261 Posts found for Source: European Business Forum (EBF)

Implementing a sustainable corporate governance code needs to reflect workforce attitudes to corporate propriety. A snapshot of the UK employee population suggests there are major challenges ahead.

Content: Article | Author: Glen Peters | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Ethics

Recent geopolitical events have polarised attitudes in Europe and the US – but how has this affected business? Is Europe more or less confident than it used to be of its distinctive business model? More than ten years after the creation of a European single market, have European companies started to resemble each other (as some economists predicted)? Or is corporate diversity as strong and … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: International – Europe

The 2003 PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Shareholder Value Award was held in partnership with EBF and Financial News. The competition, on the topic ‘Is there a conflict between the pursuit of shareholder value and sustainable economic growth?’ attracted submissions from more than 120 academics, consultants, business executives and students from 40 countries. Here are the top three entries.

Editor’s Note: interested in what the judges themselves and … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Amit Varma, Robert Phelps, Rupert Evenett | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Miscellaneous, Strategy

Companies today can no longer give a full picture of their value using traditional methods. There is now no excuse for failing to give the market what it wants.

Editor’s Note: see more details of the PwC ValueReporting framework at
Content: Article | Author: David Phillips | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Accounting, Finance

The celebrated management thinker turned 93 in November 2002. This personal homage traces the source of his genius to a Europe that has long since disappeared.

Content: Thought Leader | Author: Hermann Simon | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Management

After 150 years, the department store concept is still going strong thanks to a husband and wife team who pioneered the ‘retail experience’ – a philosophy of customer service, quality and fair pricing for all.

Content: Article | Author: Morgen Witzel | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: History, Industry Specific | Industry: Retail

The founding fathers of European socialism are testimony that the principles of good management are universal, no matter what the ideology.

Content: Article | Author: Morgen Witzel | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: History, International – Europe

Reverse knowledge transfers are beneficial to MNCs, but just how much so depends on the subsidiaries’ strategic mission, its country’s economic development and the ability of headquarters to absorb incoming information.

Content: Article | Authors: Björn Ambos, Bodo Schlegelmilch, Tina Chini | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: International, Knowledge Management

Far too many acquisitions begin as reactive, one-off decisions, that can be classed as dead-on-arrival even before the transaction takes place. Boards need to stand back and consider the total universe of options.

Editor’s Note: I found the discussion of moving from reactive to always on approaches to M&A quite interesting, especially the consideration of false negatives as opposed to the false positives which usually … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Mark Sirower | Source: European Business Forum (EBF)

This article – a specially abridged version of a full case study – describes how the company went from the brink of disaster to becoming one of the world’s leading airline companies.

Content: Case Study | Authors: Heike Bruch, Sumantra Ghoshal | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Industry Specific, Management | Industry: Airlines | Company: Lufthansa

A study of the vast structural and cultural change at the Belgian telcoms operator Belgacom illustrates the importance of seeing the ‘big picture’ and learning to adapt while on the move.

Editor’s Note: offers an excellent review of five different models of organisational change

Content: Article | Authors: Alain Vas, Marc Ingham | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Change Management, Organizational Behavior

‘War’, Clemenceau is supposed to have said, ‘is too important to be left the generals’. Today, the business of satisfying the customer is far too important to be left to the marketing department.

Content: Quotation | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales

Every so often a technological innovation, social revolution or geopolitical shift fundamentally changes the business landscape, providing the nimble with new opportunities for profit and the complacent or foolhardy with threats to their survival. But how can CEOs and other members of the top team distinguish a mirage from the real thing? Where should we be looking? Is technology the only source – or at … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: IT / Technology / E-Business, Trends / Analysis

This article argues that critical path thinking (CPM, PERT, Gantt chart) is not appropriate where project goals are poorly defined. Contingency thinking is better.

Content: Article | Authors: Arnoud De Meyer, Christoph Loch, Michael Pich | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Project Management

The secret to good alliances is simplicity both in terms of collaboration and strategic autonomy. A simple matrix is proposed in this article.

Content: Article | Authors: Bernard Garrette, Pierre Dussauge, Will Mitchell | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Management, Strategy

It would probably be hard to find anyone these days to argue against the idea that all activities of a business should be responsive to customer needs. It is our contention in this article, though, that being customer-oriented is not enough in the present complex economic environment. Successful players need to be market-driven, a concept that broadens customer orientation to other key market actors (distributors, … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Jean-Jacques Lambin | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Customer Related, Strategy

Traditional discounted cash flow techniques systematically undervalue investment projects because on their own they cannot value the opportunity to make decisions later in the process. Yet managers stick to old techniques like discounted cash flow (DCF) and even crude payback period analysis. In today’s chaotic economic environment Yann Bonduelle and Inga Schmoldt urge readers to embrace more subtle scenario and sensitivity analyses.

Content: Article | Authors: Inga Schmoldt, Yann Bonduelle | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Finance, Management

A company becoming a ‘good citizen’ will not only make the world a better place but will also add to shareholder value. An integrative approach is essential.

Content: Article | Authors: Peter Ulrich, Thomas Maak | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Economics, Ethics

In the third issue of EBF (autumn 2000) the question was posed: Will the internet encourage more responsible business? The debate provoked interest not just because of the ‘new’ economy angle but because Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) slowly seems to be moving from the periphery of corporate strategy into mainstream European thinking. Here EBF publishes more contributions to that debate. Valérie Swaen and Isabelle Maignan … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: International – Europe, Social Responsibility (ESG)

From being a platitude to being a pre-requisite, being ‘market driven’ has been the secret behind many of the success stories – Shell, Dell, Honda, Intel, Boeing, Novartis, Merck, Cisco – of recent years.

Editor’s Note: I thought the excessive dwelling on real-life examples was of little value but there is some useful information in this article.

Content: Article | Author: George Day | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Customer Related, Strategy