Warwick Business School has put itself at the forefront of bringing creativity and innovation to companies.

WBS believes creativity is a vital ingredient in a company’s success and that thinking differently will be how firms drag themselves through the current economic mire towards growth and a better future.

WBS puts creativity at the heart of its teaching; for example, Professor Jonothan Neelands is adding learning from classic drama to the curriculum to explore leadership and judgement making. See his film here

Professor Neelands believes there are many similarities between the arts and business. “Theatre directors often describe a process where they move from the often playful generation of ideas to be followed by a stage of ruthless pruning back to the essentials,” said Neelands. “This is the process of moving from ‘sense to value’, and is the vital stage in industry to ensure products have a market and can be produced and sold profitably.”

The newly created Behavioural Science group, headed by Professor Nick Chater is part of the Government’s nudge unit, is pouring in the latest research to help businesses understand human decision-making better.

Furthermore SME expert Professor Stephen Roper has discovered that those businesses with design as an integral part of their management of new products make more money. His research found that those companies that put their designers in charge of the whole product development process saw their sales enhanced by more than 20 per cent. “This really emphasises the importance of businesses having design-led innovation at the heart of what they do,” he says.

But, says Professor Roper, Director of the Centre for SMEs and the new Enterprise Research Centre, firms have to manage creativity to get the best out of it.

Professor Mark Taylor, Dean of WBS, added: “We are a top provider of finance and business research and education and believe creativity is an essential part of the business process. As the largest department of the University of Warwick, we offer both excellent facilities and a prestigious reputation. Our academics produce world-leading research in all fields of management and this feeds into our education programmes.”