POSITIONS: Dixons Chair - University ofEdinburgh

[entrepreneurship-phd at lists.uni-essen.de]

From: Michael Clouser [mailto:michael.clouser at gmail.com]
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2005 12:02

Hello:

Please let your supervisors, advisors and colleagues who might be intersted
know about the following position at the University of Edinburgh. The Dixons
Chair of Entrepreneurship and Innovation.  The closing date is two weeks
away -- October 28th. 
 
http://www.jobs.ed.ac.uk/vacancies/index.cfm?fuseaction=vacancies.detail&vac
ancy_ref=3005060

MANAGEMENT SCHOOL AND ECONOMICS 

Post title: The Dixons Chair of Entrepreneurship and Innovation 
Salary scale: Professorial scale 
Vacancy ref: 3005060

Further Particulars

The University seeks applications for the Dixons Chair of Entrepreneurship
and Innovation. The Chair was established 3 years ago with the financial
support of Dixons PLC. Entrepreneurship and Innovation is one of the
School_s three key areas for development (the others being Finance and
Financial Markets, and Public Sector Management). This emphasis on
Entrepreneurship and Innovation reflects the importance of new management
ideas, and an enterprise culture, as essential elements of management in the
21st Century, and aligns with the Scottish Executive_s goal of delivering an
enterprise strategy aimed at creating a smart, successful Scotland. 

The successful candidate will be expected to have a strong research record,
evidence of research leadership and a strong interest in management
education. Research interests of the successful candidate may include any
aspect of entrepreneurship, but must show a focus on academic research
activity and achievement. Alongside the George David Chair of
Entrepreneurship and Family Business, the appointee will provide academic
leadership to the growing and vigorous Entrepreneurship & Innovation Group
in the School. The appointee will be expected to undertake research, to
teach on MBA, undergraduate and post-experience programmes and to supervise
doctoral students. 

The Entrepreneurship & Innovation Group brings together a number of
researchers in the Management School with interests in entrepreneurial
business development, small firm innovation, entrepreneurial finance and
regional technology networks nationally and internationally. In addition to
this post, other core posts in the Group are externally funded, specifically
the George David Chair in Entrepreneurship and Family Business (Professor
Peter Rosa), and the George David Research Fellow. 

The Group has a strong focus on the application of research to business
development and public policy issues, and has developed excellent
relationships with government departments and agencies regionally,
nationally and internationally. 

Among the core research themes on which the Group focuses are: 

" Technology entrepreneurship: there is an active research programme in
technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, including studies of
intellectual property and intellectual assets in start-ups, the
commercialisation process and university technology transfer. 

" Entrepreneurial Finance: there is built up an extensive portfolio of
research on the early stage equity market, including studies of informal
(business angel) investors, returns on investment, trust and investor
relations, and alternative sources of finance 

" Entrepreneurial Business Development: there is a developing portfolio of
research projects examining the entrepreneurial dynamics underlying the
development of sectors, cities and regions, including the evolution of
regional technology complexes as localised learning systems, the attraction
of talent and elite migration. 

" Family business and entrepreneurial dynamics, including research into the
role and development of the _business family_ and the relationship between
family dynamics and entrepreneurial dynamics and business ownership. 

" International Entrepreneurship: many of the Group_s research projects have
an explicitly international dimension, with a particular focus on East Asia,
including the internationalisation of venture capital activity in East Asia,
enterprise reform and management development in China, knowledge development
and technology transfer as applied to China, application of management
techniques (agile manufacturing, TQM) in Chinese industry. 

" Entrepreneurial Learning and Development: a number of research projects
are on-going on the process of learning in an entrepreneurial context. 

The University of Edinburgh 

The University, which was founded in 1583, has a student population of
around 21,000 and employs around 3,300 academic and academic-related staff,
with a turnover in excess of £315 million. The University operates on a
number of sites, with the main locations being in the city (central area)
and at the King's Buildings some 5 km away. The University of Edinburgh is
one of the largest unitary non-collegiate universities in Britain, covering
as wide a range of academic disciplines as any British university. The
University's strategy is research-led, attracting a substantial volume of
external funding. Equal importance is attached to high quality teaching
within this environment, and the University is actively engaged in expanding
its recruitment of students from overseas and in widening participation by
students from all backgrounds within the UK. The student population is
international, representing over 120 countries from around the world. 

The Principal, Professor Timothy O'Shea is the chief executive officer of
the University. The academic organisation of the University consists of
twenty-one Schools organised into three Colleges - Humanities & Social
Science; Science & Engineering; Medicine & Veterinary Medicine. Each of the
three Colleges is led by a senior academic Head who has Vice Principal
status, and includes a number of Schools, defined by association of cognate
disciplines. The Management School & Economics is located in the College of
Humanities and Social Science. It is expected that Schools and Colleges will
increasingly collaborate in initiating interdisciplinary research
programmes. 

