The book contributes to answering the questions raised by mayors, governors, and federal government officials in Brazil: What can cities do to improve economic performance and create jobs? The question is approached through a review of theories and policy options for city competitiveness, preliminary benchmarking of Brazilian cities, and case studies of two urban areas in Northeast Brazil the Cariri region, CearAi?? and SAGBPo LuA--s, MaranhAGBPo. The book concludes that to become and stay competitive, cities need to strive to reduce the cost of doing business by improving services, infrastructure, and reducing bureaucracies. But for a middle-income country like Brazil, which needs to be economically competitive in a globalized environment, this is not sufficient. Cities also need to strive to add value to local businesses. A crucial part of the strategy should be to create and sustain an environment that stimulates local firms to innovate and learn from each other, to nurture and facilitate the creation of synergies generated by the presence of interconnected economic clusters in the city, and to provide incentives for all local players to continuously upgrade the level of competitiveness to become better and the best. With regard to local policy actions, this book highlights the cluster approach to competitiveness, with its focus on facilitating private sector collaborations for collective efficiency organizing and facilitating private and public institutions to arrive at a common cluster vision; identifying opportunities for growth and collaboration; promoting joint actions such as co-information, co-learning, co-marketing, and co-purchasing; and jointly building economic foundations such as R&D capacities, infrastructure, skills upgrading, and public private sector support institutions. This book has provided many examples of actions that may be undertaken at the local level, but it also emphasizes the critical importance for cities to pursue a unique strategy based on their comparative and competitive advantages.

Economic activities are becoming increasingly globalised. One result being that for companies in developed market economies price-based competition is being replaced or supplemented by other forms of competitiveness. This book explores the shift towards design-based competitiveness and the escalation in the design-intensity of goods and services.

In business, there is a moment when everyone has to make a pitch; it might be your own personal OK Corral, when the consequences of failure are too painful to even contemplate, but it will always be an occasion where the outcome really matters. Brilliant Pitch will equip people to tackle pitch situations (however tough), improve their own skills and, importantly, leave them enthused about the idea of pitching and looking forward to the next one. It will do so first by outlining how to approach any pitch, then how to tailor the approach in different situations. There are secrets from the masters. There are pitch stories. (Such as the agency which pitched to British Rail, and deliberately kept them waiting in reception for an hour, with bad refreshments and no explanation for the delay...) The book brings the process to life, rather than simply listing things to do. It shows readers how they, too, can become great at pitching. Brilliant outcomes: It eliminates the possibility of doing a 'bad' pitch It will help readers get the content and preparation spot on by focusing on the needs of the audience. It will help give readers tons of confidence so they'll not only deliver brilliant pitches, but they'll be eager to pitch time and time again.

A bulletproof, step-by-step plan for turning your business brainstorm into a money-making reality
At age fifty-two, after years of working her way up the corporate ladder, Clara Villarosa found herself out of a job. But she didn't let that get her down. Instead, she put her gifts to the test and started her own business, which became one of the country's best-known independent specialty bookstores-The Hue- Man Bookstore. Now, twenty years and two successful stores later, Clara is a highly sought-after business coach and expert in the industry.
"Down to Business" expands on Villarosa's proven "First 10 Steps to Entrepreneurship for Women" to offer women everywhere a targeted plan to help them launch the small business of their dreams. This book includes advice on:
?How to develop realistic business ideas by researching the industry
?Analyzing a competitor's marketing approach and attracting your ideal customer
? Accumulating the start-up funds you need, from recruiting investors to using loans wisely
?Scouting the ideal location
? Creating a sound business plan-and beyond-with a simple, step-by-step strategy
Packed with stories of businesswomen at all stages of the game-from a beer connoisseur-turned-brewer to an avid reader-turned-literary agent-Villarosa brings together inspiring, real-life stories with her award-winning business savvy. Encouraging and empowering, "Down to Business" will get you motivated to dust off your dream and get your plan into action.

