Sitting down is not so easy, Jet-set Mike Robinson shares complexities with Royal Holloway MBAs

Never thought too hard about sitting down before ? Royal Holloway MBA students were taken to another level recently by aviation industry consultant Mike Robinson, who jetted in from Geneva to give a master class on how consumers cope with complexity and particularly choice.  

Royal Holloway MBAs pondering customer behaviour complexity in seat selection

First up really was; Where to sit ?  The traditional rows of desks and chairs were replaced by an aircraft simulating 3x3 seating plan, with a single, central aisle.  MBA Director, Justin O'Brien, predicted correctly that the front row would be the least popular area and the cool crowd would fill up the back row.  Unlike a plane, where seats 1A and 1H are much sought after and there is a general preference for the front rows over those down the back.  

Ever wondered why you end up driving around an empty car park, not quite able to decide which space to take.  Which is really the perfect one ?     My wife certainly finds this behaviour very difficult to comprehend.  But multi-storey car parking has become a bit of a taboo subject in our house, so best to leave this one alone.  Mike suggests it is a function of too much choice and cites a variety of examples that indicates that giving too many options can enhance customer choice satisfaction, but decrease actual purchasing behaviour.  Great data, wrong question, just like new Coke - one to chew over with colleague Sameer next week ! To example this assertion Mike highlighted the huge product range offered by leading supermarkets, but the much narrower, one choice per category offered by discounters like Aldi and Lidl.  

15E the least chosen seat ?

Sharing key insights from his time heading up the commercial arm of the management consultancy practice at IATA (the de facto global airline membership body) in Switzerland and drawing on a wide experience on projects undertaken around the globe, Mike encouraged the Royal Holloway MBA group to attach great importance to customer insight and devoting material time and resources to ensure that real behaviours of real customers is integral to all commercial decision making.

Mike highlighted, by way of case study example, the entrepreneurial 50+ strong retail chain that sells healthy soup targeting the needs of one particular group of Japanese customers, women who like nutritious soups and want to feel safe eating alone in a smoke free environment.  

Mike Robinson at Royal Holloway

Research for a leading European point-to-point airline identified the importance of toilets in the decision making of female and older customers, young people it seems have strong bladders.  Proximity to or access to facilities being a key seat choice factor, and its importance growing with increasing flight duration.

Travellers were also prepared to pay a significant premium for pre-allocated seating in the front of the aircraft and most were happy to pay a notional figure to allow choice at the point of booking and avoid the rugby scrum melee that can occur during a free boarding process.  Crucially the charging framework under investigation failed to optimise the full value of additional fees travellers would have been prepared to pay, underscoring Mike's key tenet that more focus on customer insight is often needed and it can drive the bottom line. 

During the Q&A Mike Robinson explained to the engaged and curious Royal Holloway MBA group that the front of an aircraft was a more popular choice for a variety of reasons including; speed of entry/exit access, lower engine noise and a smoother ride.  

And the answer to life, universe and everything is 15E, the seat most likely to be vacant on a typical short haul aircraft, so choose D or F in that row to optimise your own elbow room.  

Building Powerful Arguments - use a Knight in Shining Armour

I know (from bitter personal experience) that at times whilst studying for an MBA qualification you would love for a knight in shining armour to come to your rescue, slay your dragons and allow the situation to move on to the happy ever after scene.  This is a rather light hearted post that uses the knight/armour/fighting metaphor

Writers block.  Stress.  Can't understand how to write a 'good' paper. 

However you describe it, I fully imagine that we all face/have faced this kind of situation at some point.  Thankfully we have fellow course mates and family members to help, but I thought the following advice might be useful ? 


I would like to put forward a visual metaphor I learnt from a fabulous ex-colleague Jo Donachie, a gifted and patient study skills specialist.  I do not claim for this idea to be an original, but with a bit of my own creative story embellishment I have found this to be a highly effective way to communicate a tricky concept that causes much frustration.

