(SW1) ABRF Business Skills Workshop

Sponsored by ilab Solutions

Please be advised the SW1 – ABRF Business Skills Workshop is sold out. Please consider registering for one of the other Satellite Workshops. Thank you!

This two day workshop will be held on Friday Feb. 19th and Saturday Feb. 20th, 2016

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Organizing Committee:

Joanne Lannigan, Chair; William Hendrickson, Co-Chair; Andrew Chitty, Rob Carnahan; Tracey Cooper; Annabelle Stein

 

Speakers

Mary Margaret Frank, Associate Professor of Business Administration; Director, Institute for Business in Society; Darden School of Business, Univ. of Virginia

Rajkumar Venkatesan, Bank of America Research Professor of Business Administration, Darden School of Business, Univ. of Virginia

 

Background

Research Core Facilities for the most part operate as small businesses, with either a fee-for-service or cost center business model.  They have many of the same challenges and operational requirements as small businesses but operate in a unique infrastructure of an academic institution, government research enterprise, or a non-profit/profit research institution. Most core directors and staff have obtained their positions based on their knowledge and technical expertise in the field of the scientific discipline of the specialized services they offer and often lack the business skills for managing the strategic, financial, operational, and customer service complexities of their businesses. As a result, their effectiveness can be impacted as well as the potential success and future growth of their operation. Core personnel would benefit from a sharper strategic perspective, deeper business acumen, and stronger business skills. This, in turn, could raise financial and/or operational performance.

 

Target Audience

In this current economic climate of shrinking research dollars, core facilities are increasingly under pressure to operate in a more cost effective way while maintaining the same quality and remaining technologically competitive with peer institutions. In order to achieve this, core personnel need to have a better understanding of the factors that impact their facility’s performance. While there are many different business courses one can take to build this expertise, none are designed specifically for the uniqueness of their operation and often require commitments of attending extended classes, neither of which serves their needs. This program is tailored specifically for core personnel, with a curriculum designed to benefit core directors/managers in building an effetive shared resource.

 

Workshop content

The two day workshop will be divided into multiple components with the intent of providing participants with an introduction to Innovation Strategy, Customer Centricity and Financial Acumen.  The curriculum will use case studies from industries that are related to the Core Directors and workshops that will help the participants apply the learning from other industries to their individual contexts.  The learning objectives of the workshops are provided below.

Innovation Strategy and Customer Centricity

Learning Objectives

Understand sources of value for customers, stakeholders and employees, whether in terms of operational, technical or financial performance, and identify strategies to increase value.

Identify and articulate core capabilities of the core facility, with the intent of crafting them into an array of service delivery capabilities.

Create a high performing and customer oriented core facility.

 

Topics

Strategic thinking and analysis

Disruptive Innovation, positioning statements, and business models

Understanding customer needs

Customer value creation, and value appropriation

Effectively managing the customer experience

Financial Acumen

Learning Objectives

Deepen essential business and financial acumen

Sharpen ability to use financial data in business decision-making

Communicating the CORE performance data

 

Topics

Understanding financial statements

Cost accounting

Forecasting and budgeting

Funding models

Pricing/rate setting