![]() |
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
|
Your cart is empty |
||
|
Books > Business & Economics > Business & management > Business strategy
The last decade has seen increasing awareness of the importance of understanding corporate environmental management systems (EMSs) and their relationships with sustainability, competitiveness and institutional practice. It is now assumed that most large companies have some version of an EMS in place with systems ranging from informal policies and practices to formalised third-party certified systems that are widely publicized by companies and are now integral to their strategic direction. No matter what level and type of system a firm chooses, both practitioners and researchers wish to examine and better understand the extent to which these systems are cross-functional, how they impact on performance evaluation, their capability to monitor supply chains and the life-cycles of products and services and, most importantly, whether these systems actually make a contribution to better environmental performance. This book provides intriguing insights into strategic and sustainable EMSs. It provides clear evidence of benefits that should exceed the costs (tangible and otherwise), and help practitioners understand the attributes of well-developed and strategically focused EMSs. It also demonstrates the link to performance measures such as reputation, improved position in the marketplace, cost, quality, waste reduction and numerous sustainable development-based metrics and issues. The comprehensive scope of topics spans several industries and provides environmental systems insight involving sustainable management systems, strategic and operational impacts of environmental systems, cross-country comparisons of EMS design processes and results, product-based environmental systems, EMS impacts at innovative organisations and environmental systems integration within specific industries. The book is split into three sections. First, the book covers the broad issues of planning and designing an EMS and includes topics such as performance evaluation, comparisons between multinational environmental systems, sustainable development and links between already established quality systems and an EMS. The second section focuses on EMS implementation and operation and incorporates some corporate or industry-specific case studies. The third and final category of the book highlights the use of an EMS to evaluate business processes. Strategic Sustainability will be essential reading for both managers faced with decisions regarding their own EMSs and to researchers seeking additional insights from state-of-the-art examples for further theoretical development and testing.
The global business environment is becoming increasingly volatile and unpredictable, reflecting the consequences of operating in a dynamic and complex business environment in constant flux with the potential of extreme outcomes. As a consequence, corporate performance data generally displays very few high-performers and a fat tail of many underperforming firms. This business context means that contemporary managers need to be equipped to deal effectively with implied uncertainty, abrupt events, and extreme outcome effects. This volume presents a number of promising ideas about how to deal with the strategic challenges of global business turbulence, as presented at the 2018 EURAM Conference held in Reykjavik, Iceland. There is a need for effective adaptive strategies to survive and prosper in the unpredictable contexts of corporate activities. The various contributions are grounded in prior strategy research but adopt multiple methodological approaches to engage diverse relevant knowledge that can advance this increasingly important field of study. The book presents new perspectives in the study of responsive adaptive processes in organizational settings that has high relevance for social science researchers with interests in these issues. Intelligent and curious managers and management students can likewise gain access to new ideas that may inspire their current thinking on effective organizational practices.
There are few industries, if any untouched by global competitive forces. Firms and countries long accustomed to dominance in their respective international markets must now reckon with aggressive and innovative competitors from all corners of the world. As the cross-border flow of people, knowledge, ideas, products, services and management practices accelerates, the notion of home-based advantage is becoming weaker. Unlike their domestic counterparts, firms competing across borders must deal with differences in political, legal, financial, cultural, governance and macroeconomic contexts. These contextual differences shape competition in international strategy and make the study of international strategy more than just a simple extension of classic strategic analysis. Global Strategy deals with the question of how firms can compete in a global environment. Andrew Inkpen and Kannan Ramaswamy examine the issues considered central to the study of strategic management in a global context, such as the nature of global advantage, strategic alliances, competing in emerging markets, international corporate governance, global knowledge management and ethical issues in international business. Much as been written about the relevance of global, regional and domestic strategies to counter competition from overseas and as a means to enter foreign markets. However, lobal Strategy takes a broader view, organizing itself around a set of strategic management issues that arise specifically because a firm is international. While there is obviously some overlap between domestic strategic management and global strategic management, it is Inkpen and Ramaswamy's contention that the differences between domesticand global strategy warrant specific attention. By integrating academic research with practical examples and case studies, they inform students and managers of global business about a diverse set of important strategic issues.
