University of Bedfordshire Business School's posts

Mark Collier is a very successful scrap-metal dealer and employs eight people in his Luton business. But it wasn't all plain sailing! Listen to a lively and entertaining discussion with Mark and Professor in Management Practice Stephen Hyde. Thrills and spills guaranteed!

Businesses always need finance and the bank is the first port of call. How do you ensure that your bank manager will be supportive in the inevitable difficult times and help your business survive and thrive? Join the discussion with Professor in Management Practice Stephen Hyde and Phil Bidwell, Corporate Banking Manager, Handelsbanken, Luton.

Listen to Professor in Management Practice Stephen Hyde and Miguel Viana, an Elon Musk evangelist and enthusiast in finding out more about the owner of Tesla and Space X and his ways of doing business.

Join data-driven marketing expert Michael Collins and Professor in Management Practice David Harding for another relaxed but thought-provoking discussion of what goes on in the real world of business.

Is selling an art or a science? Whichever it is, every business needs sales expertise and yet it is so often overlooked. And aren't all of us actually part of the sales team for whoever we work for? Come and join the discussion and get some tips with Cheryl Harding, a sales expert with over 25 years experience and Professor in Management Practice David Harding (no relation!).

Luton Business leaders regularly moan about the level of regulation preventing their organisation being more successful. Regulations are imposed at all levels - local authority, national, EU, UN. We all agree on essential health and safety rules but is there too much regulation? Who benefits from it? We are joined by Ron Yellon who has held senior roles on both sides of the regulatory fence.

An over-hyped idea from some Mad Men with a solution looking for a problem? Or a genuine new marketing method for business? Listen to the discussion with Professors in Management Practice Stephen Hyde and Colin Bradshaw.

Many of us dream of starting our own business. It is an exciting prospect but can be fraught with risks. What are the things you should (and shouldn't) do? How can you learn lessons from others' experiences? Listen to Clive Haywood who has advised over 200 start-up businesses talk to Professor in Management Practice Stephen Hyde.

Research is increasingly showing that employees feel happier in their jobs if they have an affinity with the values and way of working of their organisation. But how important to an organisation is the happiness of its people? David Bellamy, CEO of Stonepoint Partners, is an expert in this field. Join him and Stephen Hyde, Professor in Management Practice in a discussion on this intriguing topic.

Introducing commercial best-practice into the public sector is a controversial and challenging exercise. Join the discussion with Professor in Management Practice Stephen Hyde and ex-KPMG healthcare division partner Martin Munro.

Many businesses expand into new markets as a result of a variety of reasons - strategic decision, expansion of an existing customer, personal contacts and many others. Stephen James, Director of TradeArc Services Ltd, has many years' experience of business development in central Europe and Poland in particular. He joins Stephen Hyde, Professor in Management Practice, to reveal some success stories - and one or two things that went wrong.

What impact do you have on others? What does that impact mean? How could you change your impact? We are pleased to have our first-ever Impacttologist for this session. Martin Brooks will join Colin Bradshaw, Professor in Management Practice, in H202. Come and join the discussion and boost your career chances!

Starting up your own business is always challenging. But how tough is it in the competitive world of estate agency?Join the discussion with Professor in Management Practice Colin Bradshaw and Venessa Afonja, who runs her own local property consulting business.

Just how difficult is it to be successful in the world of broadcasting? Learn a few of the important dos and don'ts in this special session. Join the discussion with Professor in Management Practice Stephen Hyde and the multimedia journalist, Josef-Israel Obeng.

Topic suggested by Markus Haag - and a great one. Join Professors in Management Practice Stephen Hyde and Colin Bradshaw (an industry expert) for what is bound to be a lively and thought-provoking discussion.

Steve McAteer, CEO of Wenta, the start-up business advisory service, joins Stephen Hyde, Professor in Management Practice to discuss the trials and tribulations of starting-up a business and possible sources of support.

Managing the relationships between staff and between management and junior employees is challenging. Doing the right thing isn't always easy or obvious. Caroline Plummer, Regional Manager of ACAS (the Government-funded arbitration service) joins Stephen Hyde, Professor in Management Practice, to discuss and share some examples.

The car trade is notoriously cut-throat. So how do you achieve success? Elly Ambrose of AmKon Training Services which specialises in training in that industry, joins Stephen Hyde, Professor in Management Practice, to discuss and share some stories.

Knowing what impact you have on others and how to avoid predictable clashes of personality can really help in business. Judy Oliver, MD of Clarity 4D, joins Stephen Hyde, Professor in Management Practice, to discuss this and share some stories from their experience.

Mark Collier, MD of Re-Mark-it, joins Stephen Hyde, Professor in Management Practice, to discuss his remarkable career as a scrap metal dealer and the lessons he has learned along the way. Mark is quite a character and this will prove to be an entertaining discussion about a business most of us know very little about as well as the trials and tribulations of making a start-up business a success.

David Maddocks of Astra Zeneca joins Stephen Hyde, Professor in Management Practice, to discuss this very topical question.

Loved or loathed, Jeremy Clarkson has been the BBC's most valuable personality for some years, generating many millions for BBC Worldwide through the sale of Top Gear series and other events across the globe. But is it too risky to align your product with one personality? Join Professors in Management Practice Stephen Hyde and Colin Bradshaw to discuss this topic.

Mergers, takeovers and disposals are in the business headlines every week but what is it actually like to be involved in a takeover battle and its aftermath? Join Professor in Management Practice Stephen Hyde and David Maddocks, Global Pricing and Reimbursement Director, Diabetes at Astra Zeneca to discuss these matters and hear particularly about David's experience of Pfizer's ultimately unsuccessful bid to acquire Astra Zeneca.

Not everyone is lucky enough to be an accountant! There are even a few people who are not sure they want to be an accountant! But, get those exams out of the way and the world is your oyster. All sorts of business opportunities can open up for you and most of them don't involve slaving over a hot calculator! Join in our discussion about life in the real business world with Professor in Management Practice Stephen Hyde and Allan McNab, who has held senior management roles in Thomas Cook, Trinity Mirror, Smith Kline and Coopers & Lybrand Consulting and was President of CIMA.

Many businesses go through periods when cashflows are not as positive as they need to be. Ultimately the results of this can be terminal. Managing the business in these circumstances is tough - cost to be cut, employees laid-off, wages cut, difficult conversations with your bank. And these are issues for the whole management team - not just the Finance Director. Join in our discussion of how things go in the real business world. With Professor in Management Practice Stephen Hyde (over 30 years management experience including a number of different tight cash situations) and fellow Professor in Management Practice, Colin Bradshaw.

Business executives all have people to manage in their teams. This can often be daunting, especially when difficult decisions have to be taken - redundancies, under-performance, relocation etc. Join in our discussion of how things go in the real business world. With Professor in Management Practice Stephen Hyde (over 30 years management experience in large companies such as Tesco and small ones such as Emma Bridgewater) and Senior Lecturer in HRM Sarah Jones (ex HR Manager at Thomsonfly/Britannia Airways.)

The first-ever Business Matters session with Professors in Management Practice Stephen Hyde and Colin Bradshaw. Businesses in the UK and many other parts of the developed world have been mired in recession and the austerity policies of national governments since 2008. Companies have adopted different strategies for survival but now this period of austerity is coming to an end, how can businesses adapt to make the most of growing economies both at home and abroad? As business school students, what should we expect to see happen in the next few years? Who will be the winners? Will there be losers?