BOOK REVIEW : “How Google Works” by Eric Schmidt & Jonathan Rosenberg

Any company that is so successful that its name has become a verb deserves to be studied. This excellent book gives some insights into the workings of one of today’s richest and most admired companies. I’m very grateful to my colleague, Gordon Ray, for having brought this to my attention.

Key words

Google, company culture, innovation, talent management, Jeff Bezos, network, search machine

AACSB Annual Meeting (ICAM 2013): 5 Essential Social Media Practices for Academic Leaders (Dr. Michael Williams, Pepperdine University)

At the AACSB Annual Conference in Chicago, Dr. Michael Williams from Pepperdine University gave an excellent, practical talk on some of the strategies we can adopt for using different social media efficiently in our jobs. Dr. Williams recognizes that “we are all trapped in a high flow information world” and struggling to cope with all the different media forms that exist. The meeting was organized by the Associate Deans Affinity Group and was attended by 70 delegates. 

Photo of the week : Grenoble EM on the NASDAQ

I have a wonderful colleague, Lisa Jane Perraud, who works for the Careers Service at my school and has done great job over the past few years. However, this week even she has surpassed herself with this photo! She is currently in New York with 25 students from my school that are studying finance. Lisa Jane has been working extremely hard over the past 2 months to organize a marathon week of company visits (the students will have had 13 in a week!)

BOOK REVIEW: “The New Age of Innovation: Driving Co-Created Value Through Global Networks” by C.K. Prahalad & M.S. Krishnan ” (2008)

The New Age of Innovation is one of C.K.Prahalad last works. The central theme lies around what they define as N=1; R=G. Increasingly today business is having to adapt to the logic of the individual needs of each customer (N=1). At the same time, they are finding their resources on a global scale (R=G).

Gems on Wall Street: Students studying finance in the heart of New York

I want to use this post to publicize a blog that is being written by some 25 students from my school, who are currently studying finance in New York.  The students have gone up there for one semester to study a program that we jointly set up with Pace University to give them the ins and outs of finance in the USA, and also to show them some of the best practices of working in the United States. 

BOOK REVIEW: “The Strategy Book” by Max McKeown (2012)

The Strategy Book gives a clear and concise introduction to some of the main challenges that organizations face. It has many examples from different industries and challenges the reader to ask some difficult questions about their own practices. It is a useful introduction to the subject and a good book to provoke some discussion for more experienced managers.