First of, and bluntly delivered the shortened version:

Step 1:

 

"I don't care what you think." 

 

Step 2:

"Imagine yourself naked."

 

Step 3:

"Use the published words of others as armour, and go into battle with no gaps showing"

Now that I have got your attention, I can explain each of this steps in a little more detail.  And, before you ask, there are no plans for a short TV Series titled "The Naked Academic."

Step 1: Attention grabbing head line "I don't care what you think !"

The harsh reality is little or no credit is given to the personal opinions of students.  What is expected is hard evidence in the form of data, quotes and paraphrased ideas identified using Harvard in text referencing (every idea, each one).  This rich content (gleaned from hours of careful searching in the library and using e-journal search engines) is then carefully constructed into an objective consideration of the facts.  The use of the third person clearly helps establish that this is not a personal opinion.  The choice of content, the extent to which various aspects are covered, of course, can give a piece of writing a sense of the writers own perspective.  However, the exclusion or over looking of leading ideas and concepts might be considered as either poor scholarship or deliberate bias.

Billy Buff

Step 2: Shocking comment "Imagine yourself naked"

Clearly some care is taken in delivering this line.  It can be softened, if offence might be caused, by talking about imagining someone else naked, yours truly excepted.  Then the task is to carefully identify a variety of different shaped pieces of armour to cover the naked body.  In this metaphor, each piece of armour is considered to be the words of  expert opinion, dutifully referenced. 

Stay with this - it comes good in the end !

Final Step 3: The message wrap "Use the published words of others as armour, and go into battle with no gaps showing"

Each suit of armour is different to fit its rightful owner, but shares a common pattern of construction and constituents, aping the introduction, argument threads and conclusion seen in a strong essay. 

The fit should be tight, with no gaps, lest a stray arrow defeat the brave knight.  No excess armour should be carried, as getting stuck in the mud and being picked off by nimble foot soldiers is a poor ending.  Write concisely, avoid over emphasising one area, at the cost of killer blows elsewhere. Rather, have glorious memories of thrust and counter thrust of incisive analytical blows that legends are made from.  [Don't waste words on descriptive 'mud', concentrate on the exciting fighting/analysis]

Eurovision null points for artistic capability

As the broad sword can be countered by a shield, both sides of an argument should be considered and the armour carefully fitted together as a coherent body, each individual part having its own important role to play, yet still adding to the whole.

At this point there is often lots of head nodding and the story is all but done, without the need for further explanation or clarification.  Just sufficient time to pepper our iron clad pupil with pre-battle bullets (but my brilliant history colleague Professor Justin Champion would say "Didn't they come later ?");

* Published expert opinion, not lecture notes (they aren't published).  

* Not usually web sites, unless they can be identified as authoritative. 

Sir Royal Holloway of Egham perchance ?

 

Go forth brave Scholarly Knight of Harvard and fight the good fight !

For further help on writing for academic purposes take a look at previous postings in the zone May-July 2012.  E.g. Lovely Literature Review

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.

.

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....

Effective Academic Writing

Many of the Royal Holloway MBA programme, actually most candidates, have not studied under the UK university system before starting their studies.  One source of anxiety is always around meeting the expected academic writing style. 

Edited below are a few bits of advice I share with students. 

Harvard Referencing

It is often called the (Author, Year) method, where the author's last name is used in text and page number only if a quotation is used.  After the first instance it is acceptable to use the Latin 'et al' after the first author's name in text for succinctness. Every new idea is expected to be referenced to its original source.  Students are encourage to read academic journals to experience this writing style.

Bibliographies (at the back of a paper) should not include bullet points or number lists, and be sorted by Author's last name from A to Z.    You list only the sources you have read yourself and use 'op cite' if it pertains to older work in a newer text.  Note: class lectures are not usually recognised as published sources.   Full guidance is provided in the student handbook, but it is surprisingly often forgotten about in the pressure of an assignment deadline. 

