Pulse - Issue 14

PULSE News and opinion from Liverpool Hope Business School February 2022 | Issue 14

THE PATH TO SUCCESS ST Y UD

INSIGHT AWARDS RETURN

SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES

FROM STUDENTS TO ENTREPRENEURS

Plans are underway for 2022

Experience helps students get ahead

We hear from Be Ethical’s founders

News and opinion from Liverpool Hope Business School February 2022 | Issue 14

WELCOME TO PULSE In this issue, we had the pleasure of speaking to the founders of Be Ethical - Caroline Swailes and Heather de Groot about their journey from Marketing students to running their own business. The pair, who were guest panellists at our COP26 event, share their inspiring story on page eight.

Helping our students get the most out of their time at Hope and encouraging them to gain work experience alongside their studies is a core focus for the Business School. Two students who’ve done just that are Felicity and Anond, who are already seeing the benefits as they prepare to finish up their final year (page four).

Now that we’re fully settled into our new home in the EDEN Building, we’ve had the pleasure of hosting several events and welcoming external guests to join us. Members of Liverpool Chamber recently came together at Hope to discuss the economic outlook for the region, following the release of the British Chambers of Commerce’s final quarter of 2021 survey. You can read more about this on page six.

Plans have also begun for one of our event highlights of the year – the Insight to Business Awards, which we hope to host on campus in May (page three).

In this issue, we also hear from a number of our academics on the topics that drive their interests. Lecturer in Business Sustainability Revd Dr Tony Bradley looks at what it will take to achieve the target of a net zero future, and how it will impact businesses (page seven).

While, Lecturer in Management Dr Atif Sarwar and Lecturer in Marketing Dr Katherine Baxter discuss their research into Artificial Intelligence and social media influencers (page 10).

Branding expert joins the Executive Business Advisory Board The Business School is delighted to announce that Jan Peters, founder and owner of USP Creative, has joined our Executive Business Advisory Board (EBAB).

Jan is an award-winning branding expert, specialising in property and professional services and along with her colleagues at USP Creative, she helps her wide range of clients to transform their businesses through powerful branding and communications strategies.

She is a member of Liverpool City Region’s (LCR’s) Growth Platform’s Professional & Business Services Board and is committed to the continued growth of the LCR. Reflecting on Jan’s appointment, Associate Dean of the Business School Ian McKenna, said: “We are delighted to welcome Jan to our Advisory Board.

“Our student body will benefit from engaging directly with Jan and her extensive network of contacts. It is a real feather in our cap that she has agreed to join us.”

Ian McKenna Associate Dean of the Business School

IN THIS ISSUE 3

Insight Awards return

7

The road to net zero

4

Seizing opportunities

8

From students to entrepreneurs

6

School welcomes Chamber members

10

Furthering knowledge

2 | PULSE Magazine

NEWS IN BRIEF

Talking to Pulse after attending her first Advisory Board meeting at the end of January, Jan said: “I’m extremely honoured and proud to be part of the EBAB team at such an exciting time for the Business School. Supporting the Business School is the best possible opportunity to collaborate with people who have a shared purpose.

I am excited to contribute to the organisation.”

SPOTLIGHT

Insight Awards return

The School is looking forward to once again hosting the Insight to Business Awards on campus and in person.

The Insight to Business Awards is the School’s flagship programme celebrating the achievements of our students. We are now in the 7th year of running the programme, having paused the event in 2020 due to Covid.

The 2021 Awards event was held online, and we were greatly assisted by colleagues at MSP Studios, who helped us broadcast the event.

Planning for the 2022 programme is now underway.

Almost all of the corporate partners previously involved have confirmed their wish to take part this year, and we are delighted to also welcome several new associates.

The programme is a collaborative event, that culminates in an Awards Dinner that will be held on campus on Thursday 5th May. Our Awards focus on second and third-year undergraduate students, who have demonstrated their ability to engage with their studies, perform to the best of their abilities, and add real value to their university

experience by being involved in a broad range of extracurricular activities.

