European Business Forum articles from June 2002

European Business Forum archives from June 2002

Our performance--at a glance.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... The objectives of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies are to engage efficiently, responsibly and profitably in the oil, gas, power, chemicals, renewables and other selected businesses and participate in the research and development of...

Message from the Chairman.(Royal Dutch-Shell Group of Cos.)
June 22, 2002... In a troubled and unsettled world, we delivered our second best ever earnings in 2001. Our returns were among the best in the industry and we have met the challenging promises we made to our shareholders three years ago. We continue to focus on...

Our strategic direction.
June 22, 2002... Our aim is to be world leaders in energy and petrochemicals. We will grow the value of Shell by delivering robust profitability and leveraging our competitive edge. Our success will ensure highly competitive returns to shareholders and give us...

Living our values.(shell)
June 22, 2002... We operate in over 135 countries and employ some 91,000 people. Our core values of honesty, integrity and respect for people are at the heart of the way we manage our business. They are embodied in our Business Principles that describe the...

Our seven sustainable development principles.
June 22, 2002... To contribute to sustainable development we must approach our business in a way that helps to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs--the Brundtland Commission definition....

Generating robust profitability.(Economic performance)
June 22, 2002... * Second highest earnings ever in difficult market conditions * Cost improvements of $5.1 billion, ahead of target * Return on average capital employed (ROACE) of 19.2% * Motorists rank Shell top brand for fifth year running *...

Delivering value to customers.(Economic performance)
June 22, 2002... Meeting customer expectations Customers are at the heart of everything we do, whether they are multinational businesses trading with us on a global scale or individuals on the forecourt, in the home or on the Internet. We listen carefully...

Protecting the environment.(Environmental performance)
June 22, 2002... * Greenhouse gas emissions up, but still on track to meet 2002 reduction target * Significant increase in spill volumes * Fresh water usage reported for the first time ********** Emissions Although our overall greenhouse...

Managing resources.(Environmental performance)
June 22, 2002... Energy In 2001, our total energy use was up 2% at 1,023 million gigajoules--enough to power a city the size of Paris for one year. Our goal is to continuously improve our energy efficiency. This is a challenge as we also seek to maximise...

Respecting and safeguarding people.(Social performance)
June 22, 2002... * Best ever safety performance * Minimum Health Management Standards adopted * Slow progress towards gender target--focused programme to accelerate diversity * Incompatibility with Shell Business Principles--100 contracts...

Benefiting communities.(Social performance)
June 22, 2002... Managing social performance We made important progress in 2001 in our thinking and approach to the way we work with local communities. While voluntary work and social investment are important, often the way we manage our operations can...

Working with stakeholders.(Social performance)(Shell Companies)
June 22, 2002... Promoting our Principles Our Business Principles apply to all of our business affairs and describe the behaviour expected of every employee. The Principles are available in 51 languages, covering the local languages of 99.9% of Shell...

The power players.(Letter from the editors)
June 22, 2002... Over the last ten to 15 years it has been fashionable to portray business leaders as the most powerful members of a new global economic and political elite. Globalisation has certainly opened up new opportunities for expansionism and...

Who holds the reins of power in the global economy?(EBF Debate)(Cover Story)
June 22, 2002... Multinational corporations and other businesses are seen as wielding immense economic and political influence in the borderless global economy--a development which presents profound challenges as well as opportunities for boardroom leaders. But...

How brave a new world for financial services?
June 22, 2002... Will the carefully crafted electronic channels and technologies employed by financial services lead to more consumer choice or to a backlash from independent, privacy minded consumers? Will the abundance of emerging self-service options lead to...

Delivering value in a downturn: have boards over-emphasised governance at the expense of strategy?
June 22, 2002... PricewaterhouseCoopers Third Annual European Shareholder Value Award in Partnership with Financial News and European Business Forum. Corporate governance is on the agenda once again. But this debate over the relationship between boards of...

Competitiveness and globalisation: the role of institutions; In the first issue of EBF (Spring 2000) we examined the meaning and relevance of a distinctively European management model. The issue of convergence around a single Anglo-Saxon approach remains contentious--and far from proven.(Debate reopened: Business models)(European Business Forum)
June 22, 2002... Less than fifteen years ago, many assessments of economic performance around the globe led to a unanimous assessment: the Japanese and the Germans had, each in their own way, discovered how to organise their economies to address the new...

Has the IT industry neglected women? EBF's summer 2001 edition (issue 6) addressed the question 'How can companies weave a web of talent?' The specific problems of IT were highlighted but not the striking attrition rate of women from the industry in Europe. Business and governments need to improve retention rates if companies in the sector are to become genuinely 'gender-agnostic'.(Debate reopened: The war for talent)(information technology)(European Business Forum)
June 22, 2002... After reading the Summer 2001 issue of EBF, and its contributions to the debate on 'The War for Talent', I felt that there was an important aspect of this issue that had been omitted--a look at the female workforce. There were many references...

