Templeton ViewsSpring 2004

Templeton CollegeUniversity of Oxford

Contents

Pop idol: rise of the CEO ................. 3

Capitalism in crisis? ...................... 3–6

Introducing … ................................ 7–8

The second American Revolution .. 9

Government: has managerialismfailed? ................................................ 10

Putting knowledge intopractice ...................................... 11–12

In your face:public services .......................... 11–12

Student scene gets bigger ...... 13–16

Scenarios:a safe place to get real ............ 17–18

People: the hidden edge ........... 17–18

How RWE Innogy learntleadership .................................. 19–20

Managing catastrophe inAfrica .......................................... 21–22

Globalisation:have we got it wrong? .................... 23

China: boom, boom! ......................... 24

Working on a chain gang ................ 25

Retailing: inefficiency has its uses 26

The buzz in college .................. 27–28

Behind the scenes ............................ 29

Hail & farewell ................................ 30

Photo creditsCover: Getty ImagesTom Peek; Istockphoto; OxfordshireCounty Council; Rob Judges; CorinneDufka/Human Rights Watch 1999;Sue Kitt; Denise Edwards

Editor: Peter SnowDesigner: Denise LeggePrinted at Techniquestudios

Letter fromthe Dean

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This issue of Templeton Views opens up a diversity of perspectives: social,personal, managerial and global. Their common theme, though, is challenge:challenge both in the sense of the crises that business and we as individuals face –but also, and more positively, the opportunities and solutions those dilemmas elicit.

We open with a variety of views on the ethical and governance challengesconfronting business and finance, then extend the perspective to look at issuesfacing government and our communities and public services. In the second half ofthe magazine we turn more directly to management issues. Articles outline thethinking behind a range of imaginative new programmes on leadership development,scenario planning and high performance work practices and describe the latestdevelopments in supply chain and retail management.

At the same time we keep an eye on the broader global scene – hearing how one ofour executive alumni, Kanja Sesay, has been grappling with social catastrophe inSierra Leone and of new approaches to globalisation and of the opportunitiesopening up in China.

Nearer home, Templeton is also facing new challenges and opportunities as acollege. With the increase in our graduate student community, the arrival of thefirst executive MBA students and the continuing development of partnership withthe Saïd Business School in the Oxford Executive Education initiative we areenjoying exciting times.

We also welcome a new Chairman, Richard Greenhalgh (interviewed on pagesseven and eight) and bid farewell to our retiring President, Sir David Rowland. Inthe concluding article Sir David reveals his long perspective on the College. Therecan be no more fitting final message than his belief that ‘excellence is the only goalworth striving for’ and that with ‘staff of the highest quality and students ofwonderful ability and flair, there is no limit to the achievement possible fortomorrow’.

Michael Earl

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Viewpoint:Testing theLimits ofToleranceSir Michael Perry CBE,Chairman, Centrica PLC

Businesses operate within a socialcontext which provides implicit publicconsent for what they do. The trouble isits limits are constantly moving. We aregoing through such an acceleratedprocess right now. The conduct ofbusiness is being seriously challenged,and with that challenge goes an ever-increasing demand for publicaccountability. When a gap opens upbetween practice and public consent,the state is tempted, or feels obliged, tointervene.

‘Corporate greed’ is probably the mostfrequently heard criticism. Directors ofpublic companies are of course only asmall part of a much wider issue, but avery visible part, because ourcompensation is published every year,and we have become a lightningconductor for much wider publicunease. Do we deserve the publicopprobrium that is constantly heapedupon us? Yes, I think we do – at least insome degree.

Some CEOs undoubtedly are greedy.Far too many remuneration committeesbow to peer group pressure. We allwave our Towers-Perrin reports in theair, and announce indignantly that wehave no choice but to maintain ourposition at the median, in the upperquartile, or whatever it may be: a rock-solid guarantee for inbuilt wageinflation.

Much of the problem has been causedby the advent of variable pay, and bythe choice of criteria for pay awards.Striking a balance between executive,shareholder and public perception ofperformance remains elusive. ‘Fat cats’is still how they see us.

‘Concentration and abuse of power’ is asecond cause for erosion of publictrust. Here I think we have a realdilemma. Great companies are built bygreat entrepreneurs. Names like Gatesand Murdoch, Branson and Sorrell arejust four on a long and distinguished listof corporate heroes. They took theirown risks, with their own money tostart with, and they succeeded. Theirsuccess enables them to do pretty muchwhat they want, and their othershareholders (if they have any) are byand large grateful that they do. Theyare even permitted a little personaleccentricity – from balloon stunts tonepotism – after all they made all themoney.

It’s not risk-takers we like, if we’rehonest with ourselves, it’s successfulrisk-takers. As investors we likepredictability, not uncertainty. Asmembers of society we think it’s betterto limit power than to risk the abuse ofpower. Big corporate failures likeEnron and Worldcom have us allrunning to constrain and limit futurerisk. The real question is: ‘do newrequirements of corporate governanceactually shackle the veryentrepreneurial spirit that breedssuccess?’ Do they help or hinder thecreation of shareholder value?

If I run down the list of requirements inthe heady cocktail of Sarbanes Oxley,Higgs, Smith, Tabaksblat and newcombined codes, I see real cause forconcern. Item for item it’s all verysensible, but there’s a real risk ofburying wealth-creatingentrepreneurial risk-taking in a mire ofbox-ticking bureaucracy.

Of course there should be properseparation of powers between chairmanand CEO. Of course non-execs shouldbe independent, well-informed andinfluential. Of course audit committeesshould be able to read a profit and lossaccount and a balance sheet. Of coursemarkets should be told the truth andnothing but the truth.

But the central point remains this.When trust breaks down, governmentsand others feel obliged to intervenewith a plethora of imposed checks andbalances. But in reality only companiesthemselves can rebuild trust. It mayonly be a small minority of offenders,but the rest of us are tarred with thesame brush.

We have to find a more proactive wayof reminding and persuading people thatdespite occasional excesses, thewestern system of capitalism is not onlythe only survivor of all the models tried,but it is essentially good and beneficial.If we don’t do that our young lions willfind themselves too hog-tied to build thegreat businesses of tomorrow.

We wouldn’t dream of surroundingsuch people with externally imposedcontrols, checks and balances, otherthan the minimum necessary todemonstrate public accountability. Orwould we?

Of course we would. Ask PIRC. It’s notpower that has struck us in recentyears, but abuse of power. Successthat has gone to the head, ambition thatjust cannot be denied, flagrant excessesthat have made the public’s stomachturn, gross mismanagement – we haveseen them all. So now we’re in reaction.

It’s not risk-takers we like, ifwe’re honest with ourselves,it’s successful risk-takers.

An extract from the introductory talkby Sir Michael Perry at the TempletonCEO Dinner Discussion, ‘CorporateGovernance and Shareholder Value’on 11 November.

The CEO as Rock StarRoger Parry traces the evolution of the chief executive

As stock markets kept booming, thingsstarted getting out of hand. Whenoverall share prices went up year afteryear by double digits, people with largenumbers of options started to makeobscene amounts of money simply as a

became more obsessed with news flowthan with cash flow. By and large, theentire investment industry thrived onthe boom. And the new breed of CEOswas at the heart of it.

The rise to prominence of the sell-sideanalysts – the stock pickers – who werein some ways specialist journalists, andthe huge growth in the investmentbanking industry created a lust fordeals. The bankers needed deals andthe analysts needed heroes. Theylooked for charismatic, larger-than-lifeCEOs who were felt to add sizzle to ashare price.

And when investors started to believethat CEOs as individuals could have ahuge and immediate influence on theshare price, the era of the CEO as asuperstar came into its own. On the daythat Michael Armstrong wasannounced as CEO of AT&T themarket value went up by $3.8 billionand on the day that George Fisher was

Before 1920, most companies startedlife as a family business where fatherwas the boss. Many were built aroundan invention or a vision; many werebuilt by one man acting on a personalmission.

As the founding families lost interest orran out of suitable children they neededto find professional managers. Unliketoday’s CEOs many of theseprofessional administrators were simplypaid a salary, albeit often a verygenerous one, for looking after the day-to-day affairs of the business.

After the Second World War, however,many big corporations started to getheavy with layers of management, andthe suspicion grew that seniorexecutives looked after themselveswith feather-bedded expense accountsand corporate perks while shareholderswere getting a raw deal. The stage wasset for a more active managementapproach.

The notion of shareholder value tookhold. Companies began to be run in afar more aggressive fashion. Share-holders wanted to see earnings andshare prices grow. Business was underfar more pressure to create value. Thehostile takeover and the leveragedbuyout entered the language as ways ofremoving underperforming complacentmanagers. Business leaders wereexpected to be radical and tough.

The CEOs who succeeded under theseconditions got rich on options. But theywere still, essentially, professionalmanagers whose skill lay in buildinggreat businesses. If the stock marketrose by five per cent a year and the starcompanies rose by ten per cent a year,the options became valuable and themanager became justly wealthy. Thealignment with shareholders seemedclose as both were focused onincreasing the long-term value of thebusiness reflected by the share price.However, with the advent of the 1990sbull market, that was about to change.

Dance of Death?the compensation for not making upyour mind about what you really wantto do. Then there is the problem ofChindogu – a Japanese word todescribe trivial and unnecessaryobjects. ‘Capitalism generates a mass ofchindogu and we need to rid ourselvesof it.’

Business is becoming polarised into the‘elephants’ – the giant multinationals –and the ‘fleas’– the mass of freelanceswho serve them. Increasingly the‘elephants’ are outsourcing functionsand shedding workforces who try tobecome fleas. ‘“Fleadom” is wonderfulif you have the assets, the markets foryour skills and the courage,’ saidProfessor Handy. ‘but not that easy –especially those who had expected acareer for life.’

reward for just turning up. Even abelow-average performance wouldproduce a bonanza of option gains.

Even more worrying was that investorspurchased shares not because of a deepunderstanding of an industry that ledthem to believe that a company wasgoing to grow, but simply in the reliefthat the share price was going to keeprising because people liked thecompany’s ‘story’. Momentum investingwas born. Companies and investors

On 2 December ProfessorCharles Handy gave the 2003Barclay Lecture at Templetonon ‘The Dance of Death: CanCapitalists Save Capitalism?’

Capitalism’s greatest problem,Professor Handy began, was the‘arithmetic problem’ – the inequality towhich it gives rise. Good at generatingeconomic growth and wealth, itnevertheless opens up a gap betweenthose who have a lot and those whohave a little. The challenge is to reversethe arithmetic. But that is more easilydone at the level of countries thanwithin countries.

A related problem is the ‘calculusproblem’ – of money acting as asubstitute for direction and of providing

The problem got worse whenCEOs started to believe theirown publicity

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announcedas Kodak’sCEO itsvalueleapt by$1.4billion.Fortunelooked at

its own role in the star CEOphenomenon and reported that since1986 it had put Bill Gates on the coverno fewer than 25 times and Jack Welch13 times. The impression was given thatcorporate success was all down to oneman or, very occasionally, woman. Theera of CEO as rock star had arrived.

The problem got worse when CEOsstarted to believe their own publicity.CEOs became fabulously rich notthrough making great profits but byhaving a great story. Momentuminvesting meant that perceptions offuture value became more importantthan actual performance. Ramping theshare price by pumping quarterlyearnings to drive the option valuebecame, for many CEOs, the onlyobjective. Long-term value wasignored; social responsibility andcommercial integrity were denigrated.

Success wasmeasured not interms of being wellpaid but in makinghundreds of millionsof dollars in capitalgains.

Now, the image ofthe CEO as heroiccorporate titan has taken a substantialhit. CEOs have been seen on nationaltelevision doing the ‘perp walk’arraigned in handcuffs and prisonuniforms as they stand accused of awide range of corporate crimes as wellas excess and hubris. The newspapershave enjoyed themselves.

On the great yardstick of the boom,EBITDA (Earnings Before Taxes,Depreciation and Amortisation),Warren Buffett commented it made himshudder. ‘It makes sense only if youthink capital expenditures are fundedby the tooth fairy. In hindsight somecynics now refer to the famousacronym as “Earnings Before I Trickedthe Dumb Auditor.”’

EBITDA is in disgrace. Momentuminvesting has hit a wall. Audit reports

are suspect. Sustainable growth in freecash flow combined with long-termstrategic goals and social responsibilityare the new orders. The new style isabout balance, consistency and actionmanagement. The stock market slump,the dot.com implosion and variousaccounting scandals have taken thereputation of CEOs to an all-time low.But we cannot abolish the post.Someone has to lead companies. Whatsort of person, though?

Roger Parry, a Templeton alumnusand member of the CollegeDevelopment Advisory Board,spoke on ‘The evolution of therole of the CEO’, at the 2003Templeton Alumni Reunion. Hisbook, ‘Enterprise’, from whichthis is an edited extract, waspublished last year by ProfileBooks.

Together these problems Handycharacterised as ‘capitalism’s dance ofdeath’. Capitalism depends on selfinterest. But there is also the moralityof obligation, and a civilised societyneeds both. Capitalism brings choicebut too much choice is confusing. Weresort to ‘agents of choice’ but one

cannot fully trust them because theytoo are pursuing the morality of selfinterest. The result is a vacuum oftrust. In turn, this vacuum gives rise toa ghetto society.