Competition between market centers is a driving force for innovation, dynamic growth, and reasonable pricing structures. Consolidating the order flow amasses liquidity, sharpens price discovery, and lowers trading costs. This book addresses such timely topics as the impact of technology on financial markets and includes contributions from prominent academics, policymakers and professionals in the field. It is the latest title in established conference proceedings series.

An insider shows how to tailor a resume that sets applicants apart from a sea of candidates.
Recruiting director Brad Karsh has worked with thousands of misguided job seekers. Now he's putting his experience into print, with step-by-step guidelines to improve the wording, content, and format of any resume.
Knowing how employers choose candidates, the author shows how to make a resume stand out. Whether readers are looking to make a career change, re-enter the workforce, find a first job, or acquire an internal position, Karsh demonstrates how to transform any resume?and get results. Includes advice for:
? First jobs
? Re-entering the work force
? Applicants who have been laid off
? Career changes
? Older applicants
? And more

This book provides the know-how that is required to successfully respond to counterfeit trade. It constitutes a unique combination of in-depth insights into the counterfeit market, best-practice strategies, novel management tools, and product protection technologies. The book thereby aids the definition and implementation of market monitoring, reaction, and prevention strategies. Key benefits are the unbiased analysis of the supply- and demand-side of the illicit market, the strong focus on assisting practitioners to deal with the challenge, as well as the high standard of research that supports the presented findings.

The aim of this book is to tackle the question of what the European territory will look like over the next fifteen years by providing quali-quantitative territorial scenarios for the enlarged Europe, under different assumptions on future globalisation strategies of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and East and West European countries. The approach is as neutral as possible vis-a-vis the results, leaving to a new forecasting model, the MASST model, built by the authors, to produce the tendencies and behavioural paths of regional GDP and population growth in each individual European region under alternative assumptions on the competitiveness strategies of different blocks of countries. The results are accompanied by strong policy messages intended to encourage long-term strategic thinking among a wide range of actors, scientists and policy makers in response to the risks and opportunities that the European territory will face."

This is the first book dealing with competition and efficiency issues in the Arab world. Combining quantitative analysis and field surveys to assess the degree of competition, the degree of efficiency and their relationships in the manufacturing sector, this book provides a unique insight into Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.

Global competition, shorter product lifecycles and increasingly demanding customers are creating significant pressures for the creation of innovative organizations. By examining eight case studies in various industry sectors in Europe, Australia, Japan and Thailand, this book provides a qualitative explanation of the complex relationships between innovation capability, e-commerce, sustainable development and new product development. The book explores how organizations develop innovation capability through the application of e-commerce, sustainable development-orientation, and new product development in order to gain competitive advantage. This knowledge will help managers, academics and policy-makers understand "what works, and why and how it works" in creating innovation-driven organizations from an international perspective, thereby providing an integrated approach to innovation management.

The quality revolution in American industry, now more than a decade old, has produced an avalanche of books, but this is the first in-depth study reporting the struggles from inside the companies that have attempted large-scale improvement efforts. Jeremy Main has interviewed more than a dozen chief executives, all of whom have managed quality programs, including Charles Clough of Nashua, Robert Galvin of Motorola, James Hagen of Conrail, Roger Milliken of Milliken, Ray State of Analog Devices, and John Young of Hewlett-Packard, in addition to hundreds of other senior executives, workers, labor representatives, city officials, military officers, and hospital administrators. Through their experiences, Main reveals what works and what doesn't work when an organization attempts the transforming leap into Total Quality Management. Their message comes through loud and clear: it is a tough battle, but persistence can win priceless rewards.

The notable successes at BancOne, L.L. Bean, Ford, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Saturn, Solectron, and Xerox prove it. However, Main shows that Motorola and Hewlett-Packard, among the earliest and best practitioners of total quality, are still finding obstacles to overcome. And some other early converts, such as Florida Power & Light, have stumbled badly along the way. Main's vivid descriptions of these setbacks capture the difficulties inherent in implementing a total quality system. His dramatic accounts of success and failure at companies such as Milliken and Intel convey valuable knowledge that is otherwise gained only by actual experience.

