European Business Forum articles from March 2004

European Business Forum archives from March 2004

We beg to differ ...(European Union)(Editorial)
March 22, 2004... It is never quite clear in Europe whether we should be trying to get rid of our differences--or to celebrate and exploit them. What cannot be doubted, though, is that the pressure towards convergence and conformity has been widely felt. ...

Can we turn Europe's differences to business advantage?(EBF Debate)
March 22, 2004... Recent geopolitical events have polarised attitudes in Europe and the US--but how has this affected business? Is Europe more or less confident than it used to be of its distinctive business model? More than ten years after the creation of a...

Europe poised to move up a gear: unlike the US, which has eliminated most of its inefficiencies and must now rely on inventions and innovation for growth, Europe has considerable potential to drive expansion.(EBF Debate)
March 22, 2004... The European economy has been getting bad reviews. There is a broad perception that American businesses do better than those located in Europe, in part because they operate in a more flexible and less burdensome institutional and legal setting....

A prize for the taking: European companies have many hurdles to overcome before they can take advantage of the Internal Market.(EBF Debate)
March 22, 2004... Europe's differences lead to business advantages on many levels. Competition in the market place thrives on the comparative advantages of a number of players, which in turn are built upon difference and variety. There is not a single European...

Is a bigger EU good for business? The important question is whether Europe can offer an alternative to US-style globalisation.(EBF Debate)
March 22, 2004... The question, 'Can we turn Europe's differences to business advantage?' is particularly relevant given the impending enlargement of the European Union. The arrival of ten new member states next month is likely to intensify the differences and...

A new perspective on Europe: fragmentation has long been seen as a drawback to Europe's competitive edge. Viewed as diversity, it reveals a depth of valuable experience.(EBF Debate)
March 22, 2004... A recent report on the impact of workforce diversity policies on European business makes interesting reading for companies based in Europe and beyond. Published by the European Commission in November 2003 and based on responses from 200...

Unique skills for global success: European companies' long experience of adapting to diverse markets could make them a role model for other regions--and give them a strong competitive advantage in future.(EBF Debate)
March 22, 2004... Discouraging macroeconomic trends in several European countries--most notably Germany--present a misleadingly negative picture of the region's prospects at present. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] First of all, many European companies,...

Harnessing global and local forces for competitive advantage: European companies and business schools are well-placed to turn cultural and economic diversity into opportunities at home and abroad.(EBF Debate)
March 22, 2004... More than 20 years ago Theodore Levitt predicted that a world transformation would take place in which the tastes and requirements of the global population would converge: he called it 'globalisation'. Globalisation has proved to be much more...

Airbus and Nokia: a tale of two successes; Europe should encourage new, fast-growing companies rather than preserving large, established businesses.(EBF Debate)
March 22, 2004... Airbus and Nokia are Europe's two great success stories, but which offers the most useful lessons for European industrial policy? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On one side we have Airbus, a government-created European champion, which has...

Got mobile, go global: Europe's wireless leaders must look beyond their domestic markets if they are to avoid the fate of US companies of the early 1990s.(EBF Debate)
March 22, 2004... From the mid-1990s to 2001, European firms were thought to have a substantial competitive advantage in telecommunications, particularly the wireless industry. In the dot-com world, European challengers were latecomers; in the mobile telecoms...

Diversity: the key to innovation advantage; European companies must learn new ways of thinking if they are to turn the region's differences into opportunities.(EBF Debate)
March 22, 2004... While most Europeans value their diverse cultural traditions, Europe's diversity has long been viewed by many as an impediment to global competitiveness. It has been blamed for everything, from the inability of European companies to reap the...

Understanding regional specifics of coffee, chocolate and shampoo.
March 22, 2004... To turn Europe's differences to business advantage you need an organisation that is both strongly represented in--and understands--each national market. As a consumer products company, L'Oreal is highly conscious of regional specificities--ones...

Does humour travel?(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... AUSTRIA "I knew I was right when I said that what we were lacking is team spirit!" OSWALD HUBER [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FRANCE "What, you want to murder my wife?" PLANTU [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] NETHERLANDS...

Insights on retail technology, M & A and customer collaboration.(Editor's Note)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... The In depth section of EBF--which you will find on the next 29 pages--represents a change of style and pace for the reader. While the preceding EBF debate dealt with a single theme and question, presenting a number of sharply argued points of...

Had a chat with your refrigerator lately? Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has the potential to transform the supply chain and allow retailers to concentrate more time and attention on consumers.
March 22, 2004... Consumers don't realise it, but today's major retail chains are drowning in complexity. Large supermarkets can carry upwards of 8,000 different SKUs (Stock Keeping Units), all of which have to be managed, and detailed tasks such as ordering,...

Marketing through collaboration: how seller and buyer can benefit; Industrial suppliers can avoid falling victim to hard-bargaining customers if they align themselves with those who value joint initiatives over short-term gains.(In Depth)
March 22, 2004... If marketing was ever to bring about a balanced, value-led relationship between sellers and buyers, then in many industrial sectors it has failed to live up to that promise. Industrial customers enjoy more bargaining power vis-a-vis their...

