The INSEAD Leadership Summit 2007 takes centre stage in this special edition of the Knowledge newsletter. On the Knowledge website you'll find articles and podcasts highlighting the issues discussed in the plenary and panel sessions of the school's new annual flagship event.

If you have feedback or suggestions, please feel free to contact us.

Stuart Pallister
Editor, INSEAD Knowledge

INSEAD has just held its first Leadership Summit at the Europe campus in Fontainebleau. The question posed at the conference, ‘Is Europe still relevant?’, proved a provocative topic for the one-day session.

In an opening keynote address at the leadership summit, Greg Case, the CEO of Aon Corporation, spoke about the importance of Europe for his company and outlined his thinking on risk management.

As for Europe's relevance, he says the global stock of assets today amounts to more than 140 trillion dollars, but over the past 10 years “that stock has grown twice as fast in Europe than in the Anglo-Saxon countries.”

http://knowledge.insead.edu/contents/ILSCase.cfm

There has been so much ‘hype’ about the rise of the BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – as the new economic powerhouses of this century, that many are wondering about the relevance of Europe as an economic power.

“Is the European economy as relevant as it once was?” asks Alice Rivlin of The Brookings Institution. “Yes, absolutely, the citizens of Europe are better off now in an economically integrated Europe than when each country was going it alone. In the US, for example -- where the economy has been integrated for 200 years -- the economy of the state of Michigan is in dire shape, but no one in Michigan believes that they would be better off if Michigan were not part of the Union.”

http://knowledge.insead.edu/contents/ILSeconomy.cfm

In a plenary session on the thorny issue of energy in Europe, former BP chairman Lord Simon put the case for nuclear energy which "does not make a mess in the same way that most of the carbon-based energy (does)", adding we should “not to get overexcited about alternative energy in the next decade.” Europe will be ‘doing well’ if alternative energy sources (such as wind and waves but excluding nuclear) account for seven per cent of Europe's total energy requirement, he added.

Russia also loomed large in the energy debate. It's a key provider of energy to Europe, but is taking back control of oil and gas assets from foreign investors.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/contents/ILSenergy.cfm

How can sustainability issues become part of everyday business decisions and should business leaders, especially from family-controlled firms, be looking to take a longer-term view rather than get caught up in the ‘obsession’ with quarterly results? These were among the issues discussed in this lively panel session.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/contents/ILSsustainability.cfm

Europe is often perceived as a less attractive place to conduct business compared to the US or Asia. At the Leadership Summit, two non-European business leaders -- one an American and the other an Asian -- discussed the relative attractiveness of the European economy in the coming 10-20 years.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/contents/ILSEurope2020.cfm

With European growth lagging behind that of Asia, the issue of how Europe can kick-start its economy came under the spotlight at the Leadership Summit.

“Europe is not over,” argues Ernest-Antoine Seillière, President of BUSINESSEUROPE. “People think it’s over because other parts of the world are doing well – such as Asia, for example. But Europe remains relevant.”

http://knowledge.insead.edu/contents/ILScompetition.cfm