Attention to detail

Think about walking into an interview - what impression does your first glance make - do you leave toothpaste on the side of your mouth and a bit of toast hanging off your beard ? Presentation is very important, more so in the early pages when key impressions are being formed.   A good UK spell checker helps ensure that words are accurately spelt - but it is important to proof read all assessed work, spell checker does not pick up wrong words and poor sentence structure. 

Too much description detail and a lack of analysis

New and returning students have a tendency to be overly descriptive and miss out on critical analysis.  Many students like to start with a general 'background' paragraph, which eats word count and generally does not earn marks.   At MBA level, descriptive content (re-working of ideas already presented) carries little or no credit (however well written). Critical analysis is expected.

A great starting paragraph explains the SET question and provides clear sign posting on the structure of the paper that follows. This can be concise. Students get poor marks sometimes because they do not really refer to the question at all, others decide to re-write the question into something different. There are zero marks for beautifully answering a different question.

Points for top enders

Fully understanding how to reference effectively, craft powerful arguments using published expert opinions and weigh opinions effectively using an academic tone is the academic writing challenge.      The very best way to develop a strong writing style is to read (you read for a degree !) widely across a variety of academic sources (text books and e-journals - accessed via EBSCO, Emerald and Science Direct).   Students can access our impressive range of e-resources on their own computers from listerally anywhere in the world (with an internet connection).  For the past couple of years Royal Holloway MBA candidates have benefited from a personal Economist subscription, which is also a great source of analytical writing, even if it does have a strong, right leaning political agenda.

Note from the Editor

Extra care was taken in seeking to minimise spelling errors and ensuring the text reads well, given the nature of the post !  As a touch typer with a can do agenda, spelling and grammatical conventions have never been a personal strength and I always took great care in proof reading all of my own University assignments.

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. 

National Press coverage of The Royal Holloway MBA

Study Pods in the School of Management Foyer

One of my personal targets for this year was to see if we could get some coverage of the campus MBA programme in the national press.  The distance learning programme had received coverage from both the FT and Telegraph, as the trend towards non-traditional full time study was a popular news theme.  

Sadly, my attempts to generate interest from internal newsletter type pieces had brought no returns.  In my previous corporate existence supplying some reasonable copy (using tactical quotes from the right senior people you wanted profile with) and an appropriate photo always brought results, and the right photo could mean placement on the front or back covers.

Not in the UK national press it seems.  

Once I took a step too far and used an embarrassing photo of a close colleague in a social context (wearing a silly hat) without his permission.  I have learned my lesson here - always, always, ask for permission if you are going to use images of people - we all tend to be a bit particular on how this is done.

The rule on photos was always "no line ups" and this has stayed with me since then - although you will notice in this blog a number of "prohibited" line up photos, most because we all seem to want to have such photos and the editorial guillotine operated on MBADirector  is not as exacting as it might be. 

I must thank Tanya Gubbay and the three featured MBA students for helping make this happen. 

FT.com coverage of three current campus MBA students, which went in the Asian and North American editions of the paper, so truly global.

"Don't post a silly picture of me on Linked-In, I'll never get a job !"

MBA 2011/12 Graduation

 

I must say I was slighty sceptical about the re-introduction of winter graduations for post graduate students.  The thought of driving rain and freezing temperatures and not putting the extravagant Picture Gallery and Chapel centre stage as the location made me have some serious reservations.

 

Gone.  Totally dispelled.  And as our head of school is often keen on impressing, "evidence based decision making is key ! ".  Resulting on the relatively short gap since Royal Holloway MBA students have submitted their dissertations (end of August) there was an impressive 60% attendance at the ceremony today.  With a surprising number flying in especially for graduation, this made for a fantastic group who seemed to have a really fun time together.



