Research news

Hedge fund clones

Narayan Naik, Professor of Finance and Director of the Hedge Fund Centre, talks about the increasing popularity of synthetic hedge funds

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In a new podcast Narayan Naik discusses whether investing in synthetic funds is a genuine alternative to the traditional hedge funds.

Synthetic hedge funds analyse the performance of traditional hedge funds and attempt to replicate that performance without a hedge fund manager, with associated lower fees.

Narayan likens the cloned funds to a plane with an autopilot function - investors should decide if the value added by having a ‘pilot' is worth more than the fees charged. The cloned fund also has the advantage of being less subject to human behavioural biases, and also offers more transparency and daily liquidity.

Narayan also discusses the factors that will influence demand for synthetic funds, and the steps involved in replicating a hedge fund strategy, and explains that synthetic hedge funds may perform better than traditional funds in the economic downturn.

Listen to the podcast.

Created: Wednesday 07 January 2009

New issue of Business Strategy Review

Latest issue of Business Strategy Review focuses on change

The latest  edition of London Business School's journal, Business Strategy Review, is now available, with a focus on change.

Julian Birkinshaw, Professor of Strategic and International Management, and Stuart Crainer profile how one Microsoft team is changing itself and its Generation Y workforce, and Michael Jarrett, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour, offers his ‘new change equation', and reminds us that becoming a master of change is never an overnight process.

There is also a special report on the ‘change agenda', which examines why companies that won't change are not necessarily companies that can't change, or be changed.
 
Click here to preview the latest issue or for subscription information

Created: Monday 05 January 2009

Management Innovation Lab

Julian Birkinshaw, Co-founder of the Management Innovation Lab discusses why management innovation is a largely unexplored source of competitive advantage

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In a new podcast, Julian Birkinshaw, Professor of Strategic and International Management at London Business School and Co-founder of the Management Innovation Lab (MLab) talks about the potential for management innovation to drive long term success for companies.

The MLab was founded by Julian Birkinshaw and Gary Hamel following research into sources of competitive advantage. Julian comments, "The most sustainable advantages we found in companies were due to innovations in work practices, rather than innovation in products."

The MLab, Julian goes on to explain, works with companies to "experiment and innovate with them around their management practices."

Julian also discusses the importance of management innovation: "To get to the root your company's challenges you need to get to the root of how you work, only by understanding this can you work out how to change in the long term". For companies who are already performing well, management innovation can help them "move from best practice, to next practice."

Listen to the podcast to hear more of Julian's thoughts on management innovation, or find out more about the MLab.

Created: Friday 02 January 2009

London Business School excels in influential research rating

Research Assessment Exercise results rate London Business School a 'world-leader' in faculty research

London Business School has excelled in the UK-wide Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) results, published today. The RAE is conducted jointly by the higher education councils for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The purpose of the assessment is to produce a quality profile for the research activity of all participating UK universities. All the research submitted to the RAE is rated 4* (world-leading), 3* (internationally excellent), 2* (internationally recognised), 1* (nationally recognised) or 0 (sub-standard).

55% of the School's research received the top 4* "world-leading" rating. This was the highest percentage achieved by any university in the UK in the business and management sector. Our three closest competitors were a full 20% behind us in this top classification, with Cambridge University, Imperial College and Cardiff University each achieving a 35% 4* rating.

Our quality profile highlights across-the-board excellence in our research activities. As well as achieving the highest 4* (world-leading) rating, 30% of our research was rated internationally excellent, 10% was internationally recognised and 5% was nationally recognised. London Business School submitted research from across all our faculty and subject areas for assessment. This result demonstrates the depth and breadth of the quality of our faculty's work.

Dean Robin Buchanan commented on the results, saying: "Developing cutting edge research is a key part of London Business School's purpose. Today's result proves that the exceptional work that our faculty are doing in their myriad fields is being recognised. We always knew that our faculty and our research were world-class. It is gratifying to have this confirmed so categorically by the Research Assessment Exercise."

Aside from the obvious reputational benefits of performing so well, the quality profile compiled by the RAE is used by HEFCE (the Higher Education Funding Council for England) to determine our government grant for research in 2009-10. The decision on grant funding will be taken in March 2009. 

For full details of the report please visit the RAE website.

Created: Thursday 18 December 2008

Developing a successful pricing strategy

Marco Bertini, Assistant Professor of Marketing, talks about developing a successful pricing strategy

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In a new podcast, Marco Bertini, Assistant Professor of Marketing, discusses the importance of pricing strategy.

Marco begins the podcast by explaining that pricing strategy is often neglected by managers. "There are three reasons pricing strategy is neglected," he explains, "firstly it is hard to do, secondly managers often believe prices are set by competition and the marketplace, and are not in their hands, and finally there is a lot of pressure to justify pricing decisions."

Marco explains that a successful pricing strategy requires an understanding of both the costs of products, and of the value they generate in the marketplace.

