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HOW TO BUILD A PROACTIVE WORKFORCE: TRAINING PROBLEM SOLVERS OR STRATEGIC CHANGE AGENTS? Employees who take a proactive approach at work – who speak up with suggestions, try to bring about improvements, and take initiative – generally perform better, are more satisfied with their job, and progress more quickly in their career. For organizations, a proactive workforce which anticipates changes and is willing to contribute to innovation is seen as a competitive advantage. So how can organizations encourage employees to be more proactive? Previous research has highlighted two potential avenues for organizations wishing to increase the proactivity of their workforce: hiring new human resources with particular personalities and skills sets, or changing the work context, for example by enriching existing employees’ work. However, these strategies often encounter two issues that may block their implementation: the lack of opportunity to hire due to difficult economic or budgetary contexts, and the lack in means and resources to enrich job roles. It therefore falls to training and development to offer a feasible approach to promoting employee proactivity. Indeed, in the United States alone, organizations spent over $165 billion on employee training and development in 2013. But how should training approaches aimed at encouraging proactivity in the workforce be designed? And which training approaches are most effective for employees with different needs and priorities? Karoline Strauss, together with Sharon K. Parker of the University of Western Australia, decided to carry out research to address these questions. “It was clear to us that the training approach an organization should take would depend on the type of proactivity it is looking for in its employees”, says Prof. Strauss. The researchers suspected that a different training approach would be needed to encourage employees to become proactive in solving problems they encountered in their day-to-day work, or to encourage them to involve themselves in strategic change and become proactive in shaping the future of the organization. The researchers developed two distinct training interventions focused on encouraging these two types of proactivity. The researchers then recruited 112 volunteers from a police force in the North of England. The volunteers were randomly allocated to one of the two training approaches, or to a third group that received no training whatsoever. “To test whether the training approaches were effective in promoting proactivity, we compare employees who took part in the training to employees in this third group”, explains Prof. Strauss. “This means that we can rule out that employees throughout the organization became more or less proactive because of other changes that took place during the time of our study”. The researchers then tracked employees over 9 months to see if their proactivity increased. The findings showed that both training approaches were potentially effective in encouraging employees to be more proactive, but that employees’ needs and preferences determined whether the training worked for them. Prof. Strauss’s findings showed that employees faced with a high workload were most likely to respond positively to the training approach aimed at encouraging them to be proactive problem solvers. “These employees felt swamped by the demands they were facing”, states Prof. Strauss. “We succeeded in training them to approach their job in a more proactive way and take charge of challenges and obstacles they were facing”. Training these employees to identify problems in their job and to develop ways to address these problems helped them to find more efficient ways of completing their day-to-day tasks. On the other hand, the training approach aimed at encouraging employees to become more proactive in shaping the future of the organization was most effective for those who are generally more focused on long-term rather than short-term benefits. Employees who were more interested in the short-term did not respond to the training approach in the same way – they did not become more proactive. “Our findings really show that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to proactivity training”, explains Prof. Strauss. “For organizations who want to enhance proactivity in their workforce this has two important implications. First, what kind of proactivity do they expect? Do they want employees to become proactive in overcoming obstacles and finding more efficient ways of working, or do they want employees who think about the long-term future and about strategic change at the organization level? Second, organizations need to consider the situation the employee is in. What are the employee’s needs and preferences? Pushing somebody who is generally not very interested in the long-term to contribute to bringing about a vision of the organization in the future is unlikely to be effective in making them more proactive, and our findings suggest that it can even backfire”. Prof. Strauss’s work has been recognized for the strength of its experimental design which rules out alternative explanations for changes in employee proactivity. However, she suggests that more research is needed on the effects of training interventions on employee proactivity. “Our study is an important first step in determining which type of training approach can be effective in encouraging employees to be more proactive, and who is most likely to respond positively to the training. But can we, for example, combine the different training approaches, and are there other ways in which employees and organizations can benefit from proactivity training?” Further research will need to explore these questions in other organizational settings. by Karoline Strauss , 03.10.16 Source : Knowledge Lab Essec