Students are shortlisted by their tutors and then interviewed by corporate partners, who select an award winner. With the assistance of tutors and the University careers service, students not only gain practical experience of preparing their CVs, but they are also exposed to invaluable interview experience, ensuring they develop their skills ready for the workplace.

The names of the winners are kept under wraps until the Awards Dinner itself, which adds a real buzz to the evening. The award typically involves a highly coveted placement with the participating company, giving the winning students on-the-job insights and experience.

Everybody - students, tutors and corporate guests - get suited and booted for a great showcase evening, as the photographs from our last live Awards dinner show - see pictures from the 2019 event on the Liverpool Hope University Flickr profile.

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STUDENT STORIES

SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES Felicity Liverseed Third year Business Marketing and Management student Having originally considered taking a placement year, Felicity decided instead to seize the opportunity to apply for a research scholarship based within the Careers Team at Hope.

Successfully landing the Social Media and Marketing Scholarship has provided Felicity with a chance to develop her skills in an area she is hoping to pursue her career.

She said: “I have various responsibilities within this role, including managing and updating the Careers Team’s social media accounts, including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. These posts highlight job offers, employability events, and anything to do with boosting student experience.

“I genuinely enjoy this job as it allows me to be creative with posts and interact with current students through polls and posts. As a Marketing student, it has allowed me to put the many theories that I’ve been learning about into practice and really reap the benefits of my course right away.

“Taking on this scholarship has been highly beneficial. I think it’s a great idea, as I will still graduate alongside everyone I met in my first two years, as well as gaining great experience.”

“Taking on this scholarship has been highly beneficial. I think it’s a great idea, as I will still graduate alongside 4 | PULSE Magazine

everyone I met in my first two years, as well as gaining great experience. It has allowed me to fully support myself alongside my studies and provided me with an idea of what working life after university will be like.

“I would highly recommend a scholarship to any student, as it has kept me motivated to carry on performing in my studies, as well as giving me fantastic relevant job experience to help me in the future.”

As well as hands-on experience running social media channels, working with the Careers Team has given Felicity the chance to undertake training courses, attend formal meetings, gain an understanding of targets and University priorities, and grow in confidence.

“I would highly recommend a scholarship to any student, as it has kept me motivated to carry on performing in my studies.”

Before joining the Careers Team, Felicity was given support and advice on how to polish her CV, and prepare herself for the interview. She was introduced to resources and techniques that helped her remain calm and able to highlight her qualities.

Felicity said: “Trusting the process and remaining positive is the main advice I’ve taken on. The recruitment process will be hard and you may get rejected from other roles, but you must remain confident that what will be right for you will come.

“I’d definitely recommend reaching out to the Careers Team if you’re stuck, as they’re there to support you and will motivate you to carry on. This also applies to being in the job itself, as completing a scholarship alongside studies can get stressful – but if you keep ploughing through, it will be worth it in the end when you have developed your skills!”

STUDENT STORIES

Students Felicity and Anond share their journeys of studying at Liverpool Hope – from the challenge of the pandemic interrupting study, to the benefits of working alongside your degree.

Anond Srichawla Third year Accounting & Finance student Anond (pictured (left) with his brother) started his studies at Liverpool Hope in 2018, but took a year out from study in the academic year 2020/21 to remain at home in Thailand due to Covid travel restrictions.

He returned to Liverpool in October 2021 and has resumed his final year studies.

While at home, Anond made the best use of his time by getting hands-on experience working in the family business. Working across real estate, a textiles factory and a hotel, he was exposed to a diverse range of operations.

hand experience in understanding how the accounts are prepared. He worked on cost budgets and pricing, which gave him a real feel for the cutting-edge reality of business decision making.