Marco also discusses his research into price partitioning and consumer psychology, which found that when retailers, for example Amazon, partitioned prices by listing product and shipping costs separately, customers may overvalue the price of shipping and be more likely to back out of a transaction.

Listen to the podcast for more of Marco's thoughts on pricing strategy. Find out more about Marco's new two-day programme Pricing for Profit

Created: Tuesday 16 December 2008

Why Choose a London Business School MBA?

Sabine Vinck, Associate Dean, MBA and Finance Programmes, discusses the experience of studying for an MBA at London Business School

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In a new podcast, Sabine Vinck, Associate Dean, MBA and Finance Programmes, discusses the reasons students choose London Business School.

Sabine explains that studying for a London Business School MBA is a life changing experience; and discusses why London is an ideal city in which to study where students can benefit from proximity to global business and business leaders.

Sabine goes on to describe the benefits students receive from a diverse international community where they study alongside people from different career backgrounds. This means there is no typical MBA student at London Business School.

Finally, Sabine mentions the flexibility of the MBA programme and the support available for partners and families of MBA students. 

Listen to this podcast to hear more about the experience of studying for an MBA at London Business School.

Read more about the MBA programme.

Created: Friday 12 December 2008

What prevents middle managers from getting to the top?

Richard Jolly, Adjunct Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour, discusses the obstacles facing middle managers who want to progress

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In a new podcast Richard Jolly, Adjunct Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour, discusses the obstacles that middle managers need to overcome to reach senior management.

Professor Jolly begins the podcast by explaining his observation that middle managers are often too good at their jobs to progress to senior management. By making themselves indispensable through hard work and expertise middle managers end up last in the line for promotion.

He goes on to discuss the importance of knowing your priorities and managing your time accordingly, as well as the need for both coaching and mentoring to help middle managers realise their strengths.

The final obstacle for the middle manager, Professor Jolly explains, is to learn to delegate. Once middle managers prove themselves to have effective and strategic management skills, in addition to their technical expertise, the path to senior management will become clear.

Listen to this podcast to hear more of Richard Jolly's advice on management development

Created: Wednesday 03 December 2008

Developing Enterprise Leaders

Doug Ready, Visiting Professor of Organisational Behaviour, talks about the importance of developing enterprise leaders

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In a new podcast, Doug Ready, Visiting Professor of Organisational Behaviour discusses the challenges for managers transitioning from unit leaders to enterprise leaders.

Doug comments that, "This transition is probably the most difficult for managers to make. The move from running a unit, geography or function to becoming part of a team running an entire group or organisation requires development of new skills and strengths. It requires a change in behaviour and the way you think about the business, which can sometimes mean making difficult decisions about people or projects you have worked closely with."

Doug also cautions that failure to manage this transition can lead to ‘executive derailment' at the cost of an otherwise successful leader, and which may make potential future leaders afraid to make bold decisions and take risks.

Companies and CEOs need to understand the importance of developing enterprise leaders, and fortunately increasing numbers are doing so and paying more attention to talent management. "More and more companies are connecting the dots between the critical nature of talent and winning in the marketplace", Doug concludes.

Doug Ready leads the Strategic Talent Management executive programme at London Business School.  Listen to the podcast to hear more of Doug Ready's advice on developing enterprise leaders.

Created: Wednesday 26 November 2008

Kauffman Foundation Grant

Charlan Nemeth receives $25,000 for research into innovation and entrepreneurship

Charlan Nemeth, Visiting Professor of Organisational Behaviour, has been awarded $25,000 by the Kauffman Foundation for her research 'Connecting the Dots between Innovation and Entrepreneurship'.

Charlan's research focuses on creative people, how they think and the organisational cultures that encourage creative ideas, and how management can work with entrepreneurs to create innovative and energetic corporate climates.

The Kauffman Foundation is the world's largest foundation devoted to entrepreneurship and awards grants to support further understanding of entrepreneurship, for more information visit: www.kauffman.org

Professor Nemeth is Professor in Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, where she will also work on this study as part of a research consortium exploring entrepreneurship in the United States.

Created: Wednesday 26 November 2008

How can behavioural economics improve policies affecting consumers?

Dan Goldstein, Assistant Professor of Marketing, to speak at European Commission consumer affairs conference

Dan Goldstein, Assistant Professor of Marketing at London Business School will speak at the European Commission consumer affairs conference in Brussels this week.

European Commission policy affects consumers daily through decisions on issues such as food labelling, alcohol and tobacco policy and mobile telephone regulation. Research from behavioural economics, however, suggests that the assumptions upon which many of these policies are based are at odds with the inconsistent reality of consumer behaviour.

Dan Goldstein will join other academics to discuss the research into consumer behaviour that will influence future EU policy. Dan will speak on 'Defaults, choice architecture and choice overload' in a session on 'framing and choice'.

Further details on the conference are available from the European Commission website. Dan Goldstein edits the Decision Science News blog.

Created: Tuesday 25 November 2008