Addresses one of the hottest issues facing all businesses today, and one that can destroy companies overnight - cybersecurity. Identifies how to implement cybersecurity strategy and practices in a straightforward way. Demystifies a crucial topic for executives, taking it away from an information technology issue and making it understandable for business leaders and board members with governance oversight. Ideal reading for executives, and also students on the growing number of courses on this topic.

This book is based on the review of literature on different themes related to business and management in the Asia Pacific context. All seven chapters included in this book explore the past, present and future of business and research. They cover diverse topics in the Asia Pacific context ranging from different ways of thinking to innovation implementation and efficiency, responsible tourism, internal marketing to leadership. This book will be useful for researchers, practitioners and policy makers. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Asia Pacific Business Review.

Uses practical business cases in regional Australia to illustrate opportunities and challenges confronting businesses in non metropolitan regions

'Rana el Kaliouby's vision for how technology should work in parallel with empathy is bold, inspired and hopeful' Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global 'This lucid and captivating book by a renowned pioneer of emotion-AI tackles one of the most pressing issues of our time: How can we ensure a future where this technology empowers rather than surveils and manipulates us?' Max Tegmark, professor of physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of Life 3.0 We are entering an empathy crisis. Most of our communication is conveyed through non-verbal cues - facial expressions, tone of voice, body language - nuances that are completely lost when we interact through our smartphones and other technology. The result is a digital universe that's emotion-blind - a society lacking in empathy. Rana el Kaliouby discovered this when she left Cairo, a newly-married, Muslim woman, to take up her place at Cambridge University to study computer science. Many thousands of miles from home, she began to develop systems to help her better connect with her family. She started to pioneer the new field of Emotional Intelligence (EI). She now runs her company, Affectiva (the industry-leader in this emerging field) that builds EI into our technology and develops systems that understand humans the way we understand one another. In a captivating memoir, Girl Decoded chronicles el Kaliouby's mission to humanise technology and what she learns about humanity along the way.

The topics in this book cover a broad range of research interests: from business engineering and its application in corporate and business networking contexts to design science research as well as applied topics, where those research methods have been employed for modeling, data warehousing, information systems management, enterprise architecture management, management of large and complex projects, and enterprise transformation. The book is a Festschrift for Robert Winter in order to appreciate his work and to honor him as a personality with a high reputation in the information systems community. To this end, many professional colleagues or long-time companions both from the Institute of Information Management at the University of St. Gallen as well as from the international research community dedicated articles on topics related to Robert's research. They reflect his ambition to uncompromisingly conduct high-class research that fuels the research community and at the same time contributes to improved industrial practice. The book is organized in three major parts: Part I "Business Engineering and Beyond" focuses on the methodology strongly shaped by Robert in St. Gallen with a focus on research being applied in corporate contexts. Part II "Design Science Research" spans from reflections on the practice of design science research to perspectives on design science research methodologies and eventually up to considerations to teach design science research methodology. Part III "Applied Fields" combines various applications of design science and related research methodologies with practical problems and future research topics.

* 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

There are many books written for the accounting and finance community. However, there are very few books written to help the non-financial career professionals who still need to understand the conceptual fundamentals of accounting and finance. In 20 years of teaching this material to non-financial professionals, Dr. Bonner has perfected a teaching approach that works to help the non-financial professional engage with the material to use financial information in leveraging their career without becoming overloaded with information that is not helpful to them. Learning this material takes repetition, application, and building the thinking processes necessary for effectiveness. Many think the challenge with finance is the math, but as this book will demonstrate, it is a conceptual problem. If you understand the conceptual framework, you will understand the math. Dr. Julie Bonner is currently a tenured professor at Central Washington University in the information technology and administrative management department. Her career has spanned business and education for over 30 years. Initially, she received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting, whereafter she earned an MBA and then a doctorate in organizational leadership.

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.