Anond said: “Working in the family business has enabled me to put my studies into context, to appreciate the importance of study, and to see the impact of what I’m learning.

“Working in the family business has enabled me to put my studies into context, to appreciate the importance of study.”

“It’s helped me appreciate the need for time management, working to deadlines and working as part of a team.”

The real estate business, which has been owned for more than 10 years, comprises a large office block of 35 floors, rented out to local businesses. The ground floor is home to a mix of retail businesses, making it a truly dynamic space.

Experience of putting a balance sheet together, understanding it and analysing it, enabled Anond to link his University studies to the practicalities of a real business.

Operating for more than 20 years, the textile company uses fabric that is resourced locally, and garments such as underwear and sportwear are produced for the export market in the UK and US. Customers include Marks & Spencer, Superdry and Victoria’s Secret.

Working on cash flow forecasts, which he is currently studying in his third year, also gave him a feel as to how the financial statements profiled the business. If that was not enough, he also worked on the business’ tax computations.

The hotel business was built from scratch in the last five years and has been impacted by a fall in tourism due to Covid.

Anond said: “The experience gave me a holistic view of business, enabling me to understand supply chain issues, supply and demand, distribution and finance.

To counteract this, the hotel worked on attracting local tourists and offered special deals. Business is once again picking up, with Anond pleased to see full occupancy over the festive period, when he returned home for Christmas 2021.

“After graduation, I’m planning to return to Thailand and work in the family business, to develop more specialist knowledge, before perhaps returning to the UK to develop my studies and professional skills.”

Anond worked closely with his father and uncle across the hotel and real estate businesses, and gained firstPULSE Magazine | 5

ENGAGING IN BUSINESS

School welcomes Chamber members

Liverpool Hope Business School hosted a review of the British Chambers of Commerce quarterly report.

Liverpool Chamber members were welcomed to the Business School for an event analysing the latest quarterly report on the economic landscape of the country.

Paul Cherpeau, the Chief Executive of the Liverpool Chamber, asked the School to host a presentation of the British Chambers of Commerce’s final quarter of 2021 survey.

Working within Covid-19 guidelines, it was a great opportunity to welcome local businesses to the School and to enjoy some face-to-face networking. The event also enabled us to showcase the extensive conferencing facilities that are available at the Business School.

Suren Thiru, Head of Economics at the British Chambers of Commerce, opened the event with a presentation on the broad-ranging survey, which covers over 5,000 businesses surveyed during November 2021. This highlighted the factors affecting the UK economy and the real issues that UK businesses are having to deal with, including supply chain issues, inflationary pressures and recruitment difficulties.

Liverpool Hope’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Gerald Pillay joined the discussion panel, which was chaired by Alistair Houghton, Editor at Business Live, alongside Alison Stuart from the Bank of England, Christine Vaudrey from the Torus Group, and Rob Tabb from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.

The discussion focused on the skills needed for a netzero future. The issue of funding to help businesses 6 | PULSE Magazine

with the training required to help bring this about was once again raised, since it is a common problem for local businesses.

The impact the drive to net zero has on businesses was highlighted – for instance, Christine Vaudrey described how the housing association where she works has been affected by changes being implemented in building design, and the different skills that are now needed in that sector.

Professor Pillay was able to highlight the increasing rate of change in skills needed by young people joining the workforce and the need to educate students in the broadest sense, so that they are able to adapt to change. To help with this, the focus on connections between business and the Higher Education sector was emphasised.

Questions to the panel from the delegates focused on the need for businesses to be able to manage the transformation in culture, which will be required so that the drive to net zero can be achieved.

Senior Professional Tutor Brian Ricketts said: “This was a very thought-provoking discussion; the word ‘scary’ was used. However, one came away with a sense of the excitement of the challenge and that UK businesses are up for it.

“For colleagues in the Business School, it was great to be able to welcome our corporate partners onto campus.”

