With the global economic slowdown, the need for innovation is even greater today. If you're looking to maintain your market share, and perhaps post growth despite the recessionary environment, innovation is key.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/Innovatingyourwaytothetop090119.cfm?vid=173

Why mainstreaming corporate social responsibility still makes good business sense

With the recession in full swing and no reprieve in sight, one might expect interest in corporate social responsibility to wane, or perhaps even die a natural death. Not so, according to Craig Smith, INSEAD Chaired Professor of Ethics and Social Responsibility. He believes that corporate responsibility has never been more prominent on the corporate agenda.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/MainstreamingCRmakesgoodsense090119.cfm?vid=174

Soft information or 'cheap talk' in company announcements: filling the 'void'

Next time you listen to a CEO talk about his or her company, play close attention to whether the person is being unusually optimistic or pessimistic. This sentiment can give you a good indication about where the company's stock price is headed.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/SoftinfoandPR090120.cfm?vid=172

It's time to change our questions

Transformational leaders ask innovative questions — lots of them. In anticipation of President Obama’s inauguration speech, INSEAD professor Hal Gregersen wondered if the new president would do the same, but found that his questions fell a bit short compared to innovative leaders in other times and places.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/HalGregersenOpEd090121.cfm

Global outlook: big spenders and penny-pinchers

In the US, extravagance is a normal way of life. In China, it is a sin. Such contrasting consumer psyche between the two economies needs to be evened out before a sustained recovery of the post-bubble global economy can be achieved in the longer run, says Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/StephenRoachglobaloutlook090116.cfm

World Bank to double lending to emerging economies in wake of crisis

The World Bank is aiming to double its lending to emerging economies that are most vulnerable from the fallout of the global financial crisis, World Bank president Robert Zoellick said at a recent forum in Singapore organised by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/WorldBankfinancing081223.cfm

Harnessing creativity to power up the economy

Creativity is underrated – at least that is what Fredrik Haren, author of The Idea Book, believes.

"We want to be thought of as being creative people, but, by and large, companies are not fostering creativity, but practically killing it ... through bureaucracy, through process-driven organisations," Haren told INSEAD MBAs at the school's Asia campus in Singapore.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/Harnessingcreativity090120.cfm?vid=175

Afghanistan's media battleground

Six years ago television was banned in Afghanistan and its single national radio station was Taliban-run.

Today the country's independent media are considered to be a major success story - but like most developments in this war-battered nation they find themselves increasingly under threat.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/Afghanmediabattleground081226.cfm

Social entrepreneurship in India: going beyond the symptoms

If social entrepreneurs in India focus on causes when mapping out challenges, rather than just fixing the symptoms, half the battle is already fought, says Rathin Roy, chairman of the board of directors of Rural Innovations Network, a Chennai-based company that helps social entrepreneurs incubate innovations and take them to the market to benefit the rural poor.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/SocialentrepreneurshipinIndia090116.cfm

Planting the seeds of success in the desert: Lipton's tea factory in Dubai

For many people, tea manufacturing conjures up images of tea pickers in Asia or Africa, with tea leaves being plucked at plantations and brought to a nearby factory for processing. Unilever's decision to build a tea factory in the desert of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is therefore not what one would expect to see, especially as it involves a major multinational company.

Unilever is the single largest producer of packet tea in the world, with Lipton, a leading tea brand, today available in more than 120 countries.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/Plantingseedsofsuccess090119.cfm

Gold lures small-scale miners into global market

Victoria Paxi used to live in Lima, the capital of Peru, working in a restaurant or washing clothes to earn about 60 dollars a month, while her husband worked hours away in a mine.

"It was expensive to live in Lima and when the opportunity came for women to be part of small-scale mining, it gave us a chance to live with our husbands," she says.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/MiningenterprisesinPeru081226.cfm

African entrepreneurs must pressure their governments to regulate their business environments

Although many African companies will be hit by the current global slowdown, there is a lot that local entrepreneurs and their governments can do to improve their business environments, says Arthur Levi, former head of the World Bank's private sector arm, International Finance Corporation (IFC) Europe.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/EMRCAfrica090114.cfm

Harnessing Africa's medicinal plants to create new business opportunities for the rural poor

African farmers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are taking part in a social entrepreneurship project to cultivate medicinal plants for the pharmaceutical industry.

Some of the plants they will be growing will serve as food, high in protein and nutrition. Other plants could be used as treatments for diabetes, obesity and hypertension.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/africamedicinalplants090114.cfm

Combating malaria: How an oil company is helping to tackle the problem

For Marathon Oil Corporation, its project to tackle malaria on an island off Equatorial Guinea is paying off. It reckons that for every dollar invested, the economic return is around four dollars.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/combatingmalaria090114.cfm