Bureaucracy is an age-old challenge that plagues most established organizations in the GCC and around the world. Yet, that need not be the case. Instead, by measuring how bureaucracy in organizations relates to performance, impact and risk, companies can take measures to reduce the burden of red tape and also prune their costs. Bureaucracy takes…
Gauging the investment and market sentiment in a country is not an easy task. In the absence of any other solutions, surveys and economic research reports help business analysts and the media to develop an opinion on a country’s investment and market sentiment. As the business season in the UAE and the GCC starts this…
From getting business loans through the Lending Club to raising finance through Kickstarter to processing company transactions through WePay to even replacing money with Coinbase, financial technology – or fintech, as it is better known – is shaking up the financial services sector around the world. And now, surging at stopwatch speed, it is set…
Edward had been so flattered when asked to join Serail Corporation’s executive team as VP finance that he hadn’t done his homework. Now he was trying to manage his disappointment at discovering his portfolio was almost identical to that of one of his close colleagues. When he discussed the matter with the CEO, he was…
Amy and Jeff both love working in Singapore. Growing up in England, they had never imagined their global lifestyle. They had been living together for 15 years and had already lived in Malaysia and Indonesia before they moved to Singapore five years ago. Their two children are in an international pre-school and they have a…
Adapting to the ongoing digitization of the economy is arguably the most challenging transformation every business is currently facing. Digital tools and trends are invading the business environment faster than companies can react, provoking significant changes in the way we communicate, consume, work, buy and sell. The scale and pace of the change brought by…
Digital partnerships are increasingly becoming commonplace, and non-technology organizations are joining forces with the hottest digital start-ups to bring something new to the market. In the past year, we’ve seen the likes of Starbucks and Lyft join forces to increase value for current customers, attract new ones and reward drivers and partners. More recently, Fossil…
In February 2012, The Economist reported that Russia’s state-owned Sberbank had become one of the best performing corporate stocks in a decade. Every $100 invested in the company in 2002, was worth $3,700 in 2012. Sberbank came second only to Apple, which for every $100 invested in 2002, was then worth $4,000. Although Sberbank’s stock declined…
If your organisational culture has these five characteristics, all attempts to implement strategic change will likely be doomed. It’s no longer a secret that most companies struggle with strategy execution. McKinsey research tells us, for example, that 70 percent of change efforts fall short of desired results. The financial losses implied by statistics like these are…
Risk managers must shed their reputation as corporate naysayers in order to stay relevant in an ever more perilous world. These days, even a cursory scan of the headlines brings fresh reminders of risk, from the ramifications of climate change to shocking terror events such as the recent attack on Paris by Islamic State. Now…