The way to achieve the "new quality" of today, Main shows, is through a full commitment to TQM. He revealsthrough the experiences of these companies that TQM is not just a management tool, as it has often been used, but a management philosophy that is indispensable in attaining a high level of quality -- now a requisite for competing successfully. With the collaboration of the Juran Institute, Main demonstrates how TQM has transformed companies by improving quality at all levels. The accounts of these triumphs are direct evidence that world-class quality is attainable by American industry, and will inspire and point the way for executives, managers, and government officials in their timeless pursuit of total quality.

This book offers insight into international trade and foreign direct investment competitiveness in Africa. It examines two policies frequently used to enhance international competitiveness in Sub-Saharan African economies: exchange rate policy and productivity-related policy.

Business opportunity is defined as the deriving force that creates entrepreneurship, change and growth in both SMEs and multinational firms. Business networks provide opportunities and competitive advantage but they also impose constraints on firms. This volume connects opportunity detection with business networks to explore the impact of this combination on the competitive strategies of firms. It will be of use to researchers and PhD candidates working in the field of entrepreneurship, networks, and competitive strategies and advantages.

This book focuses on East Asia, which has been attracting FDI and a centre of industrial agglomeration, and because of this, the production structure in the world has been dynamically transforming. This book analyzes this world trend and provides a framework for strategy that is required not only for Japanese local governments to implement industrial cluster policy, but also for firms to survive the global competition.

This book looks at the experiences of six Asian countries in terms of developing and implementing domestic competition policy. It analyzes how the choice of development policies impacts on the state of competition in each country and how competition contributes to development. The considerable variation in policies and experiences across the countries provides a rich source of information from which lessons and best practices can be drawn.

Globalisation of the economy and in particular the competition of low-priced goods from Asia have confronted Europe with an important question of what are its real competitive capabilities, sustainability of its economy and of the values of typical Europeans. The famous Lisbon Strategy (2000) has been an attempt to answer this by creating the knowledge economy, where providing conditions for establishment of the common European market and investing in R&D and knowledge would be of crucial importance. This book analyses the Lisbon Strategy from various perspectives. The first part of the book -- Increasing Companies' Competitiveness by means of R&D Activities and Innovations -- discusses the importance of both for economic growth. The instruments of the Lisbon Strategy are presented and then critically evaluated. It is shown that every country needs its own 'Lisbon' strategy, which would emphasise individual ways of achieving higher competitive levels. . It is in the spirit of this that we present two cases of small open economies, the Netherlands and Slovenia. In the second part -- Structural Reforms, Stabilisation, and Social Cohesion in Slovenia -- we discuss the interconnections between various mechanisms and government policies aimed at achieving faster economic growth in a technology follower country, such as Slovenia. The third part -- The innovative firm -- presents few case studies. The open innovation model is used to present the case of Gorenje, d.d., a company that is active in a mature industry. We discuss innovations in tourism, which, similar as most other service industries, has no established place in the innovation literature. The last articles in this part discuss the creation of new technological companies. The fourth part of the book -- The Company Social Responsibility -- embarks upon a currently very hot topic, which deals with the question of whether a company, in addition to achieving appropriate financial results, is also in other terms responsible for social environment.

This book aims to clarify the link between geographic clustering and international competitiveness in light of the Turkish experience, a subject that is high on the agendas of researchers as well as policy makers and strategic planners. The key findings of the study are discussed with respect to the recent debates on clusters to provide a full account of what the Turkish experience, when looked at from the viewpoint of the strategic management discipline, offers to further intellectual thinking on clusters.

The key arguments and debates about globalization have raised searching questions about the significance of national and regional borders for the competitive strategies of individuals, firms and industries." Global Competitiveness and Innovation" seeks to address these issues by exploring four key topics: The status of economic agents in the emerging global economy; the limits of path dependence and the scope of agent action; the relationship between agents' decision-making and their environments; and agents' learning capacities in a world of information and knowledge creation.

