2009 Conference Postponed - Message from Dean Tuninga

Dear Colleagues,

Today in the Management Team meeting we have decided to postpone the Partner’s Conference which originally was planned for the end of June 2009. We are in the process to redesign this meeting and value any input you may have to make the future MSM Conference an even bigger success. Please inform the partners and other contacts who may have been interested in attending our partner’s conference in June that we will organize another event later in the year.

Regards,

Ron
Prof. Dr. Ronald S.J. Tuninga
Director Dean

Happy and Blessed Winter Holidays! It's not to early to plan for the 2009 conference.

The 2009 MsM Partners' Conference will take place in Maastricht, June 28-29. The registration deadline is April 1, 2009. To register please click here After registration you will receive a confirmation email.

Some of you have already sent presentations or papers.  They are welcome, but: Please include in your message the name of the MSM partner institution with which you are affiliated, and whether you are faculty, staff or student. (If the latter, MBA, MSc, DBA, or PhD student?)  

Each year we get applications from unaffiliated individuals, apparently as gambits for EU visas.  We want the Partners' Conferences to be inclusive, but we must take steps to avoid being enmeshed in visa fraud.  Thus, we kindly ask you to identify yourself when you register or submit papers.

Meanwhile, please send the names and email addresses of your colleagues who should be invited. The conference is open to all faculty, doctoral students, and managing staff of MsM partner institutions. Send these names to phillips (at) msm (dot) nl.

Soon to come in the MSM text book series: Supply Chain Management (SCM)

Prof. Dragan Nikolik will be involved in editing this book. Here is the list of topics from MSM’s core syllabus in SCM. Ask the editor(s) whether the book chapters will exactly follow the syllabus topics or whether modifications are planned. 

·      General Introduction

• Operations Management

§       Introduction to OM

§       Forecasting

• Operations Management

§       Capacity Planning

§       Inventory Management

• Management Science

§       Decision Analysis, Decision Criteria

§       Decision Analysis, Using Sample Info

• Management Science

§       Optimization: Linear Programming

§       Optimization: Special LP: Transportation

• Information Technology for SCM
• Procurement & Outsourcing
• Customer Value and SCM
• Process Modeling, Simulation, IT and DM

§       Systems Thinking

§       An IT tool for Decision Making

• Supply Chain Integration

§       Bullwhip Effect

§       Applications: the world flower markets

• Coordinated Product & SC Design
• Strategic Alliances
• International Issues 

Soon to come in the MSM text book series: Business in the Global Arena (BGA)

Profs. Arthur Sybrandy, Robert Goedegebuure, and Ronald Tuninga are coordinating the BGA text book.  Contact them if you wish to contribute a chapter or a case. Here is the list of topics from MSM’s core syllabus in BGA. Ask the editors whether the book chapters will exactly follow the syllabus topics or whether modifications are planned.

• Understanding Globalisation
• Economic Performance in the Global Arena: The Rise and Decline of Countries
• Economic performance, growth and wealth – A long-term view

o      Shifts in global production

o      Measuring economic performance

o      Sources of economic growth and wealth

• Economic and human development
• Pathologies in economic performance: Depressions, slumps and high inflation
• National economies in a globalizing world

o      Economic linkages and economic integration

o      Linking economies: The exchange rate

o      Measuring linkages (Balance of Payments Analysis)

• Global Trade and Investment
• Global Macroeconomics

§       The impact of global macroeconomic dynamics on corporate strategy

§       Understanding goods market developments

o      Consumption, investment and savings

o      The role of the government and the government budget

o      The world market for goods and services

§       Understanding financial markets and the workings of monetary and fiscal policies in the global economy

o      Financial markets in the economy

o      The role of central banks

o      Monetary and fiscal policy

o      Monetary and fiscal policy in open economies

§       Inflation, unemployment and the business cycle

o      Labour market developments and aggregate supply

o      Inflation and unemployment

o      Understanding the global business cycle

§       Macroeconomic policy in the modern world economy

o      Macroeconomic policymaking in a globalizing world economy

o      The role of international financial institutions

o      The future of the world economy

Soon to come in the MSM text book series: Marketing

Profs. Arthur Sybrandy and Ronald Tuninga are coordinating the marketing text book.  Contact them if you wish to contribute a chapter or a case. Here is the list of topics from MSM’s core syllabus in Marketing. Ask the editors whether the book chapters will exactly follow the syllabus topics or whether modifications are planned.

