Integrating electronic commerce in SMEs
The pace of change associated with the ‘new economy’ has left many organisations wondering how to harness the benefits of the internet. A study of small and medium-sized enterprises highlights the key points firms need to consider if they want to successfully combine e-commerce and their traditional business practices.
Editor’s Note: This article may seem elementary to those who have been reading up on EC … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Bernard Chapelet, Jocelyne Deglaine, Mohamed Matmati, Sergios Dimitriadis | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: IT / Technology / E-Business
The challenge of investor marketing
A growing headache for many executives is how to achieve a fair market valuation for their company. Success in courting shareholders requires the same professionalism as in other parts of the business.
Content: Article | Authors: Bernhard Ebel, Hermann Simon, Markus B. Hofer | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Management, Public Relations
Managing the risks behind sudden shifts in value
New research relating to ‘extreme events’ should help senior executives to capitalise on sharp upward movements in their share price – and counteract falls.
Editor’s Note: read a challenge and response to the arguments of this article at
Content: Article | Authors: Deborah Pretty, Rory Knight | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Management, Risk Management
Mastering strategic renewal – lessons from the financial services sector
A new cross-border study suggests that some of Europe’s most established financial institutions are failing to adapt to regulatory and technological change. Top management can choose from four clearly defined options.
Editor’s Note: Unless you have a strong interest in the financial services sector, I would skim/skip most of the article and focus on the good stuff, which is the four idealised journeys of renewal … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Frans van den Bosch, Henk Volberda | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Strategy
In search of new organisational forms
The future MNC, spawned by advances in Information and Communication Technologies, has the opportunity to tailor its organisational structure from a universe of possibilities.
Editor’s Note: This is written in a dense, academic style and really doesn’t say much that would interest the average manager, but if you are really interested in organizational behavior it might be a good read. The crux for the … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Peter Hagström | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Organizational Behavior
Time for a radical new look at teams
Effective teams aren’t just task-focused. They balance task, learning together and attention to behaviour.
Content: Article | Author: David Clutterbuck | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Best Practices, Management
Adapting management education in post-Soviet countries – the case of Ukraine
Content: Prospective MBA Content | Authors: Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, Lina Khassan-Bek | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: International MBA Issues
Do stock markets really fund fresh investment?
Analysis of France over the last 20 years suggests that the Bourse is playing a bigger role in the economy – but the link to innovation and productivity is more complex.
Content: Article | Author: Mary O’Sullivan | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Economics, International – Europe
The ‘Rule of Three’ in Europe
Jagdish Sheth and Rajendra Sisodia say their research demonstrates that in mature, competitive markets there is only space for three large volume-driven companies alongside several niche specialists.
Key messages:
– Efficient markets eventually get organised into two kinds of competitors: full-line generalists and product/market specialists.
– Generalists are large scale companies, which compete across a range of products and markets, and are volume-driven. Specialists operate … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Jagdish Sheth, Rajendra Sisodia | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Economics, General
Sustainable development debate
European Business Forum has re-published three articles which appeared in the first instalment of the new European Business Forum-International Herald Tribune series on sustainable development.
Robert Ayres, Professor Emeritus at Insead, Lord Richard Holme, vice chairman of Business Action for Sustainable Development, and Per-Uno Alm and Mattias Iweborg of RespectEurope provide contrasting viewpoints on whether this issue is ‘the business of business’.
Editor’s Note: … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)
Competitiveness and globalisation: the role of institutions
“In the first issue of EBF (Spring 2000) we examined the meaning and relevance of a distinctively European management model. The issue of convergence around a single Anglo-Saxon approach remains contentious – and far from proven.”
Content: Article | Author: Bob Hancké | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: International
Winning the Competition for Capital
Gone are the days of minimalist reporting. Investors are increasingly rewarding coherent corporate communications with trust – and lower stock price volatility.
Editor’s Note: see related article, “A tale of two reports” at:
Content: Article | Authors: Aliaksandr Shyla, Alison Thomas, Miles Gietzmann | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Finance, Management
Maintaining momentum in mergers
Whilst global mergers and acquisition are as popular as ever, critics increasingly point to the high failure rate of even the most high profile ones, with Daimler Chrysler the latest case in point. Based on first hand experience of many mergers, this article focuses on three aspects of the phenomenon. What determines whether a deal goes through or fails to happen? What are the key … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Philippe Haspeslagh | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Strategy
Turning Industry Convergence to Your Advantage
Why has it proven so difficult to deliver the potential benefits of industry convergence in practice, even when the end consumer is crying out for them? Industry convergence is a straightforward idea in theory. But three things have to happen before it can be turned into practical advantages for consumers and profits for suppliers:
– Strategy convergence
– Knowledge convergence
– Context … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Peter Williamson, Yves Doz | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Strategy
The Consumer is King
Anyone who has looked at the crowded living room shelves of the average home and the jammed briefcases of the average road warrior knows that the long-awaited technological convergence is largely a myth today. Our homes are still crowded with radios, televisions, DVD players and computers (with built-in DVD players). Our briefcases still hold PDAs, mobile phones, laptops and lots of paper. Will technological advances … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Jerry Wind, Robert Gunther, Vijay Mahajan | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Marketing / Sales, Trends / Analysis
Strategy: From Prescriptions to Propositions
Strategy implementation is often overlooked or taken for granted within the field of strategy. Yet managers know that a new strategy has limited usefulness unless it can be successfully applied. The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the assumptions in prescriptions typically found in the literature on this topic and to draw on theory to develop propositions for strategy implementation. … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Joyce Falkenberg | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Strategy
Why Companies Should Brandish Their ‘Internal Brand’
Although many organisations still see brand primarily as a marketing tool, an increasing number are beginning to pay equal attention to the application of the brand internally. They describe this focus in various ways, the most common terms being internal brand and employer/ee brand.
Key messages…
– The two facets of internal branding are the ’employee’ brand (external face inside) and ’employer brand … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Angela Mohtashemi | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Management, Marketing / Sales
Market Orientation: The Critical Role of Organisational Trust
Now that the rush to implement IT solutions which help firms understand their customers has abated, the search for ways to exploit these capabilities has become a high priority. A recent study has found that the benefits of IT are magnified when combined with organisational trust in a way that encourages workers to utilise the technology rather than circumvent or minimise it.
Content: Article | Authors: Cheryl Nakata, Zhen Zhu | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: IT / Technology / E-Business, Strategy