Innovation driven by entrepreneurial families will be in the spotlight at Bond Business School's Family Enterprise Workshop on March 29, with guest speaker Dr Justin Craig of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, one of the world's most elite business schools.
Dr Craig is a noted global expert in the field of family enterprise and will be officially joining the Bond University team as the inaugural Ken Moores Visiting Professor of Family Enterprise.
The new position was created to celebrate former Vice-Chancellor Ken Moores' 25 year contribution to Bond University, and will see Dr Craig visit the campus over the next three years to teach students, deliver public seminars and act as an international advocate for Bond.
Dr Craig completed his PhD at Bond University in 2004 and has gone on to become one of the foremost experts on entrepreneurial multi-generational family enterprises, the people responsible for their stewardship and the intersection of entrepreneurship and family business.
Dr Baden U'Ren, Director of the Bond Business Commercialisation Centre, said it was a huge coup to secure such an international heavy-hitter at Bond University.
"In academic circles, Justin is a real megastar of the family enterprise space so we are thrilled to be partnering with him and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management," said Dr U'Ren.
"Kellogg, where he is based, is widely considered to be one of the best business schools in the world and is part of the informal 'M7' - an elite group of seven private business schools including Harvard, Stanford and Columbia, generally considered to have the world's best MBA programs.
"The master class he is running on March 29, titled 'Innovation in the F-Suite: A Global Family Enterprising Perspective', will explore the ways in which innovation and entrepreneurship are enabled through family enterprise.
"Family enterprises comprise roughly 70 per cent of all businesses in Australia according to research conducted jointly by Bond University and KPMG. This is a significant sector of interest to all business professionals.
"Given Justin's position in the family enterprise space, he has connections to some significant domestic and international families and will be drawing on this evidence when delivering his workshop on innovation in multi-generational family firms.
"This will be particularly informative in today's ever-changing business environment where innovation has become a strategic imperative."
The Family Enterprise Workshop is a free event and will take place at the Architecture Forum in the Abedian School of Architecture at Bond University on Tuesday, March 29.
Registration and drinks commence at 5.30pm for a 6.00pm start to the presentation, followed by a cocktail reception and networking at 7.00pm.
To register your interest, please contact Dr Baden U'Ren on [email protected].