This is a story of leadership, corporate governance, national culture, finance, European politics and terrorism and how all these factors converged to undermine a great airline - Swissair - in October, 2001. Some of the important causes of the Swissair downfall are clearly related in the case: the McKinsey-inspired strategy of buying into Sabena and smaller and often ailing airlines; weaknesses in top management and a supervisory board that had poor knowledge of the air transport industry; and the missed opportunity earlier on to build a strong alliance with other EU airlines and vital US partners (Alcazar). In early 1998, the SAirGroup board finally decided not to strike a deal with BA and not to join the Oneworld alliance. Instead, relying on SAirGroup's strong reserves, the board adopted a plan developed by McKinsey to pursue minority shares in a number of small European airlines. It is unlikely that EU membership would have made much difference in the light of the other factors.

This study seeks to contribute to the relatively sparse literature on how emerging market firms (EMFs) acquire firm-specific advantages (FSA), how they adjust their organizational structures, processes, HR policies, leadership and cultures in the internationalization process, and how they interact with their domestic institutional context. Our respondents report significant changes along all 26 organizational variables over the period investigated (2003-2008). Based on self-reported assessments by top managers, our findings suggest firstly, that Indian firms are rapidly transforming their organizations, secondly that Indian executives are increasingly confident that they will be able to compete successfully on an international scale, and thirdly that Indian firms may increasingly benefit from organizational innovation complementing their low cost advantages.

This presentation reports the findings of a survey focusing on organizational innovation across 26 organizational variables at Indian MNCs over 2003-2008

self-assessment; self-evaluation - As one part of the Sino-Swiss Management Training Program, the province of Sichuan was included in an action learning program. The objective was to increase the administrative capacity of the provincial government to master the further development of the province. Topics were: 1. Sustainable development of eco-tourism 2. Water Environmental Management in the Minjiang and Tuojiang River Drainage Areas 3. Construction of Ecological Shelterbelt in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River This report demonstrates some of the outcomes of the project, using both figures and narratives as illustrations.