On the Knowledge website you'll find the following articles and podcast interviews, as well as excerpts from a documentary about a microfinance project we're highlighting this month. We would appreciate your feedback and hope you'll spread the word about Knowledge to your friends and colleagues. Stuart Pallister |
| Success: A huge business vulnerability? | ||||
Former Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Bob Herbold says success creates nine dangerous traps for companies around the world today. “Once they reach some level of success they tend to lose their sense of urgency,” the INSEAD senior executive in residence says.
Many companies “think they have found the secret that will lead to everlasting success. Little do they know that by turning their previously successful practices into legacy practices that they follow continually, they’re putting themselves in a very disadvantageous position,” Herbold says. In his new book “Seduced by Success; How the Best Companies Survive the 9 Traps of Winning,” Herbold examines 44 companies from around the world to illustrate the traps. |
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| Reputational risk management: a key determinant of competitive performance |
| When WorldCom collapsed in 2002, its investors lost billions – and so did shareholders of Citigroup. Markets punished the financial giant for its part in the financial scandal. Citigroup had risked its reputation by developing a web of intimate business relationships with the fraud-ridden telecoms firm. Modern financial groups such as Citigroup are particularly vulnerable to issues of reputational risk, says INSEAD visiting professor Ingo Walter, who’s also a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business. |
| Marketing: How behaviour prediction can help to reinforce good habits but break bad ones |
| Human beings are creatures of habit. Many of our actions are repetitive and require little conscious thought or effort. However, according to a new study, by predicting our behavior we can actually reinforce good habits and break bad ones. The study by INSEAD Assistant Professor of Marketing Pierre Chandon and four US-based Marketing professors is called ‘When Does the Past Repeat Itself? The Role of Self-Prediction and Norms.’ |
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| Knowledge transfer: Use templates to pass on best practices, at least initially |
| As corporations look to expand overseas – through franchising, outsourcing or setting up plants and offices elsewhere – they transfer best practices to maintain their competitive edge. But what’s the best way of doing that and how should they adapt these operational practices to local conditions?
According to studies carried out by INSEAD Professor of Strategy Gabriel Szulanski and others, companies need to identify and validate actual examples that have been shown to produce results. These ‘templates’ or benchmarks of best practices should, the authors argue, then be copied with minimal, if any, modifications or adaptations, at least in the initial phase of the knowledge transfer. |
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| India retail: Foreign chains eye the potential, but will they succeed? |
| Many of the world’s top retailers such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco are currently eyeing the Indian retail sector. With a population of about a billion people and a burgeoning middle class, India holds out plenty of promise. But INSEAD Professor of Marketing Paddy Padmanabhan says India is a unique market and foreign players will face a number of challenges. |
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| Social enterprise: Using microcredit to alleviate poverty, yet still post dramatic growth | ||||
In a new case study, INSEAD Adjunct Professor Mahboob Mahmood highlights the work of the Kashf Foundation in Pakistan. It’s a non-profit organization which has been posting dramatic growth while focusing on providing microcredit and social support services to women entrepreneurs at the bottom of the so-called wealth pyramid. |
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| Survey |
| How good is your business at managing innovation? This poll is part of a joint research project on the key drivers of innovation performance. It takes five minutes to complete and, upon submission, you will get benchmark information on other companies so that you can get a quick comparison to others. All answers will be held in confidence and reported only in aggregate form. |
| Click here for survey |
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