Dr Dulekha Kasturiratne

• Full time permanent member of academic staff at the University of Plymouth from March 2007 ongoing.
• Associate Professor in Marketing.
• Module Leader at undergraduate and postgraduate levels for 'Introduction to Marketing', 'Marketing Management' & 'Buyer Behaviour & Relationships'
• Dissertation Supervisor at undergraduate and postgraduate levels
• PhD supervision
• Personal Tutor and Placements tutor
• Programme Manager for BA Marketing 2010-2012

 

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy , Imperial College London (University of London) Thesis title: ‘Value, relationships and competitive advantage in the Sri Lankan Tea Industry’ . 
(Winner of the 2007 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Award in the category of Marketing Strategy)

Master of Science in Food Industry Management and Marketing, Imperial College  

London (University of London). 

Bachelor of Science in Food Science, Food Economics & Marketing, University of Reading. 

Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (2007)

Professional membership

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

Roles on external bodies

Trustee - Well Connected (charity)

Teaching interests

Introduction to Marketing
Relationship Marketing
International Marketing
Buyer Behaviour & Relationships
Organisational Behaviour & Human Resource Management
Supply Chain/Value Chain Analysis

Research interests

Research interests lie in the areas of - value chain analysis, poverty reduction, consumer behaviour and enterprise education.

Selected projects from the recent past:

• Value creation and competitive advantage in import-export relationships in commodity markets using the Sri Lankan tea industry as a case study.
• Impacts of Joining Agro-Industry Supply Chains on Quality and Safety in Farming & Post-Production Practices
•  The Impact of International Safety & Quality Standards on the Competitiveness of Mediterranean Fresh Produce
• Developing Entrepreneurship through Collaborative Delivery in a partnership between Sri Lanka and the UK.

Other research

Ford Foundation consultancy study: ‘Assessing the impact of value chain approaches on rural poverty and the environment’. This project aims to

establish an international, multi-stakeholder learning process for advancing the development of tools for assessing the impact of Value Chain Approaches (VCA) on rural poverty. It involves countries such as Sri Lanka (from Asia), Uganda (from Africa) and Nicaragua (from Latin America). It is funded by the Ford Foundation which has commissioned the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Centre (CATIE) of Costa Rica to develop and test tools for measuring the impact of VCA on rural poverty.

United Nations (UN) Consultancy study for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on 'Impacts of Joining Agro-Industry Supply Chains on Quality and Safety in Farming & Post-Production Practices'

 ‘Diet and Other Risk Factors Associated with Heart Disease In British-Asians’.

Grants & contracts

• Lead on PMI2 (Prime Ministers Initiative 2) project Developing Entrepreneurship through Collaborative Delivery in a partnership between Sri Lanka and the UK - £ 33,500
• Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with GOSS Interactive Ltd., in 2009, and another KTP with Chough Bakery in Padstow which commenced in July 2010. Collective income of over £235,000
• PedRio grant of £8600 for researching ‘What makes a good module from a co-creation perspective?’
• Grant from Centre for Excellence in Professional Placement Learning (CEPPL) - £1000
• Teaching Fellowship (TF): Lead on 2008 TF titled ‘The impact of the level of engagement on students’ perception of feedback provision’ £5000
• Lead academic on project titled ‘Impact of country-of-origin on consumer perceptions and purchase decisions – An exploratory study of tea drinking consumers’ Funded by Seale Hayne Education Trust (£6000)

United Nations (UN) Consultancy study for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on 'Impacts of Joining Agro-Industry Supply Chains on Quality and Safety in Farming & Post-Production Practices'

Consultancy study for Unilever Ceylon Ltd. - ‘Knorr vs. Maggie Cooking Cubes - Establishing and coordinating a CORD (COnsumer Research & Development) Panel for the Foods Department of Unilever Ceylon Ltd. 
Co-Authoring the 'International Marketing' module for the distance learning MBA programme of Royal Holloway (University of London)
Recipient of the Agricultural Economics and Business Management (AEBM) grant (2004 & 2005), and KCAS grant (2004)

Creative practice & artistic projects

 Narration for US TV documentary on Organic Farming Methods in Sri Lanka
Commentator at International Dermatology Conference held in Sri Lanka

Journals

S Liu, J Moizer, P Megicks, D Kasturiratne and U Jayawickrama, (2013). A knowledge chain management framework for global supply chain integration decisions. Production Planning and Control, DOI: 10.1080/09537287.2013.798084 (ABS 3* journal)

Kasturiratne, D., Conway, Hugh. (2013). Value Added Distribution Strategies. In Principles of Marketing – A Value Based Approach, edited by Gbadamosi, A., Bathgate, I. K., Nwankwo, S. Chapter 8, Palgrave macmillan

S Liu, D Kasturiratne and J Moizer, (2012). A hub-and-spoke model for multi-dimensional integration of green marketing and sustainable supply chain management. Industrial Marketing Management 41(4): 581-588 (ABS 3* journal).

S Liu, M Leat, J Moizer, P Megicks and D Kasturiratne, (2012). A decision-focused knowledge framework to support collaborative decision making for lean supply chain management. International Journal of Production Research 51(7): 2123-2137 (ABS 3* journal).

