ACTIVEMEDIA TECHNOLOGY
Increasing revenue at ActiveMedia Technology
RAMESH KUMAR, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
“Our experience has largely been positive and we have learnt how best to work with students to support them in their thesis and ensure maximum impact on the business. We will continue to sponsor in the future and look forward to collaboration with Saïd Business School with other projects.”
The project was focused on developing an empirical view on how small technology companies can transform themselves to become a market driven organisation and drive revenue growth. The project required understanding of the ActiveMedia’s (AMT) product portfolio, industry dynamics, understanding of sales and marketing plans, analysis of past successful sales efforts, and comparison with other technology companies that have experienced fast revenue growth.
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ACTIVEMEDIA TECHNOLOGY
Mobile Coupons – Developing loyalty among cellular customers
RAJ SINGH, DIRECTOR
“It was extremely valuable for our organisation to have a high calibre individual work with us for 6 months and focus on aspects of our business that otherwise would not be tackled due to limited management bandwidth in a small technology driven organisation like ours. The project output has helped us to better appreciate how our solutions address our customers needs.”
The project focused on how mobile coupon technology can be used to help create a successful loyalty programme for cellular operators. As part of this the first step was to understand the role a loyalty programme can play and what features are likely to make it a success.
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ALLIED IRISH BANKS
Multi-Period Loan Pricing Model
CHRIS L GIFFORD, ASSOCIATE & BRIAN G O’KELLY, RISK MANAGER
“The student brought a high-powered, analytical and thorough approach to the project. He was able to develop novel and useful techniques that could not have been obtained by standard research. His clear and exclusive focus on a technical and specialised area of banking and finance yielded valuable results.”
The aim of this project was to improve the understanding and tools available to assess the profitability of making long-term corporate and project finance loans. This is in the context of a yes/no decision to individual loans and in the wider context of deciding which areas of lending to enter or exit.
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ATKINS
To what extent can computerised tools re-shape the managerial practice in bridge maintenance management?
GARRY STERRITT, PRINCIPLE ENGINEER
"The project has produced useful research for the above subject and has tested the usefulness of such a tool for use with highway structures. Due to current staff pressures in the engineering sector we have been unable to suitably progress R&D work using in-house resources, so the application of bright and motivated students to these type of projects is of immense benefit to our company. The work undertaken by the student has already been incorporated into a wider Decision Support Tool that we are currently using with clients."
"The student worked hard in a difficult subject area and produced an end product that is useful to the industry. He was well motivated and was able to progress with minimal supervision and he was proactive and initiated several important activities himself."
The student developed a Decision Support Tool that helps bridge engineers/managers develop long term management plans/strategies for highway structures, taking account of deterioration rates, the impact of maintenance on condition and subsequent deterioration, and maintenance costs.
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ATKINS
Decision Support in Asset Management
ANDY WALTON, PRINCIPLE ENGINEER
"The project has produced useful research for the above subject and has tested the usefulness of such a tool within Rail asset management specifically. The benefits are that the work would not have been carried out as there is no one with sufficient time to conduct the research at present. The tool can be used to ensure consistency and traceability of decisions made regarding asset management in the selected sector (Rail) and can now be expanded to suit other areas of application."
The project provides a tool to aid decision making when faced with asset options; for example – to renew, life extend, enhance or leave as is. By entering the options and providing the cost information, the tool makes it possible, in a way not easily performed before, to make comparisons and hence informed choices. Whole life cost is produced as an output.
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BANK OF AMERICA
Portfolio optimisation for a Single Tranche Collateralised Debt Obligation
STCDO
PETER DOHERTY, HEAD OF CREDIT SALES – EMEA (EX-UK & IRELAND)
“The joint project result enables our traders to build and price a STCDO a lot more efficiently. Furthermore, Bank of America has established an active dialogue with Oxford Said Business School with a view to repeating the internship.”
