A passion for education
If you build it, they will come -- so the mantra goes -- and that’s exactly what Ng Gim Choo did with the EtonHouse group of schools. And serendipity, as it turned out, would play a key role.
A leap into languages
Some entrepreneurs are born into the role. Such was the case of Tom Adams who, at the age of 30, became CEO for a family business selling language-learning software.
Gold lures small-scale miners into global market
Victoria Paxi used to live in Lima, the capital of Peru, working in a restaurant or washing clothes to earn about 60 dollars a month, while her husband worked hours away in a mine.
Lawrence Bailey - Market Research Valedictory Lecture - slides (as PDF)
A pdf of the slides used in Lawrence Bailey's guest lecture on Market Segmentation, Qualitative Research and Conversations Across the Garden Wall at Leeds Metropolitan University on 27 January 2011.
Message to Basel: Another way to avoid bank bailouts
The Basel committee on Banking Supervision is set to finalise new capital requirements for banks by the end of the year. They are also looking closer at so-called cocobonds, or contingent convertibles as an alternative to issuing equity to meet these requirements.
Further consolidation seen in private banking sector
Even as the global economic downturn continues to ease, there will be further consolidation in the private banking industry amid cost-cutting efforts and falling revenues, says Pierre-Francois Baer, SG Private Banking’s CEO for Singapore & South Asia.
Innovating at the top
With the global economic slowdown, the need for innovation is even greater today. If you're looking to maintain your market share, and perhaps post growth despite the recessionary environment, innovation is key.
The innovation value chain
Innovation isn’t all about great ideas. INSEAD Professor of Entrepreneurship Morten Hansen and visiting professor Julian Birkinshaw argue that companies often fail because they don’t recognise that innovation is a chain that requires strength at every link to succeed.
Ericsson: Aiming to help reduce emissions while 'not shying' away from its own responsibilities
The telecoms sector isn't regarded as a major polluter, but that isn't stopping firms in that industry from doing what they can to help tackle climate change.
One such telecoms firm, Ericsson, took part in the European Business Summit held recently in Brussels -- a summit devoted this year to 'greening' the economy and reducing carbon emissions. One might wonder why a company that is neither a big polluter, nor present in the energy sector, would feel the need to participate in such a s
Alstom: Clean power needed to reduce CO2 emissions
Mankind will keep using fossil fuels to generate electricity for many decades to come, and will need all the help it can get to curb emissions of carbon dioxide, or CO2, that go with burning fossil fuels. That's according to Alstom, a leading manufacturer of power turbines and a company which sells equipment to make coal power stations cleaner and more efficient. It is also developing techniques to capture and store CO2.
Taking the lead
Peter Grauer, the Chairman and CEO of Bloomberg, is a man with a mantra and he repeats it every chance he gets: “We have an aspiration at Bloomberg to become the most influential news organisation in the world.” A glance at the statistics behind the media empire started in 1981 by the eponymous Michael Bloomberg (who, on becoming the 108th Mayor of the City of New York on January 1, 2002, left the running of his company to long-time friend and associate Grauer), shows that the global media c
The Merck Orchestra: using Mendelssohn to teach leadership
Ranging in size anywhere from 80 to 100 musicians, a symphony orchestra not only provides a magnificent sound, but an engaging illustration of how leadership works. As pharmaceutical company Merck has discovered, watching an orchestra rehearse is an invaluable lesson in corporate management.
Taking leadership research global
The global dimension of leadership is becoming a key area of interest for leadership research, says Cristina Escallon, director of the INSEAD Leadership Initiative, speaking on the sidelines of the first INSEAD-Wharton Research Conference on Leadership.
Most leadership research around the world is based on US-centric models, be it US companies or American leaders. This is because the US is where most academic developments have taken place in this field over the last couple of
Marketing in a downturn: time to push the panic button?
In a crisis, consumers generally start to rein in their spending and save more – just in case. But how should companies then market their goods and services in a downturn?
In a new working paper by INSEAD professors ‘Paddy’ V. Padmanabhan and Pushan Dutt called ‘When to push the panic button?’, the authors drill down on the impact of economic crises on consumer behaviour in different categories of products and services in developing, as well as developed countries.
Global careers in academia: following the ideas
Although Wall Street may be feeling battered and bruised from the financial crisis, if you want a career in teaching business, you should still consider heading for the US at some point. That was the consensus view among INSEAD PhD programme graduates taking part in the school’s 20th reunion celebration at its Europe campus.
Cross-cultural negotiations: Avoiding the pitfalls
When entering into negotiations, we should always take into account cultural factors such as the educational or religious background of the person sitting across the table, but, says INSEAD professor Horacio Falcao, many people both underestimate and overestimate the cross-cultural aspects.
Tupperware: a party somewhere every two seconds
Say “Tupperware” to anyone over 40 and you conjure up visions of 1950s American housewives gathered together at someone’s home for a chance to test and buy airtight, plastic food containers. Passe, right? Wrong.
The power of true strategy
What do Google and Napoleon Bonaparte have in common? According to author Robert Greene, both are -- or were -- great strategists of their time. And because of that, both wielded enormous power and control, which made them formidable forces to contend with.
Concentric circles: Inside the world of Sir Martin Sorrell
“Our strategy is built on three pillars,” says communications guru Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of the world’s largest communications services company, WPP. ‘New markets’, which means the shift to Asia and the South, the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and Next-11 markets; ‘new media’, that’s digital in the sense of PC, mobile and video content; and ‘consumer insight,’ “because we’re very focused on how the consumer is changing, not just in a recessionary environment b
In search of blue oceans: The Starwood experience
Are companies using Blue Ocean Strategy to search for ‘uncontested market space’ and, if so, how? One group which has been exploring blue ocean thinking for the past three years is Starwood Hotels and Resorts.
However, as INSEAD Knowledge has been finding out, the company has so far been taking a step-by-step approach to implementing the concept, rather than try to realise any sort of ‘grand vision’. As Starwood Vice President Robyn Pratt puts it, it’s more a ques
