COB Research Seminar Series

One of the missions of the Research Committee is to foster a research-oriented intellectual climate in the College of Business. To achieve this goal, committee members have organized a successful array of developmental seminars throughout the 2012 calendar year. These seminars featured both College of Business faculty as well as visiting scholars and highlighted research at a variety of stages. Below is a brief description of each of the 17 highly informative sessions held last year. The photo depicts Mr. Jamal Al Dosari and Mr. Jeffery Medearis from Global Aerospace Logistics during their Abu Dhabi presentation.

Abu Dhabi Seminar Series 2012 

12^th January:
Professor Ian Williamson of the Melbourne Business School presented on ‘The Journey of Publishing in a Top Tier Journal’ and on the work he has been conducting as the Director of the Asia Pacific Social Impact Leadership Centre. Dr. Williamson also gave the same talk earlier in the week in Dubai. 

29^th February:
Faculty member Professor Lawrence Tai presented his RIF research project titled, “Competition and Efficiency of UAE Commercial Banks.”

16^th April:
Faculty member Dr. Laura Matherly presented her work, “Improving Critical Thinking and Writing Literacy in Higher Education” that was under review for a Khalifa Award for Education.

30^th April:
Dr. Amal El-Sawad and Dr. Maja Graso led a casual and informal discussion on academic self-censorship. Amal and Maja are in the very early stages of a study that will focus on self-censorship as it pertains to GCC countries, especially the UAE. As academics, we frequently find ourselves evaluating the appropriateness and fit of specific teaching methods and research practices that we employ. As such, they led a group seeking our opinions.

9^th May:
Faculty member Dr. Shawn Strother conducted an educational seminar on correlations and how to model non-linear data. Faculty members provided Shawn with data that he analyzed during the seminar.

23^rd May:
Harvard trained academic and founder and president of AIDHA, Dr. Sarah Mavrinac presented a paper titled “Migrant Women, Financial Education, and the Implications of Savings for Sustainable Return.” This paper offered a pragmatic look at the impact of financial education on the savings behavior and reintegration success of Filipina migrant women.

27th September:
Dr. Claire Sherman presented a research paper titled “Consumption-Related Values and Product Placement: The Effect of Cultivating Fashion Consciousness on the Appeal of Brands in Reality Television.” This presentation was given in advance of the paper’s presentation at the Association for Consumer Research Conference in Vancouver early in October.

18^th October:
Dr. Kate O’Neil reflected on her experience of applying for and winning the Provost Award for her project titled, “Khaleeji Perspectives on Leader Effectiveness.”  Specifically, Kate walked faculty members through the award requirements, her application, and her thoughts on why her project was successful.

22^nd November:
Dr. Arshad Malik presented his research in the area of performance measurement of state secondary schools in New Zealand. It featured his proposed modifications to the performance measurement of teachers.

5^th December:
Professor Nader Habibi is the Henry J. Leir Professor of the Economics of the Middle East, and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics at Brandeis University in Boston Massachusetts, USA. Professor Habibi has published numerous articles in top refereed journals and presented his work on ‘The Economic Agendas and Expected Economic Policies of Islamists in Egypt and Tunisia’.

17^th January:
Mr. Jamal Al Dosari is the Operations and Supply Chain Logistics Manager of Global Aerospace Logistics and along with Mr. Jeffery Medearis, Logistics Advisor, presented to faculty on the scope of their services, local and regional competition, the challenges they face and the research needs of his company and the industry. GAL is an Emirati company that provides aerospace services and products to the UAE government and private customers locally and regionally.

Dubai Seminar Series 2012

11^th March:  
Faculty member Dr. Curba Lampert presented her paper, then under review, now accepted at the Academy of Management Review, titled, “The second face of appropriability: Generative appropriability and its determinants.” 

22^nd April:  Faculty member Murat Erogol presented his work on Emirati entrepreneurs titled, “The design for developing self-organizing collectives to achieve nascent entrepreneurship.”  His work on aiding female entrepreneurs has garnered attention from local institutions such as the Sheik Khalifa Fund.

10^th May:
Faculty member Dr. Anup Nandialath presented his paper titled, ““Open Market Stock Repurchases and the Market for Corporate Control: Attraction vs. Deterrence.”

11^th November:
Dr. Alexei Alexandrov, a Northwestern (Kellogg) trained economist visiting from the U.S. Office of Consumer Protection, presented his paper, “When Should Firms be Risky?” 

18^th November:
Faculty member Dr. Marc Poulin presented his paper, "A Framework for Implementing a Mass Customization Product Architecture: A case in the wood furniture industry.”

9^th December:
Faculty member Dr. Farooq Malik presented his paper “Is Gold the Best Hedge and a Safe Haven under changing Stock Market Volatility?”