Innholdsfortegnelse for March/April 2016 i The European Business Review

Just deserts! It was Joseph de Maistre who said, "Every country has the government it deserves", and “In a democracy people get the leaders they deserve." People often vote for those who reflect their views, who echo their concerns and say what they want to hear. So when the British people were whipped into a frenzy about immigration and anti Europe sentiments, Cameron in order to secure the next election, promised the British people that he would renegotiate the UK-EU contract, so that European immigrants are no longer entitled to claim benefit and stop the tide of Europeans flooding across British borders to rob nice British people of their jobs. And to top it, he would give them an in/out referendum if they voted for him. He said what they…

Market Makers start from the future back, making sense of change, seeing the new patterns and possibilities, harnessing the power of ideas and digital networks to win in new ways. Peter Fisk explores how the next generation of businesses innovate from the future back, and outside in. They start by finding the best opportunities for future growth, then shaping these markets in their own vision, defining the space and rules, practices and value perceptions, to their own advantage. Then they set about designing the right business model and customer experience to win on their terms. They are the “market makers”. The best opportunities for business – to find new growth, to engage customers more deeply, to stand out from the crowd, to improve their profitability – is by seizing the…

The volume and complexity of change that organizations are facing continues to increase, and they cannot risk the negative impacts of not executing their business critical changes. Whether focused on cost reduction, process redesign, mergers, restructuring or a large IT implementation, it can be difficult for organizations to capture the full value from their change activities. A2008 IBM survey “Making Change Work” identified an average 22% gap between the amount of substantial change an organization expected and an organization’s success at actually changing. There may be a number of causes of this gap; it could be that these organizations are pursuing inappropriate strategies, or it could be that they are in rapid decline and unable to muster sufficient resources. It could even be that they simply lack the process efficiencies…

In 2013 online retailing reached $262 billion in the US – a growth of 13% over 2012’s $231 billion. In Europe it peaked at €142 billion – a rise of 16% over €122 billion reported in 2012. Online retailing is clearly on the rise. In this article the authors offer a snapshot of the current status of online retailing and provide insights on how differences between countries play a fundamental role in shaping firms’ internationalisation in the online space. Pure-play online retailers have, at least in principle, an unlimited trading space that spans beyond the borders of the country where they are headquartered. Webpages and mobile applications can be accessed from anywhere in the world, orders processed online, and products efficiently shipped across national boundaries. To internationalise the operations of…

In our present world driven by the Digital Trinity of Mobility, Social Media and Advanced Analytics, there is hardly a corner of our society that is not being driven to embrace change. In their 1960’s hit song, “Get Off of My Cloud,” Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones lament about others around them ruining their otherwise perfect sense of reality. Many of today’s business leaders are dealing with the same sense of malaise, caused by outside forces beyond their control. However, unlike the intrusive neighbours or loud TV pitchmen in the song, the force that is ruining these leaders’ sense of tranquility is business disruption brought about by technology innovation. In this essay, we will discuss how disturbing and disrupting stones can bring about the end of empires. If you…

Survey found that three quarters of organisations now offer either coaching or mentoring to employees, and believe it offers a particularly impressive ROI. Coaching has long been lauded as one of the most transformative learning interventions, and research indicates that women derive a host of benefits from partnering with a coach. At the start of the new millennium, the UN set out aspirations for a 15-year journey for the development of civil society. A top three goal was “the empowerment of women” that focussed on the development of women in emerging economies, taking a bottom up approach with equal rights and education as the key drivers. In the rest of the world, concern over the lack of women in senior decision-making positions appeared endemic with many countries introducing various forms…

A weakly translated version of your brand’s marketing message will make your international clients feel like second class citizens. And no one likes to be second best. Capturing clients globally is about more than being globally available. In this article, Christina Comben discusses how you should be localising your marketing message to your target audience to be able to compete in international markets. Why You Need to Localise Now If your company does business on a global scale and you compete in international markets, you’ve probably heard a lot about localisation.1 While you almost certainly already adapt your products or services to meet the requirements of local markets, local legislation, tastes and habits; have you asked yourself how you can localise your website, software, or mobile app to increase your…

For the majority of businesses, robots currently exist as software or hardware which can automate routine service tasks to greater efficiency than human staff, transferring and organising data from multiple input sources to internal recording systems. In this article Professor Willcocks discusses the reality of robots, what they mean for ‘human’ jobs and how organisation and workers can tap into the benefits of automation. The Encyclopaedia Britannica, defines a robot as "any automatically operated machine that replaces human effort, though it may not resemble human beings in appearance or perform functions in a humanlike manner." It seems the first half of this definition is the part that futurologists, industry experts and organisations the world over have chosen to focus on when it comes to discussing how robots will impact organisations.…

Business relationships between China and Europe have existed for quite some time and with the a renewed focus on the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives, this relationship is likely to flourish even more. As such guanxi is an integral part of both personal relationships and business conduct in China and societies influenced by the Chinese around the world. In light of this development – the renewed focus on the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives – it is crucial to understand what makes business tick in China. Specifically, engaging in business in China, like everywhere else, knowing the right people and building relationships with them will get you ahead. One important peculiarity in the Chinese context is…

A shift in focus is required from development of the individual, heroic leader, to the realisation that leadership is a collective activity. In this article, John Mattone discusses how progressive leaders in the business world are moving away from a conventional leadership culture and embracing a collaborative approach to heading up their organisations. The business world is shifting fast, and progressive CEOs see that they have no choice but to transform. Attempting to cope, they apply their best thinking to the structures, systems, and processes they need to compete. Conventional wisdom says that the right business structures will provide the right efficiencies and agility that they need to succeed and achieve meaningful longevity. But behind closed doors, senior leaders are speaking a different truth. Conventional wisdom? Throw it out the…