Careers Our company is proud to have some of the industry’s best consultants in our team. The experience and passion of our staff is the foundation for our success in serving our clients. That’s why we invest heavily in recruitment, skills development and forming a work environment that fosters their growth. To discover our Job Opportunities, please contact our Talent Acquisition team on : careers@feyzinternational.com Career Management Our career management is based on progression from one level to the next and on training provided throughout your professional career. Feyz International has established a skill reference system for associates. It will allow you to identify your opportunities for further progression. Roles at Feyz International We are looking for both aspiring and experienced candidates with skills such as being demanding, able to work in a team, being creative and open-minded... Marketing - Brand Management 2 Positions Available FP & A - Financial Accounting 1 Position Available Corporate Compliance - Law 1 Position Available IT - Web Content Development 2 Positions Available Corporate Events - Management 8 Positions Available Corporate Events - Customer Service 2 Positions Available Business Consulting - Strategy 2 Positions Available FP& A - Tax 1 Position Available Find more job offers on LinkedIn Job Search Talent Development The quality and depth of our management teams, consultants and employees - both at our headquarters in Paris and at our branch in Zug - has been built over time. It has always been a key priority and an important factor in our success in creating long-term shareholder value. Our talent development strategy is based on developing leadership skills, creating a culture of responsible management, and recognizing and rewarding performance. Professional training is a key factor in personal development. That's why our goal is to enhance your skills in line with the needs of Feyz International. Human resources development is one of our main priorities... Come work with us! Field you're interested in I agree to the terms of use Apply Now Our Talent Acquisition Team will contact you if your profile matches with our offers.

SOCIAL ACCOUNTING: A TOOL FOR MEASURING CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY Corporate social responsibility is an increasingly popular topic in the corporate world and beyond, highlighting a need for best practices and a stronger understanding of what it really means to be a sustainable business. For this to occur, we need ways of measuring corporate sustainability: social accounting is one way of doing so. Adrian Zicari, professor at ESSEC, explains its merits, as well as its limitations, in a recent chapter in the Handbook on Ethics in Finance. First, a primer: social accounting refers to the measurement of an organization’s social and environmental performance, recognizing the need to go beyond measuring economic impact only. There are a number of indicators that can be used, for example the disclosure of pollution information or the composition of the company’s workforce, among others. The list of indicators goes on, as assessing social and environmental information is a complex matter. This makes the scope of social accounting quite broad, and also leads to the question of balancing comprehensiveness and comprehension: more information is not necessarily better, as it can make reports hard to understand. Many of these indicators are not measurable in financial terms, so practitioners of social accounting need to go beyond conventional accounting and gather information from different sources. This requires a significant investment. As a result, social reports are more common in bigger companies. Dr. Zicari explored five issues (1): The motivation behind corporate disclosure of social & environmental information The use of social accounting internally for management purposes The link between social accounting and financial performance Whether or not regulation contributes to sustainability The potential that social accounting has for contributing to sustainable practices Disclosure on social and environmental information Today, the disclosure of social and environmental information is usually voluntary, though some European countries have recently implemented regulations. For instance, some companies in France have to present a “déclaration de performance extra-financière”. This means that in many cases, companies can pick and choose what, how, and when they disclose. This makes it difficult to compare companies, as there are many different frameworks in use. If it is not mandatory, why do companies disclose this kind of information? One reason is to show their legitimacy, i.e. living up to social expectations. Others may have a more “defensive” strategy in play, like if they are under fire from environmental agencies. If they do produce social reports, their motivations may impact the content. Researchers have noted that companies with poorer environmental performance tend to talk more about their environmental projects (2) and use more optimistic language (3). In other words, companies tend to be strategic when deciding what they share and how they share it, and their motivation is often based on protecting or enhancing the company’s reputation. This does not necessarily mean that companies are acting in bad faith, but it does mean that they may not disclose all their social and environmental indicators. Dr. Zicari notes that this can lead to tensions between companies and stakeholders: companies may not disclose all information, while stakeholders may seek more transparency. Should disclosure be mandatory? Corporate social responsibility initiatives and social accounting alike are typically voluntary, but there are increasingly calls for more mandatory reporting. This would be beneficial in that it could increase comparability, standardize reporting, boost the scope of information shared, result in better-informed consumers. One way to increase regulation is through “soft-law” initiatives, meaning the use of frameworks that are voluntary, but provide structure, like GRI, SASB, and Integrated Reporting. If a company says that it complies with one of those, then it has to abide by that and provide the according data. This could also boost stakeholder engagement by providing a reference point and also make it easier to compare companies, as currently comparisons are hindered by the many different frameworks out there. Another option is the use of “hard-law”, legally-binding regulations. One example of this is the Directive 2014/95/EU of the European Union, under which companies with over 500 employees disclose non-financial information. Some initial research suggests that this could have a negative impact on information quality, as companies prefer to share good news (4). Increased regulations on social reporting could help, but regulation alone will not ensure disclosure, nor does increased disclosure lead to increased sustainability. This suggests that while regulation could be useful, it does not replace the need for stakeholders to advocate for sustainability. Using social accounting internally Much of the discussion has focused on disclosure to external parties. What about the goings-on inside the company? Internal indicators can help managers make decisions that align with CSR indicators. However, since the indicators can be hard to decipher, managers may struggle to work with them, especially as CSR work can be siloed within the organization. Companies use different approaches when using social accounting internally. An “inside-out” approach highlights the use of internal social accounting information by managers in their decision-making processes; this can be combined with the “outside-in” perspective, wherein external stakeholders use report information to inform their decisions (5). Both of these perspectives are important in striving for sustainability. To facilitate this process and also help managers interpret the information, CSR discussions should be integrated into corporate performance and dealt with across the organization, rather than being the responsibility solely of a specialized team. What is the link between social accounting and financial performance? Social accounting is not interchangeable with conventional accounting: how exactly do they relate? Their scopes are different, but there is a lot of overlap, both in content and in audience. For example, perhaps a firm makes an expenditure to make a process greener: this will be reported in Profit and Loss Statements (the cost) and in social reports (the effect of the green initiative). An investor may read both these statements, as the financial statements help evaluate the company’s potential and social reports show its environmental impact. The research is mixed when it comes to how sustainability actually impacts financial performance; as a result, managers may be unsure about the profitability of sustainable policies, even if they think the ethical rationale is strong. When measuring the situation, managers thus need to carefully consider the framework they use, and whether or not it is appropriate for the situation. Can social accounting lead to organizational change? Even if the link between sustainability and financial performance is unclear, sustainability remains a worthy goal. This means that social accounting, too, is useful, as a tool for achieving sustainability. What can it actually achieve? Some scholars (cf. 6) suggest that social accounting can inform better decision-making and facilitate teamwork. Others are less certain (cf. 7), who argue that it is mainly symbolic and may not lead to significant change. One thing is true: realizing true improvements is difficult, and the mere implementation of social accounting processes will not automatically improve sustainability. Further, over-reliance on social accounting may lead to a focus on the “small picture”, rather than truly revisiting conventional business models. While social accounting is not a silver bullet, it has shown success; the KPMG Survey of Corporate Reporting (2017) (8), studying reporting practices in 50 countries, found that social reporting is widespread, and there is a community dedicated to its improvement and implementation. Social accounting could also help with the “big picture”: while reports may highlight smaller, incremental improvements, these could inform long-term changes to conventional business practices. For example, mining: by definition a polluting activity, but nevertheless one that is necessary for industrial production. Using social accounting could give managers and stakeholders information that could help reduce the environmental impact as a short-term strategy, while preserving the need to look for long-term solutions that are better for the planet. Social accounting is necessary and helpful for improving business models. Increased disclosure illuminates managers how the company can improve and informs the company’s efforts to be socially responsible. More transparency will benefit stakeholders and empower the public. We need to remember that social accounting remains a means to an end, and it will be tested by how effectively it creates