Tagged / Business School

New book: Money and Inflation: A New Approach to Monetary Analysis for the 21st Century

Publishing

Dr Mehdi Chowdhury of Bournemouth University Business School has published a book titled “Money and Inflation: A New Approach to Monetary Analysis for the 21st Century”. The publisher is Palgrave Macmillan.

A short summary:

The book aimed to develop a new scholarship on money and inflation on the background of the cost of living crisis faced by many countries of the world, and the inability of nation states to address monetary matters like inflation and the debt crisis.

Accordingly, the book proposes to go beyond the usual view of money expressed by monetary units like dollars, pounds, gold coins, bitcoins, bank money etc. and demonstrates that money is better identified as the ability of a person/party to obtain goods and services from another person/party. Such ability can originate via the possession of the money in usual sense, but also due to force, coercion, altruism, trust and human biological characteristics.

Money therefore encompasses all human activities and always in existence irrespective of forms or representation. Money, i.e., the ability to obtain originates due individual and social idiosyncrasies; and appears or disappear when those change. Inflation, instead of the usual measures expressed via the price indices, is identified as the increased need to utilise human body and mind to obtain goods and services from others. Hence inflation is connected with the availability of money, i.e. the ability to obtain of different segments of an economy. The causes of inflation are identified in the balance of triangle comprising non-market factors, the stored ability and the borrowed ability.

The current inflation can be explained by the increased desire to consume observed in modern societies, as well as the distortionary policies of governments favouring one section of the economy over another; both inducing individuals and sections to employ more body and mind to create money, i.e., the ability to obtain goods and services.

The book did not aim to provide a comprehensive analysis of economic policies, but the UK housing market has been studied to demonstrate how the policies taken during Covid-19 may have caused the inflation in the UK housing market through distortion.

The book suggests that the policies of the apex institutions like governments or central banks should on principle aim not to disrupt the balance of this triangle and to avoid distortion. This recommendation is equally applicable for the Third World countries; however, those countries should also aim to design economic policies to shield themselves from distortions caused by actions of international economic actors.

Individuals can also shield themselves from inflation i.e., the need to utilise more body and mind, by containing the desire to consume more that characterises modern societies.

Dr Rafaelle Nicholson’s Expertise Features in House of Lords Select Committee Report

Evidence provided by BU’s Dr Rafaelle Nicholson has featured in a new House of Lords Select Committee report on a National Plan for Sport and Recreation, published on 10 December 2021.

The report calls on the Government to establish a national plan for sport, health and wellbeing to tackle inactivity. Failings in sport and recreation policy and fragmented delivery have resulted in little progress being made in tackling levels of inactivity, particularly in certain groups including women and girls, disabled people, ethnic minorities, the elderly and people from less affluent backgrounds. A national plan for sport, health and wellbeing will set clear goals and better coordinate departments to deliver real change.

Dr Nicholson, who is Senior Lecturer in Sport and Sustainability in the BU Business School, is one of the UK’s leading experts on sport and inclusion. Her current research examines the changing role of women in sports governance in the last two decades, problematising the “mergers” which took place between men’s and women’s sporting organisations in the 1990s which have created a situation whereby sports leadership in the UK is now heavily male-dominated. In her evidence to the Committee, cited in the final report, she noted that: “Women’s sport in the UK is now run predominantly by men whose background is in men’s sport and who therefore, consciously or unconsciously, prioritise the men’s game”, and critiqued “the normative priority granted to men’s sport by those sitting on boards”.

The Committee report recommends that “Sport England and UK Sport should be more ambitious and set targets to improve board diversity for… underrepresented groups including ethnic minorities and disabled people. Failure to make progress with the targets should be met with financial sanctions.”

The Chair of the Committee, Lord Willis of Knaresborough said:

“Sport and physical activity can change lives. The pandemic has made abundantly clear the pressing need to get the country fitter and more active. However, participation in sport and recreation is flat lining. The Olympic legacy did not deliver the more active population we were promised, and the latest figures show activity levels have declined since the pandemic. Something needs to change and now is the time to do it.

“To make the changes we need it is time for a new national plan for sport, health and wellbeing. That plan needs to be ambitious and coordinated, and carry the weight of the Government and Prime Minster behind it. That cannot be delivered if it is led by DCMS, a small department with an increasing focus on its digital portfolio. That is why we are calling for responsibility for sport policy to move to the Department of Health and be driven by a new Minster for Sport, Health and Wellbeing.