Assessing the component-based business model: can the world's financial behemoths face up to challenges that threaten to extinguish them? A new report argues that they can re-light their competitive flame by spinning off discrete activities into separate businesses.(In-depth: Financial services)
June 22, 2002... Large financial institutions are hard to manage, harder still to change. They are less profitable than their smaller rivals, and use their resources much less efficiently. They are stuck in a strategic rut, trapped by legacy systems. In short,...

In my opinion ...(In-depth: Financial services)
June 22, 2002... Both the 'Simplify to succeed' report, and David Lascelles' very elegant summary of it, introduce the idea of a 'Component-Based Business Model' (CBBm) as a radical departure for financial institutions (Fls) from what they currently do. Not...

Big Pharma--the limits of scale: the strategy of getting bigger to better pursue 'blockbuster' drugs has topped out. The current business environment requires a focused, differentiated approach around 'therapeutic franchises'.(In-depth: Pharmaceuticals)
June 22, 2002... Growing sums of money have been spent on R & D by the pharmaceutical industry over the last decade--yet far from producing record totals of new discoveries for the companies involved, the number of usable compounds developed over this period...

In my opinion ...(In-depth: Pharmaceuticals)
June 22, 2002... The article on Big Pharma certainly has some stimulating ideas--but I believe in part it unfairly lays the blame at the door of big companies. Scale can certainly stifle innovation but historically, you have to remember, the fact that Big...

The 'Rule of Three' in Europe: the central paradigm of this concept holds that in competitive, mature markets, there is only room for three full-line generalists, along with several (in some markets, numerous) product or market specialists.(In-depth: The 'Rule of Three')
June 22, 2002... Over the last few years many major industries, principally in the developed free market economies of North America and Europe, have witnessed a unique combination of economic phenomena: mergers as well as demergers (i.e. spin-offs of non-core...

In my opinion ...(In-depth: The 'Rule of Three')
June 22, 2002... The logic of the Rule of Three as expounded by Sheth and Sisodia, is in the real world and in my professional life a paradigm that I have personally always observed in relation to products, product categories and markets. This is not just the...

Organising R & D in a global environment: a new study of Swedish multinationals shows that companies are simultaneously pursuing strategies of centralisation and of 'dispersed co-operation' between units.(In-depth: Research and development)
June 22, 2002... The use of dispersed constellations of Research & Development activity is on the rise in multi-national companies. Traditional, centralised structures increasingly appear to be giving way to more global networks as corporate leaders accept that...

How to seize the value of online auctions: with the advent of 'virtual marketplaces', the internet looks set to become the dominant vehicle for sales and procurements. The advantages for bidders are great, but not without risk.(Sounding Board)
June 22, 2002... As history has shown, the business landscape of the world has been changed many times due to the exploration and exploitation of alternative trade routes. When Marco Polo returned home by ship, he significantly reduced the time needed to...

Do stock markets really fund fresh investment? Analysis of France over the last 20 years suggests that the Bourse is playing a bigger role in the economy--but the link to innovation and productivity is more complex.(Sounding Board)
June 22, 2002... During the last two decades of the twentieth century, the stock market seemed to assume a position of much greater importance in many countries in the world. If that trend was particularly striking in the US and the UK, the growing prominence...

The life of a lone operator: freeing oneself from corporate bondage is the dream of many, but only a determined few will succeed.(Sounding Board)
June 22, 2002... They make it sound so tempting and so easy. Abandon the life of the corporate slave, go independent and take control. 'You are a brand'. "The main payoff comes in personal satisfaction, in autonomy, in deliverance from office politics, in...

Winning strategies for locally-owned businesses in Central Europe: what is helping or hindering in the build up to enlargement?(Sounding Board)
June 22, 2002... Issue 3 of EBF (Autumn 2000) reported the results of our study of the strategic business impact of EU enlargement. One of the key conclusions was that, in general, locally-owned businesses in the candidate countries--i.e. those businesses in...

Does humour travel?(Cartoon)
June 22, 2002... ITALY "Moretti is in 'power save' mode again." PIERO TONIN [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AUSTRIA "That one there is mine!" OSWALD HUBER [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BELGIUM CONFLICT BETWEEN GENERATIONS "2.6%...

EU's social guardian: EBF talks to Anna Diamantopoulou, EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs.(View from the top)(European Business Forum)(European Union)(Interview)
June 22, 2002... Anna Diamantopoulou may not have the most high profile portfolio in Brussels. But for millions of citizens and tens of thousands of businesses the Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs occupies a pivotal position in the EU political...

Ireland's special agent: EBF talks to Mark FitzGerald, group Chief Executive of Sherry FitzGerald.(View from the top)(European Business Forum)(Interview)
June 22, 2002... Mark FitzGerald is group chief executive of Sherry FitzGerald, Ireland's biggest and only publicly listed property agent. A lifelong property man who developed a fascination for houses at an early age, he began his career as an Auctioneer's...

