By Jonas Hoffmann & Ivan Coste-Manière
The luxury industry is currently on a remarkable journey defying the gloomy economic outlook quarter after quarter. Seven trends are currently shaping this industry: emergence of Chinese clients, localizing marketing strategies, digital everywhere, dealing with the happy few, sustainability goes mainstream, consolidation versus niche opportunities, and luxury coming from made in emerging economies luxury.
By Barry Z. Cynamon, Steven M. Fazzari & Mark Setterfield
The Great Recession was deep and the subsequent recovery has been slower than most economists predicted. This article summarizes the message of a recent book that presents perspectives from a group of Keynesian economists, who warned prior to 2007 of dangerous trends that could lead to these unfavorable outcomes. The authors discuss how the debt-fueled consumer boom leading up to the Great Recession was unsustainable and how rising inequality has compromised demand generation during the feeble recovery. The article concludes by considering how public policy must respond in coming years.
By Xin Wang & Justin Ren
Why has there been hardly any successful entry into China’s e-commerce market by western firms? From consumer-to-consumer markets to online retailing, the authors point out the common pitfalls of those firms entering China, and the unique challenges faced by multinational companies. Through re-thinking how to balance standardization and customization in global marketing strategies, the authors offer some practical advice that western companies can follow in order to meet the fast-changing needs of China’s online customers.
By B. Sebastian Reiche, Mark E. Mendenhall, Allan Bird, & Joyce S. Osland
While it has become common to call for global leaders to address the many challenges that internationally operating organizations face, it is much less clear what we actually mean when referring to global leaders or what the scope of global leadership entails. This article elaborates a framework for understanding the globality in leadership, focusing on three distinct yet interrelated conditions of global leadership: contextual, relational and spatial-temporal. We also highlight the critical elements of leadership in a global environment and discuss implications for the design of global leadership development activities.1
Creation of wealth began with farmers who planted something into the land and earned income from harvesting food. Others created wealth from something taken from the ground, such as oil, coal and other minerals. In many countries around the world, an employed individual or family with modest income could embark on the creation of wealth simply by purchasing a home.
By Saumitra Jha
The failure to align the incentives of self-interested groups in favor of beneficial reform is often considered a major cause of civil conflict and persistent underdevelopment around the world. However, much less is known about strategies that have been successful at overcoming such challenges. This article discusses the role of financial instruments as a means for fostering broad political coalitions that favor beneficial reform and mitigate social conflict, drawing on historical cases in which innovative financial assets, often introduced by technocratic reformers, have succeeded at making politics less conflictual over time.
By Roger Brownsword & Morag Goodwin
The authors of Law and the Technologies of the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge University Press, 2012) examine both the challenges and opportunities that are arising regarding regulatory frameworks and emerging technologies, looking specifically at: prudence, legitimacy, effectiveness and connection.
Middle Eastern countries are highly dependent on food imports. They have reacted to the global food crisis of 2008 with various measures to guarantee food security. The main concern of the oil rich Gulf countries is not so much high food prices, but a repetition of export restrictions that food exporters like Argentina, India and Vietnam enacted in 2008. To address this risk, they have increased subsidies and strategic storage, tried to make domestic agriculture more water-efficient and have announced ago-investments abroad. The article takes a look at these measures as the challenges and pitfalls of chosen strategies have become more discernible. The Gulf countries’ ability to adapt to food security challenges will play a major role in the social and economic stability of their states and in the direction of their investment policies both at home and abroad.
In her new monograph Can Russia Modernise? Sistema, Power Networks and Informal Governance, Alena Ledeneva seeks to decode and reveal how informal power operates. Concentrating on Vladimir Putin’s system of governance – referred to as Putin’s sistema – she identifies four key types of networks: his inner circle, useful friends, core contacts and mediated connections. These networks serve sistema but also serve themselves. Reliance on networks enables leaders to mobilise and to control, yet they also lock them into informal deals, mediated interests and personalised loyalties. Ledeneva’s perspective on informal power is based on in-depth interviews with sistema insiders and enhanced by evidence of its workings brought to light in court cases, enabling her to draw broad conclusions about the prospects for Russia’s political institutions. The book is available from Cambridge University Press from February 2013.
