Agile/virtual enterprise (A/VE) is seen as a new and most advanced organizational paradigm, and is expected to serve as a vehicle towards a seamless perfect alignment of the enterprise within the market. ""Agile Virtual Enterprises: Implementation and Management Support"" addresses A/VE as a highly dynamic, reconfigurable agile network of independent enterprises sharing all resources, including knowledge, market, and customers; using specific organizational architectures that introduce the enterprises' true virtual environments.

The inspiration for this book came from the Industrial Session of the ISMIS 2017 Conference in Warsaw. It covers numerous applications of intelligent technologies in various branches of the industry. Intelligent computational methods and big data foster innovation and enable the industry to overcome technological limitations and explore the new frontiers. Therefore it is necessary for scientists and practitioners to cooperate and inspire each other, and use the latest research findings to create new designs and products. As such, the contributions cover solutions to the problems experienced by practitioners in the areas of artificial intelligence, complex systems, data mining, medical applications and bioinformatics, as well as multimedia- and text processing. Further, the book shows new directions for cooperation between science and industry and facilitates efficient transfer of knowledge in the area of intelligent information systems.

With AI, cryptocurrency, and more in the news, it seems that being an entrepreneur means being in IT, but humanities graduates are launching new businesses every day, turning a profit and having social impact. This book explores how a humanities background can enable entrepreneurs to thrive. Across all levels of education, students are given the message that to change the world - or make money - the arts and humanities are not the subjects to study. At the same time, discussions of innovation and entrepreneurship highlight the importance of essential skills, such as critical thinking, storytelling, cultural awareness, and ethical decision-making. Here's the disconnect: the subjects that help to develop these vital skills are derided at critical points in any aspiring entrepreneur's education. This collection of perspectives from entrepreneurs in a range of fields and humanities educators illustrates what individuals, and the wider world, are missing when humanities are overlooked as a source of inspiration and success in business. Featuring a foreword by Sensemaking author Christian Madsbjerg, this is a thought-provoking guide for aspiring entrepreneurs in all sectors, and for educators, a window on the practical value of the humanities in an ever more mechanized world._

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

This volume presents techniques and theories drawn from mathematics, statistics, computer science, and information science to analyze problems in business, economics, finance, insurance, and related fields. The authors present proposals for solutions to common problems in related fields. To this end, they are showing the use of mathematical, statistical, and actuarial modeling, and concepts from data science to construct and apply appropriate models with real-life data, and employ the design and implementation of computer algorithms to evaluate decision-making processes. This book is unique as it associates data science - data-scientists coming from different backgrounds - with some basic and advanced concepts and tools used in econometrics, operational research, and actuarial sciences. It, therefore, is a must-read for scholars, students, and practitioners interested in a better understanding of the techniques and theories of these fields.

This book combines, for the first time, the operations management and operations research concepts in lean and agile supply chain management (SCM) for achieving decreased uncertainty, increased productivity, and sustainability through the use of quality engineering techniques (QETs). The book serves as a beneficial supplementary read for supply chain management and logistics courses in operations management/operations research for industrial engineering or management departments as the book uses practical examples of QET applications in SCM in a variety of industries, such as manufacturing, international shipping, and services. By reading this book, a wide range of audiences from general readers to students in industrial engineering or management fields will learn practical skills that can be utilized in the application of quality engineering techniques in lean and agile SCM.

Management of supply chains has been evolving rapidly over the last few years due to the inception of Industry 4.0, where businesses adopt automation technologies and data exchanges leading to dynamic and interconnected supply chain systems. Emphasizing on analytical approaches such as predictive and prescriptive modeling, this book presents state-of-the-art original research work dealing with advanced analytical models for the design, planning, and operation of the supply chain to provide faster and smarter decisions in the era of digitization. In particular, the book integrates machine learning and operations research models for faster and smarter decisions, presents prescriptive analytics models for strategic, tactical, and operational decision making in the supply chain, and addresses recent challenges such as sustainability in the supply chain, supply chain visibility, and supply chain digitalization. Key concepts are illustrated using real-life case studies, making the book a valuable reference for researchers, technical professionals, and students.