A STCDO is a debt obligation typically referencing a basket of corporate default swaps (CDS). The project was to build and programme a tool which selects a specified number of CDS (e.g. 100) from a wider universe ( e.g. 800) to create an optimised portfolio with the highest weighted average return and best weighted average credit rating, after taking into consideration any rating agency CDO portfolio constraints and joint default probability correlation.
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BANK OF AMERICA
Study of Reverse Mortgages
PAUL WILDE, PRINCIPAL, HEAD OF UK FIG SECURITISATION
"The project provided a useful analysis as a basis for further development of strategy in relation to the product, and gave insights that could only be obtained from a detailed academic review."
Analysis of an undeveloped asset class in order to develop and target Bank of America’s strategy supplying financing.
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BARCLAYS CAPITAL
Exotic Derivative Operations – Process Enhancements.
PAUL MCCULLAGH, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
"As well as the projects that the student was involved in she also played a key role in the daily line functions of the team and progressed to the point where she was able to train new joiners to the team. I was very pleased with the way the student applied herself to the role and the enthusiasm she showed and maintained. She established herself in a relatively short space of time and was a popular member of the team."
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BNP PARIBAS
Capital Management & Securitisation: A study of "Synthetic balance sheet Collateralised Loan Obligation" in Securitisation for Capital Relief under the Basel II Accord
DR DANIEL TOTOUOM, QUANTITATIVE STRUCTURER
"The collaboration with the Saïd Business School started in 2006, since then, we are very happy with the quality of the work done by your students. We will continue to receive students from your school."
Development of a framework to help the optimization of Regulatory Capital and economic capital, enhancement and development of new techniques in order to add more value to securitisation business.
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BNP PARIBAS
Impact of Basel II Regulatory Capital Reallocation on Asset Securitisation
THIERRY DAESCHNER, SENIOR STRUCTURER, SECURITISATION
The transition to Basel II is expected to dramatically alter incentives and benefits of securitisation for financial institutions subject to the new capital accord. The project looked into the impact of this transition on the future evolution of securitisation transactions and markets. “The collaboration with Saïd Business School allowed BNP Paribas’ Securitisation to dedicate the valuable resource of the student to research needed to anticipate future evolutions of our markets. The project delivered the expected results thanks to this partnership.”
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CAZENOVE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
Property Project
ANNE WEST, CIO
"This collaboration gave Cazenove Capital an opportunity to complete a specific project which was done to our satisfaction. This allows us to assess whether there is scope for a full time analyst to continue the work in this area. The partnership with Said gave us the opportunity to assess whether a student placement was a successful method of achieving these objectives."
"Application was excellent and work was completed to a high standard. The student was punctual, enthusiastic and professional."
To develop a global database and decision making framework for investment in the listed property developers and REITs; to examine recently listed companies in the UK and to report on initial performance and results. To examine the decision making process for making investments in the listed property sector.
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CITIGROUP
Analysis of growth drivers for German residential and commercial real estate lending volumes, and development of longer-term forecasting models
JEREMY SIGEE, EQUITY ANALYST
"The project was successful in identifying new data sources and external experts, as well as in building new analytical frameworks and forecasting models. We are now in the process of writing up the work into research reports for our institutional investor clients."
"The student was very dedicated to the challenge, focused, and even coped with our 7.00am start time."
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CITIGROUP
Business Driven Capacity Planning Model
MIKE FORSTER, TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE CLIENT MANAGER
"This exercise provided both an excellent opportunity to have a talented individual working on a critical topic for us and also to give us an extended opportunity to evaluate his suitability for a career in Citigroup.”
The project was to design and build a statistically based capacity planning model that used business volumes and mainframe utilisation data to determine the amount of resource required for a given number of transactions.
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CITIGROUP
Can M&A create value for Financial Institutions?
SEBASTIEN GIZARD, VICE PRESIDENT
“Creating an M&A database, conclusions driven from analysis as a marketing tool, evaluating your student as a candidate.”
The project was an analysis of market perspective on M&A transactions.