The University is highly devolved, encouraging decision-making and the
development of initiatives at local levels, within institution-wide policy
frameworks. Further information about the University is available at
http://www.ed.ac.uk . 

The Management School 

http://www.managementschool.ed.ac.uk <http://www.managementschool.ed.ac.uk/>


In January 2005, the Awarding Body of the European Quality Improvement
System (EQUIS) accepted the unanimous recommendation of the EQUIS panel that
our School merited full EQUIS recognition status. 

EQUIS is the quality assurance scheme run by the European Foundation for
Management Development as a service to the management education profession
worldwide. EQUIS accreditation is an assessment of every dimension of the
School, including selection of students, appointment of staff, delivery of
our teaching programme, research performance, strategic focus and governance
structures. The panel reported favourably upon our structure, location,
ambition and international orientation, our research and our students. 

Location 

Edinburgh is one of Europe_s leading finance centres, and the School has
close links with industry, commerce and the professions. There are, in
addition, major public sector institutions in Edinburgh, as it is the site
of the Scottish Parliament, reinstated in 1999 after a break of around 300
years. The Management School_s location in a world class University, with a
wide range of disciplines, also offers significant opportunities for
collaborative developments and growth. Edinburgh_s international recognition
factor was reinforced when UNESCO inscribed the historic centre of Edinburgh
on the list of World Heritage Sites in December 1995. Each year the city
plays host to world-renowned events such as the International Arts, Fringe,
Book, Film, TV, Jazz and Science Festivals. The city is conveniently
situated for air, road and rail travel and annually attracts over two
million visitors, for its architecture, social, cultural, learning and
sporting facilities. The Management School is situated in the University's
central area, at George Square and Bristo Square. 

Staff and Research Interests 

The School places a strong emphasis on research, and initiatives are being
implemented to further enhance this research activity, including the
expansion of research project activity and a substantial expansion of the
doctoral programme. The School has identified three specific areas for
development _ Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Finance and Financial
Markets, and Public Sector Management. The inclusion of Entrepreneurship and
Innovation reflects the importance of new management ideas, and an
enterprise culture, as essential elements of management in the 21st Century.
Research into Finance and Financial Markets embraces mainstream financial
theory, including investment management and corporate finance, but also
includes engagement with the financial services industry on issues of change
management, leadership, strategic management and the internationalisation of
business. With the globalisation of markets, the public sector of most
economies has assumed a new significance. For most national governments, the
transformation of their public sectors from bureaucracies to efficient
delivery mechanisms represents the key challenge in achieving economic
success. 

Research is pursued on an individual and group basis. The School is
configured into six groups, as follows: Accounting & Finance;
Entrepreneurship & Innovation; Management Science & Business Economics;
Marketing; Organisation Studies and Strategy & International Business. There
is a considerable amount of inter-disciplinary activity that spans the six
subject groups. The components of the School were classified as 5a and 4b in
the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. 

In addition to the Centre for Entrepreneurship Research, the School also
supports a number of other Research Centres: Centre for Financial Markets
Research; Credit Research Centre; Centre for the Study of Retailing in
Scotland; Institute of Public Sector Accounting Research; The David Hume
Institute. Further details can be found at
http://www.managementschool.ed.ac.uk/research/centres.html 

In addition to research, the mission statement of the School emphasises its
international orientation in supporting undergraduate, postgraduate, MBA and
research programmes, and the transfer of research-based expertise to
practising managers. 

Degree Programmes 

The Management School has teaching programmes at first, intermediate and
research degree levels. The MA Honours in Business Studies dates from 1918;
the Full-time MBA and its earlier Postgraduate DipBA from 1961 and the
Part-time MBA from 1984; the MSc in Financial Mathematics from 1996; the MSc
in Finance and Investment from 2004; the MSc in International Business and
Emerging Markets in 2005. A Doctoral Programme is in place with a first year
of research training. Teaching in the School was rated as commendable, the
highest category, in all components of the TQA assessment exercise in 2001. 

Undergraduate degrees: the MA with Honours in Business Studies is a
four-year honours degree, with an Ordinary Degree available at 3 years. The
structure of the degree is a broadly-based initial two years of essentially
functionally oriented study containing compulsory courses on analytical
methods and on business strategy, and a further two years of specialist
study in which there is a considerable choice of courses available to the
student. There is a wide range of joint degrees. An ERASMUS/SOCRATES
programme allows students to study for a year in other European
Universities. There are several University of Edinburgh exchange and visitor
schemes which enable Edinburgh students to study abroad and facilitate
student visitors to Edinburgh. 

Postgraduate degrees: 

" Research degrees at the MSc, MPhil, and PhD levels are available. Students
undertake research training courses as appropriate to enhance their existing
expertise, and then pursue a research topic and write a thesis. 

" MSc in Finance and Investment, successfully launched in September 2004. 

" MSc in International Business and Emerging Markets, successfully launched
in September 2005. 