Kasturiratne, D., Lean, J., Phippen, A. (2012) ‘International enterprise education in Sri Lanka: a blended approach’ Journal of Education and Training. Vol 54, Number 4. Pp 306-318

Kasturiratne, D. (2008) 'An Overview of the Sri Lanka- UK Tea Industry: An Exploratory Case Study', The Marketing Review, Vol.8, Issue 4 (winter), pp367-381

Co-author of peer-reviewed course module on ‘International Marketing’ for the MBA programme of the Royal Holloway, University of London, 2007

Kasturiratne, D. (2006) ‘Creating Value for Competitive Advantage in Supply Chain Relationships: The Case of the Sri Lankan Tea Industry’ edited by Fritz, M., Rickert, U., Schiefer, G. Conference Proceedings, 99th Seminar of the European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE) on Trust and Risk in Business Networks in Bonn in February 2006

Kasturiratne, D. (2005) ‘The Impact of Information and Communication on Supply Chain Relationships and Performance – The Case of the Sri Lankan Tea Industry ’ Conference proceedings, 5th International PENSA Conference on Agri-food Chains, Network Economics and Management July 2005 in Brazil

Reports & invited lectures

• United Nations (UN) Consultancy for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on 'Impacts of Joining Agro-Industry Supply Chains on Quality and Safety in Farming & Post-Production Practices'

• Ford Foundation consultancy study on ‘Assessing the impact of value chain approaches on rural poverty and the environment’.

• Consultancy for Unilever Ceylon Ltd. - ‘Knorr vs. Maggie Cooking Cubes - Establishing and coordinating a CORD (COnsumer Research & Development) Panel for the Foods Department of Unilever Ceylon Ltd.

• The Impact of International Safety & Quality Standards on the Competitiveness of Mediterranean Fresh Produce

• Lead on funded British Council Project – ‘Developing Entrepreneurship through Collaborative Delivery in a partnership between Sri Lanka and the UK’ 

 • Invited Speaker at Business Management seminar series at Imperial College London, Wye Campus

• Invited to speak at the National Entrepreneurship Week in Sri Lanka in November 2008. Invited as an expert to the round table discussion and action planning session on graduate employability with senior management of Sri Lankan universities, students, employers and UK academics at the National Entrepreneurship Week in Sri Lanka in November 2008 http://www.britishcouncil.org/srilanka-projects-and-networking-new08-review-roundtable-discussion.htm . Also invited to the Policy Dialogue and Enterprise Summit in Sri Lanka in March 2010.

• Invited speaker at the South Asia Policy Dialogue series in Sri Lanka on the theme of Transforming Higher Education in South Asia (June 2013) organized by the British Council Sri Lanka.

• Represented PU at the Commonwealth Business Forum (Nov 2013) invited by the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka.

• Invited guest on BBC Radio Devon in August 2008 as a ‘boffin’ from Plymouth University speaking on the topic of the global tea industry. Various articles have also been published in a number of local/regional newspapers. Ex. News paper article titled 'University Scientist aids world's poor tea farmers', Western Morning News, 13th August 2008, p.21. I was also filmed by BBC Spotlight in the Business School speaking on the same topic.

Other academic activities

Reviewer for the Journal of Strategic Marketing.
Member of conference paper reviewing committee for 6th International PENSA Conference on Agri-food Chains, Network Economics and Management 2007 Brazil, and 26th Conference of The International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) August 2006 Australia

Additional information

 Awards and acknowledgements
• Winner of the 2007 Emerald/EFMD International Award for the Most Outstanding Doctoral Research in the category of Marketing Strategy http://www.efmd.org/index.php/component/efmd/?cmsid=080404trmw
• Acknowledged for contributions made to a World Bank commissioned report titled ‘Bulk export commodities: trends and challenges’ in March 2007. The report was written by Dr Colin Poulton, Imperial College London, University of London
• Commended finalist of the International Engagement Award at the Vice Chancellor’s Enterprise Awards, September 2009.
• Shortlisted for both the International Engagement Award and Ambassador of the Year Award at the Vice Chancellor’s Enterprise Awards 2010.
• Winner of the 2010 Faculty Awards for Internationalist of the Year
• Winner of the International Partnership Award at the Vice Chancellor’s Enterprise Awards 2011.
• Winning team of the Outstanding Teaching Award at the Vice Chancellor’s Enterprise Awards 2011.
• John Bennet Award (2002) for receiving the highest marks at the examinations for the Master of Science degree in Food Industry Management & Marketing at Imperial College London (University of London)
• Winner of the Zonta International Award for Young Women in Public Affairs (1997), awarded by Zonta International District 25

Media Appearances
Interviewed on BBC Spotlight in August 2008 regarding the tea industry.
Invited guest on BBC Radio Devon in August 2008 as a ‘boffin’ from Plymouth University speaking on the topic of the global tea industry. Various articles have also been published in a number of local/regional newspapers. Ex. News paper article titled 'University Scientist aids world's poor tea farmers', Western Morning News, 13th August 2008, p.21. I was also filmed by BBC Spotlight in the Business School speaking on the same topic.

Advisory roles
• Advising the young Enterprise Team from Tamarside School for a project in marketing
• Organising and mentoring the participation of a UG Business Studies student in ‘IDEATORS’ a reality TV Enterprise Competition organised by the British Council Sri Lanka.