Cranfield School of Management and The Open University Business School are both highly ranked, triple-accredited business schools. Together, they jointly direct and invite membership to the Government Affairs Research Club (GARC). Our mission is to be thought leaders and a centre of excellence for cutting edge business-government affairs and advocacy management research.

1. Our mission is to be thought leaders and
a centre of excellence for cutting edge
business-government affairs and
advocacy management research.
The Government Affairs Research Club (GARC) is a joint initiative
between Cranfield School of Management and The Open University
Business School - both highly ranked, triple-accredited business
schools. Expressions of interest in membership to this research club
are welcome.
The club’s purpose is to develop strategic foresight and practical
problem solving techniques. All businesses need a voice to
communicate with customers and oversight bodies - not only to inform
and advise, but also to argue for their interests. This activity can often
be described as lobbying and negatively interpreted when undertaken
within a business. However, interaction with government affairs is a
legitimate activity within businesses and should play an important
role in the formal strategy process.
The Government Affairs Research Club seeks to address how
organisations can advocate for the business’ own interests but also
not appear to be engaged in inappropriate behaviour.
The club is a direct extension of the club's founding members'
ongoing research agendas and existing publications. Membership
provides the opportunity to access and inform future academic and
practitioner research agendas around these themes, both within the
UK and across Europe.
WHO IS IT FOR?
• Practising government relations/affairs, corporate affairs,
regulatory affairs, corporate communications, strategy directors
who are directing and implementing their organisation's
government affairs strategies.
• CEOs and Chairmen who are leading their organisation's
government affairs strategies.
• General Counsel and other corporate legal officers with an
interest in government affairs.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The key focus of GARC is the creation of new knowledge, leading to
outputs that are of value to our business partners and which are relevant
to the advancement of thought in the government affairs research space.
To guide our work, we adhere to the following principles:
• We seek to address key 21st Century government affairs challenges.
• We publish our research in leading management and
communication journals to capture our innovative strategic
thinking for this community.
• Our research must lead to outputs that translate into
management practice and classroom learning.
• We are independent and impartial.
In our research work/collaboration with business partners, we commit
to the following values:
• We personalise responses to meet individual challenges and contexts.
• We conduct research in a transparent and reliable way and
protect the findings' integrity.
• We seek to strengthen the profession and enhance trust in
government relations practice.
MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS
Membership involves quarterly directors' forums featuring cutting-
edge academic research tailored to club members’ requirements,
along with the practical applications of these ideas within leading
companies. Each session focuses on club members' needs, with
contributions from within the group as well as invited experts. The
club provides the following deliverables:
• A rigorous research programme supported by member
companies - with findings published in high quality academic
journals and publications in high visibility practitioner journals.
• Participation in themed quarterly club meetings with research
topics selected by members.
• An interactive online forum for addressing challenges within the
academic area and for provision of faculty papers and reports.
• Participation in small group research syndicates including visits
to member companies.
• Priority access to new tools and techniques.
• Participation in research projects.
• Members are given the opportunity to define
fast-response research reports and
executive briefings.
• Discounts on Cranfield executive
education programmes.
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
RESEARCH CLUB
(GARC)
www.cranfield.ac.uk/som/garc
 RESEARCH
Co-Director for Correspondence:
Prof Paul Baines, paul.baines@cranfield.ac.uk
Administrator: Rosemary Cockfield
rosemary.cockfield@cranfield.ac.uk +44-(0)1234 754801
www.cranfield.ac.uk/som/garc Rev. 07/15

2. THE GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS RESEARCH CLUB TEAM
Professor Paul Baines is Professor of Political
Marketing, Cranfield School of Management and
Programme Director, MSc in Management. Paul
was Managing Editor, Europe of the Journal of
Political Marketing between 2010 - 2013 and
remains a Senior Editor of the same journal. Over the
last sixteen years, Paul's research has particularly focused on political
marketing, public opinion and propaganda, where he has published
over a hundred journal articles, conference papers and books. His
latest political books include: 'Political Marketing' (Sage Publications,
2011), with Sir Robert Worcester, Roger Mortimore and Mark Gill;
'Explaining Cameron's Coalition' (Biteback Publishing, 2011), and a
four volume book set on 'Propaganda' with Nicholas O'Shaughnessy
(Sage Publications, 2012). Paul's consultancy includes experience
working with UK government departments on communication
research projects as well as small and large private enterprises on
market research/marketing planning. He operates his own strategic
marketing/research consultancy, Baines Associates Limited.
