By Sarah Jane Knox on May 7, 2013
This morning, members of the first year BA (Hons) Business Studies group who won the 2013 Marketing Unit project to develop insurance products for Accountants were awarded their cheque for £1,000. Alan Boyce, President, Insurance Institute of Bournemouth presented the cheque to group memebers Gustaf Sander and Oliver Moyle.
As part of their project proposal, the group also produced some marketing materials – a bag, pen and notepad branded ‘Abacus Protection’ so really put in the effort for this unit.
Gustaf and Oliver hinted at their plans for spending their winnings - congratulations!
Posted in News
By Sarah Jane Knox on April 26, 2013
First year BA (Hons) Business Studies students were tasked with imagining they work for a large Marketing consultancy that has been retained by an insurance company to develop insurance products for Accountants. It was a group
project and each person had a specific role and responsibilities, such as Marketing Director, Market Research Assistant, Product Manager, Brand Consultant and PR Executive.
The groups delivered a presentation to unit tutors and members of the Chartered Institute of Insurance (CII) to launch the product.
The winning group called their consultancy firm ‘Omniscient Consultancy Group‘ and ‘Abacus Protection’ was the new insurance product that the group developed. Their proposed new insurance product, offering affordable professional indemnity insurance, targets two segments of accountants. The first segment are accountants that are new to the profession, hence inexperienced and likely to make more mistakes than the more experienced accountants. The second segment are accountants that have been in the profession for many many years but have not kept pace with the changing technologies. They are also likely to make more errors as they get to use the new technologies which are not used to since they were not exposed to these technologies when they were in school as they were not available.
The CII will award the winning group with a £1,000 cheque.
Congratulations to Andrea Alminana Parraga | Liana Brooksbank | Kieran Buller | John Burns | Rosanna Burr | Vladyslav Cherednichenko | Elliott Gascoine | Alexander Hall | Cathleen Henderson | Amandeep Karir | Georgia Martin | Oliver Moyle | Rebecca Palmer | Gustaf Sander | Peyman Savejblagee | Matt Voss who were in the winning group.
Posted in News
By Sarah Jane Knox on April 10, 2013
What do insurance and meerkats have in common? On the face of it – very little. For comparethemarket.com, the well-known insurance aggregator, the combination has proven to be extremely successful and has captured the public’s imagination. The campaign achieved its 12 months targets in just 9 weeks and Aleksandr, the main character, has his own Facebook fans, is followed on Twitter and has received numerous marriage proposals.
Comparethemarket.com, or should that be Comparethemeerkat.com, was just one of the advertising campaigns reviewed by Dr. Julie Robson at a recent presentation on “Changes in Insurance Advertising” for the Bournemouth Insurance Institute.
Julie’s talk examined how advertising content, structure and style have changed over time. Beginning with one of the earliest forms of insurance advertising, as early as the 1700s, where fire insurance plaques were placed on the front of the insured’s building, signifying which company the property was insured with. She then tracked through the decades of change in advertising to today’s advertisements looking at visual prominence; the use of puns, metaphors and ambiguity; emotional vs. rational appeals; and the increasing use of digital technology within the sector.
Julie also examined what advertising works in a recession and how to get the most from your marketing budget before going on to look at some of the trends for the near future.
The Insurance Institute of Bournemouth has over 1,000 members and is part of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), the leading professional body for the global financial services profession.
Dr. Julie Robson specialises in financial services marketing. She has presented her research at internal conferences and published in academic journals on a range of marketing topics in the banking, insurance, broker and Islamic finance sectors. She has secured grants from the ESRC and HEIF to support this work and is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Bank Marketing. Julie is currently Chair of the Qualifications Examination and Assessments Committee of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) and a past President and current Education Secretary for the Bournemouth Insurance Institute.
Posted in News | Tagged Bournemouth University, Chartered Insurance Institute, Financial Services, Insurance, Meercats
By Sarah Jane Knox on February 27, 2013
Final year BA (Hons) Accounting a
nd Finance students judged to have presented the best company study were rewarded with a £100 prize.
The company study is a project undertaken by groups of students in their final year of the BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance degree framework.
It consists of a 10,000 word report and a 20 minute presentation analysing aspects of a company including its financial management, corporate governance and strategy.
Of 28 groups, the best four were selected to present in front of Lesley Fox from Mazars – a company which specialises in audit, tax and advisory services, and sponsors the company study project.
Lesley said that all of the groups impressed with clear and incisive presentations on companies including brewery SAB Miller, Whitbread Plc (who own companies like Costa and Premier Inn), and real estate company British Land.
