Dr Eden Yin, University Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Cambridge Judge Business School, says a strong brand implies a quality product, and a high quality product at the outset is essential in building the brand. His forthcoming two-day Executive Education programme on brand building deals with the strategies and processes involved. Aimed at brand managers who deal with brands on a daily basis, Dr Yin also expects interest from NGOs and not-for-profit organisations.

Research by Dr Ben Barry, an Ogilvy Foundation scholar at Cambridge Judge Business School, into the way fashion brands use models reveals that women want those models, regardless of age or size, to inspire them with glamour, artistry and creativity, as opposed to stimulating just aspiration. His cross-cultural study of consumer response to size, age and race diversity in fashion advertising involving nearly three thousand women in North America, Canada and China also revealed strong cultural...

Luck, he says, is all about working hard to create certain capabilities so that when the opportunities arise you are the best prepared to take advantage of the opportunity. That’s what people call luck. That is what luck is all about.

Consumers, believing they have been empowered, are now harnessing social media to build up and tear down brands. But many companies are guilty of manipulating these consumer decisions. Martin Lindstrom reveals how this blurring of social bonds and marketing strategy is happening before our eyes in his new book 'Brandwashed'. Consumers, he says, need to wake up and become savvy to these influences and use social media more responsibly.

Five years ago Dr Kamal Munir, who has followed American company Kodak's fortunes for more than a decade, warned the company that unless it changed its strategy and embraced digital imaging and photography, its days were numbered. A few days ago Eastman Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States.

Ginni Rometty, IBM's Senior Vice President and Group Executive, Sales, Marketing and Strategy, on addressing risk, inefficiency and new forms of growth in our 'smarter planet'

Yaver Abidi, Managing Director, Halcrow and Fional Capstick, Chief Executive Officer, Southwest One set out their case study approach for success in business through thick and thin.

A new study, 'Behemoths at the Gate', offers incumbents strategies to react positively to firms who are muscling their way into a sector through large scale acquisitions. The advice to those already in the market is not to go head-to-head with these incoming giants as few can take them on head-on and win!

New research into relationships between the arts and humanities and the UK economy has revealed far greater interaction than expected

Why "tomorrow's regulators" involved in providing public goods will need more partnerships, less red tape, and more customer feedback through social media

Taking over the second largest bank in Africa led to death threats but now it's a business success story. Hakeem Belo-Osagie, former Chairman of the United Bank of Africa and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Emerging Markets Telecommunication Ltd, explains his belief in setting sights high and seizing every opportunity.

Clips from 'The Godfather' demonstrate diversification in a family business; 'Gladiator' shows the implementation of a functional strategy; and 'Jerry Maguire' illustrates the concept of values. However, films that bridge the gap between the business and corporate world and business ideas and concepts are a rare breed. Dr Hadida explains.

Sir Stuart Rose, Chairman of Marks & Spencer, and Ms Miranda Curtis, President of Liberty Global Japan, give their top business tips on learning from mistakes, why you need to take some risk in order to be successful, stamina and re-inventing oneself throughout one's career. Nice people, they explain, can get to the top - but you need to be tough!

Believing you can make a difference using inclusive capitalism, where the post-crisis role of business is an obligation to make the world a better place.

In a post-crisis and interconnected world, successful retailers will need to maximise 'trust' as well as the new buzzword 'recommendation' says David Roth, CEO, EMEA and Asia, The Store – WPP

After the era of indulgence has come the era of consequences. Andrew Morgan explains the challenge for businesses now is to understand the complexity of the value message.

Advertisers need to re-think that perfect body image says PhD Ben Barry: "Women are rebelling; it is not the end of size zero, but the beginning of body diversity!"

Rory Sutherland, Vice-Chairman of Ogilvy Group, says we've got too hung up on trying to quantify human behaviour. We need to revert to our basic instincts to understand how consumers make their choices. What's wrong, he asks, with 'subjectivism'?

In today's fast moving technological world, successful companies will be those brave enough to invest in start-ups and create their own competitors. Taking the example of Kodak, who floundered in the face of emerging digital technologies, Dr Kamal Munir explains the importance of adaptation, but points out, that merely hooking new technologies into a business model to prolong the life of existing technologies is not enough: "Companies need to invest equity into start-ups, they need to create...

Kevin Roberts, CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi, believes we are seeing not a global recession but a global catastrophe and a radical restructuring of the world. The leaders who emerge from this will be those who are able to emotionally inspire others, and re-introduce trust in a world of uncertainty and fear; they will be able to capture the power of language, they will be, like Barack Obama, the storytellers. Kevin Roberts explains why he believes the revolution will begin with language.

Dr Eden Yin and Dr Omar Merlo discuss the importance of marketing and brand building during a recession and warn that long term value creation must not be sacrificed to short term challenges. They explain how companies that survived previous recessions all continued to invest in their brands during these down turns, eventually emerging stronger. The answer: striking a delicate balance between maintaining a consistent brand image and flexible brand management. Drs Yin and Merlo explain how...

From National to Global: Maurice Levy Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe and Kevin Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi are definitely "opposites" who attract. Together they have built up a successful global brand which dominates the world of advertising. It was, says Maurice ,a "simple" vision to value our "people" and to trust in them. Now the Publicis Groupe is one of the world's top four leading advertising and communications organisations. Maurice Levy speaks about his...

Complex organisations can share a common approach to crisis management, and communication is key. According to General Hayden, former head of the CIA, in order to be successful, leaders brought in to implement radical decisions need to listen and fully assess their organisation and accommodate where it is in its life cycle before instigating change.

Not everything you read in management thinking is true in fact guru advice needs an overhaul says Professor Alain Verbeke in his new book and Professor Peter Buckley agrees it's time to rethink.