European Business Forum articles from September 2001

European Business Forum archives from September 2001

Our common bond.(Letter from the editors)(Editorial)
September 22, 2001... At the time of going to press for this Autumn issue of EBF just over a week has elapsed since the catastrophic events in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. Like countless other organisations big and small we spent the last days of...

Does executive education really improve business performance? It's impossible to say! It's self evident! How dare you ask!(At the forum)(Cover Story)
September 22, 2001... These were just some of the more defensive private reactions to our Forum question this autumn as potential contributors absorbed its threatening implications. Yet those who bravely took up the challenge in this issue demonstrate on the next...

Ranking the rankers: league tables have become a familiar feature of the management education landscape in recent years--but they are methodologically unsound and tend to be misleading.(Forum extension: rankings)
September 22, 2001... Ask any business school dean to describe the most nerve wracking moment of the academic year and a candid answer might be: 'Just before I know our place in the B-School rankings'. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] League tables are big business...

Forum revisited: war for talent.
September 22, 2001... EBF's Summer 2001 Forum considered a variety of approaches to 'weaving a web of talent', concluding that companies will need new solutions if they are to recruit, motivate and retain the best. The two reactions to this debate highlight new...

Board performance, not just board conformance.(Forum revisited: corporate governance)
September 22, 2001... EBF's Spring 2001 Forum asked contributors to consider whether Corporate Governance is delivering value for company stakeholders. A range of articles traced the origins of the main ideas, debated whether there is a distinct and emerging...

Learning by experience: fads in management education come and go--but the 'case study' approach to teaching appears to be a more durable technique than most.(Case study: introduction)
September 22, 2001... Latest figures from the European Case Clearing House (ECCH)**--a non-profit organisation supported by around 350 institutional members, most of them European business schools--show that fees paid by users of the 2000-2500 most 'active' cases...

Lufthansa--maintaining change momentum.(Case study: Lufthansa)
September 22, 2001... Lufthansa's turnaround from near bankruptcy in 1991 to sound financial health by the end of the 1990s is one of the more remarkable stories of recent European corporate change. Reduced to asking the major German banks for money to pay employee...

Which management tools are most popular? New economy management tools are being thrown to the wayside as businesses brace for a more turbulent economic outlook.(In-depth: management tools)(Company overview)
September 22, 2001... If soft sales following a year of chaotic growth have your company whipsawing from expansion to layoffs, you'll appreciate the insights of 451 senior executives from around the world who responded to Bain & Company's 8th annual Management Tools...

In my opinion ...(In-depth: management tools)
September 22, 2001... I, more than most, now know the perils of expounding great management theories from the consultants' side of the table. Sitting on the other side of the lonely expanse of the board room table, it's a very different feeling and suddenly all...

Electronic commerce: examining the consumer privacy issue; The absence of universally integrated privacy policy means consumers at the moment cannot feel confident that their personal details will remain confidential if they choose to do business online. The demand for greater protection must lead to companies and governments developing privacy policies on a global scale if e-commerce is ever to reach its potential.(In-depth: privacy)
September 22, 2001... There are two powerful and related trends that are fundamentally reshaping the global economy: the exponential growth in internet connectivity, fueled by the widespread dispersion of information technology, and the growth in electronic commerce...

In my opinion ...(In-depth: privacy)
September 22, 2001... Raj Rao's article raises some well-known challenges for businesses which are rethinking their e-business strategy during this post e-bubble era. These focus on businesses' hunger for better knowledge of their customers, the strategic choices...

Seven e-commerce lessons.(In-depth: e-business)
September 22, 2001... The internet hype has seen many herald the future of business-to-business e-commerce as the cure-all to CEOs' prayers; massive cost savings, shorter sales channels and increased efficiencies to name a few. The reality is that these benefits are...

In my opinion ...(In-depth: e-business)
September 22, 2001... In the wake of the 'new economy', is e-business turning out to be just hot air? The occasionally drastic downward adjustment of forecasts from analysts and market researchers on the future of e-commerce seems to suggest that this is the case....

