In times of global turmoil it is more important than ever that business schools remain relevant at an international level, pursue deeper understanding of business fundamentals and encourage creative thinking regarding the critical business issues faced around the world.  As part of our pursuit in Achieving International Excellence, the UWA Business School actively supports international forums for dialogue and debate between academics, students, alumni, and business professionals and leaders.  
Recently the Business School hosted two forums, with one public lecture focusing on the unfolding of the global financial crisis and its impact on the Australian economy, and the other, a panel discussion about the impact on the property industry.

The Senior Executive Forum in leadership and strategy hosted by our AIM - UWA Business School Alliance and led by Harvard Business Professors Ashish Nanda and David Collis, attracted ninety participants from across Australia and internationally who spoke in glowing terms of the program's relevance to their leadership development.

Alcoa Visiting Professor Oded Shenkar - Professor of Management and Human Resources at the Fisher College of Business - Ohio State University, visited UWA in August, leading both academic and business audiences in lively discussions regarding global business management.

In addition, our Engendering Leadership Conference held in July at The University of Western Australia is a good example of bringing together relevant international experts - in this instance to explore the important dynamics of gender and leadership.  The conference was unique in that it attracted 7 high calibre international, key note speakers from the US, Europe and Australia and participation from many private sector and public sector organisations as well as the traditional academic audience.  The conference was a great success and served as a creative outlet for discussion on the challenges posed to us in this rapidly changing world.  I would like to express a special thank you to main conference sponsor Alcoa and our many other sponsors, for their great support in making these events possible.

Finally, a recent study conducted by our Alliance also focused on the effects that difficult and uncertain economic times have in generating negative sentiment not just amongst investors but in managers as well.   The study found that this can undermine the capacity of a firm to be successful.

We will continue to ensure that our programs, events and research are internationally relevant and that we encourage lively debate and dialogue, serving to push the frontiers of business thinking.

UWA Business School Dean
Tracey Horton