BRITISH PHILANTHROPIST FUNDS LECTURERSHIP IN CHINESE BUSINESS STUDIES

British philanthropist Sir Peter Moores has announced that the Peter Moores Foundation is to fund the Peter Moores Lecturership in Chinese Business Studies at Saïd Business School, part of Oxford University.

The Peter Moores Foundation has donated nearly £2 million to create the post, and it follows Sir Peter’s initiative in 1991 to establish undergraduate business studies at Oxford. The new Lecturership will further enhance Saïd Business School’s reputation as a leading global business education provider.

It will also build on the University's long-standing commitment to teaching and researching on all aspects of China, modern and ancient. Oxford has established internationally recognised expertise in Chinese Studies with 30 academics spanning the social sciences, geography, anthropology, history, literature, religion, art, medicine and the natural sciences.

The new Peter Moores Lecturership will contribute to the School’s MBA programme by creating a new elective on business in China and enriching the core course on International Business. The donation will also support a MSc research degree paper on Chinese management, undergraduate teaching in international business and research in a broad range of topics that are relevant to China, covering the evolution of Chinese business strategy and structure, government-industry relations, industry studies and the development of management skills and capability.

Sir Peter has a great interest in China, particularly its heritage of ancient bronzes, and has encouraged Compton Verney, the new art gallery in Warwickshire funded by his Foundation which opened earlier this year, to build up a significant collection of archaic Chinese bronzes, already considered to be the finest in the UK outside the British Museum. Through his charities Sir Peter has disbursed more than £93m to a wide variety of arts, environmental and social causes.

Said Sir Peter Moores: “As the world’s fastest growing economy, a new and much more focused understanding of China is required in order to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities that will come out of the country.

“People working at a senior level in UK business and government will inevitably have to engage with China during some part of their careers. This post is designed to provide a high quality Chinese business education to enable tomorrow’s decision-makers to fulfil their business aspirations in China.”

Anthony Hopwood, Peter Moores Dean of Saïd Business School, added: “The post will provide a valuable bridge between teaching and research at the Business School in business and finance, and the wider initiatives in Chinese Studies across Oxford. This will make the School an attractive proposition for future leaders in business and government.”

NOTES TO EDITOR

Sir Peter Moores was born in Lancashire and educated at Eton College and Oxford. He then studied at the Vienna Academy of Music, where he produced the Austrian premiere of Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. He was a production assistant with the Vienna State Opera for three years and worked as assistant producer of performances by Viennese artists at the San Carlo Opera House, Naples, at the Geneva Festival and at the Rome opera. In 1957 he re-joined his father’s business, Littlewoods, and went on to become Chairman in 1977. He has held several public appointments including Governor of the BBC, Trustee of the Tate Gallery and a Director of Scottish Opera. He founded the Peter Moores Foundation in 1964 to 'get things done and open doors for people’. The Peter Moores Foundation provided the first funding for undergraduate business studies at Oxford which is used to endow the Peter Moores Deanship and the Peter Moores Professorship of Management Studies.

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