Highlight Coverage

With Cass located in the heart of the financial centre of London, the School enjoys the reputation as an intellectual resource for the City of London. Our academic experts are regularly called upon by the national and international media to comment on current news stories relating to business, economics, finance and management issues.

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Recent Media Highlights – December 2009

Print and online media

Cass Business School achieved a total of 288 pieces of UK print and online media coverage in December 2009, including academic comment about the Dubai financial crisis, the new levy on bankers’ bonuses and the latest book by Cass Professor Stefan Szymanski, “Soccernomics” which challenges the myths about football.

The Guardian published a feature outlining the prospects for private equity in 2010. Mario Levis, Director of the Private Equity Research Centre, said there will be a lot of focus on the success of the first few IPOs. Investors, he says, are questioning rates of return and reluctant to commit further cash unless the industry can again prove the private equity model works. They will also have to overcome the stigma of being private equity backed, which many stock market investors now associate with being overloaded with debt.
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Zaher Barakat, Islamic Finance specialist explained the procedure for defaults of Shariah-compliant investments to the New York Times. They reported: “Shariah-compliant investments prohibit lenders from earning interest, and effectively place lenders and borrowers into a form of partnership. Yet there are no consistent rules about who gets repaid first if a company defaults on such debt.”
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The Times featured an opinion piece by Vince Mitchell, Professor of Consumer Marketing, who discussed Disney’s decision to bring out black Disney Princess Tiana. He said: “Tiana is likely to be a niche as opposed to a mass market product in the long term. So, just as black American first ladies have a finite period of office, so, too, will Tiana. Disney’s strategy is certainly culturally courageous, but probably commercially questionable.”
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In advance of the Government’s decision to impose a levy on bankers’ bonuses banking regulation expert Dr Alistair Milne gave his views to Bloomberg News. “The banks have played their political cards extraordinarily badly. They have invited, and will get, a heavy handed political reaction.”
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The Financial Times featured a column from Professor David Blake, Director of the Pensions Institute at Cass which explained his new research into decentralised investment management. Professor Blake said: “We found that the switches from balanced to specialist mandates and from single to multiple managers were preceded by poor performance. In the latter case, part of the poor performance was due to the fund becoming too large for a single manager to manage: sponsors properly anticipated diseconomies of scale as funds grew larger and added managers with different strategies before performance deteriorated `
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Broadcast Highlights

Professor Stefan Szymanski appeared on BBC Radio 4's 'Today' programme on December 30 discussing Football managers' business acumen.
Professor Vince Mitchell discussed the influence of the Coca-Cola brand on Christmas for BBC World Service Radio on December 24.
Bloomberg interviewed Professor Chris Roebuck on December 17 about France’s decision to impose levies on bank bonuses.
China Radio International spoke with Professor Chris Rowley about the UK levy on bank bonuses during their ‘People in the Know’ programme on December 17.
Professor Scott Moeller was a guest commentator on BBC World Service Radio’s “World Business News” programme on December 9.

Recent Media Highlights – November 2009

Print and online media

Cass Business School achieved a total of 150 pieces of UK print and online media coverage in November 2009, ranging from comment generated from new MPC member Adam Posen speaking at the School to reports regarding the British Airways and Iberia merger.

The Observer published a feature based on the research by Professor Thorsten Henning-Thurau into the value of movie sequels. Professor Henning-Thurau said: "I want this industry to recognise that it is not as different to other sectors as it thinks it is. What we are talking about here is brand extension. How else would you come up with an adequate value or price? Now everyone can work out what a sequel right might be worth."
Read more at guardian.co.uk

Cass experts were called on to discuss the British Airways and Iberia merger. In the Financial Times, Professor Lampel said: “Airlines more than any other company are very culturally specific. Bringing them together into a single coherent body is incredibly difficult. I don't know of too many truly successful airline mergers." Scott Moeller warned The Independent about the pensions deficit issue and said: "They cannot sweep this under the carpet, which is what they appear to have done so far. It is the sort of issue that tends to come back and bite you afterwards."
Read more at ft.com
Read more in The Independent

Discussing the UK budget deficit, Professor Philip Booth was quoted in The Daily Telegraph saying he expects a new wave of discomfort to hit us in about 18 months, "when the Bank of England reins in QE and we find ourselves with a yawning budget deficit, higher labour market taxes and the long-term effects of increased government spending''.
Read more at Telegraph.co.uk

Professor Charles Baden-Fuller wrote an opinion piece for the Financial Times where he cautioned companies to think through their business strategies as the country begins to come out of the recession. He says: “Companies must use this breathing space to rethink business models and overhaul governance to foster a new spirit of entrepreneurial management.”
Read more at ft.com

The Times covered research by Dr Georgios Kavetsos which found that properties sold in the five Olympic boroughs within a three-mile radius of the stadium rose in value by 5 per cent after London was awarded the Olympics in July 2005. He said: ““Rather than solving any problems with social deprivation, a regeneration strategy anchored to the Olympics will actually just transfer the problem somewhere else.”
Read more at TimesOnline

Broadcast Highlights

Dr Alistair Milne and Dr Peter Hahn appeared on Newsnight on November 24 discussing the disclosure by Bank of England that it loaned RBS and HBOS £61.6 billion pounds in emergency funding in October and November 2008.

Professors Geoffrey Wood and Chris Roebuck discussed the proposed new Bill to restrict bankers’ bonuses on the BBC News Channel on November 18.

Professor Andrew Clare was guest host on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” programme for the second time on November 17.

Professor Cathy Pharaoh was a guest on ITV’s “Alan Titchmarsh Show” on November 11 discussing James Dyson’s decision to give his £15m legacy to his children.

Professor Philip Booth discussed the UK economic outlook on the “Jeff Randall Show” on Sky News on November 11.