Deakin Business School
Faculty of Business and Law
In these pages, you will find important news items relating to the Deakin Business School, its postgraduate courses and its staff that have occurred in the last six months. All past stories of importance can be found in the News Archive
The Deakin Business School (DBS) held the first of its 'Boardroom Lunches' on Tuesday 22 April in the Central Precinct at the Melbourne Campus at Burwood. The presenter, Professor Ali Dastmalchian, Dean of the Faculty of Business at the University of Victoria, Canada talked about his research in a presentation entitled, 'Is your Organization Ready for Change? Lessons from a Canadian Study'.
The second Boardroom Lunch was held on Thursday 22 May at DeakinPrime's Boardroom in the city. Associate Professor Heath McDonald delivered a presentation on 'Managing Membership and Subscription schemes: Lessons from research with the AFL'.
The DBS Boardroom Lunch series, new in 2008, provides an opportunity to showcase the work of Deakin researchers in a way that is accessible to practitioners.
Three other Boardroom lunches are scheduled to be held at DeakinPrime this year.
For more information please contact the School on 1800 624 316 or email dbs-enquiries@deakin.edu.au.
Dr Nichola Robertson, Unit Chair of Strategic Customer Service (MPK711), will be delivering this unit as a one-week intensive at the Burwood campus, as part of Deakin University’s Winter Semester studies program. The unit will be run from Monday June 30 to Friday July 4 (inclusive) from 10am to 6pm daily. The intensive is designed around a range of in-class activities, including case-based learning, student presentations, and guest presentations from several experts in the field.
The unit focuses on various aspects of customer service, set within a strategic framework of customer service vision and standards. Today, consumers are becoming more informed and sophisticated, thus demanding more in terms of high quality service, yet general perceptions of declining service quality and reduced consumer satisfaction with customer service are apparent. Therefore, it is important that both pure service organisations and goods-based organisations deliver strong customer service. In response to this, this unit is designed to provide students with the theory and practice to deliver exceptionally good customer service. A strategic focus is taken.
In 2007, the intensive offering of MPK711 was delivered to over 30 students, who provided positive feedback regarding their experience of studying this unit intensively. Students appreciated the opportunity to accelerate the completion of their course. Another key benefit of the intensive, as cited by students, was the social bonds and networks that developed between fellow students and staff during the week of concentrated study.
The first issue of the Deakin Business Review (DBR) was officially launched in late March, in conjunction with the Faculty launch of the new business building at Elgar Road.
The DBR is a biannual, double-blind refereed journal targeting both practitioners and academics. It seeks to establish itself as a journal that will provide commentary to practitioners on the application and implications of contemporary business research. It covers the various disciplines of business, including marketing, management, accounting, finance, economics, law, and information systems, most of which are represented in the first issue.
We are now inviting contributions for the second issue of the DBR for 2008. The deadline for contributions for the second issue is June 30, 2008. Please notify us of your intention to submit as soon as possible by e-mail to:
deakin_business-review@deakin.edu.au
Associate Professor Peter Oppenheim
Dr Nichola Robertson
Editors
In 2009 the DBS will introduce a new specialisation in retailing to be offered to MBA and MBA (International) students. This initiative results from requests from our international partners and local interest. The specialisation is expected to attract local and international students; some of whom will be employed in retail or in associated businesses such as supply chain/logistics, marketing and advertising, banking and finance.
The DBS welcomed two new staff members at the beginning of 2008:
Professor John Rodwell - Chair in Management
Dr Soheila Mirshekary - Senior Lecturer in Accounting
Yvonne Blahodyr has been appointed Academic Programs Officer and Karlie Matthews has been appointed as Assistant to the Head of School.
| 11 January | Stella Minahan - Radio ABC 774, discussing stereotypes |
| 19 January | Paul Harrison - Commentary for article entitled 'Corey's antics leave generations divided' featured online: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?=368937 |
| 26 January | Paul Harrison - Commentary on police community building strategies |
| 6 February | Andrew Noblet - Commentary on performance reviews |
| 28 February | Paul Harrison - Radio ABC 666 Canberra, discussing the psychology of scams |
| 1 March | Paul Harrison - Mid North Coast NSW, discussing the tricks of door-to-door sales staff |
| 6 March | Pasquale Sgro - Radio K-Rock FM and Bay FM Geelong, discussing interest rates |
| Paul Harrison was profiled in the first edition of 'd' magazine which provides news about activities at Deakin. The article highlighted Paul's research activity and media profile. |
Wayne Binney recently successfully completed his PhD - his thesis is entitled "A Model of Behavioural Response in Social Marketing". Wayne was supervised by Associate Professors Peter Oppenheim and John Hall.
Ken Reed will be one of two Australian representatives attending a meeting of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) in Chicago in April. The ISSP is a programme of cross-national collaboration on surveys covering topics important for social science research. It currently includes 43 members and has run since 1984. The ISSP has resulted in nearly 3,000 publications.
In 2007 DCARF managed Australia's contributing survey (the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes) as well as carrying out a pilot study for the 2009 wave. The purpose of the meeting is to draft the final questionnaire and to finalise the study design for 2009.