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CITIGROUP
Demographics and Pricing Structures in European Telecoms
TERENCE SINCLAIR, MANAGING DIRECTOR, CITIGROUP INVESTMENT RESEARCH
“The project supplemented, and helped develop our research work in ways that would not have been possible without a dedicated resource from the Business School. The demand side work would not have been practical for our staff that run financial analysis of companies and stocks.”
The project enabled us to develop our analysis of demand-side drivers for Telecoms, rather than the supply-side of products offered by the companies whose stocks we cover. Further work produced a pricing model to analyse per minute charges and per customer pricing of the relevant products.
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CITIGROUP
Initiation of coverage on Colruyt
JAMES ANSTEAD, VICE-PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN FOOD RETAIL RESEARCH
“The placement has been very useful in focusing our minds on a long-overdue project that needed some dedicated attention. The student has brought a great deal of enthusiasm to the role, as well as a sharp intellect and strong writing and numerical skills. She has also enabled us to tap into the resources of the Saïd Business School.”
The purpose of the project was to put together an initiation report on Colruyt, the Belgian food retailer. This involved building an excel model of the company’s financial results and then analysing its strategic position.
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DEUTSCHE BANK
Is there a basis ensure asset appreciations in UK Hotel Investments?
ALISTAIR DIXON, CEO, MANAGING DIRECTOR.
"The student’s work in this field and practical aspect is fully endorsed and supported by Deutsche Bank."
The student, through her practical applications of theories and valuation techniques, learnt whilst at the office, from colleagues and through self study…is examining the rationale/basis for asset appreciation in the UK investment market. The practical aspect of this work is her deep involvement in the organisation of a hotel business, including it’s assets in the UK.
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DEUTSCHE BANK
Value Creation in Cross Border Banking M&A
WILLIAM NOURSE, DIRECTOR
“We had academic rigour applied to a familiar topic. This proved useful in providing empirical evidence and disciplined thought to a previously largely anecdotal topic. We fully supported the project that the student undertook for us and appreciate the opportunity to have her work on our behalf.”
A review of value creation in European banking mergers and acquisitions.
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EUROPEAN BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Benchmarking: An approach for identifying industrial energy efficiency potential
PETER HOBSON, SENIOR BANKER, ENERGY BUSINESS GROUP
“This confirms my endorsement of this collaboration. The student’s work has been invaluable in our preparation of the benchmarking approach and indeed is likely to be referenced by other international financial institutions that are following our work.”
The project was to assess the methodologies and practical approaches for a systematic programme to benchmark energy efficiency performance of EBRD clients.
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EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY
Cost Benefit Analysis of the International Charter – Space and Major Disasters
DR STEPHEN ANTHONY BRIGGS, HEAD – EARTH OBSERVATION SCIENCE AND APPLICATIONS DEPT
"In undertaking this project he has added to the corporate understanding, evaluation and management of the Charter Process."
A number of international space agencies, including ESA, have created mechanisms for immediate access to satellite observation data in cases of serious emergency. Examples where this has been applied include the SE Asia Tsunami of 26/12/2004 and the recent Earthquake in Kashmir. Some ninety calls in all have been made to the Charter process by relief agencies over the course of the last five years. In delivering the data agencies work closely with such organisations as Medicins sans Frontieres, Red Cross, United Nations Agencies and national aid relief bodies. The student has undertaken a detailed analysis of the effectiveness, operation and benefits of the Charter, its possible extension to other space based services such as telemedicine and its governance.
Jonathan Hall, Executive Director
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HANG SENG BANK
Credit Risk Management Department
LOUIS YUEN, CREDIT RISK MONITORING MANAGER
“We always actively seek new talents to join our team and help on market analysis as well as portfolio management. The addition of this placement to my team not only eases our burden but also brings new ideas to us. We do think both our company and the student would benefit from this project and hope to continue this programme with the Saïd Business School.”