Contact: paul.baines@cranfield.ac.uk.
Dr Tazeeb Rajwani is Senior Lecturer at
Cranfield School of Management and Director of
Creating Strategic Advantage Executive
Programme. He joined the Strategic Management
group from a senior position at KPMG Corporate
Finance, where he was an Innovation Champion and member of the
Thought Leadership group at KPMG Europe. His unique role at
KPMG also included managing large complex projects globally with a
particular focus on Corporate Finance. He has held or holds visiting
academic positions at London Business School, University of Notre
Dame, Kings College London and Warwick University. His research
interests explore nonmarket strategy, corporate political strategy and
competitive advantage. In particular, he is interested in understanding
political capabilities and firm performance. He has published in
prestigious peer reviewed journals such as Academy of Management
Perspectives, Business Horizons, and International Business Review
and his research is reported in the commercial press such as The
Irish Times, The Times and The Financial Times. He is also author of
the highly acclaimed book 'Aligning for Advantage: competitive
strategies for the political and social arenas' (Oxford University Press,
2014). Contact: tazeeb.rajwani@cranfield.ac.uk.
NEXT EVENTS
Thursday 24th
September 2015 – Technology and Government
Affairs (London)
Thursday 3rd
December 2015 – Corporate Governance Structure
(London)
For further information on joining this Research Club and to register
your interest in attending the above event, please complete the
enquiry form at www.cranfield.ac.uk/som/garc or email one of the
contacts opposite.
Professor Thomas Lawton is Professor of
Strategy and International Management at The
Open University Business School and Visiting
Professor of Business Administration at the Tuck
School of Business at Dartmouth in the USA. His
research expertise focuses on strategy alignment and nonmarket
capabilities, managing political risk in international market entry, and
high growth strategy process and practice. He is a member of the
Editorial Board of Long Range Planning and has published more than
40 papers and book chapters, including articles in refereed journals
such as Academy of Management, Perspectives, Business Horizons,
Business and Politics, International Business Review, Long Range
Planning and Management International Review. He is the author or
editor of eight books, including 'Breakout Strategy: meeting the
challenge of double-digit growth' (McGraw-Hill, 2007) and 'Aligning for
Advantage: competitive strategies for the political and social arenas
(Oxford University Press, 2014). Thomas has worked for 20 years in
consulting and executive development, advising entrepreneurs and
managers on how to develop and enhance their strategic thinking and
practice. Contact: thomas.lawton@open.ac.uk.
Dr Howard Viney is Senior Lecturer in Strategic
Management at The Open University Business
School and Visiting Fellow at Cranfield School of
Management. He is the lead author and Module
Team Chair for the Strategic Management Module on
The OUBS's MBA, and an experienced teacher in all areas related to
the strategy process. Since 2010 he has also been a Programme
Director for the Centre for Management Development at London
Business School working primarily on executive education programmes
for IBM. Prior to joining OUBS, he was a research fellow and lecturer at
Middlesex University. Howard received his PhD in 2001 for a thesis
exploring corporate and competitive strategy in newly privatised utility
organisations, specifically the UK energy industry. His research
interests focus upon strategy in regulated utilities and all aspects of
nonmarket strategies, including the marketisation of public services and
stakeholder management. He has taught on executive education
programmes for clients such as IBM, Ericsson, KPMG, HMRC, Moenco
(Ehtiopia) and Nordea. He has co-edited three books, authored over 20
academic journal articles and presented papers at many prestigious
international conferences. He was the principal organiser of the 2002
British Academy of Management annual conference, hosted by
Middlesex University. He was awarded a Leverhulme Trust Visiting
Fellowship in 2004, resulting in a Visiting Fellowship at Villanova
University (USA). Contact: howard.viney@open.ac.uk.
DETAILS
Meetings: one day, four times per year plus four - six informal
research syndicates.
Maximum number of participants per membership: six.
The annual cost of corporate membership is £7,500 + VAT (50 per
cent founder members’ discount available until 25th June 2015).
ELIGIBILITY
This club operates on a non-competitive basis – applications will not
knowingly be accepted from competitors of any existing members
without their express permission.
This club does not accept applications from consultants or individuals.
Co-Director for Correspondence:
Prof Paul Baines, paul.baines@cranfield.ac.uk
Administrator: Rosemary Cockfield
rosemary.cockfield@cranfield.ac.uk +44-(0)1234 754801
www.cranfield.ac.uk/som/garc