Discover the revolutionary approach to goal-setting behind the explosive growth of Intel, Google, Amazon and Uber.

In 1999, legendary venture capitalist John Doerr invested nearly $12 million in a small startup that had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan. After implementing Doerr's system of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), the company grew exponentially. Today, that same startup - Google - has a market cap exceeding $600 billion.

Doerr has introduced OKRs to more than fifty companies, helping tech giants and charities exceed all expectations. In the OKR model, objectives define what we seek to achieve and key results are how those top­ priority goals will be attained. They focus effort, foster coordination and enhance workplace satisfaction. For the first time in Measure What Matters, Doerr shares behind-the-scenes case studies to demonstrate the agility and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many leading organizations.

With a foreword by Larry Page, and contributions from Bono and Bill Gates, this book will show you how to collect timely, relevant data to track progress - to measure what matters. It will help any organization or team aim high, move fast, and excel.

Avoid costly mistakes and create more profit by writing a strategic book. A strategic book acts like a brochure or business card on steroids. So don't waste time selling your book, let your book sell you The Seven Secrets of Successful Authors is the first step towards planning, publishing, and productising your strategic book correctly, so that it becomes a laser-focussed marketing tool that gives you more clarity, credibility, and collateral. The book describes a simple foolproof system for writing a book, with every step already planned and mapped out in detail for you to follow? The Seven Secrets of Successful Authors exposes a simple process to get your knowledge, skills and expertise out of your head and into print sooner than you ever imagined possible. The author has worked with many business-owners, entrepreneurs and specialists who aspired to become successful authors in their fields of expertise. They're people who wanted to increase their credibility FAST and stand head and shoulders above their competitors. Successful authors use a simple ABC framework to write a Strategic Book: Achieve Strategic Clarity. Planning a clear strategic direction gives focus. Boost Personal Credibility. Publishing a Strategic Book enhances your personal reputation. Create Profitable Collateral. Productising creates profit from your existing skills and knowledge by creating collateral that attracts pre-sold prospects who want to become customers. The Seven Secrets of Successful Authors was written to support authors through the first part of the ABC framework. Here is what you'll discover inside: Secret 1: WHAT to write about Secret 2: WHO to write for Secret 3: WHY your readers buy books Secret 4: HOW to design your book Secret 5: WHEN to finish writing Secret 6: WHERE to promote your book Secret 7: WHICH specialists to use

Today it is clear to managers and entrepreneurs that the business environment can change at any given time. Strategic management is an important and ongoing process of formulating and implementing strategies that help an organisation to position itself optimally and so maintain a competitive advantage that results in profit. It creates harmony between any organisation, big or small, and its environment. All stakeholders are affected by strategic decisions. In the South African context, strategic management is crucial for all profit-seeking as well as non-profit-seeking organisations as a result of an ever-changing, turbulent and competitive environment. It is therefore important for students and practitioners of management at every level and in every organisation to understand the vital role of strategic management in the life of an organisation. The strategic management process: a South African perspective is a new South African handbook with a fresh and exciting perspective. Its four parts follow an understandable and practical approach, making use of numerous figures and "strategy in action" cases to support the theory. The strategic management process: a South African perspective should prove invaluable both to students in strategic management and to organisations, from corporate and public companies with management training programmes, to small business ventures that are trying to gain a competitive advantage in a cut-throat environment.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. This enlightening Research Agenda considers the latest developments within the world of work, arguing that the time is right to address the variety of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices and arrangements. Helping readers to deepen their theoretical understanding of HRM systems and processes, this Research Agenda brings insights from strategic human capital and theories that have been outside the main focus of strategic HRM researchers. Chapters look at attribution theories, the role of human and social capital in strategic HRM, as well as institutional or social forces that affect firm choices of HRM practices and outcomes. The book takes us beyond a best practice view by examining online labour platforms, the liquid workforce, networked organizations, and the management of human resources in entrepreneurial firms. Exploring the varying forms of HRM systems and practices, this book will be a key resource for scholars and PhD students in the fields of human resource management and strategic management.