A comparison of European leisure styles: the way Europeans choose to spend their leisure time appears to be changing--from the more 'nationalistic' approach to one segmented more by socio-demographic variables.(In-depth: leisure styles)
September 22, 2001... If one wanted to test the extent to which nationalistic mindsets may have shifted towards a more European sense of belonging, looking at leisure styles might be one place to start. Research carried out at ESADE in the last 18 months has...

Does humour travel?
September 22, 2001... FINLAND 'My only problem is that I'm very rich, well educated and lonely' 'You came to just the right place' MATTI REMES [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] GERMANY PETER BENSCH [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] UK How to deal...

Is Europe ready for the future? A new Index going beyond narrow economic issues has been compiled to assess to what extent countries are prepared for the 21st century. This article explains the thinking behind the initiative--on the next two pages two experts give their reactions.(Sounding board)
September 22, 2001... The Readiness for the Future Index has been developed by the Europe 2050 Task Force of Global Leaders for Tomorrow (GLTs) * of the World Economic Forum to provide a comprehensive framework for evaluating how well European societies are placed...

Are CEOs underpaid?(Sounding board)
September 22, 2001... Top executive compensation is a controversial topic. Isolated examples of large increases in executive compensation combined with lacklustre performance have captured the journalistic imagination. Calls for greater intervention in the...

Transatlantic crossings: seen as a panacea for limited growth prospects at home, recent European takeovers of US firms are encountering management problems. CEOs should be wary of the pitfalls.(Sounding board)
September 22, 2001... Academic studies consistently show that most mergers and acquisitions fall short of expectations, if they don't actually fail. So what does that mean for the recent spate of European companies who have been gambling billions of euros, pounds...

Executives need to control HR: examples from the banking world suggest the function may be becoming too powerful.(Sounding board)(human resource)
September 22, 2001... "We thank you for your application, but regret that at the present time we have no suitable vacancies. We wish you every success with your future career." A timeless formula which normally marks the point of no return... The letter I...

Capital market integrator: EBF talks to Baron Alexandre Lamfalussy of the Committee of Wise Men.(View from the top)(European Business Forum)(Interview)
September 22, 2001... Baron Alexandre Lamfalussy was Chairman of the influential Committee of Wise Men, a group of experts whose recent Report made far-reaching recommendations for speeding up the integration of European Securities Markets. A lifelong banker, who...

Passionate persuader: EBF talks to Margot Wallstrom, European Commissioner for the Environment.(View from the top)(European Business Forum)(Interview)
September 22, 2001... Margot Wallstrom is roughly at the half way stage of her term as European Commissioner for the Environment. A Swedish Social Democrat who has held various Ministerial posts in the national Government, she has been catapulted onto the world...

Are European stock markets still overvalued? Recent shocks to equity markets have seen substantial downward corrections, but analysis of fundamentals suggests that there could still be further falls to come in US and European share prices.(Economic review)
September 22, 2001... European equity markets have grown significantly relative to the size of their respective national economies since the mid-1990s (see Figure 1) but, as in the US, share prices were pushed to unsustainable levels in early 2000 only to fall back...

The Lexus and the Olive Tree.(Book Review)
September 22, 2001... The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas Friedman HarperCollins 490 pages [pounds sterling]8.99 ISBN 0 00 6551394 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A few years ago on a trip to Japan, I worked my way through a 'Learn...

Praise for Globalism from a supposed 'anti-globalist'.(Book Review)
September 22, 2001... Praise for Globalism from a supposed 'anti-globalist' by Rene Passet Fayard 2001 170 pages Price: [euro]13.57; 89.00FF ISBN: 221 360 9470 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Rene Passet's book is a pamphlet with both...

Time to regroup: in the Summer 2001 issue of EBF our four contributing entrepreneurs described their initial teething problems and voiced cautious optimism about the future. Now a more mature group--determined to plot a course to drier land--appears to be emerging from the sea of dot-com failures.(Entrepreneurs)
September 22, 2001... Time for consolidation Samsari Education is an e-learning business based in Sweden. During the spring SamSari gained momentum and had higher and higher sales. Then came the summer... We knew it would be tough, and it really was quite,...

