Initiative will enhance business understanding and strengthen competitiveness to drive socioeconomic transformation
INSEAD, the leading international business school, today announced the launch of its European Competitiveness Initiative. This broad research and outreach endeavour will advance strategic frameworks that contribute to the long-term global competitiveness of European businesses and institutions. The major project comes during one of the region’s most economically challenging decades. More than 25 INSEAD professors will lend their thought leadership to the Initiative through research projects and case studies to enhance understanding of the unique opportunities and challenges that companies face in Europe today. This scholarship will have real-world impact that improves European global competitiveness and helps frame innovative public policies.
As the sovereign debt crisis and associated political and economic trouble continue to affect Europe, the INSEAD Initiative aims to develop beneficial insights and policy frameworks that enhance businesses, improve global competitiveness, and create jobs and social value. Leveraging the school’s broad intellectual capital and research in business and leadership, the Initiative will examine how companies based in Europe can compete successfully internationally and contribute to the global economy.
‘Greater leadership and collaboration between companies and public policy is imperative to ensure further development of the overall economy,’ said Javier Gimeno, INSEAD Professor of Strategy and coordinator of the Initiative. ‘For Europe and its leaders to create employment and progress, it has to remain a favoured location for business activities, both by European companies and by foreign multinationals. Europe has much to offer companies in terms of a diverse and educated labour force, sophisticated internal demand, and modern infrastructure, but Europe must reinforce and renovate these advantages in light of current global competition.’
To support this broad-based effort, INSEAD’s Initiative will draw upon the school’s long history as a global management education and research pioneer with deep roots in Europe. INSEAD’s unique, multi-campus structure affords it the global resources and perspective to help design robust business strategies and public policies that re-establish Europe as a vibrant economy. The Initiative will introduce new research, publications and conferences across a variety of areas where INSEAD has already established its leadership expertise. In addition, the Initiative will spur entirely new programmes to create engagement and dialogue with key stakeholders in business and government in order to be a catalyst for progress.
‘More than 50 years ago, INSEAD was born with a vision to develop a new generation of business leaders who would promote European understanding and economic progress through business,’ said INSEAD Dean, Dipak C. Jain. ‘Even though our school has grown beyond that initial mission, our global business acumen, our passion for innovation and entrepreneurship, and our deep European roots, remain central to INSEAD’s identity. They provide us with a unique advantage and legitimacy to advance the business agenda and policy debate in Europe in significant, constructive ways.”
Through their leadership, INSEAD faculty will utilise the depth of resources across the school’s centre of excellences, research and geographies to establish a platform to create engagement with external audiences and contribute to the region’s economic growth.
The Initiative will include a variety of research activities and projects, as well as outreach events to share research results. This work will advance understanding of competitiveness by providing powerful examples of success and failure in Europe. In addition, INSEAD will design, administer and interpret surveys to gain fresh insights into the perceptions of business leaders regarding the factors contributing to and limiting competitiveness in Europe. The Initiative will also develop research projects to assess these factors and contribute to policy recommendations.
‘The Initiative will harness the full potential of some INSEAD activities that the school has long conducted with excellent results, such as the European Industrial Excellence Award, or the ‘State of the European Union’ annual survey,’ said Javier Gimeno. ‘At the same time, the Initiative will help spearhead an entirely new case collection, new research projects and new conferences, to increase INSEAD’s contribution at this critical juncture in Europe’s history. This effort gains even greater impact because we intend to engage with our alumni and partners, creating a rich, dynamic conversation that bridges theory and practice, letting our global community be a force for innovation and positive change’.
‘The European Competitive Initiative draws upon INSEAD’s diverse and unique knowledge and identity of INSEAD,’ said Dean Jain. ‘We started as a pan-European school, but now have a global footprint. This lets us examine current issues in Europe both as insiders and from an international perspective. Our faculty know European businesses well, and are global experts in their subjects. INSEAD can contribute to solving significant challenges in Europe by bringing to bear a business-centered perspective, which complements the economic or political focus that dominates the current policy debate. As educators of future leaders, we can also impart a fresh spirit to the policy discussion, one that focuses on youth, entrepreneurship and innovation, elements that will build Europe’s long-term competitiveness.’
More information about the Initiative can be found at http://eu.competitiveness.insead.edu/