This book explores and analyzes the effects of the globalization strategies of multinational enterprises (MNEs) on national and local development and highlights the implications of these effects for policy makers. Containing contributions from leading international business scholars, the text addresses this previously little explored but critically important issues for the future of the world economy.
What makes some international firms and managers successful and why do others fail? What can firms and managers do to adjust to the specific local business environment? Can we observe patterns that could guide the adjustment strategies of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and managers charged with succeeding in a global context? To answer these questions, the editors start with the belief that location and actors matter in addition to the 'home and abroad' context in which the MNEs and managers operate. As yet another phase of development dawns -- post financial crisis -- in which globalization is a given and still in progress, the urgency increases to learn how MNEs, managers and governments can increase efficiency, minimize failure and maximize success. This volume proposes cultural hybridization of organizations and managers as well as ascertaining the resources necessary for the effective interface of national, regional, and international networks.
The rise of the Arab world and China are part of the same story, once trading partners via the Silk Road. It isn't a coincidence that Arab traders have returned to China at the same time that China is fast regaining its share of the global economy. This is a breakthrough account of how China is spurring growth in the Arab world.
Real options theory has attracted significant interest in the field
of strategic management. Advocates of the approach emphasize that
importing concepts from financial economics holds out the potential
of yielding new insights on strategic decision-making under
uncertainty as well as boundary-of-the-firm issues that are the
focus of competitive and corporate strategy. While considerable
progress has been made in conceptualizing different types of real
options for various strategic investments, considerably less has
been done to empirically validate the core propositions of real
options theory. As a result there is much debate about the merits
and promise of real options in strategy.
This book discusses adoptive management innovation, which has been successfully implemented in other areas. It proposes a theory on this field by considering the importance and popularity of adoptive management innovation in China and around the globe, and focusing on its nature. It also establishes a process framework through which adoptive management innovation occurs, explores how individual characteristics of individual managers affect their adoption decision, examines the effects of a firm's dynamic capability on each phase of adoptive innovation, and addresses how intangible management innovation supports the process of tangible product innovation to produce effects. By exploring the process, adoption decision, drivers and effects of adoptive management innovation, the book offers abundant applications for managerial practice.
Scenario-driven planning is a new management technology for strategy design that employs computed or strategic scenarios to improve the quality of managerial thinking. Strategic scenarios-the outcomes of modeling strategic situations-produce insight much richer than that expected from environmental scenarios alone. They bring to the consulting and upper-level management audiences a better way of handling strategic uncertainty, providing the tools managers and strategy students need for thinking and dialoguing about complex strategic issues. This new Quorum book deals with a subject that has gradually emerged to the forefront of planning theory. Scenario-driven planning (SDP) is a new technology for management design that empowers organizations to address the various uncertainties that beset them. In recognition of the increasing turbulence of the business environment, this new technology for strategic management is attracting a great deal of attention. However, most present approaches to SDP fall short of the full power of modern management practices. Buttressed by an extensive index and reference list, this book is the most comprehensive treatment to date of the scenario approach. Written for practicing managers and consultants distrustful of quick fixes, as well as for academics and students in the field, the book starts with the present business malaise of developed economies and follows it with a presentation of the historical antecedents of the origins of SDP. It then gradually develops a modern treatment of the scenario approach, starting with its origins, proceeding with graduated case studies (simple applications first, followed by standard applications), and finally concluding with discussion of the theoretical issues and emerging trends that underlie the scenario approach. Drawing on their combined theoretical and consulting experiences, the authors enumerate the cognitive biases and other obstacles to the management of strategic uncertainty. They present a method that goes beyond the enumeration of judgemental environmental scenarios, and introduce simple as well as more sophisicated methods for computing strategic decision scenarios. Called CSM (Comprehensive Situation Mapping), this analytical approach to strategic planning allows managerial thinking to soar past the bureaucratic side of planning in order to take advantage of creative dialectics. Because of its computational and dialectic features, the CSM approach can be used by astute corporate leaders as an opportunity for promoting organizational learning.
