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School of Business and Management

PhD Seminar Series

The PhD Seminar Series is a new lunch-time series for doctoral students in the School of Business and Management. Each seminar takes the form of a 30 to 40-minute presentation plus a 10 to 20-minute discussion.

The seminars are informal and developmental and aim to provide SBM doctoral candidates an additional opportunity to disseminate their findings, obtain feedback, prepare for the upgrade/viva and improve their presentation skills. While attendance is not compulsory, doctoral candidates are strongly encouraged to attend the seminars.

To attend a seminar or for further information, please contact Monira Begum at m.begum@qmul.ac.uk.  

(Please note that this seminar series is not open to doctoral candidates who are not from the School of Business and Management.)

Next Seminar:

Date: 28th November 2012
Room: F.B 4.04/4.08
Presenter: Grigorios Theodosopoulos
Time: 14.30-15.30

Title of Project: Accounting for the Hospice Business Model in England

This study is concerned with the provision of end of life and palliative care services in England by voluntary hospices. The literature on voluntary hospices’ management and financial viability is fragmented and scattered within and across academic and practitioner discourses. My argument is that we can consolidate this literature into a descriptive business model. This reveals how charitable income streams donated to voluntary hospices are significant relative to government funding. However, this charitable income is uncertain and volatile.

Hospices operate with significant balance sheet reserves as a hedge against uncertainty but these funds, invested in capital markets, recycle uncertainty. Rubbing up against uncertainty, embedded in the hospice business model, is the fact that demand for palliative care will certainly increase. The population is expanding and we are generally living longer and this is set to inflate demand for end of life and palliative care services. Adjustments on the approach to palliative care funding through appropriate government policies, informed by a descriptive business model framework of analysis, are required if choice and demand for end of life and palliative care are to be satisfied. Without change the sustainability of the hospices’ business model and the capacity to deliver patient choice whilst maintaining current levels and standards of end of life and palliative care going forward is at risk.

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