measurable change in corporate practices. Key points and takeaways Tension exists between companies and stakeholders, as the former may not share all information and the latter seek greater transparency. Regulation could improve report quality, but will not automatically improve disclosure. Managers may find it challenging to work with social and environmental indicators, leading us back to the first point: some information may not be disclosed because it is not well understood or not readily available. We still do not have a clear picture of the link between sustainability and financial performance. We must be clear-eyed on the promise of social accounting. It can help improve existing business models, but does not create new ones, and managers should be encouraged to use complementary tools. All things considered: social accounting is an increasingly helpful tool for managers and stakeholders, and can help improve corporate sustainability. References Zicari, A. (2020). The many merits and some limits of Social Accounting: Why disclosure Is not enough. Handbook on Ethics in Finance, 541–557. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29371-0_14 Cho, C. H., & Patten, D. M. (2007). The role of environmental disclosures as tools of legitimacy: A research note. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 32(7-8), 639-647. Cho, C. H., Roberts, R. W., & Patten, D. M. (2010). The language of US corporate environmental disclosure. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 35(4), 431-443. Costa, E., & Agostini, M. (2016). Mandatory disclosure about environmental and employee matters in the reports of Italian-listed corporate groups. Social and Environmental Accountability Journal, 36(1), 10-33. Burritt, R. L., & Schaltegger, S. (2010). Sustainability accounting and reporting: fad or trend?. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal. Burke, J. J., & Clark, C. E. (2016). The business case for integrated reporting: Insights from leading practitioners, regulators, and academics. Business Horizons, 59(3), 273-283. Rodrigue, M., Magnan, M., & Cho, C. H. (2013). Is environmental governance substantive or symbolic? An empirical investigation. Journal of Business Ethics, 114(1), 107-129. Blasco, J. L., & King, A. (2017). The road ahead: the KPMG survey of corporate responsibility reporting 2017. Zurich: KPMG International. by Adrián Zicari , 08.06.21 Source : Knowledge Lab Essec

Industries Our experience spans every industry and challenge, which gives us a unique perspective that we bring to every client relationship. We help you see the world differently, discover opportunities you may never have imagined and achieve results that bridge the present and the future. Automotive We help top management make breakthrough decisions that generate profitable growth through improved cost positions and increased efficiency. Improving healthcare has been a pivotal part of our business consulting services’ mission. The global healthcare environment today is as complex as ever, and Feyz International Healthcare experts have built immense experiences in the industry to help you optimize the growth and profitability of your risk-sensitive healthcare business. Feyz International curates progressive innovations that help the community progress. Our business consulting services have led the way in the healthcare industry over the many years by assessing the true value of healthcare businesses, placing the right processes that fit their needs, and extracting value from the market and adding it to the core of the entities we work with. In the dynamic world of healthcare, a business’ success is not measured by its attainability, but by its sustainability. Financial services companies of all sizes engage Feyz International to help them develop practical, winning strategies for a dynamic market. We work in close partnership with senior executives and investors to resolve their most complex commercial challenges, committing significant senior time to every engagement. Our teams leverage both their deep sector knowledge and advanced analytical capability to develop the right approach to achieving clients’ goals. We help our clients expand into new geographies and market segments. This includes mature and emerging geographical markets; consumer and business/commercial markets; mainstream and niche product areas; direct and intermediated markets; and new, innovative markets enabled by the rapid changes that are ongoing in financial services. Our market entry strategies for clients open the door to growth and long-term value creation, with a proven track record of success. Become our partner! partners@feyzinternational.com Healthcare Financial Services About Us

About Us Feyz International is a growing company offering consulting services, event management and investment assistance to local and international clients - both in Europe and abroad. Founded by a diverse group of international development professionals, Feyz International has delivered development consulting projects in Switzerland, France, Turkey, Russia and the surrounding region since 2018. Our Activity Feyz International is a European Consulting company providing guidance and solutions to businesses. Founded in 2018, Feyz International is specialized in legal, financial & tax advisory, and corporate event management. With more than 100 customers across the world, we have been rolling out solutions in major projects for many years. Recognized for their expertise and valued for their analysis and technical skills, our consultants and engineers engage across all sectors ranging from financial services and transportation, to healthcare and technology. Our experts, around