Trans-cultural leadership architecture: implications for an effective Eurasian trading partnership

Abstract

Much has been made of a prospective Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Free Trade Agreement between the Western Hemisphere nations of North and South America and the nations of the Western Pacific rim, thus far largely excluding China. Fewer details are known of a prospective Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between Europe and the Western Hemisphere, particularly between the European Union and the USA. Much less is made of a counterpart EurAsian Partnership (EAP) Free Trade Agreement, although in some respects this is equally as important as either the Trans-Atlantic or Trans-Pacific Agreements, or even more so. One indicator of intercontinental trade compatibility is the criteria on which chief executive officers (CEOs) are evaluated, and each CEO’s graded performance against such criteria. The research carried out by Insead faculty and published in the Harvard Business Review in 2010 and 2013 clearly rejects a hypothesis that an MBA degree predicts top-performing CEOs, but worldwide ‘insider’ CEOs seem to substantially outnumber ‘outsider’ CEOs on that list that takes into account the ‘bottom line’: long-term financial performance across a CEO’s tenure in office. This paper attempts to analyse top-ranking CEOs across the world to determine what characteristics such CEOs have in common, and how such similarities will optimise trade partnerships.