Concerns computer-based information systems that can affect the decision making behavior of their users. It tells the reader how to describe these systems and how to differentiate one from the other. Its main features are: a broad definition of Decision Support Systems (DSS), a process view of decision making, which leads to viewing DSS as interventions into the processes through which decisions are made, and a descriptive rather than a prescriptive approach.

For courses in database management. A comprehensive text on the latest in database development Focusing on what leading database practitioners say are the most important aspects to database development, Modern Database Management presents sound pedagogy and topics that are critical for the practical success of database professionals. The 13th Edition updates and expands materials in areas undergoing rapid change as a result of improved managerial practices, database design tools and methodologies, and database technology - such as application security, multi-user solutions, and more - to reflect major trends in the field and the skills required of modern information systems graduates.

This book presents the concept of a fuzzy-based recommender system for user account privacy settings that can be used for citizen participation on online political platforms. The elaborated components are exemplarily based on the needs of a political platform implemented during the presidential election in Ecuador. The book readdresses the issue of privacy paradox demonstrating that, indeed, users' actual decisions of being private in most cases diverge with their initial privacy intentions. The two concepts presented in the book - the citizen privacy profile framework and the prototype fuzzy-based privacy settings recommender system - can be adapted by different organizations such as government institutions, NGOs, or private online service providers to meet their specific needs. The book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the areas of usage modeling, privacy, system design, and for service providers in eDemocracy.

Service chain management enables service organisations to improve customer satisfaction and reduce operational costs. In this book, Christos Voudouris and his BT colleagues together with experts from industry and academia present the latest innovations and technologies used to manage the operations of a service company. The viewpoints presented are based on the BT experience and on associated research and development. Service chain management is looked at both from the enterprise perspective and from the standpoints of the service professional and customer. The focus is on real-world challenges.

This book provides an understanding of innovation models and why they are important in the business context, and considers sources of innovation and how to apply business frameworks using real-world examples of innovation-led businesses. After providing a solid background to the key concepts related to innovation models, the book looks at why innovation takes place and where the sources of innovation lie, from corporate research to crowd-sourced and government-funded initiatives. Innovation models across manufacturing, services and government are explored, as well as measuring innovation, and the impact of design thinking and lean enterprise principles on innovation and sustainability-driven imperatives. Offering a truly comprehensive and global approach, Business Innovation should be core or recommended reading for advanced undergraduate, postgraduate, MBA and Executive Education students studying Innovation Management, Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship.

This book provides an understanding of innovation models and why they are important in the business context, and considers sources of innovation and how to apply business frameworks using real-world examples of innovation-led businesses. After providing a solid background to the key concepts related to innovation models, the book looks at why innovation takes place and where the sources of innovation lie, from corporate research to crowd-sourced and government-funded initiatives. Innovation models across manufacturing, services and government are explored, as well as measuring innovation, and the impact of design thinking and lean enterprise principles on innovation and sustainability-driven imperatives. Offering a truly comprehensive and global approach, Business Innovation should be core or recommended reading for advanced undergraduate, postgraduate, MBA and Executive Education students studying Innovation Management, Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship.

