Pottery Places in the heart of England by Kelly Jansen (Final year student)

Posted on 24th March 2017 by Prof. Jon Fairburn

Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire is the capital of Potteries in the UK. Stoke on Trent is the home of several international household names such as Emma Bridgewater, Wedgewood, Middleport Pottery (home to Burleigh Pottery) and Royal Stafford who all produce china and earthenware. Famously, these pottery places attract tourists to Stoke to visit the brand they know and love.

I was eager to learn about the different visitors and their reasons for wanting to come to Stoke on Trent, so I carried a Visitor Survey at Emma Bridgewater on behalf of their Marketing Team, as primary research for my dissertation.

One of my findings was that for 60% of visitor’s at the factory, the main reason for visiting Stoke on Trent was the Emma Bridgewater site. So how has it become a destination venue?

There are plenty of things to do whilst at the Emma Bridgewater Factory, although they get really busy so where possible, I recommend booking the activity prior to arriving.

Activities available include:

The Decorating Studio – Pick your choice of item to decorate (from a mug to a dog bowl). The price of your decorating experience is dependent on the piece you choose to paint and a £2.95 studio fee. You can either collect your master piece 2 weeks later or pay a £5 postage fee.

In the decorating studio

Factory Tours – Tours around the factory to see how everything is made for a small price of £2.50 and Under 16’s are FREE.

Experience Days – Includes a behind the scenes tour, Afternoon tea, a session in the decorating studio and it includes 10% off at the gift shop. All for £30 per person!

Afternoon Tea – A great price of just £12.50 for amazing sandwiches, soups and beautiful cakes.

Café – Great homemade food that was fresh (I would recommend the Pesto chicken sandwich). The café is open to the general public, so you don’t have to be taking part in any activities, you can just enjoy the daily specials.

Secret Garden – It’s a secret… you’ll have to visit and find out yourself.

Special Event activities – for example at Halloween they had Owls, a pumpkin counting competition and fancy dress. More detail for further upcoming events available on their website – http://emmabridgewaterfactory.co.uk/

Another bonus is the factory offer FREE parking and great transport links for example it is a 10-minute walk from Stoke train station and a 2-minute walk from Hanley bus station.

Factory Website – Facebook – Twitter – I nstagram –

Kelly Jansen is in her final year of BA Tourism Management she tweets at @KellyJansen95 and is on Linkedin

Kelly Jansen and Danielle Barnsley on site at Emma Bridgewater

Project PERFECT and the University of Twente Purchasing Conference

Posted on 23rd March 2017 by Thomas WARD

The PERFECT Project, funded by the ERASMUS+ scheme, is developing a pan-European harmonised higher education curriculum for Purchasing and Supply Management (PSM). The Project is Coordinated by Dortmund University of Technology (Germany), and Staffordshire University are working alongside the Universities of Mainz (Germany), Twente (Netherlands) and Lappeenranta (Finland). Regular partner meetings bring together representatives from the different institutions to discuss progress on the different parts of the project and ensure that the outputs of the project are timely and meet the diverse needs of the potential audience for the curriculum.

Members of the PERFECT team recently conducted a series of interviews with individuals at a wide variety of European companies in order to develop understanding of what skills and knowledge are required by PSM practitioners now and in the future. The University of Twente is currently developing a questionnaire to broaden this understanding. This work will inform the development of a robust and industry-focused curriculum that can be used by educational institutions across Europe and also inform in-house training for companies. Project PERFECT Team at University of Twente

Last week Dr Steve Kelly and Tom Ward were at the University of Twente in the Netherlands for a project transnational meeting at which representatives from all the partners were present. The meeting ended with the participants joining the annual University of Twente Purchasing Conference (UTPC), hosted by Professor Dr habil. Holger Schiele. Steve was delighted to be invited give the keynote address to an audience of practitioners, students and academics. In addition, other members of the project team delivered a workshop based on the findings of the project so far. The UTPC was organised by the students of the University of Twente who had designed a superb day, full of a variety of interesting talks and interactive workshops, and a great opportunity for networking. The participants found the work of the PERFECT project interesting and stimulating, and the workshop has opened up further opportunities for collaboration between industry and academia.