EXPERT COMMENT

Travelling the road to net zero Revd Dr Tony Bradley, Senior Lecturer in Business Sustainability and Centre Director for the Social and Economic Action Research Centre (SEARCH), discusses the way forward following the COP26 summit.

The 26th Conference of the Parties was hailed as the most significant moment in the global challenge to ameliorate the climate catastrophe since Paris, 2015 (COP20). In the event it was a ‘curate’s egg’ – good in parts.

Overall, the failure of many nations to improve on their stated aims for reducing ‘greenhouse gas (GHG)’ emissions, such as carbon dioxide and methane; and to pledge, but not immediately provide, additional finance for nations in the Global South to introduce their own measures, meant that the reality fell far short of the rhetoric.

There were some significant breakthroughs, such as the agreement to enable more voluntary – not only statutory – arrangements for richer countries to help poorer ones. But, the end result was the COP caravan moves onto Sharm-el-Sheikh, this year, for implementation of renewed pledges. The real work needs to take place on the road from COP26.

It was to that effect, that Liverpool Hope Business School organised an important business breakfast with 30+ local business leaders the week after COP26 ended.

The purpose was to consider the next steps towards the Liverpool City Region’s (LCR’s) target of net zero emissions by 2040 – a hugely ambitious target.

The breakfast heard from three speakers and teams. First up was our own Dr Curt Ziniel. He presented our shared research, as part of the Greening Markets Research Group (GMRG). Within the GMRG, we have mapped more than 30 variables - at postcode level - indicating how localities across Britain are becoming more environmentally, industrially, and politically, greener.

Curt presented our Greening Map of Britain, which will be of great benefit to local businesses in seeking to position themselves in the new economy for ‘building forward better and greener’.

Our second speakers were Caroline Swailes and Heather de Groot of Be Ethical - a coaching and consultancy company that specialises in helping businesses grasp the challenge of ESG (environmental, social and governmental) reporting (Find out more on page eight).

Businesses are, increasingly, required to account for their social and environmental responsibilities, together with their understanding of purpose and why they do what they do, alongside more conventional quarterly statements of their financial position. Caroline and Heather demonstrated how an initial conversation with a company seeking to enter the world of ESG reporting could develop into a transformative reimagining of their business.

Thirdly, the breakfast delegates heard from Sean Keyes, MD of multi-award-winning Sutcliffe Engineering. If Curt had provided a research context and Caroline/ Heather a way of understanding the business world beyond COP26, Sean demonstrated its reality and practice on the ground. Sutcliffe’s are involved in a number of large-scale complex engineering challenges across the LCR, including at Tobacco Warehouse, the Lime Street redevelopment and the Royal Liverpool Hospital.

Sean showed how the detailed and painstaking work of sourcing low carbon materials, reducing emissions in construction and creating detailed inventories for lowering their environmental footprint was reaping huge rewards.

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INDUSTRY VOICES

From students to entrepreneurs

Pulse spoke with COP26 panellists Caroline Swailes and Heather de Groot about their journey from education to running their own business.

What have you been working on since graduating?

Heather: “During our studies, as we were both parttime mature students at the time, we were working for a private sector company that operated in multiple industries/countries and had over 4,500 staff.

doing for their people, communities and the planet, and using it to grow their business and impact.

“We stayed in touch to share best practices, collaborate and support each other’s own personal growth. Then at the start of 2020, I approached Caroline for advice in starting up again after having my little boy, as she had successfully done the same only two years prior.

“We were both based in the parent company - Caroline running their communications as Marketing Manager, and I was heading up their popular Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme.

“Then the night before the first lockdown, we decided two heads were better than one, and we would reach more businesses as a team, as we continue to support each other as business partners, as well as friends.”

“After we left the business (separately), we set ourselves up as individual communications consultants with a focus on CSR. We found ourselves encouraging lots of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) to see the value in tracking, measuring and reporting on the work they were already

How have your Marketing Diplomas helped you pursue your careers?

