3rd in the UK for Product Design

Limited access exists regarding resources (e.g., machinery, equipment, technologies, etc.) and capabilities (skills, green strategies, sustainable practices, and training). With evidence on nature-based solutions (NBS), knowledge is needed to be translated into future policies and green strategies. The European Commission (EU) has officially defined NBS as cost-effective solutions inspired by and rooted in nature, simultaneously addressing environmental, social, and economic advantages while enhancing resilience. In this research, the empirical analysis is concentrated on a program funded by a European Foundation and implemented by local non-profit organisations. The sample is considered approximately 13 small farmers' families who are part of a larger community of 700 smallholder farmers deeply connected to and engaged in cooperative initiatives but facing barriers to accessing regular rural credit and understanding the process to be sustainable. The significance of the study is examining the NBS's theoretical context to the smallholder farmers (e.g., creating green strategies by learning from social innovation and knowledge) and practical benefits (e.g., co-creation of NBS requires collaborative governance, policymakers’ action, and inclusive narrative of mission for NBS to the farmers). Lastly, the study also enriches the participants' resilience in embarking on and understanding how to run a cooperative without resources and its role in farmers' market positioning.

Host: Felippe de Medeiros Oliveira

Speakers: Ana-Paula Fonseca (University of Dundee), Dr. Nobuiuki C. Ito (IBMEC, Brazil) & Dr. Felippe M. Oliveira (University of Dundee)

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Fortunately, there are many educational strategies that have the potential to be effectively applied in business schools generally and UDSB in particular. One strategy to be actively considered is vertically integrated projects (VIP). VIPs are ambitious, long term, multidisciplinary, collaborative, experiential learning projects designed to create pragmatic transformation in relation to specific social or ecological problems. They provide an educational infrastructure that allows students from different levels (first year to PhDs) and different disciplines to engage with external stakeholders and communities to make a difference. 

The VIP movement originated in University of Georgia and has been successfully adopted in many other universities. UK examples include: University of Strathclyde's VIP which purchases, installs and maintains solar panels in Malawi that generate free electricity to schools; the Strathclyde Law Clinic; and University of Birmingham’s Carbon Accounting for Net Zero.  According to Georgia Tech, VIPs create long-term exploration of the innovation process, cultivate leadership and mentoring, and support scholarship, impact and engagement. This workshop will introduce the VIP model, provide examples of previous and existing VIPs, and allow space for participants to devise possible VIPs that could be of value to UDBS our students, stakeholders and the communities within which we are embedded.

Presenters: Professor Ian Thomson (University of Dundee)

Host: Professor Colin Dey

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Twenty years since their regime changes, several of the countries in this region have undergone substantial transformation, but stable political and economic systems have failed to emerge. 

In this chapter, I explore why this is the case. Drawing on institutional economics and comparative economic theories, I introduce a new typology of Varieties of Capitalism for the CEE region. History and path dependency are also decisive in Central and Eastern Europe: the countries of the region possess a dualistic value system; their informal institutions are characterized by both Western and Eastern values. 

Western values are linked to the enlightenment and contain elements of substantive democracy, while Eastern values are the opposite. After the regime changes, Western values became dominant in the region, influenced by the European Union and a rejection of the Soviet past. Even if the transition from communism to capitalism satisfies the indicators laid out by János Kornai, this type of capitalism did not stabilize. 

The determinant factor is whether the capitalist system is democratic or non-democratic. Within these two main types, the coordination mechanism distinguishes the capitalist sub-types. In democratic systems, creative coordination is dominant, whereas in non-democratic systems, destructive coordination is.

Presenters: Professor Miklós Rosta (Corvinus University of Budapest)

Host: Dr. Sisi Sung

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Working from home and hybrid office working has become an increasingly prominent feature of Covid-19 era organisational functioning. While it represented a short-term pandemic crisis response, its emergence as an evident longer-term transformation in organisational operations poses a range of accounting and management issues. 

This study examines the productivity, cost management and management control dimensions of the emerging transition to hybrid office working. It undertakes this through the analysis of recent business and professional practice-oriented discourse on hybrid office developments, and theoretically informed by concepts drawn from the organisational resilience literature. 

The paper makes three central contributions:

1. it finds that immediate short-term defensive crisis responses are being followed by longer-term productivity oriented transformational strategies aimed at embracing new opportunities; 
2. cost incurrence is identified as a key strategy for building longer term office working infrastructure, communication and collaboration processes; and 
3. pre and post covid approaches to management control are identified as complex and potentially conflicting as both management and staff negotiate expectations and processes more relevant to the changed hybrid working environment.

Presenters: Professor Lee Parker (Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow)

Host: Professor Shamima Haque

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Venue: The Liar, Dundee University Student’s Union

Snacks and Drinks: We'll have a variety of snacks and beverages available for purchase throughout the evening. 

Quizmasters: Our very own Vice-President Fundraising and team have prepared an exciting quiz for you! 

Charity Fundraising: We're not just here for fun; we're here to make a difference. We are here to raise money towards the Show Racism the Red Card Charity which we are supporting along with our big staff v student football match on the 20th.