Garrard provides an expert account of the growth and development of markets in the rapidly growing and profitable cellular communications industry. The author brings his invaluable insights to this authoritative analysis of business and regulatory issues, drawing lessons for current business practice. The treatment is global. Market development is described, analyzed and evaluated, bringing the reader up-to-date with current market characteristics and future trends. 514 p.
There is a growing awareness across both public and private sectors, that the key to embedding an effective risk culture lies in raising the general education and understanding of risk at every level in the organization. This is exactly the purpose of David Tattam's book. A Short Guide to Operational Risk provides you with a basic yet comprehensive overview of the nature of operational risk in organizations. It introduces operational risk as a component of enterprise wide risk management and takes the reader through the processes of identifying, assessing, quantifying and managing operational risk; explaining the practical aspects of how these steps can be applied to an organization using a range of management tools. The book is fully illustrated with graphs, tables and short examples, all designed to make a subject that is often poorly understood, comprehensible and engaging. A Short Guide to Operational Risk is a book to be read and shared at all levels of the organization; it offers a common understanding and language of risk that will provide individual readers with the basis to develop risk management skills, appropriate to their role in the business.
One of the most important communication books Ive ever read. I highly recommend it! ...Ries and Trout taught me everything I know about branding, marketing, and product management. When I had the idea of creating a very large thematic community on the Web, I first thought of Positioning.... The first book to deal with the problems of communicating to a skeptical, media-blitzed public, Positioning describes a revolutionary approach to creating a position in a prospective customers mind-one that reflects a companys own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of its competitors. Writing in their trademark witty, fast-paced style, advertising gurus Ries and Trout explain how to:
Positioning also shows you how to:
Ries and Trout provide many valuable case histories and penetrating analyses of some of the most phenomenal successes and failures in advertising history. Revised to reflect significant developments in the five years since its original publication, Positioning is required reading for anyone in business today.
What can you learn from the most successful companies in the world? The NBA Story will help you understand and adopt the competitive strategies, workplace culture, and daily business practices that enabled the exciting basketball league to become the powerhouse it is today. Today's NBA is filled with larger-than-life figures, like LeBron James, James Harden and Stephen Curry, who effortlessly dominate the courts. But it wasn't always so glamorous. The multi-billion-dollar league has grown from humble roots into a sports powerhouse that is loved around the world due to savvy digital marketing and a global focus. Thanks to the popularity of individual players and team rivalries, the NBA has survived league mergers and financial crisis. Teams have earned the respect of millions of loyal fans who are dedicated to the success of each and every organization within the league. Through the story of the NBA, you'll learn: How to keep a dream alive when it seems like no one wants to see it come true. How a company can find their way out of a financial crisis. How presentation is the secret sauce to the success of any show. And how a company can build a loyal fanbase who will do anything to keep them on top.
Rapid technological advancements have the ability to positively or negatively impact corporate growth and success. Professional leaders and decision makers must consider such advancements when designing and implementing new policies in preparation for the sustainable future of the business environment. Developing Strategic Business Models and Competitive Advantage in the Digital Sector focuses on the application of preemptive planning in the media and entertainment industries to combat an increasingly uncertain future of innovation and competition. With research-based examples and analysis, this book is an essential reference source for academicians, researchers, and professionals interested in learning more about the impact of technology on industry success, including the changes and challenges created by the Internet and electronic media.
