Mind Your Stakeholders

Juggling stakeholders – be it consumers, shareholders, regulators or board members – is par for the course in business. In this edition, we offer suggestions for companies to better manage and harness their stakeholder network, whether to enable their decarbonisation journeys or to inform investments in clean technologies.

Our articles further explore how organisations can work with their boards to develop a forward-thinking approach, how leaders can draw on utopian thinking to cultivate a more respectful and harmonious way of interacting with different stakeholders, and how adopting a long-term view could see executives investing in operational capabilities that bring enduring shareholder value.

Why Decarbonisation Is So Hard

Carbon emissions represent a huge cost not just to the environment, but also to the economy. Yet, although the data is clear that the potential gains associated with reducing emissions are enormous, decarbonisation efforts worldwide remain woefully inadequate.

INSEAD visiting professor Anton Ovchinnikov explores three key obstacles hindering decarbonisation and offers research-backed recommendations to help business leaders and policymakers overcome them to make decarbonisation a reality.

Are Boards Forward-Thinking Enough in This Disruption Era?

Boards often react to disruption rather than being proactive. But corporations today face an environment that requires boards to recalibrate their governance approach.

INSEAD’s Ron Soonieus makes seven recommendations to address this challenge, including updating board expertise, stress-testing management's approach to disruption and embracing legislative requirements as opportunities for strategic advancement. This can help organisations tackle sustainability issues and anticipate changes that might arise with AI.

How Utopian Thinking Can Inspire Business Leaders

What do managers, CEOs and executive boards really dream about? Over the past 15 years of leading "dreaming and visioning" sessions, INSEAD's Marc Le Menestrel has found that thousands of leaders do not dream of money, but rather of a life that fulfils core needs and the chance to contribute to something larger.

He adds that through utopian thinking, individuals can empower themselves to view the gap between reality and these dreams as an opportunity, not an obstacle.

Consumers’ Green Conscience Fosters Clean Innovation

Before the 2018 Yellow Vest protests in France, a carbon tax was widely regarded as a viable solution to climate change. Yet, the protests, sparked by a rise in fuel taxes, showed that such policies might not be practical.

Research by INSEAD’s Alexandra Roulet and Philippe Aghion , with economists Roland Bénabou and Ralf Martin , suggests that leveraging consumer values for green products in competitive markets might be a more effective and socially acceptable strategy to promote environmental sustainability.

How Long-Termism Can Boost Firm Performance

Executives are constantly faced with shareholder pressure to meet short-term targets such as earnings-per-share. When the focus is to make the company’s financial performance look good, they inevitably put off seemingly risky long-term investments.

INSEAD's Luk Van Wassenhove , along with Syracuse University's Karca D. Aral and Erasmo Giambona , explains that managerial short-termism can affect operational decisions, in particular underinvestment in operational capabilities, which can hurt the bottom line in the long run.

We hope you've enjoyed this month's selection. For more insights, check out our latest podcast with INSEAD's Winnie Jiang on how to find meaning in any job and steer your career in a new direction and our April research picks by INSEAD's Dean of Research and Innovation Lily Fang .

Have a knowledgeable week ahead!

The INSEAD Knowledge team