"Success in Innovation" tackles its subject from a novel perspective: instead of focusing on factors for success, it specifically examines the factors for failure. Similar books often attempt to stimulate more effort on innovation with success stories and methods. But innovation is risky business and most innovative ideas fail. By understanding the typical pitfalls and hurdles in the process, and how to avoid or manage them, readers can significantly improve their chances of success.

"Success in Innovation" is broad in scope and useful to managers, consultants, entrepreneurs, tech start-ups - anyone with a stake in new and powerful ideas, products, businesses, or methods. This book helps readers work smarter, not simply more.
Provides guidelines for assessing innovative ideasIncludes methods for valuing innovationDiscusses the danger points in the innovation processExplains the planning and development processesIncludes innovation modelsDiscusses the methods for risk assessment

There is no denying the global economy is changing at a rapid pace. Competition is increasing in intensity, technology is increasing in complexity, and innovation is increasing in importance, but approaches to managerial decision-making have not kept pace. This rigidity explains such corporate disasters as the blowout, explosion, and fire at the BP drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, the total collapse of the residential mortgage industry that started in 2006, and the use of lead paint on children's toys revealed in 2007. Managers today face 21st century problems, and Avoiding Corporate Breakdowns provides the means of solving these very problems.

Systemic Entrepreneurship focuses on creating an awareness of systemic entrepreneurship and illustrates the fact that one needs to approach entrepreneurial support activities from many different angles.

This book attempts to capture innovation outcomes. The intent is on a holistic assessment of value creation by innovation - the societal value that it delivers to humanity, the economic value that it has the potential to endow to nations, and the monetary value that it provides to innovating firms. With a range of anecdotal examples and empirical analysis, the book endeavours to answer the question: Have investments in innovation paid off? Big data and analytics underpin the development of the book material. The coverage is truly global, accentuating the economic value created by innovation in the technology and pharmaceutical sectors, the two largest bastions of innovation. In addition, it includes numerous examples of successful innovation in global companies while analyzing its economic/financial impact.

This book explores green innovation and future technology skill development within regional small to medium sized enterprises. Notwithstanding the goals of a greener Europe, there has been little debate as to how the skills required to fulfil the goals of sustainable development can be imparted within regions and within rural business communities.

Over the past 20 years the global political economy has experienced its most profound shifts since the onset of the industrial revolution. In South Africa and the World, Mills Soko reflects on some of the salient issues that have pervaded public discourse during this time, analysing them within the context of the contemporary South African political economy and of the country’s position in the world.

Arranged thematically, the essays were all written during a defining period in recent history, a period that has witnessed, among others, the accession of China to the WTO, the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US, the invention of the iPad, the birth of Facebook, the 2008/9 global financial crisis, Brexit and the global coronavirus pandemic which began at the end of 2019. The turbulent multipolar world demands visionary political and economic leadership, supported by institutions well attuned to contemporary conditions. Such leadership is in short supply. Nor is the existing institutional architecture sufficiently equipped to deal with a complex array of economic, social, environmental, technological and demographic challenges.

Mills Soko highlights what has not worked in terms of politics, leadership, foreign policy, the economy, the African development trajectory, corporate ethics, international trade, global governance, and the thread which underlies all these issues – the importance of strong, decisive and accountable leadership. He counters his criticism with what has worked and offers views on how some of the problems that have constrained progress in South Africa and the world can be solved.

A central message emerges from his writings: leadership and governance matter, whether in the national or international context. It is a message that permeates all the chapters in the book. And it goes to the heart of what South Africa has gone through over the past two decades and where it is today.

Social franchising represents a third generation form of franchising development, after trade-name and business-format franchising. At the intersection of social enterprise and micro finance literatures, this book reviews a variety of social franchising formats across a number of developing countries.

Entrepreneurial Challenges in the 21st Century analyses the traditional and contemporary issues of entrepreneurial innovation potentials for stakeholder value co-creation, and structures the entrepreneurial co-creation concept to reinforce co-creation.