Access to competence: an emerging acquisition motive; the drive to develop new competences that create a competitive advantage is behind much of today's M & A activity.
March 22, 2004... "The main reason for acquiring Perlarom was its grip on the flavour business in Europe and an extremely dedicated sales force and flavour creation team with a history of superior accomplishment and success. It is very important that...

Cascading good governance through the organisation: implementing a sustainable corporate governance code needs to reflect workforce attitudes to corporate propriety. A snapshot of the UK employee population suggests there are major challenges ahead.
March 22, 2004... 'People have to understand that to behave with integrity and ethics and fail to meet a target is better than meeting a target and not behaving with integrity' Lord Browne, CEO of BP, giving evidence to a UK parliamentary ...

Business the easy way.(ResearchBriefs)(expanding businesses)
March 22, 2004... The name Stelios Haji-loannou is usually associated with easyJet, the budget airline that he founded and until recently chaired. But since 1998, Stelios and his associates have been branching out into other businesses as diverse as cinemas, car...

Leading continuity.(ResearchBriefs)(managers liking towards change)
March 22, 2004... Are we too obsessed with change? Managers are trained and encouraged to accept change as continuous and ongoing in virtually every aspect of management, to the point where it sometimes seems that change is the only constant. In a recent working...

Absorbing knowledge.
March 22, 2004... For some years it has been recognised that the speed with which a firm can learn and absorb new knowledge has a strong bearing on competitive advantage. Much more problematic is the issue of how that learning is actually conducted. Too often it...

Is change changing?(change management)
March 22, 2004... The management of change is generally believed to be one of the most difficult of all management tasks. Around 70 per cent of all change management initiatives fail, at incalculable cost in time, money and other resources. In a working...

Sustainability: attitudes of managers.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... Empirical research proving or disproving the business case for sustainability has been extensive, but contradictory, primarily due to the different approaches and methodologies used. Few studies have focused on the perception and attitudes of...

A tale of strategic and governance errors: the failings which caused the demise of Swissair were aggravated by the convergence of several industry developments.(Case Study)
March 22, 2004... In the 1990s, Swissair was known in the airline industry for its high quality and its high prices. It successfully targeted the international business traveller and ranked as one of the top ten airlines worldwide in number of international...

In my opinion ...(the downfall of Swissair)
March 22, 2004... Some of the important causes of the Swissair downfall are clearly related in the case: the McKinsey-inspired strategy of buying into Sabena and smaller and often ailing airlines; weaknesses in top management and a supervisory board that had...

Astrology and alchemy--the occult roots of the MBTI: psychologists and managers may be surprised to discover that the origins of the world's most widely used psychometric instrument lie in pre-modern systems of knowledge.(Sounding Board)
March 22, 2004... There appear to be no reputable investigations into the influence of astrology and alchemy on organisation and management, which is surprising given the continuing popularity of astrology. Aside from some research into how marketing executives...

In our opinion ...(Sounding Board)(Myers-Briggs Type Indicator questionnaire)
March 22, 2004... The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator[R] (MBTI[R]) questionnaire was developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and Isobel Briggs Myers to make Jung's theory of psychological type relevant to everyday life. Type theory quickly proved its value in education...

The art of management and military science: comparisons between business and warfare are not new. But while writers have sought over the years to apply military metaphors to corporate strategy, the debate on how appropriate this is remains unresolved.(EBF History Lesson)
March 22, 2004... The parallels between business and warfare have often been remarked upon. Management terms such as 'strategy', 'logistics' and 'operations', among others, have been borrowed directly from military science, and other issues such as notions of...

Tackling HIV/Aids in the workplace: best practice being developed in South Africa carries an important message for companies everywhere.(Sounding Board)
March 22, 2004... Confronting HIV/Aids involves a battle for society on many fronts: primary intervention, screening and surveillance, the care of infected and affected people and continuing research to develop an effective vaccine. Companies, however, need to...

The EU greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme--pain or gain? Europe's approach to meeting Kyoto targets will add a new layer of regulation, but its flexibility distinguishes it from traditional regulatory approaches and provides business opportunities.(Sounding Board)
March 22, 2004... From a boardroom perspective the Kyoto Protocol--the international agreement intended to reduce emissions of so-called 'Greenhouse' gases--may seem like a distant negotiation mired in environmental and global politics. Russia has again put off...

A corporate health plan: executives are increasingly required to respond to new reporting regulations--but integrating financial and non-financial information presents an opportunity, not a threat.(Sounding Board)
March 22, 2004... At first they said it was just a US phenomenon--something that couldn't spread to Europe. But Ahold and Parmalat scotched that theory. Then the perception that Europe's much-vaunted principles-based system of corporate governance is fraying at...