A must-read for all South African retailers and small businesses! Attract customers! Make sales! Boost profits! All in your own neighbourhood.

Basil O’Hagan’s popular business text, the definitive neighbourhood marketing handbook, is bursting with tips to take your retail business to the next level. It features practical tips that are simple to grasp, easily browsable and relevant to the SA market.

A landmark reference work in the field, this Elgar Encyclopedia presents over 60 entries from scholars that have shaped the economics of innovation as a distinct and specialised field of investigation. Comprehensive and accessible, it further elaborates the relationship between the economics of knowledge and the economics of innovation. The Encyclopedia offers an overview of the classical origins of the early economics of technical change, and the role of Schumpterian legacies and the Arrovian economics of knowledge as indispensable ingredients to understanding innovation. The entries demonstrate that the analysis of the full array of feedbacks, interactions and transactions that take place within economic systems show how and why out-of-equilibrium conditions in both factor and product markets are the cause and consequence of the introduction and diffusion of innovations. This will be a critical read for economics scholars, particularly those focusing on knowledge and innovation as it offers an understanding of the definitions of key terms in the field, the founding tenets of the topic, and the economics of knowledge and innovation in more specific contexts. It will also be a useful reference tool for business school students. Key Features: Contributions from 67 scholars in the field of the economics of knowledge and innovation Informative table offering thematic groupings of the entries in a thorough introduction Provides readers with the framework to elaborate innovation policies and firms' strategies

This timely book explores the psychological repercussions of Brexit in the workplace. Illustrating the mental and emotional impact of the Brexit process, interdisciplinary chapters demonstrate its effect on the wellbeing of workers and its implications for the welfare of the workforce in the future. Bringing together international contributors from a range of disciplines, this topical book focuses on key areas of workplace functioning, including higher education institutions, corporate social responsibility and the emerging experiences of businesses, migrant workers and politicians. The major psychological, political and economic implications for employers, employees and policy-makers are considered, and the importance after Brexit of actions that preserve and build on progress already achieved in the UK workplace are highlighted. Brexit in the Workplace will appeal to scholars and students of politics, psychology and business, as well as business leaders and policy-makers wishing to gain valuable insights into the range of issues facing the workforce in the current atmosphere of political change and uncertainty around Brexit.

Illustrating the interdisciplinary implications for research on creativity development, this book focuses on the new concept of 'knowledge differences' that arise between people, organizations and various phenomena. It describes how these key differences create boundaries knowledge, a dynamic process that accelerates innovation. Chapters offer interdisciplinary perspectives on the topic to stimulate knowledge convergence across dissimilar fields of research, including business studies, economics, psychology and the arts. Following Arthur Koestler's theory of creativity, this insightful book shows how bisociation - the recognition of similarity in the collision of two distinct concepts - can be expressed through boundaries vision and boundaries knowledge, applying these twin concepts to the field of business and management. Focusing on literature related to strategy theory and knowledge creation theory, the book presents a theoretical framework for applying boundaries knowledge and boundaries vision to dynamic capabilities and knowledge creation in business innovation. Pioneering new frameworks for innovation, this book offers key insights for students and researchers of creativity development across various business-related fields. It will also benefit business leaders and managers, describing a key path to knowledge creation in professional environments. Contributors include: M. Kodama, M. Kimura, Y. Takano, T. Oka, T. Yasuda, N. Tokoro, Y. Mizukami, M. Yamamoto

