Dr. Yılmaz Argüden, Gizem Argüden Oskay, Dr. Erkin Erimez1 The United Nations Global Compact is a voluntary initiative based on highest level management commitments to implement universal sustainability principles and to undertake and to support UN goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals that were adopted by the world leaders at the UN Sustainable Development Summit […]

In their article published in the April 2022 issue of Harvard Business Review Türkiye, Dr. Yılmaz Argüden and Gizem Argüden Oskay state, “A broad and holistic approach must be adopted at every step, from thought to incentive systems, and from strategy to implementation for sustainability.” Leading companies align executive incentive mechanisms with strategic sustainability goals [...]

Human beings form institutions for two basic reasons: to utilize the resources more effectively, to manage the risks better in order to improve their quality of life. A corporation is a limited liability institution that aims to make profits for its shareholders1. By definition, a corporation is a construct that incorporates risk management, as it [...]

People focus more on corporate actions after the ethics scandals at the end of 20th and at the beginning of 21st century. 2008 financial crises eroded the trust to the business and the state. Public attention has increased with the organizations and CEOs’ territory that caused an increase in the visibility. Leaders need to have […]

The mortgage crises that started in the US in 2008 soon turned into a global crisis. This event had a more drastic effect on the citizens of different countries throughout the world than the fall of Berlin Wall or the terrorist event that brought down the World Trade Center in 2001. Remembering that the 1929 […]

A sustainable global economy is one that combines long-term profitability with ethical behavior, social justice, and environmental care. Companies can play a fundamental role in creating a sustainable future by embracing this challenge as an opportunity for innovation and long-term value creation. In this paper, Yılmaz Argüden traces the development of a corporation’s attitude toward [...]

Aligning Executive Compensation with Good Governance Dr. Yılmaz Argüden1 "Price is what you pay. Value is what you get." Warren Buffet Executive Summary Establishing the right executive compensation system, choosing the key performance indicators, establishing thresholds, targets, and maximums, and making fair judgements of management’s performance are among the key challenges of boards of directors. [...]

Increasing regulation of corporate governance is becoming a new trend in many jurisdictions. Yet good governance is more a matter of culture and the climate in which that culture nourishes, than regulation. I am pleased to share with you an insightful review of the European Union corporate governance proposals : General commentary on European Union […]

World leaders from government, the business world, NGOs and academia gathered at the UN’s Rio+20 summit. Yet despite all the good intentions and good ideas arising from the meeting, we are unlikely to solve the world’s economic, social, and environmental problems, argues Dr. Argüden, Turkey’s national representative of the UN Global Compact. The reason why […]

Diversity on boards is critical to sustaining performance. Broadening the composition of the board increases the size of the candidate pool and, more importantly, helps expand perspectives at the top. While most CEOs recognize the importance of appointing directors of different ages and with different kinds of educational backgrounds and functional expertise, they tend to [...]

For organizations to endure, they must strike a balance between risks and rewards, short-term objectives and long-run goals, autonomy and control, and the interests of various stakeholders. To achieve these balances, companies need effective ways of challenging the decisions that top management teams make, particularly those that involve strategic choices. It’s impossible to do that […]

Recent local elections have been a wake up call for numerous European leaders such as Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy who have faced significant losses. However, it would be wrong to put the blame of all these election losses to the performance of these leaders. Rather, most of the reaction to ruling governments is the […]

Trust is the foundation of sustainable development. As the world continues to get smaller, our mutual interdependence increases and we all need to be able to mobilise the resources and goodwill of others to achieve success. That can only be achieved through gaining their trust. Therefore, the ability to gain the trust of global financial […]

Thanks to changes in IMF voting, countries such as China, Mexico and Turkey now have a greater say in global economic governance. While applauding this change, Dr. Yılmaz Argüden examines what other shifts — on both the national and international levels — are needed to make global governance more effective and inclusive.The G20 meetings in […]

