While the Singaporean economy has experienced one of the highest rates of growth in the world over the past three decades, questions have recently been raised about the sustainability of the Singapore development model and its continued relevance in the global economy. This book is a compilation of specially written essays by a select group of leading international scholars. The authors analytically examine a number of related issues pertaining to national competitiveness, structural and macroeconomic concerns and policy options for the Singapore economy in order for it to sustain its economic viability in the global economy. Specifically, the volume aims to: * identify key trends and strategic issues that policymakers and businesses need to be aware of in a highly competitive and technologically sophisticated global economy * highlight what exactly it means to be 'competitive' in the new global economy * hypothesise how to position Singapore in the new global economy for it to remain a thriving and prosperous nation. As the title of the book suggests, while the focus is on Singapore, there are many lessons to be gleaned for other countries in Asia and elsewhere. Scholars of Asian studies, international economics, development economics, public policy and international business economics should find this book of great value, as should policymakers and other policy analysts.

Design is an important factor in business success. This book, first published in 1989, analyses what the role of design is in business success; just what design is; and how both design and its management might be improved. It draws on extensive original research by the authors in eighty-seven companies regarded as leaders in the field of export and technological achievement and it reports on the experiences of these companies. Among the book's many important conclusions and recommendations for improved practice are: that design, rather than price, is the key factor in determining customer/user satisfaction; and that success with design is the leading characteristic of firms that compete successfully in international markets.

This book, first published in 1974, presents the findings of a research project and considers their implications for public policy. The project was designed to find out what effect the 1956 Restrictive Trade Practices Act (and the subsequent legislation of 1968) had on British industry. The Act was a decision in favour of competition against a background of well-entrenched and widespread restrictive agreements, and this book examines in depth its impact in eighteen selected industries.

This book, first published in 1983, is primarily concerned with the economic policies of the European Economic Community and the European Coal and Steel Community. It explains in detail how the common market was established and how it was maintained. Free competition cannot be created merely by removing customs duties and quotas: it is also necessary to attack the many non-tariff barriers which would otherwise impede free movement. Moreover, the Community sought to develop an industrial policy, notably in relation to the ECSC, to provide a stance towards declining industries suffering from Developing World competition.

This unique volume sets forth a managerial paradigm for helping companies to compete and prosper in a global market that is increasingly dominated by Japan, Germany and the emerging EEC. While emphasis on short-term profitability has been widely recognized as a serious handicap for companies that compete internationally, editors Stahl and Bounds reveal the full scope of the competitiveness problem. Traditional business theory, practice, and culture are deeply rooted in short-term, non-customer-oriented indicators such as stock price, volume of shipments, and quarterly earnings. These indicators, however, are no longer effective. According to Stahl and Bounds, companies need to structure themselves around net customer value--what the customer receives minus what the customer sacrifices. The book shows how organizations that focus on net customer value will ultimately enjoy more profits, market share, and customer loyalty than those based on short-term financial results. The contributors propose, as an alternative management model, a detailed, analytic paradigm that provides specific ways to identify, measure, monitor, produce, and improve customer value. Most importantly, they demonstrate why U.S. companies that want to survive and prosper in a competitive global economy will benefit from this management model.

Delivering customer value involves all areas of business management. This book provides a significant methodological breakthrough by proposing new models for costing, product development, production and inventory control, process control, logistics management, marketing, finance, and human resources. With contributions by 42 authors from academia and business, this volume delineates structural systems and practical programs for obtaining better business results through improved quality and customer satisfaction. Many of the top Fortune 500 corporations are now training their managers in the customer value paradigm. Managers in competitive markets who do not fully understand the tenets, implications, and techniques of the customer value model set forth in this book face a serious barrier to business success.

Competition, Monopoly and Corporate Governance covers three broad themes, each associated with a particular strand of Keith Cowling's own writings in industrial economics and each represented by four specially commissioned papers. Providing a critical perspective on many current issues in industrial economics the themes are as follows: internationalisation, trans-nationalism and technical change; monopoly, oligopoly and social welfare; and corporate governance, mergers and the evolution of industrial structure. These chapters provide a challenge to much of the prevailing orthodoxy. There is also an appreciation of Keith Cowling's long association with the University of Warwick, spanning more than 30 years. A distinguished series of authors have contributed to the book, including several of Europe's best-known industrial economists. Academics, economists and political scientists in the area of industrial economics will find this volume invaluable.