Royal Holloway 2011/12 MBA cohort.  Picture: Sigrun M Wagner

The ceremony was described as appropriately formal and smoothly run.  No scrimping on style for the big celebration of successful learning journeys completed.  Trumpetted by bearskin soldiers in their immaculate uniforms the College Principal reinforced the quality of their masters degree, reminding us that Royal Holloway placed 119th out of 6,000 in a recent evaluation of the worlds best universities.  The graduation ceremonies at Royal Holloway (I've done several now as you might imagine) deliver all the right ingredients in just the right measures, pomp, purpose, and lots of preened photo opportunities, using the stunning Founders building as a back drop. 

 

This years MBA cohort achieved particularly strong results with 3 distinctions (70%+) and 10 merits (60%+) and were the first ever group to have undertaken a week long international study visit (in conjunction with our partner business school institution at Stockholm University).  They were also recognised for the ground breaking off campus business consultancy engagement that was undertaken with senior management from Thorpe Park, one of the 93 business units that comprises the Merlin Group, second only to Disney in the amusements sector.

 

After all the formality in the Monkeys Forehead (a favourite with students each and every year) the MBA group, packed full of happy, smiling faces, were celebrating their achievements, with a chance to let their hair down a bit and to plan their next reunion !

 

In the pub, Amir's plea to those taking photos "Please don't post a silly picture of me on Linked-In, I'll never get a job if you do !"  personally, I think it's ok to celebrate the achievement of an MBA....

 

Christmas MBA Alumni Event 2012

Royal Holloways unique Victorian art collection in the stunning Picture Gallery

 

The last day of term saw the Royal Holloway MBA cohort celebrate in some style with a sumptuous luncheon alumni event organised brilliantly by Fiona Redding.

Not quite the traditional Christmas turkey dinner

The dedicated School of Management Alumni officer role is still relatively new and it is particularly gratifying to see how the heady mix of current MBA students with alumni and industry guests is now building a momentum of its own. 


Current MBA students were feeling a sense of relief (having just handed in their last piece of assessed work for the term, an HR essay) and also tiredness, as the end of term has seen them work particularly hard on a variety of group presentations, individual course work and in class tests.


It was great to hear of plans for candidates to be reunited with their families over the Christmas period.  Many had plans to travel throughout UK and continental Europe.



We were also pleased to see a strong representation from the various business partners we have worked with in the last year.  Several were keen to explore opportunities to offer internships, work placements and full time roles.  With a range of very interesting people present, all with a passion for the College and the MBA programme it was not surprising that there was some extensive networking taking place.

Royal Holloways highly renowned choir performing added a very special feeling to the proceedings

MBA 2012/13 Candidates Huiya Chuang and Eri Yazawa (who kindly allowed her photos to be used in this blog) with Royal Holloway MBA Director Justin O'Brien

Guest Speaking at The Royal Marketing Society

Having played a small role in helping the Royal Marketing (student society) form last year, I was delighted and rather honoured to be asked to be a guest speaker at one of the regular society meetings.  I am a keen advocate of a strong marketing society and feel that the committee this year has done an amazing job, especially when you consider that Students Union funding only applies to societies that have been up and running for a year.  (I guess a sensible viability test and filter)

Some of these students are even smiling !

Given that the target audience for the Marketing Society are undergraduates who have typically followed the Marketing Management module I run a regular big lecture slot on (with my marketing colleague Andy Whalley) I was expecting a low turn out for my session.  I braced myself for less than a handful of hardy souls.  In fact, I was doubting the logic in inviting me in the first place.  Can you really have a full time marketing lecturer deliver a guest speaker slot at the marketing society ?  Anyway...


Having worked on marking and lesson prep during the day and seen my family arrive home, it felt entirely incongrous to be going to campus to run a 1900 talk.  Campus was surprisingly buzzy, busier than I've seen it during the daylight period.  It was quite exciting.  I was quite nervous.  I did not know quite what to expect.  I was not at all sure what I had prepared would work, as clearly in a voluntary, beyond class setting the rules of the game are very different.  Firmly out of my comfort zone and regretting agreeing to particpate, I wore my favourite green hoody, with plenty of space to hide in if things went pear shaped.  Perhaps it was the stage fright of a stand up comedian I was feeling.  You know the material, you've done the gig scene for ages.  Yet every new audience provides its own particular challenge.  I often liken lecturing to the role of the stand up comedian.  I like to watch the good, the bad and the ugly to understand different approaches and unpick why some don't work as well as others.  I digress.


