Business Clusters, Corporate Insolvency and Turnaround, Financial Services, International Business, Road to Net Zero, the UK Economy

Naresh is Professor of International Business at Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia.  He joined Norwich Business School in 2006.  Before that he worked at Manchester Business School, University of Manchester where he obtained his PhD in 1995 and then took up appointments as Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Economics.

Naresh's research focuses on the link between business clustering and economic performance and on corporate insolvency and turnaround and has been funded by grants from the British Academy, Corporation of London, DTI, ESRC, European Union, Institute of Chartered Accountants, and the North West Regional Development Agency.

Prizes/Esteem Indicators

• 2021.  Invited presentation on Cluster Development for the Food Innovation Centre (FIC) Business Engagement Group.  Hethel Innovation Limited.
• 2020.  Invited presentation on Cluster Principles to a group of senior east of England policy makers.
• 2018.  Invited presentation on the Development of the Norwich Financial Cluster to Norwich City Council meeting on March 7th, 2018.
• 2017.  Keynote speaker Financial Industry Group (FIG) Annual Conference 23/11/2017.
• 2017.  Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy.
• 2003-present.  Regular invitations from the ESRC to judge research proposals and to act as rapporteur.
• 2016.  Appointed Academic Expert on a City of London Corporation commissioned research project led by Ernst & Young on the Value of the City of London to EU Corporations.
• 2016.  Nominated: UEASU 2016 Transforming Teaching Awards, Most Inspiring Teaching category. 
• 2015.  Panellist on the British Academy of Management 2015 Symposium on Cities and International Business.
• 2014.  Invited to join an expert panel on Clusters and International Business at the European Academy of Management (EURAM) conference 2014.
• 2012.  Norwich Business School MBA Teaching Award: Winner.
• 2012.  Norwich Business School Postgraduate Research Supervision Award: Winner.
• 2011.  Nominated for the UEA Awards for Excellence in Teaching 2010-11.
• 2006-2010.  Member of the Research Steering Committee of the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS).  CABS is the representative body for all the leading business schools of UK universities.
• 2009: Panel member: CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) event on “Surviving the Recession”.
• 2008.  Appointed External Consultant on Clustering and Regional Development on a World Bank commissioned study led by Hewitt Associates investigating the development of IT and IT enabled service industries in the South Asia Region (SAR). 
• 2007.  The findings of my 2007 paper in Environment and Planning A (CABS AJG 4) were referred in a speech given by Sir John Gieve, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England (see http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/speeches/2007/speech306.pdf).
• 2007.  Invitation to make a keynote contribution for an ESRC/AIM sponsored seminar on “Policies for Clusters, Networks and Regional Development: What Should RDAs Do?”, University of Reading Business School, 15 March 2007.
• 2007.  Conference paper (Pandit, N. R., Cook, G. A. S., Beaverstock, J. V. and Ghauri, P. N.   Locating in the City of London financial services cluster: A comparison between MNEs and non MNEs) awarded an “outstanding paper” prize at the 2^nd International Conference on Services Management.  June 1-2, 2007, New Delhi, India. 
• 2006.  Conference paper (Cook, G. A. S., Pandit, N. R. International linkages and entrepreneurship in media clusters: Evidence from the UK) awarded $1,000 Best Conference Paper prize at the 9^th Uddevalla Symposium on Entrepreneurship and Development – Local Processes and Global Patterns, 15-17 June 2006, George Mason University, School of Public Policy, Fairfax, VA, USA.
• 2005.  Appointed as an External Reviewer of the National Strategic Plan by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
• 2005.  Conference paper (Pandit, N. R., Cook, G. A. S. and Ghauri, P. N.  Locating in the City of London financial services cluster: A comparison between MNEs and Non MNEs) awarded prize for best paper in the International Business Track of the British Academy of Management Annual Conference, Said Business School, University of Oxford, 13-15 September 2005. 
• 2005.  Session Chair (International Business) at the 2005 British Academy of Management conference, Oxford University.
• 2003.  AT Kearney MBA Lecturer of the Year.  (The top teaching award at Manchester Business School.)
• 2002.  Best paper prize.  Business Innovation in the Knowledge Economy Conference, 12 June 2002, IBM Warwick, UK.

