European Business Forum articles from September 2004

European Business Forum archives from September 2004

A brave new world?(Letter from the Editors)(Letter to the Editor)
September 22, 2004... Globalisation is a word that means different things to different people. For big business, globalisation promises exciting new markets and higher profits through lower production costs and restructured value-chains. For consumers, globalisation...

How serious are the alternatives to globalisation?(EBF Debate)(Cover Story)
September 22, 2004... Big businesses have enthusiastically embraced globalisation, seeking out and profiting from new opportunities--wherever their brands, capabilities and technology have taken them. Yet a consensus is emerging that globalisation has reached a...

Towards a dynamic new Europe: young professionals from 22 countries reflected on the global challenges facing the enlarged Europe at September's annual Open World Initiative in Bled, Slovenia, as Marian Hovarth reports.(LIVE)
September 22, 2004... The recent enlargement of the European Union (EU) and its impact on the future of the Continent and the world was the theme of The Open World Initiative (OWI), a global network of the next generation of leaders in politics, business, media and...

Does humour travel?(Cartoon)
September 22, 2004... AUSTRIA "I don't know whether Mr Moser is the right man for the telesales job--a customer has just sold him a life insurance policy!" OSWALD HUBER [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] UK "No, Smithers, you haven't got an industrial...

Insights on offshoring, outsourcing, consumer groups and consultancy.(In depth)
September 22, 2004... EDITOR'S NOTE The in depth section of EBF represents a change of style and pace. While the preceding EBF debate dealt with different facets of globalisation, here we look at some important consequences of globalisation: outsourcing,...

Lost in translation.(MANAGEMENT BLUNDERS)(Mead Johnson Nutritionals product recalls)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2004... Poor translations get companies into trouble more often than anything else. Usually, these translations are only embarrassing, but sometimes they can be much more serious. Mead Johnson Nutritionals found out the hard way. It had to recall...

When good intentions turn to trash.(MANAGEMENT BLUNDERS)(McDonald's Corp.)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2004... Religious and cultural differences are constantly getting global companies into trouble. Even when a firm has good intentions, its actions can backfire. During the World Cup McDonald's decided to put the national flags of all 24 competitors on...

Diaper dilemma.(Procter & Gamble Co. diaper foreign market)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2004... Successful domestic products sometimes fail to sell in foreign markets unless they have been modified to meet local needs. Procter & Gamble, for example, initially encountered serious problems with the Japanese nappy market. After years of...

Zero sum business.(MANAGEMENT BLUNDERS)
September 22, 2004... When doing business in another country, it is easy to assume that things there are the same as in your own country. Sometimes they are, sometimes they are not. One US firm with a subsidiary in a small island state learned this the hard way...

Back from the dead.(MANAGEMENT BLUNDERS)
September 22, 2004... People in global corporations are not the only ones to make blunders, of course. Even Professors of International Business have been known to make mistakes. Indiana University, for example, hosted an important international business conference...

Sign language.(MANAGEMENT BLUNDERS)
September 22, 2004... International business people often encounter some interesting signs in their hotels while travelling abroad. Some recently reported ones follow (try to guess where they were found): * 'Please leave your values at the front desk' Paris. ...

First impressions count.(MANAGEMENT BLUNDERS)(America Online Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2004... A company must be especially careful when entering a new market with a new product or service. The old saying, "you only get a chance to make a first impression once," has never been truer. A blunder at the start is hard to recover from....

BMW.(MANAGEMENT BLUNDERS)
September 22, 2004... BMW reportedly experienced some awkward moments a few years ago while launching its new 3-series models in Great Britain. It wanted to remind television viewers of its proud heritage. It wanted to say that the new products were based on BMW's...

US missionaries hunt their prey.(MANAGEMENT BLUNDERS)(finnish language)
September 22, 2004... Language blunders are easy to make--especially if you are speaking in a difficult tongue of which you do not have much experience. Finnish is widely recognised as difficult, yet some organisations try to bring their messages to Finland in...

Executive education.(business education and case studies)
September 22, 2004... In an era when knowledge is becoming the most important source of competitive advantage, executives need to be able to draw on the knowledge of business schools. This new section of EBF aims to close the gap between academics, managers and...

China adjusts strategies for speeding economic growth: China has learned hard lessons from its long history of revolution and reform, but the country now seems poised to achieve its aim of catching up with the West.(Sounding Board)
September 22, 2004... For centuries, China was the 'middle kingdom' surrounded by a group of barbarian tributary states. Its advanced culture, technology, philosophy and level of economic development made it the dominant power in Asia as long as 3,000 years ago....

Medieval economics revisited: protectionism grew out of mercantile economics 500 years ago. Although long discredited, ailing industries in the US and Europe are often rescued by mercantilism.(EBF HISTORY LESSON)
September 22, 2004... Economic theories, like economies themselves, tend to run in cycles, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the arguments about free trade and protectionism. Today, with free trade firmly established as orthodoxy among economists, policy...

Basel II promises cheaper banking: the diversity and complexity of capital markets are addressed in new banking regulations set to be phased in after 2007.(Sounding Board)
September 22, 2004... A recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the European Commission estimates that the introduction of new rules for banks could release some five per cent of bank capital--about [euro]100billion--in the European Union. Known as Basel II,...

Spotlight falls on EU pension reform: the EU's Financial Services Action Plan includes important measures for savings and pensions. But a sharper focus on universal and voluntary pensions will be needed to achieve pensions harmonisation across Europe.(Sounding Board)
September 22, 2004... In May 2003, the European Union ushered in one its first directives regarding the creation of a single financial market for pensions, an important part of its Financial Services Action Plan. To come into effect in August 2005, 'Directive...

Outdated accounts: a survey of the UK investment community shows that today's regulatory reporting model is failing to make visible some of the most basic building blocks of good financial reporting.(Sounding Board)
September 22, 2004... "I'm not a big fan of airy-fairy stuff." "Complete nonsense with no underlying rationale." "I don't believe it." [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Quotations from a review of the latest Hugh Grant film? British reactions to the new European...

Funding Europe's future: EFB talks to Francis Carpenter, chief executive of the European Investment Fund.(View from the top)(Interview)
September 22, 2004... European Investment Fund (EIF) was created in 1994 as the European Union's specialist vehicle to support innovation and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the EU and in Central and eastern Europe. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Gateways to the world: people don't move to New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong or Tokyo because they are cheap or pleasant places to live. They move because these cities hold great opportunities to do business and work with successful and talented people.(Letter from Boston)
September 22, 2004... Recently, we have seen a proliferation of surveys in business magazines like Fortune and Forbes that are really nothing more than lists. Some of my favourite lists--which many magazines now publish for their individual countries--are those that...

News from EBF founders.
September 22, 2004... PricewaterhouseCoopers is active in understanding the evolving global business environment and its implications. Here are some recent examples: Europe EU Enlargement Industry Series PwC Global Industrial Product Group has released...

A new Executive Director to continue the progression of CEMS.(Community of European Management Schools)
September 22, 2004... An HEC Master of Management graduate, 38-year-old Francois Collin (left) began his career in marketing, working with several international companies. His career brought him back to HEC as Director of International Executive Programmes where he...