Employees who are too focused on sales targets can ignore customer needs. Meanwhile, customer focus is emerging as a key trend in business management. Ksenia Klepneva, postgraduate student of the HSE School of Business Administration, examined factors contributing to customer focus in companies operating in developed and developing economies.

Companies with decentralized management systems are, on average, more effective than firms where the CEO tries to control everything. The risk of centralization is higher if the company is managed by families. These were the main findings of the recent research by Irina Levina, research fellow at the HSE Institute for Industrial and Market Studies.

More than one in three Russian CEOs hold more than one academic degree, making them stand out dramatically compared to the general public. By going back to school and pursuing lifelong learning, senior executives expect to increase their knowledge, human capital and income, according to Sergey Solntsev, Senior Research Fellow at the HSE Laboratory for Labour Market Studies.

A predominance of women on a company's boards of directors can lead to a loss of flexibility in governance. Yet in times of change, for example during periods of rapid growth or crisis, women can make better leaders than men: they are more willing to take risks and tend to find more unconventional solutions, according to a report 'The Impact of Gender Diversity of the Board and Ownership Structure on Corporate Performance: Evidence from Western Europe' by HSE researchers Tatiana Ratnikova and Dmitry Gavrilov.

In Russia, access to professional development is determined by one's occupation, as well as job position, company size, and characteristics of the local labour market. Skilled personnel in non-physical jobs and public sector employees are more likely to pursue professional development, while low-skilled employees in private firms are effectively excluded from any such opportunity, according to Vasiliy Anikin, Assistant Professor of the HSE Department of Applied Economics.

Most Russian companies on the Forbes 500 list have programmes in place for managing young talent, so that they are able to develop their own managers to take leading positions within the company in the future, according to Veronica Kabalina, professor of the HSE Faculty of Management, and Maral Muratbekova-Touron (Paris) and Marion Festing (Berlin), researchers at the ESCP Europe. The findings of their study 'Young Talent Management Programs in Russian Companies and MNCs' were presented at the HSE's XVI April Conference.

Whether a potential employee's values match those of the company plays a significant role in hiring for major international companies, even though recruiters in Russia may not be consciously aware of this factor, since these values are not given much attention in the Russian corporate culture. Physical appearance is another important factor in job applicant selection, found Professor Veronica Kabalina and Master's graduate Anna Pakhomova of the HSE Faculty of Management.

For a business startup to grow and thrive, its employees should have a vested interest in its success. Employee incentives may include bonuses, equity and profit sharing, recognition of accomplishments, opportunities for career development, and flexible work schedules. But being inspired by a new challenge and proud of work well done can motivate people even more effectively, according to Olga Gaponova, Associate Professor at the Department of General and Strategic Management, HSE Branch in Nizhny Novgorod.

People who work in the tourism industry recognize values that matter to companies, but do not always share them. In fact, in recent years, the tourism business is in a complex condition, and a values-based approach could benefit companies working in this sector, research carried out by Kira Reshetnikova and Marina Predvoditeleva, of the HSE Faculty of Management, indicates

Employee engagement is essential to company performance. Mid-level managers tend to be the most engaged type of employees, according to a study by Veronica Kabalina and Ludmila Cheglakova of the HSE's Faculty of Management.

Companies with Russian ownership more often than not have an authoritarian style of management, and their employees participate less frequently in making business decisions than their colleagues from foreign companies. This conclusion was drawn by HSE Professor Azer Efendiev in his paper ‘The Political Regime in Russian Business Entities: Results of Empirical Research’, which was presented at the HSE conference ‘Modern Management: Problems, Hypotheses, and Research’

The role of corporate values ​​in managing a business is an increasingly popular topic, but its implementation is usually triggered by exceptional circumstances, such as an upcoming IPO launch or ambitious plans of expanding into new markets, according to a study of corporate values in Russian companies conducted by Veronica Kabalina and Lyudmila Cheglakova of the HSE's Faculty of Management