Leadership & Organisations

You’d think that creating a more equitable distribution of wealth would curb the urge to spend on status symbols – be they designer handbags or flat-screen TVs – as the “have-nots” try to keep up with the Jones.” But new marketing consumer research shows that the people will pay the price to stand out, even if they can’t afford it.

Healthcare needs are almost desperate in many parts of Asia and one company is ambitiously ramping up its services across the region.

The Vice President of the European Commission, Viviane Reding, says quotas are the only way to move women into the boardroom quickly enough. But will this really open the door?

Can sharing an idea help take it from the drawing board to the marketplace? Talk may cost nothing but new research indicates it gives an entrepreneur a better chance of success.

Paul Volcker served as Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve during a period of economic turbulence when his prescribed monetary policies helped tame double-digit inflation rates in the early 1980s. More recently, he served as chairman of President Barack Obama’s Economic Advisory Board from February 2009 until January 2011. A vocal advocate for banking reform, his eponymous Volcker Rule, due to come into force next year, is meant to prevent American banks from making big bets on markets with their own money or from backing private equity and hedge funds. In an interview with INSEAD Knowledge at the Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) School of Public Policy in Singapore recently, he discusses Europe’s response to the sovereign debt crisis, stagnant U.S. unemployment and shortfalls in banking legislation in the aftermath of the credit crisis.

Christine Ockrent has set new standards for women in news for the past three decades. Here she discusses candidly the heights scaled, and battles fought, won and lost.