Mr Vic Saunders BA, PGCE, PGDip, MA

Faculty of Business and Management – Student Experience Co-ordinator for the Faculty, Partnership Team Leader for the Faculty’s Partnership Provision in the UK and Ireland, Mentoring and Co-ordination of the Part Time Academic staff within the Faculty.

School of Business, Finance and Management – Dissertation Co-ordinator, Marketing, Admissions and Recruitment Officer.

A marketer who has progressed into strategic management, with an intense interest in micro businesses and entrepreneurial activity which stretches back to youth where there was family involvement in a micro business, and then, later from being employed, for a number of years, in a micro business. 

• Higher Education Academy (HEA)
• Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)

Teaching experience includes a wide range of modules in marketing and strategic management related subjects at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels:

• Personal Selling (level 5)
• Marketing Decision Making (level 5)
• Strategic Marketing and Sustainability (level 6)
• Marketing Management (level 6)
• Sales Management Strategy (level 6)
• Undergraduate Dissertation Supervision (level 6)
• Strategic Management (level 7)
• Strategic Marketing Decisions (level7)
• Managing Marketing Performance (level 7)
• Strategic Marketing in Practice (level 7)
• Postgraduate Dissertation Supervision (level 7)

The factors that motivate owners of small businesses to sustain their venture efforts.

The exploitation of informal relationships by owner-managers of micro businesses for business development purposes.

Whether the social skills of the owner-managers are predictors of success in micro businesses.  Whether there is a correlation between high levels of social skills of the owner-managers and business success in micro enterprises.

Marketing management and strategic management curriculum and pedagogy.

Teaching contemporary, leading edge concepts within aspects of market environmental analysis, marketing information systems, marketing planning, and strategic management and offering opportunities for students to gain the generic, transferable skills necessary in the workplace, such as effective team-working, problem-solving skills, whilst updating skills in line with changes in the economy and management sector.

Conducted Research for the Welsh Assembly 2008-2010 – in collaboration with Ph.D. supervisor successfully applied for and gained a grant of £15000 and conducted research for the Welsh Assembly into how micro business owner managers measure success in the Tourism and Agricultural sectors in West Wales. This led to the submission of a report in April 2010 to the Welsh Assembly into how micro business owner managers measure success in the Tourism and Agricultural sectors in West Wales.

Book chapters:

Saunders, V (2011) ‘What Success Factors are Important to Owners of Micro Businesses in West Wales,’ Book chapter in the publication for the papers from the 8^th Annual International Conference on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises: Management – Marketing - Economic and Social Aspects, Sept. 2011

List of Conference Papers

Saunders, V (2014) ‘The personal goals and motivations of micro business owners in West Wales,’  The Challenge and Opportunity of SME, Research Conference, Swansea, Federation of Small Businesses (Wales), November 

Saunders, V (2013) ‘The nature and extent to which owner-managers of micro enterprises use informal relationships to enhance business performance,’ WEBS Conference, SBS, March

Saunders, V (2013) ‘Effective Communication – Ensuring Self Promotion,’  WEBS Conference, SBS, November

Saunders, V (2011) ‘Self Attributed Measures of Success Among Owners of Welsh Micro Businesses,’ 8^th Annual International Conference on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises: Management – Marketing - Economic and Social Aspects, Athens Institute for Education and Research, Athens, Greece, August

Saunders, V and Fleming, W (2008) ‘Practical Entrepreneurial Marketing – What They Don’t Teach at Uni,’ Enterprise Conference, Swansea Metropolitan University (SMU), Swansea, April

Organised several conferences at the University including:

• Welsh Economics and Business Studies (WEBS) Conference
• The Annual Business Research Conference
• Represented the faculty and University in several conferences in the UK and in international universities.