Nyenrode NOW

Nowm a g a z i n e f o r t h e n y e n r o d e c o m m u n i t y • i s s u e 2 f a l l 2 0 1 0

Nowm a g a z i n e f o r t h e n y e n r o d e c o m m u n i t y • i s s u e 2 f a l l 2 0 1 0

issue 2, fall 2010 • nyenrode now 3

the mix News@Nyenrode: the print versiontheme: new business On the secret of new business creationsustainability Piero Overmars gives his take on leadership in the 21st centurysocial marketing Author Steven Van Belleghem discusses the advantages of managing conversationsco-creation How enterprising people involve online communities in their business venturesit solutions The winning vision of a Nyenrode suppliercenter for public auditing & accounting Leen Paape introduces a new initiativepartnership How tomorrow’s leaders are groomed to move from Amsterdam to Nyenrode – and beyondiphone apps The latest sports apps from Apple – and smaller playersquestions and answers A newly qualified PhD answers questions about the ownership of private firmscampus close-up On some of the estate’s brilliant blooms

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Nyenrode NOWMagazine for the Nyenrode Community, Issue 2, fall 2010Published by Nyenrode Business Universiteit

Editor-in-chief Arnold PersoonAssociate editor/writer Terri J. KesterLayout U-Cap, Cynthia SchalkwijkCover Olga WestrateEditorial board Judith Droste, Helm Horsten, Terri J. Kester, Arnold Persoon, Cynthia Schalkwijk, Pol Schevernels, Renske SiskensContributors Gert Immerzeel,Steve Korver, George McDonald, Leen Paape, Olga Westrate, John Widen

Rector Magnificus/CEO Nyenrode Business Universiteit Maurits van RooijenPresident Nyenrode Business Universiteit Piero Overmars

The Communications Department of Nyenrode Business Universiteit reserves the right to edit contributions

Nyenrode Business Universiteit Straatweg 25, 3621 BG Breukelen The NetherlandsTel. +31 (0)346 291 [email protected]

New business

Maurits van RooijenRector Magnificus and CEO of Nyenrode Business Universiteit

“You can’t do more of what you did before,” management guru Professor C.K. Prahalad, who died on April 16, told the Nyenrode RTL Masterclass in early 2009, in a lecture about the economic crisis. In his view, the crisis we are facing is a fundamental reset of the economy, which requires businesses to take unorthodox action. Prahalad told his audience that doing more of the same – or just trying harder – won’t get us back on track.

Since the old isn’t good enough anymore, we need to find new, creative ways of doing business. But how do we find new clients, and how does this affect our current CRM systems? What new strategies do we choose? Are we dedicated enough to CSR, and do we contribute enough to a more sustainable world? Do we need new leadership to renew our organizations? And what does this imply? Those are just a few of the questions today’s entrepreneurs and managers need to address.

In this edition of Nyenrode Now we explore some of the new business ideas that popped up recently. Raymond Hannes, for example, talks about his network of innovative co-creators, and Steven van Belleghem introduces us to the world of social marketing.

However, it’s not just other organizations that have to find new ways to address the current issues. As a business and as a university, Nyenrode itself needs to do the same. We have already taken some major steps in that direction. In this respect, I would like to mention the recent cooperation between Nyenrode and the New Business School Amsterdam. In order to facilitate the onward flow from New Entrepreneurship to New Leadership, our two organizations joined forces to create a new, fully integrated Bachelor-Master program in the private sector. In this issue Timo Timmerman, Dean of the New Business School, gives some examples of his enterprising students and the companies they set up. And in another article our new President, Piero Overmars, shares his vision on new leadership and sustainability.

I agree with Prahalad: doing more of what we did before won’t get us anywhere. I hope this magazine will inspire you in your search for new business.

2 nyenrode now • issue 2, fall 2010

program round-upBUsiNEss sChOOl dEgREE pROgRaMs sChOOl Of aCCOUNtaNCy & CONtROlliNg

dEgREE pROgRaMs

lifElONg EdUCatiON

Nyenrode offers tailored programs and courses in the fields of financial management, accountancy and controlling.

Short courses (PE or Lifelong Education) are available for controllers, accountants and other financial experts. In addition, in cooperation with KPMG, the university also provides the possibility to earn PE points through monthly meetings (PE-Café). All programs are in Dutch.

For information contact Nick Vos, +31 346 295 851, [email protected]

OpEN ExECUtivE pROgRaMsNyenrode’s open executive programs, in Dutch and English, vary from one-day masterclasses to management development programs of up to 11 months.

Some of the subjects of these programs are:•Strategy/Management•Leadership•Marketing/Sales/Innovation•Finance/Tax/Pensions•HumanResourceManagement

Forfurtherinformationpleasevisitwww.nyenrode.nl/education/executiveorcontact the Nyenrode Program Information Center, +31 346 291 291, [email protected]

faCilitiEsThe facilities of Nyenrode Business Universiteit are available to our corporate relations. If you are interested in hosting a meeting, seminar or conference on our beautiful 13th-centurycastleestatepleasevisitwww.nyenrode.nl/about/rentalocationorcontactoureventsdepartment, +31 346 291 544, [email protected]

CUstOMiZEd ExECUtivE pROgRaMs

Tailormade in-company programs are developed in close collaboration with our clients. These learning partnerships have included clients such as Achmea, KLM, SNS, DHL, Koninklijke BAM Groep and many others.

For information please contact Nel Hildebrand, +31 346 291 448, [email protected]

Master of science in ManagementfUll-tiME, 16 MONths, staRts iN aUgUstwww.nyenrode.nl/msc

part-time Master of science in BedrijfskundepaRt-tiME, 36 MONths, dUtCh-laNgUagE, staRts iN JaNUaRywww.nyenrode.nl/ptmsc

international MBa fUll-tiME, 12 MONths, staRts iN sEptEMBER www.nyenrode.nl/imba

Executive MBapaRt-tiME, 21 MONths, staRts iN apRil www.nyenrode.nl/emba

public sector MBapaRt-tiME, 9 MOdUlEs, dUtCh-laNgUagE, staRts iN JaNUaRywww.nyenrode.nl/psmba

Nyvu Modulair Executive MBapaRt-tiME, 9 MOdUlEs, dUtCh-laNgUagE, staRts iN JaNUaRy aNd sEptEMBERwww.nyenrode.nl/nyvu

Modular Executive MBa in Business & itpaRt-tiME, 9 MOdUlEs, staRts iN OCtOBER aNd JaNUaRywww.nyenrode.nl/mbabit

Forfurtherinformationpleasevisitwww.nyenrode.nl/education/businessdegreesor contact the Nyenrode Program Information Center, +31 346 291 291,[email protected]

Bachelor of science in accountancypaRt-tiME, 54 MONths, dUtCh-laNgUagE, staRts iN aUgUstwww.nyenrode.nl/bsca

schakeltraject accountancy & ControllingpaRt-tiME, 12 MONths, dUtCh-laNgUagE, staRts iN sEptEMBERwww.nyenrode.nl/schakeltraject

