Economics & Finance
Economics & Finance
Steering a new course in unchartered waters
With credit getting tighter, companies are going to have to change the way they do business and manage their cash. Laurence Danon, executive board member of Edmond de Rothschild Corporate Finance in France, says we are likely to see companies implementing huge cost-savings plans, probably with significant layoffs and dramatic changes to capital expenditure and development programmes.
Economics & Finance
Rethinking global financial systems
The consensus is loud and clear: in the wake of the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression, a fundamental rethink of the structure of the global financial markets and greater cooperation of the major regulatory bodies are paramount, said the heads of major financial institutions at the World Knowledge Forum in Seoul.
Economics & Finance
Heed the lessons of the collapse of the ‘golden age’
It seemed like it was never going to end – the rise of the economy, the increased prosperity, the bull stock market. Forbes magazine said it would be ‘recognized as a golden age of American industry.” This was in the summer of 1929, but then the US economy collapsed. From growth rates of between three and 10 per cent in per capita terms, the US economy imploded: contracting 11 per cent in 1930, another 9.5 per cent the following year, and then shrinking a further 15 per cent in 1932. Who would have thought that the Roaring Twenties would transform into the worst economic disaster of all time?
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Economics & Finance
The China Syndrome: understanding the Chinese economy
China’s economy is booming and many multinational companies are looking to tap the Asian giant’s potential. However, according to Peter Bowie, CEO of Deloitte China, foreigners wanting to do business with the Chinese appear to be ill prepared because their pre-conceived notions about China are simply outdated.
Economics & Finance
US may plunge into depression if bailout fails
The US economy may plunge into a depression if the $700 billion rescue package fails to revive the ailing banking sector, says Ilian Mihov, INSEAD Professor of Economics.
Economics & Finance
The future of Chinese capitalism
China's emerging economy is an enormous success story and it’s remarkable, say two INSEAD academics, because it's really one big experiment.
Economics & Finance
The unreal estate
For many people around the world, property rights are not well defined, enforced or monitored; resulting in over half of the world’s population living and working on ‘unreal estate’, that is, without the security of property ownership.
Economics & Finance
Crisis communications: The emergence of stakeholder media
When Le Monde exclaimed in a front-page headline: “Danone prepares to shed 3,000 jobs in Europe, including 1,700 in France”, on January 10, 2001, Danone -- France’s national ‘champion’ and one of Europe’s biggest food and beverage firms -- faced a major crisis.
Economics & Finance
The road to nationhood
Building a nation-state “out of the ashes of destruction is not easy,” but the President of Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor), José Ramos-Horta, says his country will seek to become a viable nation by eliminating unemployment in the next two to three years by creating new jobs from its investments in infrastructure projects.
Responsibility
Sustainability: a business opportunity
By the year 2040, only 15 per cent of the world’s population will be living in what are now called developed countries. It’s therefore essential for today’s business planners to start focusing on the rest of the planet. Fortunately a strategy centred on emerging markets can be both financially profitable and socially responsible, says Barbara Kux of the Dutch multinational Royal Philips Electronics.
Economics & Finance
The Nigerian Paradox : Is it fading away?
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) referred in 2007 to the Nigerian Paradox: catastrophic poverty in a country brimming with natural and human resources.
Economics & Finance
Targetting Africa: The case for investment
Africa is so diverse, with its variety of countries and resources, that almost any type of business in the world could take advantage of the continent’s economic growth. That was the view of panellists at the INSEAD Leadership Summit 2008.
Strategy
Engaging with Africa
After years of stagnation, Africa is finally experiencing economic growth. Are there opportunities in Africa which are not being recognised by the business community outside of Africa?
Strategy
Mergers and acquisitions: Reducing the private firm discount
Owners of private companies normally sell their shares at a 20-30 per cent discount during mergers and acquisitions. The ‘private firm discount’ is one reason the stock market reacts more favourably when companies announce a private acquisition than when the target is a publicly-listed firm.
Leadership & Organisations
Women and Money
Are men or women better at investing? “This is not only a fun question but it is of great practical value,” says INSEAD Assistant Professor of Finance, Lily Fang, who hosted a Women and Money forum at INSEAD recently.