• Globalization of Marketing
• Firm, Industry & National Competitive Analysis
• Researching Business Environments
• Cross-Cultural Buyer Behavior
• Foreign Market Entry Strategies
• Marketing in Mature Markets
• Marketing in New Markets
• Marketing in Emerging Markets
• Macro/Micro-Segmentation & Positioning
• Products & Services Standardization/Adaptation
• Pricing for Low/Medium Income Markets
• Distribution amidst Limited Infrastructure
• Transnational/Localized Marketing Communications
• Socio-Ethical Issues in Marketing & Development

 

MSM’s Textbook Strategy Vindicated

Amidst increasing hype about e-books and Internet-only publishing, MSM decided that the Maastricht School of Management Series in Intercultural and Global Management should be low-cost, small and light books that rely minimally on Web interaction.  Two recent reports confirm that this was the right decision.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has just reported that many digital textbooks do not have the features that students want. According to the Chronicle, a coalition of independent student organizations surveyed 500 students from several universities. The survey showed that students feel manipulated by the “digital rights management” embodied in e-books, which limits copying and erases the book automatically at the end of the semester. “About 75 percent of those surveyed said they prefer a printed textbook over an electronic one. And 60 percent said that even if a free digital copy were available, they would still pay for a low-cost print version." 

Michael Barkoviak of DailyTech writes today that “After seeing a high level of demand for its Kindle e-book reader, Amazon plans to market its newest Kindle to high school and college students. A product weighing just 10.3 ounces and able to hold multiple textbooks could be appealing to college students who typically spend hundreds of dollars per semester on text books” and have to carry several heavy books around campus. 

Though Amazon has sold almost 300,000 Kindles, they still cost US$359, a hefty burden for many students, and they cannot yet display the color diagrams that are key to explaining many academic subjects.

Though all these technical and cost hurdles will be overcome eventually, students need a solution now.  MSM’s series is well positioned to provide that solution.

Q&A on peer review of conference papers, book contributorship

These questions came in from Prof. Hernan Riquelme at MSM’s Kuwait partner KMBS. 

Q. I wonder if the manuscripts in the next MsM Partners Conference can be peer reviewed. I do not know if this has anything to do with [2008’s] low turnout, but many universities do not consider publications in non-refereed conferences. Given the low number of manuscripts presented, I do not think that it would be difficult to split them among the many academics in our network.

A. The conference proceedings are peer-reviewed, even if during a year with few submissions I am the only member of the review committee.  For 2008 I did reject a few papers, and in previous years there were enough submissions to justify a larger review committee.  But thanks for the reminder - I will emphasize in the 2009 calls for papers that selected papers do appear in a refereed proceedings.

Q. I have a couple of questions on the book contributions. Do the authors have to be lecturers in the MSM program?

A. Book chapter and case authors do not have to be lecturers in the MSM program.  We hope to give first option to faculty and doctoral students at MSM partner schools and institutes.  However, the net can be cast wider.  I have needed to do this for the MITE book, for example.

Q. Is there a description of the Intercultural and Global Management [book series] chapters? There is a link after the title but it does not take me to a book layout.

A. Chapter descriptions in the forthcoming books should follow the main topics in the syllabus for the corresponding core course.  I was planning to ask the MSM Programs Manager for the remaining syllabuses, but she just left on maternity leave.  A happier task than looking for syllabuses!  In any event, you can obtain syllabuses from the MSM liaison manager responsible for your school.