Contents:
1. Introduction: Knowledge, networks, and space
2. Provoking academic inquiry
3. Knowledge, learning, and innovation
4. Learning, networks, and space
5. Framework for analysis
6. Analysis of the KIC project
7. Conclusion and reflection

Taking the best elements of a product-management approach and applying them to HR activity can transform the people function. This book shows you how. Written for all HR professionals and business leaders, Built for People explains how to improve workforce and business performance by developing people-centred ways of working, evidence-based decision making and a culture of continuous feedback and iteration. It explains everything from what this approach means for business professionals, what the benefits of it are and how to do it effectively. It covers how to proactively develop an employee experience which attracts, engages and retains the talent the business needs and supports them to operate at their full potential. There is also practical guidance on the importance of user research, sprint planning, vision development and how to encourage a continuous feedback loop in your team. This book includes the importance of testing and iteration and how to define metrics for success, as well as showing you how to handle organizational change, company culture clashes and how to build and improve overall business performance and employee experience at scale. Full of tools, case studies, exercises and advice from those who are already seeing the benefits of a product-management approach, this is essential reading for all business leaders needing to develop an agile, innovative and evidence-based approach to their people operations.

There are competing theories to explain the reasons behind the international competitiveness of manufacturing in Asia. Analysing these different theories will bring important lessons, not just for Asia, but for developing economies the world over.
This lucid book studies industries and firms in East Asia and examines the major determinants of their economic performance. With contributions from such leading thinkers as Ha-Joon Chang and Rajah Rasiah, the book covers such themes as:
*industrial policy and East Asia
*Taiwan's information technology industry
*The role of the government in technological capability building
Manufacturing Competitiveness in Asia touches on many important themes and issues and as such will be of great interest to students, academics and policy-makers involved in industrial economics, international trade and Asian studies.

Relationship Marketing: Creating Stakeholder Value extends the analysis of the change in the marketing rationale from a crude concern for increased market share to a strategy aimed at creating long-term profitable relationships with targeted customers.Offering a cutting edge vision of relationship marketing, Relationship Marketing: Creating Stakeholder Value is a seminal text for all students and managers in the field. With new up-to-date case materials and examples of best practice, the book covers all the stakeholder markets - employees, suppliers, influencers, customers and consumers - for which the relationship approach is critical. It also provides crucial advice on how to develop, integrate and implement the various strands of a successful relationship strategy.

The subject of Intangibles and knowledge management is becoming increasingly significant, particularly in the realms of finance, marketing and strategy. Intangibles are the nebulous but vital aspects of companies, for example, R&D, knowledge creation, corporate identity and marketing and advertising expenditures, which are now unanimously considered to be the most important factors in the strategic positioning of organisations today. This comprehensive volume provides an integrated and original approach to intangible resource management and an evaluation of their contribution to the establishment of competitive advantage in the market place.

Related link: International association for Management of technology webpage
eBook available with sample pages: 0203465032

This volume considers how media firms, as well as entire industries, exist and persist over time despite what often seems to be intense competition for such resources as audiences and advertisers. Addressing competition within and among media organizations and industries, including broadcasting, cable, and the Internet, author John W. Dimmick studies the media industries through the niche theory lens, developed by bioecologists to explain competition and coexistence. He examines the targets of the different media--audience, advertisers, money--and how they compete, using examples from a variety of studies.
Each chapter incorporates relevant economic constructs into the analytic framework. This approach includes the use of economics of scale to explain selection and firm mortality in newspapers and movie theaters; the application of the transaction costs concept to explicate the rise of advertising agencies; the employment of the strategic group concept in analyzing the niche breadth strategy; and the measurement of gratifications-utilities.
A comprehensive overview of the determinants of media competition and coexistence, "Media Competition and Coexistence: The Theory of the Niche" offers unique insights for scholars, students, researchers, and practitioners in media economics, management, and business.