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Heather: “Becoming a student again was a great way to re-visit what it was like to be trained. It reinforced

INDUSTRY VOICES the value of a good teacher, efficient processes and the importance of outside support and personal desire to deliver on the work.

“This has actually played a huge part in how we have developed and set up our own training as a business.”

Caroline: “I was quite nervous about being a student while being employed, as my job was so busy with lots of travel. Completing both my Marketing and Digital Marketing Diplomas at the weekend was a great way of being able to manage both.

“I’ve always been very hard on myself about not graduating from university straight from school. The way we were taught and the format was perfect for me and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process.

“The experience of completing the Diplomas has been integral in the way we manage clients bespoke projects and deliver positive outcomes. Time management and knowledge transfer is the reason we have success in what we do.

Can you tell us about your new business venture - Be Ethical Training?

Heather: “We feel it does exactly what it says on the tin.

We train businesses to become more ethical, and a lot of the time these businesses already have a fantastic culture of responsibility running through them.

“Usually, because it’s family owned and it’s been around for a long time, but unfortunately, because most don’t track, measure or report on their impact, they’re missing out on bids, tenders, awards and more efficient recruitment process.

“The training itself shows them how to pull all of this great work together into a simple environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework, used by investors to measure profit with purpose.

“A business that lives and breathes an ESG approach is a business that is thinking long-term. But we’re also seeing more and more start-ups and third sector organisations placing ethical activities at the heart of what they do, because it’s what consumers or corporate donors want to see. It’s how to attract the best talent, together with securing future funding, loans, investment or grants.

“We’re the starting point for these businesses and charities, we steer them towards CSR-Accreditation,

B-Corp status and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We just want the world to see how great they are.”

Why did you choose this area of business?

Heather: “We are just so passionate about doing good business. Ethical business is a huge part of who we are, we’d always find ourselves giving out advice to any company that would listen - I remember giving tips to a soft play once on how they can tackle becoming net zero!

“We just love that the experience and skill set we have developed over the years is now so relevant to the needs of business. We are pushing on an open door and understand that this subject is much bigger than us.

“We want to get out into the community as far and wide as we can to impart this knowledge and help others to make the changes themselves, and that is really exciting.”

How was your experience of being panellists at the Business School’s COP26 event?

Heather: “It was fantastic to be invited to speak, we never shy away from sharing what we do. It was also great to hear about the work the University does to support local businesses in measuring their carbon footprint - a great tool we will promote to our own clients.

“And of course, having Sean Keyes the MD of Sutcliffe’s there was a great real-life example of how ethical practices can support a business tackling the outcomes and challenges COP26 was highlighting. It was a great morning with an audience that clearly cared.”

What advice would you give to someone considering a Marketing degree?

Heather: “Seek out a mentor, someone who is already in your dream role or favoured sector. Reach out to them on LinkedIn and ask if they could meet or take a call once a quarter.”

“And if you have the time, volunteer for a charity, offer your expertise to them and gain some hands-on experience. That’s how I landed my role as the CSR Manager of a global business, it shows willingness and great character.

Caroline: “Read every day around the subject. Create the ability to share knowledge with others, if you are keen to learn more about certain areas of marketing, become an enthusiast, because you will be surprised how useful that can be in a future role or business opportunity.”

Get in touch We are always keen to hear from our alumni. To share your story or expertise, please contact Business Engagement & Employability Manager Lyndsey Burkert: burkerl@hope.ac.uk PULSE Magazine | 9

RESEARCH INTERESTS

FURTHERING KNOWLEDGE Pulse spoke to two Business School academics about the issues they seek to address and understand through their research.

Dr Atif Sarwar, Lecturer in Management, describes his research into Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the workforce.

AI is fast becoming a pervasive organisational, social, and economic reality. Whilst AI and other advanced technologies have become ubiquitous, the behaviour of these technologies cannot be predicted by both those who design and those who embrace them.