‘We are getting very choosey about ourneighbours,’ said Handy. ‘Increasingly

guilt gap can be bridged. Governmentcould do something to reverse thearithmetic problem, in particular toreverse the educational gap. Theproblem is that the appetite foreducation seems unlimited. How dogovernments fund this out of generaltaxation? One answer would be to putmore resources into earlier rather thanlater stage education.

Business must ask what its purpose isand give people more of a chance tobecome themselves.

‘As individuals, we have got to takecharge of our own lives in order to fulfilthem,’ concluded Professor Handy. ‘Weall at times have different lives anddifferent personalities. Your duty is tobring yourself alive and then bring asmuch of that to the world as possible. Alife not lived in the service of others isnot worth living.’

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The Dance of Death: a medieval view

we want to live in gatedcommunities of people likeus. If we cannot achievethat, we try to bring it aboutit through the internet –creating electroniccommunities of choice. Buthow can you have sympathyfor people that you neveractually meet?’

The cumulative effect is aguilt gap – an uneasy senseof being in some wayresponsible but not able todo anything about it. But the

Ethics as Competitive EdgeEx-FT editor, Richard Lambert, believes financial services shouldinvest in trust

One of the few areas in the financialindustry where growth is reasonablypredictable is personal finance. Byeducating their customers, andproviding them with simple and fairlypriced products, companies will be ableto seize one of the great businessopportunities of the next decade.Companies are going to realise thattrust is a competitive advantage.

The end of a financial bubble comeswhen it becomes most clear that ethicalbehaviour is not an optional extra butthe glue that holds businesses together.As the City moves into a new and verydifferent world, the most successfulfirms are going to discover that thissense of trust – carefully nurtured andbuilt on a set of shared values andethical practices – will turn out to be areal competitive advantage.

My final thought for the FinancialServices Authority is this: make chiefexecutives of financial services whichmisbehave pay a savage personal price.A system in which personal responsi-bility for the integrity of a company liesunequivocally in the hands of theperson at the top will do more to changethe behaviour of business than all theFSA fines and rule books put together!

Taken from a speech given at thesymposium, Ethical Frameworks forFinancial Services, sponsored byStandard Chartered Bank and held atTempleton on 21 November.

For a long time I believed greatertransparency and accountability wouldsolve most of the world’s businessproblems. Corruption would die in thesunshine. But a few years ago I realisedthey were not having the desired effect.Growing volumes of disclosurecovering just about everything in publiclife did not seem to be making the worldany happier or more efficient.

So is this a counsel of despair? No. Thepeople best placed to grab hold of theindustry and attack the culture ofsuspicion are the leaders of theindustry themselves, and there is a goodchance that they will do so. There aremany reasons for thinking that theindustry may be at a tipping point.

The excesses now working their waythrough the system have their roots inthe expansive business environment ofthe past decade. It’s going to pay peopleto be prudent, at least until the scarshave healed. The dust is beginning tosettle after the enormous explosionsthat have reshaped the City in the past20 years. The period of consolidation inthe securities industry is largely over,and in a more stable environment, it willmake sense for companies to pay moreattention to developing a cohesivecorporate culture, and to building acorporate ethic. Recruits will belooking for some kind of a careerstructure. They’ll want to work for afirm they feel they can respect.

Having TheirPat Scott (Oxford StrategicLeadership Programme, 1989)thinks business and the Cityneed to have a new direction

Marconi, the pensions crisis, public lossof confidence in financial services,lower R&D spend in 2000 than 1981,and a depressing list of companieswhere the accounts have beenmisleading or just plain wrong.Unfortunate coincidences? No! Theyare a symptom of something larger.

Let’s go back to basics. Managers ofconsistently successful companiesdevelop their organisations to generatebusiness in ways that benefit allstakeholders and the economy ingeneral. Sometimes these companiesrequire outside capital. At the sametime investors seek to enjoy financialsecurity and a decent standard of livingwhen they can no longer work.Financial markets exist to bring theseinvestors and companies together.

Since Big Bang we have seen a seachange in the way the City is managed.A good thing you might say. There is noroom for amateurism in today’scomplex markets. However, marketplayers tend to focus on instrumentsrather than the underlying substance.League tables and short time framereporting demands increase pressure todeliver performance quickly andconsistently. Fund managers don’talways have the time to wait for goodbusinesses to build slowly.

Neither do chief executives. With anaverage tenure of 4.2 years, and theneed to be seen to perform, more rapidresults are needed. So both bosses andthe financial markets need fasterresults, and more often than not findthem in transactions.

What’s wrong with that? Mergers andtakeovers are good for business. Theykeep management on their toes anddrive cost efficiency and globalconsolidation. The trouble is that,

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firstly, we don’t do them very well.Over a dozen pieces of research showfailure rates as high as 70 per cent.According to the FT, over half the dealsdone in 1999/2000 were already beingundone in 2003! Secondly, withattention on transactions, theunderlying business often getsneglected. Over time this leads to arundown of the business – which itselfbecomes a take-over target!

All this results from two significantdisconnections.

Short tenure chief executives tend todo things to rather than with theorganisation. It’s easier and quicker toget improvements by cost cuttingexercises and bringing in old colleaguesand consultants to make them happen,rather than grow the businessorganically. Any growth that’s neededcan come from acquisitions.

Equity fund managers’ actions have themost impact on thecareer of a chiefexecutive.Investmentdecisions are madeon expected shareprice movements rather than specificsof the underlying business. Fundmanagers are also disconnected fromtheir clients. If they weren’t, we mightnot have seen some of the recentscandals, involving misleading analystreports, investment trust cross-holdingsand general mis-selling.

We have an informal system that haslost touch with what it was created for.Having lost sight of the basics, themachine that should drive the engine ofindustry and commerce smoothly isracing out of control. The exponentialgrowth of derivatives (described byWarren Buffett as ‘financial weapons ofmass destruction’) reinforces theseparation of market activity fromsubstance.

The crises quoted earlier are just thetip of an iceberg of damage wreaked by

the disconnections in the system. If theyresult in less real investment inindustry, in more disenchantment withcompanies and investment managers,and a widening gap between ‘big bosses’and their workforces, we will all suffer.

Solutions won’t come from self-regulation or single-issue committeesset up to provide sticking plasters forspecific problems. Real change will onlyhappen when the regulatoryenvironment encourages responsibleinvestment behaviour and management.And, as pure market ideologists groan‘Not more regulation’ I quote AdairTurner, that deregulation has become adogma rather than a tool and thatgovernments need to focus on thedifficult things which we cannot rely onthe private profit motive to achieve.

Rather than seek rigid answers, let’sjust consider what objectives we mighthave if our society could marshal thewill to declare the success of the

industrial economyto be moreimportant thannarrow, vestedinterests.

– To create a more balanced economy,with attention paid to enterprisesrequiring consistently highinvestment in advanced knowledge,science and technology as well as inbasic service and leisure basedindustries.

– To re-create management andinvestment cultures that nurtureand sustain high performingenterprises.

– To develop an ample supply of topmanagers with deep business andorganisation building skills, and apredominantly high knowledge – highskill, highly rewarded workforce.

If we agree about these important andbalanced aims, ways and means mightinclude:

– An environment that encouragesinvestors (including fund managers)to focus on the long-term health ofcompanies rather than short-termindex related performance. Self-regulation will not do this as thesystem makes the punishments for‘different’ behaviour far outweighthe possible rewards. An outside‘shove’ will be needed.

– Real board transformation with non-executives with the time andmotivation to fully understand thecomplex issues being presented tothem and therefore able to challengeand support the executivemanagement.

Finally, some real action is needed toeducate a population increasinglyresponsible for its own long-termfinancial provision, so that they are ableto make better decisions and be lessvulnerable to financial servicesproviders.

‘Having Their Cake …How the Cityand Big Bosses Are Consuming UKBusiness’ by Don Young and Pat Scott,has just been published by KoganPage, price £17.99. To get a copy post-free, contact LBS on 01903 828503 ormailorders@lbsltd.co.uk, quotingMF 68.

We have an informal systemthat has lost touch with what itwas created for

Cake ...

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Laid BackLeaderTempleton’s new Chairman,Richard Greenhalgh,Unilever’s UK Executive CEOis interviewed by Peter Snow

How do you see Templeton’s role?You have got to see it in the context ofOxford Executive Education. SBS andTempleton are stronger together thanapart. Their sites in the centre ofOxford and at Templeton offer a lot ofadvantages. If you go on an executivecourse you’re happier where you canpark your car! That said, Oxford shouldbe careful not to be driven byconsiderations of location and property.In business you should be driven byyour brands, not your factories. Oxfordwith its huge academic leverage needsto have that sort of activity within it.

You’ve had a long and successfulbusiness career: What are the biggestchanges you’ve seen?The shift from believing that as acompany you could do most things torealising that your capabilities are verymuch narrower. Take Unilever as anexample: the business that I joined wasa conglomerate: it is now a tightlyfocused group. We used to be in manydifferent industries but then in the1980s we decided to focus on a corenumber of these. In the 1990s werealised that we had far too manybrands so we cut back and consolidatedfrom around 1,600 to the 400 or so thatwe have today. We have also expandedinto far more countries. So I have alsoseen the meteoric rise of themultinational.

You have strong views onglobalisation, I believe?I believe it has largely been positive asregards quality, price and choice.Globalisation is sometimes portrayed –most notably by Naomi Klein in herbook, No Logo – as the removal ofchoice. I see no evidence of that. Takefood – a field I know. Yes, people wantto buy, say, Lipton tea around theworld. But the types of blends that theyare buying still differ significantly.

There are still plenty of localcompetitors. To give another example,the fastest growing market in my townis the farmers’ market.

What changes do you foresee for thefuture?The emergence of China and India –then of Russia and Brazil and possiblySouth Africa – is going to have anenormous impact on the developedeconomies. We are going to lose fromEurope and the US a large part of ourmanufacturing to China and of ourservices to India. Why I am passionateabout globalisation is that – providedthat tariff barriers come down in thesecountries – they also offer terrificopportunities.

But can our economies change fastenough?The answer has to do with education,creating the right climate of enterpriseand having a broad view of the world. Iworry about companies whose horizonsare limited to this country. There areeven some multinationals that havepulled back to the UK. A lot ofinnovation will come from smallbusinesses. But we are not good atconverting these into middle-sizedbusinesses.

I am hopeful that we are going to see abetter relationship between businessand government. The old battles – suchas nationalisation – are behind us. Wewill see more partnerships. I thinkBlair’s policies are beginning to have an

effect in education. In primaryeducation we are succeeding but insecondary education we are only juststarting and in higher education we stilldon’t know what we want to do next. Itis terribly important that we get it right.Financially, the universities are in asense living on borrowed time. At leastthe top-up fees debate has shown thepublic that more funds are needed.

Will business and education becomemore closely connected?Yes, especially in the developed worldwhere successful competencies aregoing to come from the successfulapplication of knowledge. Businessessimply making widgets are going to findit very difficult. Those designing newwidgets or, better still, finding analternative to widgets altogether willhave a place in the UK. I am concernedthough, that we go can overboard insaying the role of education is toprepare people for business. Yousometimes think, talking to government,that the purpose of education is toprepare people for work. The role ofeducation is to prepare people for lifegenerally and, within that, to preparethem for work.

And, in the face of these changes,how do you think Templeton’s rolemight evolve?The implications for Templeton areinteresting. There will be greateropportunities to work withorganisations in India and China. Therewill be opportunities to work with small

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companies. And to work with the publicsector (where our institutions still havesome way to go) as a partner inleadership development.

As a CEO you have a distinctively‘laid back’ management style. Do youthink that CEO management stylesgenerally need to change?My wife and I regularly go for anevening meal at a pub in my Dorsetvillage. About five years ago I wasdescribing it to someone who workedfor me. He asked: ‘What are you likethere?’ I replied ‘Good, pretty relaxed.’He then said: ‘Then why don’t you actlike that at work? You can come acrossas being stiff, formal and cold.’ It musthave taken considerable courage to saythat, as he was a subordinate of mine,but he was spot-on. That shook me andmade me entirely re-evaluate the way Ibehaved. I took on a management coachand went through all sorts ofassessments – 360 degree feedback,etc. There seems to be a commonphenomenon among CEOs – rottweilerat work and poodle at home. That issuch a pity. I do think being your self atall times is so important. There issomething about organisations thatmakes people behave differently fromwhat they are.

Another comment that had a big impacton me came from someone who hadworked for me for years. He said: ‘Inthe time we have worked together I‘vetaken many a problem to you, whichyou solved perfectly, but, you know, Ialways went away disappointed. Iwanted to find the solutions myself, andyou didn’t let me.’ That brought hometo me that it is the job of a CEO to helppeople find answers, not just providethem.

Would you like to do some CEOcoaching yourself at Templeton?I’d love to – if it could be done.Leadership development has changedenormously but it still has a long way togo. At Unilever we have identifiedthree things that produce effectiveleadership: skills, knowledge andpersonality. We think a lot about thefirst and second but too little about thelast. But the thing that really makes adifference among leaders today ispersonality.

Jeff Sampler

New FellowsLoizos HeracleousDr Loizos Heracleous has been elected to a Fellowship inStrategy and Organisation and will take up his post at thebeginning of November – but may well be evident in the Collegebefore then. Loizos, who says he considers himself ‘relatively international inoutlook and understanding of the differences in cultures’, has lived and worked infive countries: Cyprus (where he was born), the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong andSingapore. After graduating with a first class honours degree at Lancaster, he didan MPhil and a doctorate at the Judge Institute, Cambridge University. Currently,he holds an Associate Professorship in Corporate Strategy at the NationalUniversity of Singapore School of Business.

