David Molian

Background

David was educated at the universities of Oxford and Aix-en-Provence, and holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management. He trained in consumer goods advertising and has been personally involved in the founding and sale of three businesses. He has served on the faculty of Imperial College and, as visiting faculty, at INSEAD and London Business School. From 2009 - 2011 he chaired the Board of the Cranfield Management Association and was a member of the Advisory Board of Peter Leach LLP, the leading UK firm of family business advisors. He is a Criticaleye Thought Leader, and advisor to Coutts & Co. David has published extensively on issues involved in marketing and business start-up, and is a prolific author of cases. In 2002 (with colleague Robert Brown), he was awarded the EFMD case-writing prize for his study of Hotel Chocolat, a Sunday Times Fast Track 100 company whose MD attended the Business Growth Programme in 2000. That success was repeated with the IViewCameras case in 2005 and yet again in 2009 with Pacific Direct, with co-author Robert Brown. In 2010 with Bettany Centre co-author Dr Stephanie Hussels he was awarded a further EFMD prize for the GoApe! case study.

Current activities

Director of BGP, the UK''s largest programme for ambitious entrepreneurs, and involved with entrepreneurship education at Cranfield since 1998. Mentored numerous fast-growth businesses and continues to do so. Within the Bettany Centre leads initiatives in executive education and, with Professor Andrew Burke, is joint director of the Coutts Private Banking Academy Entrepreneurs Programme. Regular commentator on entrepreneurship in press and other media. Publishes on marketing in the independently-owned smaller firm and the impact of training and development on high-growth enterprises.

Clients

UK Department of Trade & Industry/BIS [advisor on Business Link services delivered via internet]  

Scottish Enterprise [advisor on high growth business sector]  

Coutts & Co [entrepreneurs and family businesses]  

Quadrangle Ltd [board advisor]  

Vodafone [SME survey advisor]  

nPower Challenger Brands report [advisor and commentator]  

Open University [course reviewer]

Publications

• Articles in journals
• Conference papers
• Books

Articles In Journals

• Molian D (2013) Knowing when to step back, Management Focus, Spring (34) 14-15.
• Molian D (2012) Entrepreneurial Value Creation: Are Business Schools Playing Their Full Part?, Journal of Strategic Management Education, 8 (4) 233-252.
• Molian D (2011) Outgrowing the ghetto, Social Enterprise (94) 32-32.
• Hussels S & Molian D (2010) Live Life Adventurously Go Ape Case Study Part A: Monkeying Around?, International Review of Entrepreneurship, 8 (4) 337-346.
• Hussels S & Molian D (2010) Live Life Adventurously Go Ape Case Study Part B: Eight Hundred Pound Gorilla?, International Review of Entrepreneurship, 8 (4) 347-356.
• Molian David (2010) Intervention to promote SME growth: a review of 20 years at Cranfield, Journal of Strategic Management Education, 6 (4).
• Molian D (2010) Secrets of Successful Growth (29) 8-9.
• Hartwell... I, Molian D & Hartwell I (2009) Commercial versus Legal Approaches: Alternative Strategies to Resolving Third-Party IPR Issues Confronting New Ventures, International Review of Entrepreneurship, 7 (2) 161-173.
• Molian D (2007) Pitching for Finance for a Business Start-Up: a case Study of IViewCameras, International Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 5 193-208.
• Molian D & Solt Q (2004) Due care and attention, Corporate Venturing (4) 8-11.
• Molian DJ & Solt Q (2003) Corporate Venturing - With Due Care and Attention, Management focus (20) 4-7.

Conference Papers

• Molian D (2012) Entrepreneurial Value Creation: Are European Business Schools Playing Their Full Part?. In: EFD Annual Entrepreneurship Conference, Maastricht, 5 March 2012.
• Turnbull James K, LeGoff M & Molian D (2005) Leadership in UK based small businesses: do leaders define a "main thing"? Does this concept contribute to our understanding of small business leadership?. In: 4th Annual Studying Leadership Conference, Lancaster.
• Brown R & Molian D (2003) Fitness Express Case Study. In: Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Small Business (EISB) Conference, Milan.
• Brown R & Molian D (2002) Fitness Express. In: EFMD Medium Enterprise Development Conference, Durham.
• Brown R & Molian D (2002) Fariba Ltd. In: EFMD New Frontiers between Large and Small Firms, Nice.
• Molian D, Brown R & Solt Q (2002) New frontiers between small and large firms. In: EFMD 32nd annual conference, Sophia Antipolis.
• Molian D & Birley S (1996) Marketing Consultancy for SMEs: The Influence of Assistance with Implementation on the Outcome of Consulting Assignments. In: UIC/AMA Annual Symposium on Research at the Marketing/Entrepreneurship Interface, Stockholm.

Books

• Molian D (2008) IViewCameras case study. In: European Case Studies, Dublin: Blackhall Publishing, p. 23-34.
• Burke G, Clarke L, Barrow P & Molian D (2007) Growing your Business: A Handbook for Ambitious Owner-Managers. Routledge.
• Molian D (2004) Corporate venturing: Development, diversity, success and failure. In: Critical Reviews of Key Topics in Entrepreneurship, EFMD.
• Molian D (2000) How to build a strong launch pad. In: The Complete MBA Companion in Entrepreneurship. Birley S, Muzyka D (ed.), FT Prentice Hall, p. 47-53.
• Molian D & Leleux B (1997) The European Casebook on New Ventures and Entrepreneurship. Prentice Hall International.
• Molian D, Hilton D, Erb HP & McDermott M (1996) Social Representations of History and Attitudes to European Unification in Britain, France and Germany. In: Changing European Identities: Social Psychology Analyses of Social Change. Breakwell, Lyons (ed.), Butterworth-Heinemann.