Futurologists either inform us of a fascinating utopian future where machines and humans live in harmony or a dystopian future where machines rule mortal humans.

However, it’s time to move away from speculating possibilities of the future and into the empirical world of AI in organisations.

Consequently, the mainstream argument has oscillated between opposing AI views; either leading to automation and mass unemployment – implying a stable problem context, or AI-led augmentation – a context-dependent application requiring professional discretion to solve it – meaning tasks and jobs would be transformed, and employees would need to upgrade their skills.

It’s argued that as a result, value space that was only accessible to professionals, and boundaries deemed impermeable, are being encroached upon by machines.

The missing link in this argument is to examine the employee perspective and professionals’ perception – grounded in professional values – of this incoming change. However, studying this question is difficult due to AI’s varying impact on labour sectors and types.

My current research – focusing on the law and accounting sector – examines AI and other technologies’ micro-scale impact in labour systems as professionals attempt to protect their professional jurisdictions.

Furthermore, linking this interest to my previous research on ‘blame and moral responsibility in organisations’, I am interested in the issues of AI morality and ethics. As technologies become more common and autonomous, accepting more practical, professional, and civic responsibilities, the pertinent questions of machine morality have become relevant.

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Designing an AI that will not be detrimental to those who use it or are affected by it, is both a sociological and philosophical challenge. Maybe we need new laws for AI (recalling Asimov’s laws of robotics) to be assigned a moral status.

Dr Katherine Baxter, Lecturer in Marketing, looks at the extent of personal information shared by motherhood influencers.

The main area of my research is in communications and customer perceptions and this was the focus of my PhD. One of the projects I’m currently working on is a collaborative project looking at how much information motherhood influencers share freely online.

This is being conducted through a quantitative content analysis, which follows a process of identifying the presence of certain variables within texts or images. I am specifically looking at the information contained in publicly available motherhood influencer images.

This includes personal identifiable information such as names, ages and location, and whether there is any intimate, embarrassing or exposing content. I’ve nearly finished the data collection aspect of this and I’m in the process of writing it up and applying for a conference, with a view to submit to a specified journal this spring.

My other research project examined the effects of gendered wording and an endorser’s gender on the effectiveness of leaflets promoting walking. The results revealed there are differences between male and female attitudes and behaviour depending on the inclusion of different wording within the advertisements.

This has also recently been replicated for a global study targeting males and females in English speaking countries, including New Zealand, Canada, Ireland and Australia. The UK-based paper has been submitted to a journal and is awaiting review, while the international paper is nearly finished and being submitted to a conference.

I’m also working on projects relating to sustainability and global consumer behaviour, which are other research interests of mine.

THE BUSINESS SCHOOL

ABOUT US: LIVERPOOL HOPE BUSINESS SCHOOL The Business School curriculum is cutting-edge with all teaching research-informed and delivered by staff with both professional and practical backgrounds. A high number of staff have PhDs, while several members of the School have run successful businesses. This means the School is highly qualified at an academic, professional and experiential level, to engage in research that connects with the business sector.

The School works closely with accreditation bodies and is a member of various professional networks.

These include the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS), the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Professional Liverpool.

With strong links to a range of leading local and national companies, professional bodies and organisations, and a range of innovative ethical and social enterprises, the School has a reputation for developing students with sound theoretical principles and a thorough understanding of contemporary business practices. Guest lecturers and practitioner input allows students the opportunity to visit companies, study abroad and work via Young Enterprise to develop and run their own business.

WHO WE WORK WITH:

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To find out more please visit: www.hope.ac.uk/businessschool

Pulse is published by Liverpool Hope Business School, Hope Park, L16 9JD.

T: 0151 291 3087 E: businessschool@hope.ac.uk

The views expressed in the magazine are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent those of Liverpool Hope University.

LiverpoolHopeUniversity @LiverpoolHopeUK