At Templeton Loizos has four goals. He would like to help in market development,by extending the College’s penetration, especially in Asia, and help create newprogrammes in areas such as organisational strategy and change and corporategovernance. ‘I also have ideas for brand building,’ Loizos adds, pointing to hisknowledge of marketing. ‘There is a lot more that could be done, without muchadditional outlay, to get our brand out.’

He would also like to contribute in strengthening our research profile. Loizosalready has a wide range of books and articles, either published or in the pipeline.Some reflect his Asian experience, including a book of case studies on Asianbusiness and an analysis of Singapore Airlines. His more theoretical interests centreon the link between language and organisational strategy and change. Influenced bylinguists such as Benjamin Whorf, Loizos believes language ‘is not only aninstrumental means of information transfer, but fundamental to the way we thinkand act’. But analysis is not enough in itself: ‘I am interested in sensitising leaders tothe nuances of how people think and behave, helping them pay attention to languageto diagnose organisational problems and to adapt or shift their “vocabulary” to bringabout change and create a context for creativity.’

Dr Jeff Sampler has been elected to a Fellowship in Managementof Strategy and Technology at Templeton from the beginning ofJune but has already hit the ground running.

If the first thing that comes across from Jeff is his good-humoured approachability, the second is his passionate interestin the way IT is transforming the world in which we work and live.

The author, with Gary Hamel, of a much-quoted article in Fortune some years ago,‘The E-Corporation’, Jeff is currently engaged in a range of books and articles.These include: IT Concepts for Business Leaders; ‘Competing in Turbulent Times:Ten Commandments for the Digital Age’; The Technology Pelaton; and From Sandto Silicon: Lessons from Dubai in Creating an Entrepreneurial Region.

Currently lecturing at LBS, Jeff Sampler originally took a BSc in ComputerScience at Texas A&M University, then worked for six years for IBM in the USand the UK. An MBA at Southern Methodist University in 1988 was followed by adoctorate at Pittsburgh University on the role of expertise and problem formulationin framing strategic information systems.

Jeff has already had exposure to executive education, working with companiessuch as Daimler Benz and several international financial service firms, but isespecially looking forward to the opportunity of working alongside executives andorganisations at Templeton.

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Re-born inthe USACivic revolutionaries arerenewing America’s roots,reports Douglas Henton(Oxford Strategic LeadershipProgramme, 2001)

America today faces both a crisis ofconfidence and a crisis of capacity intackling its economic and socialproblems, while grappling withinternational challenges that include warand terrorism.

It is not the first time that the Americanpeople have felt restless and uneasyabout losing touch with the fundamentalprinciples of our republic. At the end ofthe nineteenth century, as we movedfrom an agricultural to an industrial era,dislocations caused by the rapid growthof cities and the economic decline offarms gave rise to populist and laterprogressive movements that influencedpolitical thinking well into the middle ofthe twentieth century. In response,Theodore Roosevelt re-invented thenational government and broughtrenewed leadership to the public sectorto deal with abuses and ethicalmisconduct.

Sometimes wars such as theRevolutionary War, the Civil War, andthe Vietnam War have helped mobilisethe nation and bring forth new leaders.Economic crises and excesses can alsospur change, such as the downturns ofthe late 1800s and 1930s, whichstimulated new progressive movements.Demographic shifts and social forces canalso stimulate change and helped giverise to the Civil Rights movement of the1950s and 1960s and the women’smovement of the 1970s.

Today civic revolutionaries across thenation are igniting the passion for changein America’s communities. They arerevolutionaries in that they are willing toexperiment with new approaches tocomplex problems. Although theirmethods differ and the pace of changevaries, their essential motivation is the

the heart of Tupelo’s communityinitiatives. In turn, these worked bybuilding a broad consensus and by beingconstantly adaptable. Rather thanpursuing a strategy Tupelo has createda durable process for continuous re-invention. The upward mobility it hasset in motion is a tribute to what suchcivic initiatives can achieve.

Our country’s founding generationgrappled with a fundamental question:how to balance competing values in thebirth of the first modern democracy.The task of every succeedinggeneration has been to revisit thesevalues under changing conditions,within the framework of the nation’sguiding philosophy, and to try toreconcile them so that America canmove forward. Following in theirfootsteps, we must recognise that thetime has come for this generation ofAmericans to take its place as stewardsof the American Experiment.

‘Civic Revolutionaries: Igniting thePassion for Change in America’sCommunities’ by Dougas Henton, JohnMelville and Kim Walsh has just beenpublished by Jossey Bass.

same: a long-term commitment tofundamental change that improves thewell-being of people and theircommunities.

The crucial interplay betweeneconomics and society is the arena formany of these experiments. Theyinclude the Chicago Metropolis 2020program, aiming to secure the long-term well-being of the city; aconstellation of community initiatives inAustin to foster local high tech activity;the Sierra Business Council, over 500businesses in California’s SierraNevada working to balance regionaleconomic development withenvironmental conservation; and SanAntonio’s project QUEST to counterunemployment among its (largelyLatino) workforce.

Perhaps the longest and mostsuccessful of these experiments hasbeen in Tupelo, Mississippi. In 1940 itwas the poorest county in the pooreststate in the Union. By 1990 it hadbecome the second richest county inthe state. Education – leveraging itshuman ‘raw material’ – was always at

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Re-Inventing Government Ten Years OnKeith Ruddle argues that leadership, not more initiatives, is the answer

Blair’s ministers in waiting famouslyspent eight weekends at TempletonCollege in 1995/96 looking at how tomanage change once in government. Ihope we made a difference! Otherinfluences included the bookRe-inventing Government published in1993 by two American gurus, Osborneand Gaebler. Their mantra was‘entrepreneurial government’: thecentre sets and funds the ‘mission’, butsolutions are driven by customers andgenerated by communities that aregiven the power and resources to actand innovate.

In 2003 Phil Collins and Liam Byrne atthe Social Market Foundation (SMF)asked Templeton to host two events atwhich 40 public service leadersincluding head teachers, healthmanagers, policy-makers and chiefconstables, assessed progress.

Since Labour’s 1997 victory there hasbeen an inexorable march ofmodernisation and reorganisationinitiatives. The public perception is ofcentralisation, an over-emphasis ontargets, bureaucratic control – and alack of real progress. But both SMFand I take a more optimistic view, as didmany of the leaders who contributed tothe events.

Centrally driven initiatives, ofteninvolving many governmentdepartments, have brought aboutchange: examples include nationalnumeracy and literacy programmes,Sure Start for children, and the NewDeal welfare-to-work programme. Atthe same time ‘bottom up’ innovationsinvolving a range of local parties canovercome problems and spark newsolutions. Heads, governors and staffworking together in local schools forreal change is an example.

Osborne and Gaebler, however, left onebig question hanging: what kind ofleaders would be needed for the greatrevolution. Leaders would be neededwho could not only embrace the newphilosophies but grapple with the

ambiguity of large and complexsystems. But did these leadersexist or could they be developed?

I believe that, rather than leaders,‘managers’ have been unleashedby New Labour, often creating aneven worse bureaucraticnightmare. A memo asking for ‘alllocal mission statements to be sentto head office for review’ springsto mind. New Labour and thepublic services have counteredthis problem with a raft ofprogrammes, institutes, academies, andagencies.

I worked in the Cabinet Office in 2000looking at how to develop leadership‘out in the system’ rather than in thehallowed corridors of Whitehall. Myexperience of working with localagencies on a future vision for my homemarket town in Oxfordshire hasconvinced me that collective leadershipand a ‘can-do’ approach can overcomecomplexity and centralised mind-sets.

achieving effective and sustainablechange.

– We have to re-invent trust withoutlosing accountability. In reality, asOnora O’Neill pointed out in herReith Lectures (and at a recentTempleton College ethicssymposium) detailed central targets(the favourite vehicle of the politicalmanager) themselves undermineboth trust and accountability.

– We need wise central control. Localfreedom is often there but functionsunder constraint and receives wrongor discouraging signals. Localgovernment Best Value programmesstill have over 200 prescribedindicators in them. Primary healthcare trusts are great in principle butoften too small to be effective. TheHome Office wags its finger atpolice. Ofsted has gone over the topin criticising teachers.

Finally, we need a new kind ofleadership at the centre. The CivilService is struggling to reform but stillneeds to adopt a new kind of adaptiveleadership that can work in contextacross the range of system. Almostcertainly this will involve a switch tohaving far more leaders in the centrewho have actually seen and felt thedelivery of public services in the field.

‘Re-inventing Government – 10 YearsOn’, containing two chapters by KeithRuddle, Fellow in Leadership,Organisation and Change, will bepublished by the SMF later this year(keith.ruddle@templeton.ox.ac.uk).

So, we know what needs fixing, therehas been progress and there are plentyof initiatives to move ‘Re-invention’along. What lessons should the nextgovernment – Labour or Tory – take onboard? At the root of poor progress liesa lack of understanding of effectiveleadership in complex systems. Myexperience in the Cabinet Officeidentified far too many solutions thatrequired the centre to determine andact on the problem – rather thanallowing the system the freedom to leaditself. Here are some pointers:

– We need a new style ofcollaborative leadership. Too manypoliticians, national and local, thinkshort-term, act as individuals, thriveon faction and fail to understand thatworking together is essential to

Public perception is of central-isation, over-emphasis on targetsand a lack of real progress

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No Magic TargetsSue Dopson finds that not all medical evidence is equal

For over five years Ihave been studying‘knowledge’: whatmakes medicalknowledge credibleand therefore likelyto be put intopractice? What

influences practitioners to take it up?And what is the role of the professionalcontext in which practitioners operate?

In UK health care the diffusion ofknowledge is both a growth area forresearch and – reflecting the push toapply ‘evidence-based medicine’ (EBM)to clinical practice – a key topic ofpolicy debate. The EBM movementadvocates that clinical practice becontinually informed by robustresearch and is seen by many policy-makers, managers and clinicians as animportant tool to make clinical practicemore effective and better value formoney.

I found that, although change was morelikely when evidence was seen asstrong, robustness of evidence was notin itself enough to ensure diffusion.Despite growing acceptance ofevidence-based practice amongstclinicians, the relationship between thestrength of evidence and changes inclinical behaviour was still weak.

It quickly became clear from myresearch that the production andinterpretation of evidence is as much asocial as a scientific process. There isno such thing as pure ‘evidence’, evenwithin precise clinical boundaries,capable of scientific testing and proof.

I found there were ‘hierarchies’ ofevidence. Some forms of evidence wereconsidered by clinicians to be morevalid than others. RandomisedControlled Trials (RCTs) were mostfrequently quoted by clinicians as the‘gold standard’ of scientific evidence.But I found the different medicalprofessions had hierarchies of theirown. In addition, evidence is not equally

available to all medical professions,being relatively scarcer for nurses andfor professions allied to medicine likephysiotherapy and speech therapy.

Generally, evidence was more powerfulwhen it chimed with experience. Inpractice, medical behaviour is shapedas much by experience and peers as byscientific evidence from RCTs or otherhigh quality studies. Since for manyclinical professionals there remain vast‘grey’ areas where only limitedevidence is available, professionals relyon trusted colleagues for advice.Locally, medical professionals seekadvice and support from colleagues tomake changes in practice.

Professionals described to me how theyselected mentors and advisors and howtrust was built up. Doctors, it became

clear, retain a high degree ofprofessional autonomy and authority.Their opinion was more likely to beaccepted unchallenged by otherprofessionals and translated intoorganisational policy.

Professional boundaries can inhibit thefree movement of knowledge.Knowledge is ‘viscous’ and does notreadily flow across such boundaries.Historically, professions developed indifferent ways and over differentperiods. The educational preparationunderpinning professions variesmarkedly and can result in members ofdifferent professions having differentviews about what makes evidencecredible.

The role of clinical opinion leaders iscomplex and not always ‘positive’, in the

The Rise of the AssistantIan Kessler notes new faces in the public sector

‘We used to wash the paint pots andjust get stuff ready for the lesson,but now we’re actually joining inlessons; we’re actually involved inthe teaching’: a teaching assistantfrom a primary school in the EastEnd describes recent dramaticchanges in her role. The rise ofassistants is not limited to education:engage with any public service andchances are you’ll bump into one.Whether a healthcare assistant in ahospital, a social worker assistant insocial care or a community supportofficer in the police force, the rise ofthe assistant seems inexorable. Butwhere do they come from? Who arethey assisting? And – perhaps mostcrucially – how are they affectingthe nature and the quality of ourpublic services?

These are the questions currentlybeing explored by Ian Kessler, Fellowin Human Resource Management

© Oxfordshire County Council

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sense of supporting desired change.The influence of hostile or ambivalentopinion leaders is a neglected butcrucial area. Among positive opinionleaders, I found two main types. Theexpert opinion leader is seen as thehigher authority, able to explainevidence and respond to academicdebate. They were important in theearly stages of negotiating theevidence. Peer opinion leaders, on theother hand, are individuals who haveapplied innovations in their ownpractice and can give colleaguesconfidence and support to bring aboutchange. They were more influentialduring the later phases ofimplementation.

Good quality evidence, then, is seen asa useful but not sufficient condition fordiffusion. That strengthens the case forgreater interaction and forums fordebate and negotiation. However,interaction is not solely a question ofstakeholders debating the validity andrelevance of evidence. Other factors

and Paul Heron, Research Associate, ina two-year research project funded bythe ESRC being carried out in schools,social services departments, and NHStrusts across the country.

