News
London Business School’s latest news, awards, events and programmes
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Radical action required for recovery, according to business executives
Business chiefs discuss the future of leadership at global summit
73% of business executive say tough times call for a radical approach from leaders, according to a poll by London Business School.
The findings come as the School debates the future of leadership in the wake of the economic crisis with world-renowned leaders at its flagship event, the Global Leadership Summit.
Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice in Organisational Behaviour, London Business School, will say at the Summit: “Corporations can indeed be a force for good – both with regard to the wealth creation of their activities and the way they can leverage their innovative and scaling capabilities to address the escalating global challenges of our fragile world. Yet trust in corporations is low, they are seen as short term, overly focused on shareholder value and insular in their perspective.
“In big global challenges the leaders’ personal narrative is crucial. These narratives often come from crucible experiences – moments in the lives of the leader when they are confronted with people or experiences, which have had a profound impact on the way they think about the world.”
The Summit speakers include:
• Dr Josef Ackermann, Chairman, Zurich Insurance Group; Vice-Chairman of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum
• Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever
• Alessandro Profumo, Chairman, Monte dei Paschi di Siena
• President Ólafur Grímsson, President of Iceland
The tenth Global Leadership Summit, will take place today in The Brewery.
It brings together business leaders who led organisations through the 2008 financial crisis and will deal with the critical questions still being asked about the leadership, corporate governance and regulatory frameworks that allowed it to happen.
Professor Sir Andrew Likierman, Dean, London Business School, says: “This platform is enabling a deeper debate about the systemic frailties of existing structures and models of leadership.
“Combining the experience of high profile decision makers with the expertise of London Business School faculty, we are discussing models of leadership that are capable of rebuilding the political, corporate, environmental and social landscape.”20 May 2013
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School team wins Blind bit of Difference competition
A London Business School team has won a competition to create employment opportunities for blind and partially-sighted people.
Jun-Woo Kim and Jihun Kim won the Blind Bit of Difference competition for their Sight to Vision idea, a global technology-based teaching service that would train someone with sight loss to teach conversational English to office workers and students via the internet.
17 May 2013
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Start-up business plans seriously flawed
Why even capital backed ventures need a plan B
Most new ventures, even those with venture capital backing share one common characteristic. They fail. A leading academic who will speak at London Business School’s Global Leadership Summit, argues that the typical start-up process, largely driven by poorly conceived business plans and based on untested assumptions, is seriously flawed.
John Mullins, Associate Professor of Management Practice in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, London Business School and acclaimed author of “Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model”, says: “There is a better way to launch new ideas—without wasting years of your time and loads of investors’ money.
“This better way is about discovering a business model that really works: a Plan B which grows out of the original idea, builds on it, and once it’s in place, enables the business to grow rapidly and prosper.”
If the founders of Google, Starbucks, or PayPal had stuck to their original business plans, Dr Mullins says, we would likely never have heard of them. Instead, they made radical changes to their initial models, became household names, and delivered huge returns for their founders and investors.
“It’s an uncomfortable fact”, says Dr Mullins, “But developing a better business is absolutely achievable, provided entrepreneurs quantitatively address five crucial elements.”
Five ways to transform your business model
• Revenue Model: Who will buy? How often? How soon? At what cost? How much money will you receive each time a customer buys? How often will they send you another cheque?
• Gross Margin Model: How much of your revenue will be left after you have paid the direct costs of what you have sold?
• Operating Model: Other than the cost of the goods or services you have sold, what else must you spend money on to keep the lights on?
• Working Capital Model: How early can you encourage your customers to pay? Do you have to tie up money in lots of inventory waiting for customers to buy? Can you pay your suppliers later, after the customer has paid?
• Investment Model: How much cash must you spend up front before enough customers give you enough business to cover your costs?
Dr Mullins will speak on business model innovation at London Business School’s Global Leadership Summit in collaboration with Deloitte, alongside:
• Michael Elias, Managing Director, Kennet Partners
• Jimmy Maymann, Chief Executive Officer, Huffington Post Media Group
• Dale Murray, Angel Investor; Non-Executive Director, UKTI15 May 2013
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School helps entrepreneurs ride the wave
Business leaders from the Young Presidents’ Organization, a global network connecting successful, young CEOs, are among the world’s best at growing their businesses after attending London Business School’s “Growing Your Business” executive programme.
Even during the difficult economic year that was 2010, more than half the participants grew their businesses in excess of 10% over the prior year. 35 delegates have now attended five or more programmes and been awarded alumni status.
14 May 2013
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London Business School academic wins finance competition
London Business School's Assistant Professor of Finance, Samuli Knupfer, has jointly won the 4nations Cup at a competition bringing together some of the finest minds in financial economics.
Professor Knupfer, representing Great Britain together with Stavros Panageas from the London School of Economics, triumphed in the 2013 4Nations Finance Competition, beating off competition from France, Sweden and Switzerland.
08 May 2013