Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for more than 90 per cent of all businesses in the Asia-Pacific region - an area which is rapidly updating its competition laws and regulations to encourage greater enterpreneurship and open, dynamic economies. Yet SMEs are almost invisible when those competition policies and laws are developed and enforced. SMEs are often quite different businesses than large, multinational corporation, but their nature, significance and characteristics are often overlooked. This book seeks to rectify the relative neglect in research and policy discussions on the role of the SME sector in competition policy and law. Drawing on contributions from a wide range of competition regulators, lawyers, academics, consultants and advisers to the SME sector, it addresses such important issues as: - perceptions and views of small businesses about competition law; regulator engagement and education of the SME sector; - the link between competition law and economic growth; - franchising, SMEs and competition law; issues in enforcing competition law against SMEs; - the role of Chinese family firms; - trade, professional and industry associations; - country case studies from Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, South Korea, Hong Kong SAR, Japan and the Pacific Islands.

The global value chain approach to development looks at trends and lead firms in global industries juxtaposed to firm and industry performance in local economies to identify strategies for value creation and upgrading that increase prosperity and economic growth. The movement to higher-value-added activities and services improves competiveness with other socio-economic multiplier effects such as employment creation, foreign direct investment, rural development, human skills development, and economic growth and resilience. These studies are meant to provide an understanding of Caribbean firms and industries as they operate within the global value chain. They explore the strategies adopted by selected firms and industries to attain competitiveness in the context of global markets, discuss the strategies of leading global firms and analyse the local policy and institutional environment for business and how value is created to identify areas where upgrading at the local firm and industry level can take place to increase local value capture either by firm, industry or country.

One of the predominant trends of modern society is the pervasive presence of competition. No longer just a function of economic markets or democratic systems, competition has become a favoured tool for governing people and organizations, from the provision of schooling and elder care to the way we consume popular culture. Yet social scientists have played a surprisingly modest role in analysing its implications, as the discussion of competition has largely been confined to its narrow economic meaning. This book opens up competition for the study of social scientists. Its central message is that while competition seems ubiquitous, it should not be taken for granted or be naturalized as an inevitable aspect of human existence. Its emergence, maintenance, and change are based on institutions and organizational efforts, and a central challenge for social science is to learn more about these processes and their outcomes. With the use of a novel definition of competition, more fundamental questions can be addressed than merely whether or not competition works. How is competition constructed - and by whom? Which behaviours result from competition? What are its consequences? Can competition be removed? And, how do these factors vary with the object of competition - be it money, attention, status, or other scarce and desired objects? This book investigates these and more questions in studies of competition among and within schools, universities, multinational corporations, auditors, waste-disposal firms, fashion designers, and more.

For all the turmoil that roiled financial markets during the Great Recession and its aftermath, Wall Street forecasts once again turned bullish and corporate profitability soared to unprecedented heights. How does capitalism consistently generate profits despite its vulnerability to destabilizing events that can plunge the global economy into chaos? The Great Levelerelucidates the crucial but underappreciated role of the law in regulating capitalism's rhythms of accumulation and growth. Brett Christophers argues that capitalism requires a delicate balance between competition and monopoly. When monopolistic forces become dominant, antitrust law steps in to discourage the growth of giant corporations and restore competitiveness. When competitive forces become dominant, intellectual property law steps in to protect corporate assets and encourage investment. These two sets of laws-antitrust and intellectual property-have a pincer effect on corporate profitability, ensuring that markets become neither monopolistic, which would lead to rent-seeking and stagnation, nor overly competitive, which would drive down profits. Christophers pursues these ideas through a close study of the historical development of American and British capitalist economies from the late nineteenth century to the present, tracing the relationship between monopoly and competition in each country and the evolution of legal mechanisms for keeping these forces in check. More than an illuminating study of the economic role of law, The Great Leveler is a bold and fresh dissection of the anatomy of modern capitalism.

Standards are everywhere, yet go mostly unnoticed. They define how products, processes, and people interact, assessing these entities' features and performance and signaling their level of quality and reliability. They can convey important benefits to trade, productivity, and technological progress and play an important role in the health and safety of individual consumers and the environment. Firms' ability to produce competitive products depends on the availability of adequate quality-support services. A "national quality infrastructure" denotes the chain of public and private services (standardization, metrology, inspection, testing, certification, and accreditation) needed to ascertain that products and services introduced in the marketplace meet defined requirements, whether demanded by authorities or by consumers. In much of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, national quality infrastructure systems are underdeveloped and not harmonized with those of their trading partners. This imbalance increases trade costs, hinders local firms' competitiveness, and weakens overall export performance. The objective of Harnessing Quality for Global Competitiveness in Eastern Europe and Central Asia is to highlight the need to reform and modernize the institutions in the region toward better quality and standards. The book ties in with much of the work done in the World Bank on the business environment, trade facilitation, economic diversification, and enterprise innovation. The countries in the region can improve this situation, revising mandatory standards, streamlining technical regulations, and harmonizing their national quality infrastructure with those of regional and international trade partners. Most governments will need to invest strategically in their national quality infrastructure, including pooling services with neighboring countries and stimulating local awareness and demand for quality. Specifically for the countries of the former Soviet Union, the restructuring process will need to improve governance, thus eliminating conflicts of interest and providing technically credible services to the economy.