Such a project focusing on often lowpaid women with few formalqualifications, dealing with the mostneedy and vulnerable members ofsociety, is not typical of Templetonresearch. However, assistants arecentral to the Government’s drive tomodernise the public services.

New forms of service delivery areleading to a breakdown in professionalboundaries and the creation of newroles. The search for higher standardsof service is prompting an increasinglyimaginative deployment of staff. Moreprosaically, worries about getting andkeeping public service professionals isencouraging the use of assistants as akey source of labour – not by wateringdown the skills of the workforce but byproviding career routes for assistantsinto the professions.

The extent to which these newassistants can be used to further

modernisation is, however, problematic,and the research will consider anumber of dilemmas. First, areassistants just being lumbered withunpleasant tasks or given moreinteresting and challenging work?Research on teaching assistantssuggests that many now are deeplyinvolved in the teaching process but stillhave to do all the photocopying anddisplay work, making their jobextremely large and burdensome.

teaching assistants can be trusted todeliver the curriculum.’

The final dilemma relates to how thepublic sees assistants. Is being dealtwith by an assistant seen as ‘secondbest’ or does the user actually feelmore comfortable? Assistants are morelikely to be drawn from and reflect thelocal communities in which they work.In Tower Hamlets, over half the pupilshave a Bangladeshi background andover a third of the teaching assistantsbut only seven per cent of the teachers.In some of its schools teachingassistants are routinely referred to as‘affa’ – Bangladeshi for ‘sister’. Clearlychildren in these schools see assistantsin a very different light to teachers.

Assistants are a key part of the publicsector workforce and their efficientmanagement is crucial to improvingpublic service performance. Templetonresearch aims to throw light on thisimportant development.

Are associates welcomed orseen as threats?

Second, are assistants welcomed byteachers, nurses and social workers,freeing them to concentrate on coretasks or seen as threats to theirprofessional identity and an additionalmanagerial burden? In general,professionals welcome all the help theycan get and are increasingly relying onassistants. It is, however, a relationshipriven with tension. As one school headexclaimed ‘The teachers are thefrustration. The single thing that alwayscomes up for me is how on earth I amgoing to get teachers to recognise that

Ian Kessler, Fellow in HRM, is workingon a two-year ESRC-funded project onchanging job roles in public services(ian.kessler@templeton.ox.ac.uk).

have an influence. For example, patientneed or short-term organisationalpressures may cause clinicians to ‘grabat’ mediocre evidence. Thus can theutilisation of knowledge be mediated bydemand.

Research has suggested that there areno magic bullets when it comes toputting knowledge into practice andthat people should use a range ofmethods. The individuals and groupsinvolved in changing clinical policy arepart of highly complex networks andsocial relationships. It is hardlysurprising, therefore, that there are noeasy formulas for introducing evidence-based improvements into care. Thecomplexity and variability of contextsmeans not only that there are no magicbullets but not even any magic targets.

Sue Dopson is Fellow in Organisa-tional Behaviour. Her new book,‘Getting Knowledge into Practice’, willbe published by OUP later this year.(sue.dopson@templeton.ox.ac.uk).

Oxford’s New Executive MBA StudentsJanuary saw the launch of a majornew initiative in management studiesin Oxford– the foundation module ofthe Oxford Executive MBA. The newprogramme attracted a sizeable initialintake of 31 students. Over half comefrom outside the UK, and sectors suchas IT, telecommunications, scienceenterprise, manufacturing,construction, finance and leisure arestrongly represented in the group.

All are members of collegesthroughout the university, 17 of themat Templeton. Here, three of thecollege’s new EMBA studentsintroduce themselves.

Chris Fitch,Senior Manager,LEGO Company

‘It’s very important, withglobalisation, to be

sensitive to different cultures and ableto navigate within them. Originally fromthe suburbs of New York I had an earlydesire to ‘go international’ andimmediately after my BA in Philosophyat Fordham I went to work in Denmark.With the Maastricht referendum at thetop of the Danish political agenda, Ibecame absorbed by European politicaldynamics and studied EU and USCompetition Law at CopenhagenBusiness School before returning to theStates to take an MA in PoliticalScience, focusing on internationalaffairs.

At the same time I continued mycareer. I’ve tried to collect tools andskills that might be useful in different

contexts. After six years in biotech,pharmaceuticals and transportation, Imoved to Accenture for five yearsbefore moving back into industry withLEGO in Denmark. Currently I’m onassignment to the UK, involved in anew venture for the company – theglobal launch of its LEGO BrandStores.

So far I’m very pleased with Oxford’sEMBA. I like the approach ofcombining practical and theoretical andthe wide range of backgrounds amongthe students. Before coming to Oxford,I’d also considered the added value thatmight come from College membershipbut I hadn’t fully grasped theimportance of strong collegiateconnections here. While it is early days,I’m hoping there will be advantages tobeing attached to Templeton, with itsresources and business focus and thepersonal exposure it encourages withindividuals in the business community.’

The Quiet RevolutionDPhil Students François Collet and Michael Smets chart the growth of Templeton’sgraduate student community

Over the past four years Templeton’sgraduate student community hasexperienced a quiet but spectacularexplosion. Student numbers haveincreased from 36 in 2000/01 to 91 in2004/04, counting MBAs, MScs, DPhilsand the first EMBA intake (see below).

Until 2003 the graduate studentcommunity was split equally betweenMBA and research students, with anadditional small cohort of MScstudents. About half the students –mostly MSc and MBA students – livedon-site while most DPhil students livedoff-site.

The rapid growth of the TempletonCollege student body over the lastcouple of years has opened up a wholearray of new opportunities. On thepositive side are the greater dynamism

of a larger group and the greatervariety of activities that becomespossible.

Templeton’s student community hasnow achieved a critical mass thatallows fordifferentiationaccording todifferent interestswithout running therisk of becoming ananonymous crowd.Currently, studentsseem very well ableto accommodatedifferent styles ofstudy and life as wellas different interestsin a harmoniousfashion. InTempleton’s

expanded graduate community studentsare more likely to find a match in termsof their studies, research interests andsocial life. In an academic communitysuch as ours this fact is not simplyabout making social life more pleasant,

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Linda Naylor, ProjectManager, LifeSciences, IsisInnovation Ltd, Oxford

‘I moved to IsisInnovation, Oxford

University’s technology transfercompany, two years ago, having beenmanager of Bioincubator York Ltd,responsible for the commercialisation ofbioscience research at the Universityof York. Before that I was withMonsanto, trying to build publicacceptance of a biotechnology business.Certain pockets of biotech, like GMcrops and stem cell use will always behot potatoes, but I’m convinced it willeventually be accepted. Biotech has somuch to offer – in so many industriesand walks of life.

Before Monsanto I’d had over 20 yearswith ICI Zeneca, so I’ve seen a lot ofindustry and developing businesses! AtIsis our main activities are patents andlicensing and forming spin-outcompanies (something Oxford hasshown itself spectacularly good at). We

provide a gamut of business support toacademics. I also manage a team of lifescience project managers. So I waslooking for a management course tohelp me do my job better and, beinglocal, Oxford’s EMBA seemed thenatural choice. Having done twomodules, my impressions arefavourable. Its structure of week-longslots helps me network with faculty andstudents while at the same time notinterfering too much with the day job.As for my attachment to Templeton, Ichose it because I wanted to be linkedto a college with similar like-mindedpeople rather than one with youngerundergraduates. And I wanted to useits library!’

Gianfranco Catrini,Finance Director,Impregilo SpA, Cardiff

‘In my eight-yearcareer with Impregilo,an Italian

multinational involved in constructionand PFIs, I have worked round theworld – in Nepal, Pakistan, Hong Kong

and many other countries. Currently Iam based in the UK, where Impregilo iscarrying out projects ranging frommotorways and car parks to hospitals.PFIs are one of the best things the UKhas done although – in my opinion – itsbidding processes could be much moreeffectively streamlined. One of theprojects we are bidding for is atOxford’s Churchill Hospital – which ispartly why I applied to do the EMBAhere. More importantly, though, Iwanted to get back to “the books”.Most of my career has been in the“real” world of engineering andconstruction and I wanted to catch upon theory and what had been happeningin the academic world. My assessmentof Oxford’s new EMBA is that it isabsolutely great, although I am findingcombining work, study and family lifequite stretching. Sometimes I don’t getback home until very late! So farTempleton has impinged on me mainlyas a base during the modules but Iknow there is a big community ofmanagement graduate students hereand in time I may well get moreinvolved.’

but also about making academic workmore productive.

Of particular importance, though, isstudent involvement in social life atTempleton. In a larger community notonly does the work of organising eventsget spread more evenly and fairly butthe span of activities becomes broader.This year, student activities haveranged from intensive rowing and well-received guest dinners to a musical tripto London and a college-wide squashtournament.

The squash tournament – involvingstudents, staff, fellows, and friends ofthe College – illustrated particularlywell the pervasive power an activegraduate student body can exercise. Anenergetic and active studentcommunity seems to exercise abeneficial effect on the Collegecommunity as a whole. The more activeand diverse that community is, the morepoints of contact are generated, bothacademically and socially, with fellowsand staff. Moreover, the positive

attitude that theCollege takestowards itsincreased studentbody feeds back tothe students andencourages evenmore activity,creating an ever-more vibrant Collegecommunity.

The Egrove complexwith its kitchens andcommon room is thehub of Templeton student social life.There, students have the chance tointeract and forge networks andpersonal friendships. Student feed-backconstantly highlights the very friendlyand family-like Templeton atmospherethat makes students feel so much athome here.

Summer is the season when Egroveblossoms. By then students have settledin and can find time to join in sports andthe other social activities for which

Egrove provides ample facilities. Themore leisurely can enjoy themselvesover a pint of beer along the Thames orat an open-air barbeque. The moreathletically-minded begin to train forSummer Eights as soon astemperatures rise. They meet people todiscuss research and careers. Inaddition, students with particularinterests can mix with students fromother larger colleges or participate inuniversity societies.

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continued ...

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

2000–2001 2001–2002 2002–2003 2003–2004

MBADPhilMScEMBA

Templeton College – Student Numbers per category

Templeton Students Celebrate Venice CarnThe two guest dinner officers,Stéphane Girod & HeatherHrousalas, capture the hijinks

The Venice Carnival Party atTempleton College, the first of a seriesof ‘themed’ student festivities, was heldon 13 February and was a fantasticsuccess. Never had the turn-out for astudent event been so high – more than150 guests and tens of people on ourwaiting lists – or the guests so elegantlyand amazingly costumed!

The costume competition was hotlydisputed. Our three jurors, TempletonMBA students Fabrizio Giordano,Denise Au Yeung and Ralitza Hristov,were hard pressed to choose the threebest costumes of the night since somany of the participants clearlydeserved an award. Finally, after muchheart-searching the first prize wasawarded to Megan Moore andJohannes Becker (Templeton’s JuniorDean) who appeared in a co-ordinatedand very elegant 18th century

nobleman’s suit. They each received abottle of Asti Spumante, kindly donatedby the Italian wine merchant WineSquare, and a distinguished Egroviusdiploma drawn up by one of our leadingdoctoral students, AndromacheAthanasopoulou.

For pre-dinner cocktails, guestsgathered around a huge Venetian orByzantine-type tent erected in theNorman Leyland Information Centre.This tent, made of colourful ribbons anddecorated with fine accessories andfabrics, was specially created by TimRoyal, Templeton’s Hotel ServicesManager, and his catering staff for theoccasion. Vivid lights flashed during the

On the negative side, however, thereare still some challenges that theCollege has to meet if it is to sustaincurrent momentum. The Templetongraduate student community is nowdominated by students on one-year asopposed to longer-term courses. In2003, only a quarter of students lived

on-site, and Egrove – numerically atleast – can no longer be called thecentre of gravity of the studentcommunity. A significant proportion ofMSc and MBA students live off-site inprivate accommodation scatteredaround Oxford.

Accommodation is anissue of utmostimportance, as it isthe source of manyof the social barrierscurrentlyexperienced bystudents. Theproblems thatshortage ofaccommodationbrings areaggravated inTempleton’s case by

l-r Brian Brennan, Nicoletta Occhiocupo, Stéphane Girod, Megan Mooreand Johannes Becker

15

the fact that a large majority of itsstudents come to Oxford from overseasand only for one year. The pressure toget settled in quickly and the lack ofopportunity to browse extensively inthe local real estate market can makeaccommodation a major headache forTempleton’s students. In extreme cases,students can spend much of their firstterm moving from one place to anotherin search of an acceptable flat. Toremedy the problem of studentsworrying more about theiraccommodation than about theirstudies, the College is planning to sub-let property in town.

That, however, can only be a mid-rangesolution. While small clusters ofTempleton students living in differentOxford neighbourhoods will allow someform of social get-together, they can

Quiet Revolution continued ...

Student News– Michael Gestrin (DPhil) has been

promoted to Senior Economist of theInvestment Division of the OECD

– DPhil students, Samantha Faircloughand Michael Smets, have beenawarded scholarships of the CliffordChance Centre for the Managementof Professional Service Firms atSaïd Business School

– A paper, ‘Investing in PoliticallyUnstable Countries: A Real OptionsApproach’ by DPhil student, AlinaKudina, has been accepted for the2004 Academy of Managementmeeting in New Orleans.

– Stéphane Girod has been awardedan ESRC fee scholarship to supportthe completion of his DPhil.

ival Partywhole hour, heightening the aestheticimpact of the amazing costumes.