Innovation for Entrepreneurs presents a powerful but easy to apply toolkit for innovation, based on Professors Meyer and Lee's decades of experience as company founders and innovators for corporations around the globe. This textbook includes guidance for developing new product and service ideas with genuine impact, building teams around these ideas, understanding customers' needs, translating these needs into compelling product and service designs, and creating initial prototypes. It also helps students learn how to scope and size target markets and position an innovation successfully relative to competitors. These methods are fundamental for any new, impactful venture. The textbook is a series of frameworks and methods that build upon one another to the final deliverable - an innovation project developed by student teams, solving problems for specific types of users and use cases. Each chapter introduces readers to entrepreneurs and their stories of innovation and venture development, across different sectors of the economy and regions of the world. Going to a core theme of the book, each of these entrepreneurs has tackled a societal-focused problem and created economic value for themselves and their investors. These are stories of inspiration and achievement - and they illustrate the major frameworks provided in the book. Each entrepreneur faced a problem or challenge solved by the methods presented in that chapter. The authors' own entrepreneurial and corporate innovation experiences then complement these examples with additional industry applications of the method. Then, each chapter concludes with exercises for students to apply their newfound knowledge to their innovation projects. The book's final chapter then shows students how to best integrate their work from each chapter into a compelling presentation. Innovation for Entrepreneurs is an essential book for all undergraduate students. Entrepreneurship students in business schools will find it addressing a missing link in many business school curriculums - how to design a distinctive new product or service. At the same time, the methods-based approach combined with its inspiring stories makes this book a great learning platform for engineering and science students thinking about starting their own ventures or working for others upon graduation. Mindful, purposeful innovation is the gift that we wish to share in this book, arming readers with practical, powerful methods. Our students have started many interesting, impactful companies, and with this, have gained the deeper satisfaction of using creativity and technology to help others.

Presenting cutting-edge research from Europe and beyond, The Role of Ecosystems in Developing Startups examines the diverse triggers of the entrepreneurial process and evaluates the richness of different entrepreneurial ecosystems. Novel approaches and methodologies in the field of startups, small business and entrepreneurship are provided, together with the conceptualisation of ecosystems in the managerial field. The book also demonstrates the importance of context in terms of actors and networks, the complete entrepreneurial journey as a set of complex processes and the role of time and resources supporting new companies. Furthermore, the use of social networks in both the early stages and in strategy execution are investigated as key to the entrepreneurial process and its ultimate success. The book's up-to-date empirical approach and practical guidance will provide an excellent resource to scholars and researchers in entrepreneurship alongside other business and management topics, practitioners and policy analysts in the field of entrepreneurship and management.

New technologies, with their practical contributions, provide social value. The chapters in this volume view this social value from a program evaluation perspective, and the focus of the evaluations is the generation of new technology funded by public sector agencies. Through keen and approachable analysis, the authors provide important background on both methodology and application. Link and Scott have assembled a collection of their seminal works on the social value of new technology. The first paper provides a general, hands-on overview of the theory and practice of program evaluation, while remaining chapters go on to focus on a number of public sector programs ranging from the U.S. Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research program to Canada's programs to support the development of medical imaging technology. The authors demonstrate that this area of research is relevant not only to established scholars and practitioners, but also to students. This book will serve as a valuable resource to academic researchers and graduate students in public administration, public policy, and economics, as well as practitioners in the evaluation field. Contributors include: S.D. Allen, D.B. Audretsch, B.M. Downs, L.M. Hillier, D.P. Leech, S.K. Layson, A.N. Link, A.C. O'Connor, J.T. Scott

Victor Kgomoeswana, well known as an African business expert with a profile on radio and television, shares 50 stories of innovation and opportunity behind the business headlines of the last ten years on the African continent, with some revised content since the first edition of the book in May 2014. From the introduction of M-pesa in Kenya to changing the image of Nigeria as Africa's fraud capital, and from Rwandan coffee farmers to Ethiopian airlines, and other remarkable stories in between, Kgomoeswana criss-crosses the continent to highlight and revisit the most fascinating business stories and their impact on the future of Africa. Africa is open for business revised and updated edition contains a dynamic and different view of the opportunities available in Africa from those usually portrayed in the news and in other media. Kgomoeswana focuses on the stories behind the headlines as well as sharing his personal experiences of Africa while travelling and doing business in a way that is as entertaining as it is informative.

Offering a comprehensive review of contemporary research on inclusive innovation, chapters address the systemic, structural issues that present the 'grand challenges' of our time. With 27 contributions from 57 expert scholars, this Handbook highlights both emerging practices and scalable solutions. Acting as a call to action, the chapters place social impact at the heart of theory and practice, providing fresh insight into global issues and practical solutions. Organized into five distinct sections to reflect current theoretical approaches and frameworks, contributions cover social innovation as practice; community and place; systems, institution and infrastructure; individual, organizations and organizing, and networks and social change. This Handbook emphasises the fundamental shift needed in management scholarship to address global problems and achieve social impact through sustainable development goals. This will be an invaluable resource for those championing social inclusion in both research and practice, including innovation researchers and management scholars more broadly.

