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In this edition, we feature a range of interviews recorded at the recent celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of INSEAD's PhD programme. Also, following on from last month's interview with Paul Saffo in California on innovation, we speak to futurist Peter Schwartz about emerging trends.
INSEAD Knowledge recently picked up another two Stevie® finalist certificates (including one for our Chinese edition) and we are pleased to announce a new team member: former CNBC Paris bureau chief Shellie Karabell has just joined as Deputy Editor. Shellie has covered financial news for more than three decades.
As ever, we hope you'll help to spread Knowledge by forwarding this newsletter, as well as Knowledge articles, to your colleagues and friends.
Regards,
Stuart Pallister
Editor, INSEAD Knowledge |
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After writing books on business and leadership for years, Manfred Kets de Vries has turned his attention to four of the main tenets of life, which have a profound impact on each of us.
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Cash is king, so work your working capital
With credit so hard to get during this recession, the old adage that "cash is king" is even more relevant. But most companies have access to more cash than they realise, say two INSEAD professors, and it’s right in front of them, in their company balance sheets.
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The dark side of trust
By and large, trust is a good thing. But there can also be too much of a good thing. One needs to look no further than the scandal involving disgraced Wall Street financier Bernard Madoff to appreciate the detrimental effects of misguided or excessive trust, for which there are dire consequences.
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Credit ratings: buyer beware
"Investors tend to take credit ratings at face value and rely on them too heavily." So says ESSEC Economics Professor Patricia Langohr, who with her father, INSEAD Finance and Banking Professor Herwig Langohr, has written a book called 'The Rating Agencies and Their Credit Ratings'.
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A new perspective for the age of networks
The rise of international networks and globalisation have created a dilemma for business: companies need global networks to access resources and markets to be competitive, but the networks themselves present great risks.
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The changing role of business schools in a global world
Globalisation is changing the way businesses operate and, in turn, is forcing business educators to evaluate the insights they're imparting to MBA students and executives. Furthermore, the global recession has led to a re-think of the role of business schools in a global world, raising the curtain on a slew of new issues which need to be addressed.
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Global careers in academia: following the ideas
Although Wall Street may be feeling battered and bruised from the financial crisis, if you want a career in teaching business, you should still consider heading for the US at some point. That was the consensus view among INSEAD PhD programme graduates taking part in the school’s 20th reunion celebration at its Europe campus.
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The long march to prosperity
Some 20 years ago, many upwardly mobile young men at China's elite universities became members of the Communist Party. It was the thing to do, and Xiao Zhixing was no exception.
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Planning for the unthinkable
We've been so focused on the financial crisis that we’ve neglected to pay attention to other issues, which, if left on the backburner, could upset the status quo. That's the view of futurist and business strategist Peter Schwartz.
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A mantra of business success
For Sir Martin Sorrell, Group CEO of marketing communications services giant WPP, the key to future business success lies in a short and simple mantra: new markets, new media, and consumer insight.
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Global recession a catalyst for change in the advertising industry
The downward spiral of the global economy is having some serious implications for the advertising industry, says Steve Henry, co-founder of London-based advertising firm Howell Henry Chaldecott Lury (HHCL).
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Infrastructure development will be India's next economic wave
Infrastructure development will drive India's economic growth in the next decade. That's according to Kamal Nath, the country's Road Transport and Highways Minister.
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Breaking gender stereotypes in the Middle East
Contrary to popular belief, women in the Middle East are not strictly marginalised in society and the workforce. That is to say, they are not necessarily as oppressed or victimised as is often perceived. This is according to a working paper by INSEAD research fellow Katty Marmenout, who is based at the Centre for Executive Education and Research in Abu Dhabi.
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For-profit or not for-profit? Social enterprises seek a better way
Social enterprises must currently choose whether to be charitable, non-profit organisations or money-making, for-profit companies. The choice is often hard to make since the legal status of each has positive points as well as drawbacks. Because of this, a leading social entrepreneur thinks it is time to create a hybrid legal status for social enterprises.
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The profits of compassion
Does it make sense for a social entrepreneur to be as concerned with making money as with improving society or the environment? Similarly, can a commercial entrepreneur be as concerned with improving society or the environment as with making money?
"The answer to both questions is 'yes’", says Paul Kewene-Hite, Managing Partner of the consulting group Six42 in Paris and an entrepreneur-in-residence at INSEAD, advising students who are setting up enterprises while pursuing their MBA.
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Transferring Wall Street skills to the social sector
Born to Indian parents in Texas, Deval Sanghavi lived the American dream. After graduating from college with two business administration degrees, he went to work at Morgan Stanley’s strategic finance department at its headquarters in New York City.
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Spreading the 'awareness net' for social enterprises in India
After 19 years of working in communications at Ogilvy and having observed the business closely, Meenakshi Bhalla was beginning to feel bored and there was a restlessness for new challenges and unchartered territories.
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Book review: City of Thieves
Cyrus Moore's first novel, 'City of Thieves', is well timed. A thriller that puts the boot into bullies and crooks in the City of London and the rest of the financial world may well sell better now that investment bankers are our favourite villains.
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