Innholdsfortegnelse for March/April 2018 i The European Business Review

Today, we can see the adoption of nascent technological development as not just a modest factor in enterprises’ evolution but a holy grail, so to say. While organisations continually aspire to have superior digital knowledge, it is indispensable to gain an in-depth understanding of what it truly means to go digital. With an aim to keep you abreast with the issues and trends associated with digitisation, we bring to you the March/April issue of The European Business Review – complete with perspectives on digital business and innovation, as well as on governance and strategies that work in the 21st century. Going digital requires digital mindset and understanding, as such we present in this issue an exploration on the future of business in the age of cyber world and anticipated paradigm…

As the manufacturing industry enters into the fourth industrial revolution or the Industry 4.0, supply chain leaders are challenged to make their enterprise processes more digitised – in order for their supply chain to become efficient, customer-focussed and agile. However, with the increasing demands and risks associated with the avalanche of technologies in the manufacturing industry, are companies truly ready for the Industry 4.0? A recent survey by IMD business school1 asked supply chain leaders across Europe to select from a diverse list of 20 hot topics what would be their biggest supply chain drivers in 2020. They were also asked to rank their company’s readiness to exploit these drivers. The top five supply chain drivers for which the implementation gap was the largest touched on Big Data, Digitalisation, Internet…

Office politics is exclusionary. It is about processes, procedures and decisions that are not meant to be scrutinised. Until recently the concept of office politics was exclusively associated with dirty tricks and Machiavellian manipulation. But recently psychologists using the concept of political savvy and political skill have noted that managers can be politically aware and astute as well as behave ethically to achieve goals. The savvy manager is personally successful and held in high regard by their staff and the organisation. Moreover it is possible to define and measure political skill to determine where personal strength and limitations lie and where therefore to concentrate developmental practices. The paper ends with a description of six strategies to increase political awareness. Politics is a bad word. We have national politics and local…

Marketing budget has been exponentially going digital. In this article, the author explores the social media platforms being used by 108 fashion houses, the content they post by type, theme, format and how effective they are in engaging their followers. Introduction While the luxury goods market has grown over the last year at a low single percent digit rate, the online part of it has grown by 24 percent.1 As a consequence, over the last few years, marketing budgets have been increasingly shifting online. For a luxury brand, pursuing marketing campaigns through owning messages, images and media is definitely a preferred approach than buying digital ads. Brand integrity can be more easily preserved while avoiding the more opaque digital ad auction market. In this respect, a solid strategy on social…

Investing in your team is paramount, especially given the importance of information sharing in today’s workplace. Graduation month is fast-approaching. As a new generation of digitally savvy young people enter the workforce, British businesses must be ready to adapt to their needs. In this article, Tony Bailey, the Head of Regional Business in Vodafone UK, spills top five qualities Gen Z talents look for. As students get their A-level results and graduate from university this summer, a new tranche of young people will enter the workforce. So what do their prospective employers need to do to attract and accommodate the best and brightest ‘Generation Z’ talent? These digital natives were born into a world rapidly transformed by technology and where mobile phones, the internet and social media were already a…

The rapid and disruptive technological developments are leading us into a global all encompassing transformation. The main driver today is the progression of the information and communication technology (ICT) and artificial intelligence (AI). The next step will be a deep transformation due to the Cyber-Reality, a combination of digital reality (DR), augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) – resulting to a fast expanding digitalisation, which is creating a new wave of globalisation. In this article, the authors discuss briefly anticipated paradigm shifts in economy and in business, as well as propose new business models connected with Cyber-Reality. “Our perception is our reality!” We are still in the midst of the transformation created by digitalisation and many people and organisations are trying hard to cope with it. Several recent writings…

Increased transparency over your supply chain will allow you to identify problem areas such as inefficient and wasteful operations. Trends ranging from globalisation and social media to rising consumer demand for responsibly and sustainably produced goods have transformed the role of the supply chain. Your supply chain today is very much an extension of your brand – with the power to bolster or harm your reputation. Even the most celebrated brands are vulnerable. Among many well-known brands, there have been cases of harsh working conditions in overseas factories, fires and other safety hazards that have injured or killed thousands of people, and environmental spills or lapses that have caused significant damage to habitats and communities. Suppliers’ poor workplace conditions and flawed environmental practices can directly or indirectly impact even the…

Agile boards must be more capable of changing the rules of the game ahead of their competitors and bring “first mover” advantages to their companies and shareholders. As the impulse of industry players to stay ahead of the competition skyrockets, how will you drive superior performance towards greater value creation? In this article, the authors highlight the significance of having an agile board in an organisation and elaborate on the critical role of the Chairman in navigating the company through board agility towards a strategic direction. Shareholders are poorly served by boards that provide “wait and see” oversight. The directors serving these passive boards increasingly find themselves in the cross hairs of activists, proxy advisory firms and major investors. They provide little “lift” to the shareholders they serve and the…

Banks need a purposeful strategy to combine the strengths of traditional banking with the innovative solutions offered by fintech. Propelled by data-driven innovation, fintech companies continue to gain traction – taking some financial firms by surprise. For banks that are looking into investing and partnering with fintechs to ensure relevance and growth and avoid losing market share, the time is right for strategic collaboration. Bank leaders by and large saw the arrival of financial technology companies (fintechs) as a challenge. Lately, though, they’ve started to see things differently: traditional bankers are becoming increasingly open to the idea of collaborating with fintechs of all types, with an eye towards improving their own firms’ offerings and accelerating growth. The timing is right. As the fintech world enters a more mature phase, fintech…

The need of local and national governments to reduce congestion and pollution simultaneously is lending support to car sharing schemes and putting a huge emphasis on the development of hybrid and electric vehicles. Many companies today understand that the wave after wave of digital technology is a phenomenon they need to respond to as quickly as possible, as digitisation can significantly affect them not only in terms of making their products and services sophisticated but also in creating seamless customer experience. In this article, the author elaborates on the approach of short, medium and long-term digital fixes that companies, in this case automakers, can execute to address critical touchpoints, improve customer experience and eventually yield true lifetime value. Adapting to the ongoing digitisation of the economy, and of society in…

“THRIVING” EMPLOYEES ARE NOT JUST SATISFIED AND PRODUCTIVE BUT ALSO ENGAGED IN CREATING THE FUTURE. THEY ARE HIGHLY ENERGISED AND KNOW HOW TO AVOID BURNOUT. As the nature of work and workplace fundamentally changes, how would companies capture significant value? This month’s Executive Health column focusses on the concept of workplace wellbeing and the importance of massive integration of well-being programmes into organisation’s corporate agenda. I was teaching Masters students at IE’s School of Human Sciences and Technology this week. Teaching wellbeing at work to an average age of 25 was a refreshing experience. There was no need to try and convince them of the importance of the topic which they were immediately drawn to, and in which they saw both the business rationale and the necessary responsible care of…