Looking for the right co-founders
Businessam Staff
September 13, 2017
ENTREPRENEURSHIP Venugopal Gupta, Founder & CEO, Venture Works (INSEAD MBA ‘06J) Character is just as important as capability. Conviction will come later. Crunchbase, an online start-up database, indicates that single-founder companies do at least as well as, if not better than, two-founder companies. In fact, amongst start-ups which have managed an exit (via an IPO or […]
The four horsemen of negotiator power
Businessam StaffSeptember 12, 2017
LEADERSHIP & ORGANISATIONS Michael Schaerer, Assistant Professor at Singapore Management University, Adam Galinsky, Professor of Business at Columbia Business School, and Joe Magee, Associate Professor at NYU Stern School of Business To maximise their success at the bargaining table, negotiators should maximise their power. At the bargaining table, a negotiator’s primary objective is to reach the best […]
When succession skips a generation
Businessam StaffSeptember 11, 2017
FAMILY BUSINESS Morten Bennedsen, INSEAD Professor of Economics and Political Science, and Brian Henry, INSEAD Research Fellow Hiring non-family executives helps ensure longevity, but it requires strategic finesse. As discussed in a previous column, next-generational succession is one of the main challenges facing family businesses globally today. Owner-managers who are confronted with this issue often have to […]
The nine major ways of doing business in the world
Businessam StaffSeptember 8, 2017
STRATEGY Michael A. Witt, INSEAD Affiliate Professor of Strategy and International Business A new measure for gauging and understanding the challenge of business abroad. There is a simple truth in international business: All else being equal, the more similar the host country abroad to the home country of a firm, the more likely is success. […]
Share buybacks are corporate suicide
Businessam StaffSeptember 8, 2017
ECONOMICS & FINANCE Robert Ayres, INSEAD Emeritus Professor of Economics and Political Science and Technology Management, and Michael Olenick, Institute Executive Fellow at INSEAD When firms invest too heavily in buying back shares, there is likely to be trouble ahead. The revival of supply-side economics, exacerbated by the election of U.S. President Donald Trump and […]
What sales leaders can learn from start-ups
Businessam StaffSeptember 5, 2017
STRATEGY Paul Sanders (INSEAD MBA ΄06D), Director of Business Innovation, EMEA, Steelcase, and Philippe Pereira, EMEA Executive Sales Enablement Leader, Steelcase Key ingredients for start-up success could benefit even giant sales organisations. Many B2B firms struggle with low sales conversion and sales productivity. In some ways, the rise of e-commerce has made the business environment more challenging. […]
How private investors can narrow the global infrastructure gap
Businessam StaffSeptember 5, 2017
ECONOMICS & FINANCE Wissam Anastas, Former Co-Head of Deutsche Bank Private Equity Energy & Infrastructure (INSEAD MBA ‘06J) Governments have been unable to address infrastructure shortfalls. Private investors can help fill the gap. Chronic underinvestment in global infrastructure has been a consistent headache for policymakers for decades. A 2016 McKinsey study placed the gap in infrastructure spending […]
Why “believe in yourself” is bad advice for women
Businessam StaffSeptember 4, 2017
In the workplace, women can capitalise on self-confidence only when they exhibit “feminine” behaviours as well. Aspiring women leaders are commonly told that their key to success in male-dominated environments is self-confidence. Men have it; women don’t—which accounts for the size and stubbornness of the gender leadership gap. In the academic literature, too, study after study has found a direct link […]
How automation will rescue middle management
Businessam StaffSeptember 3, 2017
We should view automation as an opportunity to liberate human managers. The rise of AI has sparked worldwide fears that technology will soon become advanced enough to replace human workers on a grand scale. If you share those fears, I have good news and bad news for you. First, the bad news: According to a […]
Digitally enabling customer loyalty
Businessam StaffAugust 29, 2017
STRATEGY Andrew Shipilov, INSEAD Professor of Strategy Empowering the front lines with digital tools enables organisations to capture the hearts of diverse consumer groups. Digital transformation doesn’t touch only companies in the United States or Western Europe. Many Russian firms have made efforts to incorporate digital into their business models. Take Sberbank, for example. […]