One of the first books to analyze business and financial aspects of sustainable transport and fuels systems and provides novel insights for researchers, managers, and politicians who work in energy and sustainability related areas.

In a world characterized by increased complexity and uncertainty, organizations today struggle to be strategically prepared for unexpected change. Of course, the strategist's job has traditionally involved an attempt to anticipate changes in the environment and to develop capabilities that will allow the organization to continue to thrive under new and different circumstances. But what if change cannot be anticipated with any degree of certainty? And what if change is so complex that its effects and implications can never be fully understood, much less anticipated? What, if anything, can organizations do to become more strategically prepared for unexpected change? This book explores the overall response to these difficult questions and argues that people in organizations become more strategically prepared for the unexpected when they cultivate practical wisdom.

The book covers the ongoing shift from mass-marketing and micro-marketing to sensory marketing in terms of the increased individualization in the contemporary society. It shows the importance in reaching the individuals' five senses at a deeper level than traditional marketing theories do.

The financial crisis has exposed severe shortcomings in mainstream monetary economics and modern finance. It is surprising that these shortcomings have not led to a wider debate about the need to overhaul these theories. Instead, mainstream economists have closed ranks to defend existing theories and public authorities have expanded their interference in markets. This book investigates the problems associated with mainstream monetary economics and finance, and proposes alternatives based on the Austrian school of economics. This school emanated from the work of the nineteenth-century Austrian economist Carl Menger and was developed further by Eugen von Boehm-Bawerk, Ludwig von Mises, and Friedrich August von Hayek. In monetary economics, the Austrian school regards the creation of money by banks through credit extension as a key source of economic instability. From this follows the need for a comprehensive reform of our present monetary system. In a new monetary order, money could be issued by both public and private institutions, and there would be no need for fractional reserve banking. Instead of creating money, banks would intermediate it. In finance, the Austrian school rejects the notion of rational expectations and measurable risk. Individuals use their subjective knowledge to gather and evaluate information, and they act in a world of radical uncertainty. Hence, markets are not "efficient" nor can portfolios be built on the basis of known probability distributions of asset prices as described in the modern finance literature. This book explores the need for a new theoretical foundation for asset pricing and investment management that will give practitioners more useful orientation.

'Brand Revolution' offers a radical new approach to brand management. With big brand case studies including L'Oreal and Jaguar, the author draws on her extensive experience as a marketing consultant to put together this highly engaging and practical book for developing, improving and controlling the identity of your brand.

The financial Crash of 2008 was not just about government regulation or lack thereof; the low tide of the Crash also revealed just how vulnerable our societies are to those organizations which focus so much on their own self-serving goals, that they ignore the damage they can do outside their walls. To counter this, the authors ask whether there is a better way to run this capitalist system of ours, instead of being tempted to throw it out and replace it with something much worse. Their prescription is to create the high engagement work culture in our organizations through a greater balance between the urges of 'me' and the desires and needs of 'we'; a work culture which brings real benefits to all stakeholders, not just the few, and drives the performance of our organizations to new heights. This is not 'pie in the sky': it is being lived by those companies featured in detail in these pages, such as Whole Foods Market and BMW.

Many firms enter new markets each year in search of growth, but only a handful succeed. A major reason for failure is underestimation of market entry barriers and competitors' reactions to market entry. Thus the objective of this book is to help marketers make more informed market entry decisions. To that end, the authors provide a comprehensive discussion of market entry barriers in both domestic and international markets, as well as strategies for overcoming them.

Chapter 1 provides an overview of the origins and nature of barriers, as well as a review of the existing literature on the subject. Chapter 2 concentrates on the differences between barriers in consumer and industrial markets in both early and late market entry situations. Barriers to entry in international markets are explained in Chapter 3. The timing of market entry is discussed in Chapter 4, where it is demonstrated that the nature of barriers changes in response to different stages of the product life cycle. Chapter 5 explores the relationship between exit and entry barriers and makes the case that the fear that market exit might be costly often plays an important role in market entry decisions. Chapter 6 examines the vital role of managerial consensus regarding market entry decisions. Chapter 7 explores profitability and other factors involved in early versus late market entry decisions. Strategies for overcoming barriers are covered in Chapter 8, and the book concludes with two Appendices that provide detailed market entry simulation exercises for domestic and international market.

Pay is a key element of the employment relationship and it has been advocated by some recently as a tool for enhancing organizational performance and sustained competitiveness. This book explores the realities of contemporary pay management in seven leading companies operating globally in the fast moving consumer goods sector.

Over the past ten years, there has been growing interest in the process of strategic decision-making among both managers and researchers. Strategic decisions are important for five main reasons: They are large-scale, risky and hard to reverse; they are a bridge between deliberate and emerging strategies; they can be a major source of organizational learning; they play an important part in the development of individual managers and they cut accross functions and academic disciplines. Strategic Decisions summarizes the current state of the art in research on strategic decision-making, with chapters prepared by leading strategy researchers. The editors also present implications for current application and proposed directions for future research.

This reference examines a wide range of environmental factors, both internal and external, that contribute to complexity.

Though many still think that we live in an information economy, Ernest Sternberg asserts that the driving force in 21st-century capitalism is not information, but image. Through studies of food processing, real estate development, tourism, movies, and labor performances, he examines how businesses endow products with evocative meaning.