This book introduces, explains, and illustrates the theories, concepts, and methods needed for sound enterprise engineering. These are based on foundational insights, specifically those concerning the employee-centric theory of organization, which are put into practice by coherently and consistently applying them to enterprise design and change. The book consists of five main chapters, the first of which emphasizes the importance of linking foundational insights with the enterprise engineering design science for practicing them in enterprise design within the scope of enterprise governance concerned with enterprise change. Chapter 2 summarizes the necessary philosophical, ontological and ideological foundations of enterprise design and change. Subsequently, chapter 3 outlines essential aspects of enterprise change and describes the relation between enterprise governance and the process of enterprise design, while chapter 4 details the enterprise engineering design science and the actual enterprise design process, its various perspectives and both its intermediate and final results. Lastly, chapter 5 illustrates in detail the application of all the process steps in a single, extensive example. In this way, the book shows how all the cornerstones of enterprise design and change, as well as the employee-centric theory of organization can be applied. The book is mainly intended for students in areas such as business administration, management and organization science, governance, and enterprise and information systems design. However, professionals working in these areas will also benefit from the book, as it provides them with all the elements needed for engineering enterprise design, and details their application.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to blockchain and distributed ledger technology. Intended as an applied guide for hands-on practitioners, the book includes detailed examples and in-depth explanations of how to build and run a blockchain from scratch. Through its conceptual background and hands-on exercises, this book allows students, teachers and crypto enthusiasts to launch their first blockchain while assuming prior knowledge of the underlying technology. How do I build a blockchain? How do I mint a cryptocurrency? How do I write a smart contract? How do I launch an initial coin offering (ICO)? These are some of questions this book answers. Starting by outlining the beginnings and development of early cryptocurrencies, it provides the conceptual foundations required to engineer secure software that interacts with both public and private ledgers. The topics covered include consensus algorithms, mining and decentralization, and many more. "This is a one-of-a-kind book on Blockchain technology. The authors achieved the perfect balance between the breadth of topics and the depth of technical discussion. But the real gem is the set of carefully curated hands-on exercises that guide the reader through the process of building a Blockchain right from Chapter 1." Volodymyr Babich, Professor of Operations and Information Management, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University "An excellent introduction of DLT technology for a non-technical audience. The book is replete with examples and exercises, which greatly facilitate the learning of the underlying processes of blockchain technology for all, from students to entrepreneurs." Serguei Netessine, Dhirubhai Ambani Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania "Whether you want to start from scratch or deepen your blockchain knowledge about the latest developments, this book is an essential reference. Through clear explanations and practical code examples, the authors take you on a progressive journey to discover the technology foundations and build your own blockchain. From an operations perspective, you can learn the principles behind the distributed ledger technology relevant for transitioning towards blockchain-enabled supply chains. Reading this book, you'll get inspired, be able to assess the applicability of blockchain to supply chain operations, and learn from best practices recognized in real-world examples." Ralf W. Seifert, Professor of Technology and Operations Management at EPFL and Professor of Operations Management at IMD

Within Entrepreneurship Education, Team Academy (TA) is seen by some as an innovative pedagogical model that enhances social connectivity, as well as experiential, student-centred, and team-based learning. It also creates spaces for transformative learning to occur. This fourth book of the Routledge Focus on Team Academy book series the TA model is examined outside of the traditional TA-based settings (industry, schools, communities of practice, etc.) in different countries (Brazil, Japan, UK, Finland, Argentina, Tanzania, Spain, etc.). The legacy that this has left in learners and practitioners who have engaged with the model is also explored. This book is aimed at academics, practitioners, and learners engaged in the Team Academy methodology, pedagogy and model, as well as those interested in the area of entrepreneurial team learning. Readers will be inspired to innovate in their delivery methodologies and to explore learning-by-doing approaches to creating value. The book also aims to challenge the discourse around entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activities, offering insights, research, stories, and experiences from those learning and working in the Team Academy approach.

This book focuses on market developments of crowdfunding, crowdinvesting, crowdlending, social trading, robo-advice, personal financial management, online payment and mobile payment in Germany. FinTech companies are an important driver of innovation in the financial industry. By making financial transactions more user-friendly and transparent, these firms potentially contribute to financial stability and economic growth. The authors define and categorize the different market segments that have emerged. They further provide an assessment of current market volumes and make forecasts for the next 5, 10 and 20 years. Particular attention is given to the empirical findings resulting from scholarly research. Furthermore, the authors evaluate how the German FinTech market ranks relative to international standards. This book will appeal to finance and entrepreneurship researchers as well as practitioners from banking and tech industries. "This book offers a fresh and fascinating look at the FinTech market. The authors provide a rigorous economic analysis of the FinTech market in Germany and offer many insights that are of interest to practitioners, academics, and policymakers alike." -Professor Douglas Cumming, Schulich School of Business "Germany is one of the fastest growing FinTech markets in Europe. This book not only provides a comprehensive and systematic overview on the developments and actors, but undertakes a visionary outlook on the forthcoming decades based on scientific methods." -Dr. Thomas Puschmann, Head of Swiss FinTech Innovation Lab

