Andrew Zur: A sustainable intellect
 Andrew Zur
Student
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"Fellow students are able to say, 'well this strategy worked well in the US but not in the UK'."
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A career academic at Melbourne Business School (MBS) is using MBA classes to overcome the social and professional isolation that comes with completing a PhD.
In doing so, Andrew Zur will also acquire another qualification while learning how to bring his research to a global market.
Andrew is studying business and sustainable development with MBA students as part of his Graduate Certificate of Commercialisation (GCC) for Research Students
The GCC is a federally funded initiative designed to provide PhD and research students with exposure to practical business know-how.
Andrew hopes this program will further his understanding of what's happening in "the real world."
"When you are in an office working alone on your PhD, you don't get much external business exposure," he says, adding that he loves being surrounded by particularly vocal masters' students who are confident about speaking their mind and offering their opinion.
He is an advocate of the true value of diversity in these classes saying that some students have five to ten years of international experience.
"They are able to say, ‘well this technique or strategy worked well in this country, but in this country it didn't work as well.'"
Andrew enjoys being what he describes as the "artful voyeur" but says that he also likes to learn by getting involved-expressing his own opinion and contributing to the class dynamic.
A history of success
This is hardly surprising for someone who came first in a number of subjects when studying his undergraduate degree in business at the University of Newcastle.
After leaving school, Andrew spent five years at the University of Newcastle, studying forensic science-for a year-and law-for another three years- before finally transferring to business.
In 2005, after completing an honours thesis in relationship marketing, he joined the university's staff as a teacher and research assistant.
He went to MBS the following year as a PhD student to focus on social responsibility and sustainability.
"I'm studying how an Australian firm can gain competitive advantage using corporate social responsibility (CSR) concepts," he says. "We have international case studies applying to this, but no one before now, has ever compiled Australian case studies."
Andrew is interviewing retail firms about four different areas: What they are doing in the workplace-with employees, health and safety; What they are doing in the marketplace-where do their suppliers source products from and how do they treat their suppliers; How they affect the natural environment and how they interact with the community.
According to Andrew, most organisations, whether they know it or not, tick all of those boxes.
He admits he is surprised that his research proves it's business that drives CSR, not academia. It's this premise that supported his decision to do the GCC.
The full GCC requires studying four subjects or acquiring 50 points. The commonwealth government pays all tuition fees to MBS plus a total $10,000 cash stipend to students.