A marvellous dinner followed. ExquisiteItalian food and wines were served,chosen by Templeton’s chef DarrenLomas with the help of NicolettaOcchiocupo, a visiting DPhil studentfrom Parma University who wasnominated our gastronomy-delegate forthe event. The unique atmosphere was

enhanced by hundreds of candles on thetables and in the lounges (electricitywas totally banned) and by the rhythmand sounds of the best Europeanbaroque music. In keeping with theoccasion Linda, Mandy and the diningstaff were dressed in black and whiteharlequins and served the guestswearing beautiful masks.

All guests then moved to the graduatecommon room for a wild dancing partywhich raged until three in the morning.There they were regaled with even

more liquor and special confectioneryand nougats donated and speciallyshipped from Italy by the Leaf/Sperlarigroup.

Great moments not only strengthen thebonds of our student community atTempleton but keep a warm place inour memories. Let’s hope that theVenice Carnival Party becomes anannual tradition at Templeton andpencil a second one into our diaries fornext year …

Heather Hrousalas and Stéphane Girod

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hardly match the sheer density of socialcontact that exists among students inEgrove. The current GCR is well awareof this problem and is trying to bridgethe gap between Egrove and off-sitestudents by shifting activities betweenvarious locations. While this works wellfor formal events and trips, it cannot ofcourse encompass the informal and

spontaneous gatherings that happen inthe Templeton College common room.

The Senior Tutor’s efforts to findstudent accommodation in the citycentre might help to alleviate thehousing problem in the short-run but itis not going to solve the problem of adivided student body. Buildingadditional student accommodation onCollege grounds is the only real way toprevent social life at Templeton beingstifled by the increasing dispersion of itsgrowing student numbers across thetown and to ensure that the Collegecontinues to forge a tightly knit, vibrantcommunity of graduates.

François Collet is a fourth year DPhilstudent and was Junior Dean,2001–03. Michael Smets is a first yearDPhil and GCR President.

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The RWE Innogy OxfordLeadership Programmeat TempletonDavid Pendleton describes an innovative company programme

New CommissionedProgrammes

Standard Chartered BankProgramme

Hard on the heels of the leadershipworkshops successfully created forthe Standard Chartered Bank, OEEis developing a series of week-longgeneral management programmesfor the Bank. ‘This new programmewill target SCB’s middle managers,’explains Ron Emerson, the AssociateFellow of Templeton, who co-directsthe programme along with KunalBasu, Fellow in Strategic Marketing.‘More functional and topic-basedthan the original programmes, theywill aim to link theory to practice.’The first programme, attended by 34participants from some 12 countries,was held on 22–27 February and willbe followed by a second programmeon 6–11 June.

O2 Calls on Templeton

Templeton has won a major newexecutive development contractfrom O2, the mobile phone companythat, following its spin-out from BT,has become one of the UK’s leadinginternational operators. The Collegehas crafted for the company’s top100 managers an integrated‘development experience’ with ahighly innovative structure. Over sixmonths cadres of 25 will progressthrough three residential modules –the ‘Informed Leader’, the ‘BoldLeader’ and the ‘InspirationalLeader’ – which will be combinedwith a range of executive projectsand away-day presentations. Theprogramme will be directed by DavidFeeny, Fellow in InformationManagement.

How does the management team of anewly formed company createconfidence in the City and among itsown people? How does it honour itspast while avoiding the mistakes thatwere only too evident in its immediatepredecessor? How does it create acoherent strategy for itself when itknows that the market is in a mess andin need of considerable consolidation?These were some of the challengesfacing Innogy when it was de-mergedfrom National Power in 2001.

Innogy is the UK power company nowowned by RWE of Germany. When thisstory began, it was an independentFTSE100 company that had justemerged as a company in its own rightupon the de-merger of National Power.National Power had been criticised inthe City for lacking direction and acoherent strategy. Innogy’s newlyformed management team weredetermined not to be in the sameposition and had concentrated on astrategy to exploit its verticalintegration. Dr Brian Count, whobecame the company’s CEO, waspassionate about it:

‘I was a member of the National Powermanagement team and when I saw thecompany criticised in the press, it hurt.Innogy is never going to be in thatposition. We are going to lead thiscompany more effectively.’

He set about creating a managementteam that was focused, strong andfiercely determined. He charged mewith the task of developing a leadershipcadre that would take the companyforward: working within the devolvedorganisation structure that he hadcreated and yet binding the companytogether at the top through values,

common purpose and shared ideasabout leadership. We focused ondeveloping the top 150.

The research we examineddemonstrated the powerful effect thatleadership could have on the bottomline results of a company. The effectwas not direct, but mediated through itsimpact on the culture and climate of theorganisation. The leaders had to createthe conditions in which everyone choseto give more of their discretionaryeffort, and hence to maximiseproductivity. We considered that theseconditions were best created whenleaders put into place five basicelements. These were summarised infive verbs:

– Inspire: build a powerful vision andcreate confidence, trust andcommitment

– Focus: translate the vision intoeffective strategy, plans, objectivesand priorities

– Enable: ensure people have themandate, skills and resources theyneed

– Reward: leave no-one in any doubtabout their performance, celebratingsuccesses and dealing effectivelywith performance that falls short ofrequirements

– Learn: create a learning ethos at alllevels and avoid blame.

The management team signed up to thisapproach and we searched for adevelopment partner: a business schoolthat could work with these ideas and gobeyond them. We considered and spoketo several, but we ended up withTempleton. Their approach to leaderdevelopment seemed to us to be unique.

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Programme Update:Consulting & Coaching forChange

November saw the launch of the newOEE-HEC programme, Consulting &Coaching for Change, at the College,with 27 participants ranging from theBasque regional government to theUK Inland Revenue. There have beentwo modules since – in Paris inJanuary and in Oxford in March.Elizabeth Howard, one of theprogramme’s co-directors, reports:

‘Being back in Oxford was like ameeting of old friends, withparticipants flying in from all aroundthe world, getting together in thecommon room to report on how theywere progressing with their projectsand anticipating the work of the nextfew days. The participants broughtsome great experience to bear, as didmany others – Templeton’s Fellow inOrganisational Behaviour, Keith Grintwith his enormously wide-ranginganalysis of research into change andleadership; executives who have runmajor operations for top companies;coaches with long experience ofadvising senior managers; andconsultants who’ve carried outchange assignments for blue chipcompanies around the world. Alljoined together to explore whatleadership under conditions of changemeans. Most thought-provoking of allperhaps was the session on complexadaptive systems.’

Participant, Jason Sheper, comments:

‘The programme provides a lot ofimaginative ways to understandand manage change. To do so, itasks some very fundamental andsearching questions about whatchange actually is. In order todeliver answers to those questions ithas to be soul-searching andreflective and raise even morequestions in our minds. And itdefinitely does all of those things.’

Templeton’s approach to leaderdevelopment stemmed from a powerfulconviction born of both academic rigourand deep personal experience. Thepervading view seemed to be thatleadership was hard to reduce to aformula or even to a set of principles.It was based on insight.

The leadership literature was litteredwith attempts to encapsulate leadershipthat only seemed to trivialise it.Instead, what was required was thebringing together of managementscience and the arts into a more humandescription of leadership. RichardMarshall, then an Associate Fellow ofTempleton before his untimely death,put it like this ‘Great leaders seem ableto capture and work with the spirit oftheir times. The study of leadership andits development in organisations needs alanguage that is richer than that oftraditional business school teaching.’

Templeton brought together expertsfrom three domains to shed light onleadership. They offered world-classbusiness school faculty, experiencedmanagers and consultants, andremarkably talented exponents of thearts: poetry, drama and music. Theseelements could so easily have produceda disjointed and pretentious confusionof styles, approaches and insights butthey did not. Remarkably, theyproduced an exciting blend ofperspectives that shed warm and richlight on the subject.

Alongside sessions devotedto strategy, leadership ofchange, scenario planningand forms of associationbetween organisations,Templeton providedopportunities to learn aboutleadership from moreunexpected sources.Richard Olivier taught aboutinspirational leadership fromShakespeare’s Henry V,David Whyte used poetry toencourage authenticity inour leaders, and HaraldKnudsen used the metaphorof jazz to teach aboutbringing together disparate

elements, within a clear and agreedframework, to produce a context forextraordinary achievement.

Perhaps more importantly, thesemultiple perspectives reached everyonewho came on the courses since therewas something for everyone,irrespective of their preferred learningstyle. One delegate, Yvonne Constance,who had been a non-executive directorof Innogy before its takeover by RWEand still chaired its social responsibilitycommittee, said: ‘The course took me toplaces I didn’t know existed.’

Since the programme has now ended,we look for evidence of its legacy. Wesee a leadership cadre brimming withconfidence, a network that extendsbetween all the Innogy companies andinto Thames Water (RWE’s other UKacquisition) and into RWE itself. Wehear the language of courageousconversations and we see ad hocgroups of leaders beginning to tackleissues without needing to be asked todo so. We see people seeking, in thewords of George Bernard Shaw, to beused for a purpose they perceive as amighty one.

David Pendleton is an AssociateFellow of Templeton College andChairman of the Edgecumbe Group,formerly Director, People andOrganisation Development, InnogyPLC.

England Rugby International, Mike Catt wasinterviewed by David during the programme

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Safe Area for ActionRafael Ramírez on the background behind the new Oxford Introduction to Scenarios Programme

A work that deeply affected how I workis The Social Engagement of SocialScience. This trilogy, co-edited by mymentor Eric Trist, traces the efforts ofTavistock Institute researchers and themany others with whom theycollaborated, to apply social science tointractable social problems. While thislaudable purpose sounds obvious, it isbedevilled with obstacles.

The first is that intractable socialproblems do not come in pre-definedpackages. They do not fit the‘discipline-based’ organisation ofknowledge that social science hasgenerated. Venezuela today, forexample, does not really suffer from an‘economic’ problem, nor does it have a‘sociological’, a ‘social psychological’, a‘cultural’ or a ‘political’ problem. Eachsocial science discipline only highlightsaspects of the mess Venezuela is in, just

as a projector on a dark stage highlights(from its own angle, with its own lightand power) only a particular aspect of ascene.

To interpret such problems entirely interms of a single discipline is to reducethem into the proverbial nail which thehammer-discipline can then deal with.Instead, a ‘conversation’ amongdisciplines is needed. Yet in many places– but not Templeton College! – strayingfrom your discipline is the academicequivalent of committing hara-kiri.

The second difficulty is that theresearcher’s detachment from asituation like Venezuela’s will notautomatically help that country or anyof its citizens. Yet the detachedresearch ideal that social scienceenshrines is deeply embedded in thevalues it has acquired from natural

science. These include the requirementto keep oneself value-free and at arm’slength from what is being studied inorder to obtain ‘objectivity’. Engagingwith complex social problems demandsa deep re-examination of social sciencepractice and principle.

To help people and organisations tackleill-defined problems, it is simplyimpossible to remain detached. Instead,one must engage with people. Successcannot be solely based on ‘statisticallysignificant’ results of ‘representativesamples’, checked by peer reviews –though such considerations can, and dohelp, engagement to become morerigorous. To succeed, these traditionalsocial science practices must bepursued within a broader framework.Success results from re-perception.And the new perceptual map actuallychanges the landscape, as another

Intangible AssetsMarc Thompson argues we should be competing through people

Thirty-two per cent of the market valueof the top 500 US firms in 1982 wasestimated to be ‘intangible assets’ – theintellectual and human capital that anorganisation creates and possesses. By

2001, according to data from theNational Bureau of EconomicResearch, it had rocketed to more than85 per cent. While we can argue aboutwhat is meant by the ‘knowledge

are expressing interest in the role ofinternal and external relationships increating value – what has been calledthe ‘relational wealth’ or ‘relationalassets’ of the corporation.

Such wealth is a product of how well anorganisation manages both its internalrelationships with employees and itsexternal alliances and reputation.Competence in managing relationshipsis increasingly seen as central tocompetitive advantage. An example isthe pharmaceutical sector where thecomplexity of problems is encouragingmore and more firms to enter intoalliances in order to create newproducts and services. It has beenestimated that 40 per cent of all futurevalue in the pharmaceutical sector willbe the result of alliances, often betweenbig pharmaceutical and smaller bio-techfirms. However, it seems as much as 70per cent of these alliances do notdeliver successfully.

economy’, thesedata indicate thatsomething quiteextraordinary isaffecting how firmscreate value.

This dramatic rise inthe value ofintangibleshighlights theimportance ofunderstanding howfirms can developsuch value.Increasing numbersof researchers andbusiness theorists

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colleague of mine, Richard Normann,put it in his last book, ReframingBusiness.

The third difficulty has to do withlearning. People in situations likeVenezuela’s have to learn to get out ofthem, and social science must, and can,help them do so. But learning involvesaccepting error, demonstrating themismatch between outcome andexpectation and developing ways toavoid it. Acknowledging error is risky inthe best of times (it can destroy yourprofessional reputation!) but trulydangerous in messy social conditions.One solution is to shift the problemsinto a safe area – the future – and dealwith them as possibilities, with no blameattached.

Scenario planning, therefore, is oneway of getting social science actually toengage with the issues that affect us. Itis not only a technique but also a way ofthinking and practising social science:

– Scenario planning constructivelydisturbs a system in ways that help

us understand howit is – or couldbecome – stuck.

– Scenario planningfosters a‘conversation’among disciplines(and amongfunctions andprofessions andother forms ofexpertise) that istruly strategic, inthe sense that ithelps people and organisations betteraddress the future.