Identify the underlying risk factors of traditional MP3-players manufacturers in China. Evaluate the credit risk of related customers in HASE’s portfolio and decide appropriate account strategy. Along with the consistent upward price trend of a majority of raw materials (e.g. plastics) since early 2005, the overall performance of the audio sector has been experiencing increasing fluctuations commencing the second half of 2005. As a result, there is an urgent need to study, analyse and evaluate the risk factors concerned on that sector from a systematic perspective. Pragmatically, in order to avert the credit risks of our bank, we have also mandated to include in the project the identification of financially vulnerable MP3 makers amid the industry with appropriate account strategies formulated on customer level for mitigation.
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HSBC BANK
Capital Rationalisation in Oil & Gas
MARK BENTLEY, MANAGING DIRECTOR
“I fully endorse this collaboration with Oxford Saïd Business School. The study examines a variety of evidence in analysing the way capital is being allocated. It is particularly relevant with the backdrop of current high oil prices and increasing reserve extraction costs. The study offers important insights into the issues of capital allocation in the oil and gas industry.”
The study examined the capital allocation choices that face the largest public oil and gas companies of the world at a time when the oil industry is generating large amounts of cash-flow.
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INFINEON
Genesis – KSFs for the Analog IC Industry
HOLGER LOEBEL, PROJECT MANAGER STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
"The study conducted by the student gave us valuable input into a special part of the semiconductor market, which would not have been provided otherwise in addition to the daily business of the department. By this, it enlarged our knowledge about business models in the semiconductor industry which will be of relevance for future recommendations to the management."
"I want to positively stress the student’s dedication to the project, which was really outstanding!"
The project included the collection and aggregation of the relevant academic theory and an
in-depth study on performance and business conduct of selected companies in the industry. As a result, basic business models have been described that are based on a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative anaylsis of the collected data from primary and secondary sources.
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INTEL
Extending the Reach of Marketing Beyond Distribution
NIGEL CRISP, CHANNEL MARKETING MANAGER (EMEA)
“By working closely with the Saïd Business School, Intel was able to design and implement a relationship marketing programme targeting design houses in Europe. This marketing programme generated a new market-driving approach for Intel which produced several new project design wins across a variety of market segments, potentially resulting in significant extra revenue for Intel and the basis for further expansion of this programme.”
A classic relationship marketing programme to electronic design companies in Europe. This activity led to several new projects being identified, for a variety of applications, potentially resulting in significant extra revenue for Intel.
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KELMAN
Automated Handling of Transformer Diagnostic Information
DR COLIN MCILROY, DIRECTOR OF APPLIED ENGINEERING
“This project has allowed Kelman to address an important aspect of the on-going support of one of our key product areas without the need to get our mainstream engineering development teams involved at too early a stage. Studying the market requirements and proposing technical solutions in good time will prevent data overload from our increasing number of monitoring systems in the field and provide a valuable service to our utility customers.”
Kelman manufactures monitoring systems for large power transformers. There are several hundred systems installed across the world. The data that they provide is essential for the safe and reliable operation of these key elements in the power system. This data must be gathered and analysed regularly in order to gain the maximum benefit from the system. This project proposed a method to perform this function to the benefit of both Kelman and their customers.
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LAFARGE ROOFING
Evaluation (Technical and Commercial) of Novel Modular Roofing Structures
STUART POCOCK, ACCESSORIES MANAGER
“The student was a great help to Lafarge in the time he was with us. He was able to undertake a difficult task and deliver results that have helped move the overall project forward.”
The project topic was to produce a report detailing the various modular roof structures in the market critiquing them both technically and commercially.
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LIBERTY ERMITAGE
The Factors of Financial Success for Seeded Hedge Funds
CHARLES HOWLETT, VICE PRESIDENT
“The partnership is important to us, as the Saïd Business School is clearly a well-respected institution and closer relations could be of benefit to both parties.”
The project sought to analyse what factors are important to the success of hedge funds in Europe, particularly with regard to asset-raising. It also sought to compare how seeded managers faired versus non-seeded managers.
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OFCOM
Spectrum Usage rights: Are the added complexities merited?