'Developing Directors' is essential reading for chairmen and directors, consultants and trainers charged with the task of developing dynamic boardroom teams to lead the organisations of today. It provides practical advice on identifying the qualities, competencies and approaches needed for greater directorial contribution.

Starting a business is one thing. Making that business successful is quite another. We’ve all read the failure statistics of start-ups, yet we entrepreneurs are a determined bunch of people – we are not easily deterred and will try, and try, and try again.>

We are the drivers of economic growth and job creation, but sadly we are often the unsung heroes of the South African economy. With the lack of support for start-ups and absence of knowledge-sharing, being an entrepreneur is far from easy and what is missing is business guidance and mentorship.

Mistakes are made that could be avoided. We certainly don’t have all the answers all of the time, especially when we’re starting out. But you know who does? Those who’ve been down the same path before.

And that is where the value of this book, The Book Every Entrepreneur Has to Read, lies. It is full of sage advice, lessons learned, and thousands of hours of hard-earned knowledge from thriving entrepreneurs, covering: What they wish they knew when they were starting out.

What they wouldn’t do again, and the lesson learned. Wisdom they have picked up along the entrepreneurial journey from mindset to idea, planning to execution, funding to partnerships, networking to negotiating, innovation to strategy, hiring to company culture, social media to technology, and everything in between.

Don’t become a statistic – start reading and make notes and lists of what you can do today, to not only negotiate the sometimes hazardous entrepreneurial journey, but excel from a great idea to a successful business.

This insightful Handbook scrutinizes alternative concepts and approaches to the dominant economic or industrial theories of innovation. Providing an assessment of these approaches, it questions the absence of these neglected types of innovation and suggests diverse theories. International contributors provide a historical and critical analysis of all aspects of innovation, answering important questions such as 'are we just reinventing the wheel?'. Examining concepts that have existed for over a decade, chapters provide clarity on answering this question and investigate whether progress is actually being made. Split into seven parts, starting with the visions of innovation and reviewing multiple approaches and types of innovation, as well as utilising case studies to illustrate theories, this timely book provides an excellent update to this field. This Handbook will be an invaluable resource for scholars and researchers of business management and public policy as well as policy makers and stakeholders.

In a South African business environment characterised by change, turbulence and competitiveness, strategy is even more crucial today than ever before. Far too often top management develops a strategy for the company that is never communicated to or understood by other levels of management and employees, or is not even relevant to the future survival of the company. It is therefore crucial for students and practitioners of management at every level to understand the vital role of strategic management in the business world.

As Samsung Africa’s former President and CEO, Sung Yoon was a first-hand witness to the company’s journey to becoming a global brand. Despite challenges, he turned Samsung’s Africa business into a success over four years.

In a career spanning more decades, he contributed in numerous capacities, heading up sales not only in Africa but in three different overseas assignments.

Yoon offers insights that shed light on the challenges of making business decisions and taking calculated risks.

The Healthy Company is a handbook for directors and executives - and those on their way to getting there. Leading a company today means managing the uses of its resources and relationships and how it deals with the resulting effects over time as these effects will come back to impact the company, negatively or positively, in the future. It is this circle of integrated thinking that is essential to a healthy and sustainable company. The book considers a company's purpose and strategy under an integrated thinking approach. It also takes readers through a history of the company structure itself and the corporate revolutions that have happened along the way. A healthy company needs a healthy board, therefore, good corporate governance and the role of the board is explored. Practical tips and considerations are given for being a director, with FAQs. The successful running of board meetings is covered as well as the role of the board leader, along with a list of features which make for a good Chair. The Healthy Company proffers four matters that should be discussed at every board meeting to keep directors informed and to cultivate better decision-making. A healthy company needs integrated reporting that reflects its integrated thinking approach. This reporting should be internal for management and the board, but should also result in the annual integrated report released to investors and other stakeholders. This book covers the best practice guidance on preparing an integrated report, with FAQs for directors and executives. The Healthy Company offers a seven-step process which focuses on integration and a healthy company for the longer term.

