate MBA only classes where you can really get to know the professors and develop MBA friends-for-life

Alumni experience sharing

• Theme based modules allow wider, deeper and more integrated learning approaches without the anxiety and pressure that can come from a battery of functionally silo oriented examinations

HP company visit, Sweden

• The integrative week long international study visit (to a major European city) provides a powerful cross-cultural perspective on management learning

Business networking

• Extensive opportunities for business engagement with a range of company visits, guest speakers, experiential learning and practical assignments. Lots of theory, but complemented by opportunities to apply new ideas and ways of thinking

• A powerful mentor offer that is coordinated through the alumni team

• The college liberal arts heritage is integrated into enrichment activities, including elements from drama and history academics as well as a wide range of campus community events, activities, clubs and associations 

Drama class

• Innovative, bespoke professional development programme supported by dedicated MBA careers advisor

• Accreditation by the only widely recognized specialist MBA quality body, AMBA. Be confident that your MBA programme stands up to regular, independent quality assurance auditing

Royal Holloway Distance Learning student featured in Styling magazine feature

Olga Zhukova, pictured presenting here during the recent Egham based distance learning plenary, was invited by Styling magazine to be interviewed for a photo story concentrating on her work and Royal Holloway, University of London distance learning MBA.

Click here to read the piece

Responsible Marketing: Distance learning Egham Plenary 2012 Business Consultancy Week

For a third consecutive time in as many years the Miller Brands, the UK operating arm of brewing giant SAB Miller offered a real business question for a management consultancy assessment designed for student groups from Royal Holloway to address.

Thirty six students drawn from all over the world worked in six groups during an intense week to make recommendations to Jonathan Bennett, Head of Corporate Affairs, Miller Brands UK, on the challenging question he posed on responsible marketing.  

Students, who worked together in virtual teams for four weeks ahead of coming together in the newly extended School of Management building in Egham, found the question stimulating and challenging.

 Dr Sigrun Wagner, who lead the student interaction, highlighted the high standard of work achieved by the multi-cultural groups, who had to work intensively from Monday to Friday to produce a coherent recommendation in the form of a 14 minute presentation.

"Students are at the end of a particularly demanding journey when they take on the capstone business consultancy project." stated Justin O'Brien, MBA Director, "combining family life with work is often challenging enough, but I take my hat off to these guys, who over a period of two to five years have devoted significant time to research, write course work and sit exams.  The consultancy and dissertation are the final steps on this journey and this years cohort did extremely well, delivering highly polished pitches, worthy of a masters degree."

Students are studying for either an MBA or MSc in International Management at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Egham Plenary 2012 Introduction Week

The last week in June 2012 saw the traditional 'plenary' (coming together) of distance learning students from the Royal Holloway, University of London MSc and MBA International Management programme.  Week 1 is designed for students to benefit from an introduction to the College (this year they stayed in student dorms that transformed into an Olympic Rowing village the day after), to experience first hand some academic lectures from the teaching team, to engage with a variety of businesses and most importantly to build a wide range of friendships with fellow students from around the world.

A number of highly innovative business engagements were trialled for the first time on the Distance Learning programme, a visit to a leading amusement park and a Q&A session with the whole board of successful UK manufacturing company. 

Students spent a day at Thorpe Park, (owned by global #2 Merlin Group), an amusement park that positions itself as the thrills capital of UK targeting teenagers and young adults with a range of wet and wild roller coasters, fast food franchises and traditional amusements.  Having experienced some of the more extreme rides in the morning plenary participants spent the afternoon engaging with two members of the parks management team, challenged with coming up with ideas to recommend solutions to three key strategic questions. 

Having run a successful AGM in Founders board room the nine strong board of directors of Norman Hay plc (an innovative UK based international manufacturing company that specialises in coatings processes) joined the plenary participants for a challenging interaction that invited student groups to make recommendations on how the company should invest for continued growth.  With a wide range of industrial experience and drawn from markets all around the world the student groups were able to provide Peter Hay, Chairman of the group, and the board of directors with a number of salient recommendations. 

Students combine busy family lives, usually working full time with a distance learning regime that relies on high levels of self-motivation.  The opportunity to network with others, to make friends and to enjoy some social time is often cited as a highlight of the learning experience.  The programme seeks to offer a variety of evening activities that this year included a visit to a traditional student pub, the chance to undertake some tourism in London, a Thames boat trip, a cricket club BBQ and a formal black tie gala dinner. 

Plenary 1 - Royal Holloway, University of London

Student reactions after the Royal Holloway, University of London MBA and MSc International Management plenary week 1 (residential summer school) held in June 2011 at the Egham campus.