It has become common wisdom that we live in a postindustrial information society in which data and calculation underlie wealth. But now that information is as routinely produced as industrial or agricultural goods, businesses are discovering that they best achieve competitive advantage by producing what consumers most dearly seek--personal meaning. The 21st-century economy produces just that: not merely information, but evocative images; not just commodities, but meaning-laden icons. As Sternberg shows, foods now appeal through their sensuality and nostalgia; houses and stores draw customers through their exoticism; people sell their labor through the deliberate performance of the self for the market; and tourist destinations offer up carefully crafted thematic experiences. Whereas farms, factories, and information processors once stood at the core of the economy, now movie studios do, producing the product valued above all, meaningful content, from which downstream firms acquire the themes that animate desire.

Now that meaning pervades production, Sternberg argues, modes of inquiry once reserved for the humanities make sense in the study of the economy. Drawing on art history and aesthetics, he introduces iconography as a mode of cultural analysis adapted to the study of commercial production. Through comparative studies of diverse economic sectors, ranging from food processing to tourism, Sternberg carries out an iconographic analysis of the new economy. This is a provocative study for scholars, students, and professionals dealing with marketing and consumer research, culture and media studies, socio-economics, and economic geography.

The 53 volumes in this set, originally published between 1955 and 1996, draw together research by leading academics in the area of management and provides a rigorous examination of related key issues. The volumes examine management techniques, managing for profit and non-profit organisations, and management training and development. This set will be of particular interest to students of Business Studies.

Spanning diverse current topics in the field of international strategic management, this collection represents the best writings of Peter Buckley, one of the world's leading authorities in the field. The book looks at three main areas in detail: international strategic management and government policy; foreign investment in China, Vietnam and Japan; and trade blocs, foreign market servicing strategies and international transfer pricing. An essential volume for anyone wishing to keep up-to-date with recent developments in international strategic management.

The proven system for B2B sales growth from the coauthor of Predictable Revenue, the breakout bestseller hailed as "Silicon Valley's sales bible" (Inc.com) If your organization's success is driven by B2B sales, this powerhouse of a book shows you how to generate new opportunities, build sales consistently, and focus on high revenue accounts with higher probability. It's the most reliable and predictable prospecting system available, developed by the coauthor of the bestselling Predictable Revenue and the author of the international bestseller How to Deliver a TED Talk. Following a proven step-by-step framework, you can turn any B2B organization into a high-performance business development engine. You'll learn how to target and track ideal prospects, optimize contact acquisition, continually improve performance, and achieve revenue goals-quickly, efficiently, and predictably. As a bonus, you'll receive full online access to sample materials, worksheets, blueprints, and more. If you are a business professional tasked with new business development, revenue generation, diversifying marketing lead generation channels, selling into disruptive markets, and justifying marketing ROI, Predictable Prospecting will be an invaluable resource.

"Innovation in the Public Sector addresses issues relevant to an understanding of the innovation journeys on which public organizations have embarked. If public innovation is defined as a necessary condition for establishing meaningful interactions between the government and society, what are the relevant issues that may explain successful processes and forms of public innovation?"--

A comprehensive overview of the thought of one of the most important management thinkers today. Explains the author's pioneering work applying systems thinking to the problems of organizations as they face the next millennium.

This history of Cass Business School, part of City University in the UK, contrasts its humble beginnings with its present high international standing. The author traces its rise through the ranks of business schools and identifies themes and factors to share with those who are involved in leading and changing similar institutions in a highly competitive world.

Describes the decisions that led to the success of 16 software companies. The decisions are illustrated in detail, providing entrepreneurs with insights into what it takes to make a decision that can change the future of a company.

As technology continues to evolve, existing business models become limited with respect to complexity and speed. Accordingly, significant transformation has shaped the economy and business environments in recent decades. Implementing New Business Models in For-Profit and Non-Profit Organizations: Technologies and Applications provides relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical research findings on a new platform of business models and then explores the relationship between the new Business 2.0 alliance and Web 2.0.

Multi-rational Management explains the concept of multirational management and illustrates it with many practical examples. It has primarily been written for 'reflective practitioners', i.e. those executives who continually think about their organisation and their own roles in that organisation.

Relational Perspectives on Leading discusses leadership from a relational and social constructionism perspective as practiced on an everyday basis between people. The book pursues a fast growing, practice-based approach - particularly within the Anglo-Saxon parts of the world - to organization studies and organizational phenomena.

The international fragmentation of economic activities - from research and design to production and marketing - described through the lens of the global value chain (GVC) approach impacts the structure and performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) agglomerated in economic clusters. The consolidation of GVCs ruled by global lead firms and the recession of 2008-09 exacerbated the pressures on cluster actors that based their competitive advantage on local systems, spurring an increasing heterogeneity, both across and within clusters, that is still overlooked in the literature. Drawing on detailed studies of different industries and countries, Local Clusters in Global Value Chains shows the co-evolutionary trajectories of clusters and GVCs, and the role of firms and their strategies in organizing manufacturing and innovation activities in the context of ongoing technological shifts. The book explores the tension between place-based variables and global drivers of change, and the possibility for territories containing such clusters to prosper in the new global scenario. By adopting insights from the GVC framework and management studies, the book discusses how the internationalization strategies of firms create opportunities as well as constraints for adaptive upgrading in clusters. This book is of interest to both researchers and policy-makers who are interested in the dynamic sources of competitive advantage in the global economy.

The banking sector is undergoing a process of fundamental transformation - mainly due to the challenges of digitalization, insistent customers, regulation and a volatile economic environment. This book provides an in-depth understanding of the underlying logic of 21st century's banking environment and helps to develop a roadmap for the successful transformation of contemporary business models. The authors introduce the 'Zurich model for a customer-centric banking architecture enabling the reader to develop a sustainable business model which copes with the challenges of this information age. They identify customer behavior traps in such an environment; introduce adequate strategic instruments and cornerstones for providing added value through financial services, and provide core factors for conducting a successful transformation process.