This volume of selected articles is being released in light of the new economic, social and environmental challenges Europe and the United States have been faced with following the end of the Cold War and in the evolving era of globalization. National security, immigration and the provision of health and other key social services call for a radically different outlook in terms of policy discussions. The contributors of this book focus on seven key policy issues and challenges that currently affect the United States and Europe: income distribution, the gender pay gap, crime and security, unemployment, health care, the demographic question and environmental regulation. The purpose of this volume is to analyze how public policy within the European context is responding to the challenges posed by this new global era.

Alliances are becoming an ever more important strategic weapon to succeed in many industries. This book describes how various leading firms have succeeded in learning how to manage their alliance portfolios and uses cutting edge research to offer advice on alliance management skills.

The impact of political lobbyists remains highly controversial. No-one has explored when they matter. This book tells readers when lobbyists count and analyzes the relationship between lobbying, policy outcomes and the impact of external factors to reveal the professional lobbyist's limited effect on policy. On most policy issues lobbyists simply do not matter. But, on rare occasions lobbyists can make a difference and this book explains when they matter and why.

Participation and social responsibility in innovation is the core theme of this book. Both are issues of organization and not of ethics, or the enforcement of other forms of obligations on individual actors. The need is for a democratization of innovation that can make innovation open to broad participation.

Based on his diverse personal experiences and two decades of interdisciplinary research, Dr. Ehin unveils the "mysteries" and shows the practicality of tapping into the ever evolving, yet extraordinarily powerful, informal networks present in all social groups. What this book reveals is the extraordinarily dynamic and tight linkage between three "hidden" organizational success factors responsible for most work accomplished in both for profit and nonprofit ventures, especially in the development of new innovations. The book shows why in a knowledge economy it is essential to design organizations that facilitate the fundamental collaborative and creative qualities of human nature rather than unconsciously suppressing them. In doing so, it is made obvious why most mergers and change efforts fail and the reasons why an average employee only works at two-thirds of his/her capacity.

This work clearly demonstrates how "smart" institutions can harness, rather than manage, these invisible emergent forces and in the process avoid the dismal record of past organizational transformation initiatives. Hidden Assets is a must read not only for top executives, knowledge professionals, and organizational scholars, but for everyone associated with private, public, or voluntary social institutions.

As the Web paradigm shifted from the business-centered to user-centered one (this paradigm shift has become known as Web 2.0 ) it has become a Web platform as a method to quickly reach a large pool of consumers. Web 2.0 has changed the nature of a user from a content consumer to a content generator. While the pre-Web 2.0 era is characterized by read-only websites and proprietary web applications, Web 2.0 brought about a variety of interactive community-based initiatives that leverage data, harness distributed intelligence, and utilize a rich multimedia. E-Business Applications for Product Development and Competitive Growth: Emerging Technologies is a comprehensive framework of knowledge provided by research and practitioner experts within the e-business research field. Emerging e-business theories, architectures, and technologies are outlined to stimulate information into research and business communities. This book will serve as an integrated e-business knowledge base for those who are interested in the advancement of e-business theory and practice through a variety of research methods including theoretical, experimental, case, and survey research methods.

Firm growth. This concept has interested researchers for generations. Economists have sought to predict and measure firm growth using a host of different variables, while strategic management scholars depict growth as the result of clever analyses and rational resource exploitation. Entrepreneurship scholars - ever engrossed by successful start-ups - have pondered why growth sometimes comes fast and sometimes never at all, while the field of business history has given countless examples of growing firms in a range of different settings. Yet despite research across fields, our knowledge of how growth in a firm actually comes about is limited and we still know little about the process. This book offers a new reading of economist Edith Penrose's The Theory of the Growth of the Firm. The bold statement is that although Penrose's work - across fields and generations - is amongst the most quoted on firm growth, the basic points of her work have yet to be realized and explored empirically. Essentially, growth is created by a dynamic interrelation between the firm's self-conception and its image of context. Based on these two subjective categories, the firm makes decisions and its actions lead it to develop along a particular path. To Penrose this is the basic engine that drives the growth and development of firms. This book discusses how the engine of firm growth can be captured in empirical analysis using interpretative theory and narrative methods inspired by recent streams of research in business history.

In this volume, Dean Shepherd focuses on the varying topics of entrepreneurship unified through conjoint analysis. Although the topic of entrepreneurial decision making is broad, in doing so, he reveals the mechanisms that come into play during the entrepreneurial decision-making process. Scholars of entrepreneurship and organizational behavior will find this collection an essential resource for understanding how decision making is achieved in entrepreneurial settings.