Master of science in accountancy (Ra)paRt-tiME, 24 MONths, dUtCh-laNgUagE, staRts iN aUgUstwww.nyenrode.nl/ra

post Master RapaRt-tiME, 12 MONths, dUtCh-laNgUagE, staRts iN fEBRUaRy aNd sEptEMBERwww.nyenrode.nl/ra

Master of science in ControllingpaRt-tiME, 24-32 MONths, dUtCh-laNgUagE, staRts iN sEptEMBERwww.nyenrode.nl/mscc

Executive Master of finance & Control (RC)paRt-tiME, 18-24 MONths, dUtCh-laNgUagE, staRts iN MaRCh aNd sEptEMBERwww.nyenrode.nl/efmc

Managerial Controlling (MC)paRt-tiME, 12-18 MONths, dUtCh-laNgUagE, staRts iN sEptEMBERwww.nyenrode.nl/mc

Kopjaar it-auditing (RE)paRt-tiME, 10 MONths, dUtCh-laNgUagE, staRts iN sEptEMBERwww.nyenrode.nl/re

Kopjaar internal/Operational auditing (RO)paRt-tiME, 10 MONths, dUtCh-laNgUagE, staRts iN sEptEMBERwww.nyenrode.nl/ro

Credit Rating advisor (CRa)paRt-tiME, 4 MONths, dUtCh-laNgUagE, staRts iN sEptEMBERwww.nyenrode.nl/cra

Forfurtherinformationpleasevisitwww.nyenrode.nl/education/accountingor contact us at +31 346 295 813, [email protected]

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news@nyenrode

the mixthe state of play in offshoring

Taking Offshoring to the Max. The event organized at Nyenrode under this title in the early summer was attended by an apprecia-tive audience, among them Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Maria van der Hoeven (right). Her ministry had commissioned research on the developments in offshoring, which was carried out by Nyenrode’s Désirée van Gorp, an expert on emerging markets. Van Gorp found that 65 percent of Dutch businesses

have not relocated any activities to other countries and have no plans to do so. There is even an increased return of activities to the Netherlands. The research also showed that people at all levels of education, skills and income are affected by work being moved abroad. Not surprisingly, cutting cost is the main reason to do so. However, retaining and enhancing a competitive advantage also plays a role.

it’s official: nyenrode offers best masterKeuzegids Masters 2010, a Dutch publication guiding students to the right Master program, has voted Nyenrode the best higher education institute to take a Master’s degree. Nyenrode shares the top position with Wageningen University. Last year’s drastic revision of the Master of Science in Management program is clearly paying dividends. The new program places even more emphasis on developing the qualities which are indispensable for the next generation of business leaders.

monitoring change in chinaMn Services, a well-known name in pension funds and asset manage-ment, and Nyenrode’s Europe China Institute have joined forces to create the China Structural Development Monitor. Essentially, the monitor is a recurring panel study aiming to map out the socio-political and economic development and the medium-term invest-ment climate in China. The backbone of the study is formed by a panel composed of members of the Chinese middle class, which is growing rapidly.

business ethics pioneer honoredOn January 19, Professor Henk van Luijk died at the age of 80. A pio-neer of business ethics in Europe, he was the grand old man in his field in the Netherlands. At Nyen-rode Van Luijk stood at the cradle of the European Institute for Busi-ness Ethics, which he led as aca-demic director until 2000. Nyen-rode and MVO Nederland (the association of small and medium-size businesses) are jointly organ-izing an annual lecture series in his honor. The first of these, held on June 30, was delivered by Joanne Ciulla from the University of Rich-mond, Virginia (right).

a truly global mbaThe word International in our MBA program, which in its new form launches on September 20, is no empty letter. The 12-month pro-gram has been entirely rethought. With modules being delivered at the European Commission in Brussels, at the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago, and in either India or China, the Master encompasses three continents – you can’t get much more interna-tional than that. Alongside updated academic content, the curri-culum boasts an integrated personal development component designed to optimize what students contribute to international business dealings – and what they gain from them.

To promote the re-launch of the International MBA, a Facebook profile was created inviting potential students to befriend Gerard Van Ruwiel, the nobleman who founded the Nyenrode estate in the Middle Ages. They could also tag themselves in a photo of the IMBA class that will graduate in 2011. The brightest candidates received full tuition waivers. In addition to the virtual fun, we also invited prospective students to the campus to meet staff, faculty, alumni and other candidates in the flesh and get an advance taste of what it’s like to be an MBA student at Nyenrode.

the social face of nyenrodeThere are many ways to keep up to date with what happens at Nyenrode. The university has over 500 Facebook friends and also communicates through Twitter. On www.nyenrode.nl/elevate, you’ll find a short film about the Nyenrode approach. So join us at www.facebook.com/nyenrode, twitter.com/NyenrodeBU, www.nyenrode.nl/news or www.nyenrode.nl/businesstopics for news, backgrounds and analyses.

new governance structureHogeschool INHolland and Nyen-rode Business Universiteit have terminated their cooperation agreement. In September 2004, INHolland took a 50 percent stake in the university, which the Nyen-rode Foundation has now repur-chased. The formal partnership was terminated because it did not produce the results envisaged when the two parties entered the agreement: greater numbers of students passing through the system, and a more intensive exchange of knowledge in the field of business administration.

The separation of Hogeschool INHolland and Nyenrode cleared the way for a much simpler governance structure for Nyenrode, consisting of a Supervisory Board and an Executive Board for the Foundation, with a CEO/rector magnificus running Nyenrode Business Universiteit. The Foundation’s Supervisory Board, chaired by André Olijslager (above), has been renewed and will formally take a position that is more distant from the management than before. The Nyenrode Foundation’s new Executive Board, appointed by the Supervisory Board, was installed on April 1. The Executive Board consists of Piero Overmars, Malcolm Gillies and Joost Sliepenbeek. Overmars heads the Foundation as President (see article on p.8-10). Both Nyenrode Business Universiteit and the Nijenrode estate fall under the auspices of the Foundation.

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news@nyenrode

f I had the secret to new business creation, I’d no doubt be dis-gustingly wealthy. I’d be writing this column at a hideaway on the Côte d’Azur. As a matter of fact, I am writing this at a hideaway on the Côte d’Azur – but at that point, sadly, the comparison

breaks down. I don’t have a clue where new business concepts come from. Maybe from the ideas a fairy whispers in your ear when you’re in the shower. Or perhaps they emerge, like the goddess Athena, fully formed from the forehead of their creator. Or possibly it has some-thing to do with taking infinite pains and applying unrelenting focus.

I’d prefer ideas to be the gifts of fairies, because presumably they would also set things up for you and magically take care of such tedious details as the marketing strategy. But you just know it’s going to be the third option, don’t you? That was certainly the opinion of American inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Alva Edison (1847–1931), who famously described genius as being composed of “one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration”. If only Edison had been able to reverse this, many more of us could be successful entrepreneurs, and dazzling new businesses would be springing up around the globe like tulips in a bulb field.

The men and women who can foresee the emergence of entirely new business landscapes are artists of a kind, even if they can’t tell a Van Gogh from a vacation postcard. Like sculptors who chip down through wood or stone to the images they can see hidden in a shape-less material, these creators are able to visualize something the rest of us cannot.

