Innholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2018 i The European Business Review

Business executives should be creating shared value and they all should be writing the new story of business by transforming their companies to become responsible citizens and changing the world for better. Best-in-class companies galvanise their workforces to serve a larger purpose – creating a better world. They empower employees by providing leadership support and a sense of psychological safety. We illustrate how it can be done based on the example of Enel “My Best Failure” programme for celebrating failure and encouraging innovation. The idea of creating sustainable business is not new to business executives. They all should be creating shared value (Kramer and Porter 2011),1 which in simpler terms means making money and doing good, and they all should be writing the new story of business (Freeman 2017)2 by…

Mobile Systems have become commodity and this article thus examines the timely question of what 5G can deliver in terms of extra value. We argue that, based on fundamental trends, some exciting technology transformations will happen with 5G. These will enable a new Internet, and the Internet of Skills. Trends in Wireless Communications and Digital Mobile communications has started as a niche technology but quickly evolved into a fully-functioning mobile Internet with global coverage. 4G is now so performant that consumers often forget about being connected wirelessly: the experience is virtually the same as when behind a desktop computer. With 2G, 3G and 4G generations of mobile now deployed globally, the technology is starting to become commodity and is naturally experiencing market pressure underpinned by shrinking margins and higher deployment…

As part of the broader Industry 4.0 trend, the digitalisation of supply chains is happening quickly. Much of the attention is centred on innovations like cloud computing, software-as-a-service (SaaS) and advanced analytics. But there is another aspect to this rapidly changing landscape: companies must rethink their IT management approaches, from their purchasing strategy to the interaction between IT and business processes. Exciting New Solutions, Unexpected Obstacles A few years ago one of the authors, a supply chain director at a large multinational company, found himself championing an innovative digital supply chain IT solution for vendor collaboration. The goal was to better share projected forward material production requirements using a SaaS cloud platform provided by a niche vendor. It seemed to be a perfect solution to the vexing challenge of coordinating…

 A digital advertising campaign may be stymied by the difficulty in attributing the value of online investment to various online channels such as display ads, paid search to social media and email. The article considers attribution models that can be applied to assign sales credit to these and other online channels. The sheer number of adverts on the Internet has led to consumers simply ignoring many, leaving advertisers and marketers with little to show for their efforts. In a recent speech to the US Internet Advertising Bureau, Marc Pritchard of Procter & Gamble, who controls an annual ad budget of $7.2 billion as its Marketing Director, suggested that there is a crisis of trust facing the digital advertising industry. He contended that the industry still does not have common standards…

Each individual player has an expertise and skillset the leader themselves can never match. In this sense, the best leaders are jacks of all trades but masters of none. How will you cultivate great leadership to drive superior performance? In this article, the author elaborates on the importance of unleashing the individual strengths of employees – which is a defining feature of a leadership that is truly outstanding. It’s commonplace in discussions about leadership and management to place a strong emphasis on unlocking the potential of all colleagues, not just those identified as high-fliers. This is becoming seen as increasingly critical as we enter an era of unparalleled technological change which is likely to render many current jobs obsolete and create many new type of jobs not thought of today.…

 How do brands stay meaningful and relevant in the 21st century? One powerful route is to deliver high value to customers while addressing wider social and environmental issues as an integral way of doing business. But doing this requires rethinking how value is created. In this article, we explore case studies of leading companies who are putting this new value creation and sharing into practice. From these we draw seven recommendations for enterprises wanting to follow this trans-formative economic path. Transformation Economy is driven by the realisation that despite economic progress, the world’s population is facing persistent socio-economic inequality and mounting environmental challenges. To understand how to go forward, it’s useful to briefly look back at how the transformative path has emerged as the latest wave of value creation. The initial…

The expectation around 5G surpasses all previous generations. We are told it will herald a digital utopia with services beyond our dreams and gigabit data rates. But that is not how things appear to be working out. Instead, 5G may just be a minor upgrade to 4G networks, performed by increasingly cash-strapped mobile operators. For better services consumers may look to Wi-Fi and to alternative providers. Rather than delivering the crowning achievement of 40 years of mobile success, 5G may be the first indication that its best days are past. Ten years ago the iPhone was introduced, bringing about the most dramatic change in the use of telecommunications ever seen. Since then there has not been much technological change but data usage, app usage and new business models have grown…