The creation of these resources has been (partially) funded by the Erasmus+ grant programme of the European Union under grant number 2015-1-DE01-KA203-002174. Neither the European Commission nor the project’s national funding agency DAAD are responsible for the content or liable for any losses or damage resulting from the use of these resources.

For further details of the project go to http://www.perfect.lfo.tu-dortmund.de/.

Contact Steve at stephen.kelly@staffs.ac.uk and Tom at t.ward@staffs.ac.uk.

Staffordshire University graduate’s journey to employment

Posted on 23rd March 2017 by Guest Blog

On Wednesday 1^st March I was returning to my office after delivering a Financial Reporting tutorial when I was greeted by Rachel Heath (one of my personal tutees) with a beaming smile on her face. She had just found out she had been offered a place on the NHS graduate scheme.

Rachel’s achievement is an excellent example of a highly motivated student taking advantage of all the support and guidance offered to her to enable her to achieve her dream job.

Rachel started at Staffordshire University in September 2013 studying a BA(Hons) Accounting and Finance Degree. She had studied ‘A’ levels at Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College and then taken two years out of education. However, she realised “how hard it is to progress without the knowledge and experience needed within an industry” so she decided to undertake a degree programme.

On Rachel’s second day I became her Personal Tutor, initially helping her to settle into University life and encouraging her to take advantage of all the opportunities presented to her. In addition to regular meetings with Rachel she studied 2 modules which focus on the development of the student, Employability and Study Skills in the first year and Professional Development in the second year. Karl McCormack the Accounting Awards Course Leader leads on both of these modules, the student’s personal tutor delivers the workshop sessions. In these modules students develop communication and team-working skills, they focus on their career ambitions and produce development plans to ensure they gain the skills they require in order to be able to achieve their goals. Part of the first year module involves the students getting their CVs checked by the University’s Careers Section.

The Professional Development module in the second year provides the skills and knowledge students need to help them gain a work placement. Helping students to develop amongst other things CVs, letters of application and interview skills.

During this module Rachel started applying for placement opportunities with the support of her lecturers, Claire Bashford a Placement Consultant, Mark Wordley the Business School’s Placement Co-Ordinator and the Careers Section. Rachel was successful in gaining a 12 month placement with Stoke-on-Trent City Council as a Business and Enterprise support student.

stoke-on-trent-city-council

During Rachel’s placement she developed her communication, teamwork and leadership skills. She also gained valuable experience of working under pressure. She was supported during her placement year by Tony Bickley who was her Visiting Placement Tutor at the Council.

Returning to University in September for her final year Rachel set about applying for her graduate job. Having really enjoyed working in the public sector she was keen to follow up opportunities in this area. In February she contacted me let me know she had been selected for a 2 day assessment centre in Bristol for the West Midlands NHS Finance Management Training Scheme. Rachel had submitted an online application which included answering 6 scenario based questions and explaining why she was applying for the scheme and the qualities she would bring to it. After passing that stage she had to complete verbal and numerical tests online. Having passed these tests she was invited to the 2 day assessment centre.

nhs

She told me she had to prepare a 10 minute presentation so we discussed what she could include in this and agreed in preparation of the assessment days I would observe her presentation and give her feedback on it. By coincidence I had also been in contact with one of my students who had graduated in June 2009 Himesh Patel who is now Divisional Finance Manager at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.

Himesh had undertaken his placement year with the NHS at the Princess Royal Hospital Telford. They were so impressed with Himesh that he was offered a permanent full-time role when he graduated. Within 3 years Himesh had gained his Chartered Institute of Management Accountants’ qualification and he has since also gained his Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants’ qualification. During his time with the NHS he has gained several promotions to his current role as Divisional Finance Manager.

cipfa cima

I contacted Himesh to see if he would be able to give advice and guidance to Rachel and he was very happy to do this. He gave feedback on Rachel’s presentation and advised her on topical areas she could research.