PROFESSOR WILLIAM WEBB, HEAD OF R&D
"Working with the Saïd Business School allows us to undertake projects that we would not normally be able to resource and brings to us individuals with strong analytical skills able to tackle problems often with a greater breadth and diversity than would be the case for existing employees. When targeted carefully at suitable problems and issues, the results can be extremely valuable to Ofcom."
Ofcom is introducing a new type of licence for wireless transmission termed spectrum usage rights (SURs). These are complex entities and their impact on existing licence users and their advantage for new users is not always clear. The aim of this project has been to assess the cost to end users of not adopting SURs in the case that their spectrum neighbours change their usage of the spectrum. The project has demonstrated that in some cases this may result in significant harm.
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OFCOM
The Role of Ofcom in Promoting Innovation
PROFESSOR WILLIAM WEBB, HEAD OF R&D
“This is a project that Ofcom was keen to undertake. Having help from the Saïd Business School both enabled us to do this sooner and to bring a different perspective to the project.”
Ofcom has a statutory duty to promote innovation. While much of our policy has been favourable to innovation, we have not set out in detail how we should achieve this. This project looked at the theory and practice of innovation leading to a series of recommendations as to how Ofcom should act to meet its duties.
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OXFORD RADCLIFFE HOSPITALS NHS TRUST
Discharge Documentation
ANDREW STEVENS, DIRECTOR OF PLANNING & INFORMATION
“This collaboration has secured extensive and tangible benefits for the Trust, its patients and its partners in the Oxfordshire health and social care community. These benefits include improved clinical communication, supporting both improved patient care and more robust business processes. The project has also secured increased levels of confidence in the Trust from its Primary Care Trust and GP colleagues (i.e. its key customers).”
The project comprised an audit of existing discharge communication arrangements, the design of new standardised documentation and supporting policies and the production of an implementation plan.
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OXFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
Business Process Re-engineering and Process Benchmarking in Local Government
SUE HUNT, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT
“The student’s work has given us an excellent insight into the application of BPR methodology in Local Government and the challenges of the change management aspects that accompanies this work.”
The project was to apply Business Process Re-engineering to service areas in Oxfordshire as part of the organisation’s efficiency savings strategy.
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OXFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
NICOLA LEAVESLEY, CORPORATE CHANGE ADVISOR
"This has been our most successful student placement to date. She worked tremendously hard, and brought a superb professional level with her. The student worked on three projects simultaneously, something we would not have asked her to do had we not recognised her highly proficient working style.
Her report writing skills were exemplary considering her lack of experience in local government.
She was able to communicate effectively to senior management, and quickly gained a good reputation within the organisation."
Children’s Services better use of legal services: Examination and suggestions for the more effective use of legal services by Children’s Services.
Financial understanding of the Criminal record bureau team: Map process, identify spends across organisation. Feed into budget setting exercise. The team was recently brought together, this project standardised financial processes.
Carers Emergency Support Service: Work with project team to specify new services for carers. Specific input into process issues.
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PRIVATE BANKING INDEX
A game beyond measure?
PAUL CONYERS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
"The student developed a working prototype that provided a powerful proof of concept. His performance, and the skills he demonstrated on this project, reflected the high standards and the value of his education at the Said Business School."
"He helped to present the model to a high level, highly experienced and rather sceptical steering committee, and helped to convince them of the value of the approach.
He showed a professional approach, as well as considerable maturity, in his response to the high-pressure environment in which he worked."
Development of a series of performance indices for UK pensions industry.
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PROCTER & GAMBLE
PSG Line 7 RCO work
AMAL LAVENDER, PSG DEPARTMENT LEADER
"This partnership has been great for our business as it has given us a dedicated resource who has helped to improve a key area of our business and help build capability within the team."
"The student was very committed to his work and supporting the department. He used multiple solutions and sources to deliver results and worked extensively with the department. Excellent student who I was glad to have with us in the department."
How to reduce a lead line’s sizechange time. This involved both organisational and mechanical/control modifications.