In a struggling economy, potential customers have plenty of rea-sons for pulling in their horns, for hunkering down to ride out the storm. In other words, for keeping their wallets closed. But when something new comes along that promises to make our lives easier and more interesting, or our businesses more efficient and profitable, or our environment healthier and safer, those wallets can be prized wide open.

At this very moment, there are kids with crazy ideas ricocheting around in their heads like skateboarding tricks. They’ll change the business world – and the world at large – beyond recognition.

George McDonald is a freelance journalist and a regular contributor to Nyenrode NOW.

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chairman key to performance of boardDuring his long and distinguished career, Steven Schuit, professor at both Nyenrode and Utrecht University, has gained in-depth knowledge of the dynamics of the boardroom. In his new book, The

Chairman Makes or Breaks the Board, he shares some of it with his read-ers. In most companies listed on the Dutch stock exchange, he says, the performance of supervisory boards is below par. Schuit asserts that supervisory directors don’t lack talent and he analyzes the reasons why they don’t perform better. In his view, it’s up to the chairman of the board to ensure that the situation improves. Although the English title suggests otherwise, Schuit’s book is in Dutch.

new book studies ethical aspects of hrHuman Resources in Ethisch Perspectief (Ethical perspective on human resources), published by Royal Van Gorcum, is the product of a true team effort. André Nijhof, from Nyenrode’s European Institute for

Business Ethics, edited the book together with HR advisor Hans Wesseling, and Ronald Jeurissen, René Tissen and Edgar Karssing – all of them Nyenrode faculty members – contributed to it. The book highlights the conflicting expectations, unclear responsibi-lities and dilemmas facing many HR professionals. It also discusses the contribution HR can make to ensure that organizations behave in an honorable and socially responsible manner.

business and it coupled in executive mbaAn awareness of the strong links between business and information technology has resulted in an Executive Master program that is unique in Europe. Nyenrode Business Universiteit and Delft TopTech, which is part of Delft University of Technology (TU), have jointly developed an Executive MBA in Business & IT. The new degree should achieve powerful synergy, since Nyenrode has a strong reputation in business and management, while TU Delft is known around the world for the high standard of its technological education. The community of European Chief Information Officers, which said its members need this kind of MBA, helped to develop the curriculum.

www.nyenrode.nl/news www.nyenrode.nl/businesstopics

intelligence incorporatedGo to www.fdintelligence.nl, and you’ll find a platform for debate, the exchange of ideas and the airing of – usually controversial – opinions. Launched earlier this year, the website is part of the FD Media Group, which provides round-the-clock news and back-ground information across a whole range of media. Nyenrode is one of the research partners in the project, which has set itself the broad task of creating and acquiring knowledge and insight. In terms of content, there are five thematic clusters: work, technology, sustainability, demographics and world order.

historic buildings: a heritage worth sustainingRemodeling, restoring or reconstructing buildings of historic and architectural value is governed by many, often complex rules and regulations. Even if the only object of reconstruction is to make a building more sustainable, thorny issues often arise. To help munici-palities and other official bodies iron out these issues, Nyenrode has initiated a program that will make such projects more sustainable while safeguarding their cultural and historic value.

charter for tomorrow’s leadersSince its extensive restoration, the coach house has hosted events from small academic workshops to major headline-grabbing occa-sions. One of the larger events held there, on June 3, was the Young Bilderberg Conference. A New Leadership Charter drawn up by the participants formed the starting point for the conference. The charter was presented to Alexander Rinnooy Kan, chairman of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER).

helping public auditors rise to the challengeOn June 22, Nyenrode’s new Center for Public Auditing & Accounting was ushered in with a festive seminar. The need for the center arose because the demand for greater transparency means that the task of public sector auditors has become far more challenging than it used to be. On page 19 of this edition, Leen Paape, the Dean of the Nyen-rode School of Accountancy & Controlling, explains the thinking behind the center, which is a joint initiative with the audit department of the Dutch government.

new business sustainability


en of action, equal to the task of rebuilding a coun-try in disarray, after a five-year war that had drained the national economy. That was what Nyenrode set out to deliver to Dutch society after the German

occupation. In 1942, in a Scheveningen prison cell, Albert Plesman – who also stood at the cradle of KLM – had ample time to reflect on the needs of the Netherlands after the war.

Plesman was one of the founding fathers of Nyenrode. Back in 1946, the new college welcomed its first class of all-male students. Its two-year curriculum contained nothing too academic; it was designed to equip the students with just enough knowledge to allow them to roll up their sleeves and get on with it. All students lived on campus and the program had a strong focus on sports, languages and teamwork.

Casting his mind back to those early days, Piero Overmars, Nyenrode’s new president and an alumnus of the university, points out that the institute has devoted attention to new leadership from the very beginning. A few decades later, in the 1970s, the college threw open its doors to female students, and the program was expanded to three years. Nyenrode was on course to become a full-blown university. “At the time, the new leaders needed more than just a practical orientation – they required an academic background as well. Being able to make a good analysis and act upon it had become increasingly important.” While the practical component of the course was never discarded, the foundation was laid for a second, academic pillar to support the Nyenrode edifice. Overmars: “Now, 30 years later, we have arrived at the point where a third pillar must be added: sustainability, in all its complexity. Again, this has to be done without losing sight of the other two pillars. The academic and practical components remain very important.” three levelsOn the subject of sustainability, Overmars distinguishes three levels. “The first, the macro level, is about the relationship with society as a whole. What role do you play in society, as an institute or a busi-ness? How do you deal with your stakeholders, and how do these stakeholders relate to each other? The second, intermediate level, concerns the institute or business itself. How sustainable is the strategy? And how sustainable is, for example, the way numbers are handled? An example of how not to do this is, of course, the Ameri-can energy corporation Enron. Enron collapsed not only because

M

a few months after piero overmars took up his position as chairman of the nyenrode foundation,

and as such as president of nyenrode, he talked to nyenrode now about the importance of new

leadership and sustainability – for the business community, the university, and himself.

by renske siskens and helm horsten

of the actual fraud committed, but also because of the way the company itself had been undermined. Sustainability must be related to every aspect of a business. The third level of sustainability concerns the personal, micro level. If you operate in a way you cannot maintain, then what is the meaning of what you do? At Nyenrode, we try to develop leadership on all three levels.”

performance and deliveryAccording to Overmars, businesses must always ask themselves how sustainable their solutions are. “When you talk to companies about the kind of staff they need, they always say they want people who can deliver. But while performance and delivery are crucial, you have to act in a way that is sustainable. If a manager has to cut costs but does so in a way that turns employees away, then he may have delivered, but he has also caused the company’s downfall. That is not what I call a sustainable solution. The reality is that a business has to report to its shareholders every quarter. This does not mean, however, that it should only focus on that quarter. It’s more import-ant to ask whether a company will still be able to run at a profit in several years’ time than what this quarter’s profits are.”