Europe, design, manage and accompany transformation processes with measurable results. Our unique business model allows us to blend management consulting skills, hands-on industry expertise and functional knowledge, including such substandard competences as tax management, process optimisation, technology consulting, FDI & FPI, sourcing support, procurement strategy and much more… Feyz International’s Corporate Event management team organises customised summits, conferences and gala dinners for industry leaders with trending innovative topics and their solutions. We provide our clients a networking platform constituting of 5000+ C-level executives from different backgrounds and industries, such as Media, Retail, Banking or Healthcare, who can anticipate issues and help companies strive. Our team will guide and cater for our customers to have the best possible experience! Our Mission Connecting Passionate Leaders to Provide a Better Future At Feyz International, we connect passionate professionals to create insightful solutions to any challenges they may face. Our ability to anticipate, comprehend and provide a deep understanding of our clients' engineering, strategic and planning needs leads to sustainable results and long-term partnerships. Our commitment to individual empowerment and continuous development enables us not only to best serve our clients, but also to better influence our own destiny, shaping the future of society. Our Vision To provide authentic solutions driven by commitment and perseverance to create sustainable business value We strive to be known for our ability to find genuine, simple and sustainable solutions to our clients' most compelling opportunities and complex challenges. By earning trust through bold actions, our associates will be recognized for their success in delivering world-class solutions and maximizing customer satisfaction. To realize this vision, we will be at the forefront of staff development and sustainable business transformation. Our Events

How secure access services edge security will transform networks During a media event at Netskope’s SASE Week , Steve Riley, the discussion moderator and field chief technology officer for Netskope , asked, “What’s the driving force for SASE? Why now? What’s changed?” The short take is that we are in the midst of a digital transformation, with a stronger reliance on mobile and cloud computing than ever before, according to various attendees, and we need to implement secure access services edge (SASE) now to properly address data security and networking issues that are quickly approaching. Jason Clark, chief strategy officer at Netskope, said that business has been moving to a cloud-based framework and that cloud adoption has been accelerated by the pandemic. “Data is now sitting on a CPU that you don’t own or control because it’s on the cloud, and it’s being transmitted on a network — or the internet — that you don’t own, and the users are off the network. The security teams are being stretched by this,” he said. Clark stresses that moving to SASE means “a repositioning of security to consolidate to one new security inspection point. It’s a smart reset.” When Ed Amoroso, founder, and CEO of cybersecurity consultancy TAG Cyber , was asked why he was advocating for a move to SASE, he used an easy-to-visualize model. “Hub and spoke networks consolidated and brought everything to the datacenter. Now data is scattered among apps, cloud, and different work clouds so the hub and spoke doesn’t make any sense anymore,” he said. “By conceptualizing what you need in your mind, you start putting together SASE. We’re at a time when people need different networks that can be controlled from the cloud. Anyone listening can self-generate that SASE is required just by thinking about how we use networks today.” Meeting network engineers’ needs After, Riley poised two thought-provoking questions — “If everything is on the cloud, is there a network to manage?” and “If there is no datacenter, are there now many centers of data?” — George Gerchow, chief security officer at Sumo Logic , led a discussion on the importance of focusing on data security and encryption. Gerchow stressed repeatedly the need for collaboration with control, saying, “You have to have availability, but that availability has to have seamless security. Availability matters because people have to use their services, but if you don’t have security to go with it, good luck, because it can be over in an instant.” Clark suggested that there are two avenues in building a SASE framework: “If it’s security-led, then it’s about the data. Sometimes it’s network-led, and for networking, [then] it’s about access.” Supporting the idea of a network-led framework, Amoroso said, “Many things that have nothing to do with security are an important part of the architecture.” He pointed out that he has a stack of laptops that he still uses for each company with whom he consults because that’s the only way to access his corporate clients’ perimeter. The reality is that network engineers are probably busier than they’ve ever been, and SASE can bring about needed improvements to network access. Zero trust is adaptive trust Introducing the topic of zero trust elicited some laughter from panelists. They all proceeded to comment on the buzzword aspect of the phrase, despite much misunderstanding about what it really is. Clark summarized by saying, “It’s a framework that needs to be embedded in how we operate. It’s not binary. Trust is not on or off. Zero trust has a zero to five scale in my mind.” Riley added, “Zero is the starting point, but ultimately you’ll have to extend some level of trust in order for some