INSEAD, the leading international business school, held the third INSEAD Global Business Leaders Conference at the Sofitel, Abu Dhabi. With eminent guest speakers including Hussain Al Mahmoudi, Director G eneral, Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Shahzad Ahmed Khan, Associate General Counsel, Mubadala and Sam Barnett, CEO of MBC Group, the conference focused on creating sustainable business value through institutional reform and diffusion of best practices in industrial excellence and through the promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation.
“INSEAD, The Business School for the World, produces knowledge to promote prosperity and understanding. INSEAD’s Global Business Leaders Conference is an opportunity to bring together business leaders as well as INSEAD’s acclaimed faculty and influential alumni from around the world to discuss insights from international business practices and to take an analytical look at the issues surrounding the world of business today,” Ilian Mihov, Dean and Professor of Economics and Novartis Chaired Professor of Management and Environment, INSEAD, welcomed delegates at the conference, said.
“Sustainability is widely used in many contexts, but often poorly defined. It is often used to refer to environmental and social sustainability; however, in the context of business, it is also often used to describe organisations that will continue delivering value to stakeholders in the long term. Being environmentally responsible carries a cost and may come at the expense of profitability. However, sustainability requires a focus on the efficient use of resources and on long-term value; this is true for both environment and business sustainability, and a focus on environmental responsibility can be a powerful additional motivator to support organisational change to build a more efficient and resilient business. Embedding sustainable practices into business strategies requires broad efforts, and sometimes transformational change, in management, governance, and technology.”
“The third installment of the successful Global Business Leaders Conference has been an unprecedented opportunity to meet some of the region’s key decision makers that are currently shaping the future of this part of the world,” Miguel Lobo, Director of Campus Abu Dhabi, said.
“Innovation is the lifeblood of any company or country’s sustainable future but what does it take to get great new ideas that make a positive difference?” His research, based on interviews with over 100 disruptive innovators and surveys of over 8,000 innovative leaders around the world, identified five skills that form the foundation for anyone’s creative capacity. His insightful session explored how these five skills work and how organisations or countries can sharpen them to help build a better future,” Addressing delegates on his research topic and book, ‘The Innovators DNA’, Hal Gregersen, Senior Affiliate Professor of Innovation and Leadership, said.
Filipe Santos, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship, Academic Director of the INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Initiative, Director of the INSEAD Centre for Entrepreneurship (ICE), INSEAD, addressed the conference on this issue of ‘How social entrepreneurship is transforming the corporate sector’. The session covered the different stages of development in the way corporations relate to society, from the basic stance of fulfilling minimum legal requirements to the adoption of a social mission as the focal point of organisational purpose. Addressing the benefits and challenges of this policy for corporations, the session aimed to demonstrate and assess how to better connect corporate strategy with the needs of society.
Other topics covered at the conference were ‘Management Challenges In The Middle East’ and ‘Leading from the Board: A perspective from the Gulf’. Both sessions involved local business leaders from the private and public sectors, addressing how the role of governance is changing in an increasingly globalised world and how this is interpreted in the Middle East where the likes of linguistic, historical and cultural characteristics all have their part to play.
“This conference tackles issues which are of vital importance not only for the UAE but the GCC and global business leaders everywhere. Bringing business leaders from the private and public sectors in a lively debate can only be of benefit to the growth of the UAE economy. Through our panel discussions at the event and involving the keen and receptive minds of our alumni, we are able to share perspectives and address issues which are of great importance to the young UAE economy in particular. Issues such as transforming the corporate sector across international borders and involve businesses of all sectors,” Professor Mihov added.
“With the unique nature of the UAE and GCC businesses and a strong focus on the family business and entrepreneurship, our discussion on leading from the board from a GCC perspective was just another reminder of the importance of taking into account local culture when addressing issues pertaining to business leadership. This too was reinforced by our alumni who have first-hand experience of the local business culture and the benefits the INSEAD experience has brought to their careers.”