IndiaFirst Life Insurance: Planning Next-Level Growth by Corporate Entrepreneurship

IndiaFirst Life Insurance (IFLI) became the 23rd entrant in India’s life insurance industry by launching its operations in November 2009 (IndiaFirst Life Insurance, 2015). IFLI went on to break-even within 6 years of its inception by declaring maiden profits in FY 2015–2016 (IndiaFirst Life Insurance, 2015). The company stated its vision as—‘To become a Life Insurance and Pension business leader that provides significant value to all its stakeholders enabling a true customer delight’ (IndiaFirst Life Insurance, 2015). In order to implement its vision, IFLI worked its human resource policies and processes around the ‘Employees First’ approach (IndiaFirst Life Insurance, 2015). These processes had helped IFLI to become the fastest-growing company in the life insurance sector, and it was ranked 12th amongst the private insurers in terms of market ranking in individual annual premium equivalent for FY 2016–2017 ( Times of India, 2017). The company aimed to become a top 10 life insurance provider in the next few years in India in terms of retail premium business ( Times of India, 2017).

Societal challenges and business leadership for social innovation

Purpose Today’s pressing global societal challenges are urgent and require substantial solutions and innovations that tackle the roots of a problem. These challenges call for new forms of leadership, stakeholder engagement and innovation. This paper aims to examine whether, why and how business leaders engage in social innovation. The authors argue that leadership perspective and motivation are important drivers for developing substantial social innovations suited to resolving societal challenges at their roots. More specifically, the authors propose that intra-personal factors (degree of care and compassion), an inter-relational perspective of leadership (shareholder versus stakeholder) and the corresponding leadership motivation (personalized versus socialized) may unveil what quality of social innovation (first-order versus second-order solutions) is pursued by a business leader. Implications for future research and practice are provided. Design/methodology/approach The authors revisit the concept of social innovation and explore its connection with care and compassion. They suggest a series of propositions pertaining to the relationship between different configurations of leadership and different forms of social innovation. Findings Responsible business leaders with an integrative leader trait configuration (stakeholder perspective, socialized motivation, high degree of care and compassion) are more likely to foster substantial second-order social innovations for uprooting societal problems than business leader with an instrumental leader trait configuration (shareholder perspective, personalized motivation, low degree of care and compassion). An organization’s stakeholder culture plays a moderating role in the relation between leadership and social innovation. Social implications This paper reveals a path for conceptualizing leadership in social innovation from a stakeholder perspective. Future research should investigate the role of business leaders, their mindsets, styles and relational competencies in co-creation processes of social innovation empirically. If the development of substantial second-order social innovations requires leaders with a stakeholder perspective and socialized approach, then this has implications for leader selection and development. Originality/value This paper advocates for new kinds of leaders in facilitating and sustaining social innovations to tackle global societal challenges.

Luis Banchero Rossi (1955-1972), the best entrepreneur in Peru’s fishmeal industry: market governance, social capital, and embeddedness

In the 20th century, Peru was one of the major fishmeal producers worldwide. Luis Banchero Rossi (1929-1972) was the main driving force behind this economic boom. This article discusses how, given a set of historical conditions favoring such a setting, Banchero’s business performance surpassed that of other Peruvian and foreign producers in the industry, and enabled this development. This research uses complementary methodologies; i.e., case study work and financial databases. The authors find that Banchero’s share in Peru’s total exports reached 15.3 % in 1968, far above the next largest Peruvian exporter. In this regard, Banchero operated his organization following a set of criteria, called market governance by Williamson, plus several advantages, including negotiation abilities, social capital formation, human capital management, and tacit knowledge development, building on Peru’s specific sociological conditions. These conclusions help understanding how an entrepreneur of humble origins like Banchero worked around a commodity such as fishmeal to become a successful business leader worldwide.

