Business Exposed

Freek Vermeulen is Associate Professor of Strategic & International Management at London Business School, teaching courses to executives and executive MBA students. He is the recipient of several teaching and various research-related awards, including the first-ever LBS ‘Excellence in Teaching’ award and the prestigious Academy of Management Journal Best Paper Award. Freek is an active consultant for companies such as KPMG, and a key-note speaker on various topics.

• Table of Contents  About the AuthorPublisher's acknowledgementsIntroduction: The monkey story  1: Management happensForced to be stupid   Collective inertia - if you don’t join them, you can beat them!Pharma - the devil is in the detailingThe Abilene ParadoxSame same but different"Selection bias"Numbers and strategy - do they mix?Inebriated cyclistsDeciding stuff - that’s the easy bitHow well do you know your company? (My guess is not very well at all…)How to make a compelling corporate strategy in six easy stepsWanna play strategy? Get a board game"Framing contests": What really happens in strategy meetingsIt looks like we don’t have a strategy…2: The Success trap (and some ideas how to get out of it)Why good companies go badThe Icarus paradoxTunnel vision - "in the end, there is only flux"Operation Market GardenMental models – let’s all think within the same boxA creosote bush: how "exploitation" drives out "exploration"A bitter pillFraming something as a threat or an opportunity dramatically alters what we chooseIn a downturn, manage your revenues, not your costsIn a crisis, innovateIs your company brave enough to survive?3: The urge to conquerHow big is your yam? (not that it matters)Deal-eager executives - tribal instinctsCEOs, marriage, mergers, geriatric millionaires, and blushing brides When acquisitions take over"Time compression diseconomies" - too much, too fastSeeds and fertilizer - how to build a firm"I've won... I've won"Most acquisitions fail - really!"Heerlijk, helder, Heineken"Toads and acquisitions - where does CEO "hubris" come from?4: Gods and villainsThe heroes of our timeNarcissus versus humble bloke - and the winner is?Are overconfident CEOs born or made?Hang the heroCelebrity CEOs and the burden of expectationSuccessful managers - incompetent for sureExecutives: superhuman after all…"Over the hill and far away, top managers are here to stay"Chief story tellerManagers and leaders: are they different?Women on top5: Liaisons and intrigues Fact over fictionAnalysts, astrologers, and lemmings - three of a kind?Conflicts of interest - do analysts rate their bank's clients' stock more favorably?Banks' blurry categorizations - have your cake and eat it tooAnalysts rule the waves (whether we like it or not)Sirens and investment bankers – birds of a featherHow to tame an analystAdvice or influence? Why firms ask government officials to be directorsBoards of directors: cliques and elitesBoard-cloning - a rewarding habitBoardroom friendsCEOs and their stock options (oh please)Stock options, risk, and manipulationsToo hot to handle: explaining excessive top management remunerationHow to justify paying top managers too muchCEOs do seek advice – if you pay them for itDirty laundry: who is hiding the bad stuff?6: Myths in managementNo stranger than fictionSay you will - that'll doRight again! Managers and their self-fulfilling propheciesYour expectations manage you"Reverse causality" - sorry, but life's not that simpleEating Uncle Ed - don’t worry, its called downsizingDoes downsizing ever work?Who can downsize without detriment?What management bandwagons bringRemember this one: "total quality management"?ISO 9000 makes you reliable, myopi