Overmars then gives an example of the kind of issue today’s leaders have to struggle with: “Suppose a company can be profita-ble, but only at the expense of major harm to the environment. Causing such damage may not actually be forbidden by law, but it certainly cannot be justified on moral grounds. So what should I do, as a leader? Do I go down that road, or should I choose not to, with the result that my company may go to the wall? Or can I come up with another solution, a third way? Am I, as a leader, strong enough to categorically reject the first solution, regardless of the financial consequences? And am I then sufficiently innovative, as a company, to think of an alternative and put it into practice? I think it’s all about questions of this kind.”

Credible strategyAttention for sustainability also contributes to the sustainability of Nyenrode itself, as an institution. “We have to develop a strategy that fits our identity. And we must ensure that this strategy is credible and feasible. The university’s practical and academic pillars are firmly in place. We’re now ready to construct the third pillar of sustainability, because we have the roots I just outlined. We are engaged in new leadership. In my view, this fits in naturally with


three pillarsOne university


new business sustainability


what we have always done: responded to new demands from society. All our clients wrestle with the question of how to define new leadership. They ask themselves what they need, and what the current crisis means for the global society. By responding to these questions, we meet at least one of the criteria for sustainability.”

To be sustainable, Nyenrode has to establish and strengthen the connections between its various components. Overmars: “I think the dynamics between executive education, the School of Accountancy & Controlling and the Business School are very important. Research, education and the work we do for businesses reinforce each other. In this, our alumni also play an important role. Because we work for business, we can learn from what we see there. This can help us

to improve our executive and degree programs. The School of Accountancy & Controlling also constitutes an important asset for the Business School; students cannot follow an MSc in Management without good modules in accounting and finance. The fact that we have some outstanding accounting brains at Nyenrode significantly improves the Business School.”

No separate themeAccording to Overmars, sustainability is not something that you can learn from books alone. In ten years or so, he expects that sustainability will no longer be regarded as a separate theme in Nyenrode’s curricula. Instead, it will be woven into all of the pro-grams. Having absorbed it during their education, future leaders will be steeped in it. This applies to both students of the School of Accountancy & Controlling and students of the Business School.

“For an accountant, too, it’s important to continue developing as a person. Then, when they see a client company in the process of undermining itself, they can look beyond the figures and build a constructive dialogue with that company. To be able to do that, you also need to work on your own personality. You have to under-stand the significance behind the figures and their long-term consequences. The concept of the robust accountant, as put for-ward by Dean of the School of Accountancy Leen Paape, fits in well with this.”

“Sustainability is not only a ‘soft concept’; it also has a hard side. How the soft and hard sides of sustainability relate to each other is something that Nyenrode students must learn. Here, performance and delivery come into play again. Students must be solid in delivering, so a performance culture is very important. When they work on a case as a group, they have to deliver on time and provide quality work. Our students must function as a team, without cutting corners. This has to be addressed at Nyenrode, because later in life they won’t make it if they leave their colleagues to do the dirty work. That is an unsustainable approach.” finding a balanceOver the years, Overmars has become more aware of the importance of sustainability at his own personal level. Before taking up his posi-tion at Nyenrode, he experienced turbulent times with his former employer, ABN AMRO bank. When he talks about striving for sus-tainability on a personal level, he speaks from experience. “During that period, I sometimes forgot about my other roles. In life, you have to find a balance between all your roles. There is the role of the professional, but you also have roles to play as a parent, spouse, child of your own parents, citizen, and perhaps as a member of a club. My father once pointed out to me that I was neglecting some things in my personal life, because I was so involved in my work at the bank that I didn’t devote enough attention to other things. I now try to find a better balance.”

Renske Siskens is web editor of the Nyenrode School of Accountancy & Controlling.Helm Horsten is corporate web editor of Nyenrode Business Universiteit.

p iero overmars: «new leadership f its in naturally with what we have always done: responded to new demands from society»

facebook and twitter have become the places to get word-of-mouth advice about products and

services. in his book the conversation manager, steven van belleghem describes the commercial

advantages of joining these discussions and responding directly to consumer needs. welcome

to the world of social marketing. by steve korver

n the last decade, the internet has made organizations more accountable. Whether you are a military dictatorship or a company, if your products, services or actions are question-able, the world will soon know about it. For example, when a

film of rats scampering around a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet was uploaded to YouTube in 2007, the company lost 20 percent of its value almost overnight. Businesses can no longer afford to be arro-gant. Only by telling an authentic story will they build trust with the consumer. Meanwhile, consumers are increasingly taking the advice of those they implicitly trust: their families and friends. Via social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, conversations are occurring on a scale never before imagined.

While promoting word-of-mouth advertising has always been a basic marketing strategy, the mass media of the 20th century gave

companies the means to approach potential consumers directly, for example through billboards and the 30-second commercial. How-ever, today a commercial needs 150 showings to have the same impact as three did in 1987. People can, and will, avoid advertising.

New realitiesIn The Conversation Manager (isbn 978 90 209 91277), Steven Van Belleghem, managing partner of the Belgian market research bureau InSites Consulting, warns that old-fashioned advertisers who ignore these developments will soon be made redundant by the ‘1987 generation’, who from an early age have been very aware of the world’s digital and social realities.

Presented as a traditional marketing self-help book (but one that is backed by a website, a blog, a Facebook page, a LinkedIn page

new business social marketing

talking the talk

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steven van belleghem: « if your posit ion is d ifferent from what you want it to be, you have to work on changing the future – not the past»

issue 2, fall 2010 • nyenrode now 1312 nyenrode now • issue 2, fall 2010

people love brands, they are willing to help them. In a poll, half the European respondents said they were willing to work with a brand. Successful brands like Apple, Guinness and Disney offer ‘stories’ that invite – and usually receive – an emotional response. As the Annual Report of Harley-Davidson put it: “Retention is for wimps. We measure the percentage of customers who have our name tattooed on one of their body parts.” Lego takes a gentler approach by asking its consumers to develop new products. As a result the company has enjoyed a 20 percent increase in turnover since the beginning of the economic crisis.

Van Belleghem is positively evangelical about his message. He insists that any organization can easily use the same techniques as Apple et al. to strengthen its own position. “Once you establish a strong market identity, you let the consumers build it. Integrate word-of-mouth marketing into everything you do, whether it is via social media or more traditional avenues – whatever it takes to facilitate a conversation between consumers and brands.”

pictures directly? and then perhaps upload pictures of themselves doing volunteer work?You don’t need self-censorship. Honesty and transparency are the only way to go. If your position is different from what you want it to be, you have to work on changing the future – not the past.

how do you converse with people who don’t feel connected to brands?Everyone is connected to a certain brand. It’s just a matter of finding those people and bringing them together – even if there are just five of them. Just listen, and show you are listening. And then, hopefully, they will share their positive experiences with five other people.

Steve Korver is a freelance writer and editor. More information onwww.stevekorver.com.

and a YouTube channel), the book describes how you can become a conversation manager, “a strong personality who listens and talks to consumers”. By absorbing how people talk about a brand online, along with their complaints and their insights, such managers can then work on improving their company’s products and services – which in turn will create positive buzz.

Van Belleghem describes in his book how consumers have become smarter. Not only are they more aware of how marketing works, but they have become marketers themselves by sharing their experiences with others to find the best products with the least risk at the lowest price. By 2011, searches of social networks will likely take over traditional Google searches as a way to find what you’re looking for in the mass of information on the internet.