When Rachel arrived at Bristol for the assessment days she met a mix of candidates going for opportunities with the NHS in the South West and the West Midlands. There were 3 vacancies available and approximately 12 candidates. She had to complete a time pressured written task based around a case study, a group activity, a 10 minute presentation and an interview.

Rachel’s success is no more than she deserves she is a motivated hard-working student. Reflecting on both Rachel’s and Himesh’s success I think the key messages are as follows:-

Undertaking a year’s placement is vital to gain the skills employers require.

The support available to students from their Personal Tutor, the Placement Consultant, the Business School Placement Co-Ordinator, the Visiting Placement Tutor, Subject Lecturers, the Careers Section and Alumni illustrate how we put the student “at the heart of everything we do”.

The structure of the Accounting Awards including the Employability and Study Skills and Professional Development modules very much supports students in developing subject knowledge and the skills they need to gain their placement and then graduate employment opportunities.

These Awards receive professional accreditation allowing students to gain exemptions from certain exam papers which enables our graduates to gain their professional accounting qualifications more quickly.

For me it is success stories like Rachel’s and Himesh’s that make the job worthwhile.

Helen Buttery SFHEA CPFA Cert.Ed.

Senior Lecturer

School of Business, Leadership and Economics

@h_buttery #proudtobestaffs

The end of experts and the threat of the 140 character argument

Posted on 8th March 2017 by hds2

It seems that there is a bout of soul-searching underway as we search for certainty in a changing and tumultuous world. The authority and legitimacy of the ‘expert’ is being questioned and routinely dismissed in a way that seems to suggest that anyone with a modicum of freemium reading believes they are empowered to refute or ignore the arguments of subject experts.

The issue surfaced substantively following the crash of 2008. People questioned why experts hadn’t foreseen it and. Even the Queen asked a gathering at the LSE why nobody had noticed it coming. More recently during the Brexit referendum politicians of both sides were not seen as credible by the people they were trying to scare. The ex-justice secretary Michael Gove in an interview in 2016 said that “people have had enough of experts. More recently the UK government criticised The Bank of England governor Mark Carney for running dubious monetary experiments an argument subsequently endorsed by William Hague. Lately the theme was picked up by the Bank of England’s chief economist Andrew Haldane who argued that people had lost faith in the theoretical models used by economists and that economists were guilty of talking mainly to themselves and failing to reflect on the gap between theatrical models and real outcomes.

At a time when information is both cheap and must be served in easy to digest lightweight chunks and meaning is up for debate, making business decisions without critical thinking and the expertise of the expert runs the risk of succumbing to the cult of the individual. Indeed, the cult of the individual over substance is a trend that Alain Sylvain, founder of strategy and planning consultancy Sylvain Labs believes has been developing since the financial crash and dotcom bust.

Dismissing the opinions of experts in both business and society is a simple way of avoiding a change of opinion or use evidence based analysis to form a decision. Indeed, such refutation is a repudiation of both critical thinking and of fallibility.

What are the implications for marketing? The risk for the discipline lies in the rejection of craft and deep understanding that is expertise for the gloss of the web guru state of marketing. Here the latest list of must do things to ‘win’ in online marketing is the first thing management turns to. Who needs a marketer when the answers are just a click away? Superficial list based marketing promises that the answers to your marketing problems lie on the page. That all you need to do is keep reading, subscribe and bookmark. But such an approach has real dangers. First of all everyone has access to the same list. But more seriously real expertise and results that flow from it come from deep understanding of principles and their application in the world. In other words, expertise understands that performance is contextual to situation and is an amalgamation of different types of knowledge often referred to as tacit and explicit. This offers a level of subtlety that no list based promise can match

The message for companies is that in a discipline which so easily succumbs to the new and shiny, the lure of succumbing to the cult of the self-promoting proselytizer can obscure true expertise. Companies should therefore be careful to ensure they understand the difference between expertise and self-promotion and develop means to propagate the emergence of expertise. Nonaka demonstrated how the potential to create performative knowledge which has real traction in the world is accomplished. It is through challenging existing knowledge, bringing in new knowledge but adapting it. It is through a dialogue between theory and practice that enables new knowledge capable of creating epistemic work beyond that provided by following explicit instructions or some pundit. It is through the creation of genuine expertise and a commitment to creating a culture of knowledge creation. This is a storey that the most successful companies already understand

Dr Malcolm Ash, EdD, MSc, MBA, DMS

Take the Fast-Track to Success with your Degree in 2 years!

