Queen's University Management School

 

In order to contribute to a research development programme for early career academics from Turkey and the Eastern European geographic region, a research programme was initiated and developed by Professor Istemi Demirag of Queen’s University Management School in conjunction with Professor Recep Pekdemir and Dr  Kerem Sarioglu of Istanbul University.  The programme was held in Istanbul between 16-18 May 2010, just before the European Accounting Association’s Annual Congress. All the administration of the Programme was organised by the local organising committee at Istanbul University.  The Programme was also supported by the Union of Chambers of the Certified Public Accountants of Turkey (TURMOB), Istanbul University, and the European Accounting Association (EAA).  

The programme helped sixteen early career academics from a number of countries including Turkey, Russia, Romania, Slovenia, Tunisia and enabled them to establish contacts with distinguished academics and colleagues from the international accounting academic community. In addition to Professor Demirag, five other distinguished international professors contributed to the programme.  These other professors included: Professor Rashad Abdel –Khalik, University of Illinois, USA; Professor Sidney Gray, the University of Sydney, Australia; Professor Stephen Zeff, Rice University, USA; Professor Christopher Humphrey, Professor Pamela Stapleton, and Professor Andrew Stark, University of Manchester. 

The programme included a combination of presentations, seminars and one to one consultations with the invited academics. In addition to this, each participant was given an opportunity to present his or her research project to be followed by a question and answer session.  Guidance was also provided on research methods and proposal writing. 

In acknowledging the success of the Programme, Professor Aileen Pierce, the current President of the EAA said:  “On behalf of the EAA, I want to thank you very much for following through so effectively on the proposal you initiated in Tampere where you articulated sincerely the opportunity to provide significant local benefit as result of so many accomplished, established and high profile accounting researchers being in Istanbul for the EAA 2010 congress.  I also want to thank Recep and his team for the tremendous effort they put into the local logistics and into capitalising on their great professional contacts in Turkey - both of which contributed to the smooth operation of the programme.  Finally, I would like to add my heartfelt thanks to the Faculty team who contributed so much of their time and expertise to make this programme a great success from the perspective of the participants.  I met many of them during the congress and their appreciation of your insights, comments and encouragement was very evident.  This initiative has been a great addition to the suite of activities that encircle the EAA congress”. 

It is hoped to that in the coming months we will build on this initiative in order to provide more support to emerging academics in coming years, particularly to those from Eastern Europe.  

Professor Istemi Demirag
Queen’s University Management School

 

Top of Page

Queen's student Andrew Johnston pictured with Prof Richard Harrison, QUMS (R); Glenn Roberts, Deloitte (L) and Rosalie Flanagan, DCAL (Centre). A second-year Queen’s University Management School (QUMS) student has been selected by Sebastian Coe to attend the Singapore Youth Olympic Games this summer. Second year accountancy student Andrew Johnston from Ballyholme, Co Down, won the inaugural Deloitte Business Competition. He will also gain two weeks’ paid work experience in Deloitte’s London 2012 team as part of his win. Sebastian Coe, Chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), had high praise for Andrew's entry to the competition which was a paper focusing on what a successful Games might look like for residents local to the Olympic and Paralympic venues. Coe highlighted Andrew’s practical recommendations to create a positive experience for residents, including community programmes, ticketing and business partnerships and his views on which indicators might be measured to gauge the success of the programmes he suggested. In his entry, Andrew was keen to emphasise the importance of the Games as a catalyst for lasting change and the need to inspire young people through sport. He highlighted the spirit and the power of the Games and recommended a number of ways to connect with the local community, including artwork, text messages, volunteering opportunities and partnerships with job centres and training colleges. Andrew said: “The opportunity to work with the Deloitte 2012 team will be a hugely beneficial and unique experience for me professionally. To get an inside, operational viewpoint on one of the world’s great events is an unbelievable opportunity and I’ll be focused on learning as much as I possibly can from it. I’m really looking forward to what will no doubt be a fantastic experience.” Glenn Roberts, Senior Partner at Deloitte in Belfast, said: “Andrew’s Olympian effort demonstrated the business awareness, innovation and entrepreneurial thinking that we were looking for. To beat so many rivals from across the UK is true demonstration of the impressive quality of Andrew’s entry and of the high standards of teaching to be found at Queen’s University Belfast.”   Rosalie Flanagan, Permanent Secretary of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, said: “I am delighted that local student Andrew has been successful in this UK-wide competition. My Department is responsible for ensuring that Northern Ireland benefits from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the vision is to get everyone involved in some way – including volunteering opportunities, business opportunities and participation in the Cultural Olympiad. Although sport is at the heart of the Games, London 2012 is about much more than sport and this competition demonstrates the opportunities that are available and that Northern Ireland can be a part of it.” Media inquiries to Communications Office,  028 9097 5384 email comms.office@qub.ac.uk