The key arguments and debates about globalization have raised searching questions about the significance of national and regional borders for the competitive strategies of individuals, firms and industries." Global Competitiveness and Innovation" seeks to address these issues by exploring four key topics: The status of economic agents in the emerging global economy; the limits of path dependence and the scope of agent action; the relationship between agents' decision-making and their environments; and agents' learning capacities in a world of information and knowledge creation.

As the Internet revolution continues to unfold and transform telecommunications, pressure is building for faster, less expensive, and more widely accessible broadband service. Such a development would facilitate improved and less expensive traditional applications such as voice telephony and web browsing. It would also enable new and useful applications such as Internet-based television, videoconferencing, and software distribution. Broadband has great potential to improve efficiency and productivity, even to improve national security in some cases. Broadband service and affordability, however, have consistently lagged well behind demand and progress in information technology, with damaging results. The Internet revolution remains incomplete and threatens to stagnate if the situation continues. In The Broadband Problem, economist and technology entrepreneur Charles H. Ferguson explains the causes and ramifications of this damaging bottleneck, and he offers suggestions on improving the current state of affairs. He asserts that current telecommunications law and policy have not provided sufficient levels of new entry, competition, and innovation in the local telecom market. The continuing dominance of ILECs (incumbent local exchange carriers) in that market impedes the healthy, and much-needed, development of an efficient broadband market. The result of these policy and market failures is inadequate technological progress, innovation, and productivity in advanced Internet services and telecommunication services generally. The broadband problem is holding us back, and thus must be addressed and solved. With this important volume, Charles Ferguson has contributed mightily to that mission.

This book provides the first summary and critical appraisal of the thinking that currently informs the management of business relationships, from the perspectives of both the buyer and supplier. The authors argue that these approaches are one-dimensional and instead recommend a more holistic approach based on power, interaction and portfolio perspectives. The book provides evidence of how relationships can be aligned and misaligned in practice, using eighteen examples drawn from a variety of business cases and circumstances.

The modern industrial states desperately need more competition in order to generate growth and employment. Although the European Union pushed its member states to open several sectors to competition, there is much left to be done. At the same time powerful interest groups try to avoid or to reduce competition on European labour markets, in the health systems, in the transport and energy sector, in public services, and in many other areas. This book shows that there is much to be gained from intensifying competition and that especially consumers would benefit. One task is to lay a sound basis for the application of competition. The other task is to implement and guarantee competition. The authors cover both issues.

European manufacturing industries are changing fast. Amid the pressures of globalisation, emerging markets and shifting geographical patterns of consumption and production, competition and collaboration need to be redefined. The book contains roadmaps for survival in the emerging global competitive arena by and for practitioners, as well as concrete examples and theoretical studies across industries. New forms of cooperation are analysed which combine intensive collaboration with high competition in networks of excellence among suppliers, manufacturers and customers. The success factors for such industrial networks are described in detail, as well as their benefits and potential risks. In a multidisciplinary approach, the book draws on parallels from other fields and disciplines in order to explore the many facets of competition and collaboration.  

Antitrust, Regulation and Competition brings together a group of well-known European and American academics to examine antitrust policies and competitive behaviour on a wide variety of topical cases and critical markets. Taking both a theoretical and applied perspective, the contributors examine issues such as entry and market concentration, auctions, technological innovation, privatization and the role of public firms, market transparency, the supply of product quality and multinational firms.

This compact, portable, alphabetically organized drug reference provides quick access to current, reliable information on more than 4500 commonly prescribed medications. Each drug monograph is divided into pharmacological and patient care considerations, and includes action, indications, contraindications, route/dosage, interactions, lab test interferences, adverse reactions, precautions/warnings, administration/storage, assessment/interventions, and patient/family education. Icons and a second colour are used to help readers quickly locate the information they are looking for. A colour identification section enables readers to identify drugs by appearance. Coverage includes up-to-date FDA approvals, investigational and orphan drugs, and indications for labeled, unlabeled, and orphan uses.