But she chose final year BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance students Alexander Brooke, Daniel Frampton, Ivy Lappin and Rahim Bah as winners for their presentation on mining company BHP Billiton.
Lesley said that it was a “very tough decision” to make.
She said: “I was very impressed – they all had a professional approach to the presentations and were very clear. The knowledge of the companies they were studying was also strong.
“We have sponsored the project for a number of years now. It gives the students that interaction with local businesses and a chance to present in front of an external contact, with an outside opinion.”
She added that the winners impressed with the way they responded to questions and presented as a team.
Each member of the winning team received £100 from Mazars, and will also be presented with a certificate during their graduation ceremonies.
Daniel Frampton from the team said: “The competition was really good. Everyone was great so it was really good to be named as winner. The rest of the guys did extremely well.”
Ivy Lappin added: “It has been challenging but we have come through it, and I feel more confident about my presentation skills and teamwork now.”
Congratulations to everyone that took part!!
Posted in News
By Sarah Jane Knox on February 27, 2013
Last night Bournemouth University hosted the finals of the University Project Challenge organised annually by the Wessex branch of the Association for Project Management (APM). Fifty seven BA (Hons) Business Studies with Project Management students were involved with the 5th APM Challenge. In addition, we have been fortunate to have the support of LV=, a financial services company based here in Bournemouth, who have supported the LV= BU Project Challenge for three years.
The Challenges were launched at a business networking event in October that brought together businesses, public and voluntary sector organisations, students and academics with an interest in project management and sustainable development. Guest speakers included Gav Thompson, creator of Giffgaff; Aaron Gracey from Network Rail; Paul Summers of Portsmouth City Council; Steve Webster, Business Analyst at BU, and support from the Association of Sustainability Practitioners and the British Computer Society. This year 13 teams of second year students took part in both Challenges and each team had a professional project management mentor, providing an excellent opportunity for students to work alongside high-level practitioners.
The event last night started with a presentation to the winners of the LV= Award for the best project overall, as previously judged by Andy Thomas, Nigel Vincent and Barry Gray from LV=, team ManageMe, comprising Lewis Brown, Amy Callanan, Jack Davies, Jennifer Garbis and Adam Sharpe. ManageMe worked with Poole and Bournemouth Borough Councils to engage local businesses in planning for Climate Week (4-10 March 2013).
For the APM Challenge, teams Apex, Dimension and Tenacity were selected in November to compete in the finals. Last night each team gave a short presentation to a panel of judges from the APM on the management of their project. Trevor Marshall, Chairman of the Project Board, commented on the quality of all three teams’ project management and the improvement they have noticed in performance over the years.
The winner of this year’s APM Challenge is team Apex, with Dan Abberley, Chris Emmerson, Mitchell Hickman and Matthew Slater, who promoted Christchurch Community Partnership’s Dial-a-Bus Service, achieving a 50% increase in usage. ‘Tenacity’ held a ‘Swapping for Shopping’ event at BU and their model has been rolled out to other organisations that have now run similar events. ‘Dimension’ undertook charity fundraising for the Youth Cancer Trust and developed the charity’s business links.
Congratulations to all 13 teams on completing the projects and our thanks to Isaac Abrahams, Chairman of the APM Wessex branch and Ken Taylor of LV= for their continued support and to all the mentors, clients, judges and many others who helped make the events possible.
Posted in News
By Sarah Jane Knox on February 6, 2013
The 2013 Business School Careers Fair took place today, Wednesday 6 February, in Kimmeridge House on Talbot Campus.
The event was attended by all our key industry partners – companies who between them employ over 500 of our placement students and graduates. These include:
- Ascot Wealth Management
- ACCA
- Astute
- CIMA
- EDF Trading
- Enterprise Rent A Car
- E3 Consulting
- Gradsouthwest
- Hastings Direct
- Hays
- IBM
- ICAEW
- JP Morgan
- Lester Aldridge
- Matchtech
- Serco
- Tandridge District Council
- WDS
The Careers Fair is a fantastic opportunity for staff to meet with industry representatives and network, but, more importantly, provides an avenue for our current students to chat to the exhibiting companies about placement and career opportunities.
Posted in Events | Tagged Bournemouth University, Business School, Careers, Employers, Placements
By Sarah Jane Knox on January 30, 2013
Yesterday we held the LV= BU Project Challenge Finals 2012-13. Thirteen teams of second year BA (Hons) Business Studies students presented the outcomes from their real 
projects. This year each team had a professional Project Manager as a mentor as well as an external client who benefited from the project. All thirteen projects delivered positive outcomes for a wide range organisations, including BT, Christchurch Community Partnership, Monty’s Lounge, Eco Foods, WDS, Youth Cancer Trust, Help for Heroes, Cleshar and VS Rail.