This volume fills a gap in the international business literature, offering the perspectives of researchers who are deeply embedded in one key emerging market, India. With the global economy changing dramatically, firms from emerging markets are playing increasingly important roles in both outward and inward internationalisation. International Business Strategy offers profound insights into international business activities in this rapidly-evolving environment, in which multinational corporations from emerging markets are now influential players. Reflecting the complex nature of India itself, the chapters employ a variety of theoretical lenses to shed light on a wide range of issues encountered by Indian businesses, from some of the world's largest corporations to small, entrepreneurial firms.

This new reference investigates the notion that ICTs have the potential to improve the lives of people and contribute to social development in a developing countries.

Creative Cross-Disciplinary Entrepreneurship responds to educational demands created through dramatic changes in the nature of business, by describing how to develop a cross-disciplinary curriculum in Entrepreneurship that further increases students' knowledge base in specific areas of interest and the development of an 'entrepreneurial mindset.'

Technology is the key driver of business. May it be airport, ICT, smart governance, manufacturing or plantations. Technology management opens up opportunities for the business and help achieve leadership positions. This collection of papers provides a glimpse of issues faced in different sectors. These papers also should inspire more researchers to expand the scope of the subject itself."

With increasing awareness that innovative technology alone is insufficient to make sustainable lifestyles a reality, this book brings into sharp focus the need to create radical new business models. This insightful book provides a theoretically grounded but also realistic account of how the design of business models can be a critical component in the overall transition to sustainability, and one that transcends the usual focus on innovative technology.Weaving together key principles and components for business sustainability, the book highlights five very different pathways to the future for sectors ranging from microbreweries and printing through to clothing, mobility and plastics. Business has only just started the first few tentative steps towards a very different approach to creating and sustaining value, but this book concludes that enormous opportunities will emerge alongside new ways of creating and capturing value. Academics and postgraduate students in the fields of sustainable business, business organizations and industrial ecology will find this book brings a greater understanding of business strategy and structure to the discipline. While traditionally referenced and structured, this academic book is accessibly written with key principles that may also appeal to the consultant community. Contents: Preface 1. Business Models and Sustainability 2. Business Models: A Broad Perspective 3. Examples of Business Model Innovation in General Practice 4. The Principles and Components of Business Models for Sustainability 5. Case Study Sectors for Business Models for Sustainability 6. Conclusions References Index

"This book is a must-read for anyone who is considering owning a franchise. Business ownership is a life-changing event that must be carefully considered and this book is a great first step."
-Angie Shaw, The Entrepreneur's Source

As the American economic landscape shifts, seasoned corporate executives are looking at independent business ownership as a way to secure and control their futures, and franchised businesses are growing in their appeal.

But pouring a large amount of money into a franchise does not guarantee success. In this book, you'll find out: How to determine if you can succeed as a franchise owner; What dangerous pitfalls to avoid as a buyer; The potential rewards of owning your own business; Whether or not the numbers make sense; Ways to raise money for your venture; And much more If you are tired of the corporate world and want to escape the rat race, then let Mitchell York, a successful franchisee and professional certified coach, guide you through the many steps involved in deciding whether or not to buy a franchise and how to do it right. As the former president of LendingTree Inc. and other major companies, he now owns a profitable and growing franchised business, and he's sharing his secrets for success in "Franchise: Freedom or Fantasy?"

Strategy exhibits a pervasive commitment to the belief that the best approach to adopt in dealing with affairs of the world is to confront, overcome and subjugate things to conform to our will, control and eventual mastery. Performance is about sustaining distinctiveness. This direct and deliberate approach draws inspiration from ancient Greek roots and has become orthodoxy. Yet there are downsides. This book shows why. Using examples from the world of business, economics, military strategy, politics and philosophy, it argues that success may inadvertently emerge from the everyday coping actions of a multitude of individuals, none of whom intended to contribute to any preconceived design. A consequence of this claim is that a paradox exists in strategic interventions, one that no strategist can afford to ignore. The more single-mindedly a strategic goal is sought, the more likely such calculated instrumental action eventually works to undermine its own initial success.

This book offers an insight into the complications higher education is currently facing in the Arab world. It discusses whether governance in international higher education is of particular importance in Arab countries when considering their difference in political systems, cultures, interests, concerns and numerous conflicts. Arab society needs more than ever to strengthen its higher education governance in order to meet current challenges and demands. Higher Education Governance in the Arab World includes insights from the real world and is written by international professionals with the aim of providing a spark of hope for a better future with a clearer understanding on how to move forward.