The development of entrepreneurial abilities in people with dyslexia is a subject of great interest. It has gained increasing importance in economically difficult times because of its potential for the development of new business opportunities. This book brings together contributions from researchers, educators, and entrepreneurs with dyslexia, investigating this subject from many perspectives. Is there something different in the profile of a person with dyslexia that supports the development of entrepreneurship? This book aims to draw out key themes which can be used in education to motivate, mentor, and create the business leaders of tomorrow. It offers a fundamental text for this area of study with a comprehensive, international examination of its topic. It includes views by new and established international writers and researchers, providing up-to-date perspectives on entrepreneurship, dyslexia, and education. It is accessible to read, to understand, and to learn from, and is suitable for recommended reading for graduate and postgraduate students. The diverse views and perspectives demonstrated in this book make it as relevant as possible for a wide group of readers. It informs study in the fields of business and dyslexia, and will be of interest to educators, researchers, and to anyone interested in the overlap of entrepreneurship and dyslexia.

This book examines the changing business and economic environment for postal services in Lithuania and the upcoming challenges for this industry. Postal services continue to play a central part in the development of national economies. However, the economic and social role of postal services has changed rapidly and fundamentally over the last two decades. In most industrialized countries, paper-based communications are in serious decline, while the demand for parcel delivery services is rising steadily with the continuing development of e-commerce, just-in-time production techniques, and global supply chains. For the postal sector as a whole, the centre of gravity has shifted dramatically from letters and documents to parcels. The authors explain how the organizational paradigm has inexorably shifted from that of a national, government-owned postal administration providing the basic delivery services required by society, to a system of interdependent local and regional undertakings that both compete and cooperate with one another. The book argues that there are no indications that the postal sector has stopped changing, and that it seems most probable that the European Union's postal sector will look quite different in 2035 than it does today. In closing, the book explains how the shareholders of postal services companies have recently confirmed that the time has come to rethink the strategy of creating and maintaining competitiveness in the postal services industry.

Research and Practical Issues of Enterprise Information Systems II, Volume 2 presents work from the IFIP TC 8 WG 8.9 International Conference on the Research and Practical Issues of Enterprise Information Systems (CONFENIS 2007).

Enterprise information systems (EIS) have become increasingly popular over the last 15 years. EIS integrate and support business processes across functional boundaries in a supply chain environment. In recent years, more and more enterprises world-wide have adopted EIS such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) for running their businesses. Previously, information systems such as CAD, CAM, MRPII and CRM were widely used for partial functional integration within a business organization. With global operation, global supply chain, and fierce competition in place, there is a need for suitable EIS such as ERP, E-Business or E-Commerce systems to integrate extended enterprises in a supply chain environment with the objective of achieving efficiency, competency, and competitiveness. As an example, the global economy has forced business enterprises such as Dell and Microsoft to adopt ERP in order to take the advantage of strategic alliances within a global supply chain environment. Today, not only the large companies, but also the medium companies are quickly learning that a highly integrated EIS is more and more a required element of doing business. Businesses all over the world are investing billions of dollars in acquiring and implementing EIS in particular ERP systems by SAP and Oracle. As a result, there is a growing demand for researching EIS to provide insights into challenges, issues, and solutions related to the design, implementation and management ofEIS.

Never has the need for church planting been more acute or more necessary. The world around us is beset with problems of every kind-political, social, economic, racial, and moral. The list is endless, and the difficulties are systemic and entrenched. The best minds, institutions, and efforts are being marshaled to address these problems, but are we getting to the root issues? Could it be that the solutions lie elsewhere? Indeed, the greatest reformer to ever live told us the hope we need comes from the church. Yes, the church, as anemic and as irrelevant as it may seem to some (or many). Jesus said of the community He would birth, "You are the light of the world and the salt of the earth" (Matt. 5:13-14). The church, in all its forms, from small to big, whether found in the countryside or in megacities is God's redeeming force for society, for culture, and for the nations. The church is God's secret weapon and His change agent for the world. He's all in on the church. As such the church is God's organizational servant on the earth. It's to be an enterprise of the highest quality. It's to sparkle with kingdom power, love, and truth. As Ephesians 3:10 states, "[God's] intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms." For such a task, outstanding leaders are needed. Great leaders are not just for the arenas of business, politics, or the military. The church must also focus on recruiting, training, and deploying the best. As the leader goes, so goes the organization. This book assists in the great endeavor of planting churches. It gives church planters a biblical and conceptual framework so they can be armed with a map for how to go about establishing new works. This framework is rooted in the humble yet glorious, small yet significant, quiet yet powerful ways of Jesus.