A guide to effectively communicating with customers to create lasting--and repeat--business relationships.
This book provides practical, results-oriented guidance for effective communication with customers through sample words, phrases, scripts, and strategies applied to real-world examples.
Unlike the vast majority of books that deal with customer communication, "How to Say It(R) Creating Complete Customer Satisfaction" does not separate sales from customer service communications, but instead integrates them into a single book. Readers will learn how to: Speak the language of Yes by asking the right questionsGet referrals through established customersOffer value through solutions, satisfaction, and trustAnticipate and preempt objectionsOwn a problem by owning the solution

Today's manufacturing organisations in Mexico are increasingly confronting new markets, new competition, and greater customer expectations. Being immersed in this highly competitive environment is considered relevant for manufacturing SMEs to achieve optimal organisational performance, through efficient work processes, and leading the company to accomplish the competitiveness that the market demands. With this process, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Mexico face manifold difficulties in reference to the operational efficiency required to stay in the market. While globalisation poses challenges and opportunities for the development of enterprises, SMEs have not found a way to exploit this conjuncture, and they may not be sufficiently competitive with new market requirements. This book, with the incorporation of the theoretical review of the concepts involved, and the empirical study, which shows the relationship between organisational performance and competitiveness from the perspective of resource-based theory, provides greater understanding of this theoretical connection through non-experimental research; of trans-sectional type; and with a correlational/causal approach.

According to conventional economic wisdom, it is believed that the beneficial functioning of competition is not secured spontaneously but must be supported by state action, ie: specific antitrust laws and agencies. Hence, competition is regarded as an instance in which the visible hand of the state is believed to be needed in order to enable the invisible hand of the market to function more effectively. Topics discussed in this book include the competition and antitrust policy in the Austrian economic perspective; competition in the pharmaceutical market in Austria; a study of the greed factor in capitalism; consumption behaviours in a vertical differentiation model; the effects of mergers in the retail sector; and market competition with irrational agents.

Changing industry dynamics, increased competition, globalisation and organisational restructuring are putting managers in dire need to understand what can and cannot help them attain competitive advantage. In this book, the authors present current research in the study of the psychology, production impact and global trends of competitiveness in the business and economic spectrum. Topics discussed include the cost of economic and environmental integration between the EU and Turkey; impact of social networks in firm competitiveness; the role and significance of HRM in organisational competitiveness; competition in technology advancement and the co-existence of intra-firm competition and co-operation.

Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing deals with the main components of a data warehouse for business intelligence applications. Lather's work covers a range of relevant concepts; how a data warehouse fits into the overall strategy of a complex enterprise, how to develop data models useful for business intelligence and how to combine data from operational databases into a data warehouse. The common functions of business intelligence technologies such a reporting, online analytical processing, analytics, data mining, and predictive analytics are also elucidated in this book. This book will serve as a valuable reference for decision-makers in the fields of information technology and business management, as well those studying the subject.

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.

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.

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

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.

One of the most vexing problems for governments is building controversial facilities that serve the needs of all citizens but have adverse consequences for host communities. Policymakers must decide not only where to locate often unwanted projects but also what methods to use when interacting with opposition groups. In Site Fights, Daniel P. Aldrich gathers quantitative evidence from close to five hundred municipalities across Japan to show that planners deliberately seek out acquiescent and unorganized communities for such facilities in order to minimize conflict.

When protests arise over nuclear power plants, dams, and airports, agencies regularly rely on the coercive powers of the modern state, such as land expropriation and police repression. Only under pressure from civil society do policymakers move toward financial incentives and public relations campaigns. Through fieldwork and interviews with bureaucrats and activists, Aldrich illustrates these dynamics with case studies from Japan, France, and the United States. The incidents highlighted in Site Fights stress the importance of developing engaged civil society even in the absence of crisis, thereby making communities both less attractive to planners of controversial projects and more effective at resisting future threats.