Posted on 2nd March 2017 by ajb11

In Feb 2017 the universities minister Jo Johnson MP ( brother of Boris) announced that a “new generation” of two-year fast-track (accelerated) degrees are going to be offered to students.

Here at Staffs Uni Business School we have been delivering two-year fast-track degrees for the past 8 years with great success including Accounting & Finance, Business Management, Tourism and Events Management. We were amongst the original pioneers of fast-track degrees!

Doubters and cynics are wrong (in my opinion!)

Like all new ideas and initiatives, the fast-track schemes have their doubters. We were told that there would not be a demand for fast-track degrees. We felt confident that the demand would be there and adopted the Kevin Costner “build it and they will come” approach (have you seen Field of Dreams?) – and come they did!

The Twitter hashtag #fasttrackdegrees reveals some doubters as to the validity of fast-track degrees. Also the University and College Union general secretary was quoted last week as saying “Accelerated degrees risk undermining the well-rounded education upon which our universities’ reputation is based”.

These unnecessarily negative perceptions have prompted me to put pen to paper (figuratively!) to dispel their doubts and concerns and explain the fast-track benefits in the tables below:

Perceptions vs Reality

Perceptions	Reality
“The courses of study will be too intense for students”	Students study with and at the same pace as the three-year students with an extra ten weeks during the normal four month summer break – still plenty of time for R&R!
“The fast-track courses will not cover the same depth of subjects as the three-year versions”	The content is the same breadth and depth as the three-year degree courses
“The students will not have enough holidays over Christmas and Easter”	Fast-track students have the same holidays over Christmas and Easter as the three-year students
“The students will not have sufficient time during the traditional four month summer break to “wind down”, go travelling & gain work”	The fast-track summer semester combines a two-week intensive study school followed by distance learning allowing students to self-manage their study time
“Academic staff will not be available to teach during the summer”	Teaching is spread out amongst the teaching teams to cover all bases
“The work load on staff will be too great”	The two-week study school is intensive – but enjoyed by staff!
“Employers will not value fast-track degrees”	On the contrary – employers value fast-trackers’ drive to succeed in two years

Reasons to choose a Fast-Track degree

Graduate one year earlier than otherwise – so you are able to get “lift-off” in your career before your friends who go down the three-year route
Save a year’s money on living expenses
Study with a like-minded group of committed students who are focussed on success and provide mutual support
Stand out in the crowd – showing the ability and motivation to achieve a degree in two years is something to brag about in an interview!
Whether you want to change career or were not sure of what you wanted to do after school/college – this gives you a quick way of repositioning yourself in your career.

I enjoy teaching the fast-trackers students during the two-week “study school” phase during the first summer. We spend 15 hours together over 3 days studying taxation – I can assure you that this is a real bonding experience and it doesn’t take long for the banter to start (both ways!).

We are very proud of the great students who have graduated from our fast-track degrees. I am confident that our fast-track courses will grow and become more mainstream in the future.

So, what are you waiting for?

Tony Bickley MBA ACA PGCE SHEA

Senior Lecturer

School of Business, Leadership and Economics

@tonybickley #proudtobestaffs

Stoke on Trent’s problem is not too many immigrants but too few!

Posted on 24th February 2017 by Prof. Jon Fairburn

Successful economies attract people whether they be countries, regions or cities. Diverse populations tend to be more tolerant, innovative, entrepreneurial and to have networks linking to elsewhere in the world, which benefit the economy. New people bring new cultural experiences whether that be events, art, food or celebrations.

The lack of diversity in the city even 15 years ago is clear from statistics. The 2001 census for Stoke on Trent saw the city population as 95% white and 96% UK born (the rest of Staffordshire was even more homogenous, for example Staffordshire Moorlands recorded 99.2 % white and 98.3% born in the UK).

