RSS Vlerick Reflect

Word from the dean

24 Feb 2010

Dear reader,

As this is the first issue of the New Year, let me wish you a prosperous and interesting 2010. Your School has weathered 2009 well. Research-wise, we met all our KPIs, including a significant growth in academic output. Organisationally, we became stronger in both faculty and management. Financially, we succeeded in breaking even, with modest growth in the topline. I want to thank all of you who turned to Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School for your personal and organisational management development. Given the lag between economic recovery and corporate spending on training and development, it will be a feat to repeat this performance in 2010 as budgeted. But that is what we intend to do.

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Crisis stimulates renewed cooperation between IT and business

24 Feb 2010

Vlerick recently teamed up with Deloitte to interview 18 CIOs and 10 CFOs from high-profile companies about the way they are managing IT during the current crisis. The results have been published in the report “Engaging in turbulent times. Direction setting for business and IT alignment”.

Successful defence of doctoral thesis for Evelyne Vanpoucke

24 Feb 2010

With her thesis on “Supply Chain Integration and Performance: empirical essays in a manufacturing context”, Evelyne Vanpoucke has obtained her Doctorate in Applied Economic Science from the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies of Ghent University, with support from the Interuniversity College for Management Science (ICM). As part of her doctoral studies, she attended Michigan State University (US) during the 2007-2008 academic year, where she worked with Prof. Kenneth K. Boyer.

Remuneration of top managers curtailed

24 Feb 2010

Vlerick’s Executive Remuneration Research Centre, in association with GUBERNA, the Directors’ Institute, has concluded its annual research into the remuneration of top managers. Ninety-nine listed companies were included in the analysis.

How to enhance employee creativity

24 Feb 2010

Productive creativity is a precious commodity. But how many organisations understand what factors contribute to (or prevent) good ideas? Research by the Flanders DC Knowledge Centre at Vlerick reveals that factors that drive creativity at one stage of an idea’s “journey” will not necessarily come into play at other stages.

Crisis leads to significant shifts for CFO

24 Feb 2010

For the third consecutive year, Vlerick has collaborated with TriFinance to survey 171 Belgian CFOs from companies both quoted (35%) and not quoted (65%) on the stock exchange, in all sectors. The “Finance function of the future” study indicates that the CFO’s challenges have shifted from ensuring the reliability of information and creating value to finding financial resources.

“Internationalisation begins at home”

24 Feb 2010

New Year is a good time to look back - and to look forward. Dean Philippe Haspeslagh took up office in September 2008 and together with faculty and staff set out the blueprint for the School’s future. We met with the Dean and General Director Patrick De Greve to take stock and to reflect on the challenges ahead.

Strategy − the integrative discipline

24 Feb 2010

Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School’s strategic management knowledge domain divides the strategy discipline into two main areas. Corporate Strategy, or group strategy, addresses questions like: what businesses should we concentrate on, what diversification does or does not make sense? Competitive Strategy looks at how a company can excel in its market. This entails positioning the company to exploit its strengths and differentiate itself from the competition.

“Mind the basics!”

24 Feb 2010

“Whenever the overall environment is pleasant, people tend to lose sight of the basics. The frustrating thing is that they can get away with it at first, but only until the going gets tough again.” Marcus Alexander is adjunct associate professor at the London Business School, Director of the Ashridge Strategic Management Centre and visiting professor at Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School.

Making companies more strategy-focused

24 Feb 2010

Becoming a strategy-focused organisation does not happen automatically. Each employee feels that he or she should do what is best for the organisation − but a company of 15 employees will have 15 views on what is best. To be effective, strategy needs to be steered, with clear priorities communicated to the workforce. “Many people confuse strategy with vision and mission,” explains Kurt Verweire, Associate Professor at Vlerick’s Entrepreneurship, Governance & Strategy Competence Centre. “Mission is the response to ‘who are we and why are we here?’ Vision answers the question ‘where are we going?’ And strategy is ‘how do we get there?’”

The human factor

24 Feb 2010

The Deloitte-Andersen merger went unusually smoothly compared to many company mergers and acquisitions. Deloitte’s organisational structure and the unexpected availability of the Andersen personnel were important elements − but the key to success is what Rik Vanpeteghem, CEO Deloitte Belgium, calls “the human factor”.

An urgent strategic takeover

24 Feb 2010

The Belgacom-Telindus merger is an example of an “unsolicited takeover”, where one company takes over another for a strategic reason. Unsolicited takeovers require great skill on the part of the dominant company to make the merger work. What prompted Belgacom to take over Telindus, and how was the merger managed? We spoke to Michel De Coster, Belgacom’s Executive Vice-President Enterprise Business Unit (EBU), to find out why taking over Telindus was so important to Belgacom.

Do you have what it takes to be a product leader?

24 Feb 2010

Judith Escalier Revollo of Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School’s Strategic Management Department has been researching how to maintain competitive advantage through product innovation, and how to achieve product leadership in service companies.

Management in a turbulent environment

24 Feb 2010

To mark the 10th anniversary of the MBA-FSI programme of Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School, Société Générale hosted a gathering of former alumni in Paris in October 2009. Vlerick’s Lutgart Van den Berghe, Kurt Verweire and Jonathan de Grande reflect on the success of the event and the future of the programme.

Product Leadership Tool

24 Feb 2010

Flanders DC and Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School are research partners collaborating on various studies concerning entrepreneurial creativity, ranging from macroeconomic insights to practical tools for entrepreneurs and SMEs. The Product Leadership Tool is a benchmarking instrument that compares how well a company performs in relation to others in the same industry.

Vlerick students immersed in M&A

24 Feb 2010

From 21 to 23 January the Ghent campus of Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School was the setting for the annual M&A Days, which give MBA students as well as students doing a Masters in Finance Management or General Management the opportunity to talk to and get first-hand information from highly reputed M&A experts from the academic and business worlds. On the Leuven campus the M&A Days were held from 28 until 30 January.

International strategy in a flat world

24 Feb 2010

As Assistant Professor of Strategy in the Entrepreneurship, Governance and Strategy Competence Centre of Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School, Prof. Christopher Voisey is an authority in the fields of competitive strategy, organisation theory and international management. He explains how successfully managing across borders can become an enduring source of competitive advantage.

Mapping the strategic context

24 Feb 2010

Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School is the Belgian partner institute for the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Competitiveness Report, assessing the comparative strengths and weaknesses of industrialised and emerging economies. Professor Leo Sleuwaegen comments on the importance and evolution of strategic context.

Financial storm turned bank strategies upside down

24 Feb 2010

The economic and financial crisis threw the strategy of many banks and insurance companies into disarray. Strategy consultant Accenture predicts that, by 2012, banks worldwide will have to meet much more stringent requirements in terms of capital, risk, liquidity and capital structure for their growth and profitability. If the banks want to earn the high returns they used to enjoy, they will have to implement a great many operational changes and review their business model. “Above all, the banks should not seek an answer with a unique model,” warns Professor André Thibeault of the Centre for Financial Services Management.

“Bringing different modules of strategic thinking together”

24 Feb 2010

With a background in supply chain and management consulting, and with broad portfolio experience at Nike, including setting up and leading the start-up of a greenfield warehouse, Karen Stroobants, Nike’s Strategy & Business Development Director, will soon complete the Vlerick Advanced Management Programme.