Managing corporate partnerships for research and executive education

1. Managing corporate partnerships for research and executive education Professor Colin Ferguson Faculty of Economics and Commerce The University of Melbourne

2. Some key issues in identifying and developing a successful research partnerships with external entities • How do you identify a project and a partner? • The potential partner is already doing something and you can add value, or; • You know a potential partner (through networks) and ask is there research that they want to undertake but are constrained (for whatever reason), or; • You have an idea and then seek a partner that will be interested in supporting this research. • How do you engage and commit the potential partner to the project? • ARC Linkage Projects

3. Engaging and committing the potential partner to the project • Talk early with potential research partners & research end users • Start with personal connections • contacts, • mutual friends, • professional networks, • previous contract research or consultancies • Read up on your prospective industry partners’ aims, objectives and interests. • What can you do for and with the ‘industry’ partner? • What might be the project’s mutual benefits?

4. Engaging and committing the potential partner to the project(continued) • Identify the key decision makers in the ‘targeted’ partner • What are their KPIs? • Prepare a brief proposal to present (face-to-face) to potential industry partner • Emphasise ‘thought leadership’ • Emphasise the financial benefits to the industry partner • Involve industry partner in the research development process • Emphasise the ‘applied’ nature of the research • Emphasise that the research will be driven by delivering outcomes • Sow the seeds for future, ongoing, relationships • Build a team that gets the project across the line

5. ARC Linkage Projects • Research the opportunities • The LP success rate is much higher than for most ARC and other Australian Competitive Grant schemes • The scheme supports collaborative, research user, ‘industry’-oriented research, and research training activities. It fosters partnerships with a wide variety of organisations, including • primary producers; • small, medium and large businesses; • public bodies; • government departments and statutory authorities; • and community organisations (Australian & overseas) • Visit the ARC web site (www.arc.gov.au) and read the summaries of funded projects (the aims, expected outcomes, the researchers involved and the collaborating partners)

6. ARC Linkage Projects • Appreciate what a Linkage Project is, and is not • It IS about • interaction from the outset with actual or potential users of the research outcomes, • genuine collaboration, seeking ARC (read taxpayer) funds to help build long-term alliances for the mutual benefit of ‘industry’ and Australian university research, • using ARC funds to leverage industry oriented experience and training for RHD students. • It is NOT about projects involving • little innovation or risk deemed by the ARC to be contracted research or consultancies (where one party defines the terms and another carries out the work); • service type agreements; • projects that do not significantly enhance links with industry; • seeking ARC (read taxpayer) funds on activities that would or should go on without ARC funds

7. ARC Linkage Projects • More highly ranked applications • Are deliberately written to score top marks against the weighted LP selection criteria • Convey and reflect clear and important university-industry collaboration • Show genuine industry partner commitment (NB is worth 25% of total score) • Use language that presents ‘technical’ matters in a balanced and accessible wayEasy to read and comprehend by a non-expert • Clearly present aims and significance up front (especially sections: Summary, National Benefit and p.1 of E) • Demonstrate how the project is situated in the context not only of ‘academe’ but also of industry knowledge and practice and how the joint university-industry study proposed will progress or challenge this • Appreciate that first impressions count eg, the title, the 100 word summary, the snapshot of investigators, the opening few paragraphs of the Additional Text, care in presentation, etc. • Clearly convey how the project • Addresses a clear and important problem, question, conundrum • Is significant and innovative • Is part of a long-term research program and agenda for the academics involved AND the industry partners • Builds on previous work by the researchers (pilot studies, earlier publications, data already gathered) and/or industry (ideally through some collaboration to date)

8. ARC Linkage Projects • Unconvincing applications • Fail to “grab” the reader’s attention (esp. in the 100 word summary and opening paras of the Additional Text) • Are written in such a way that only the most expert reader could reasonably understand the project or the investigator(s) track record • Read more like a piece of contracted work or consultancy than genuine research that is innovative and risky • Seem largely university/academic-led, and in style and substance do not seem to be genuinely collaborative • Do not clearly present the key questions/hypotheses/controversies/puzzles and how these will be addressed • Look like they have been rushed • Leave the reader feeling there is little evidence that the applicants know what it is like/what it takes to undertake (and successfully) complete a project with industry?’ • Do not make strategic use of Part B and fail to convey each applicant’s track record relative to opportunity, and especially their capacity to ‘deliver’ on this LP project • Do not convince that this study needs to be funded now, in the (Australian) National Interest

9. End of presentation

10. The potential partner is already doing something and you can add value ARC Linkage Project LP0453852 Industry partner organisation: KPMG Modelling the relations between the incidence of within-firm corporate fraud and the quality of corporate governance structures Organisations operating in the market economies have agency problems because the managers of the firm are rarely the owners. One costly outcome is the incidence of fraud within organisations. In recent times organisations have developed and refined corporate governance structures. To date there has been little analysis of the effect that corporate governance has on the incidence of within-firm fraud. The aim of this research is to build and test a model of the relations between within-firm fraud and corporate governance systems that can be used as a diagnostic tool by industry to monitor and manage risk. The Team (i.e., Chief Investigators) Professor Colin Ferguson, The University of Melbourne Dr Larelle Chapple, The University of Queensland Professor Peter Green, The University of Queensland Professor Alan Craswell, The University of Queensland Professor Peter Clarkson, The University of Queensland back

11. You know a potential partner and ask is there research that they want to undertake but are constrained ARC Linkage Project LP0774949 Industry partner organisation: SWARH (South West Alliance of Regional Hospitals) Modelling the adoption and use of virtual services technologies for rural and regional healthcare: Economic and quality of care perspectives Healthcare services and telecommunications infrastructure in rural and regional Australia have never been under more public scrutiny. Rural and regional healthcare services are constrained by insufficient providers and the costs of servicing large regions. Technologies that support virtual clinic services offer the potential to mitigate these constraints. Geographically distributed populations are likely to be serviced at a reduced cost and with enhanced care. This research will develop a model of adoption and successful use of virtual services technologies in rural and regional healthcare. Both economic and quality of care impacts will be assessed. Guidelines for success will be developed. The Team (i.e., Chief Investigators) Associate Professor Michael Davern, The University of Melbourne Professor Colin Ferguson, The University of Melbourne Associate Professor Karen Stagnitti, Deakin University back

12. You have an idea and then seek a partner that will be interested in supporting this research ARC Linkage Project LP0669235 Industry partner organisation: CPA Australia Modelling factors affecting the long-term demand for and supply of professional accounting and allied services in rural and regional Australia Resource-allocation decisions leading to productivity and welfare improvements are enhanced by the provision of high-quality financial information. In regional Australia, public accountants are the primary providers of this information but face major socio-economic obstacles, including technological and demographic change, and recruitment difficulties. Despite the importance of accounting information to regional Australia, too little is known about the range of services provided by and demanded from accounting firms. This project aims to overcome these deficiencies by modelling the factors affecting the demand for and supply of professional accounting and allied services as a basis for enhancing economic development in regional Australia. The Team (i.e., Chief Investigators) Professor Colin Ferguson, The University of Melbourne Professor Barry Cooper, Deakin University Associate Professor Graeme Wines, Deakin University Associate Professor Beverley Jackling, RMIT back