Emotional responseIn the European Union, over 164 million online conversations about brands and brand experiences take place every day. Not only do

first things first: how will you manage this conversation?Well, typically a magazine interview has greater impact and nuance than an online conversation. So after I answer the questions the best I can, I will wait to get a copy of the article, which I will send on to my connections. Then, hopefully, they will send it to their connections.

What was your own moment of conversion?Two years ago I gave a talk at a Microsoft convention. I concluded with a slide I had just made, which said: “Perhaps what companies really need is a conversation manager.” Later that evening everyone was still talking about it. The term ‘conversation manager’ stuck. It made the ideas around it more tangible and seemed to talk to people individually. It could be something that helped change personal behavior.

is it really such a golden age for the consumer? aren’t there still elements of the developing technologies that are not to their advantage? I wouldn’t call it a Golden Age. Customers have not become better than companies, but they are now on an equal footing. And that’s how it should be. Now the problem for the consumer is that there is too much content out there. Things need to be organized into rele-vance. That can be done by directly involving the people you have a relationship with. For example, the best way to choose a restaurant or hotel is by seeking the advice of those with the same attitudes and expectations as your own.

have any companies impressed you in the way they communicate with their customers?RABO Bank really surprised me. They are now using social media to react to complaints in an honest, positive and engaged way. They just say: “Okay, we screwed up, but now we will make it right.” And this is a bank! This is the future of marketing: forget legal depart-ments and fancy copywriting. It’s just about talking to people.

your book wants to awaken traditional advertisers to the new realities. But what do you say to the ‘generation of 1987’, who don’t need convincing? Younger people really get what I am saying. It’s part of their DNA. So I tell them to use their nature to drive change in their organizations. But sometimes I am disappointed, because many are still trained under the old rules of marketing. This makes it difficult for them to really see these changes. I tell them: forget what you have learned. Look at your daily life, and apply that to your overall strategy.

do you have any tips for personal branding? instead of de-tagging embarrassing pictures that their facebook friends have posted, should people just confront these

new business social marketing

steven van belleghem takes a leaf out of his own book and delivers a consistent message to the

readers of nyenrode now.

top conversation management mistakes

Molson’s photo competitionThe beer brand Molson told university students they could win prizes if they posted pictures of their parties. Naturally, some photos were ‘extreme’, which made Molson look like they were promoting alcohol abuse. Van Belleghem’s comment: “It was just a stunt without a real strategy. Therefore it had no impact.”

OHRA and the promiscuous clownDutch newspapers reported in 2008 that the famous 73-year-old clown Bassie had made a young lady pregnant. It turned outtobeastunt:theinsurancecompanyOHRAwaspromotingits policies focused on major life changes. Unfortunately, the conversation was about a horny old clown instead of insurance.

Wonder drugs not so wonderful In general, the pharmaceutical industry promotes new drugs in straightforward terms, for example by highlighting how they will improve your life. But people are not connecting with these brands. Van Belleghem: “Statistics don’t convince people. These companies are underestimating emotion. They need to tell a real story.”

Kit Kat vs. GreenpeaceWhen Greenpeace campaigned against the use of environ-mentally unfriendly palm oil in Kit Kat chocolate bars, the producer Nestlé responded by berating concerned consumers for not understanding realities. So the consumers started bashing Nestlé all over the internet; stock prices fell by 15 percent in a week. Nestlé has been busy building its green credentials ever since.

top conversation management successes

Obama canBarack Obama’s presidential campaign is a case study in conversation management. It began small-scale, with online discussion platforms enabling people to become online or offline campaign workers. Later the candidate himself used the platforms to seek the views and insights of his voters.

Straight talker Steve JobsApple CEO Steve Jobs is a typical conversation starter. He presents new products or services and then hands them over to Apple fans, who take it from there. They spread the news via word of mouth and make the company aware of improvements that may be needed.

Harry Potter and the magic fansWhen Universal Studios wanted to announce that they were expanding their amusement park with a Harry Potter theme, they tapped into the fan base by presenting their plans to just seven of the more hardcore Potterheads. The news then spread through blogland like wildfire. Van Belleghem: “This is the kind of respect that pays dividends.”

Zappos.com and the perfect fitWhen Zappos.com was sold to Amazon for US$800 million in 2008, it was the world’s largest online shoe store. Key to its success was a company culture that was all about making customers happy. Zappos not only had an open return policy, but if necessary it helped customers find what they were looking for at competing suppliers. Word-of-mouth promotion did the rest.


new business co-creation

the Chicago tee party

he image of James Dean from Rebel Without a Cause, dressed in his signature white T-shirt, is imprinted on millions of people’s minds. Sadly, the iconic actor is no longer with us. The T-shirt, on the other hand, has come

a long way since the film was shot in 1955. In the intervening decades, the Tee – as it is affectionately know

in the fashion world – has become a communication tool of the first order. In the Sixties, girls proclaimed their undying love for the Beatles on T-shirts with portraits of their heroes. The anti-nuclear

CND logo owes its fame as the universal peace symbol of the Eighties largely to its mass reproduction on T-shirts. More recently, all manner of messages and designs – from Save the Whale to Human Inside (a reference to the Intel motto) – have turned the humble T-shirt

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co-creation has become a hot new business

strategy. creative and enterprising people

on both sides of the atlantic are breaking

new ground by involving online communities

in their business ventures. by terri j. kester

«all manner of messages and designs have turned the humble t-shirt into a fashion statement that can convey anything from a polit ical convict ion to a v isual joke»

winvision and nyenrode

Winvision has been helping to keep Nyenrode at the forefront of IT since 2008, when it developed the university’s corporate website. This year the company is providing two more projects. The first, based on the MicrosoftDynamicsCRMsolution,enablestheuniversityto automate the entire management and administration of prospective students. The software makes it possible, for example, to keep track of brochures and their recipients and attendance of open days. Students can still be followed after graduation. The second project, Microsoft SharePoint 2010, is used for the construction and customization of the Nyenrode website. It also includes a portal where students can log on, access and change personal data, and check tuition schedules.

TheCRMsolutionfortheSchoolofAccountancy& Controlling and for part of the Business School went live in June, and the software for the rest of the Business School will be launched in the second half of 2010. The SharePoint student portal for the accountancy school will go live in September, when the new academic year starts.


new business co-creation

into a fashion statement that can convey anything from a deep-felt political conviction to a visual joke.

two JakesIn the 21st century, the emphasis of prints on T-shirts has shifted to light-hearted texts and images. Creative expression is the name of the game. It’s a game played very well by Jake Nickell, who started his working life as a web developer in Chicago. Back in the year 2000, winning a T-shirt design competition got his creative juices flowing. With help from his friend Jacob DeHart, Nickell started Threadless, a community-based company that uses its website to invite anyone interested to submit T-shirt designs, which are then sold through the same site. The two Jakes, as they became known, offered a co-creation platform before the term had even been coined.

Today co-creation is a known and often successful business con cept. In a nutshell, it is the collaborative development of a product or service by an initiator – usually a company – and its customers. The market is seen as a forum for businesses and their customers to jointly create value through new forms of interaction. Co- creation constitutes a drastic departure from the traditional market construct of the active manufacturer or provider and the passive consumer.