However, Nathan (founding society president) and the executive committee had done a sterling job in marketing the event (I guess there is a clue in the name !) and they had ensured that there was quite a large group of students in attendance.  Given a very challenging topic that felt it might be dangerously heavy on the dry stuff that doesn't work, I decided to focus my efforts on sharing with the student group (which, pleasingly included four current Royal Holloway MBA students) a light hearted career profile, the global McDonald's story that got me into academia and case study on my own global vs local marketing struggle as British Airways Sales and Marketing Manager for Russia, from back in the day when this was a hot new topic.

Royal Holloway MBA Director, Justin O'Brien

As ever, I used my own particular lecturing style, based as it is on my strongly held belief that engaging the audience is the critical objective.  "Fun Learning" is how I describe it.  I am not funny and really cannot tell jokes - but trying to find different ways to surprise, entertain, amuse and enlighten the group in front of you is always an exciting challenge.  Getting a reaction is crucial to see if it is working.  


My objective is not to (using the European learning metaphor) to fill lots of empty jugs with knowledge, but (UK style) seek to light a fire that will never go out.  I hope to inspire a natural curiosity, to enable others to look at the world in a different way (often using marketing tools and concepts) and give enough to inspire interest to go away and learn more.  I (amusingly appropriate here) remember vaguely research that suggested that 50% of information is forgotten within an hour and by the end of the week most people would be lucky to remember even 10% of any given lecture without using some form of revision.  Thus creating highly memorable 'peaks' of learning, amazing stories or facts, humourous (remember - I don't do funny) anecdotes from which personal learning journeys can commence is the modest objective I set myself.  Feedback suggests this approach generally works quite well.


Gratifyingly, the Royal Marketing session was completed, a few good questions, a few people leaving once the hour slot was done and several thank yous (now that did feel a bit strange).  A quick pint of Guiness in the pub with a hard core and back to reality.

Wonder if I will get invited back to do something next year ?

Sharing Cultural Experiences: MBA's learn the power of social networking

Following a suggestion from MBA Director Justin O'Brien during their induction a hardy gang of The Royal Holloway MBA students chose to spend a rare 'off' day from the hectic study schedule to familiarise themselves with some English culture with a visit to Windsor. Organised by Russian born but locally resident Elena Savchenko the group benefited from her knowledge and by all accounts enjoyed a 'fun' day of touristing, eating, shopping and bonding.  Naturally, no visit to Windsor is complete without experiencing the changing of the guard. 

The iconic bear skin busby hats and red tunics worn by the Queens Household troops provide strong associations for Brand Britain around the world.  (Prince Harry's cavalry regiment, Blues and Royals, is assigned to the Windsor barracks when not on active duty overseas in theatres such as Afghanistan.)  MBA candidates will study the country of origin effect on brands, covered in marketing, and look at the benefits and risks associated with linking with a geographic identity.

Quaffing not olde Englishe beer, but cool, contemporary cider

The importance of social networking cannot be understated and the group prioritised a small amount of time on a quirky and traditional English practice of  re-hydrating with a warm, cloudy, frothy liquid served in elongated glass cylinders and referred to as "pints". Joking aside, the power of social and semi-social networking cannot be under valued. Academic studies of General Manager activity have highlighted the high proportion of time spent focused on personal networking/bonding, and the relative limited focus on business issues, suggesting that relationship nurturing was a higher valued activity.  These guys, from the photo evidence here presented, look set for high flying careers !

Thanks to Elena for organising the visit and Mariusz for photos.


 

Lights ! Camera ! ACTION ! MBA Thespians ?