level of interactivity to occur.” He followed that up by suggesting that the term “adaptive trust” would be more accurate, which was met with panel agreement. Clark described a zero-trust relationship as allowing its users to “give the least amount of access as possible, as much as possible, so that bad things can’t happen.” Gerchow added that zero trust is a fabric of many things, and that it entails working closely with vendors and partners to stop anything that isn’t supposed to happen. The great SASE migration Overall, the panel seemed to largely focus on a key question, “How do we convince the C-Suite?” Panelists agreed that SASE is the future of data security and secure access, but disagreed on how long it will take for a cloud adoption tipping point moment. Clark brought up the importance of the shared responsibility model, where you can control what user has access to, as well as what data is included. He said that a company should have its own standard for considering third-party risk before granting any outside agency access to its cloud-based framework. It was Amoroso who summarized the task of transitioning to SASE best. “It’s like if you have a new house, and you move your messy garage one piece at a time into the new garage, but you want to keep it organized as you go,” he explained. “The data that needs to move to the cloud is scattered. There are companies dealing with lost data. I think it’ll all eventually get to the cloud, but moving it is complicated.” by Corinna Makris , 06.11.21 Source: www.venturebeat.com

Our Latest News www.feyzinternational.com What challenges do companies currently face regarding security? What is their cybersecurity strategy for the future? And what role does digital sovereignty play in this?... CYBERSECURITY 2023: CLOUD SECURITY IS KEY ISSUE FOR COMPANIES EU SUSTAINABLE GROWTH REGULATIONS: THE CHALLENGES OF TRANSPARENCY, COMPARABILITY, AND LEADERSHIP With the European Green Deal of December 2019 supporting long-term signals to support green investments, and the proposed European Climate Law as a framework for... www.feyzinternational.com About Feyz International Feyz International is a European Consulting company providing guidance and solutions to businesses. Founded in 2018, Feyz International is specialized in legal, financial & tax advisory, and corporate event management. With more than 100 customers across the world, we have been rolling out solutions in major projects for many years. Recognized for their expertise and valued for their analysis and technical skills, our consultants and engineers engage across all sectors ranging from financial services and transportation, to healthcare and technology. Our experts, around Europe, design, manage and accompany transformation processes with measurable results. Our unique business model allows us to blend management consulting skills, hands-on industry expertise and functional knowledge, including such substandard competences as tax management, process optimisation, technology consulting, FDI & FPI, sourcing support, procurement strategy and much more… Feyz International’s Corporate Event management team organises customised summits, conferences and gala dinners for industry leaders with trending innovative topics and their solutions. We provide our clients a networking platform constituting of 5000+ C-level executives from different backgrounds and industries, such as Automotive, Retail, Banking or Healthcare, who can anticipate issues and help companies strive. Our team will guide and cater for our customers to have the best possible experience! Upcoming Events Zürich Learn More Targeted towards IT leaders striving to improve and create value for their businesses. Tech Leadership Conference Paris Learn More This conference provides a networking platform for pioneers in the European and French markets. Business Leadership Conference Learn More Milan IT Leadership Summit is specifically designed to share knowledge and to expand professional networks. IT Leadership Summit Milan Industries Healthcare Healthcare companies must identify ways to deliver better value for patients, fuel innovation and reduce the cost and complexity of operating systems. Learn More Our Services Management Consulting Sales & Marketing Consulting IT Consulting Feyz International provides exceptional networking events and a wide range of consultancy services to our clients through effective and cost-efficient business strategies, FDI and FPI consultancy, financial and administrative services. Our team consists of people skilled in appropriate technologies and architectures to deliver creative, innovative, flexible solutions that are reliable and exceed expectations. Find Out More Financial & Tax Advisory Audit & Risk Advisory Legal Advisory

CONSUMER FINANCE IN THE DIGITAL AGE: LEVERAGING BIG DATA AND TECHNOLOGY TO PERSONALIZE PROTECTION Have you ever wondered why consumers tend to make suboptimal financial decisions, and why financial firms are often in a position to exploit them? Clearly, this is due in part to consumers’ biases and limited rationality. As consequence, even well-meaning policy interventions have often regulated for rational consumers and made them worse rather than better off. However, recent developments in behavioral science and economics seem to have made their way to traditional regulatory interventions. And while the combination of behavioral insights and big data analysis is raising issues relating to privacy and equality before the law, it is also opening up the possibility of tailoring the regulation of financial market behavior to more empirically valid characteristics. Consuming Financial Products Retail clients, you, me, we