Liderança humanizada

Em 2013, a Igreja católica publicou um documento intitulado A vocação do líder empresarial que busca motivar os líderes a se comprometerem com o mundo econômico e financeiro contemporâneo à luz dos princípios de dignidade humana e bem comum. O objetivo desse trabalho é destacar as semelhanças entre o conteúdo desse documento e a teoria da administração, no tocante à importância do líder humanizado. Para isso, tem como fonte principal o documento em questão, além de outros, que fazem referência direta ao tema. A análise desses documentos mostra uma consonância de ideias no que diz respeito às ações sugeridas para unir sucesso empresarial com expectativas de felicidade e realização dos funcionários. Abstract: In 2013, the Church Catholic published the document entitled. The vocation of the business leader, which motivates business leaders to commit themselves to the contemporary economic and financial world, in the light of the principles of human dignity and the common good. The objective of this work is to highlight the similarities between the content of this document, and the theory of the current administration on the importance of the humanized leader. In order to do this, the study use as main source the document in question and other that refer directly to the theme. The analysis of these documents shows a consonance of ideas regarding the actions suggested to unite business success with expectations of happiness and achievement of employees.

The Filipino Business Leader in the Time of the (COVID-19) Pandemic within the Lens of the Catholic Social Teachings

The COVID-19 pandemic is not only a global health problem—its ramifications are complex and extensive. From social routines to religious gatherings, as well as economic conditions, have all been significantly affected. The global economy has entered into a recession and local establishments, especially small and medium enterprises, have not been spared. Most of these businesses have laid-off workers and closed shops and stores. Within this chaos of business restructuring and systemic changes are complications and implications to the meaning of ethical business leadership and the value of work. This paper looks at these shifts and turns taking place in enterprises and workplaces in light of Catholic Social Thought (CST) and explores how these data and narratives from the ground could have contributed to a renewed or reshaped ethical identity of a Filipino business leader in the time of the (COVID-19) pandemic.

“Crazy Jack” and the “Gay CEO”: Visions, Entrepreneurship, and the Chinese State in the New Digital Economy

This article analyses the visions, careers, and companies of Jack Ma of Alibaba and Geng Le of Blue City. Jack Ma is a well-known business leader and visionary, whereas the less well-known Geng Le only began to receive more attention since launching a successful gay dating app in 2012. The article focuses on the personal narratives and visions of these two IT entrepreneurs. It provides new perspectives on the role of individual entrepreneurs in relation to the Chinese state’s global ambitions and vision of creating a “strong internet country.” It argues that the commercialisation and platformisation of the Chinese internet, and the growing transnational nature of Chinese IT companies, serve to make them more, not less, co-dependent of the state and its visions. The internet’s emancipatory potential is today increasingly conflated with consumption, and online spaces and social relations are subject to both commodification and datafication.

Let´s Talk SMAC

Social Mobile Analytics and Cloud – SMAC the new abbreviation that every business leader is thinking off. It is also part of everyone's lives these days. SMAC technologies are creating enormous opportunities across industries while the consumer willingly gives up personal information. Cloud technologies have made it possible to collect and store such large amounts of data. While each of these four technologies are able to enhance the business on its own, using these four technologies together as a stack has changed the way businesses are looking to maximize their customer base, enhance brand value and off course, increase company profit. For example, SMAC has forced businesses leaders to make analytics part of their marketing strategy and business operation as a whole.

Collaboration during times of crisis

Purpose During difficult times, it is crucial that organizations can communicate and collaborate to maintain an effective workforce. The purpose of this paper is to share the real-life, practical experience of a business leader in how to successfully collaborate and succeed during times of crisis. Design/methodology/approach The insights are gathered from real-world experience of the author in his position at his company. Findings This paper finds that we have seen some fantastic examples of collaboration amid the crisis landscape we are in, but we can only get to this point through ideation, innovation and collaboration. These three key areas, coupled with kindness and consideration for others, is what will ensure we all emerge from this storm united. Originality/value It is taken from the original experience and viewpoints of the author.