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 is the first book to provide a systematic treatment of the economics of antitrust (or competition policy) in a global context. It draws on the literature of industrial organisation and on original analyses to deal with such important issues as cartels, joint-ventures, mergers, vertical contracts, predatory pricing, exclusionary practices, and price discrimination, and to formulate policy implications on these issues. The interaction between theory and practice is one of the main features of the book, which contains frequent references to competition policy cases and a few fully developed case studies. The treatment is written to appeal to practitioners and students, to lawyers and economists. It is not only a textbook in economics for first year graduate or advanced undergraduate courses, but also a book for all those who wish to understand competition issues in a clear and rigorous way. Exercises and some solved problems are provided.

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.

Possibly no group is more conscious of the challenges created by the increasing integration of markets for capital, labor, products and information than small, developing economies. Policy makers from these economies have sought a two-track response to this integration. One response lies in increasing lobbying efforts for these economies to be accorded special or more equitable treatment in market integration discussions. The second response lies in improving the competitiveness of their economies. It is this second response that provides the subject matter for this book. It explores the challenges and opportunities associated increasing competitiveness in small, developing economies based on research conducted in the Caribbean. The topics covered indicate the breadth of activity that is required to enhance competitiveness. At the macro-policy level, the book explores the key drivers of competitiveness, examines the role of exchange-rate regimes and of government policy, considers the implications sovereignty, and assesses the extent to which competitiveness is likely to be improved by attracting foreign direct investment. At the level of private-sector enterprise the book reports on Caribbean-based research on the role of workplace change and enterprise management in enhancing firm competitiveness. Finally, the book covers competitiveness enhancement in rarely traded non-private and micro-enterprise sectors of small economies.

'Building Competitive Firms: Incentives and Capabilities' explains how firms become competitive in language suitable for both technical and non-technical readers. A simple analytical framework integrates elements such as competition policy, corporate governance, foreign direct investment, innovation readiness, intellectual property rights, e-commerce and supply chain management. These 'behind-the-border' elements are pivotal to shaping the investment climate in any country and enhancing the benefits of trade liberalization. Each of these themes is discussed in detail with a focus on policy design and international best practice in implementation.

Globalization has increased competitive pressures on firms. Together with rapid technological change, it has altered the environment in which firms operate. While globalization offers unprecedented opportunities for firms to act successfully, it simultaneously heightens the risks for firms lagging behind. In an open and liberalized world, increasing firm competitiveness has become a major challenge. This volume provides a thorough analysis of the competitiveness of firms in the Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA). It is organized into four parts which detail the different issues related to firm competitiveness from global rules for business, regional business environment, corporate governance, and the key economic sectors of small/medium size enterprises and tourism. This volume addresses key issues for the future of the region including the real challenges facing firms' operations and efficiency, the ability of MENA firms to compete in global markets, the impact of small and medium size enterprises on the stimulation of growth, and the economic potential of the tourism sector.

Imagine your main business competitor building a satellite-equipped "war room" to secretly monitor your new ventures. Imagine your classified product prototype mysteriously landing on the market under the brand name belonging to your archrival. Impossible? This isn't a story line from the latest spy thriller, it's modern-day corporate America. Spooked thrusts readers into a clandestine world-where business means war and information is worth stealing.Through narrative accounts of corporate spies within companies such as IBM, Microsoft, and Motorola, Spooked dramatically brings to life one of America's fastest-growing industries: Corporate Intelligence. In this page-burning expose, Adam Penenberg and Marc Barry uncover and describe in thrilling detail the alarming regularity of espionage in industry. They offer an unsettling portrait of America's publicly traded companies, and unravel the truth and hypocrisy behind the multi-billion dollar corporate intelligence industry.

Concerns about European prospects for competitiveness, jobs and growth are high on the European Union agenda and regulatory reform, both at national and EU levels, is widely recognised as a crucial tool for improving the performance of European companies. Despite the single market, selective sectoral regulatory reform and certain reforms at the national level, regulation in Europe still tends to discourage new entrants, impede new production methods and inhibit the exit of existing competitors. It often increases costs without providing compensatory benefits, reduces operational flexibility and distorts capital expenditure, creating obstacles to innovation. The authors in this book argue that regulatory reform can, more often than not, help improve the competitiveness of companies while generating net growth effects for the European Union as a whole.In this second volume, the authors discuss the vertical issues involved in regulatory reform. The authors describe in detail the regulatory reforms which are needed or have been initiated in nine major industrial sectors, including automobiles, textiles and clothing, retail trade, chemicals, banking, road transport, telecoms, electricity and (scheduled) air transport. In the companion volume, Regulatory Reform and Competitiveness in Europe, 1: Horizontal Issues, the authors address regulation and growth, and the regulatory burdens and failures in Europe. The book also deals with national competition policy, state aids, EU environmental policy, reforms in product markets, labour market reforms, the regulatory environment of small and new firms, and the current, insufficient, EU reforms to improve regulatory quality.