In recent years, humility has become increasingly accepted as a central feature of great leadership. Bestselling business books such as Good to Great, which considered humility as one of the two core attributes of great ‘level-five’ leaders, speeches and memoirs by business and non-business leaders, and numerous academic papers all highlight the importance of humility […]
Read More… from How Leadership Humility Is Defined in the East and in the West
Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC), a company that specialized in the large-scale cranes used to load containers onto ships, burst on the heavy machinery landscape in 1992. At that time, the global market for large-scale container cranes was growing fast as ports were having to handle more and more super-sized container vessels. The industry was […]
Read More… from A Lesson from China: Growth Is Not Eternal So Be Prepared
Three generations of Indians are currently employed in India’s workplaces. The ‘partition generation’ (born 1944-1963, and roughly equivalent to the baby boomers) were born during times of insecurity and instability. As a result, stability is their primary goal in life, one reason they focus on maintaining cultural norms. Their name refers to the partition of […]
Read More… from From Charisma to Autonomy: How India’s Generations Rate Leadership Qualities
Founder and director of the China Supplier 1000 Project, Neale O’Connor, a former visiting associate professor at the National University of Singapore Business School, conducted face-to-face interviews with 1,000 suppliers in China and Hong Kong. Among the core lessons for buyers, Neale writes, is that China retains its strength vis-à-vis other countries, but is facing some […]
Read More… from Buyers Beware: Costs for China Rising
It is hard to resist the pull of emerging markets, such as India and China. Given the immense population in such countries, even the small percentage of the total population that can be considered ‘middle class’ represents huge markets for companies in developed countries. And this new emerging-market middle class is only growing. Succeeding in […]
Read More… from Three Product Innovation Strategies for Emerging Markets and How to Choose
What is the basis for a company’s competitive advantage? Traditionally, this question elicits one of two answers: 1) Industry structure. Finding the product-market space within a particular industry that is optimal for your company: in this space you can establish a monopolistic or at the least an oligopolistic position through various barriers to entry. 2) […]
Read More… from Why Companies from Emerging Markets Are Putting the Heat on Multinationals
There are three key contexts driving the need for ‘inclusive leadership’: 1. Globalization Increasing globalization demands a new global mind-set from leaders, team members and organizations. The ability to engage with people from different cultural, social and educational backgrounds, is an essential skill for any leader. For multinational corporations developing business in emerging economies, the […]
Read More… from Inclusive Leadership: Aligning the Different
Change forms a huge part of our world today, whether we like it or not. The pace of technological progress is phenomenal, while the growth of emerging markets is one of the most striking forces of change. Not only are we seeing more international competitors in a range of sectors (emerging market companies currently comprise […]
Read More… from Emerging Market Strategy: Creating Order out of Chaos
Classical and neo-classical economic theory is predicated largely on an ‘impersonal’ model, in which transactions between parties are governed not by social obligations and kinship ties but by rational and objective calculation of individual gains. This model is particularly associated with industrialized societies and the mature market economies of the West. One might, therefore, reasonably […]
Read More… from Modernizing without Westernizing: Social Ties and Indian Business
Outsourcing is no longer just an operational issue. As globalization takes hold and more companies shift more activities to suppliers in emerging economies, outsourcing is now a strategic concern. Slowly, a question began to emerge in the consciousness of major manufacturers: were suppliers learning too much? In other words, was it possible that by ‘learning […]
Read More… from When Supply Chain Partners Move Up the Value Chain