Research and development (R&D) as well as innovation are the drivers of change and the key determinants of growth in many industry and service sectors. In spite of the financial turmoil and restructuring of the world economy after 2008, investment in R&D is expected to grow further. Innovation competence will continue to be a major success factor for internationally operating companies. The book presents a state-of-the-art account of innovation management and the role of R&D and innovation strategy for corporate growth and renewal. It follows a top-down approach starting from corporate strategy, and describes the effective integration of corporate R&D, business unit projects and operational performance improvements. The book offers portraits of leading innovators and high-performing corporations and provides a rich collection of best-practice examples.
This is a state-of-the-science book about organizational justice,
which is the study of people's perception of fairness in
organizations. The volume's contributors, all acknowledged leaders
in this burgeoning field, present new theoretical positions,
clarify existing paradigms, and identify future areas of
application.
Learn about the entrepreneurial mindset and the true process of a successful entrepreneur with Kuratko's ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THEORY, PROCESS, PRACTICE, 12th EDITION! Presenting the most current thinking in this explosive field, this renowned entrepreneurship text provides a practical, step-by-step approach that makes learning easy. It incorporates up-to-the-minute information about trending topics such as design innovation, the entrepreneurial mindset, entrepreneurial hustle, bootstrapping, and entrepreneurial coachability. The accompanying MindTap® Learning Suite challenges you to apply what you've learned as you complete a unique set of activities designed to help you sharpen your entrepreneurial skills. You'll tackle activities that challenge you to experience the world of new venture creation or corporate innovation firsthand. This book will be your guide to understanding the entrepreneurial challenges of tomorrow, and MindTap® will teach you the necessary skills to become a leader in the industry.
Creativity, innovation and change are vital to the development and sustainability of all organizations. Yet, questions remain about exactly how novelty comes about, and what dynamic processes are involved in its emergence? Ideas of emergence and process, drawn from a variety of different philosophic traditions, have been the focus of increasing attention in management and organization studies. These issues are brought to bear on novelty and innovation in this volume by examining new organizational and product development processes, whether planned or unplanned. The contributions in this volume offer both theoretical insights and empirical studies on, inter alia, innovation, music technology, haute cuisine, pharmaceuticals and theatre improvisation. In doing so, they throw light on the importance of emergence, improvisation and learning in organizations, and how both practitioners and scholars alike can best understand their own assumptions about process. In addition, the volume includes general essays on process perspectives in organization studies.
* The first book to specifically apply the 'unbossing'/decentralization concept to crisis management * Shows how and why organizations can arrive at finding opportunity in crisis, rather than simply surviving it * Provides a roadmap to build leadership and crisis competency where and when they're needed most
This book examines the strategic aspects of outsourcing in relation
to the firm. It provides a holistic view of the outsourcing
process, starting with conceptualization, through to implementation
and management of the process. Although the book is based on a case
study of the pharmaceutical industry, the general principles
derived from the Strategic Sourcing Model are generic in nature and
the model can be applied to instances of outsourcing in other
industries.
Japanese firms are in the midst of the most protracted economic crisis in their post-war history. The end of the "bubble economy" has led to a long era of low growth. This change in the general business environment has profound consequences for the management and the organization of corporate Japan, as well as for the theory of the Japanese firm. The contributions to this book cover a broad range of subjects, from the strategies and organizational structures to the management of human resources and innovation processes in the 1990s. These changes are systematically commented on by field specialists from abroad, especially Europe, relating the situation in Japan to comparable developments in other countries.
Global Automobile Demand is a two-volume work analysing the impact of the Great Recession and the structural factors which shape automobile demand in developed and emerging countries. The second volume examines the automobile demand in the BRICS and other emerging countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, Turkey, Mexico, Thailand and Malaysia. |
You may like...
Expansive - A Guide To Thinking Bigger…
John Sanei, Erik Kruger
Paperback
The Book Every Leader Needs To Read…
Abed Tau, Adriaan Groenewald, …
Paperback
Vusi - Business & Life Lessons From a…
Vusi Thembekwayo
Paperback
(3)
Statistics For Business And Economics
David Anderson, James Cochran, …
Paperback
(1)
|