The main focus of the book is institutional change in the Scandinavian model, with special emphasis on Norway. There are many reasons to pay closer attention to the Norwegian case when it comes to analyses of changes in the public sphere. In the country's political history, the arts and the media played a particular role in the processes towards sovereignty at the beginning of the 20th century. On a par with the other Scandinavian countries, Norway is in the forefront in the world in the distribution and uses of Internet technology. As an extreme case, the most corporatist society within the family of the "Nordic Model", it offers an opportunity both for intriguing case studies and for challenging and refining existing theory on processes of institutional change in media policy and cultural policy. It supplements two recent, important books on political economy in Scandinavia: Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity (Kathleen Thelen, 2014), and The Political Construction of Business Interests (Cathie Jo Martin and Duane Swank, 2013). There are further reasons to pay particular attention to the Scandinavian, and more specifically the Norwegian cases: (i) They are to varying degrees neo-corporatist societies, characterized by ongoing bargaining over social and political reform processes. From a theoretical perspective this invites reflections which, to some extent, are at odds with the dominant conceptions of institutional change. Neither models of path dependency nor models of aggregate, incremental change focus on the continuous social bargaining over institutional change. (ii) Despite recent processes of liberalization, common to the Western world as a whole, corporatism implies a close connection between state, public sphere, cultural life, and religion. This also means that institutions are closely bundled, in an even stronger way than assumed for example in the Varieties of Capitalism literature. Furthermore, we only have scarce insight in the way the different spheres of corporatism are connected and interact. In the proposed edited volume we have collected historical-institutional case studies from a broad set of social fields (a detailed outline of contents and contributors is attached): * Critical assessments of Jurgen Habermas' theory of the public sphere * Can the public sphere be considered an institution? * The central position of the public sphere in social and political change in Norway * Digital transformations and effects of the growing PR industry on the public sphere * Institutionalization of social media in local politics and voluntary organizations * Legitimation work in the public sphere * freedom of expression and warning in the workplace * "Return of religion" to the public sphere, and its effects

A new way of approaching start-ups which encourages a more flexible plan that allows for uncertainty and change
Business plans do not allow for the unexpected. Often written at the outset of a new business proposal, there is little room for change or learning from experience once the venture is underway.
Beyond the Business Plan provides 10 new principles for starting a new business venture which guarantee the flexibility to face any uncertainties. These principles can be used as an alternative to a traditional business plan or even alongside one allowing it to adapt when needed. This book does not dictate how to run a business but provides the insight needed to overcome unforeseen obstacles, to adapt, grow, and change as necessary. This fresh approach teaches how to be responsive to uncertainty and demonstrates that flexible development can navigate the changing world economy better than any business plan.

"Value and Strategy: Competing Successfully in the NinetieS" presents fresh ideas, concepts, and practical suggestions for decision makers who must sustain growth and profitability in today's competitive business environment. Clearly written and illustrated with examples, graphics, and a glossary, this compact volume propels the idea of customer value to the forefront of business strategy. Value has emerged as a key idea in strategy because, as never before, customers can from pick and choose from among many different products and services. As a result, their expectations and demands for value, including quality, innovation, and affordability, have reached new heights. Shenkman thus begins by showing how a valuing process is used in everyday life: how a buyer thinks about value; how the idea of value operates in the processes of buying and selling; and how value and profits are created in the course of a relationship between a business and its customers. Dr. Shenkman then shows how in today's markets businesses both compete and cooperate in order to establish a leading position for their products and services. These efforts are necessary to ensure profitability, but they also combine to create powerful forces that limit the viability of any product or service over time. Market forces thus fuel the phenomenon of turnover that requires constant innovation and organizational responsiveness.

"Value and Strategy" outlines practical steps managers can take to ensure their organization's success. It helps decision makers see more clearly into the dynamic and ambiguous situations that arise each day as a result of relentless market pressures. It provides new insights that help to foster meaningful organizational change, while ensuring that employees have a personal stake in the business's profitability. Shenkman believes that work can play a constructive and creative role in people's lives. Using the strategy presented in this volume, managers can create the organizational conditions in which people can work together to innovate, solve problems, and create new opportunities for the business.