all engage with the financial system in various ways. We open accounts, we get personal loans, we may even be tempted to invest in bonds or shares. Some of the opportunities in the financial market are believed to dramatically improve our well-being. Pension-related products are one striking example: they help up save effortlessly for times when we will not have an income anymore. However, financial markets are complex and also expose consumers to greater risks than other marketplaces. Some risks are product specific and derive from the speculative nature of the instrument. Other risks are more general and related to consumers’ pattern of behavior. Even products such as insurance products that are not indexed to the ups and downs of the financial market do expose financial consumers to ill-suited or expensive choices. Decision-making and the Human Brain It is now widely recognized that individual cognitive processing has limited capacity. The human brain deploys mechanisms to economize on cognitive processing in decision-making: this saves time but results in systematic errors in decision-making, which might not happen if the person was given unlimited time and the analytic resources to make these choices. Therefore, consumers make predictably costly mistakes in financial markets: they buy high and sell low, invest in attractively presented instruments they do not understand, and pay excessive fees. The Myth of Rules of Thumb and the Rational Consumer If we want to protect and empower the financial citizens that we are, close attention should be paid to consumers’ behaviors, to their imperfect analyses and distorted judgments. Let us not forget that many existing rules are written with a fictional (rational) consumer in mind: someone who reads labels and disclosures, takes the time to scrutinize contracts, and checks the terms and conditions. In reality, we are nothing like the fictional consumer. Instead, we use shortcuts to make decisions, relying on intuition rather than deliberation. Thus, many potential errors, anomalies or biases in consumer decision-making may be explained by the use of rules of thumb leading to incorrect beliefs. We are unlikely to make an active choice when one option is a default (‘inertia’). An example of this is automatically renewable contracts, such as are often found in banking services. It has also been established that we can only deal effectively with a limited amount of information (‘information overload’). For this reason, it is not sensible to throw into the terms and conditions of loan agreements more information than consumers can process. Another example is present bias. This causes us to discount costs that seem distant in the future (‘hyperbolic discounting’). For example, a credit card with a low introductory teaser interest rate and high long-term interest rate is regarded as attractive, irrespective of the total cost. A last example, ‘optimism bias’ can lead us to misjudge the amount of use we make of a service: thus we might believe that we will never be in a situation where we need an expensive overdraft. Errors of this kind can result in choosing a contract that does not suit our needs. Leveraging Big Data and Technology to Personalize Protection Businesses have long been aware of this set of behaviors and regulations have started to take into account and incorporate insight from behavioral studies. What would be useful is to bridge the gap with Big Data, which is just another key to understanding consumer behavior. The power of Big Data and associated predictive analytics could be used to improve the efficiency of consumer law. While heterogeneity among consumers often means that regulations are over- and under-inclusive, the rise of Big Data has significantly decreased the costs associated with creating and administering personalized legal rules tailored to specific individual profiles or circumstances. This is just one example out of many more. In short, the combination of behavioral economics and Big Data analysis opens up the possibility of tailoring the regulation of market behavior to more empirically valid characteristics, and to personalize it. This exciting prospect also opens up major questions, relating in particular to how privacy can be ensured and how justice can be achieved. Nevertheless, private law can potentially embrace and harness these insights, and use them to solve problems such as unfair terms or debt payment issues. by Geneviève Helleringer , 21.09.21 Source : Knowledge Lab Essec

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THANKS TO THE DATA FOOTPRINT Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies have had to accelerate their digital transformation. This implies increased investments, so substantial that they require C-level support. The stakes are high for organizations. From accelerating sales to optimizing operational processes, digital impacts the value chain in every aspect. If the digital revolution generates an inevitable modernization of companies and a hope of value generation, it also provokes a major challenge for organizations: Data. Data from transactions, customers, products, etc. invades the daily operations of organizations, constituting a potentially valuable asset, but above all an important challenge in terms of governance and management. Organizations must increase the understanding of these data as part of their transformation. In the very short term and in an uncertain time, data becomes more crucial than ever to identify the levers of performance of companies. Optimizing costs, increasing business revenues, and driving process efficiency are all initiatives based on the availability of relevant data. As the