In today’s rapidly changing business landscape, supply chain leaders are being challenged by the profound effects of digital economy on the relationship between consumers and the supply chain. In this article, the authors elaborate on three crucial things, particularly connectedness, responsiveness and process, toward value creation as employed by successful businesses such as Norsk Titanium, a digital supply chain pioneer. Too many supply chains are stuck in the 1990’s when it comes to the technology they use leaving them decades behind the foundations required for the digital economy. The scale and magnitude of the problem are hard to over-state. For example, evidence indicates that half of supply chain managers have yet to embrace Internet technology.1 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) research into economic malaise in developed economies indicates…

In a globally connected world characterised by diversity, there exist different approaches towards negotiation, which are dependent on people’s respective culture. In this article, the authors discuss the significant impact of culture to negotiation processes as expounded on three culture types – Dignity Culture, Face Culture and Honour Culture – with the aim of helping us understand one another better. Executives in our negotiation programmes quite often ask: “How should I negotiate with people from a very different culture?” Most negotiations in today’s globally connected world take place in a multinational context. While this has brought us all closer, at the same time it has added to the anxiety of business executives when they are dealing with cultures with which they are not very familiar. Most of the executives with…

Executives often overlook opportunities in their existing enterprise to apply digital capabilities to serve customers in new ways. To grow their businesses consistently, leaders must envision a much bigger picture of where value resides than they have traditionally. And they must be prepared to create much more value than they can capture for themselves. Why do so many companies struggle to identify and capture growth opportunities? The digital age is brimming with promise on this front. Yet regularly growing the portion of a company’s share price that is based on expectations of future earnings growth – while at the same time growing the portion based on actual earnings – is not the norm.1 In fact, only two percent of the 995 large organisations examined in a recent Accenture research study…

When Estonia is contemplating a launch of its own digital currency (Estcoin), Deutsche Telekom is running pilots on a 5G connection, and America ponders the future of Net Neutrality, we witness various manifestations of the same dilemma: how will the increased digital connectivity revolutionise our technologies, reform our societies, and change our lives in the ways we can hardly anticipate? The rollout of 5G is expected to enable and widely disseminate technologies, such as: the Internet of Things, self-driving cars, autonomous drones, and Star Wars-inspired hologram phones. What was considered science-fiction just a decade ago is currently being prototyped, tested, and piloted. A $1 billion investment in a New Mexico “ghost town” speaks for itself. And, as we enter the era of 5G, the formerly futuristic gadgets might just become…

Companies must figure out what sustainability means for their supply chain. Only then can they determine if they are doing enough of what truly matters. A growing number of companies are working to develop sustainable supply chains. A key challenge is to align their supply chain performance with the economic, environmental, and social thresholds that dictate whether it is sustainable or not. This article discusses what supply chain sustainability really means, why it is difficult to achieve, and what companies can do to advance their progress. Nearly every day, more companies publicly share their sustainability commitments and progress. As just one example, nearly 10,000 companies around the world are now signatories to the United Nations Global Compact. These companies have explicitly recognised their responsibilities in the areas of human rights,…

A Consumer Executive Board survey found that B2B buyers make their way through 57% to 70% of the decision-making process before even contacting potential suppliers. Today, through prior digital and social media research, organisational buyers approach their vendor sales teams much more informed. Hence, it is indispensable for B2B sales to focus on becoming a valued and trusted partner early in their customer’s decision journey. Such could be achieved through six strategic steps, which the authors elaborate on in this article. Long gone are the days of information asymmetry where the sales person had more information than the customer. In that bygone era, potential customers came to sales seeking information – or the sales person contacted the buyer through cold calling or canvassing. Today, through prior digital and social media…

The combination of globalisation, Moore’s law and ubiquitous information have transformed industries into fluid, rapidly-changing landscapes. Today’s competitor is tomorrow’s partner and next year’s customer. In this article, the authors elaborate on the four stages of Business Model Cycle which managers, especially at new and growing ventures, can reflect on as they aim to build and evolve organisations to explore shifting seas and exploit opportunities. “It’s the business model, stupid!” – Esther Dyson The pace of business innovation and change is accelerating. To adapt, entrepreneurs and executives have adopted (and exhausted) a variety of management tools: blue ocean strategy, business re-engineering, organisational learning, TQM and disruptive innovation, just to name a few. But the combination of globalisation, Moore’s law and ubiquitous information have transformed industries into fluid, rapidly-changing landscapes. Today’s…