Susan Hopley
The Association of Corporate Travel Executives this month launched the ACTE Global Centre for Research and Education, which will invest upwards of $50,000 to $250,000 in long-engagement industry research projects. Chaired by TRX executive vice president Susan Hopley, who runs the ACTE Global Centre executive committee with ACTE executive director Susan Gurley and HRG group industry affairs director Mike Platt, the new group's board also includes officials from the supplier sides of Boeing, British Airways, Citigroup and Tata Group, plus the University of Sheffield. To be conducted by the university, the Centre's first research project is designed to examine the "science of climate change" and help businesses "get a handle on the environmental impact of their travel profiles." Susan Hopley spoke last week with Management.travelabout the new organization, which Susan Gurley said would work at "arm's length" from ACTE itself.
What makes this initiative unique?
We're issue-driven, so that we're focused on the needs of the corporations to have independent, high-level research that they can direct and be involved in. This way, we keep the purest attitude. We are going to pick topics brought to us by the corporations, and they may not necessarily be ACTE members.
Who is funding the first research project?
The funds have come from corporates, particularly IBM, which was one of the early companies to recognize the value of this.
So supplier-sponsored research is something other than independent?
Typically in any industry, a lot of research is sponsored and it's really valuable. You have conferences and conventions that are often largely sponsored by the suppliers--and they do need that opportunity to communicate their perspectives and get their brand recognition out to the audience, so that's very important. This doesn't rule out the suppliers. They are totally involved as well, in some cases, but I think everyone in the industry is feeling how hard it is to keep looking to the suppliers to provide all the answers. There are just not line items in the budgets anymore for that.
You're talking about an academic approach. How do you make sure that applies to the real-world situations that travel managers face?
That's our focus. There's too much research out there that is too nebulous and not directed at the corporate travel industry. I think this would increase the professionalism of our industry. Historically, sometimes we didn't get a lot of credit we deserved for the kind of industry economic clout that we have. Hopefully, over time, government entities and others will respect what has gone on in corporate travel.
If a buyer suggests a research topic that is not supported by the suppliers, how would that proceed through the approvals process?
Say a supplier comes along and says, for example, GDS fees are XYZ and someone says, "We want you to investigate." In those questions, any time you require research there are always two sides to the question. If it's appropriate research, it won't be one side or the other. It would document the issues, the facts and the knowns and unknowns. I think it would be hard to have a one-sided research topic. There are a bunch of issues we're looking at that could be seen as possibly being something [that] someone specific would want done. I think our discussion process and the academic level of the people involved don't allow us to get away with that.