Finance Mathematics is devoted to financial markets both with discrete and continuous time, exploring how to make the transition from discrete to continuous time in option pricing. This book features a detailed dynamic model of financial markets with discrete time, for application in real-world environments, along with Martingale measures and martingale criterion and the proven absence of arbitrage. With a focus on portfolio optimization, fair pricing, investment risk, and self-finance, the authors provide numerical methods for solutions and practical financial models, enabling you to solve problems both from mathematical and from financial point of view.

Triggered largely by claims that small businesses were the main source of new jobs, an 'explosion' of interest in enterprise, entrepreneurs and small business has led to the establishment of a conventional wisdom about enterprise. Mistaken theories can become influential and examining the conventional enterprise wisdom indicates that much of it is questionable. If that is the case, a reassessment is needed. While wilful blindness and continuing to do more of the same is a natural response, it will not lead to improvements in knowledge. A new paradigm requires a step change in thinking, which is not easy to initiate. Nevertheless, accepting the evidence for the errors in current understanding and practice is a necessary first step if enterprise and its benefits are to be better understood and promoted. This book examines the conventional wisdom around enterprise, entrepreneurs and small businesses and illustrates not only why and how this could have evolved, but also why it could be based on a set of mistaken assumptions. Correcting the foundational knowledge on which enterprise and policy and practice rely and finding a new paradigm will result in better teaching and more effective policy. It will therefore be of interest to researchers, academics, students and policy makers in the fields of enterprise and entrepreneurship.

Quantitative Approaches in Business Studies provides a clear and accessible introduction to quantitative methods, ideal for students of business and management on undergraduate, Masters and professional courses. With a uniquely user-friendly style, Clare Morris' popular treatment of this challenging subject is carefully designed to build students' confidence in the use and interpretation of quantitative methods. Encouraging conceptual understanding as well as practical aptitude, the text leads the reader from an initial chapter revising basic mathematics through to a concluding chapter discussing statistical research methods for student projects. Practical guidance on the use of Excel for quantitative analysis runs throughout the text, integrated with an online Excel workbook. New for this edition Access to MyMathLab Global, an unrivalled online tutorial and assessment system. Many new 'Quantitative Methods in Practice' examples, drawn from recent and topical articles in the press and beyond. Substantial case-studies at the end of each chapter, integrating the material of the chapter. Revised and updated throughout. MyMathLab Global will generate a personalised study plan for you and provide extensive practice questions exactly where you need them. Interactive questions with randomised values allow you to practise the same concept as many times as you need until you master it. Guided solutions break down the question for you step-by-step. A full e-book links out to the relevant part of the text while you are practising. Students, if interested in purchasing this title with MyMathLab Global, ask your instructor for the correct package ISBN and Course ID. Instructors, contact your Pearson representative for more information. Visit www.pearsoned.co.uk/morris or www.mymathlab.com/global to access MyMathLab Global. Clare Morris has taught quantitative methods to students of business, from HND to PhD level, at institutions including Bristol Polytechnic, Warwick Business School and Cardiff Business School. She is currently Emeritus Professor at the University of Gloucestershire.

This book provides a theoretical and application-oriented analysis of deterministic scheduling problems in advanced planning and computer systems. The text examines scheduling problems across a range of parameters: job priority, release times, due dates, processing times, precedence constraints, resource usage and more, focusing on such topics as computer systems and supply chain management. Discussion includes single and parallel processors, flexible shops and manufacturing systems, and resource-constrained project scheduling. Many applications from industry and service operations management and case studies are described. The handbook will be useful to a broad audience, from researchers to practitioners, graduate and advanced undergraduate students.

