Professor Daniel Chicksand

2011-2013:  University of Warwick, UK, Postgraduate Certificate in Academic and  Professional Practice 

2003-2009:  University of Birmingham, UK, PhD, Subject: Commerce

2000-2003:  University of Birmingham, UK, MBA in Business Strategy & Procurement  

1995-1996:  University of Central England, UK, MSc in Industrial Logistics 

1992-1995:  University of Central England, UK, BSc in Industrial Information Technology (2:1 hons) 

A love of learning has resulted in Daniel developing a broad research agenda with interests in Operations Management, Operations Strategy, Supply Chain Management, E-business, Relationship Management and Power in Buyer-Supplier Relationships.  He has published widely in both academic and practitioner-focused journals, with a particular focus on power and relationship management.

Daniel has a proven track record in administration and has built up a strong reputation with colleagues as more than just a ‘safe pair of hands’ and someone who delivers what they promise, on time. He is acutely aware of the impact we can have as an individual on our colleagues, both administrative and research focused and therefore approaches work in a positive and supportive manner.  Daniel's current role as Director of the Distance Learning (DL) MBA enables him to bring his broad research and teaching experience to the on-line environment. Having managed his own business provides Daniel with insights into running the DL MBA and MSc programmes as unique businesses, with specific needs and challenges.

The drive to better understand the complexities of business exchanges leads Daniel to not only explore the theoretical contributions he can make, but just as importantly, to then apply this learning to the business world. A crucial aim for Daniel is to not only be a key leader within the Business School, contributing towards the theoretical development of our subject, but to then translate this knowledge into outstanding and practical learning for undergraduate, postgraduate and executive students. His research and engagement with business influences his teaching and research, with the ultimate aim of finding impactful and innovative approaches to solving business problems.

Daniel is a dedicated team player, currently enjoying collaborating with researchers from a number of leading UK, European and US universities, including Aston Business School, Cardiff Business School, Cranfield School of Management, Loughborough Business School, Linkoping University (Sweden), Ecole des Ponts ParisTech, School of International Management (Paris) and Fox Business School (Philadelphia, US). 

FT MBA Operations Management

GDBA Operations Management

Daniel is supervising 2 DBA students at Aston Business School:

• Paul Josebury: IMPROVING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PROCUREMENT :Identification and improvement of key determinant factors -  The PEPPS Project.
• Torsten Dehn: Product Life Cycle Orientation: An Investigation of the Product Evolution Process.

He also has two new students starting at Birmingham in September 2016:

• Ray Millican: Do cultural and psychological accommodation processes moderate / mediate collaborative supply chain outcomes and performance?
• Shem Sikombe: EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SMALL SCALE SUPPLIER DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES AND PERFORMANCE IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN ZAMBIA

Research interests

The key theoretical focus of Daniel's work has been to apply Resource Dependency Theory (RDT) to understanding the dynamics of buyer-supplier relationships. He is interested in gaining an insight as to how power differentials affect the outcome of business relationships and has applied this theoretical approach to research in the food industry and in the context of sustainable supply chain management. In addition, Daniel has researched relationship management optimisation in a wide range of sectors, both public and private. Closely linked to this work, is a more recent focus on research, which helps organizations to better understanding value and value appropriation in business relationships.

In 2015, Daniel joined the Aston Centre for Seritization Research and Practice. Here the focus of his work has been to consider how servitization affects value creation and value appropriation within supply chain relationships. In addition, exploring this phenomenon from a specific theoretical perspective (RDT) aims to provide useful additional theoretical and practical insights into how servitisation can affect the power dynamics between buyers and suppliers. His work is largely qualitative in nature, using a number of appropriate methods such as case-based research.

Current projects

Daniel has two small research bids at present, which will act as pilot studies to identify other interesting and impactful areas of research:

1) Modelling People using Discrete-event simulation- British Academy- £9850 with A. Greasley at Aston University

2) The Application of Gamification principles and processes into Supply Chain Management- Chartered Institute of Logistics and Supply (CILT)- £6500, with S Kelly- Staffordshire University. 

2015-present:  Visiting lecturer for Audencia Nantes School of Management (France)

• Responsible for the development and delivery of the Operations Management module for the Master of Science in Food and Agribusiness Management (MFAM)

2009-present:  Visiting lecturer for the Ecole des Ponts ParisTech, School of International Management and Solvay Business School (Paris & Brussels) 

• Responsible for the development and delivery of the MBA and Executive MBA modules in Operations and Global Supply Chain Management for both the ENPC and Solvay-Ponts programmes

2010-present:  Visiting lecturer for the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees (Casablanca)

• Responsible for the development and delivery of the MBA module in Operations Management and Logistics and Supply Chain Management

2011-present:  Educator for Duke Corporate Education

• Collaborated with Duke CE to deliver corporate education experiences for a range of customers including Holcim (Zurich) and Baker Hughes (UK) with a focus on customer value and the value chain.

2005-present:  Managing Director of DDC Solutions Ltd

• Developed and delivered a range of academic and professional education programs for corporate customers such as UBS, KPMG and Adams Foods.

2013-present:  Director of Opsworks Ltd

• Along with an extensive network of academic and practitioner associates Opsworks shares best practice from our consulting and research to deliver innovative training resources.