" Scottish Graduate Programme in Economics 

" MBA Programmes: MBA and post experience work in management are housed in
dedicated facilities at Bristo Square. The Edinburgh MBA is a general
management course, which covers all the main management disciplines and
allows specialisation in Marketing, Finance, Operations Management, Strategy
and Entrepreneurship. The School offers a one year full-time MBA, a two and
a half year part-time MBA and an Edinburgh MBA in International Business.
All our MBA programmes were re-accredited in April 2002 by the Association
of MBAs for the maximum five year period. Only a few MBA providers have this
distinction for all their programmes. Over the last four years we have
consistently appeared in the top 12 UK MBA programmes ranked by the
Financial Times and were ranked third in the UK and sixth in Europe by the
Economist Intelligence Unit in 2003. This is a further reflection of the
quality and standing of the Edinburgh MBA 

" Other specialist programmes, including an executive postgraduate
qualification for KPMG, are administered from the Management School. The
Management School also runs a range of executive programmes, selected
customised programmes and conferences. It houses the Advanced Management
Programme, which runs senior Executive courses, including The Executive
Agenda. 

Support services 

The University library is the largest in a Scottish University with over 2
million printed works and microforms. There are current subscriptions to
11,200 periodicals and there is membership of a range of bibliographic
search networks and CDROM services. Both the General and the Business
Services branches of The National Library of Scotland are within a few
hundred metres of the Management School. 

All staff in the School are provided with desktop PCs linked to the
internet. The School's LAN allows sharing of more advanced or expensive
software in support of desktop-based provision. In addition, the University
provides a range of Unix-based workstations for high-performance computing.
Four computer laboratories are available for undergraduate, Masters' and MBA
students, with all research students being provided with PCs. Additional
computer laboratories for student use are located in buildings adjacent to
the School. The wider based computer provision in The University is one of
the most advanced within a European university with major investments in
parallel processors, networking and student computer laboratories in
addition to the usual computer provision for more general research and
teaching purposes. 

Secretarial and administrative support, and support for computing is
provided. 

The nature of the appointment 

The appointment will be full-time. The scope of the Professor's duties and
the provisions set out in these further particulars of appointment are
subject, as in the case of other Chairs, to definition from time to time by
the University Court after consultation with the Senatus Academicus. The
appointee will be an internal examiner for degrees and an ex officio member
of the University's Senatus Academicus, and will be expected to take part in
the work of this and other appropriate bodies. 

The duties of the appointee will include, research, teaching, and
administration as specified in the contract of The University of Edinburgh
and as agreed with the Head of School. The University recognises that the
person appointed should be able to accept, within reasonable limits,
consultancy contracts or other paid occasional work outwith his/her
University appointment. Permission to undertake such activities will not be
unnecessarily withheld, but it is a condition of the appointment that such
employment may be undertaken only with the express approval of the Head of
School or, when appropriate, the Head of College. 

Application Procedure: 

All applications for this post should include a letter of application, a CV,
application form and the names and addresses of three referees who can be
contacted immediately. The taking up of references is selective, and does
not imply a decision that the applicant will be placed on the shortlist for
interview. 

For those who wish to apply on-line, please follow the on-line application
procedure at http://www.jobs.ed.ac.uk/ . 

Hard copy applications should be sent to the Secretary to the Special
Committee for the Dixons Chair of Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Mrs.
Lenora Godwin, College of Humanities & Social Science, The University of
Edinburgh, 55-56 George Square Edinburgh EH8 9JU by the closing date of 28
October 2005. 

We cannot guarantee to consider late applications. 

The equal opportunities form should be completed and returned in the
separate prepaid envelope. 

Please quote ref no: 3005060

Informal enquiries may be directed to Professor Irvine Lapsley, Head of
School (Tel 0131-650 3790; Email I.Lapsley at ed.ac.uk). 

Short-listed candidates will be invited to make a presentation prior to the
selection interview, which members of the School will have the opportunity
to attend. This presentation may inform the selection committee in its
deliberations. We would wish to allow members of staff attending
presentations to see the CV and Application Form of short-listed candidates.
If you do not wish to allow your CV and Application Form to be made
available in this way please advise us of this in a covering letter
accompanying your application. If we are so advised, then the only
information provided to School staff will be a list of your publications.
Your CV and Application Form will remain confidential to members of the
short-listing and selection committee. It is intended to hold presentations
on Thursday 8 December 2005, and interviews on Friday 9 December 2005. 

---------------------------------------------
Thank you.
 
Sincerely,


Michael Clouser
Ph.D. Student
http://webdb.ucs.ed.ac.uk/management/school_new/people/MichaelClouser.html
<http://webdb.ucs.ed.ac.uk/management/school_new/people/MichaelClouser.html>

Centre for Entrepreneurship Research
http://www.managementschool.ed.ac.uk/research/groups/ent_inno/
School of Management and Economics 
16 Buccleuch Place
University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, Scotland, UK EH8 9LW