INSEAD, the leading international business school, recently hosted its Leadership Summit Asia on
6 November 2009 at the school’s Asia campus in Singapore. Under the theme of ‘Reinventing the Future of Business,’ distinguished leaders from around the globe presented their views on, and led discussions around, the topics of finance, innovation, and the role of government in business.
Key themes of the full-day Summit included an assessment of the financial services sector, its reactions to the financial crisis, and possible ways forward for the industry. Another theme focused on innovation and how it takes place within corporations and what can be done to foster greater innovation in a corporate setting.
‘This year’s Leadership Summit Asia attracted some of the best minds from around the world to discuss the realities for organisations in the aftermath of the financial crisis,’ said J. Frank Brown, Dean of INSEAD. ‘Summit participants were able to hear firsthand about game-changing innovation strategies and business models which will undoubtedly affect their operations in the coming year.’
Leading practitioners and experts in the field of business regulation also weighed in on the causes of the financial crisis and what role governments and their regulators should play in shaping the industry in the future.
Highlights from the sessions at the INSEAD Leadership Summit Asia 2009 included:
- Tanri Abeng, Chairman of PT. Telekomunikasi, Indonesia, and Former State Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, Republic of Indonesia, provided insights about the state of corporate governance in Asia, and in particular, Indonesia. He pointed to a two-tiered Board structure as one that is gaining recognition and will have positive effects on the governance of state-owned enterprises as well as private corporations.
- INSEAD professors Anil Gaba and Pierre Hillion argued that financial institutions must learn the lessons from the financial crisis and move forward with a new approach. Professor Hillion stated that the excessive use of leverage is pro-cyclical—inflating bubbles during periods of growth, and exacerbating downturns once the bubbles pop. Professor Gaba addressed the issue of forecasting, and the limited ability of current models to effectively predict the future. In light of this, he suggests that the impact of chance events must be given greater weight.
- Finance industry panellists Jaspal Bindra, CEO Asia, Standard Chartered Bank; Timothy Condon, Managing Director and Head of Research, ING Financial Markets; and Rupert Keeley, Group President, Asia Pacific and CEMEA Visa Inc., provided a range of views on how the recovery is playing out, and what they expect for the coming years. Mr. Bindra said that while several indicators pointed to a degree of recovery, he felt it lacked conviction, and that fundamental issues remained unresolved, while unemployment globally continues to grow. In contrast, Mr. Condon and Mr. Keeley had a more bullish outlook for Asia Pacific’s rapid and sustained recovery.
- INSEAD’s Soumitra Dutta and Martin Gargiulo debated the process of innovation and how it can be promoted within corporations. Professor Gargiulo highlighted that corporations often operate in a complex arrangement of ‘islands’ and ‘bridges,’ and that it is when there is collaboration between islands that innovation often takes place.
- In a panel session, Summit speakers discussed innovation from the perspective of corporate leaders. Panellists debated whether large corporations stifle innovation, and how business can be structured to create a steady pipeline of new ideas.
- A panel session on ‘the government of business’ examined regulatory enforcement before and after the crisis. Recognising that governments have little choice but to take some form of action, the panellists argued that new regulations should not overreach their purpose and must allow business to continue to operate in an efficient manner.
