CxO Magazine_73.indd

10
Management & Human Resources
Erwin De Weerdt
Website lists do’s and don’ts of
Europe
The website www.fastenseatbelts.eu
appears to be becoming a new reference
point for intercultural travellers, providing
advice on how to avoid blunders
while abroad. Many Europeans travelling
abroad may not consider communicating
with the locals to be their biggest
challenge. However, communication can
become a problem, for example when
writing in red ink in Portugal, where
this is considered rude. But do not be
offended if you see people in Greece
spitting in the street since mock spitting
is considered good luck. The colourful
website features 35 visual clips,
describing what may be considered polite
in some nations and unacceptable in
others. The cartoons are airing at Brussels
airport and onboard Thomas Cook
planes. It is hoped that they will “put
the idea in the minds of the passengers
that it is useful and fun to learn about
cultural differences.”
Blair: climate efforts no reason
to give up cars
At the launch of a new report from Blair’s
Climate Group recently in Beijing, the
former UK prime minister praised China’s
low-carbon drive, stressing that low-carbon
technology, not giving up car ownership,
would pave the way for a sustainable
transport future. The report argues
that China has taken the lead in developing
and commercialising a range of lowcarbon
technologies, becoming a top
producer of electric vehicles, wind turbines,
solar panels and energy-effi cient
appliances. The Climate Group forecasts
that cars on China’s roads will triple to
150 million by 2020, producing 20% of
global CO2 emissions. Blair warned that
Western nations cannot tell the Chinese
that they must not seek the same scale
of economic growth as the industrialised
nations have experienced in because
they need to save the planet.
“Invisible governments” can
help entrepreneurs
“Governments should focus on fi nding
ways to become invisible. They should
ask how they can interact less with entrepreneurs
so that young companies can
focus on what they want to do. Subsidies
are the wrong way to go because they
create more useless interactions with
the entrepreneur”, says Xavier Damman,
CEO and founder of Internet company
Tweetag. Damman, himself a Belgian
high-tech entrepreneur, likens the role
of government to a computer operating
system, describing it as necessary but
adding that it should stay in the background.
“Government is a necessary
piece of software for making all the different
components work together. And
the best government, like the best operating
system, is the one you can forget
about. It’s the one that lets you focus on
your activities – whether they are business,
sport or family-related.”
New sports enter Olympics
The International Olympic Committee
(IOC) has approved a series of new
sports, including women’s boxing, for inclusion
in the 2012 London Olympics and
proposed that golf and rugby be added
to the 2016 programme. According to IOC
President Jacques Rogge, golf and rugby
not only scored highly on all key criteria,
but they also “have global appeal, a geographically
diverse line-up of top iconic
athletes and an ethic that stresses fair
play.” The additions to the current list of
26 Olympic sports refl ects the IOC’s desire
to refresh the Olympic programme,
boost female participation and make the
Games more appealing to young people.
The London 2012 Summer Olympics
will feature women’s boxing for the fi rst
time, with greater female participation in
wrestling, swimming and cycling expected
to follow. London may also see the
introduction of mixed doubles for tennis.
CxO Magazine | August – September 2009 | www.cxonet.be
Bi-monthly Headlines
Management
IOC President Jacques Rogge.
Competitiveness clusters
The European Union is seeking to promote
clusters of large companies, SMEs,
researchers, and other economic actors
to help foster innovation, bring together
a critical mass of commercial and R&D
expertise and get maximum value from
investment. Europe invests billions of
euros in knowledge-based industries,
but there is concern that links between
industry and research are weak, and
that market fragmentation is causing
investment to leak out of the research
infrastructure. At present, there are over
2.000 European competitiveness clusters
in existence, but the European Commission
wants to transform these into
world-class innovation centres.