This book aims to provide new approaches to analysing and thinking about how entrepreneurial ecosystems develop and evolve over time as well as shed light on the relatively unexplored area of entrepreneurship ecosystem dynamics. The concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems has emerged as a framework to understand the nature of places in which entrepreneurial activity flourishes. Time is fundamental to the analysis of the dynamics of an entrepreneurial ecosystem. New firm creation, survival, growth and demise all occur within a temporal context that is, over and within time. Systems approaches to research invariably model the influential effects of the actors and elements that shape, re-shape, maintain, shift and change the system itself. An entrepreneurial ecosystem point of view, therefore, is inherently time-dependent and provides an analytical framework that reveals how the number and diversity of entrepreneurial actors situated in a place and time influence the creation of new firms, their survival, growth, and ultimately the stability of markets and industry in a time and place. Whether for better or worse, the historic and present time dimensions underpin the functioning and trajectory of entrepreneurial ecosystem performances and how they are shaped over time. Each chapter in this edited volume outlines a particular perspective and/or a unique case drawn from a range of countries that collectively reveal the dynamics of an ever-changing entrepreneurial ecosystem. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of the journal, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development.

This book follows on the authors' successful development of the Three-Pillar Model (3-P Model) for organizing and leading in disruptive times. Its focus is on helping the reader to implement the model and providing a wide variety of application cases for these VUCA times (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity), including global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. The book covers a broad range of organizations: private and public sector, NGOs, local and global governmental institutions, global organizations such as UN, etc. In addition, it shows how the 3-P Model can be applied to challenges in organization design, management and leadership.

* Proven, highly original career advice from an accomplished writer and entrepreneur * Unique lessons on life, creativity and professionalism that can be applied to establish and successfully operate an independent communications consultancy from anywhere in the world - or to leverage PR expertise in any personal or professional venture * Exclusive insights encapsulating all facets of business and the strategic communications skillset proven to underwrite success

* Proven, highly original career advice from an accomplished writer and entrepreneur * Unique lessons on life, creativity and professionalism that can be applied to establish and successfully operate an independent communications consultancy from anywhere in the world - or to leverage PR expertise in any personal or professional venture * Exclusive insights encapsulating all facets of business and the strategic communications skillset proven to underwrite success

Optimization Tools for Logistics covers the theory and practice of the main principles of operational research and the ways it can be applied to logistics and decision support with regards to common software. The book is supported by worked problems and examples from industrial case studies, providing a comprehensive tool for readers from a variety of industries.

Achieving Successful Business Outcomes: Driving High Performance & Effective Transformations in a Continuously Evolving Business Environment Navigating in space is exponentially more difficult than navigating on the road - because there are too many directions to investigate, too many unknowns to be prepared for and infinite pathways to chart in the galactic system. So it is with business. Business environments are extremely demanding and change continuously, precipitated by innumerable actors and conditions. Business success cannot be predicated on the pedigree of a leader or a prescribed theory alone, as start-ups have amply proven. Large companies have tried to copy nimble-footed start-ups while start-ups, after achieving a certain size, have been forced to adapt to unchartered territory. Disruptions seems to be the order of the day. This book is about achieving successful business outcomes. An aircraft has a complex dashboard of dials, where only a critical few need to be monitored continuously, and other subsets warrant attention only during specific phases of the flight. A well-modeled business can be managed successfully using a similar strategy. But the larger question is how to model a business, with closely correlated variables, to represent the reality of the environment and to allow for devising, formulating and adjusting business strategy and actions in real-time. The author uses a simple but well-researched STA-Triangle (space, time and action) model to achieve this purpose. The core of the STA model is to help navigate effectively in a rapidly changing business environment. Unlike traditional business studies that use a single lens to define business rules or organizational practices, it uses the combination of space, time and action as the driver of outcomes - something fundamental and core to human thinking across the ages. This book contains both theoretical and practical applications - the former helps propel further research and analysis and the latter helps practicing leaders confidently drive their firms forward in any environmental conditions. It will also help causal readers understand how the future is evolving and how different organizations are responding to this change. The author includes more than a hundred supporting examples and tools that help create highly incisive and unique views for calibrating strategy and execution. Visit the authors' website at www.alokksinha.com