How do companies use location intelligence to achieve competitive advantage and business success? We live in a digital, global economy, and businesses need to know where to source, operate, and market to grow their customer base. Through location analytics and location intelligence, a business can make better-informed decisions and ultimately add value to their organization, their customers, and society. But how do businesses integrate location analytics into their business development, marketing, and operations? Spatial Business: Competing and Leading with Location Analytics examines how location is a key factor in intelligent business decisions and achieving success. Through varied, in-depth, real-world examples, readers learn how location analytics solutions can be designed, deployed, and managed from strategic and operational perspectives. Each chapter of Spatial Business examines how real companies have integrated location into their business intelligence and decision-making. Some key concepts include: The fundamentals of spatial business and the technologies and methods by which businesses can understand the location value chain The creation of spatial business architecture to facilitate location analytics in meeting business goals and needs The themes of spatial business and implications for practice Written by experts in spatial business and designed for managers, professionals, and students at all levels, Spatial Business provides a road map for realizing the potential of geospatial data across the entire business value chain.

This book examines how Industry 5.0 can be defined and implemented for Supply Chain Management and what essential characteristics it has. In outlining Supply Network 5.0, it examines how humans and machines, especially robotic process automation systems and artificial intelligence tools, will work together in the New Normal. To provide a comprehensive overview, it proposes a new conceptualization of Supply Network 5.0's business model based on the Business Model Canvas and SCOR framework and provides a dedicated analysis of the proposed solutions and real-world implications of its implementation. Including case studies from several different sectors and including significant analysis on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, this book will provide a cutting-edge perspective for academics and students of supply chain management, digital business and innovation.

Information systems are the backbone of many of today's computerized applications. Distributed databases and the infrastructure needed to support them have been well studied. However, this book is the first to address distributed database interoperability by examining the successes and failures, various approaches, infrastructures, and trends of the field. A gap exists in the way that these systems have been investigated by real practitioners. This gap is more pronounced than usual, partly because of the way businesses operate, the systems they have, and the difficulties created by systems' autonomy and heterogeneity. Telecommunications firms, for example, must deal with an increased demand for automation while at the same time continuing to function at their current level. While academics are focusing on investigating differences between distributed databases, federated databases, heterogeneous databases, and, more generally, among loosely connected and tightly coupled systems, those who have to deal with real problems right away know that the only relevant research is the one that will ensure that their system works to produce reasonably correct results. Interconnecting Heterogeneous Information Systems covers the underlying principles and infrastructures needed to realize truly global information systems. The book discusses technologies related to middleware, the Web, workflows, transactions, and data warehousing. It also overviews architectures with a discussion of critical issues. The book gives an overview of systems that can be viewed as learning platforms. While these systems do not translate to successful commercial realities, they push the envelope in terms of research. Successful commercial systems have benefited from the experiments conducted in these prototypes. The book includes two case studies based on the authors' own work. Interconnecting Heterogeneous Information Systems is suitable as a textbook for a graduate-level course on Interconnecting Heterogeneous Information Systems, as well as a secondary text for a graduate-level course on database or information systems, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.

"The worked examples and guided questions are invaluable, and are a particular strength of this text, as they help to prepare the students to tackle the practice questions. Having exam-style questions (at the end) is another very good feature of this book. All of the examples and questions use appropriate and relevant business-related scenarios... I am confident that this book will achieve the aim of helping A/AS Business students develop their maths skills and enhance their understanding of the subject." Michaela Cottee, Principal Lecturer in Statistics, Hertfordshire Business School. If you struggle with calculating profit or working out unit costs, this is the book for you. This textbook companion will help improve your essential maths skills for business, whichever awarding body specification you're following. You can use it throughout your course, whenever you feel you need some extra help. - Develop your understanding of both maths and business with all worked examples and questions within a business context - Improve your confidence with a step-by-step approach to every maths skill - Measure your progress with guided and non-guided questions to see how you're improving - Understand where you're going wrong with full worked solutions to every question - Feel confident in expert guidance from experienced teacher Charlotte Wright and Principal Examiner Mike Pickerden; reviewed by Dr Michaela Cottee, Principal Lecturer in Statistics at Hertfordshire Business School