“The new plan would coordinate efforts of bodies such as Sport England, local authorities and schools to work together to make it easier for everyone to be more active. Our report sets out a number of key priorities and themes that could form the basis of the new national plan and make a real difference to activity levels across the country.

“There is currently a Health and Care Bill making its way through the House of Lords. Members of our Committee will now explore where we can propose suitable amendments to that Bill to deliver the changes we think are needed on this vital issue.”

The full text of the report can be viewed below:

PDF version – https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5802/ldselect/ldsportrec/113/113.pdf

HTML version – https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5802/ldselect/ldsportrec/113/11302.htm

Publication success by Business School Masters student on complex insurance claims

Congratulations to MSc student, Alice Edwards, who has published her research in CLM Magazine, the highly respected and number one publication for claims and litigation managers in the USA. Entitled Creating Opportunity from Catastrophe, the article provides recommendations on how to manage complex property insurance claims (such as huge hurricane losses) by applying project management principles to improve their success. The article, based on Alice’s research with industry practitioners, is particularly timely as the US heads into what is predicted to be a particularly active hurricane season with the added complications of COVID-19.

Research underpinning this article was conducted as part of a BU Masters degree that required a large piece of original research to be successfully completed and the results disseminated within a particular organization or stakeholder group. The course was developed between the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusting (CILA) and the Business School by Associate Professor, Julie Robson.

ICB’s 1st Research Sandpit generates interest across faculties

This year the Influences on Consumer Behaviour (ICB) cluster that sits within the Department of Marketing (The Business School) is celebrating its 5th birthday and in this timeframe it has managed to establish its core strategic themes and projects. These projects include:

Professor Juliet Memery is presenting Food Waste project

(1) Food waste – this project has received a BA Leverhulme research grant to explore consumer-led strategies for combating the problem of overstocking food. It is astonishing to see some facts and figures around household food waste and learn that the UK is one of largest offenders in this domain. Led by Professor Juliet Memery this research project seeks to understand what consumers do and can do to minimise food waste.

Dr Julie Robson is discussing Trust Repair project

 (2) Trust repair in the services context – this project, led by Dr Julie Robson, Associate Professor in Marketing, explores how consumers have reacted to recent transgressions that have affected different service providers, and how businesses in these cases have responded to scandals. Several outputs are in development with numerous conference presentations delivered and journal papers in the pipeline. Moreover this project, in addition to a substantial internal research funding, has secured external funding from the Academy of Marketing.

Dr Elvira Bolat introduces the B2B marketing challenges

(3) B2B marketing – is the research field led by Dr Kaouther Kooli. She, together with Dr Elvira Bolat, leads the B2B Special Interest Group of the Academy of Marketing. B2B businesses are the greatest contributors to economic prosperity and in fact the majority of businesses work within complex ecosystems of multiple business players. Interestingly B2B research is hardly covered by the majority of marketing journals and represents an area of enormous research potential that can generate much needed impact for practitioners. This particular project that discusses challenges faced by B2B firms due to digitalisation and ‘poor’ or non-existent branding practices has delivered two special issues with Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing and Journal of Customer Behaviour. Bournemouth University’s academics are now working closely with creative industries practitioners, Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing, and Regent’s University in London to initiate and drive change in B2B branding.

All three projects have attracted internal and external funding and have a series of outputs which will lead to impact case study conversions.

On 16th May ICB kicked off its small series of research sandpits to seek further expansion of the three research projects’ impact.

Academic attendees at the ICB 1st Research Sandpit

First an overview of the current projects was presented. Next, academics from the Faculties of Management, Science and Technology, Media and Communications together with a few local practitioners split into three roundtable (research teams) discussions – to elaborate on potential future research agendas across the three strategic projects. Two-three research directions and suitable external funding opportunities as well as research dissemination plans were identified by each roundtable research team. We are planning to monitor progress of each research team and communicate success stories.

At this point we are planning the second ICB research sandpit – please keep an eye on the Research Blog for further details.

Poland and the Eurozone Conference, 19th & 20th September 2013 – what a success!

The Bournemouth University Business School hosted the conference “Poland and Eurozone” on 19-20 September, 2013. The conference was the initiative of Professor Jens Hӧlscher, head of the department of Accounting, Finance and Economics of Bournemouth University (BU). 

