People

Jean-Guillaume Ditter is a Professor at Burgundy School of Business (Groupe ESC Dijon – Bourgogne), France, specialized in International and European Affairs. He was trained as an economist at the Université Pierre Mendès-France in Grenoble, France, where he completed his PhD. His research interests include the analysis of local clusters and their effects on organizational innovation, with a particular focus on traditional and locally embedded industries such as wood or wine.

Jean-Guillaume co-authored a chapter with Professors Sophie Reboud and Tim Mazzarol on National Innovation Systems in the book Strategic Innovation in Small Firms: An International Analysis of Innovation and Strategic Decision Making in Small to Medium Enterprises, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham UK, Northampton, MA USA. 

Frank offers a diverse range of business experiences gained throughout his business career including mining, Information Technology, Marketing and telecommunications. He has a Bachelor of Business (Management) from Curtin University, Western Australia. His career spans a range of sectors including mining, marketing, advertising and telecommunications. Frank started his career as a purchasing officer for Goldsworthy Mining, which was the first operational iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia situated some 100 km’s east of Port Hedland. He worked in the Perth office before being transferred to the mine where he spent over 6 years on site. During his time there he was promoted through the positions of Purchasing Manager, Warehouse Superintendent to Administration Superintendent with Head of Department status having  overall responsibility for some 120 employees involved in various aspects of operations at the three sites of Goldsworthy, Shay Gap (a subsidiary mine and town site some 60 km’s east) and Finucane Island (ship loading facilities in Port Hedland.) 

His career in information technology involved 10 years as General Manager of Data Management Services a company  providing computer bureau services offering on-line accounting, inventory management, job costing and other related programs to a wide range of businesses with a particular focus on the mining industry. With the changing market conditions the company diversified into the Direct Marketing industry through the innovation of personalised direct mail print and associated services in Western Australia. The market at the time was predominantly made up of charitable organisations and political parties however this quickly spread to financial institutions and other industries. The association  with the marketing community led to Frank’s departure to take up an equity position with a direct marketing agency, JMG Marketing.

In 1990 Frank took up an equity position and directorship of JMG Marketing, a full service advertising agency specialising in direct marketing and market research. Media included direct mail, press, radio, TV and telephone. The agency employed some 30 people who included graphic designers, copywriters, strategists and account managers who were responsible for the concept, development, production and execution of the marketing campaigns relative to the clients’ briefs. A strategic part of JMG’s success was market research which was undertaken by our  in-house contact centre, mainly through telephone and face to face interviews. Frank was responsible for the successful operation of this contact centre which, in addition to their own clients, carried out market surveys for external organisations such as the University of Western Australia and other independent market research organisations. His relationship with Professor Tim Mazzarol commenced in 1994 when they engaged in a series of applied market research projects with JMG Marketing collaborating with the Institute for Research into International Competitiveness (IRIC) at Curtin Business School. Later this relationship moved to UWA when Professor Mazzarol established CEMI in 2003.

As an original shareholder and director of Communications Plus since its inception in 1999, Frank acted as mentor to its manager up until 2006 when I assumed the role of Managing Director following the sale of JMG Marketing. Upon taking over management of the business he quickly discovered that it was in a critical financial position due to erroneous accounting activities. Therefore, all efforts in the first 12 months were to stabilise the business and bring it back to a viable entity. This was achieved through staff rationalisation and strict cost control disciplines. At the same time there was a concentrated effort for sales through support from Telstra Account Executives as well as carrying out advertising and marketing campaigns to the Perth SME market. Successful negotiations were concluded with Panasonic, Cisco and Shoretel which, together with NEC and Alcatel, expanded their product offering  resulting in an increased turnover of $600k p.a. thus making the business a profitable concern. The business was sold in 2010 and Frank started a new venture MGM Telecoms which offers  reduced landline rentals and call costs available through Optus and Telstra Wholesale divisions.

Tim Mazzarol is a Winthrop Professor within the UWA Business School where he specialises in marketing, strategy, entrepreneurship and innovation. He is a Qualified Practicing Market Researcher (QPMR), as well as an affiliate Professor at the Burgundy School of Business, Groupe ESC Dijon Bourgogne, France.

Ysabel Nauwelaerts is associate professor and coordinator of internationalization at Lessius, Department of Business Studies. She is also associated researcher at the Research Centre for Management, Strategy and Innovation, Faculty of Business and Economics, KU Leuven and co-founder and academic coordinator of Concreas, the Center for Entrepreneurship in the Creative Sectors.  She graduated as a Master in Applied Economics (UA), and holds a DEA (Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies) from the University of Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne.  She became doctor in Applied Economics at the University of Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne in 1999. Her main research interests focus on international strategies and relocation of firms in globalized markets, innovation in SME’s and entrepreneurship in creative / design sectors. Recent research projects focus on international new ventures, innovation management of Flemisch SME’s, measurement of added value by design and entrepreneurship in the creative sector.