Information technology (IT) use has generally been regarded as a positive phenomenon which always generates desirable outcomes. Recent years, however, have witnessed increasing negative consequences resulted from IT use. Emerging issues include individual users have experienced technostress from personal social media usage as well as IT use in the workplace; and organisations have experienced a loss in productivity and assets due to employees' non-compliance with information security policies.Themes explored throughout the book include: AI and its Implications for Organisations Augmented Reality Cognitive Absorption of Technology Information Technology in Organisations and Societies: Multidisciplinary Perspectives from AI to Technostress represents a collective effort that not only consolidates studies on key issues and phenomena concerning the positive and negative aspects of IT use but also prescribes future research avenues in related research domains. It is particularly relevant to academics and researchers working on IT use research and can be used as a handy reference guide by those working in the field.

This book introduces readers to state-of-the-art cases and tools for managing innovation in today's rapidly changing business environment. It provides a wealth of methodological knowhow and guidance on practical applications, as well as case studies that reveal various challenges in technology and innovation management. Written by a mix of academic scholars and practitioners, the respective chapters present tools and approaches for the early detection of emerging fields of innovation, as well as relevant processes and resources. The contributing authors hail from leading innovative companies including Google, Amazon, Intel, Daimler-Benz, and NASA.

This proceedings volume highlights cutting-edge approaches for contemporary issues evolved in strategic marketing and the integration of theory and practice. It focuses on strategic research and innovative activities in marketing that can be used in everyday operations. The contributions have been divided into eight sections, grouping emerging marketing technologies together in a close examination of practices, problems and trends. The first section examines management challenges which influence societies, cultures, networks, organizations, teams, and individuals. It emphasizes ways business processes foster innovation and facilitate management transitions from dominant structures to more evolutionary, developmental paradigms. The second section discusses the benefits and guidelines to implementation of green marketing strategies. The following section pursues new perspectives of the role of location in marketing and its impact on consumer well-being. The next section explores the impacts of user generated content (UGC) on marketing theories and practice, which is followed by a section identifying how market-based assets can contribute to a sustainable competitive advantage. The sixth section covers understanding consumer perception to make marketing decisions. The final sections promote the use of business informatics and modeling in marketing and also the development of integrating information management in ways that change how people use information to engage in knowledge focused activities. The papers from the proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Strategic Innovative Marketing (IC-SIM 2017) have been written by scientists, researchers, practitioners and students that demonstrate a special orientation in strategic marketing, all of whom aspire to be ahead of the curve based on the pillars of innovation. This proceedings volume shares their recent contributions to the field and showcases their exchange of insights on strategic issues in the science of innovation marketing.

Over the past decade, diverse organizations have been turning to open source software for their technological needs, in both internal processes management and public interaction. Turning the data generated by organizations ranging from universities to large corporations into usable information has plagued users for years, making open source solutions one of the primary goals of these institutions. Open Source Solutions for Knowledge Management and Technological Ecosystems addresses the issues surrounding the search for each organization's unique data management needs, defining the tools necessary to fulfill them within their technological ecosystem, along with the selection, interoperability, and integration of these tools. This book is ideal for managers, business professionals, software engineers, information technology professionals, and students of business and IT.

This book readdresses fundamental issues in knowledge management, leading to a new area of study: knowledge processes. McInerney 's and Day 's superb authors from various disciplines offer new and exciting views on knowledge acquisition, generation, sharing and management in a post-industrial environment. Their contributions discuss problems of knowledge acquisition, handling, and learning from a variety of perspectives.