State-owned enterprises make up roughly 10 percent of the world economy, yet they are woefully understudied. This handbook offers the first synthesis of the topic since the 1980s and offers a comprehensive reference for a generation. The authors provide a detailed explanation of the theory that underpins the expansion of state-owned enterprises in the 21st century. Each chapter delivers an overview of current knowledge, as well as identifying issues and relevant debates for future research. The authors explain how state-owned enterprises are used in both developed and developing countries and offer an insight into complex and fascinating organizations such as the German municipal conglomerates or the multinational companies owned by states. New modes of governance and regulation have been invented to make sure they act in the public interest. This handbook brings together a wealth of international scholars, offering multiple theoretical perspectives to help shape a brave new world. It will be of interest to teachers and students of Economics, Public Administration and Business, academics, established researchers and PhD students seeking rigorous literature reviews on specific aspects of SOEs, as well as practitioners and decision makers in international organizations.

Buying decision making is a complicated process, in which a consumer's decision is under the influence of others. The buyer's decision making is directed in such a way that they must act as a consumer in society. Media and family are key socializing agents for adolescents. Moreover, changes in the socio-cultural environment in India necessitate that adolescents' influence in family's buying decision making should be investigated. In comparison to Western society, Indian society is quite different when compared in terms of family composition and structure, behavior, values and norms which impact adolescents' buying decision making. Adolescents, Family and Consumer Behaviour studies the role of consumer socialization agents for adolescents, examining socio-economic factors that influence adolescents' buying decision making in Indian urban families. It aims to discover the influence tactics that adolescents employ and to qualitatively analyse how marketers in turn influence adolescents. It addresses the topics with regard to strategic management and marketing and will be of interest to researchers, academics, practitioners, and students in the fields of management, entrepreneurship, small business management, and human resource management.

Since the 1980s, governments have often sought to encourage entrepreneurship on the assumption that it creates small businesses which are the primary drivers of job creation. Largely because of this assumption, entrepreneurship has become a valid subject for academic research attracting extensive funding. Yet despite this explosion of scholarship, there is no accepted model of how entrepreneurship operates or even a commonly accepted definition of what it is. Simon Bridge posits that this is because entrepreneurship has been studied as if it were a deterministic science, based on the false assumption that it exists as a specific discrete identifiable phenomenon operating in accordance with consistent, predictable 'rules'. This challenging book contends that this misdirected search has produced more questions than answers. Accepting that entrepreneurship as we have conceived it does not exist could lead to new and valuable insights into what the different forms of entrepreneurship are and how they might be influenced. Scholars, advanced students and policy makers will find this a thought-provoking insight into the myths and misconceptions of 'entrepreneurship'.

This book develops a novel industry emergence framework to explain the features, interaction, and synchronization of key elements for the birth and growth of new industries. Organized around seven elements-firm strategy, technology, investment, supply networks, production, markets, and government-Theyel's framework provides inventors, managers, investors, scholars, and policymakers with a comprehensive understanding of how industries emerge, helping them to be more successful at influencing the birth and growth of new industries. Understanding industry emergence is important because new industries can offer the advancement of technology, improvements in human health and the environment, growth of firms, creation of jobs, and economic development. With learning objectives, theory, tools, case studies, and end-of-chapter questions, Industry Emergence will be a useful resource for students and professionals in engineering, science, business, and policy.

In this volume recent advances in the use of modern quantitative models for the analysis of various problems related to the dynamics of social and economic systems are presented. The majority chapters describe tools and techniques of broadly perceived computational intelligence, notably fuzzy logic, evolutionary computation, neural networks and some non-standard probabilistic and statistical analyses. Due to the high complexity of the systems and problems considered, in many situations it is necessary to consider at the same time analytic, topological and statistical aspects and apply appropriate procedures and algorithms. This volume is a direct result of vivid discussions held during the Fifth International Workshop on Dynamics of Social and Economical Systems (DYSES) which was held at Benevento, Italy September 20-25, 2010, as well as a couple of post-workshop meetings and consultations.