Top of Page

The MSc New Venture Creation programme has won postgradireland’s Postgraduate course of the year – business.  This award is new for 2010 and Queen’s University  Management School is delighted to have won the inaugural award.   This  postgraduate award recognises excellence amongst Irish postgraduate course providers.  The award was judged on the programme’s clear and measurable indicators of success, its provision of a good experience for students and positive feedback received from current students.  The independent panel of industry experts who judged the award said that the MSc New Venture Creation "stands out as best in class amongst high impact programmes.  The judges were impressed with the obvious support and recognition of external stakeholders and the 100 per cent success rate for the employability of its graduates".  David Gibson, Programme Director, was pleased to accept the award at the ceremony.

More information is available at www.gradireland.com/awards    

Top of Page

Four business plans have been selected as finalists in the 2010 China-UK Entrepreneurship Competition in the semifinal held at the Queen's University Belfast on Thursday.

A later semifinal to be held at the University of Lancaster is expected to produce another four winners. The eight teams will then compete in the final competition scheduled to take place in June.

The entrepreneurship competition, which is in its third year, encourages links between China and Britain and is open to those involved in new business ventures.

                                                                      

                                                                  

Dr. Yu Xiong, director of the competition's organizing committee and a lecturer at Queen's University Management School, said, "This is the only event of its kind that is supported by universities and authorities from both China and the United Kingdom."

"Doing business overseas can be daunting for many entrepreneurs, but this exciting program aims to promote opportunities that exist and highlight potential business leaders of the future," Yu said.

                                                                    

                                                                   

Prof. Richard Harrison, director of Queen's University Management School, is delighted that this event has forged such strong links. "We are pleased to be working with a number of leading UK universities and the Chinese authorities in this exciting competition," Harrison said.

                                                                                                       

H.E. Mr. Futao Chen, the Minister counsellor for Science and Technology from Chinese Embassy London, and Prof. Sean Gorman CBE, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences addressed the event,  

The entrepreneurship competition was organized by the China Innovation and Development Association and its partners from both Britain and China.

                                                 

Top of Page

Some global chemical companies could generate more than one billion euro additional cash flow if they increased their sustainability performance to the level of their peers.

The claim has been made following an international study which assessed the sustainability performance of nine global chemical companies in monetary terms. Entitled Sustainable Value Creation by Chemical Companies, it has been published by a European research team including academics from Queen's University Management School in Belfast.

The study identified significant differences in the sustainable performance of chemical companies. It showed the leading companies, Air Liquide and BASF, using their resources up to five times more efficiently than their competitors.

In 2007, this meant that both Air Liquide and BASF companies created a sustainable value of around one billion euro, creating around one billion euro more cash flow than their competitors on average would have created with the same amount of resources.

Correcting these results for company size, Bayer, which uses its resources 1.2 times more efficiently than its competitors on average, catches up with BASF.

Among the resources assessed in the study were total assets, water use, chemical oxygen demand of waste water, hazardous waste creation, emissions of greenhouse gases and volatile organic compounds, as well as acidification potential. Social indicators such as number of employees and accidents were also included in the assessment. The analysis is based on the financial, environmental and social data reported and published by the companies themselves.

The study calculated each company’s sustainable value – the first monetary assessment of corporate sustainability performance for chemical companies which takes into account financial, environmental and social resources.

Only the French industrial gas producer Air Liquide outperforms Bayer and BASF in terms of resource efficiency, using its resources 1.7-times more efficiently than its competitors on average.

At the bottom of the ranking is the US company Dow Chemical (DOW). In 2007 DOW used its resources only half as efficiently as the competitors on average and created a negative sustainable value of -2.2 billion euro. Like DOW, DSM and AKZO were not able to generate a positive sustainable value in any of the years assessed.

Other companies studied include Du Pont, Reliance and Shell Chemicals.

The sustainable value approach was developed by Professor Frank Figge of Queen's University Management School Belfast and Dr Tobias Hahn of Euromed Management School Marseille, who authored this study with researchers from the Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment in Berlin.

Both the study and extensive information on the Sustainable Value approach are available at www.sustainablevalue.com.

Top of Page

 

A presentation will be made at this event by the Programme Director, Dr Frances Hill, will which will provide full information about the Queen’s Executive MBA programme.  A further presentation will be given to provide an insight into Queen’s University Management School and the full executive education provision.    

Date:    Wednesday 26 May 2010
Time:    6.00 pm – 7.00 pm
Venue:  Canada Room, Lanyon Building, Queen’s University Belfast. 

To register your interest in attending this event log onto http://www.qub.ac.uk/mgt/openevents/   

Further information on the Queen’s Executive MBA programme is available at www.qub.ac.uk/mba
Email: mba@qub.ac.uk

Top of Page