decision cycles accelerate, many decision-makers will no longer be able to drive their businesses with approximate and often inaccurate data. Having good data - and just in time - has become a pressing necessity. But this prospect seems attainable only if the data heritage is better mastered. This is precisely the purpose of the "Data Footprint" method designed by Kearney and Essec. Evaluating the data footprint now constitutes an essential approach to secure investments and increase control over data assets. The Data Footprint approach introduces a virtuous practice that aims to understand the data heritage, risks, challenges and limits linked to data within organizations. The Data Footprint is an evaluation process based on a 360° analysis of the data required as part of a company initiative steered by the entity in charge of Data Governance. The aim of the Data Footprint is to assess the data assets to establish a risk assessment score. Based on multiple dimensions of analysis such as data quality or security, our method allows a quantified assessment of the data heritage in an organization. Today, the data heritage is still poorly controlled and exploited in many companies. What is the quality level of critical data sets in the organization (e.g customers/suppliers’ data)? What is the level of risk associated? What is the degree of control and ownership of data in the organization? These questions are often asked by decision makers without concrete answers based on a structured assessment. The complexity of information systems combined with the lack of governance make the data equation often complex and costly. The Data Footprint allows companies to get a tangible data assessment across multiple dimensions in order to establish a risk score. The purpose of such a measure is to be able to accurately assess areas of weakness and to monitor data heritage improvements. The approach also allows internal and external benchmarks based on a standardized analysis grid. The strategy for implementing a Data Footprint should be progressive while focusing on the critical data sets in the context of companies’ major programs, projects or business transformation initiatives. The approach should involve several collaborators, at least representatives of business lines and IT, who jointly use a score sheet based on the following five dimensions:accessibility and availability,quality, ownership,risks, and identification of the future users. The overall score calculated on these five dimensions can range between 0 and 15, the lower the score the higher the risk related to the enterprise initiative. Consider as an example a company specializing in the distribution of electronic equipment to the general public through its distribution network of more than 2,000 stores. As part of its data strategy, the company decides to launch a priority project that deploys a “Customer-centric” approach in order to increase customer value. The objective is to capture a better understanding of customer preferences in order to meet their expectations. The company anticipates a significant potential risk linked to data (availability, quality, etc.) and decides to launch a Data footprint approach. The total Data risk score for this company was less than 5 in the evaluation exercise. On the recommendation of the Chief Data Officer in agreement with the rest of the team, the decision to launch the project is postponed pending the implementation of a specific data related action plan. This approach allowed the company to apprehend a major risk related to data on this project. Indeed, a rapid launch of this project without prior assessment would have potentially led to failure with economic consequences (losses estimated at a few hundred thousand euros). The approach also made it possible to initiate collaborative work around the data over the entire duration of this assessment (one month), and thus avoiding internal misunderstandings about the responsibilities of the various stakeholders (Business lines, IT teams, etc.). Finally, a clear action plan could be drawn justifying the investment of technical and human resources to upgrade the information system. by Jeroen Rombouts , 19.10.20 Source : Knowledge Lab Essec

Our Company Feyz International is part of the Feyz Global group that operates in multiple countries around the world. The historically grown focus of the group's activities lies on the transportation & logistics, international trade, construction and private security industries with a special emphasis on business in Europe and Middle East. However, the functional competencies also comprise financial services, investments, event management and business consulting. Our Values Our Community A positive future for humanity is achievable. However, in all areas of society, building a better tomorrow requires the unlocking of resourcefulness. That is why we give our time and expertise to support communities and inspire people, especially those who are disadvantaged, to become the innovators and leaders of tomorrow. Our Organisation Our History 2018 Established Feyz & Co LLC in Paris Service operations start in France Managed the 1st major consulting project 2020 Service operations end in France due to COVID-19 Dissolved Feyz & Co LLC 2021 Established Feyz International LLC in Moscow Service operations start in Russia 2022 Opened a branch office in Paris Service operations end in Russia due to sanctions Headquarters location changed 2023 Service operations start in Turkey Organised the 1st major corporate networking event 2024 Opened subsidiaries in Zug and Gland (Vaud) Service operations start in Switzerland

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