– It enables those who can influence amess to re-perceive it andunderstand its context.

– It places issues in the safety of thefuture but it brings the commonground created there back to thepresent. This enables failures ofjudgement that would otherwiseremain skilfully hidden to emergeand be addressed.

This new introductory course is part ofa much wider effort at Templeton toapply futurising to the problems amongorganisations and the problems ofindividuals in organisations. Itrepresents a first step, but there will bemore. Watch this (safe) space!

Rafael Ramírez is Fellow in StrategicManagement and director of theOxford Introduction to Scenarios(rafael.ramirez@templeton.ox.ac.uk).

Programme details:www.execed.oxford.edu

Relationship failures can be costly. Forexample, the poor quality of Firestone’soff-road SUV tyres (which led to largecompensation claims and a mass recallof all tyres) has been directly linked tostrikes and poor employee relations atits main plant. Shell’s relationship withthe investment community has beendamaged because of late revelationsabout the scale of its estimates of oilreserves. Relationships matter and, ifbadly managed, can seriously damagewealth creation.

So how do firms build their relationalwealth? At Templeton College, we havebeen grappling with these issues over anumber of years in our teaching andresearch. Janine Nahapiet, Fellow inStrategic Management, has developeda model which shows how the quality ofrelationships – ‘social capital’ – cancontribute to the creation ofintellectual capital in firms. As SeniorResearch Fellow in Employee Relations,I have been investigating how thequality of the employment relationshipinfluences knowledge creation amongst

programme with Cornell University’sCentre for Advanced Human ResourceStudies (CAHRS) called ‘CompetingThrough People’.

This new programme grew out ofconversations I had been having withboth Professor Scott Snell andProfessor Patrick Wright of CAHRSover the last year about StrategicHRM, in particular the slow diffusionof high performance work systemsdespite strong evidence of their positivebottom-line impact. We felt that therewas a golden opportunity to startworking with leaders of organisations tounderstand how value creation can bedriven by successful peoplemanagement strategies.

Marc Thompson is Senior ResearchFellow in Employee Relations anddirector of Competing Through People(marc.thompson@templeton.ox.ac.uk).

Programme details:www.execed.oxford.edu

Relationships matter and, ifbadly handled, can damagewealth creation

R&D scientists and engineers. DavidFeeny, Fellow in InformationManagement, has been exploring how

the quality of outsourcing relationshipsin HR and IT contribute to valuecreation, and Ian Kessler, Fellow inHuman Resource Management, hasidentified some of the factors enablinghigh quality employment relationshipsto be built in the public services area.

In the course of these activities itbecame clear to us there was animportant role to be played by seniorline managers and in particular HRleaders in building the organisationalstructure, systems and processes thatcreate social capital. The challengenow is to get this knowledge intopractice. Consequently, we arelaunching in June a new open

Coping with CatastropheKanja Sesay (Oxford Advanced Management and Strategic Leadership Programmes, 2003),describes the challenges he faces as Sierra Leone’s National Commissioner for Social Action

I was up-country when renegadesoldiers in the national army launchedtheir coup in 1997. I managed to getacross the border into Guinea, where Ispent nine months as part of theinternationally acknowledgedgovernment-in-exile, then returned toresume my duties as head of theCommission responsible for resettlingthe two million or more peopledisplaced by the civil war. That task isnow coming to an end, but we are stillfaced with repatriating refugees andrebuilding the social and economicinfrastructure.

The scars of war still hurt, physicallyand emotionally. Changing minds – thatis the challenge. You have boys and girlswho were conscripted into the rebelmovement since the age of five andknew only war. Then you have themaimed – the hundred thousand, amongwhom were those who had their limbsamputated as a terror tactic. How doyou get those people to forget andforgive? The only way we can forgeahead is through reconciliation. Wehave established a Truth &Reconciliation Commission on the SouthAfrican model and a special court to trythose who bear the greatestresponsibility for the war, therebyfacilitating sustainable peace in thecountry.

Economic empowerment is also crucial.If the possibility exists of taking care ofyour basic needs and look after yourfamily, then it is easier for your woundsto heal. But many of our able-bodiedyoung men are dead. So, among otherthings, we have set up a micro-creditscheme for female heads of householdsto enable them to look after theirfamilies.

joined the Catholic Relief Service(CRS) as a projects officer. While withthe CRS, I did a master’s degree inDevelopment Studies in The Hague,and then in 1986, set up a local NGO,the Association for Rural Development.

But then the civil war broke out in 1991and proceeded to rip Sierra Leoneapart. To cope with the displacementthat resulted, the newly electedgovernment of President Ahmad TejanKabbah established the Ministry ofReconstruction, Resettlement andRehabilitation in 1996 and I wasappointed Deputy Minister. Wefunctioned as best as we could forabout a year, before the renegadesoldiers launched their coup andpushed Sierra Leone to a whole newpitch of social disintegration.

Now we are making progress. Thereare still problems but at least they arenot leading to violence. I think that fromthe feedback we are getting, we havedone well in NaCSA. But I have neverhad any formal training in managementor leadership – that is why I came toTempleton. I wanted to rationalise thethings that I had been doing right andidentify those that I was not doing well– or not doing at all.

Kunal Basu, the AMP programmedirector, asked participants at theoutset to identify the key challengesconfronting them at work. I explainedthat I was facing two mega-challenges.The first was to maintain the high levelof trust that we had managed toengender in our three mainconstituencies – the people who arebeneficiaries of our work, the SierraLeone government and the internationaldonors (90 per cent of our funds arefrom outside sources).

Secondly, we have achieved some ofthe significant successes, whichobservers have credit me with. But Iknow that I have benefited from a verycompetent, highly motivated team. Sothe other challenge was to sustain that

My career began in 1980 as a newlygraduated student in modern history.Graduates were expected to teach for aperiod: it was a bit like national service.But to me it felt like a waiting room. Itaught for two years, then got out and

Maimed child in Freetown, 1999

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When you see the worst youalso see the best

Out of Africa

The sub-text of the most recent AMPwas undoubtedly Africa.

In the most recent programme 65 percent of participants came from thatcontinent, including Michael Gondwe,President of the Eastern & SouthAfrican Trade & Development Bank,and Abdul-Kader Mohamed, ChiefDevelopment Officer of theDevelopment Bank of Southern Africa.Its content, including its talks by Oxfordexperts, had a strongly Africanorientation.

Chris Adam, Lecturer in DevelopmentEconomics at Oxford, in his lecture,‘The quiet revolution: the re-engineer-ing of economic management in Africa’,highlighted some promisingdevelopments. Per capita incomegrowth in the countries targeted bypoverty reduction programmes hasalmost doubled in the last 20 years.Average inflation is down from 25 percent in the early 1990s to below five percent. And private investors are noticingthe change. Looking at country riskratings, countries like Ghana,Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambiahave significantly improved theirpositions. Uganda in the last ten years,said Adam, ‘has in growth been one ofthe world’s most successful economies’.

International trading conditions are notresponsible – if anything they havebecome increasingly unfavourable. Theroot cause is better budgetary andfiscal policy: Uganda in particular ‘hasgone to the edge of the cliff, takencourageous macro-economic decisions

and flown’. There has also been awelcome decline in ‘clientism’ – thepropping up of politically usefulregimes even if they are economicbasket cases.

But African countries remain welldown the world income ladder. Even ifthey maintain current growth it will betwo generations before they catch upwith other developing countries. Andmany countries will not stay the course.It has been calculated that fiscallystable regimes among low incomecountries last on average little over twoyears. So far, in terms of theinternational economy, Africa’s growthhas been about ‘getting to the frontier’.Going further will mean more privateinvestment from abroad.

Aid flows are high and rising,accounting on average for over half ofgovernment spending among southernAfrican countries. Aid has got a lot toanswer for. It distorts economies,creates dependency and is fickle andvolatile. But we should not be too hardon aid, said Adam. The issue is not itsvolume but its delivery. It should gohad-in-hand with donor tradeliberalisation. The way forward is ‘ajudicious combination of aid andengagement to lock in good fiscalpolicy, stabilise the political economyand increase returns on privateinvestment’.

Post-lecture debate ranged acrosscompetition to Africa from EasternEurope, African investment prospectsamong the cash-rich Asian NICs andthe pivotal role of South Africa. ‘Wemust tackle our own problems,’ saidMichael Gondwe after the lectures. Toprogress economically, Africa has to setits own house in order regarding issuesof governance, democracy, humanrights and corruption.

AMP’s director, Kunal Basu, chippedin: ‘And Africa must promote BrandAfrica. Who, 20 years ago, would havebeen interested in what was going inlittle Asian countries? Now there isgreat interest everywhere – and thesame could happen in Africa.’

team spirit – that hard work andmotivation – by developing my ownleadership skills. I wanted not only torun an effective organisation but also toprovide leadership and inspiration.

As part of this I wanted a chance tothink strategically about NaCSA’s roleand its relationships. Given the scale ofthe crisis with which it was grappling,NaCSA was deliberately taken out ofthe bureaucratic system and did nothave to go through normalgovernmental channels. For thedisaster-hit people it served almost as awhole government in itself. But whenNaCSA is disbanded, say in five years,and its functions go back to theministries and district councils, I needto think how best its type of work canbe continued, either by specialistprojects or helping build capacityacross departments or some otherleadership role.

I have seen some very terrible thingssince 1996 but I don’t feel anyhopelessness or despair. We have acommitted leadership, and I have afeeling that the country will turn itselfround economically. My faith in humannature – in its capacity for forgivenessand self-renewal – remains unshaken.Oddly, when you see the worst you alsosee the best. I have witnessed in ourinternally displaced camps, for instance,amputees meeting face-to-face – andthen having to live alongside – thosewho had hacked off their limbs andsomehow managing to put the horrorbehind them and forgive their attackers.And my experiences have alsoreinforced my belief in education. Oursituation has a lot to do with ignorance.The young rebels were hoodwinked andbrainwashed. It is only when people areilliterate and cannot define theirpriorities for themselves that they gettaken for a ride by the unscrupulousand cruel.

Oddly enough, it is the little things thatupset me now. I get easily irritated if Ihear someone making a fuss about anordinary everyday problem like abroken-down car. Given the scale of thehorrors that I have seen it all seems sotrivial. The resilience, adaptability andhope of our long-suffering peopleshould guide our every action.

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The Myth of Globalisation

Globalisation, as commonly understood,is a myth. Far from taking place in asingle global market, business activityby most large multinationals takes placewithin any one of the world’s threegreat regional blocks – North America,Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Of the world’s largest 500 multi-nationals in 2000, 430 were in the US,the EU and Japan, and only a handful –nine by my definition were truly global.These took at least a fifth of their salesfrom each of the three regions but lessthan half from any one region. Most –320 out of 380 – were stay-at-homemultinationals, deriving four-fifths oftheir sales from their home regions.

There is no discernible trend towardseither global branding or standard-isation. Only a few multinationalbrands, with Coca-Cola leading theway, are global. Even McDonalds isbi-regional, not global. In terms of thevalue chain, a few multinationalssource offshore. Nike has 99 per centof its production outside of the UnitedStates, almost all of it in South EastAsia. Yet its brand name drives sales ona regional basis: most of its sales inNorth America and Europe.

International manufacturing isdominated by large multinationals inlocation-bound clusters. The bestexample is the automobile industry. Thedata on foreign sales of the world’slargest automobile multinationals showsthat the majority of these sales weremade in their home regions. GM had 81per cent of its sales in North America,Ford has 61 per cent. BMW and VWmade most of their sales in Europe.Assembly and production of vehicles,however, is generally carried outregionally in each market served.

The service sectors are even moreregional. In retail, only one of thelargest 49 retail firms was global –LVMH. In banking, all the companieshad the vast majority of their assets intheir home regions. Citigroup had 80per cent of its assets in North America.Insurance is even more local. Evenknowledge-intensive services industriesare largely local. For example,professional service firms are locatedlocally with partners largely immobileand their networks, at best, regionally-based.

Most R&D is undertaken by the world’slargest 500 multinationals in their backyards. Patents, for instance, areregistered in local regions. Active

It is possible that the ‘back end’production of the value chain is moreglobalised than the ‘front end’ of sales.However, even there we find a pictureof regionally-based production clustersand networks similar to the automobilesector. Only in electronics is productionlikely to be globalised, as transportationcosts are low relative to assembly.Otherwise, production in chemicals,resources and services is likely to behighly localised. In retailing, a fewmultinationals, such as Nike and Wal-Mart, outsource a significant part oftheir products from other regions but,again, most production is localised inorder to address national preferences.

All of this has major implications forbusiness. Managers need to designregional strategies, not global ones.Only in a few sectors does a globalstrategy make sense. For most othersectors strategies of nationalresponsiveness are required.

However, there is nothing to stop amultinational pursuing a ‘global’strategy within its home region. By this,a multinational will sell the sameproduct or service in the same wayacross all the countries of its homeregion, allowing it to gain economies ofscale. Only when a multinationalexhausts the possibilities for growth inits home region, does it need to ventureinto other regions.

In other words, all the advantages ofglobal homogeneity can be achievedregionally, especially if thegovernments of that region pursueinternal market policies such as social,cultural and political harmonisation (asin the EU) or economic integration (asin NAFTA and in Asia).