Research Grants

Wan, F., Pandit, N. R. and Cook, G. A. S.  BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants SRG 2018-19.  Does Multinationality Matter in Industrial Clusters? A Comparison in the UK Media and Financial Services Industries.  SRG1819\190297.  FAC £70,496.73.  1/5/2019 – 31/10/2020. 

Funding for impact case activities has been secured from two sources.  The first is roughly £8,000 from the UEA Impact Central Fund to accelerate activities.  The second is roughly £12,000 from the ESRC IAA. 

Appointed Academic Expert on a City of London Corporation commissioned research project led by Ernst & Young on the Value of the City of London to EU Corporations.  Contract value: £200,360.  Start – end dates: 29/8/16 – 14/10/16.

Principal Investigator, British Academy grant SG142558: Technology Spillovers and Location Strategies of Multinational Enterprises.  Total FAC: £45,001.50.  Start – end dates: 1/4/15 – 30/9/16.

Co-grant holder, The British Academy grant SG090739: The Influence of Clustering on MNE Location and Performance.  Total grant value: £2,730.  Start – end dates: 02/10 – 07/11.

Appointed External Consultant on Clustering and Regional Development to a World Bank commissioned study led by Hewitt Associates investigating the development of IT and IT enabled service industries in the South Asia Region (SAR).  Contract value: $US 120,000.  Start-end dates: 04/08 – 08/08.

Co-grant holder, Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA): The Development of Financial and Professional Service Sector within the ClusterDevelopment Programme.  With Cook G. A. S., Gleaves, R. and Kitshoff, J.  Total grant value: £56,838.  Start – end dates: 04/05 – 08/05.

Co-grant holder, The British Academy grant SG-36816: The Clustering of Broadcasting Firms and its Significance in London.  With Cook, G. A. S.  Totalgrant value: £4,172.  Start – end dates: 09/03 – 07/04.

Co-grant holder, Joint ESRC and Corporation of London grant: The City of London and Research into Business Clusters.  With Beaverstock, J. V., Cook, G. A. S. and Taylor, P. J.  Total grant value: £79,124.  Start – end dates: 11/01 – 10/02.

Principal grant holder, ESRC grant R000223258: A Comparative Study of the Dynamics of Industrial Clustering.  With Cook, G. A. S. and Swann, G. M. P.  Total grant value: £19,512.  Start  - end dates: 11/00 - 10/02.

Co-grant holder, Institute of Chartered Accountant in England and Wales (ICAEW) grant 5-403: Small Firm Rescue: A Multi-Method Empirical Study of Company Voluntary Arrangements.  With Cook, G. A. S., Griffiths, A. and Milman D.  Total grant value: £15,203.  Start – end dates: 01/2001 - 01/2002.

Co-grant holder, Department of Trade and Industry, Information Society Initiative Programme for Business: The Business Payoff from Virtual Reality Applications: Pilot Case Studies in Space Planning and Training.  With Swann, G. M. P. and Watts, T.  Total grant value: £11,000.  Start - end dates: 08/96 - 03/97.

Associate researcher, ESRC grant L132251003: Virtual Reality and the Innovation Potential of the Organisation (part of the ESRC Virtual Society?  Programme).  With Butler, J., Pearson, A., Swann, G. M. P. and Watts, T.  Total grant value: £133,279.  Start  - end dates: 10/97 - 03/2000.

Associate researcher, EU/TSER (targeted socio-economic research programme) grant: INLOCO: Clusters.  With Beaudry, C., Cook, G. A. S. and Swann, G. M. P.  Total grant value: £66,154.  Start - end dates: 11/97 - 10/99.

Naresh teaches economics, international business, and business research methods at postgraduate and executive education levels.

2002-3 AT Kearney/Manchester Business School MBA Lecturer of the Year.

2012 Norwich Business School MBA Teaching Award: Winner.

2012 Norwich Business School Postgraduate Research Award: Winner.