2011 MBA and MSc International Management Distance Learning cohort

In what was very much a team effort, staff at the School of Management pitched in to ensure that a record number 113 delegates at this year's Egham plenary had a highly engaging and rewarding experience. These two-week plenary sessions allow students on the distance learning MBA/MSc International Management course to meet face-to-face with academic staff and other students in an intensive programme of master classes, group projects and social events.
The ever popular Thames boat trip was reinstated, plus the formal dinner in Founder's Picture Gallery saw arts marketing specialist Dr Derrick Chong share some historical insights into its £30 million Victorian art collection. Following participant feedback, more emphasis this year was put on engaging with industry speakers. Oral feedback suggested that 2011 was a significant improvement on the 2009 and 2010 sessions.

"Plenary 2011 - for me the second truly amazing time in Egham! It was a week filled with interesting research, hard work and great presentations. But maybe the best part was connecting with interesting people from all parts of the world in an ambience of great academic heritage and beautiful nature. Comparing week one in 2010 to week two in 2011 one could feel that the organisers are pushing hard to make this experience even better."
L. Schaper, Germany

MBA Sweden study visit 2012

Royal Holloway MBA International Study Visit to Stockholm University Business School

Detailed photo itinerary is contained below:

In Pictures

In News

On Twitter - ‪#rhulMBA2012

 ‬The following copy and images are provided thanks to Dr Sigrun M Wagner.
 

This year’s MBA cohort (2011-2012) went on a study trip to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, after the end of their exam period and before their final group assignment (life consultancy case with Conti) and dissertation. They were accompanied by alumni relations officer Fiona Redding as organiser and teaching fellow Dr Sigrun Wagner from the academic staff.

The visit included three company visits, two guest lectures at Stockholm University Business School (SUBS), a boat trip on Stockholm’s canals, some free time and organised dinners including the final dinner with students and staff from SUBS’ executive MBAs. The following offers an insight to the trip with the help of pictures.

We had a cold start at the RHUL bus stop on Monday morning, waiting for the bus to Heathrow.

In Stockholm we arrived into beautiful sunshine – a yellow bus was waiting for us to take us to our hotel, Mornington hotel in Nybrogatan.

The rest of the afternoon was free, which most people used to venture out into the city for a cup of coffee. Lots of pictures were taken throughout the week:

 

The first night involved dinner near the hotel, which provided a chance to get to know each other better. The group also met the local counterpart from Stockholm University Business School, Isabel Dahlin, education and market coordinator.

The first company visit the following morning was to Swedish Orphan Biovitirum (SOBI) at Karolinska Institute’s Science Park. SOBI is a pharmaceutical company that specialises in orphan drugs for rare diseases. After getting an introduction to the company and the regulatory process for new drugs, the group was taken on a tour through the labs to see the actual processes with a chance to ask further questions.

In the afternoon, the whole group went for a boat trip in beautiful sunshine –Stockholm welcomed the group with an early arrival of summer! Stockholm is also called the Venice of the North and the boat trip provided a good opportunity to see this beautiful city from the water.

The first full day in Stockholm concluded with dinner at Myntkrogen, the restaurant in the Royal Coin Cabinet, opposite the Royal Palace.

The next day started with an all-morning visit to Swedbank, a leading bank in Sweden and the Baltic countries. The presentations and discussions centred around sustainability, banking models and the impact of the financial crisis. They provided stimulating and inspiring ideas not only for the students.

Our super organisers, Isabel and Fiona, during our visit to Swedbank:

After lunch, the group was taken to Stockholm University Business School for our first lecture, which was on critical and institutional perspectives on fashion blogging from a marketing researcher. 

There were no scheduled activities for the evening so students and staff went their own ways for dinner and entertainment (so I hear!).

In the second lecture on the trip, marketing guru Evert Gummesson provided interesting and challenging material on relationship marketing. He delivered a fascinating lecture that engaged everyone.

The buildings of the business and economics faculty at Stockholm University used to be veterinary clinics – outside the surgical clinic:

Most of the group outside Stockholm University’ School of Business after lunch and a walk around the waterside campus:

Awaiting the final company visit at Scan AB – a big player in the meat industry. A leading strategist and an HR professional talked us through the company and were very open to suggestions of the students with regard to international strategy and challenges facing the company.

The company visit at Scan AB concluded with sampling their delicious meat products:

For the final dinner at Hagaforum, the group was joined by staff and students of the Executive MBA at SUBS and provided a fitting ending to a great trip:

After a final morning with some free time to sleep or go sightseeing, the group headed back to the UK and here we are, happy and exhausted upon return to RHUL:

Overall, this was a successful visit which was very well organised and enjoyable.

For more pictures see the School of Management’s facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.444129535616828.111127.201254953237622&type=1) and the twitter feed of academic Sigrun Wagner www.twitter.com/smwagner_RHUL (hashtag #RHULMBA2012)