Threadless Tees, subtitled Nude No More, neatly fits the defini-tion of co-creation. What began as a hobby has become a serious business, although Threadless insists it’s not so much about selling T-shirts as about giving something back to its community. Seth

Godin, the author of one of the world’s most influential marketing blogs, declared himself to be “in awe of the two Jakes – of their willingness to be wrong and their desire to be different”.

scoring pointsBe that as it may, ten years after starting off in a desk-less corner of Nickell’s apartment, Threadless is thriving. Its business model hasn’t really changed since the early days. The designs submitted can be voted for by anyone visiting the site, and any design scoring enough points is produced in limited edition. Successful designers are initially paid US$2,000, and another $500 if their design needs to be reprinted. Buyers sending in pictures of themselves in their T-shirts receive a small discount on their next purchase.

A visit to the Threadless website shows how international the community has become. It features interviews with dozens of designers living anywhere from Malaysia to Mexico and from France to the Philippines. There are two Dutch names on the list: Mathijs Vissers and Jan Willem Wennekes. They have both had several designs sold through the site.

tie no moreThe success of Threadless Tees impressed recent Nyenrode graduate Raymond Hannes (see panel). “Most designs are only available for a few weeks,” he says, “so you’re buying something pretty exclusive. The T-shirts are delivered within a few days. They’re good quality cotton and the colors don’t run in the wash. I’m speaking from experience, because I bought one; it shows a pair of scissors cutting off a necktie. I wear it all the time, even for business appointments.”

Hannes sees Threadless’s innovative way of doing business as a potential threat to contemporary fashion companies, for example Zara. “Even though Zara launches new collections far more frequently than traditional fashion chains, it can’t move as fast as guys like Threadless. With so much clothing being made in China, there’s no way you can protect your own designs. You have to focus on staying ahead of the competition. Speed is the key to innovation.”

Terri J. Kester is a freelance journalist and associate editor of Nyenrode NOW.

new business it solutions

portal to the futurenyenrode supplier winvision has an innovative approach to its business. by john widen

he name Winvision says it all. This is a company that knows what it feels like to be a winner, with a vision to ensure that it stays that way. The first part of the name also suggests a close connection with Microsoft and

its Windows operating system. Indeed, the company advises on, develops, implements and manages solutions based on a Microsoft platform. It offers its clients complete IT solutions complemented with management and consultancy services, including maintenance and hosting. Software as a service and portal-based computing are key aspects of Winvision’s policy.

tailored productsAny player in this highly competitive sector needs to stand out from the crowd. According to Menno Krijnen, Winvision does just that. As delivery manager, Krijnen bears final responsibility for all the company’s projects. Its project managers report to him, and he is himself project manager for Nyenrode, the only client he deals with personally. “What differentiates us from other IT players,” he explains, “is that we don’t just deploy and implement our own and Microsoft’s products. We also link them up to ensure they work together harmoniously. In other words, we tailor Microsoft products to an organization’s specific requirements.”

gold partnerKrijnen sees Winvision as an innovator in an innovative market. The company uses only the latest Microsoft technology, usually six to twelve months before it’s released on the market. “This is a significant benefit of being an official Microsoft Gold Partner, with 15 Microsoft competences,” he says. “In effect we and our clients, after due consultation, are using and testing beta products. But this is rarely a problem, because forward-thinking organizations usually prefer to work with the newest versions of established products. The feedback we provide to Microsoft ensures that the released products are completely in tune with what the market wants.”

Another area where Winvision likes to innovate is its project approach, which is in line with the Microsoft Solutions Framework.

The company designs and develops software as a continuous process, in small steps. Every two weeks the client receives an incremental delivery of the product, so the results and shortcomings are revealed as the product develops. Krijnen: “It’s an extremely innovative way of working, which suits our clients, because thanks to their involvement they get a more complete solution at the end, without unpleasant surprises.”

John Widen is a freelance journalist and a regular contributor to Nyenrode NOW.

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accelerating co-creation

TwoNyenrodeMScstudents,RaymondHannesandFransvan Konijnenburg, were quick to recognize the potential of co-creation. For their graduation thesis they jointly produced a case study that identified the factors predicting the success of co-creation projects. The report includes examples drawn from more than 20 Dutch organizations, from KLM and Unilever to the small Frisian town of Smallingerland.

After their graduation, Hannes and Van Konijnenburg were involved in a three-day symposium about new business strategies at Nyenrode. So many companies were interested in the co-creation component of the program that they devoted a whole day to it. The pair are now in the process of establishing their own company at the Nyenrode Business Accelerator, which is based in the coach house. With another alumnus, they’re starting up MyDivvi (from the word divide), an online co-creation publishingfirmforacademics.SaysRaymondHannes:“Our short-term ambition is to get online as soon as possible and open up academic publishing to the world.”


new business center for public auditing & accounting

was recently presented with a copy of Bureaucratics, a splendid collection of portraits by photographer Jan Banning. In a World Press Photo award-winning project, Banning captured public servants all over the world at their desks. Around them

are files and sheaves of paper – sometimes precariously balanced – or framed pictures of people in power. Some of Banning’s subjects hold office in otherwise empty rooms, or even outdoors.

delivery roomBureaucratics was a gift from Saskia Stuiveling, President of the Netherlands Court of Audit. She also gave a copy of the book to Dion Kotteman, general director of the Audit Department of the Dutch Government. The occasion was a seminar held at Nyenrode in June to celebrate the launch of the new Center for Public Auditing & Accounting, our ‘delivery room’ for public auditors. Unfortunately I could not be there, but from what I hear the event was a great success. Because more people attended than expected, we had to switch the event from the castle to the Albert Heijn Building.

Beside Saskia Stuiveling, the speakers at the seminar were Laura van Geest, Director-General of National Budgeting at the Ministry of Finance, Peter Eimers, professor of auditing at the Vrije Univer-siteit and partner at PwC, and the academic director of the new center, Martin Dees. They discussed the importance of the audit function in the public sector, the expectations of the users of auditing services and the center’s relevant plans.

developing furtherSince the public is becoming more critical and the environment more complex, public auditors have to rise to ever higher compe-tence levels. The mission the new center has formulated is to con-tribute academic ideas and activities to help public auditors who are already equipped for their tasks to develop further. Government reporting on its own activities is also a subject of discussion, while research will be commissioned and carried out to shine a light on topical and pressing questions. We will also run courses on public auditing and accounting and organize events.

The launch of the Center for Public Auditing & Accounting acknowledges the importance of the government, which is con-fronted with highly specialized economic issues on which we can lend assistance. Organizations needing academic arguments to

support their activities or wishing to know more about the scientific background of new developments can come to us for some sound advice. Employees of (internal) auditing departments in public organizations and of accountancy firms working for public sector clients can enroll for the various courses.

