European Business Forum articles from March 2003

European Business Forum archives from March 2003

Risky business.(Letter from the editors)
March 22, 2003... "Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink..." wrote the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Substituting risk for water would no doubt sum up the feelings of most business executives in the current...

Is it too risky to run a company?(EBF Debate)(Cover Story)
March 22, 2003... Business and risk have always been inseparable, if not synonymous. But given current geopolitical instability, gyrating stock markets and the fragility of most new business models even the most tough-minded entrepreneurs are struggling to...

Take the 'sour' out of outsourcing for employees: Brian Hadfield, Managing Director Unisys UK, explores what it takes to make outsourcing a pain-free process for all involved.(Advertorial)(Interview)
March 22, 2003... It is a common perception that outsourcing can be a painful process for employees involved in the transfer. This need not be the case--measures can be taken to ensure that they feel comfortable with, and even empowered by, the role they take on...

Don't forget the 'old' risks: as an extension of this EBF debate we asked the owners of four small businesses (all alumni of the Community of European Management Schools) to offer a front line perspective.(Debate: entrepreneurs)
March 22, 2003... Ad hoc and unstructured Being a small organisation, risk management is not exactly on our daily agenda. We don't foresee things like terrorism, rogue workers or systemic collapse as potential threats that could directly affect us....

Debate reopened: 1992 and all that.
March 22, 2003... DOES EUROPE HAVE A SINGLE MARKET TEN YEARS ON? The articles in this section respond to and complement the debate '1992 and all that--Does Europe have a Single Market ten years on?' in the Winter 2002/2003 edition of EBF. On this page Paolo...

What European students want from international programmes.(Debate reopened: executive education)
March 22, 2003... EXECUTIVE EDUCATION This research-based article provides useful evidence of student opinion and adds to our debate, 'Does Executive Education Really Improve Business Performance', opened in EBF's Autumn 2001 edition. It should prove...

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?(Debate reopened: corporate governance)
March 22, 2003... CORPORATE GOVERNANCE This article is a new contribution to the EBF debate begun in Spring 2001: 'Is Corporate Governance Really Delivering Value?' It argues that much of what is written about governance is inward looking and that current...

EBF live: encouraging live debate on topical business issues is a central part of EBF's mission. On these two pages we bring you edited highlights of two recent events.
March 22, 2003... HOW COMPETITIVE IS THE EUROZONE ECONOMY? These questions were aired and debated in London in late February at an evening seminar organised by The Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain, in association with EBF. Chaired by Tim Dickson,...

Designed to be loved: as consumers are increasingly drawn to 'lively' designs with an element of surprise, creating products with true charisma becomes an important way to differentiate a company from its rivals.(In-depth: Product charisma)
March 22, 2003... Good technology is not an end in itself. People must have an emotional attachment to products. Stefano Marzano, Head of Philips Design, in Echikson, 1999. When we succeed, we give birth to a new product that surprises people and...

In my opinion ...(In-depth: Product charisma)
March 22, 2003... Josiena Gotzsch makes a very interesting synthesis of the current 'semiological' approach to product development and marketing. She composes a very clear scheme of systems: product identity, user identity and corporate identity, all playing...

How locally-owned firms in Central Europe can win: increased competition from foreign companies has been an important stimulus to improvements in both product quality and productivity.(winning strategies)
March 22, 2003... Issue 10 of EBF (Summer 2002) analysed the determinants of the competitiveness of the European Union (EU) candidate countries and reported our study to assess how locally-owned businesses in these countries are responding strategically to the...

Entry strategies--a challenge to conventional wisdom: neither first movers nor followers are doomed from the start. What matters are the interactions between different causes and different effects.(In-depth: Market entries)
March 22, 2003... Conventional wisdom has it that successful market entry depends on market preemption and first-mover advantage. Such 'pioneering' is seen by many managers as enabling a company to achieve greater scale economies and larger market shares than...

In my opinion ...(In-depth: Market entries)(business management )
March 22, 2003... The analysis and guide developed by Regis Coeurderoy and Rodolphe Durand provides manufacturers with a simple framework to think about possible strategic choices that will enable them to choose ways of managing risk. This is an area of business...

In my opinion ...(In-depth: Market entries)(differentiation strategy in business development)
March 22, 2003... Let me add to this article with some insights into the thinking behind S & T's strategy, where we have entered markets as 'pioneer' and as a 'late entrant'. All the time, however, we have positioned ourselves through 'differentiation'. It...

Does humour travel?
March 22, 2003... FINLAND "Loser of the month." MATTI REMES [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] UK SOPHIE GRILLET [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] GERMANY "Another successful placement by the job centre." BECK [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Are European car buyers poised for a better deal? EU regulations for the motor industry have been revised ... here, four EBF contributors debate the controversy.(Sounding board)
March 22, 2003... Free markets and free trade lie at the heart of Europe's economic thinking. In theory at least, therefore, any system of exclusive distribution represents a distortion of competition and in principle should be prohibited under European law. ...

Merger integration: why the 'soft issues' matter most; A study of 125 mergers suggests that there is a link between performance and tackling the cultural challenge head on.(Sounding board)
March 22, 2003... Executives charged with integrating two companies after a merger know that success depends on a few key precepts: planning rigorously, making tough decisions rapidly and implementing with discipline. Production assets and information systems...

The world's first virtual business organisation: Reuter succeeded because he knew how to manage the interface between information and technology.(EBF HISTORY LESSON)
March 22, 2003... On 10 October 1851, in a small office in London's Royal Exchange. Julius Reuter founded the news agency that still bears his name. He also founded, although he probably did not know it at the time, the world's first knowledge-based enterprise...