This book provides a thorough treatment of the legal, economic, and policy issues associated with safeguard measures in the WTO system. It includes a careful treatment of the history of safeguard measures under GATT, and the impetus for the Agreement on Safeguards during the Uruguay Round. It reviews the economic arguments for and against safeguard measures, including the modern political economy account of safeguards and "escape clauses" in international agreements. Subsequent chapters focus on the key legal issues associated with the use of safeguards, including the procedural requirements, the obligation to demonstrate unforeseen developments and increased imports, the concept of "serious injury," the puzzling causation test, and limitations on the scope of safeguard measures including non-discrimination principles. All of the safeguard decisions within the WTO dispute system are thoroughly dissected and analysed. Included as appendices are the relevant treaty text and the pertinent national legislation of the United States and European Union.

This book examines the relationship between competitive strategies and the use of temporary employees. An organization's choice of strategy is predicted to impact its decision to use temporary workers. The study shows that firms differ in their competitive strategies and their respective use of temporary employment, which in turn impacts organizational performance. The way in which temporary employment use and firm strategy interact to affect organizational performance depends on the manner in which performance is measured.

This path-breaking book examines the effects of multinationals on the competitiveness of industry in the UK. The in-depth investigation analyses how these firms gain access to technology and questions whether or not multinationals, in their support of local technologies, improve the potential and competitiveness of local industry. The book discusses the evolution of multinationals in the late twentieth century, the role of the UK in this evolution and the theories of multinationals. It examines what these theories imply for efficiency and welfare, and the policies which affect multinational enterprises (MNEs). The authors consider the strategic positioning of subsidiaries in the UK in relation to the firm's overall global investment strategy. Using detailed empirical surveys, they also look at the role of technology in multinationals and how these firms' strategies are developing in regard to this. The authors examine whether MNEs UK operations are dependent on existing technology or whether they play a more positive role in its local creation and use. Finally the role of decentralized R&D in multinationals, and the status of this in the UK, is considered. Multinationals, Technology and National Competitiveness will be welcomed by those interested in international investment, business strategy, technology and innovation and public policy.

The key to retaining competitive advantage in a volatile business world is agility. The third edition of The Agile Organization shows how to develop capabilities across the organization to adapt. With helpful checklists, tips and advice, this is a practical blueprint to building both agility and resilience at individual, team and organizational levels. It covers how to design agile organizations as well as how to implement agile models into existing organizations and people practices. There is guidance on how agility can be applied to talent management, flexible working patterns and the importance of mobilizing and energizing employees for change. This edition contains new material on agile mindsets and enterprise agile planning, alongside how hybrid forms of working can enhance resilience. There is also extended material on how inclusion and wellbeing initiatives can support individual resilience and innovation to improve performance across the organization. Case studies include ING, the University of California, Berkeley, the UK National Health Service (NHS) and SNC-Lavalin's Atkins business. This book is an essential read for HR and OD specialists, senior leaders and managers who want transform their organization and build an agile business.