The center is now operational, and the content of the programs has been finalized. There are two programs on offer. The first takes two years and delivers Executive Masters of Public Auditing & Accounting, while participants in the second program, which takes three years, earn an MBA. It is also possible to take modules from the curriculum separately. In addition, we invite participation in a seminar series on topical themes, which we are in the process of organizing.

innovative and inspired auditorsI must emphasize that we don’t see the participants in these pro-grams as subjects for Bureaucratics 2. Quite the contrary. We want the Center for Public Auditing & Accounting to deliver innovative and inspired public auditors with awareness and knowledge of the public interest.

Leen Paape is Dean of the Nyenrode School of Accountancy & Controlling.

Center forward

«since the public is becoming more crit ical and the environment more complex, public auditors have to r ise to ever higher expectations»

leen paape places the new center for public auditing & accounting into perspective.

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Sushma Prasad, assistant clerk of the cabinet secretary in the state of Bihar, India. From Bureaucratics, a book of portraits of civil servants by Jan Banning


new business partnership

the partnership between the new business school amsterdam and nyenrode bodes well for a

smooth transition of students from new entrepreneurship to new leadership. by terri j. kester

n the heavily subsidized education landscape of the Nether-lands, it takes ambition and determination to start a private business school. Fortunately, ambition and determination are qualities Timo Timmerman and his colleagues have

in abundance. In 2006, only 18 months after the idea began to take root, the first students presented themselves at the New Business School (NBS) Amsterdam. The school is established in modern, partly open-plan premises close to Amsterdam’s Rijks-museum. In November 2009 the first 14 graduates received a double degree: a BBA from NBS Amsterdam and a BA Business from the

University of Westminster in London. Around 125 students are currently enrolled.

Timmerman, the school’s dean, points out that the word New in its name is not a reference to the recent kick-off, but to the innova-tive ways of doing business which are taught here. “We concentrate on new products, new markets and new technologies, and on doing business in a responsible way.” Ben Wijering, another member of the management team, elaborates: “We impress the need to make money upon the students, but always on condition that they add something for society – not take away from it.”

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shared convictionIn May this year Nyenrode announced a partnership with NBS. Created to facilitate students’ progress from new entrepreneurship to new leadership – taught respectively at NBS and Nyenrode – the cooperation is based on a shared conviction that the world econ-omy and the balance of economic and political power are subject to constant change. This necessitates broader, more international educational programs than are available at most publicly funded educational institutes. In practical terms, the NBS Bachelor program has been calibrated to ensure a smooth transition to Nyenrode’s MSc in Management.

Prior to opening, Wijering explains, NBS commissioned research to find out which skills and qualities employers look for in their staff. A key result was that employers are less interested in engaging trained managers than in candidates with proven entrepreneurial skills. They don’t want weighty reports, but people who can make their own decisions based on company strategy.

The Bachelor program offered by NBS focuses on ‘the third way’, the coupling of the strengths of traditional universities and more practical Dutch HBO programs. Depending on their qualifications, students spend two or three years on the curriculum delivered in Amsterdam. To raise their level of knowledge and skills in academic terms, this is followed by six months at the University of Westmin-ster. The final semester is spent on an assignment from a company or organization, which is documented in a research report. The sec-tors where NBS students are currently working on these projects include retail, real estate and energy. While most students stay in the Netherlands, some have found assignments in China, France and Germany.

Maximum mileageAlthough NBS cannot lay claim to a heritage comparable to Nyen-rode’s, there are nonetheless some parallels between the two insti-tutions. They both stress the importance of an entrepreneurial mindset, individual attention and personal development, and the

advantages of working in small, focused teams. To get maximum mileage out of the partnership, NBS is organizing theme weeks at Nyenrode for its students on such topics as Innovation & Creativity and Getting Things Done. Wijering: “The main purpose of these weeks is to show the students that they’ll need an entrepreneurial, pro-active attitude, whether they want to start their own business or not.”

The proof of the entrepreneurial pudding is, of course, in the eating. That the students and graduates of NBS mean business is borne out by an advertising campaign showcasing some of the companies they started. Three students (pictured left) initiated StudyFlow, for example, which developed an online applica tion helping high school students prepare for their final exams. GratisPrint.nl is another venture targeting high school students; it offers them free printing services paid for by advertisers. The initiative earned the company a place on the list of the 25 best start-ups. And Mary Chekera, a student of Zimbabwean origin, has teamed up with a partner to make a contribution to her country’s economy by getting a design and production facility for affordable fashion off the ground in Harare.

t imo t immerman: «we concentrate on new products and technologies, and on doing business in a responsible way»

fair trade for a fairer world

Meleya is not only the mellifluous name of a new Fair Trade coffee brand, it is also the Ethiopian word for identity. Perhaps it should be identities in plural, because the brand logo is a stylized picture of two people embracing. The pair represent students from NBS and St Mary’s University College in Addis Ababa, who have joined forces in an attempt to keep the value represented by coffee beans within the country where they are grown, in this case Ethiopia. The two groups of students work as one team to ensure that Meleya coffee, which comes in three different aromas, is roasted and packaged locally.

The beauty of the project is that consecutive classes of students can tackle different elements of the process.

Innovative points of sale, such as a sea container in an Amsterdam business district, combine aspects of different cultures, and some of the profits will flow back to an Ethiopian foundation. Meleya Coffee is just one of a number of projects supported by NBS that use commerce as a driving force for the transformation to a fairer and more sustainable world.

tomorrow’s leaders


new business iphone apps

apps that scorean apple aficionado to the core, our correspondent checks out the latest sports apps for i-devices.

by george mcdonald

hen Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, announced the arrival of the iPhone touchscreen smartphone in January 2007, competitors and sections of the media expressed considerable

doubt that the device had even a sporting chance of success. After all, at that point Apple’s share of the mobile phone market was exactly zero. At the time, Steve Ballmer stated the skeptical case on behalf of Microsoft: “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”

With hindsight, it’s clear that the iPhone was a game changer that disrupted the strategy and prospects of many of the industry’s top players. It scored sales of around 55 million units by the middle of 2010. When sales of its cousins, the iPod Touch and the iPad – which also use Apple’s iOS mobile operating system – are added, the total number of units sold by mid-2010 reaches 100 million. An addressable market this large, and growing month by month, creates its own commercial dynamic and an ecosystem that continues to expand in ways few could have imagined back in 2007.

apps boomAround 250,000 Apple-approved software programs, or applica-tions – better known as ‘apps’ – are available to download from Apple’s App Store. Like the number of devices in circulation, the number of apps is constantly increasing. To them can be added web-based apps, which are not part of the App Store and therefore not dependent on Apple’s approval. Many of these apps represent new business ideas and models. Under the terms for paid app sales, the app publisher retains 70 percent. In June 2010 Apple announced that its payments to developers had passed the US$1 billion mark.

At the time of writing, the latest addition to the Sports category line up (not counting sports action games) is the UEFA Football Dictionary, published in English, French and German by the Paragon

W Software Group and German reference book publisher Langen-scheidt. The dictionary contains as many as 5,700 specialist soccer terms and can be updated through the App Store. It sells for €10.