Unleashing China's private sector: the communist government is casting off its ideological shackles. Aided by its 'red capitalists' the country is beginning to march in step with the rest of the world.(Sounding board)
March 22, 2003... China's private sector has been booming. The process has been further boosted by China's President and party general secretary Jiang Zemin's speech delivered to the 16th Session of the Chinese Communist Party's National Congress late last year....

A Polish public relations crisis ... the need for a clear and consistent message is poorly understood inside many companies.(Sounding board)
March 22, 2003... Companies in the West mostly take it for granted that they have to share information about themselves if they want to survive and flourish. But in 'transition' economies like Poland, where democratic institutions and free market conventions are...

... as the media shows its teeth.(EDITOR'S NOTE)(Editorial)
March 22, 2003... Anna Murdoch's article on crisis public relations in Poland (or the lack of it) highlights just one of many management challenges facing the 'transition' economies of Central Europe as they prepare for EU accession. Not long after the article...

Troubling times in Europe ... but three quarters of European CEOs agree that the introduction of the euro has made their businesses more efficient.(Sounding board)
March 22, 2003... Today, Europe's economic prospects look as uncertain as they have for some time. Recent rates of economic growth have been low, especially in the eurozone. There are clear downside risks linked, in particular, to the volatile situation in the...

Accountants fare badly.(Did you know?)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... A recent Australian survey found widespread problems in the standard of advice given to clients. Less prominent was the finding that the standard of investment advice from many accountants was not much better. Financial plans prepared by...

23 bright ideas for 2003.(Did you know?)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... Fast Company magazine has invited 23 professionals to predict some of the key developments of 2003. Some mentioned the development of humanlike robots capable of work, a drop in the fertility rate and the growth of average age of the...

Germans learn market value of English irony.(Did you know?)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... A German humorist has set up an academy to teach his nation's dour captains of industry how British wit can win clients and boost profits. Dirk Stiller tells managers from firms including Lufthansa, German Railways and DaimlerChrysler the...

Europe's ten great companies.(Did you know?)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... The 2002 Fortune list of '100 best companies to work for' lists the following as the ten great companies to work for in Europe: * ING Group (Netherlands -- Investment banking) * L'Oreal (France -- Cosmetics) * Morgan Stanley...

The world's most respected companies.(Did you know?)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... An FT/PwC survey has detected a shift away from earlier US domination of the list to a more balanced global spread of businesses. In 2000, 32 of the top 50 companies chosen by CEOs were from the US. In 2001 this fell to 26, and in the latest...

Europe's race to adopt best practice in CG.(Did you know?)
March 22, 2003... UK independent (unlisted) businesses are way ahead of their European counterparts in adopting best practice in corporate governance, while US independent businesses are showing an even greater appetite for adopting such measures, according to a...

Executives told to follow animal urges.(Did you know?)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... Three zoologists have set up a consultancy that plans to sell corporate clients ideas gleaned from the study of animal behaviour. Animals and businesses face many of the same problems, argues one of the group, Alex Kacelnik of the University of...

Britain's first MBA in corporate social responsibility.(Did you know?)(Nottingham University Business School )(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... In September 2003. Nottingham University Business School is to launch a new MBA in corporate social responsibility (CSR)--the first of its kind in Britain. This innovative programme provides the opportunity for managers to develop their careers...

Bugs in the system.(Did you know?)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... * The number of incidents of virus outbreaks and system intrusions is climbing. According to Riptech, an internet security firm, companies experienced 28 per cent more attacks in the first two quarters of 2002 than in the last two quarters of...

Samurai man: EBF talks to Carlos Ghosn, Nissan President and CEO.(View from the top)(Interview)
March 22, 2003... When Carlos Ghosn took the helm of Nissan three and a half years ago, many thought he'd be fighting a losing battle against incurable ills. Not only did he bring Nissan back to life, however, he did so at an astonishingly rapid pace given the...

Economic revolutionary: EBF talks to Dalia Grybauskaite, Finance Minister of Lithuania.(View from the top)(Interview)
March 22, 2003... Dr Dalia Grybauskaite is one of the new bright stars of EU enlargement and key architect in her country's transformation from Soviet vassal to credible EU candidate. A graduate of Leningrad University and the Moscow Public Science Academy,...

The paradox of business ethics.(Book summary)
March 22, 2003... Business ethics is often seen by theorists and practitioners as an instrument for improving the functioning of a corporation, something introduced to add value to business like any other 'tool'. A new book combining the contributions of 15...

Confusion vs clarity.(La fin du risque zero)(Book Review)
March 22, 2003... La fin du risque zero By Xavier Guilhou, Patrick Lagadec. Eyrolles Societe, February 2002 ISBN: 2-7081-2707-1 316 Pages Paris Eyrolles, 2002. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Economists are accustomed to describing the...

Kick the tyres--or resign: to make educated decisions, board directors need to understand the very working nature of the company they serve.(Letter from Boston)
March 22, 2003... Following the collapse of Enron, corporate governance has become front-page news. Think tanks have organised debates around the world, companies have commissioned research, and pundits have made pronouncements. New and old initiatives--the UK's...

News from EBF founders.(European Business Forum)
March 22, 2003... PricewaterhouseCoopers is active in developing new ideas for business and disseminating them through a variety of channels. Here are some recent initiatives: Spain Consenso Economico. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Consenso Economico...

The CEMS-Carnegie Bosch Institute (CBI) conference on: 'Corporate Governance: New Twists to an Old Story', NHH, Bergen, Norway--June 13th 2003.(News from EBF founders)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... The CEMS-CBI conference on Corporate Governance will bring together academics, CEMS students and business leaders to discuss the theme of corporate governance at a time when old certainties have gone. The collapse of Enron and WorldCom not only...