Plastics have occupied an important place in the modern medical industry. It has substituted traditional devices and products made of metal, other materials, and ceramics. Over recent years, increased reliance on transparent plastic pharmaceutical and medical products has produced remarkable breakthroughs that improve medical attention delivery and allow it to be more comfortable for the masses to live better and longer lives. The purpose of this handbook is to provide a strategic perspective on the market to identify opportunities for growth and promising niches in the medical plastics market. It also helps in analyzing emerging trends in medical plastics to facilitate new product development. The medical plastics market is a new field with a broad scope and unending opportunities for manufacturers and suppliers and medical practitioners from healthcare. With a combination of the right material and technology, it has a lot to offer to the patients with affordable pricing. By keeping the worth of the medical plastics market in mind, we have set some objectives. This book identifies growth factors in the medical plastics market and analyzes critical factors of success to compete. The author presents background on the medical plastics market by its usage, products, processes, and innovation. He also reviews existing studies on the medical plastics market for topics like market size, market growth, segment growth, and geographic markets.

In many countries, business practitioners, policy makers, pundits and laypeople want to know how strong China really is in business. In the preceding century, the overall tone of business comments on China was filled with fanfare and ovation. However, despite economic performance and seemingly inexorable growth, some global data in areas such as labour productivity and digital competitiveness, show a different and more nuanced picture. This collection provides a multi-level reality check on the Chinese economy, firm performance and managerial ties. Given that China must transform its economy and business that can pull global talent together to produce high-end technologies for radically innovative products and services, this book proposes two questions. First, can China restructure its economy from a low-cost growth model to a high value-added innovative model without incurring major structural inertia? Second, can Chinese firms outperform competitors in global high value markets without relying on state initiatives, central funding mechanisms and public R&D institutions? This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal, Asia Pacific Business Review.

Plastics have occupied an important place in the modern medical industry. It has substituted traditional devices and products made of metal, other materials, and ceramics. Over recent years, increased reliance on transparent plastic pharmaceutical and medical products has produced remarkable breakthroughs that improve medical attention delivery and allow it to be more comfortable for the masses to live better and longer lives. The purpose of this handbook is to provide a strategic perspective on the market to identify opportunities for growth and promising niches in the medical plastics market. It also helps in analyzing emerging trends in medical plastics to facilitate new product development. The medical plastics market is a new field with a broad scope and unending opportunities for manufacturers and suppliers and medical practitioners from healthcare. With a combination of the right material and technology, it has a lot to offer to the patients with affordable pricing. By keeping the worth of the medical plastics market in mind, we have set some objectives. This book identifies growth factors in the medical plastics market and analyzes critical factors of success to compete. The author presents background on the medical plastics market by its usage, products, processes, and innovation. He also reviews existing studies on the medical plastics market for topics like market size, market growth, segment growth, and geographic markets.

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.

The Middle East was the region least impacted in the 2008 crisis, has investment systems markedly different to the West, is largely governed by Islamic Shari'a, and has varying forms of governance and institutional organization, which are not understood by many, nor how these systems shape entrepreneurial and industrial development. While the Middle East as a region has seen a small growth in entrepreneurship for women, and business scholarship on the Middle East has grown, there is no text in English that has brought critical insights from the Middle East together in a single volume. In examining women's entrepreneurship in the Middle East, this book aims to challenge Global North assumptions about the disempowering impacts of Islamic Shari'a and governance. Referring to the constraints of Islam on women's subjectivity and agency greatly misunderstands religious identity, of both men and women, and the way in which public administration and private sector institutions are organized in very different ways to Western regions. This timely text expands and adds new insights to the theorizations of women's entrepreneurship in the Middle East, through unravelling spatialized themes, and incorporates contemporary themes including: an Islamic science reading of women, work and venturing; changing families and entrepreneurship development; women managing social crises; Islamization, governance and women; Islamic feminist activisms and entrepreneurship; representations of women's entrepreneurship on social media; and women's collectives leading entrepreneurship via Facebook entrepreneurship. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of entrepreneurship, gender, work and organizations.

