November 29, 2023, by aczht

Navigating Real-World Dynamics: The MBA Focus on Business Practice Week 2023

During Business Practice Week, an integral part of the MBA programme at Nottingham University Business School, students engaged in various activities to gain insights into current business strategies and challenges. The week included visits to THG (The Hut Group) in Manchester, an e-commerce giant running over 100 websites selling everything from fashion to nutrition and beauty across 164 countries, where they heard talks about resilience in business and leadership from Business Development Director and Olympic Gold Medallist, Callum Skinner and Chris Pecker, Paid Media Manager from LOOKFANTASTIC. These were followed by a networking lunch with the Talent team and recruiters for THG.

On Tuesday, the students attended a panel discussion including alumni Anmarie Spaziano, owner of Annies Burger Shack, a trailblazer of vegan food in Nottingham, focusing on inclusivity and sustainability. This was followed by a visit to Metronome, a national centre for music, moving images, video games and live performances, with a 400-capacity venue hosting a cross-media programme.

Midweek, the diverse groups within the MBA cohort showcased their consulting community project, collaboratively undertaken with Himmah and Business in the Community.

Towards the end of the week, the cohort received presentations from KPMG and Nottingham Contemporary, delving into the organisational structures of charities and non-profits, and the complexities of relying on mixed-income without a tangible product for sale.

The week concluded with a visit to London, featuring highly acclaimed talks at the London Stock Exchange on Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance, and at the Bank of England on Monetary Policy, Prudential Supervision, and Financial Stability. The week wrapped up with an alumni networking event at Browns, attended by 51 London-based alumni.

Dr Amrit Judge, Associate Professor of Finance at Nottingham University Business School, elaborates on the significance of the visits during Business Practice Week and why it holds substantial value for students:

“Friday began with a visit to the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) located in the heart of the City of London with St Paul’s cathedral in its backdrop. The themes covered by the LSEG focused on sustainable finance and the cutting-edge metrics in the areas of Environment, Social and Governance that can be sourced from the LSEGs Refinitiv Workspace platform. The visit began with Beth Schuck, Senior Analyst in the area of Sustainable Investment Research highlighting the key findings from recent research carried out by the LSE on the state of the green economy. Beth noted that the green economy is substantial and growing, representing 7.1% of global listed company market capitalisation and presents a $7 trillion investment opportunity. Beth went on to explain using both firm and country data that Green Finance was playing a key role in promoting the transition to a sustainable world. The visit concluded with Joel Furze, Senior Customer Learning Manager, going through a few case studies on how Refinitiv Workspace can be employed for conducting cutting-edge ESG research.

“On Friday afternoon our MBA students visited the ‘The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street’, that is, the Bank of England! Our hosts provided fantastic insights into the Bank’s work in the key areas of monetary policy, prudential supervision, and the resolution of failing banks. First off, Jon Paxton from the Sterling Operations Desk talked about the Bank’s market operations in the context of monetary policy setting and implementation, and particularly the role of gathering Market Intelligence from their contacts in firms across the City.  This was followed by Soukayna Hachimi discussing her role as a supervisor and the skills and judgement required for supervising major financial institutions such as ‘High Street’ banks.

“The visit concluded with a talk focused on Financial Stability, here Amandeep Rehlon described the Bank’s resolution powers, which touched upon his experience of the resolution of the UK division of the failed US institution Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023.”

Find out more about our Master of Business Administration (MBA) courses, designed to cultivate strategic thinking skills, emphasising expansive critical thinking and the ability to influence and inspire others.

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