Contents:
1. Interest Rates and Budget Deficits: A study of the advanced economies Kanhaya L Gupta and Bakhtiar Moazzami 2. World Trade after the Uruguay Round: Prospects and policy options for the twenty-first century Edited by Harald Sander and Andras Inotai 3. The Flow Analysis of Labour Markets Edited by Ronald Schettkat 4. Inflation and Unemployment: Contributions to a new macroeconomic approach Edited by Alvaro Cencini and Mauro Baranzini 5. Macroeconomic Dimensions of Public Finance: Essays in honour of Vito Tanzi Edited by Mario I Blejer and Teresa M Ter-Minassian 6. Fiscal Policy and Economic Reforms: Essays in honour of Vito Tanzi Edited by Mario I Blejer and Teresa M Ter-Minassian 7. Competition Policy in the Global Economy: Modalities for co-operation Edited by Leonard Waverman, William S. Comanor and Akira Goto 8. Working in the Macro Economy: A study of the US labour market Martin F.J. Prachowny 9. How Does Privatization Work? Edited by Anthony Bennett 10. The Economics and Politics of International Trade: Freedom and Trade: Volume II Edited by Gary Cook 11. The Legal and Moral Aspects of International Trade: Freedom and Trade: Volume III Edited by Asif Qureshi, Hillel Steiner and Geraint Parry 12. Capital Markets and Corporate Governance in Japan, Germany and the United States: Organizational response to market inefficiencies Helmut M. Dietl 13. Competition and Trade Policies: Coherence or Conflict Edited by Einar Hope 14. Rice: The primary commodity A.J.H. Latham 15. Trade, Theory and Econometrics: Essays in honour of John S. Chipman Edited by James C. Moore, Raymond Riezman, and James R. Melvin 16. Who Benefits from Privitisation? Edited by Moazzem Hossain and Justin Malbon 17. Towards a Fair Global Labour Market: Avoiding the New Slave Trade Ozay Mehmet, Errol Mendes and Robert Sinding 18. Models of Futures Markets Edited by Barry Goss 19. Venture Capital Investment: An agency analysis of UK practice Gavin C. Reid 20. Macroeconomic Forecasting: A sociological approach Robert Evans 21. Multimedia and Regional Economic Restructuring Edited by Hans-Joachim Braczyk, Gerhard Fuchs and Hans-Georg Wolf 22. The New Industrial Geography: Regions, regulation and institutions Edited by Trevor J. Barnes and Meric S. Gertler 23. The Employment Impact of Innovation: Evidence and Policy Edited by Marco Vivarelli and Mario Pianta 24. International Health Care Reform: A legal, economic and political analysis Colleen Flood 25. Competition Policy Analysis Edited by Einar Hope

The Political Economy of Competitiveness offers an original perspective on the relationship between economic theory and policy. It places the issues within an accessible political economy perspective.
Rejecting the narrowness of mainstream economics the authors deploy an interdisciplinary approach to the problem of economic growth, placing it in its historical and political context. Issues covered include:
* trade theory and policy
* industrial decline and policy
* markets, competition and innovation
* globalisation, unemployment and government policy.
The book provides a valuable guide to the major economic policy issues for both economists and business students.

A complete guide for turning a relocation plan into a reality
The Office Relocation Sourcebook provides relocation teams, at firms of all sizes, with the background information and practical guidance they need to pull off a relocation project cost-effectively and with a minimum of disruption to the employees being moved. Written by the head of the Human Factors Group at Exxon Biomedical Sciences, Inc., this valuable resource:
* Arms you with all the forms, checklists, surveys, and summaries guaranteed to make any office relocation project as painless and cost-efficient as possible
* Guides you step by step through the entire relocation process, from the initial planning stages to post-project evaluation
* Covers both the nuts-and-bolts issues and crucial human factors side of the relocation equation
* Features a computer disk packed with valuable relocation tools, including a comprehensive relocation template

Take the sting out of your next relocation project with The Office Relocation Sourcebook.
Office relocation is one of the most challenging aspects of a facility professional's job. This challenge and the thrill of meeting it are even greater for members of the relocation team who have had little or no prior relocation experience. To begin with, there are the thousand and one logistical details that go into the designing, planning, and implementation of a relocation project. Then, there is the seemingly impossible task of keeping affected employees happy and supplied with everything they need to perform their jobs--without running into massive cost overruns.
The Office Relocation Sourcebook takes the sting out of relocation. Written by an author with twenty-five years' experience in facility management and human factors design, this valuable resource provides all the background information and practical guidance needed to pull off a cost-effective relocation project with a minimum of disruption. These methods and techniques are appropriate for firms of any size, regardless of the number of employees being relocated.
Writing in a warm, conversational style, peppered with handy checklists, summaries, and survey tools, Dennis Attwood guides you step by step through the entire relocation process, from the initial planning stages to post-project evaluation. He provides coverage of nuts-and-bolts issues through the human factors side of the relocation equation. For instance, Attwood explores workers' reasons for resisting relocation and describes innovative communication techniques that can substantially reduce employee resistance and the common adverse side effects of disrupting the workplace. In his discussion of work system planning, he compares traditional design arrangements, such as the neighborhood and team concepts, with alternative workplace strategies, including reuse of existing office space, and the office outside of the company.
The enclosed disk supplies a variety of useful tools and, in addition to the forms and checklists found in the book, arms you with a valuable relocation template.
Make your next office relocation project a success with The Office Relocation Sourcebook.