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.

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.

Corruption and the Russian Economy examines why the number of entrepreneurs is declining so rapidly in contemporary Russia, how many economic opportunities are being irrevocably lost each year because of administrative corruption, and why entrepreneurship has become one of the most dangerous occupations in the country over the last decade. Based on extensive research, including in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs and case studies, it reveals a corrupt system of government agencies at both the regional and local levels, and the increasing involvement of public officials in unlawful seizures of businesses. One major conclusion is that the vast majority of informal payments by entrepreneurs to regulatory agencies are made not to achieve illegal advantages, but rather to secure the property rights that they are entitled to under the law.

Governments in developed and developing economies have increasingly turned to entrepreneurship and small businesses for economic growth, dynamism and economic and social inclusion. Policies seeking to encourage, support or otherwise influence these forms of economic activity are varied but virtually omnipresent, recommended by organisations such as the OECD and World Bank and implemented by governments of many political ideologies. With a range of activities across government labelled as enterprise policy, it is vital to unpick the different policies, initiatives and interventions and to understand their development in order to subject them to scrutiny and evaluate the actions taken in the name of enterprise. This book provides the first in-depth, historical analysis of enterprise policy in the United Kingdom. Successive UK governments have been particularly active, with the number of initiatives estimated recently at 3000 and expenditure reaching as high as GBP12bn, yet facing continuous criticisms for its use, value or relevance. This historical study of UK enterprise policy represents a case study of different forms of enterprise policy and how they have developed, or failed to develop, over time, contributing to understanding of government, small business and entrepreneurship. It will be of value to researchers, academics, policymakers, and students interested in the history of small business and entrepreneurship as well as standing as a history of a specific policy area and the ways in which policies involving many different areas of government develop over time.

The emergence of new platform business models, notably the sharing economy, is impacting the economy in various ways, altering the structure of many industries, and raising a number of economic and political issues. This book investigates the widespread influence of the sharing economy on businesses and society, as well as examining its underpinning economic principles and development. This volume presents an exhaustive review of the existing knowledge on the sharing economy and addresses several major areas of concern for incumbent businesses. It also explains the business models for those who are interested in embarking on their own ventures and provides an excellent source for further research. It takes an in-depth look at controversial labour policies, such as using labour as self-employed contractors or using regulatory grey areas to expand in markets. It is highly multidisciplinary, establishing links between economics, finance, marketing and consumer behaviour. This contribution on the sharing economy will enable researchers and graduate and doctoral students to expand and improve their understanding of this topic and identify new research problems in all of these areas. The book will also appeal to policy makers, regional and local government decision makers, and those interested in labour markets transformation.

Covers the largest scope of developing, emerging and transition economies (DETE). Investigates a full set of factors including context, financial strategy, innovation and performance of firms in DETE. Looks at both the challenges and opportunities of entrepreneurship, finance, innovation and development in DETE. Provides insightful business and policy implications. Contributions come from researchers and practitioners around the world, who focus on entrepreneurial finance, innovation and developmental issues of DETE in Asia, Europe, Africa, and America.

This book investigates the formation, configuration and consolidation of elites amongst Kenya's Maasai. The Maasai ethnic group is one of the world's most anthropologized populations, but research tends to focus on what appears to be their dismal situation, analysing how their culture hinders or challenges modern ideas of economic and political development. This book instead focuses on the Maasai men and women who rise to the position of elites, overcoming the odds to take on positions as politicians, professors, CEOs, and high-end administrators. The twenty-first century has seen new opportunities for progression beyond the social reproduction of family wealth, with NGOs, missionaries, tourists and researchers providing new sources of global capital flows. The author, who is Maasai herself, demonstrates the diverse local, national, and global resources and opportunities which lead to social mobility and elite formation. The book also shows how female elites have been able to navigate a patriarchal society in their journey to attaining and maintaining elite status. This book will be of interest to researchers across the fields of anthropology, political science, international development, sociology, and African studies.