Exporters not to tell customers to suffer from diarrhoea.(Did you know?)
September 22, 2001... Not doing your homework can be embarrassing when marketing overseas. A recent British beer advertisement in Spanish was recalled when the company realised it was telling customers to 'suffer from diarrhoea'. Other embarrassing translations...

Ms Nokia laughing stock.(Did you know?)
September 22, 2001... A woman called Nokia says her life was made a misery when she worked for mobile phone maker Ericsson. Eija Nokia is just one of many people in Sweden who share the surname. Eija told the newspaper Expressen: 'I was the standing joke at...

Golfing degree no handicap to fairway career.(Did you know?)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Forget work and spend all day on the golf course. It seems like the impossible dream. But thanks to the UK's first university degree course endorsed by the sport's governing body, golf fans can train for a life on the fairway. The Professional...

Online shoppers go wild in the aisles.(Did you know?)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Dumped shopping trolleys are clogging up cyberspace and proving a major headache for online retailers, according to Canadian researchers. Shoppers are confused by the virtual trolleys and are abandoning them in the aisles of internet sales...

Why do the French like freebies?(Did you know?)
September 22, 2001... It is costing Eurostar more to keep their Paris lounges full of newspapers and magazines than it is costing them to maintain their London and Brussels lounges together. Any reason for this? The head of business development at Eurostar links it...

Europeans account for half '.info' addresses.(Did you know?)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Europeans and other non-US customers have purchased more than 60 per cent of the roughly 40,000 ".info" Internet addresses registered thus far, according to data released today by Afilias LLC--the company that operates the .info domain. The...

Hard sell in disguise.(Did you know?)
September 22, 2001... The St. Petersburg Times last month carried the results of a survey showing that two-thirds of the local journalists in Russia's second-most-important city produce stories involving hidden advertising. The practice is called "hidden...

VCs court an older crowd.(Did you know?)
September 22, 2001... Venture Capitalists have grown more conservative since the dot-com fiasco and are less willing to bet on risky startups. There is a growing interest among VCs to lower their risk by investing in mature, bootstrapped companies, which typically...

Keep staff in a downturn.(Did you know?)
September 22, 2001... Retaining staff during troubled times provides economic benefits in the upswing. It has been suggested that the economic downturn may alleviate the skills shortage, but it actually compounds it. Companies that make 'panic' redundancies to...

Computer eyestrain affects work performance.(Did you know?)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Longer hours and more days on the job at the computer screen are adding up to increased vision fatigue and computer-related eyestrain. Experts say headaches, backaches and upper-body muscle strain are all symptoms of a growing problem in...

Would that be over 3 or 5 years, sir?(Did you know?)
September 22, 2001... A Indian bank is offering business start-up loans to robbers so they can try out a different career. Regional police chief, Sunil Sarkar, said: "Most of the robbers readily agreed to the loan offer to set up their own business." ...

The euro arrives.(Did you know?)
September 22, 2001... Businesses and consumers are bracing themselves as the European Central Bank begins to distribute new euros. Ready or not, armoured cars and security trucks have begun the mammoth task of distributing 14.5 billion banknotes and 50 billion coins...

What's in a name?(Did you know?)
September 22, 2001... There was a time when getting a number into a company name was a clever way to differentiate a company. Take Level 3 Communications, who traded as high as $132 a share. Now it is about $3. NetZero, an internet access company, once at $40, now...

News from EBF founders.
September 22, 2001... PricewaterhouseCoopers is active in developing new ideas for business and disseminating them through a variety of channels. Here are some recent initiatives: Germany HR Management in the New Economy. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

CEMS is a strategic alliance of leading universities and international companies whose objective is to shape Europe's management education and research and to offer a Master's level degree programme for Europe's undergraduate elite.(News from EBF founders)(Community of European Management Schools)
September 22, 2001... The CEMS Master's Degree programme already enjoys a reputation as the pan European standard of excellence in management education. It selects the very best business brains from Europe's top management and economics courses and pushes them...