When two legs are better than one: getting a balance between efficiency and growth strategy is the key to mature shareholder value.(Shareholder Value Award: Winner)
March 22, 2004... The following article was the winning essay in the 2003 PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Shareholder Value Award held in partnership with EBF and Financial News. The competition, on the topic 'Is there a conflict between the pursuit of shareholder...

Shareholder Value as a liberal neutrality: the concept of Shareholder Value is now associated with 'Americanisation' rather than pure business efficiency.(An Edited Extract: Runner Up)
March 22, 2004... Shareholder Value is under intensified public scrutiny as a result of historical events in financial markets and in the global, especially US, business community over the past five years. It suffers both from the problems of business success in...

The long and winding RoPE: the value of a share is in constant flux, struggling amid the forces of perception.(An Edited Extract: Commended)(Range of Perceptual Elasticity )
March 22, 2004... Shareholder Value is not a concept that can be pinned down easily, because even if one agrees that the share of a company does have an Inherent Value (IV), that value itself is in constant churn, being altered and buffeted by the forces of...

Is there a conflict between shareholder value and sustainable economic growth?(EBFLive)(European Business Forum)
March 22, 2004... More than 120 academics, consultants, business executives and students from 40 countries gave their views on this question in essays submitted for the 2003 PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Shareholder Value Award. But what did the judges...

Corporate governance: Madrid joins the debate; EBF, ESADE Business School and PricewaterhouseCoopers combined on 2nd March 2004 to stage a business briefing: Corporate governance in Spain and the European framework.(EBFLive)
March 22, 2004... Corporate governance (CG) remains a hot issue throughout Europe--not least in Spain where the shadow of the recent Parmalat scandal has been felt as a result of the Italian company's significant interests in the country. Spain has not been...

Top 10 data disasters.(Did You Know)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... * Laptop shot in anger. * PC thrown out of the window to destroy evidence before the police arrived. * Laptop dropped in the bath while doing company accounts. * Server rescued after running unchecked 24/7 for years under layers...

Baghdad's Burger King.(Did You Know)(Burger King opens restaurant at Saddam International Airport, Baghdad)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... Iraq's first Burger King restaurant has opened in the former Saddam International Airport. Mainly catering for US troops homesick for comfort food, the franchise serves 5,000 burgers a day, making it the tenth busiest franchise in the world....

MBAs ahoy!(MBA's Cup Mediterranean Regatta & Conference)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... Business school students and alumni with a passion for sailing will have a chance to put their team-building skills to the test later this year at the MBA's Cup Mediterranean Regatta & Conference, a new event to be held in Genoa from 1-3...

Creative class.(Did You Know)(percentage of european workforce engaged in creative occupations)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... How extensive is the 'creative class' in Europe? Using data from the International Labour Organization (ILO), a new study * by Richard Florida and Irene Tinagli found that scientists, engineers artists, musicans, architects, managers,...

Cultural Caravan.(European Identity Cultural Caravan)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... A unique train tour aimed at bringing people together and stimulating thinking about the issue of European identity--The European Identity Cultural Caravan--is due to depart from Slovenia on 4 April 2004. The train is to travel through Hungary,...

A 46-mile round trip to the fax.(Did You Know)(office workers walk a lot of distance for their daily tasks)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... Office workers walk 46 miles a year to the photocopier or fax machine and back, according to a report. Office equipment maker Hewlett-Packard says the average office worker walks a distance equivalent to six Olympic swimming pools, and spends...

Europe's strategy for services: towards a true single market.(Debate Reopened)
March 22, 2004... 1992 AND ALL THAT--DOES EUROPE HAVE A SINGLE MARKET TEN YEARS ON? In Issue 12 of EBF (Winter 2002/03) contributors to the debate analysed the extent to which the ambitions of EU policymakers to create a single European market had been...

A banker looks to the East.(View from the Top)(Interview)
March 22, 2004... EBF TALKS TO HERBERT STEPIC, DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF RAIFFEISEN ZENTRALBANK OESTERREICH Over the last 10-15 years Vienna-based Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich (RZB), the central institution of the Austrian Raiffeisen Banking Group has...

Secrets of the shower head ... orderly countries like Switzerland could solve their 'innovation problem' with a bit more messiness.(Letter from Boston)
March 22, 2004... On a recent business trip to Zurich, I noticed something interesting. Each day, without fail, the hotel cleaning staff aimed the shower head in my room toward the wall so that when I turned on the water I would not get wet. Such attention to...

News from EBF founders.(European Business Forum)
March 22, 2004... PwC is active in understanding the evolving global business environment and its implications. Here are some recent examples: Europe Building the European Capital Market--A review of developments [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Are you...

CEMS MIM: entering the next phase of Europe's business education.(Community of European Management Schools and International Companies)
March 22, 2004... The recent CEMS Annual Event, hosted by the University of Economics, Prague, in December 2003, was a melting pot of over 1000 individuals, including some of Europe's top academics and administrators, business leaders, alumni, graduates and...