The literature on innovation in Africa is rapidly expanding, and a recurring thread in the emergent literature is the pervasiveness of systemic weaknesses that inhibit the innovation process. Despite these, firms are able to innovate in Africa. It is then logical to ask: how do African firms manage to overcome the prevalent constraints and learn to innovate? This book directly tackles this question, with a view to improving our understanding of the innovation landscape in Africa. The book brings together some of the latest innovation research from across the African continent, ranging from Tanzania and Ethiopia in the east to Nigeria in the west. The chapters included in the collection adopt different but complementary theoretical and methodological approaches to address a rich mix of interrelated issues. These issues include the factors that enhance or inhibit innovation in African firms, the sources of (knowledge/information for) innovation, policy options for overcoming constraints and facilitating firm-level innovation, the nature and roles of brokers and intermediaries in dealing with innovation constraints and in facilitating the innovation process and the role of interactive learning and acquisition of embodied technology in the innovation process. This book was originally published as a special issue of Innovation and Development.

This book deals with the concepts of leadership and communication in business organizations, initially on a general level and then in detail through an analysis of specific cases. First the book provides a contextual framework to explain the role and importance of the topic. The foundation is provided by selected behavioural and situational theories. Then 15 different leadership models and their respective communication strategies are specified. The interaction of leadership and communication is examined explaining organizational communication and its tools. In the third part the book looks in detail at the glass, textile and confection industries. It examines the relationship between socio-demographic variables of employees, leadership types and communication styles and systems of managers in these sectors. The results of this study provide researchers and professionals with a number of suggestions for more effective organizational communication and better leadership practice.

The idea that each country should have one currency is so deeply rooted in people's minds that the possibility of multiple and concurrent currencies seems unthinkable. Monetary systems contribute to problems of high unemployment and social distress during financial and economic crisis, so reforms to increase the responsiveness and flexibility of the monetary system can be part of the solution. This book discusses 'monetary plurality', which is the circulation of several currencies at the same time and space. It addresses how multiple currency circuits work together and transform socio-economic systems, particularly by supporting economies at the local level of regions and cities. The book shows that monetary plurality has been ubiquitous throughout history and persists at present because the existence of several currency circuits facilitates small-scale production and trade in a way that no single currency can accomplish on its own. Monetary plurality can improve resilience, access to livelihoods and economic sustainability. At the same time, it introduces new risks in terms of economic governance, so it needs to be properly understood. The book analyses experiences of monetary plurality in Europe, Japan, and North and South America, written by researchers from East and West and from the global North and South. Replete with case studies, this book will prove a valuable addition to any student or practitioner's bookshelf.

Autopoietic systems show a remarkable property in the way they interact with their environment: on the one hand building blocks and energy (including information) are exchanged with the environment, which characterizes them as open systems; on the other hand, any functional mechanisms-the way the system processes, incorporates building blocks, and responds to information-are totally self-determined and cannot be controlled by interventions from the environment. Information systems in an organization seem to accept the autopoietic system way of development and can help managers to understand the operations of their organizations better. Autopoiesis and Self-Sustaining Processes for Organizational Success is an innovative reference book that presents the meaning of autopoietic organizations for social and information science, examines how autopoietic organizations are information self-producing and self-controlled, and provides a framework for its development in modern organizations. The book focuses on analyzing autopoiesis features such as self-managing, self-sustaining, self-producing, self-regulating, etc. Moreover, as the aforementioned characteristics receive a new interpretation in IT environments, the book also includes an exploration of IT solutions that enable the development of these characteristics. This book is ideal for professionals, academicians, researchers, and students working in the field of information economics and management in various disciplines such as information and communication sciences, administrative sciences and management, education, computer science, and information technology.

This book explores the influence of the modes of knowledge transfer and environmental dynamism on the relationship between strategic actions and the sustainable balanced scorecard measurement of performance. Special emphasis is placed on emerging multinational enterprises in Kenya, a country that is rapidly becoming one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. The chapters address the best strategy for sustainable performance, the integral modes of knowledge transfer on strategy for sustainable performance and the achievement of sustainable performance in dynamic business environments. Providing innovative research on 25 diverse MNEs in Kenya, this book can be used by managers, investors, consultants, researchers and postgraduate students to understand the strategic mechanisms used by these emerging enterprises.