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SHOOTER FUND MANAGEMENT
Statistical Arbitrage Opportunities in Global Equity Markets
CHARLES PHAN, QUANTITATIVE ANALYST/INVESTMENT MANAGER
“The project allowed us to explore a new strategy, with significant useful results that benefit the firm’s other portfolios.”
The project aimed at finding and exploiting market inefficiencies using advanced quantitative methods
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SLOANE ROBINSON INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
The Study of Value at Risk Forecasting in Financial Risk Management
JAMES OBORNE, DATABASE AND RESEARCH MANAGER
“The student was assigned to a team whose responsibilities include research and quantitative risk analysis. We have our own practical approach to controlling risk, but felt it may be of interest to commission a study of what new academic theory has to say about the subject. As a matter of fact the student spent much of his time with us helping devise practical improvements to our research processes. He made genuine innovations, as opposed to merely carrying out maintenance work, so on a practical level his work has been very useful and is now incorporated into our daily working routines. At the same time, he was also pursuing his VAR analysis project which has provided us with an interesting insight into the current state of academic value at risk research, a subject and an approach to dealing with risk that often seems too complicated for simple practitioners such as ourselves.”
The project was an investigation of contemporary theories of value at risk forecasting.
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UBS
A review of the European ABS primary capital markets across a range of jurisdictions and asset types with a statistical analysis of the factors influencing pricing.
STEVE COOK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
"I absolutely endorse the collaboration and have found the student’s time with us as well as his project work to be very beneficial. Specifically the student has been a productive member our team who has contributed in a significant way to our business. Additionally, the analysis he undertook for his project contained useful, original work.
On a broader note the partnership we have with the Said Business School has provided us with high quality individuals – many of which we have made job offers to and who have gone on to be valued employees. Having those individuals with us for approximately six months gives the student an opportunity to understand our business and to undertake meaningful work."
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UBS
Hidili International industry report
Q-series – Should Asian utilities buy coal mines?
GHEE PEH, HEAD OF REGIONAL MINING RESEARCH
"The student has contributed to the two projects. He has a professional attitude works well within a team structure. His engineering background has helped to bring a different and important perspective to the analysis of financial issues."
The Hidili report was for a company that was seeking a public listing on the Hong Kong stock Exchange and dealt with the company background, industry issues and financial forecasts. The Q series report examined the long term coal demand and supply trends in Asia. The conclusions were that there would be an Asian coal supply deficit by 2020 and that utilities should buy coal mines to protect themselves against supply tightness.
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UBS
The Rationale and Outlook for Sovereign off Balance Sheet Financing
MICHAEL JAFFE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
“Our partnership with Saïd Business School continues to be a success with the last student placed with us making a valuable contribution to our business through both project work and other assignments.”
The project was a review of why European governments use off balance sheet instruments, use of securitisation techniques, Eurostat rules, and future outlook.
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VITEC GROUP
Implementing lean principles and tools in production
JOHN A HILL, VALUE STREAM LEADER
“We have given our full support to this and in return have met specific targets which we are now beginning to benefit from.”
We, as a business, are continuing our journey from traditional manufacturing methods towards a ‘lean’ production environment. Specific focus has been placed on the change from MRP driven shop order manufacturing to a kanban controlled approach.
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VITEC GROUP
The Suitability of MRP as a Materials Requistioning Tool in a Low Volume, High Complexity Manufacturing Environment
GREG BROWN, SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGER
“This collaboration has been beneficial to our business, as it has provided focus on an identified operational weakness. Taking a jointly developed methodology and applying it allowed via metric review to determine courses of action towards both root cause identification and improvement actions. The student brings a new perspective and approach, contributing ideas and support to this project – enabling data to drive business decisions and introducing 3rd party influences to assist in defining solutions – benefiting both our business improvements and the student’s learning.”
The project topic was to investigate and understand how MRP drives material requisitioning via Buyer-Planner activity out to suppliers. To explore the complex influences that result in material shortages in production that are stimulated by MRP. To apply different work approaches and recommended best practice aimed at improving shortage issues and controlling inventory levels.
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