Information and communication technology, in particular artificial intelligence, can be used to support economy and commerce using digital means. This book is about agents and multi-agent distributed systems applied to digital economy and e-commerce to meet, improve, and overcome challenges in the digital economy and e-commerce sphere. Agent and multi-agent solutions are applied in implementing real-life, exciting developments associated with the need to eliminate problems of distributed systems. The book presents solutions for both technology and applications, illustrating the possible uses of agents in the enterprise domain, covering design and analytic methods, needed to provide a solid foundation required for practical systems. More specifically, the book provides solutions for the digital economy, e-sourcing clusters in network economy, and knowledge exchange between agents applicable to online trading agents, and security solutions to both digital economy and e-commerce. Furthermore, it offers solutions for e-commerce, such as, mapping and alignment of ontologies for business, negotiation, automated auctions, recommender systems to support traders in business activities, and game simulations.

This book describes the trends in digital innovation that are of most importance for businesses and explores the key challenges. The book is in three parts, the first of which focuses on developments in digital systems. Here, the ever-growing relevance of big data, cloud computing, and mobile services for business is discussed, and detailed consideration is given to the importance of social listening for understanding user behavior and needs and the implications of IT consumerization. In the second part, trends in digital management are examined, with chapters devoted to work practice, digital business identity as well as branding and governance. The final part of the book presents and reviews case studies of digital innovation at the global level that provide a benchmark of best practices, with inclusion of instructive fact sheets. While the book offers academic coverage of the digital transformation of business organizations and the associated challenges, it also describes concrete, real-world issues in clear, easy-to-understand language and will serve as a toolbox for managers that can be readily consulted. The text is supported by informative illustrations and tables, and practitioners will also benefit from the reported case studies and highlighted insights and recommendations.

In an article for Wired Magazine in 2006, Jeff Howe defined crowdsourcing as an idea for outsourcing a task that is traditionally performed by a single employee to a large group of people in the form of an open call. Since then, by modifying crowdsourcing into different forms, some of the most successful new companies on the market have used this idea to make people's lives easier and better. On the other hand, software testing has long been recognized as a time-consuming and expensive activity. Mobile application testing is especially difficult, largely due to compatibility issues: a mobile application must work on devices with different operating systems (e.g. iOS, Android), manufacturers (e.g. Huawei, Samsung) and keypad types (e.g. virtual keypad, hard keypad). One cannot be 100% sure that, just because a tested application works well on one device, it will run smoothly on all others.Crowdsourced testing is an emerging paradigm that can improve the cost-effectiveness of software testing and accelerate the process, especially for mobile applications. It entrusts testing tasks to online crowdworkers whose diverse testing devices/contexts, experience, and skill sets can significantly contribute to more reliable, cost-effective and efficient testing results. It has already been adopted by many software organizations, including Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft. This book provides an intelligent overview of crowdsourced testing research and practice. It employs machine learning, data mining, and deep learning techniques to process the data generated during the crowdsourced testing process, to facilitate the management of crowdsourced testing, and to improve the quality of crowdsourced testing.

This book closes the gap between information technologies and management decision making. It treats currently relevant topics in information technology--knowledge-based expert systems, graphic-user interface, fuzzy logic, neural networks, data storage, client server, and integration of heterogeneous databases--by using examples and, more importantly, by relating these methods to the needs of the decision maker by taking into account the individual's decision style. The authors provide a solid basis for determining how decision makers use and access information that becomes part of the design of information systems. Integrating the decision maker into the design results in a more intelligent information system because the focus is on the outcome rather than on the methodology or computer power used.

The intention behind this book is to illustrate the deep relation among human behavior, data-centric science, and social design. In fact, these three issues have been independently developing in different fields, although they are, of course, deeply interrelated to one another. Specifically, fundamental understanding of human behavior should be employed for investigating our human society and designing social systems. Insights and both quantitative and qualitative understandings of collective human behavior are quite useful when social systems are designed. Fundamental principles of human behavior, theoretical models of human behavior, and information cascades are addressed as aspects of human behavior. Data-driven investigation of human nature, social behavior, and societal systems are developed as aspects of data-centric science. As design aspects, how to design social systems from heterogeneous memberships is explained. There is also discussion of these three aspects-human behavior, data-centric science, and social design-independently and with regard to the relationships among them.