Is it possible for visionary leaders to adhere to their idealism and integrity without becoming casualties of corporate conservatism and executive-level politics? This book says "yes," arguing for the need for visionary change agents in organizations and resolving the paradox of visionary change in a bureaucratic environment. Why do many companies state they want change but then often fire employees who truly rock the boat in their efforts to shift the paradigm to make improvements? How should "disposable visionaries"-leaders who are passionate about new ideas, but who underestimate or intentionally ignore the political environment that supports maintaining the status quo and consequently are in danger of losing their jobs-keep their passion regardless of the opposition... and also keep their jobs? Written with wit and filled with poignant insights and well-documented examples, this book provides practical advice and encouragement to those who are driven to promote new ideas and reach new levels of achievement. Not just for executive-level corporate leaders frustrated by their company's resistance to change, the information and inspiration presented will be enlightening to anyone who has ever been puzzled or annoyed by obstructive internal politics at work. Readers will come away with effective ways to deal with politics, champion breakthrough innovation, be recognized as their organization's most valuable asset, and unlock their potential to change the competitive playing field. The book will also be invaluable for business students who need to be aware of potential obstacles they will likely face as they embark on their careers. Helps visionaries to identify their character traits, both positive and negative, and gives them direction on how to hang on to their idealism while more clearly perceiving how their actions affect others in the organization, including their managers, corporate leadership, or board of directors Describes a previously undocumented yet common dynamic that has frustrated many ambitious employees, told from the visionary's own viewpoint Explains how to manage visionaries more effectively by encouraging them to make meaningful contributions that can be embraced and claimed by others in the organization Enables leaders who are change agents to improve their chances of staying in an executive position long enough for their ideas to gel and take positive effect Features interesting profiles of (ultimately) successful visionaries-maverick leaders who were often initially fired or smothered for their methods and mindsets-throughout the book

To understand international joint ventures (IJV) creation and management one has to know how cross-border firms actually decide to form and operate a new company jointly. One has to "be there," say volume editors Woodside and Pitts. One must understand IJVs in "real life" and particularly the interactions among people, their behaviors and decision-making over time. What are the key success factors? The micro-managerial details? Written by a team of international experts, Creating and Managing International Joint Ventures provides just that perspective, in a blend of theory and application seldom found in the literature. Executives with international development responsibilities and academics researching and teaching international business strategy, management, and marketing will find here a research-based source of information and knowledge that is both thought provoking and immediately applicable.

This book presents unique insights and advice on defining and managing the innovation transformation journey. Using novel ideas, examples and best practices, it empowers management executives at all levels to drive cultural, technological and organizational changes toward innovation. Covering modern innovation techniques, tools, programs and strategies, it focuses on the role of the latest technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence to discover, handle and manage ideas), methodologies (including Agile Engineering and Rapid Prototyping) and combinations of these (like hackathons or gamification). At the same time, it highlights the importance of culture and provides suggestions on how to build it. In the era of AI and the unprecedented pace of technology evolution, companies need to become truly innovative in order to survive. The transformation toward an innovation-led company is difficult - it requires a strong leadership and culture, advanced technologies and well-designed programs. The book is based on the author's long-term experience and novel ideas, and reflects two decades of startup, consulting and corporate leadership experience. It is intended for business, technology, and innovation leaders.

The changing dynamics of business worldwide have led organizations to look beyond traditional managerial practices while at the same time attempting to retain their core competitive advantages. This development has called upon academicians and practitioners alike to reassess the different aspects of business management such as macroeconomic variables, the nature of the market, the changing features of the workplace, the new work ethos, and/or employer-employee exchanges. In this context, the book provides essential insights on industry innovations, academic advances and policy movements with regard to recovering markets in India and around the globe. The individual papers highlight potential avenues that could allow industry to better understand and respond to the global crisis. The book collects research papers presented at the Global Conference on Managing in Recovering Markets (GCMRM), held in March 2014. Seven international and 120 national business schools and management universities were represented at the conference, the first in a series of 13 planned under the GCMRM agenda for 2014 17. The book includes more than 30 research papers chosen from a pool of 118 presented at the conference, all of which have undergone a rigorous blind review process."