With 2010 being the year of the World Cup in South Africa, US-based ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) offered soccer fans its free ESPN 2010 FIFA World Cup app. Among the app’s features were frequently updated news and scores, profiles of the teams, groups and individual players, and even the national

anthems of all 32 competing countries. An $8 in-app purchase added such features as live radio streams and video highlights of key action within minutes of it happening, plus Facebook and Twitter feeds.

ace appsWimbledon is a similarly big international sporting draw and the organizer, the All England Lawn Tennis Club, served up an ace with

«many web-based apps, which are often less polished than what is in the app store, represent new business ideas and models»


questions and answers

marta berent-braun’s phd research on the role of multiple owners of private firms contains

some enlightening insights.

by helm horsten

the owners of private family businesses often regard themselves as somewhat passive investors in their companies, which are run by a board of directors. should the owners be more actively involved to make their business more profitable?Owners’ behavior is important for the performance of private busi-ness. My research suggests that they can be involved in it as long as

they behave professionally, keep their distance and do not interfere with the management’s daily work. Such owners are clear about their future investments in the business, comply with agreements and follow the lines of authority. If they behave like that, they have a pos-itive effect on the financial performance of the family firm. However, especially in smaller businesses, the owners’ active governance can also have negative effects if the management perceives it as meddling.

family affairs

stats, push notifications (automatically distributed updates) and in-game highlights.

supermodel in swimwearMajor old media (or ‘dead tree’) sports publishers, tackling declin-ing circulation and revenues from print publishing, are signing up for Apple’s new-media platform. Sports Illustrated, one of the biggest sports magazines in the US, offers scorecards and headlines and backs them up with the magazine’s insightful writing and analysis and vivid action photography. The main SI app is free, but for the 2009 edition of its popular annual Swimwear edition, the magazine offered, for a mere $0.99, a pair of special features: videos and pictures of Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli, who graces the cover of the issue.

By no means all iPhone sports apps are produced by big time publishers and organizations. If anything, what the little guys are producing is more interesting, though often less polished. Prolific sport app creator Vladimir Borisov’s Sport Browser, in English and Russian, costs $0.99 and links users with the world’s top sports news websites, enabling the content to be viewed offline.

deep pocketsThe ecosystem that has grown up around the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad has come a long way in a short time and shows no sign of slowing. For now Apple seems to be setting the pace, though it’s not without competitors with deep pockets, who are already in the game or are fighting hard to get into it. That’s a position that would be familiar to any sports fan who thrills to watch the competitive instinct in action.

its free official Wimbledon 2010 app for this Grand Slam event. Among other features, the app provided live radio streams and scoring updates, completed match results, on-demand video high-lights and a Twitter feed.

Major League Baseball in the US has taken a two-handed swing with its iPhone offering by producing a paid app, MLB.com At Bat, that’s updated annually and costs $15, and MLB.com At Bat Lite, a free

version with fewer features. The flagship version offers options that take advantage of many of the iPhone’s attributes, among them Wi-Fi and 3G (third generation) connectivity. These include live commentary of most games, live streaming of many matches (one such view comes free with the app), live updated scores and player

«the ecosystem that has grown up around the iphone, ipod touch and ipad has come a long way in a short t ime and shows no s ign of slowing»

new business iphone apps


campus close-up

a thousand orchidslast summer, the western marsh orchid produced a riot of brilliant blue blooms on the estate.

by gert immerzeel

he Nyenrode estate boasts a wealth of plants, some of them quite rare. In the late summer, our mushrooms will start breaking the surface again. I also have positive news about Nyenrode’s flowers: 2010 was a good year for the

western marsh orchid (Dactylorhiza majalis subspecies praetermissa).A study in the scientific journal Nature suggested that orchids

have been around for more than 15 million years. A bee has been found, fossilized in amber, that carried the pollen of a previously unknown orchid on its wings. Millions of years later, in 300BC, the Greek philosopher Theophrastus was the first to use the name órkhis for the blooms. The word is Greek for testicle, because the shape of the orchid’s root structure resembles the male sex organ. Pregnant women used to believe they’d give birth to a son if they ate the harder, more juicy half of the root.

The orchid’s flowers and beguiling scent have sensual connota-tions to this day. Its fragrance is captured in perfumes, and vanilla is a popular flavor drawn from it. Ground to a powder, the underground tubings are used in various food products, from Turkish ice-cream to rumfromtheFrenchislandofReunion.Itisthevastvarietyoftheorchid’s blooms, however, that most fascinates people throughout the world. To indulge their passion, the best place for true enthu-siasts to go is Moyobamba in Peru, a.k.a. as the City of Orchids. The town is home to 3,500 orchid species – 12 for each inhabitant.

My point is, however, that wild orchids can also be found at Nyenrode. Although it is not particularly rare, our pride and joy is the western marsh orchid. It’s a tough variety that thrives in damp soil such as irrigated fields and occasionally pioneers construction sites or reclaimed areas. In western Europe, this orchid is found all the way from northern Italy to the north of England, while to the east it extends into Germany.

The place on the estate this orchid likes best is the roadside north of the student restaurant. As if by magic, a solitary flower appeared here in 1986, five years after the road was built. It bloomed again the next year, only to be pulled up, roots and all, by a toddler from a visiting school who was attracted by the bright blue color: “Look what a pretty flower I found!”.

The orchid seed, which is as fine as dust and whose germination depends on the presence of a particular soil fungus, must have stayed in the air, for in 1993 we had 30 plants. Five years later the number had doubled, and last summer, with over 1,000 plants, the roadside was a riot of blue blooms. We enjoyed this abundance while we could, because the western marsh orchid flowers for just a few weeks in June, after which it disappears under the vegetation. I can only conclude that it feels at home at Nyenrode.

Gert Immerzeel is estate manager at Nyenrode.

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questions and answers

business, since they own a larger percentage of the shares than their counterparts in public firms.

in your thesis, you state that entrepreneurship is not the preserve of individuals, but that families and groups of owners can be entrepreneurial too.Entrepreneurs are often perceived as individuals whose need for autonomy motivates them to start up a business. I argue that entre-preneurial action can also be taken by business-owning families focused on jointly growing family wealth by creating business value. Enterprising families accumulate wealth through business activities as opposed to, or in addition to, more passive investments like the purchase of real estate or stocks. It is very important that the owners share the same vision in conducting their business. Coupled with trust, honesty, teamwork and cooperation, a shared vision enhances the performance of the business.

in your thesis you say that owners of family firms should co operate more intensively. in which ways can they do so?One way of building a shared vision is by maintaining a good level of communication. Family governance practices can fulfill this role. For instance, a family constitution and code of conduct, a family council and family reunions improve relationships between owners. Such practices provide an opportunity to discuss important issues like investments and future ownership – for example ownership transfer or exit strategies. By serving as a teambuilding mechanism, family governance practices contribute to the owners functioning as a group.

Responsible ownership is an important notion in your research. how do you define this? are owners of private firms more responsible than owners of other companies?Responsible ownership reflects the idea that, in their role as share-holders, owners are other-regarding rather than self-serving. My thesis looks at actual behavior by owners which contributes to the

collective good of the firm and those who own it. In my opinion, owners of private businesses have greater opportunity to behave responsibly – or irresponsibly – than owners of publicly traded firms. In private companies the owners are more involved in the

«a shared v is ion coupled with trust, honesty, teamwork and cooperation enhances the performance of the business»

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