Building a successful Advisory practice is not very complicated, but it does take a tremendous amount of energy and effort. You need to utilize proper strategies, techniques and also become relentless with consistency to succeed. What I want to instill in the newly developing advisor is a sense of ownership. This more business type mindset can be the difference between having lasting success or coming up short. I once managed a program where I was charged with developing new Advisors. I brought in an executive to speak to a class where he explained that his role was to assist them when they had their initial struggles developing and managing their business. His experience showed that many of the advisors he worked with started off strong but eventually struggled and failed to continue growing their business. After hearing this I spent several years researching this very concern. What I found was that it was very real and happened to many advisors between the 3rd and 5th years of their careers, dependent upon how fast their initial growth was. This caused me to spend a great deal of time working with advisors that had either broken through this plateau or never encountered this period at all. This book is a culmination of the strategies that have proven to provide advisors with success in managing their business. It is hard-work but needs to be consistent work. It is very tedious work but such is the risk that could provide you with your ultimate reward. You see everyone in this business starts off with the idea of wanting to be good at what they do. But it is the elite performer that puts in the effort that goes along with becoming great I wish you all the success that this business can provide you in the future.

This book compiles brand new case studies on the intricacies and market entry strategies of different companies in China. The sheer speed and scope of China's growth makes it unique and investment opportunities are very attractive. Despite the potential, many western companies fail in their market entry strategies. This book traces the major sources of failure and uses cases to illustrate how firms can better cope with the challenging Chinese market. With a special focus on marketing, positioning, and branding, this book presents issues and solutions of both large multinationals and small niche market players.

This book provides in-depth insights into the practices that lead to success in outsourcing global services. Written by internationally acclaimed academics, it covers best practices on IT outsourcing, business process outsourcing and netsourcing. This book is a must read for any practitioner, academic or student concerned with global sourcing.

This unique book unveils an invaluable paradigm for companies wishing to create new knowledge. Mitsuru Kodama's new theoretical framework is achieved using a combination of approaches including knowledge sharing, knowledge integration, strategy, organization, corporate culture and leadership. The author presents his new theoretical framework using two models which demonstrate the means for actors both within and outside the company to formulate and implement micro strategies through the structure of dynamic strategic human networks. Detailed case studies are then used to support the theoretical framework. These include specific applications of knowledge innovation from networked strategic communities including large corporations, joint ventures, customer-oriented solution businesses and IT-based management. Research and managerial implications arising from these theoretical frameworks are also explored. Bridging theory and practice and providing international scope, this book will be invaluable to academics and students with an interest in business and management, and to managers in the IT, telecommunications, and electronics industries.

This book demonstrates, in detail, why annual performance appraisals might still work in hierarchical environments, but largely fail in agile ones. The annual performance appraisal is one of the world's most widely used management tools. For many years, it was indeed seen as a pre-requisite for successful leadership and professional management. While most managers and employees have always been sceptical in this respect, those at a strategic level are now also realising it causes more harm than good, and a growing number of leading companies have similarly abolished this approach. One key reason lies in the changing working world, and the quest for greater organisational agility. Companies are moving away from rigid structuring. The arguments are presented objectively but with practical relevance, coherently illustrating the available alternatives for achieving what annual performance appraisals largely have not.

Manufacturing managers are still focused on the short-term tactical issues related to their business. Strategic issues tend to receive less attention. However, manufacturing can play an important strategic role. This book helps managers consider the strategic roles their operations can play and to provide guidance as to what actions can be taken.

Confronting the wide range of factors that management face in relation to global changes, this volume focuses on the implication of these changes for all organizations. By presenting its case using a variety of analytical tools ranging from formal game theoretical systems to inductive models based on case studies, this volume concentrates on three main areas: the implications of global change on the competitive environment for employment and working practices; the influence of the international business environment in decision-making; and the importance of cultural and institutional diversity. Through its comprehensive approach, this book aims to stimulate business managers, academics and students to clarify, develop and extend the many complex scenarios that are integral to the debate on how business organizations may benefit from the challenges produced by global change.

This book addresses the gap between the espoused importance of organizational human capital and how it is actually reported and assessed. It also discusses the current and potential uses of human capital measurement and a way for HR to position itself among other business functions such as finance, accounting, and operations. Readers will finish with an understanding of approaches for the valuation of a firm's human capital, practical applications for the economic analysis of human capital, and gaps that are ripe for research and practice to address.

A book on the path dependent and path creating structures and attitudes of business interest associations in a world of Europeanization and internationalization of markets. It includes empirical data on relational information used for network analytic purposes - drawn from hundreds of interviews with CEOs.

De Lange suggests a new contextually linked building block model to develop theories of the firm in the field of strategy and organizations.Using this approach, she proposes two models: one that is a realistic American version and another that is a futuristic sustainable model. Both are new networked models that integrate current theories; a review of international corporate governance supports the sustainable firm that solves problems of the current one. Through a revised theoretical lens, the book answers a provocative question surrounding modern corporate America: Who wields the power? In this investigative look at the institutional mechanisms behind who is truly running the show, Cliques and Capitalism seeks to not only explain why the current corporate system fails to function well, but also offers solutions for improved corporate governance through a new sustainable model.