The conference was opened by Professor Matthew Bennett, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at BU, who greeted the participants of the conference, wished them success and scientific achievements. He expressed the hope that the conference would provide a platform to discuss and address the relevant issues and to initiate new joint research projects.

Following a short welcoming speech by Professor Jens Hӧlscher, Professor Iraj Hashi from Staffordshire University was invited to briefly introduce Professor Leszek Balcerowicz’s biography to the participants of the conference. Professor Iraj Hashi highlighted that Professor Leszek Balcerowicz was the former Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance of Poland and the chairman of the National Bank of Poland, who is particularly famous for implementing the Polish economic transformation program in the 1990s, a shock therapy, which is commonly referred to as the Balcerowicz Plan.

In his keynote presentation Professor Leszek Balcerowicz focused on the issues relevant to the Euro problems and their possible solutions. Following the presentation Professor Victoria Chick from University College London initiated the discussion on the Professor Leszek Balcerowicz’s presentation and challenged his views.

The second day of the conference started with the keynote presentation of Professor Domenico Mario Nuti from La Sapie nza University (Rome) on The Euro Area: Premature, Diminished, Divergent, which was followed by the lead discussant Professor Steve Letza from BU.

Then the chair Professor Jenny Piesse from BU opened Session One on Income Developments. The session started with an interesting presentation by Professor Andy Mullineux from Bournemouth University on The ‘Eurozone’ Crisis: Escaping the Doom Loop.’ The session was continued by the presentation of Professor Horst Tomann from Free University of Berlin on External Imbalances in the European Monetary Union: the Case for Keynesian Income Policy and was finished by the presentation of Dr George Filis and Professor Steve Letza from BU on Business Cycles Synchronisation between the European Union and Poland.

Following the buffet lunch, where the participants of the conference discussed the presentations Professor Allan Webster (BU) opened Session Two on Monetary Aspects. Rob Hayward form the University of Brighton and Jens Hӧlscher started the session with their presentation on Crash Risk and the Carry Trade: An Analysis of Uncovered Interest Parity in CEE and CIS. The session was continued by the Professor Karsten Staehr from Tallin University of Technology & Estonia Eesti Bank on Beating the Maastricht Price Stability Criterion to Join the Eurozone: Challenges and Options. Following the presentation by Zbigniew Polanski from National Bank of Poland on Poland During the Global Crisis: “A Green Island” approaching the Eurozone the chair of the session Professor Allan Webster announced to start the discussions on the presentations of Session Two.

Following a short coffee and tea break Professor Steve Letza opened Session Three on Firms’ Behaviour. Malgorzata Pawlowska from National Bank of Poland presented her research on the Impact of Foreign Capital on Competition and Concentration in the Polish Banking Sector. The second presentation of the session was given by Professor Tomasz Mickiewicz from Aston University, where he introduced his research on Is Poland A Nation of Entrepreneurs?

A conference Gala Dinner at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth, was a pleasant completion of the conference. In an informal atmosphere participants continued to discuss various interesting issues raised during the conference, made contacts and thanked the organisers for the well-planned scientific event.

Written by,

Khurshid Djalilov, kdjalilov@bournemouth.ac.uk, member of EACES

BU Professor published in 20th Anniversary edition of leading journal

Steve Letza, a Professor in Accounting and Finance within the Business School , has been honoured to feature in the 20th Anniversary issue of Corporate Governance: An International Review; a leading journal at the forefront of research in this area. This special edition consists of articles from the past decade that have had the highest number of citations per year, and thus have been widely used in academic research.

Steve co-authored the article Shareholding Versus Stakeholding: a Critical Review of Corporate Governance alongside Xiuping Sun and James Kirkbride in 2004 and it offers a new perspective on the subject; identifying the need for organisations to adapt to the changing environments they operate in. 

Congratulations Steve!

BU’s Dr. Julie Robson chosen as an Outstanding Author Contribution Award Winner at the Literati Network Awards for Excellence

The Business School’s Dr. Julie Robson’s chapter entitled “A Conceptual Framework for Classifying and Understanding Relationship Marketing Within Schools” published in “Advances in Educational Administration” has been chosen as an Outstanding Author Contribution Award Winner at the Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2013. The chapter was co-authored by Sophie Yang from Coventry University.