Editor’s note: When US President Barack Obama landed in Ankara on Monday, April 6, 2009, it reinforced the idea that Turkiye is a role model for predominantly Muslim countries. A modern manufacturing economy with an information technology base; world-class managerial talent; and located at the crossroads of Europe and the Middle East, Turkiye could emerge […]

In a perspective from Turkiye, top business strategist and civic leader Yilmaz Argüden explores how global governance systems may be shaped by the world financial crisis. In looking forward, he takes lessons from the world’s oldest international institutions — organized religions. The mortgage crisis that started in the United States has had a more drastic […]

In a perspective from Turkiye, top business strategist and civic leader Yilmaz Argüden argues that Barack Obama may be losing his opportunity to become a global leader. The real challenge for the United States will be creating global solutions for the all-encompassing economic crisis, he argues. Leadership is not an inherited position. Leadership is earned […]

For decades European development has been guided by a number of key values: human rights, democracy, freedom of thought and belief (and of the press), free trade, the rule of law, laicism (in most countries), and multiculturalism. Generations have been raised in an environment promoting these values. And these values have been central to helping […]

Digital players are threatening the traditional sectors and their business models and most of the executives from traditional sectors believe that the business model needs to be changed in the near future. Digital entrepreneur Marc Andreessen said that “Software is eating the world”. On the other hand, recent surveys show that only small number of […]

Innovation is one of the most important issues in global business environment, nowadays. Innovation involves creation and diffusion of new products, new processes, new methods, new business models. Global competition has made growth more challenging than ever. Companies must focus on innovation to grow and to be competitive and viable in the long-term. Innovation enables […]

Recently various Parliaments throughout the world started to get in the business of legislating history!! Generally this is done to satisfy the requests of minorities within their electoral districts. Unfortunately, such an approach is not only causing a serious dismay of millions of people whose voice is not heard just because they happen not to […]

Since 9/11, the US unilateralism has been widely interpreted as a projection of hard power to enhance own interests, rather than defending and disseminating values such as human rights, democracy, secularism, freedom of trade and liberal economy. This had the result of diminishing goodwill of the global citizens. No one can dispute the US role […]

The choices we make today shape not only the current results, but also the future. However, we live in a world that overemphasizes the near future, blinding people and institutions about the long-term implications of their current decisions and actions. The multiplicity and complexity of the issues we face, forces us to focus on solutions […]

The 5th World Water Forum has convened in Istanbul. Water is life. Everywhere and every day we need it. Water has the power to move millions of people.   People move when there is too little of it and they move when there is too much of it. People love water, they sing, dance, pray for water. They even pay to look […]

The US presidential elections have profound implications not just for the US, but also for the future of the world. However, it is rather disquieting for the US and the world that the US political debate does not touch upon the essence of what is really at stake. Families, companies, institutions, and countries go through […]

Managers usually make their decisions based on metrics, which can easily be measured and has an established system for measurement. Metrics which are important for high corporate performance, but hard to measure are not systematically followed. As a result, financial indicators, which are today’s reflection of past decisions, are over-weighted whereas indicators necessary for shaping […]

Happy families are all alike, but each unhappy family has reasons of its own. Leo Tolstoy Of all businesses in the world, 80% are family businesses, just like in our country. And it is not just the small businesses, but even 40% of the top 500 businesses are family firms. Yet, 70% of all family […]

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Eleanor Roosevelt Let us imagine how the news headlines of the year 2020 will reflect the relations between the EU and Turkiye in 20 years: “The heads of the world’s four largest stock markets (New York, London, Istanbul, Shanghai) met in Istanbul […]

“Only the educated are free” Epictetus That the importance of education increases further everyday is beyond dispute. Education is important not solely as a tool that enables one to work in high value added jobs, but also in order to have a say in critical social issues. One of the most notable advantages of our […]

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by escaping today.” Abraham Lincoln In today’s world only those societies that can allocate their resources to highest value added areas will have growing economies. This can only be achieved by making sure that the financial markets are free and competitive. Attaining real competitiveness in financial markets, in […]

“Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.” Joel Billings The speed of technological development is increasing every day. Our needs change and our knowledge base erodes while we try to keep apace technological developments. There was a time when a college degree was enough to be endowed with […]

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves.” William Shakespeare To have development, we need investment and to have investment, we need foreign capital. This is why we adopt certain policies such as the acceptance of international arbitration to attract capital to our country. It still remains, though, that today […]

“The shell must break before the bird can fly.” Lord Alfred Tennyson The greatest obstacle to growth today is not national borders, but the boundaries established by the mindset. Those companies that can develop strategies that go beyond their borders get a chance to become global players by reaching a critical size. We can learn […]

“Winning is not everything, but the will to win is everthing.” Vince Lombardi Education of a nation is not conducted class-rooms, but through sensational events that attract public attention. A Turkish football team’s first time European championship is creating a widespread excitement and happiness. It is very important to examine the management philosophy underlying this […]

“The best way to create trust in an organization is to open all doors – from top to bottom and from bottom to top and into all directions.” Robert H. Rosen Trust is as much the basis of sound human relations as it is the foundation of flourishing relationships between organizations. As the world gets […]

“Dünyada görmek istediğin değişimi, önce kendinde gerçekleştirmelisin.” Mahatma Gandhi Unprecedent improvements in information and communication technologies, decline in transportation costs, and liberalisation in international trade norms are gradually making boundaries less and less important for national businesses. On the other hand, significant changes are taking place in the definition of ‘economic scale’. New technologies reduce […]

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Confucius Decisions that are not implemented do not create value. Decisions that are not fully accepted cannot be implemented well. One of the most significant benefits of the Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy is that it secures the proper implementation of decisions because it […]

“Change starts when someone sees the next step.” William Drayton Developed countries are adamant about extending the reach of patent laws for protection of intellectual rights in concluding bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. Patent legislation is a government intervention for correction of a market failure. New knowledge creation requires high investments; but, once it is […]

LEADERS Magazine Interview Questions for: Dr. Yılmaz Argüden Chairman ARGE Consulting, Istanbul Senior Advisor and Representative in Turkey Rothschild Coordinating Chairman Turkish-American Business Councils 1. ARGE Consulting has been rated as one of the top three management consulting firms in Turkiye. What client achievements do you most like to cite that have helped lead to […]

Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great pleasure and honor for me to address you to open the EFQM Forum 2000, here in Istanbul. The Turkish quality community is proud to host you all, for the first major Quality event of the new millennium, in this city of rich historical and cultural heritage. On behalf [...]

The potential of EU for the leadership of the world was the subject of the largest European Quality Conference, held at the largest European city, Istanbul. It was concluded that the EU has the potential for leadership, not by its sheer size or its strength, but by setting an example. However, to be able to […]

Vision: The world will be a more stable and innovative place to live for the human race, if we can alleviate knowledge poverty and increase individual participation in issue based policy making. Mission: GLTs can effectively contribute to realization of this vision by establishing a Task Force to generate ideas for implementation, developing measures, and […]

Humanity’s search for truth and curiosity to reach further locations have been an ever lasting ambition. Such a search for new trade routes led not only to the discovery of a new continent, but also to new discoveries in our thought such as Newton’s rule of gravity that describes both the falling of an apple […]

Turkish-U.S. Business Council (TAİK) Chairman Dr. Yılmaz Argüden answered our questions concerning Turkish-American relations and the TAİK. What do you think about the future of Turkish-American relations? The relations between Turkey and the United States are based on common values and ideals with regard to democracy, freedom, human rights, and free market economy. Turks and […]

The most important role of government is to provide security and maintain stability. Significant changes occurred in the perception of global threat especially after September 11. People no longer need a government to declare war. Communities with indefinite identities, borders, and power (namely terrorists) start a war against a nation who has the most powerful […]