Privacy and security have always had a controversial relationship. On one hand security requires the collection of information about citizens, but on the other, it can be seen as infringement of their privacy. Dr Kirstie Ball, Reader in Surveillance and Organisation at The Open University, has received funding totalling £450k to investigate whether people view surveillance and the collection of information as acceptable in return for enhanced security - commonly positioned as a trade-off.
Kirstie said: “Surveillance has many positive uses, including law enforcement and investigating criminal activity, but it can also affect human rights and civil libertarian issues. Public perception and technology change over...
The view from the top of business. Presented by Evan Davis, The Bottom Line cuts through confusion, statistics and spin to present a clearer view of the business world, through discussion with people running leading and emerging companies. The programme is broadcast first on BBC Radio 4 and later on BBC World Service Radio, BBC World News TV and BBC News Channel TV.
Evan and his panel talk cars. What road is the automotive industry on? Just where is it headed? They also consider whether it's best to be a wage slave, with a regular salary, or to take a share of the profits of a business.
Joining Evan in the studio are Ken Keir, Vice President of Honda Motors Europe; Nikki King, Managing Director of Isuzu Truck UK;...
The Open University has appointed Professor Rebecca Taylor as Dean of its Business School and Law School.
Professor Taylor was previously Associate Dean at Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University and has extensive experience within the business education sector. She has a PhD in Economics and has directed several HEFCE-funded projects related to the development and dissemination of online teaching and learning resources for Economics and the wider Social Sciences.
Professor Taylor is also an Associate Director of the Economics Network at the University of Bristol and has worked with the Economic and Social Research Council and the Higher Education Academy on addressing the identified skills deficit...
The impact of the recent recession on the sales performance of small and medium-sized companies was more sudden and severe than that experienced in the early 1990s, but the drop in employment levels has been less dramatic, according to the Quarterly Survey of Small Business in Britain, produced by The Open University Business School (www.open.ac.uk/quarterly-survey) with support from ACCA (The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants).
The report for the fourth quarter shows a much bigger dip in SMEs’ sales performance in the recent recession, compared to that of the early 1990s. Despite this, the current economic downturn...
The Open University Business School recently hosted its free Breakfast Briefing for business people local to the Milton Keynes campus.
The briefing, on Thursday 12 January, was the second in a series of events supporting companies in the region. Over breakfast, Professor Brian Smith, Visiting Research Fellow at the Open University Business School, spoke about what prevents firms from implementing their strategic decisions effectively; he suggested steps that can be taken to improve the process. The session included a self-diagnostic exercise so that attendees left with a clear picture of how they might improve their own organisations.
For more information about our Business Network and series of...
The Open University Business School has appointed Evan Davis as a Visiting Professor of the Public Understanding of Business to support the research, scholarship and enterprise strategy.
Evan gave his first public lecture on 1st November at the OU’s Milton Keynes campus.
The lecture entitled 'Reflections on the British Economy', was hosted in association with the Economic and Social Research Council’s Festival of Social Science. It explored the challenge faced by the...
Helen Roby, Research Associate in Social Marketing at The Open University Business School is to give a presentation on the role of sustainable personal travel policies and practices as a corporate responsibility and human resources issues.
Sustainable travel policies can be much more than structural enhancements to the site. In order for them to succeed they need to support and deliver behaviour change and engage the community. These changes in behaviour can impact how a site is used by changing how people travel to work, or by developing working practices that encourage people to work more flexibly, from home or meet through virtual means. These can then have far reaching impacts on how people are managed and...
Small and medium-sized companies appear sceptical of Government’s hopes that they will be the engine of job creation which will lift the UK economy, according to the Quarterly Survey of Small Business in Britain, produced by The Open University Business School (www.open.ac.uk/quarterly-survey) with support from ACCA (The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and Barclays Business.
Most SMEs (64%) do not report any change in the number of people employed over the past year. Where there have been changes, the numbers recruiting is almost balanced by those reporting reductions, resulting in an employment balance of +1%....
Acclaimed human rights lawyer Cherie Booth QC, a visiting professor at The Open University Law School, has delivered her inaugural lecture entitled ‘The Importance of Law in the Modern World.’
Professor Booth has supported the Law School since its inception and attended the launch of Law at the OU in 1997 just before moving into Downing Street.
At last Thursday’s (29 September) lecture at the Commonwealth Club, Central London, she said: “I came to share the first tentative footsteps of that extraordinary idea that law could be taught at a distance. I have since seen the Law School grow and triumph and seen it become the largest law school in the country.
“What makes the OU particularly special is that it is...
The Open University on iTunes U has today hit 40 million downloads, nearly doubling the numbers in just over a year. The rate of iTunes U downloads straight to iOS devices also soared. In September 2010, 30 per cent of visitors to OU on iTunes U were downloading onto iOS devices and by July 2011 this had risen to 70 per cent of users. Learning may even be a part of the drive to 'post personal computing' platforms such as iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. In July 2011, iPad users alone constituted 18.3 per cent of visits to OU on iTunes U.
The OU is one of the biggest and most popular contributors to iTunes U, averaging 275,000 downloads a week. It regularly appears on the iTunes U Top Charts and has one of the widest ranging...