Winners were team ManageMe with members Lewis Brown, Amy Callanan, Jack Davis, Jennifer Garbis and Adam Sharpe who worked with Poole and Bournemouth Borough Councils to engage businesses in developing plans for Climate Week (4-10 March 2013). The project culminated in a business breakfast last Friday that was well attended by Councillors, council staff and the local business community.
Runners up were team Invicta, with Jessica Barker, Beth Calver, Nicole Greenwood, Daniel Lee Grosvenor and Andrew Johnstone who worked with BT to improve sustainability practices in the Bournemouth offices.
Congratulations are due to all the teams that took part!
Posted in News | Tagged Bournemouth University, Business, Company, Students, Winners
By Sarah Jane Knox on January 28, 2013
Bournemouth and Poole Climate Week 2013 has been designed by a team of BU’s Business and Management students and will run between 4-10 March 2013.
Our students held a breakfast event on Friday 25 January to officially launch the event. The aim of the event is to raise awareness of climate change and it’s a joint initiative between Bournemouth and Poole Councils. It hopes to encourage businesses and residents to make sustainable lifestyle choices.
Major employers supporting the initiative include Siemens, Castlepoint, RIAS, BH Live, Pruhealth, Arts University Bournemouth and Bourne-mouth and Poole Hospital Trusts.
Find Bournemouth and Poole Climate Week on Facebook, #B_P_ClimateWeek on Twitter.
Such a fantastic initiative!
Posted in News | Tagged Bournemouth University, Business and Management, Event, Students
By Sarah Jane Knox on January 2, 2013
The annual series of the Centre for Intellectual Property & Policy Management’s (CIPPM) Spring Lectures starts on Thursday 21 February at 6pm.
Thursday 21 February – “Ae fond kiss: a private matter?”, Prof. Hector MacQueen (University of Edinburgh)
Thursday 21 March – “Europeanisation and legal methodology in IP”, Dr. Justine Pila (University of Oxford)
Thursday 25 April – “Litigation of patents essential to technical standards – what is the future for patent trolls?”, Dr. Nicholas Saunders (Brick Court Chambers)
All lectures take place on at 18:00, in the Executive Business Centre, close to the Bournemouth Travel Interchange (89 Holdenhurst Road, BH8 8EB).
The lectures are free to attend, but places are limited, and admission to the building closes at 18:15. If you wish to reserve a place, please contact Mandy Lenihan.
Find out more on the Business School’s news pages >>
Posted in Events
By Sarah Jane Knox on November 29, 2012
Danielle Foster, a fourth year LLB (Hons) Law student from Bournemouth University’s Business School, has been awarded the Hays Employability Prize for her poster presentation describing her placement year.
Danielle has received £100 in House of Fraser vouchers from Hays recruitment agency, after they judged her poster to be the best of ten finalists from BU’s Business School.
Danielle, who spent her placement year as a HR Project Specialist for SAP, a business management software specialist, said: “I’m really pleased and surprised to win.
“Creating the poster helped me put into perspective what I actually learnt on my placement and reflect back on the experience and the skills I learned along the way.”
Winner of the second prize of £75 was fourth year BA (Hons) Finance and Business student Jessica Oliveira, who spent her placement year as a finance controller at Pfizer and in third place – winning £25 – was fourth year BA (Hons) Business Studies student Lucy McDermott, who worked in logistics at Sainsbury’s for her placement year.
The competition was open to all Business School students who completed a placement year, and the winners were chosen from the finalists by Vicky Leredde, Senior Consultant at Hays, Helen Futcher, Business Director at Hays and Professor Dean Patton, Deputy Dean (Enterprise) within the Business School.
Students were asked to sum up their placement year experience – including the contribution they made, achievements and the transferable skills they learnt.
Helen said that it was difficult to decide the winner as the standard of the posters was “very good,” adding that she thought it was a great idea.
“It makes people reflect on what they achieved during the placement year, and helps to look forward to what they can actually add to their CV as a result.”
Dean added that they were looking for the initial impact of the presentation, and the balance between content and presentation, as well as useful information about the skills students learnt on their presentations.
“It wasn’t easy to choose the winners, as all of the presentations were really good,” he said.
This is the second year that the competition has been run and the ten posters created by the finalists will now go on display in university corridors and at BU’s Festival of Learning this summer.
Posted in News | Tagged Accounting, Bournemouth University, Business School, Competition, Employability, Finance, Graduate, Law, Placement, Student, Winner