At Royal Holloway, University of London the MBA Director is always looking for innovative ways to challenge MBA candidates on their learning journey.  Drawing on the (relatively) recent memory of his own Global MBA programme undertaken around the turn of the Century whilst a full time employee at British Airways, Justin remembers that some of the most poigniant learning was achieved using unconventional learning environments.  This included facing a group of thespians to consider the leadership lessons found in Shakespeare whilst on a World War 2 airfield turned campus at Cranfield.

Fast track a decade and thanks to a positive reaction to a rather unconventional offer, a tactical collaboration between Royal Holloway's Drama team (Embodied by Dr Emma Brodzinski and  Alex Turner, one of the founding members of of non zero one, the drama department's resident theatre company 2012/13) and the School of Management's MBA cohort was born.  The initial creative enterprise that will hopefully yield further exciting learning encounters. 

The idea was to use professional and academic insipired drama techniques to engage the MBA group in the early stages of their programme.  Four half day sessions (two back to back on one day) were envisioned, starting with a common shared experience of a Caryl Churchill play "Love and Information" which was running, to critical and commercial acclaim, at the Royal Court theatre at the head of Sloane Square.  The contemporary production with 57 vignettes or scenes portraying 100 characters by a cast of just 16 was an ideal edgy and challenging play for the MBAs to experience.  The set was a white cube, sub-divided by black grid lines and a variety of bright lighting.  Vignettes used simple but highly effective props to generate a sense of place in an otherwise stark and austere stage, including an amusing upright double bed, cycling machines and a large sofa to feature a family watching TV (the audience).

Pleasingly there is also a strong play and campus link for Royal Holloway MBA students.
Caryl Churchill, whose work spans six decades and has been performed globally, is considered by some to be Britains greatest playwright.  Professor Dan Rebellato, Head of Drama at Royal Holloway, University of London stated that it was entirely fitting to name the soon to be opened £3m new 175 seat campus theatre in recognition of Caryl Churchills work. (BBC,  4 Sep 2012)


The first campus based interaction for the MBA group took place with the two drama professionals Emma and Alex leading.  With convential lines of table and chairs pushed away, replaced with a circle of chairs and a bean back the first session kicked off with more than a little apprehension.

Simen Gudevold, a Norwegian national who has taken a sabbatical from the HR function at the United Nations in New York, said "Although I generally prefer management classes over theater-studies, and feel more comfortable discussing case studies rather than expressing myself through images, I most definitely see the link between management and drama."

Gungzhong Xia stated "The drama workshop was truly refreshing.  The atmosphere in the class became more harmonious after the interaction.  We got closer to each other." 

Jessica Dacchille added "We were happy to have been challenged in a different way."

Simen concluded "I think this session was a great initiate. The lecture made me realize how we communicate through non-verbal expressions and how power and authority is not only expressed through conversation."

Mind the Gender Gap: MBA Parity at Royal Holloway, University of London

The Pareto Effect, the ratio of 80 to 20 has an unusual prevalence in describing customers and revenue share, and often this numerical rule of thumb becomes etched firmly in the minds of many Business School graduates.  However, in the world of gender breakdowns for MBAs the special number appears to be 70:30.   In 2011/12 the AMBA (one of the leading MBA accrediting bodies) statistics for UK MBA programmes suggested a 70% male, 30% female gender breakdown. 

The Economist Which MBA ? survey for 2011/12 full time programmes showed that the majority of leading UK Univeristies had female MBA gender per centage balances in the twenties.  Just three had around a third women and just one with 45%.  AACSB (another global accreditation body for Universities with a strong US base) data shows that overall masters programmes have an even spilt of the sexes, thus pointing at the MBA as being perculiarly more popular with men globally.

Thirty percent seems to be a magic number - with this FT.com blog entry flagging that a number of world leading MBA institutions targeting this level, and suggesting that exceeding this level was problematic.