These awards are given annually for each of the academic journals published by Emerald Group Publishing, and the winners are chosen by each journal’s Editorial Team. Dr. Julie Robson’s paper has been selected as it was one of the most impressive pieces of work the editor has seen throughout 2012.

The 2013 winners will shortly be added to www.emeraldinsight.com/literati and the paper made freely available.

Dr. Robson is Head of the Department of Strategy and Marketing at BU’s Business School.

Congratulations to Julie for writing for an Emerald book series and on her award success.

CIPD Research Showcase Event

The Department of Human Resources and Organisational Behaviour in The Business School held a successful Research Showcase for members of the CIPD (the professional body for HR practitioners) on Wednesday 13th March.  The event focused on highlighting to the wider business community the research and knowledge exchange work of the HR/OB team. 

The event included a networking buffet, poster presentations showcasing the areas of identity at work (Dr Anne Benmore), leadership practice (Dr Lois Farquharson), false performance (Dr Gbola Gbadamosi), HR and ethics (Dr Louise Preget), health and wellbeing management (Dr Davide Secchi), cross-cultural HRM and diversity (Dr Huiping Xian) and two interactive presentation/discussion sessions covering ‘docility’ in hiring practices (Davide Secchi) and High involvement HR practices and work attitudes (Hong Bui). 

The event was ably chaired by Dr Fabian Homberg.  In addition, the opportunity was taken to launch the CIPD Approved MSc Professional Development (HRM) course which begins at the EBC in September 2013 (link: BU Link to MSc PD (HRM) Course details).  Thanks is extended to all those who contributed to the event and attended the event.  We look forward to delivering more research events in the future.

CIPPM associate director quoted in Financial Times

Prof. Ruth SoetendorpProfessor Ruth Soetendorp, Associate Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) in the Business School has been quoted in the Financial Times.  http://search.ft.com/search?queryText=ruth+intellectual+property The article titled ‘Students Need Better Education about Intellectual Property” (IP) goes on to reveal the recent research findings published by the National Union of Students (NUS), the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and the Intellectual Property Awareness Network (IPAN).  According to the research, it has been established that “that while 80 per cent of students believe knowledge of IP is important, many students are not even aware of the potential scope of IP education. And even where it does take place, IP education is often restricted to plagiarism. Furthermore whilst 82 per cent of students feel it is important to know about IP to ensure everyone receives recognition for their work and ideas, significantly less make a connection between IP and commercial success”.

Professor Ruth Soetendorp, Head of IPAN’s Education Group is quoted as follows:

“This research highlights shortcomings in student IP understanding and its teaching in Further and Higher Education which have negative implications for the UK economy.  The UK needs to be world class in the creative arts, innovative in its product and systems designs, and pioneering in manufacturing processes.  In a global market these need to be underwritten by a proper understanding of IP embedded in an educated workforce.”

The Full Report can be found here http://www.nus.org.uk/PageFiles/12238/2012_NUS_IPO_IPAN_Student_Attitudes_to_Intellectectual_Property.pdf and the IPAN media release, quoted in the Financial Times can be found here http://www.ipaware.net/node/77

Bournemouth University is one of only two universities in the UK to have an innovative IP syllabus for final year law students. The Intellectual Property law unit which is offered to final year law students culminates in a collaborative project which brings together Law students and Design, Engineering and Computing (DEC) students.  The project requires the Law students to provide IP advice to DEC students on their final year ‘inventions’.  The project brings ‘IP law to Life’ and provides the type of IP understanding and commercial awareness that both parties need.

http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/newsandevents/News/2012/july/contentonly_1_7896_7896.html

The IP-DEC Project at Bournemouth University was pioneered by Professor Ruth Soetendorp in 1995.

‘Oh no, I have to deal with HR!’

Guidance

Dear Friends of the HR & OB Department within the Business School:

There is a third seminar scheduled this year under the umbrella of the Department of HR & OB, Business School.  You are more than welcome to join us Friday, October 12 at 2:00 PM, room EB202.

The title of the seminar is “‘Oh no, I have to deal with HR!’ On Human Resource departments and their ‘bad’ reputation”. Dr Gbola Gbadamosi and Davide Secchi will share some ideas to explore potentials for collaboration, papers, research projects, funding, etc.  Please come join us for this exploratory research talk!