‘The Reality of Globalisation: The Riseof the Regional Multinational’ by AlanRugman, Associate Fellow, isavailable in PDF format via theCollege website(www.templeton.ox.ac.uk/research).

multinationals first attempt to registerthe US Patent Office. To overcomeregulatory barriers to marketing anddistribution pharmaceutical R&D thenspreads through separate nationalpatents. Similarly, health care is notglobal but delivered locally, subject tolocal regulations.

Global markets, therefore, are notbecoming homogenised. Only in a fewsectors, such as consumer electronics,is a global strategy of economicintegration viable.

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Regional multinationals arethe new reality, believes AlanRugman

China’s goal is to quadruple its 2000GDP by 2020, making it the largesttrader in the world. Two decades agothis would have been unthinkable. Nowit is perfectly possible. Recent develop-ments underline the enormous potentialfor developing business in China.

China’s accession to the World TradeOrganisation in 2001 was a milestone,promoting market discipline and accessto technology and complementingdomestic economic reform. China aimsto continue to develop its labour-intensive manufacturing with a moregradual and balanced regionalemphasis. Taking small steps will enableChina to learn from past failures andstrengthen its industrial policy. Asautonomy increases, barriers todomestic expansion will fall, opening upopportunities not just for Chinese butalso Western companies.

Retailing exemplifies this. Given thatdevelopment cycles are much shorterthan in Europe, deregulation couldallow China’s domestic expansion toleapfrog the conventional stages ofretail growth. However, only recentlyhas China opened up to external retailinvestment. China has so far troddenwarily in its accommodation of externalretail investment – and quite rightly so.The requirement that foreign retailersform partnerships with indigenouscompanies can be off-putting. However,this protectionism could be valuable.Controls on external retail investorswill give local entrepreneurs time todevelop retail chains, attuned to theChinese market. Improving logistics andinfrastructure in less developedprovinces will encourage low income

ChinaReturns toCentreStageA special report by Gerd Islei

groups toparticipate ineconomicdevelopment.

There will also begrowing investmentopportunities in IT,with theoutsourcing ofsoftware andhardwaredevelopmentexpanding mostrapidly. China willsoon be offering ahighly attractiveenvironment forinnovation and capital intensive high-value manufacture. As globalbusinesses expand in China, vastlabour-intensive structures willgradually be replaced with reliable,modern systems coordinated by state-of-the-art information technology.Currently state-owned enterprisesdevelop acumen through majoracquisitions abroad. But most of theirexpansion is aimed at less developedcountries. Some, however, arepursuing more global ambitions, like theChinese electronics company TCL whorecently formed a joint venture withThomson, the French electroniccompany, to develop, manufacture anddistribute TV sets and related productsand services.

Modern information technology isalready having a substantial impact onChina’s transition towards a marketeconomy and will accelerate theevolution of civil society. China’sagreement to eliminate technologytransfer requirements shows itsconfidence in its own capability andreadiness to progress rapidly towards aknowledge society.

The financial sector plays a central rolein the reform team’s programme.Besides exports and FDI, they intend touse the stock market as a third pillar tofinance rapid economic development.The banking authority recentlyintroduced a basket of modernisingregulations. Commercial banks are stilltightly constrained by the central bank,but there will be increasing

opportunities for foreign financialinstitutions to gain a foothold.

However China’s banks have inheritedtwo major liabilities: an enormous debtburden, and a lack of transparency andefficiency. They are responding withmajor restructuring. The Bank of Chinahas collaborated with Goldman Sachs toachieve this. The workforce wasdrastically cut and many branches wereclosed. Internationally, BoC is moreadvanced than other Chinese banks.More than 50 per cent of its business isconducted abroad. BoC has thepotential to become a world-classplayer.

After a year of breakneck growthBeijing recently touched the brakes.The cabinet has slowed approvals forprojects and agreed to ‘limit marketentry’. Concerns remain about red tape,corruption, judicial independence andtrade barriers. But recentdevelopments underline China’senormous business potential. Mostforeign companies operating there areprofitable. Those losing money haveusually made mistakes right at theoutset. Finding the right partnersremains a critical factor. The move ofChina centre-stage is one of the mostexciting stories of our times.

Gerd Islei is Fellow in InformationManagement. A fuller version of thisarticle appeared in The Times on2 March(gerd.islei@templeton.ox.ac.uk).

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Chain ReactionsGerd Islei, Richard Cuthbertson and Johannes Beckerunpick the mysteries of supply chain management

Supply chain management is moving upthe corporate agenda. New technologyhas enabled supply chains to becomemore global and decision-making morecentral, but the seamlessly linkednetwork based on cutting-edgetechnology remains a myth rather thanreality.

Collaborative business models do noteasily translate into retailing whereretailers have to maintain relationshipswith thousands of suppliers.

Overcoming long-standing competitivepractices and effectively integrating acomplex chain remains a majorchallenge. In the past, trading partnershave been reluctant to share key data.Even where companies are nowprepared to do so, the lack of commontaxonomy or standards is a majorbarrier. Also, organisations, which haveinvested heavily in technology in orderto drive efficiency into the supply chain,have often lost flexibility in the process.

As strategies evolve, it is vitalconstantly to monitor and adjust supplychain strategy to ensure alignment.Strategy should drive measurement.For instance, a retailer deciding to beoperationally excellent will focus oncost reduction. A firm emphasising acustomer orientation will value

flexibility and responsiveness.Unfortunately, few organisations adopta tidy and transparent process to alignstrategies with capabilities. In practice,performance indicators areconsolidated upwards in the decision-making hierarchy and emphasise aninternally oriented, operationalperspective rather than service. Thefocus is on productivity, utilisation,basic activity costings, and so on. Thesemeasures are relevant but they telllittle about customer satisfaction.Performance measures must add up!They are only relevant when linked tooverall business strategy and to thecustomer.

A research team at Templeton, headedby Gerd Islei, has been addressing theseissues with leading retailers and FMCGsuppliers across the world. Its researchhas resulted in a benchmarking service,Glosup, which provides an in-depthview of global supply chainperformance. Glosup provides adiagnostic tool that enablesmanagement to identify priorities andinvest resources where the highestreturns can be achieved.

The best measures accomplish fourthings – validity, usefulness, robustnessand integration. Unfortunately thesecriteria cannot be satisfied

simultaneously. Operationally,measures of validity and usefulness aremost applicable. As measures areconsolidated into higher and morestrategic levels, their value diminishes.The reverse is true for the criteria ofrobustness and integration whose valueis greatest at the strategic level.

The challenge is to compareperformance across different countries,different organisations and differentdepartments. But the usefulness ofuniversal approaches can be limited,because companies may hide data thatshows poor performance and alsobecause of the lack of industrystandards. The Glosup research hasbeen most successful where we haveengaged with retailers in a partnershipand collaborated to resolvefundamental issues.

One example involved a major UKgrocery retailer. This retailer operateda supplier benchmarking scorecarddeveloped by its Supply Chain Directorbut then adopted at a more operationallevel by buyers, product suppliers anddemand planners. While the scorecardprovided a robust and integrated tool atthe strategic level, its validity andusefulness was questionable at theoperational level. Through interviewsand a detailed analysis of scorecardresults, the team was able to proposechanges to the indicators that improvedthe validity and usefulness of thebenchmarking.

For supply chain directors, Glosupprovides a foundation for performancemeasurement but only if aligned withbusiness strategy. Performancemeasures should be part of aframework that provides the rightmanagement focus, creates a commonlanguage, facilitates continuousimprovement, and allows all to see howthey contribute to business goals. Theresearch team at Templeton continuesto develop a performance managementframework to meet these requirements.

Gerd Islei is Fellow in InformationManagement, Richard Cuthbertson isa Research Fellow and JohannesBecker a DPhil student at Templeton(gerd.islei@templeton.ox.ac.ukrichard.cuthbertson@templeton.ox.ac.ukjohannes.becker@templeton.ox.ac.uk).

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Are We Being Served?Jonathan Reynolds argues efficiency in retailing isn’t everything

Fighting your way around supermarketaisles searching for last minute gifts ortonight’s dinner, you might be forgivenfor thinking UK retailing is a temple toefficiency and productivity. Storiesabout the profitability of leading UKretailers reinforce an impression of aburgeoning sector, employing overthree million people and contributingover ¢74 billion to UK plc each year.Not everyone agrees.

For some time economists have beenconcerned about the labourproductivity gap between the UK andEurope and especially the US.Productivity has become an obsessionof the present government, as it seeksto improve the UK’s competitiveposition. Attention has increasinglyfocused on services and on retailing inparticular. Reports by McKinsey andthe National Institute of Economic andSocial Research have ‘fingered’ thesector. How do we resolve thecontradiction between goodperformance and poor productivity?We suggest that there are threeexplanations: measurement, structureand regulation.

Most assessments of UK retailproductivity focus on labour and takelittle account of land and capital.Further, the availability of appropriatedata on retailing at all and, even whenavailable, its consistency andcomparability, are problematic. Weundertook our own analysis of UKretail efficiency and performancecompared with French and US firms,focusing on larger, publicly quotedcompanies and using measures ofemployee, space, and asset andfinancial productivity. On three of thesemeasures the UK performs well (seegraph). Only on the sales/profit peremployee measure does the UK lag.Space productivity is particularlyimpressive.

Secondly, culture and history mean thatcountries exhibit a different set of‘retail propositions’. Such differencesare hard to erode. UK retailing has

Figure 1: Sales per sq ft of net selling space

relatively fewer hypermarket, categorykiller or discount format stores, andmore variety stores, superstores andsupermarkets than our comparators.The largest UK companies are smallerthan the largest global competitors.There are also fewer very small shopsand firms than in Europe.

The concept of output lies at the heartof productivity analysis. Yet retailoutput includes a large serviceelement, with considerable scope fortrade-offs between different elementsin different retail formats. Retailersmust be effective inachieving consumersatisfaction relevant totheir market, as well asbeing efficient.International analyseswhich fail to take suchstructural factors intoaccount risk comparingapples and pears.

Regulation can also limitretailing efficiency. Twoexamples illustrate this.The UK is 40 per centmore expensive per square metre ofselling space than the US and 15 percent more than France. UK retailersmake good use of space, but they maybe unable to trade at an optimallyefficient size. Furthermore, one ofretailing’s most significant costs isproperty rental. There has been lack ofprogress over the years in reformingthe UK retail leasing system – indeed,major change might undermine somefundamental workings of the UKinvestment market. But theconsequences for retailing aresignificant.

Regulations on location also limitefficiency. Companies like B&Q andIKEA are concerned that they cannotdevelop commercially optimum largestore formats to satisfy consumer needsbecause of planning policy guidelineswhich intervene in the market tosafeguard the vitality and viability ofour existing town and city centres.

Finally, the overall cost of compliancewith regulation is significantly higherthan in the US: one estimate of the costof bureaucracy for independentretailers is £23 million per annum – orthe equivalent of £10 per week forevery shop and store. UK retailers alsoface an effective tax rate (includingproperty taxes) of 53 per cent.

These explanations should not begrounds for complacency. Even themost successful UK retailerscontinually need to find ways to becomemore efficient in the context of theircustomer offers and the competitiveand regulatory environments in whichthey trade. We have made a range ofrecommendations, including new andmore useful measures (looking at what

US retailers use and the possibility ofan integrated consumer satisfactionindex). We also believe performancecould be improved by betterbenchmarking and standards, in areassuch as training, development and ICTproject management.

Retailing contributes to the UK in manyways, not all of which are measurablein productivity terms. Perhaps weshould see retailing as a series of trade-offs. The price we pay as consumersfor the retailing we want (and theplaces we want it) may be at theexpense of some degree of efficiency.

Jonathan Reynolds heads Templeton’sInstitute of Retail Management whichhas been commissioned by the UK’sDepartment of Trade and Industryand its Retail Strategy Group toexamine the comparative productivityand performance of UK retailing.Details are available fromoxirm@templeton.ox.ac.uk.

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The Buzz: College NewsBeyond Google?A pan-European consortium includingTempleton College, Oxford, hasreceived an EU grant of ¢3.7 million(approximately £2.5 million) to studythe future of automated informationsearching and manipulation. TheMETOKIS (Methodology & ToolsInfrastructure for the Creation ofKnowledge Units) project will run fortwo years starting from January 2004,and at Templeton will be carried out bya project team led by Dr MarshallYoung, Fellow in StrategicManagement.

Strategic RenewalTempleton has been awarded a jointgrant of £100,000 by Shell Internationaland the European Patent Office tocarry out the first year of a three-yearcollaborative research project onstrategic renewal and innovation inorganisations.

PartneringA new project, ‘Partnering forSuccess’, funded by AmershamInternational, will begin in Septemberand last several months. Carried out byJanine Nahapiet, Fellow in StrategicManagement, and Marc Thompson,Senior Research Fellow in EmployeeRelations, it will look at how organi-sations can improve the management oftheir external relationships.

HR Directors Question GovernmentStrategy

increase the number of workers withNVQ Level 2 competence and stimulatefurther learning among this group. PDFmembers reported that most of theircompanies were now outsourcing lowvalue work at Level 2, taking advantageof more highly qualified workforcesoverseas.

Workplace of the FutureMarc Thompson, Templeton’s SeniorResearch Fellow in Employee Relations,opened the Forum on the Workplace ofthe Future organised by the NationalCentre for Partnership and Productivityin Dublin on Thursday 5 February. Hislecture, ‘Building wealth throughrelationships: the role of internal andexternal relationships in a knowledge-intensive workplace’ was attended byan audience of over 100, includingrepresentatives of government, unionsand related interest groups. Marc hasalso recently been appointed anAssociate of the Labor in AerospaceResearch Agency (LARA) at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology.