The city has experienced a long term population decline in the post war period. The population of Stoke on Trent in 1951 was 275,115 and it has declined in every census up to and including the 2011 census which recorded 249,008 people. In comparison, the UK population grew from 41 million in 1951 to 63 million over the same time period tied to the post war boom in the economy. If Stoke on Trent had grown in population like the rest of the country it would now have a population of 453,000!

Currently the city population is estimated at 251,027 so for the first time in over 60 years Stoke on Trent has a growing population.

So what explains this current growth in Stoke on Trent? Throughout the 2000s three changes started to occur:

Higher education expanded leading to an increase in all students including non-white students (often from other parts of the Midlands), international students and international staff at the two Universities.
The coming of age of the Pakistani population that was the largest ethnic minority population (which even in 2001 only numbered 6,360 people).
The inflow of population from Eastern Europe, which for Stoke was 3,080 people in the 2011 census.

Taken together the numbers are all low (both in absolute and percentage levels), especially compared to many other major urban areas in the UK. It is worth noting that here I have quoted numbers both foreign born and by non white ethnic group but it is worth remembering that many of these were born in the UK as well.

Therefore, the make-up of the population of the city has changed and the population is finally starting to grow though at very small levels.

Without immigrants our hospitals and care homes would struggle, our Universities would be smaller and some businesses would not be able to offer the services they do. The vacancy rate in the housing stock of the city has fallen and study after study shows that the immigrant population is a net contributor to the economy (not least because they are much less likely to claim benefits that the UK born population).

Some political parties like to blame these changes for the plight of the white working class in Stoke and elsewhere, but the reasons for economic weakness in the city are tied up with other factors. Low skills levels, lack of investment, short term planning by government, offshoring of production, very low levels of business start up and changes in the world economy are much better explanations for the low wages and economic performance of the city than trying to blame immigrants.

Some of these factors are staring to be tackled. For example the City was recently named the 2nd best place in the country to start up a business. The Ceramic Valley Project has set up sites across the city to attract businesses and this is already happening.

The City of Culture team is doing huge amounts of work talking to different groups, artists, businesses and others in the city to shape the bid and develop a positive image of the city.

As a city we need to attract investment and people – we need to present a positive and welcoming image to the outside world. An image that celebrates all the of people and communities of Stoke on Trent not just some of them.

Sources

http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk

Population census Stoke 2011 – total pop 249,008 – white 220,712 all other ethnic groups 28,296
Population census Stoke 2001 country of birth – total pop 249,008 born in UK 228,294 all other Europe 5,363 (of which Accession countries were 3,080) , Africa 2,805 , Middle East and Asia 10,897 America and Caribbean 731, Antarctica and Oceania 305

Top tips for improving your blog writing

Posted on 20th February 2017 by Guest Blog

I’ve been asked a few times over the past few months about tips for writing a blog so I’ve jotted a few notes from my experience of working with various businesses and marketing professional.

1. Know your audience and your market

Even before writing a blog you need to research what key words potential customers and current customers are using. In addition, research what key words competitors are using that is getting them hits to their website and do a gap analysis with your website.

2. Make it Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) friendly but ensure it’s readable

I’ve come across a blog recently where it was obvious that the author must have been trying to include key SEO words in their blog with little useful information or thought to the reader. If people are not linking to it, etc it may not be SEO friendly.

3. Make the title of the blog honest!

One of the easiest ways to lose customers is to fail to deliver on a promise, so ensure that the title is an accurate description of your blog.

4. Prioritise your information

Make the main point of your blog the first paragraph they read or they may not understand what your blog is about and why they are reading it.

5. Use graphics and bullet points

Help make your blog readable by including photos, pictures and some structure via headings, subheadings and bullet points. Use original photos, a lot of organisations buy or use stock photos and it can be a big disappointment to readers to come across photos they have seen several times before. Graphics also have the advantage of looking good when you promote your blog eg: via twitter and Facebook.

6. Leave it a day

After writing your blog you might think of other ideas. Editing and grammar checking might be easier after giving it a rest. You can also check your blog before posting it by using tools such as Grammarly or Hemingway apps.
Re-read it, is your blog…interesting or useful?