This book discusses technology policy and innovation policy from an international perspective, with a particular emphasis on the policies of the United States and the United Kingdom. The importance of these policy areas, as well as their relationship to one another, is a unifying theme throughout, and this relationship is illustrated through an integrating policy framework. Private sector and public sector investments in R&D are posited to be the relevant target variables for technology policy, and vehicles to provide incentives for making each more effective are discussed along with suggestive information about how effective incentives have actually been. Consideration is given to the unintended consequences of technology policy. Also emphasized is the environment in which technology policy is promulgated and its relationship to a global innovation ecosystem. Innovation policy is a consequence of technology policy, and the innovation policies of various countries are also discussed. Technology and Innovation Policy will benefit academic researchers, senior scientists, innovation and technology policy makers, and graduate students who seek a deeper understanding of the relationship between technology and innovation policies from an international perspective.

Alfred A. Marcus and Mazhar Islam examine how demographic changes introduce new challenges for businesses, with a focus on how the world today is divided between disproportionately old and young nations. Taking a broad international perspective, the book illustrates how demography affects underlying conditions in nations, presenting the risks and opportunities for businesses as well as a set of concrete obligations they owe to the nations in which they operate. The book analyzes the key challenges that nations face based on whether they have principally old, young, or middle-aged populations, and how businesses can best respond to these challenges. Chapters particularly emphasize the impacts of immigration and technology, democratic governance, crime, corruption, and stability. Providing an in-depth examination of the relationships between youth bulges, youth busts and violence, the book grapples with the question of whether the world is likely to be a more peaceful place in the future, and the implications this could have for the global business environment. Demography and the Global Business Environment will be a valuable resource for scholars and students of international business and strategic management. It will also be highly beneficial for business leaders looking for guidance about how to evaluate the opportunities and risks of investing in various countries.

Teaching Strategic Management: A Hands-on Guide to Teaching Success provides a wide scope of knowledge and teaching resources on methods and practices for teaching strategic management theories and concepts for a multitude of settings (classroom, online and hybrid), course levels (bachelors, masters, MBA, executive) and student groups. The book brings together experienced faculty who are experts in the topic to discuss and summarize pertinent theories, concepts and approaches and provide concrete examples of strategic management education courses. All chapters offer various resources for instructors such as assignments, exercises, case studies, reading lists, etc. to apply in either physical or virtual classrooms. The breadth of material provided within this guide is invaluable to faculty and instructors of strategic management whether they are experienced and seeking inspiration for new methods or needing guidance for developing a new course. Instructors, faculty, and program directors of strategic management courses at undergraduate, graduate and executive levels can use Teaching Strategic Management: A Hands-on Guide to Teaching Success as an enlightening and instructive guide for teaching and for creating course syllabi and teaching plans. Contributors include: S. Baumann, J. Bourke, B. Boyd, G. Graybeal, S.-O. Horst, R. Jarventie-Thesleff, D.R. King, P. Maijanen, S. Reisinger, N.T. Sheehan, A.E. Sizemore, R. Smith, U. Stratmann, P. Tan, C.M. TenBrink, J. Tienari, K. Turnquest, D. Tyers, R.P. Wright

How can someone be perfectly imperfect? Isn't that a contradiction?

The Bible is filled with stories of people with all kinds of flaws and imperfections. The astounding thing is what happens when God changes their lives.

Perfectly Imperfect is about people whose true-to-life stories are found in the Old Testament. They are like us in many ways--confused, tempted, and often afraid. They are flawed, real people, but then God enters their lives and everything changes.

Through the examples of Abraham, Moses, Rahab, and many others, we learn how God works with us. We discover something about the way God transforms us from what we are into what we can be. In these sometimes tragic and broken lives, we get a glimpse of how God renews us and remakes us into people who are perfectly imperfect.