Dr Alan Hirst

Dr Alan Hirst has many years international business experience which he has transferred across to his academic career. He currently teaches and researches at London SouthBank University where he specialises in the field of international marketing strategy and international buyer behaviour. Amongst his international roles are Visiting Professor at Assumption University, Bangkok, Thailand; and Visiting Research Fellow at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.

Dr Marie Ashwin started her career as a commercial translator and interpreter, working in Europe and the Far East. Based at the University of Hertfordshire, UK she specialises in Research Methodology and Management. She is a qualitative researcher in the areas of international online buyer behaviour, and market orientation.

Prof P R Banerjee

Prof. P.R.Banerjee obtained his Master in Economics from the University of Calcutta and University of Leeds and MBA from the University of Lancaster, UK.

Before Joining Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow in 1985, he was in the U.K. for about 20 years and started his career there with the British Civil Service. In 1972 he switched over to industry and undertook several big projects for major shipbuilders, shipping fleet owners and operators, ports, trading houses and gained considerable consulting experience. The projects that he was associated with were mostly from the World Bank, organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, Paris) and other industry leaders.

A good number of reports prepared by him were published by the companies he worked for and were very favourable received by the business circles on both side of the Atlantic. His contributions to business showing the duality of economies of scale and infrastructure development were some of the earliest as claimed during a business world meet in Florence, Italy in 1976. Interestingly a similar report was published by the UNDP at the same time. Both suggested the crucial issue of high costs of infrastructure creation limiting the possibility of enjoying economies of scale. The costs, therefore, needed to be shared. Critics of the day said that big ports like London, Rotterdam etc, as well as the then third upcoming stansted Airport for London would do well by looking up at these matters seriously. The OECD prescribed his report on costs and benefits of infrastructure development vis-à-vis economies of scale as a text on the subject.

At IIM Lucknow he has been pre-occupied with teaching and has been involved in some major projects like the customer satisfaction study in the national banks, World Bank’s sodic land reclamation study, functioning of the State Electricity Board of the U.P etc. he has also chaired committees, particularly on occasions whereby the task given was to prepare reports on the career growth and improvements of productivity of IIML employees in various grades.

Dr Datta has earned his Master of Science in Plasma Physics from Moscow, Russia, an MBA from England and MSc in Marketing from Glamorgan University and PhD from Russia/USA. He is a Chartered Marketer and member of various professional bodies including Academy of Management, Academy of International Business Studies, European association for Evolutionary Political Economy, Chartered Institute of Marketing.

He has worked as a consultant with a wide range of nationals and international organisation and designed appropriate marketing systems in various manufacturing and FMCG industries in Bangladesh, India, Srilanka, Pakistan, Nepal and UK. He continues to work with a wide range of marketing and business areas including retailing, branding, developing and implementing marketing strategies, globalisation and corporate governance issues, FDI attraction and Retention policies.

He is a vice principal and head of Doctoral programme at London College of Management Studies, Director for Operation of The Academy of Business & Retail Management Research-UK, President of Bangladesh Management Association (BMA)-UK, Principal Consultant of Bangladesh Management Consultancy & Research Services and Chairman of Bengali workers Association-Greenwich, UK. He is editor of the Journal of Business and Retail Management Research, a peer reviewed academic journal published from UK.

She is the Director General of Lagos State Radio Service, operators of RADIOLAGOS/EKOFM 89.75. A trained communicator with a flair for impacting sound knowledge towards fostering better understanding and relationship between people, organisation and the society. Mrs Aine-Badejo has over two decades experience in broadcast media, with deep depth of knowledge in public sector sector management. She holds a masters degree in Public Administration from the famous-University of Lagos, Nigeria.

Counsellor Idaikkadar’s political involvement spans over twenty years. A Harrow West Labour Party Executive, he has been a Counsellor for the past six years and is a member of the Harrow Development Committee. The Counsellor holds positions of Grants Committee Member, Shadow Portfolio holder for Finance, Audit Committee Member, past Chairman and is the Nominated Member for Planning and Labour Party’s Spokesman. In the past, the Counsellor has also been the Chairman of Licensing and General Purposes Committee and he still meets with Ministers at regular intervals regarding future Government Policies.