Is an Asian trading bloc feasible? Europe and North America know all about the challenges of trying to create a regional free trade area. Now China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are embarked on the same quest.(Window on the world)
June 22, 2002... In May 2002, China and the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)--Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore. Thailand and Vietnam--began negotiations on the creation of what could be,...

New pains, new gains: for two years EBF has been following the fortunes of four young entrepreneurs. One has dropped out but we bring you news from the other three and introduce two new businesses.
June 22, 2002... In search of new revenues DoTank comprises Squeaker.net, a career network, online-community software development and mobile marketing concepts. While catching up with a friend who works at one of Germany's (formerly) hottest internet...

Going beyond home.(Book Review)
June 22, 2002... From Global to Metanational: How Companies Win in the Knowledge Economy by Yves Doz, Jose Santos, Peter Williamson Harvard Business School Press, November 2001. ISBN: 0875848702. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This book is a sharp reminder...

Avoiding the elephant trap.(Book Review)
June 22, 2002... Designing Effective Organizations: How to Create Structured Networks By Michael Goold and Andrew Campbell Jossey-Bass, April 2002. ISBN: 0787960640. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Strategy, Organisation & the Changing Nature of...

Silicon transplants.(Cloning Silicon Valley: The Next Generation Hightech Hotspots)(Book Review)
June 22, 2002... Cloning Silicon Valley--the next generation high-tech hotspots by David Rosenberg Prentice Hall, December 2001. ISBN: 1903684064. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "It is not enough for the rest of the world simply to admire or envy...

A CSR Academy.(Did you know?)(Corporate social responsibility)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... A group of leading European companies and business schools have launched The European Academy of Business in Society--a response to the growing call for changes in the way business interacts with society. The Academy initiative is seen as...

Marketing media.(Did you know?)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... Polish entrepreneurs consider the internet to be worse than traditional promotional media, according to research by the Krakow Academy of Economics. At the same time, entrepreneurs lack knowledge of how to exploit the net to commercial...

Expats want more support from HR.(Did you know?)(Human resource )(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... Fifty-nine per cent of expatriates believe their companies are not doing enough to help them find local healthcare, and 55 per cent say their employers are also failing to prepare them adequately for medical emergencies and security crises,...

Putting a price on your time.(Did you know?)(monetary value)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... A professor from Warwick University in the UK has devised a mathematical formula to enable people to put a value on their time. I an Walker says this could help solve dilemmas like whether to spend time cooking or spend money on a takeaway and...

Entrepreneurs--born or made?(Did you know?)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... A recent study conducted at the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship has thrown new light on a question that has haunted society and policy makers for decades, "are entrepreneurs born or made?" The findings suggest that...

The top 50 business gurus.(Did you know?)(rankings of professors)
June 22, 2002... Professor Michael Porter, arguably the world's most influential business school academic, has come top in a ranking of the 50 leading (living) business gurus compiled by Accenture's Institute for Strategic Change. "The list is sure to cause...

Zen and the moneymen.(Did you know?)
June 22, 2002... What is the most environmentally friendly group in the world? Eco and the Bunnymen. What is the most self-centred group in the world? Ego and the Bunnymen. The most logical? Ergo. The least environmentally friendly? Esso. The most envious?...

In shorts ...(Did you know?)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... Five former male employees of Enron may have lost their stock options but they have shown off their other assets for Playgirl Magazine. The five left nothing undisclosed when they went before the cameras and, as payment, Playgirl offered 'more...

Scotland may not be the home of golf after all, after evidence was found linking its origins with Holland.(Did you know?)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... Scotland may not be the home of golf after all, after evidence was found linking its origins with Holland. A sports historian has found the rules written down in a 16th century document. He says Scotland's long-standing 15th century evidence is...

'Thatcherite' fish vote with their fins.(Did you know?)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... A new study suggests that fish on coral reefs live in their own capitalist, free market economies. The report in the journal Animal Behaviour found evidence from the reefs of Ras Muhammad on the Red Sea coast of Egypt that those fish which...

Employee stock awards.(Did you know?)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... The first ever dedicated European awards for all-employee share ownership plans have been won by worldwide information and consumer publishing group Pearson (category: more than 1,500 employees) and by Swedish software company Telelogic AB...

Picking up the pieces: after a series of costly debacles, a backlash against strategists has meant CFOs now carry a heavier burden.(Letter from Boston)
June 22, 2002... If business is a banquet, who has the fullest plate? You could argue that the Chief Executive Officer has the biggest burden and that globalisation is the roughest job. It is not easy to get dozens of business units working in harmony around...

News from EBF founders.
June 22, 2002... PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is active in developing new ideas for business and disseminating them through a variety of channels. Here are some recent initiatives: PwCs' 4th Annual Global Retail and Consumer Conference, Brussels, April...

CEMS case study wins the EFMD European case writing competition 2001 multimedia award.(News from EBF founders)
June 22, 2002... A tailored pan-European marketing case study for future Euro-managers [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Within their partnership framework, CEMS and L'Oreal, with the expertise of Professor Josep Franch of ESADE, created the first strategic...