During the recent decade, superstar companies are the single most important determinant for economic growth in industrialized nations. American and Chinese tech companies are well-known prime examples. But, somewhat surprisingly, Denmark has a cohort of approximately 25 superstar companies - the likes of Novo Nordisk, Lego, Danfoss, Grundfos, etc. Of these, the eight largest superstar companies are over 105 years of age.

All aspects of innovation – product innovation, service innovation, business model innovation, revenue innovation, etc. – tick in here as a secret sauce.

Although corporate sustainability has progressed throughout the last decade, there is currently a backlash which is characterized by increasing deregulation in the U.S. and EU. Some companies have also started to scale back their ESG targets and efforts.

In this Executive AFTERNOON Brief CBS Professor and Associate Dean Andreas Rasche will debate how companies should react to this backlash with Georg Kell who is the founding Executive Director of the UN Global Compact and Chairman of Anglo-German asset manager, Arabesque Partners.