Do the NHS’s Information SystemsDeliver Value?On 21 and 22 January 30 NHS chiefinformation officers (CIOs) and theirdeputies attended a workshop atTempleton on leading change,facilitated by two of our Fellows inInformation Management, David Feenyand Chris Sauer. The meetinghighlighted the challenges facing theNHS’s National Programme for IT

(NPfIT), including those involved ininitiatives by the NHS’s ModernisationAgency and the emerging agenda forpatient choice.

Improving IT Project ManagementA study by Chris Sauer, Fellow inInformation Management, and ChristineCuthbertson of the state-of-the-art inIT-based project management in theUK, conducted with support from TheFrench Thornton Partnership andComputer Weekly has been publishedon the Computer Weekly website. Itsmain finding is that we are now gettingbetter at managing major IT projectsbut there is still plenty of room forimprovement. The report can bedownloaded fromwww.computerweekly.co.uk

In a related project in collaborationwith Professor Blaize Reich of SimonFraser University (and a VisitingAssociate at Templeton) supported bythe Canadian Social Sciences andHumanities Research Council, Chris isworking with Alison McQuater on alonger-term study of the changing roleof IT-based project and programmemanagement.

Retail ViewRetail Strategy: the View from theBridge, edited by Jonathan Reynoldsand Christine Cuthbertson, has beenpublished by Elsevier. It includesdetailed analyses by Templeton fellowsand associates as well as case studiesand interviews with 17 leading retailers(including Tesco, Legoland, Screwfix,HMV and B&Q in China).

US-European RelationsOn 23 March Maria Livanos Cattaui,Secretary General of the InternationalChamber of Commerce, gave a guestlecture at Templeton on ‘US-EuropeanRelations and the Prospects forInternational Trade’.

International Business HonourProfessor Alan Rugman of IndianaUniversity, and an Associate Fellow ofTempleton, has been elected to thepresidency of the Academy ofInternational Business, to run for twoyears from July.

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Ian Fenwick, Group HR Director, British Sugar Plc andChris Evans, Director Compensation & Benefits, Royal &Sun Alliance; at Templeton’s Personnel Directors Forum

Templeton’sPersonnel DirectorsForum (PDF)highlighted amismatch betweenthe strategy of theDepartment forEducation & Skillsand employerdemand at a DfESpresentation to thePDF on itsworkforcedevelopmentstrategy on 26January. DfESstrategy aims to

SportsSuccesses

– Anton Van Zyl (MSc) haswon a Blue, playing in thestarting line-up of theRugby Varsity Match

– Madhav Kanoria (MSc)has also gained a Blue,playing for Oxford’ssecond squash team

– Alexandra Klimi (MSc)gained a Half-Blue in theuniversity team thatrecently beat Cambridgeat Volleyball. She and herteam are also playing inthe BUSA Top EightVolleyball Tournament

– Johannes Becker (DPhil)is a member of theOxford Varsity YachtRacing Team

– Rory Maxwell (MSc),Michael Smets (DPhil),Nicholas Barton (MBA),and Heather Hrousalas(MSc), as affiliatedmembers of HertfordCollege Boat Club,helped take Hertford tothird position in OxfordTorpids, and Rory wonTorpids Blades withHertford 1st VIII

– Rory and Nicholas withtwo fellow rowers fromHertford College alsowon the WindsorOarsmen Cross-CountryChampionships.

Building the College on WaterTempleton rowing is gaining speed, reports Boat Club Captain Michael Smets

The 2003/2004 student body hasclearly embraced rowing as aTempleton experience not to be missed.Still affiliated with Hertford Collegeand racing under its banner, TempletonCollege Boat Club includes 34 membersthis year. The Boat Club represents agood cross-section of the College,encompassing MBAs, MScs, DPhils andstudents’ spouses. Participants ofexecutive education courses are alsooffered rowing lessons as part of their‘Oxford experience’ at Templeton, andefforts are made as well to integratethe part-time EMBAs into ouractivities.

The Boat Club has gained greatmomentum this year. Enthusiasmamong the students was matched bysupport from the college community.Sir David Rowland on his retirement asPresident donated two brand newAylings boats, a Pair and a Fourincluding correspondent sets of oars.

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The boats are to be named ‘Diana’ and‘David’ at a ceremony before SummerEights. This gift follows the earliergenerosity of W P Carey who madepossible the purchase of the College’sfirst boat in 1984, when his nephew,Gus Carey, was a student here. TheBoat Club has taken this and thepromising prospect of entering aTempleton Eight in Summer Eights as awelcome opportunity to re-apply for adistinctive Templeton blade design.Although still formally racing forHertford, Templeton College will thenbe recognisable on the river by aNautilus shell on blue blades. We hopethis will further strengthen the sense ofcommunity among Templeton’s rowersand intensify identification with theCollege.

If you wish to be included – if onlyvirtually – in our community ofrowers, please contactmichael.smets@templeton.ox.ac.uk

Royal Progressvalue of investing in staff for thefuture.

I have now taken on responsibility forall aspects of hotel services atTempleton College. The need to beflexible in our approach to customershelps to make Templeton the busy andvibrant place it is, and I am directlyinvolved in the delicate balancing act ofmanaging programme and conferencebusiness. The importance of hotelservices to the quality of participants’experience is constantly emphasised tothe department’s staff, the goal being togenerate an atmosphere thatcomplements the academic aspects oftheir time at Templeton.

Templeton College is a unique building.Although it no longer aims to provide –as its founding benefactor, CliffordBarclay, intended – a ‘bone-shaking’experience for British management, itdoes give executives and students theimmediate sense of being involved in andynamic educational process. Thisflows out from the hub of the building inthe central area right through theteaching rooms and the bedrooms.

Templeton’s design separates us fromthe general motel-type environmentthat is the norm elsewhere. The Collegehas remained faithful to the valuesbehind its original designs, and I amkeen that these should be maintained,as they help take participants out oftheir normal environment andencourage them to mix academicallyand socially rather than retreatindividually.

With the recentincrease in thegraduate studentbody the Collegefaces a newchallenge. Atpresent it is only ableto accommodate asmall proportion ofits graduate studentsin-house. This makesit increasinglyimportant to ensurethat the remaining

students have the opportunity tointeract regularly with members ofCollege and with executive programmeparticipants. This will help strengthenthe sense of community that has alwaysbeen such an important part of Collegelife.

A subject I feel very passionately aboutis College sports. The increase instudent numbers has enabled someTempleton sporting clubs to tastesuccess once again. Sport is a hugelyimportant part of College life and onewe should fully support. Having been atoken member of many different collegeteams in the past, I understand whatgreat publicity Templeton teamsparticipating in Oxford sport cangenerate.

It is many years since I spoke at theopening of the Templeton Boat Housealongside a fellow rower, MatthewPinsent – someone who has gone on to arather more successful rowing careerthan myself ! It is great now to see theboathouse in use and the Templetonflag flying at major university events.The donation of two new boats by SirDavid Rowland will undoubtedly helpthis continue long into the future.

So, to return to my original question,my anchors to Templeton are obvious:self development, and having to meet anever-changing menu of demands – yescertainly, both of these. But, just asimportantly, being able to play my partin building a community.

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Tim Royal,Hotel ServicesManager,describes hiswork

Being asked todescribe my

working life at Templeton has made metry to work out what have been theanchors that have held me here for over20 years.

Being a chef at Templeton has beenhugely fulfilling. Over the years I havecooked for royalty, for governmentministers and for many VIPs, and whilethese have all been memorable andimpressive events, my biggest highshave always come from producing ameal on a normal day, and thenoverhearing customers comment howmuch they enjoyed it.

As Head Chef at Templeton I witnesseda huge change in customers’expectations. The explosion of interestin all things ‘foodie’ has vastly changedpeople’s perceptions of life in thekitchen. They now know intimately adiverse range of characters from Deliato Gordon. Thankfully, Templeton chefsseem to fit somewhere in the middle!

Developing relationships with suppliers,following the product from source totable is a particularly interesting aspectof the job. Sourcing and promoting localartisan producers adds interest to thedishes we serve. This will become evenmore important in the future, ascustomers’ appetites for informationabout the products they eat increases.

Working with a close-knit team underthe pressure of tight deadlines hasalways given me great pleasure and hashelped build some extremely strongworking relationships. In my time atTempleton I have been lucky to workunder a variety of chefs, all of whomcombined a passion for food with anenthusiasm for passing on their skillsand developing their staff. Being able tohand on the kitchen successfully toDarren Lomas has again shown me the

Tomorrow Really Can BeBetter than YesterdayTempleton’s retiring President, Sir David Rowland,looks back – and forward

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Myintroduction toTempletonCollege, thenthe OxfordCentre forManagementStudies, tookplace in themid-1970s when

I came to Oxford as a customer,bringing my senior colleagues to aseries of specially designed executiveprogrammes. I chose the Centrebecause it felt and looked so verydifferent, yet I thought it would alsooffer some of the benefits of a closerelationship with the University.Remarkably, the qualities which Irecognised then are still present today:the buildings and the quality of theirmaintenance, the staff offering friendlyefficiency and the ever-present desireto identify with the interests of theircustomers, the somewhat spartan livingconditions contrasting so wonderfullywith the excellence of the catering. Thedecision was obvious.

Did it work? My company prospered,and my colleagues believed that theirOxford experience made a substantialcontribution to that success.Personally, I learned much, andsometime later I welcomed an invitationto join the governing Council of theOxford Centre. I remain deeply gratefulto Clifford Barclay, to Ashley Raeburnand to so many others who opened thedoors to an experience from which Ihave gained so much over the last 25years.

Not only was I fascinated by thepioneering work of the Centre, with itsundergraduates, graduates and with awide variety of internationalbusinesses, but it seemed blindinglyobvious that the University was sittingon the brink of a great opportunity.

In the 1960s Oxford and Cambridge hadturned away from the creation ofbusiness schools, allowing London,Manchester and Cranfield to lay thefoundation of possible competition withthe great transatlantic schools in theUnited States. By the early 1980sCambridge University had done little,but a group of distinguished dons atOxford in partnership with CliffordBarclay, an enlightened benefactor, hadalready established the Oxford Centrein 1965. Its growing reputation could soeasily have been enhanced by theUniversity to form the basis of a majorinitiative.

I was an undergraduate at TrinityCollege Cambridge in the early 1950s. Iwas completely ignorant of the issues ofgovernance of either College orUniversity. I took what I was offered. Iwas in awe of Trinity’s grandeur andriches. I loved the wonderful buildingand marvelled at the brilliance of itsfellows upon whom Nobel prizesseemed to shower as regularly asrosettes at an annual gymkhana. Soancient and so distinguished was theCollege that it seemed obvious thatwisdom distilled over generationsmust have transferred to leadershipof the highest quality for bothCollege and University.

So it was with real optimism that Ibecame involved with thegovernance of the Centre. Oxfordhad the greatest international‘brand’ name in education, it had awonderful nucleus from which todevelop business studies, and, as ithad the same intellectual resourcesthat had captivated me at Cambridgeas an undergraduate, there wouldbe no question about Oxfordbecoming the true centre ofexcellence in business studies thatBritain so badly needed.

It took a little longer! Slowly a changein attitude towards business studies inthe University came about, greatlyaided by the generous benefactions ofSir John Templeton and Wafic Saïd, whogoaded and provoked the Universityinto action to create Templeton Collegeand the Saïd Business School.

Now, nearly 30 years after I first cameto the Centre we are really gettingthere: a unique partnership betweenSchool and specialist graduate Collegebased on a common belief thatexcellence is the only goal worthstriving for. With leadership and staff ofthe highest quality and students ofwonderful ability and flair, there is nolimit to the achievement possible fortomorrow.

Despite the frustrations ofopportunities missed, maybe thatcurious mixture of accumulatedwisdom, judgement and happenstancenow allows Oxford to stretch towards astructure relevant to the 21st century.

Whatever happens, I believe thatTempleton’s traditions will continue toplay a crucial role in creating theatmosphere for learning which hasgenerated such loyalty and affection inall of us fortunate to have beeninvolved with the College.

Why theNautilus?This emblem goes back to 1984, whenthe College, following Sir JohnTempleton’s initial benefaction,changed its name from the Oxford

Centre for Management Studies to Templeton College. It waschosen for several reasons:

– The self-propelling nautilus symbolised independentdevelopment and organic growth – two features that Sir John’sbenefaction aimed to foster. Its structure of separatechambers suggested the many different sectors that theCollege brings together – business and academe, theory andpractice, rigour and relevance, etc.

– It also rather resembled a spiral nebula or vortex, and this‘space age’ image was thought appropriate to the high techmodernity of management studies. (This aspect was enhancedby the angularity of the device, which, incidentally, echoescertain features of the College building. If you look down onsome of its staircases, you will see a similar shape.)

In addition, when it was shown to Sir John Templeton, it remindedhim of the ‘horn of plenty’ in classical mythology. Managementrepresents to him the means of bringing prosperity and choice tothe world. It also reminded him of a poem by the American writer,Oliver Wendell Holmes, which takes the nautilus shell as asymbol of spiritual growth, beginning ‘Build thee more statelymansions, O my soul’ and ending ‘Till thou at length art free,Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea’.

Templeton College, University of Oxford, Oxford ‚, UKTel +44 (0)1865 422500 Fax +44 (0)1865 422501 www.templeton.ox.ac.uk