7. Make it easy to navigate

If you are creating your own blog and have some control, add a top and side navigation bar. Make it easy for readers to go to your favourite blogs that is relevant for a long time (known as evergreen blogs). If you are using WordPress there are lots of themes available free of charge with easy to setup navigation bars, but choose or buy a decent theme.

8. Use white-space

White-space can make a blog easier to read, eg via increasing the line spacing or padding around images.

9. Use a readable font type and size.

12 point might look good on a A4 sheet of paper but 16 point is far more readable on a screen.

10. Has your blog made an impact?

Assuming you have google analytics or equivalent, has your blog increased hits to your website using the right key words? Has it increased backlinks and had positive read comments? If not, it might need editing and checking to make sure it’s SEO friendly, for example, there is an optimum density for key words, more than this density will make it SEO unfriendly.

Good luck with your blog 🙂

Paul Dobson BSc(Hons), DIT, DMS, MSc, MA, MBA, PGCHPE, FHEA, FCMI, MAM

“Let’s be Honest” Rules the Roost

Posted on 6th January 2017 by Angela Lawrence

The Chinese New Year celebrations begin at the end of the month and 2017 is the year of the rooster (back to the chicken blogs Dr Peter Jones!). Apparently the rooster is a Chinese symbol of honesty, a quality that could be said to make or break a business. This led me to ponder on the requirement for honesty within an organisation and, despite the fact that truth is said to hurt, the difference that honesty can make.

Honesty is the best policy

How often have you heard that said? It’s certainly true in terms of crisis management and at some point or other all businesses will find themselves dealing with some form of crisis. Historically those businesses that have been dishonest have fared badly in these situations; BP notoriously handled the oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 poorly and dishonestly. Alton Towers on the other hand, have been repeatedly praised for their honest and straightforward response to the Smiler crash in June 2015. I’m a firm advocate of holding your hands up and admitting it when you get something wrong, then throwing all energies into making good any damage done and moving on.

I can see you!

Of course in these days of instant digital communication, businesses can’t hide their mistakes for long. There’s always some follower with a bug to bear that can’t wait to post or tweet negatively about a brand the minute a mishap occurs. Businesses seem to be getting wise to this and there are numerous examples of how organisations responded cleverly to crisis situations via their social media channels. The secret seems to be responding in a timely and appropriate manner…as well as being honest!

Lies, damned lies and statistics

Are dishonesty and lying the same thing do you think, or is one more intentional than the other? Either way, Volkswagen was hauled over the coals for lying about their emissions tests. That faux pas cost the company dearly, posting their first quarterly loss for 15 years in October 2015. Clearly it doesn’t benefit businesses to lie…unless they can get away with it.

One would hope that the businesses of today have learnt from these examples and that honesty and integrity prevail in order for the wheels of the business world to turn. The Federation of Small Businesses appears to be confident in the current economic forecast, so all bodes well for both the old red hens and the hatching businesses of 2017.

Winning student teams at #GEW2016

Posted on 22nd November 2016 by Prof. Jon Fairburn

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the All Day event and showed the resilience to stay until the end! This was a test of ideas, team working and the ability to keep going to get the job done. This is just one of the opportunities for students to bring information and ideas together from different topics and to apply what has been learnt on the courses.

Thanks to the other judges including Clair Hameed (Be Inspired), Sarah Holinshead (Stoke City Council Business team) and Sian Dunning RBES

First prize to Team Diversa – Pavrina Barring, Callie Gouveia, Kirsten Mills, Danielle Nugent, Sayyed Hashemi

First prize at GEW2016

Runners up prize – We’re the right tools for the job – Alex Cross, Charlene Barrett, Shannon Dean, Nelson Okoyomo and Hannah Seera

Runners - up at GEW 2016

Third Prize – Team Fiyah – Ismaeel Ahmed, Nisha Bansal, Davies Murtah

Third Prize

Thanks to Clair and her team for organising the All Dayer – see more of their Be Inspired Programme and opportunities for student and graduate businesses here.

All photos by SO Visual a business started under the Be Inspired programme whilst at the University.

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