Supporting employee entrepreneurship is among major challenges contemporary organizations face. Many facets of corporate entrepreneurship are investigated, and the body of knowledge in the field is growing rapidly; nevertheless, there are still knowledge and research gaps to be filled. Notably, while there are studies linking HRM with corporate entrepreneurship, studies on connections between CSR-oriented practices and corporate/employee entrepreneurship are to be developed. The main goal of this book is to explain relationships between corporate volunteering and employee entrepreneurship in organisations. The book combines two extremely vivid fields of research: entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility. Based on their own research, the authors present how participation in corporate volunteering, as one of the CSR practices in organisations, leads to strengthening employee entrepreneurial behaviour. The book offers a framework showing the role of CSR practices in shaping entrepreneurial and innovative employees' behaviour. This book is aimed mainly at postgraduates, researchers and academics in the fields of entrepreneurship and corporate volunteering. As it touches vital fields of managerial education and management, it will also be of interest to master level students at universities or business schools as well as business practitioners.

For all professionals and students who want to improve their prospects in business, this book prepares and positions them to build dream careers, giving them the education and guidance required to develop vital soft skills, and work remotely and independently. After establishing a foundation for solid professional communications on a personal level, it quickly opens doors to business insights and opportunities that are exciting, inspiring, and highly sustainable. Immersing readers into the key realms of business success and exploring the full spectrum of essential communications practices, they gain knowledge and trade skills of immense value, including: * The basics of positive, proactive, strategic communications for individuals and organizations * What it means to be a PR expert in the creative industry and to do great work * An introduction to essential business imperatives, with high-level instruction on creativity, strategy, leadership, management, marketing, and much more * Customer service and all it entails * Extensive exploration of the PR toolset and its application in real-world marketing scenarios This book brings home all instruction with sophisticated questions and challenges, ensuring readers have every opportunity to comprehend and grow, step by step.

For decades, outsourcing has been a major international phenomenon in business. The areas of Technology, Information Technology and Management represent a unique case for outsourcing both in terms of benefits and potential interorganisational problems. This fully updated text has been brought up to date with this new landscape, including discussion of Robotic Process Automation, Internet of Things, cloud computing, low code and DevOps and agile. With a range of new global case studies in manufacturing, logistics, chemical industry and cloud services, this textbook offers a strong grounding in real-world industrial experience that effectively combines theory with practice. Uniquely, this book focuses on both sides of the outsourcing relationship, providing a balanced exploration of the ways in which these partnerships can be managed successfully. Accessible and cutting-edge, the third edition of Managing Information Technology Outsourcing provides an in-depth, practical perspective on this important and far-reaching challenge in information technology management. It is an ideal text for students, academics and practitioners alike.

Practicing business with a conscience leaves no sector untouched. It trickles into how we treat our employees; approach our work in general; address stakeholders; engage in accounting, financial, and production management practices; implement and manage information technology; communicate on a direct and indirect basis; and market what we stand for. Business has encountered an interesting evolution in the first two decades of the twenty-first century, with social media as a catalyst aiding greater understanding and improvement regarding the critical value of soft skills, workplace diversity, change readiness, moral responsibility, sustainable awareness, and a general socially responsible mindset. This amalgamate spirit of business as we envision it in both the near and far future has found its way in all segments of business education, research, and practice. Adhering to the global trend of increased responsibility and evoking a constructive change in the narrative of business, this Research Companion serves as a critical reference work for business scholars and practitioners in various settings. It brings together contributing scholars from multiple business areas, from a variety of cultures and locations of the world, in order to achieve the compilation of a reference work that will find an expansive appeal. Including insights from the broad business spectrum ranging from internal managerial practices to strategic applications, including international sensitivity, this volume highlights the urgency for increased awareness in business decision-making on all fronts. It will be of great value to researchers, academics, practitioners, and students in the fields of corporate social responsibility, business ethics, leadership, organizational studies, and entrepreneurship.