Perhaps because Royal Holloway has a human scale campus or because of its proud Victorian heritage as the UK's second Higher Education institution for women, whatever the reason for a second year running equality very much rules on The Royal Holloway MBA, with both a growth in total numbers and also an increase in the female gender share, with now a small majority (54%) of the MBA class of 2012/13. 

When interviewing prospective MBA candidates the question of gender and nationality split is often raised.  According to Justin O'Brien, MBA Director at Royal Holloway "From my interaction with applicants it seems females, in particular, are perhaps keen not to be be signing up for a year long experience to find themselves in a tiny minority and are often pleasantly surprised to learn of the close to parity gender split on The Royal Holloway MBA." 

Once again the RHUL MBA demonstrates its truly international credentials with a highly diverse cohort of over 35 candidates hailing from 21 different countries.  One of the attractions of this MBA programme is the opportunity to study for the MBA in a truly multi-cultural context, with extensive opportunities to learn about a wide range of global cultures. 

Olympic Sponsorship reflections during BT Tower visit for Royal Holloway MBA's

 

Royal Holloway MBA candidates treated to a contemporary reflection of BT's highly successful involvement in the London 2012 Olympic games. 

Rob Thomas, Director of Cost Transformation, BT Wholesale hosted an International MBA seminar exclusively for the Royal Holloway MBA 2012/13 group in October 2012.  The timing and theme selected could not have been better, as the highly successful Para and Olympic games has just drawn to a close, giving a number of senior BT business leaders a chance to reflect on their organisations involvement.

The Royal Holloway MBA 2012/13 cohort and academic staff at the BT Tower

The seminar took place at BT’s premises in London - the iconic BT Tower.  In addition to Rob Thomas, other key BT speakers included; Mick Wayman, BT Managing Director, London 2012 Programme, Lee Hamill, BT Brand/CSR, Marketing Lead and Mark Wilson-Dunn, Global Sales and Marketing Director, BT Media & Broadcast.  The invitation to host a group of MBA students was extra-ordinary, the BT Tower is closed to the public and usually reserved for hosting important customers and hosting the ocassional high profile charity event.

Presentations given covered BT’s involvement in the Olympic & Paralympic games providing key insights into the company’s role as a key service provider in delivering the most connected games ever - responsible for carrying every call and every TV picture transmitted.  Thanks to BT, London 2012 was the most connected Olympic games ever, with 27 live streamed web channels. 

 A special lunch was provided in the restaurant at the top of the BT tower providing spectacular views over the whole of London, along with the exclusive opportunity for our MBA’s to network with the key speakers.  Students spent time orienting themselves, spotting the gerkin in City, the shard at London Bridge, Canary Wharf, the Emirates, Wembley and the Olympic park, of course were also visible, thanks to a reasonably cloudless day.  The University of London's main campus and iconic Senate house building were close by and easy to view.

Several areas key to the MBA syllabus were covered during the highly engaging and interactive sessions, including; operations, marketing, HR and strategy, providing our MBA’s with highly valuable insights from BT. The dedication and commitment shown by all BT staff throughout the games was made evident and served to inspire our own MBA’s as to how to lead and motivate people that they may manage in their future roles.

Each seminar ended with ‘Lesson for the future’ and a highly engaging Q&A session between the speakers and our MBA’s. The event was deemed highly successful by both parties.  Justin O'Brien, MBA Director at Royal Holloway, stated "This was a brilliant opportunity for our international group of MBA students to engage with one of UK's leading companies and to focus on their successful involvement with a highly current and enormously impactful Olympic games."

 

Interesting fact: The BT Tower was completed in 1964, though until 1993 the building was officially a secret and did not even feature on official maps. Public access to the building ceased in 1981 and the building was awarded Grade II listed building status in 2003.  It is one of the seven largest global television hubs and place a crucial role in distributing audiovisual programming worldwide.

 

 

Special thanks to:  Sonya Murrell for text copy and Rix Cao for the images.