Drawing on the theoretical resources of institutional economics, The New Industrial Geography opens new perspectives in economic geography. In its focus on historical and geographical context, institutional embeddedness, and tacit rules and formal regulations, institutional economics is shown to be the perfect basis for understanding the profound economic and geographical changes of the last two decades, and on which also to build a new kind of industrial geography. Issues covered include: the retheorization of the geography of industrial districts; the analysis of institutional 'thickness', and the economic-geographical effects of institutional rigidity and sclerosis; the economic-geographical consequences of new regulatory bodies and policies; and the geographically situated character of institutions and regulatory frameworks, and the effects of separating them from their originating context; the development of new strategies for achieving more equitable forms of regional development.


eBook available with sample pages: 020302186X

This volume examines the nature of interfirm networks and their role in promoting industrial competitiveness. Where previous work in this area has tended to be descriptive, the distinguished contributors to this volume present a balanced theoretical and empirical approach to interfirm networking drawing on a variety of international case studies. Issues covered include:
* The role of networks in regulating conflict and producing co-operation
* The role of networks in developing knowledge and competences
* Network governance and conflict intensive networks

This book is the outgrowth of shared interests between the editors and the contributing authors to provide a multidisciplinary perspective in evaluating universal service policy and recommending policy changes to accommodate a more competitive telecommunications environment. The book is interdisciplinary in nature to reflect the extremely complex context in which universal service policy is formed. The chapter authors represent a broad cross-section of disciplinary training, professional positions, and relationships in the telecommunications industry. Academic disciplines represented include law, economics, anthropology, communication, and business.
This book's purpose is to significantly enhance the development of effective telecommunications universal service policy among policymakers, industry members, and stakeholders in the United States. Universal service policy has been, and will continue to be, both enabled and constrained by the simultaneous interaction of social, political, technological, and economic forces in the environment in which it is formed. A more effective process for policy design is to seek agreement on how entitlements embedded in universal service policy should be modified as circumstances invariably change over time. Therefore, the volume reflects recent significant developments in U.S. universal service policy--the implementation of which continues to unfold.

This book is the outgrowth of shared interests between the editors and the contributing authors to provide a multidisciplinary perspective in evaluating universal service policy and recommending policy changes to accommodate a more competitive telecommunications environment. The book is interdisciplinary in nature to reflect the extremely complex context in which universal service policy is formed. The chapter authors represent a broad cross-section of disciplinary training, professional positions, and relationships in the telecommunications industry. Academic disciplines represented include law, economics, anthropology, communication, and business.
This book's purpose is to significantly enhance the development of effective telecommunications universal service policy among policymakers, industry members, and stakeholders in the United States. Universal service policy has been, and will continue to be, both enabled and constrained by the simultaneous interaction of social, political, technological, and economic forces in the environment in which it is formed. A more effective process for policy design is to seek agreement on how entitlements embedded in universal service policy should be modified as circumstances invariably change over time. Therefore, the volume reflects recent significant developments in U.S. universal service policy--the implementation of which continues to unfold.

Regulating Utilities and Promoting Competition continues the series of annual books, published in association with the Institute of Economic Affairs and the London Business School, which critically review the state of utility regulation and competition policy. With contributions by some of the leading figures in the field, this important new book presents incisive chapters on a number of prominent topics. These include, amongst others, the future of the railways, the international trade in gas, the economics and politics of wind power and the role of economics in merger reviews. A key feature of the book is the careful examination of fundamental issues, not only from the viewpoint of academic and other independent commentators, but also by the regulators and heads of competition authorities themselves. By addressing significant developments both in Britain and abroad, the authors draw important lessons about the policy changes needed as well as their subsequent implementation. This book will be of great value to practitioners, policymakers and academics alike who are concerned with regulation, deregulation and policies to promote competition.

Exploring the thorny issues of industrial organisation, competition policy and liberalization in the Asia-Pacific region, this book examines the ways in which governments regulate business. Using case studies from China, the USA, New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia and Japan, the authors take a comparative look at the evolution of policies and their implementation on the ground.
With a specific focus on the energy, transport and telecommuncations sectors, this book represents the most up-to-date analysis of the ways in which governments in the Asia-Pacific are coping with rapid industrial and economic change.