CEOs can build up a business from nothing or turn around a company that is on the verge of bankruptcy. Inspiring with their relentless drive, strong leadership and innovation that can turn whole industries on their heads, they are the dynamos of our economy.

What is the X factor that ensures a CEO’s success?

KC Rottok Chesaina seeks to uncover the unique personality traits, business acumen and leadership values that have turned CEOs into captains of industry. Based on extensive research and focused interviews with the leaders of some of South Africa’s top companies, including Vodacom, Bidvest, Capitec Bank, RMB, Dis-Chem, Discovery Health, Nedbank, Sanlam, Momentum, Curro, Exxaro, Harmony Gold and MTN, Chesaina’s book takes you to the heart of corporate South Africa.

With real-life examples, The CEO X factor shows that reaching the top is about much more than money – it requires a very specific kind of character, straightforward strategies, a true focus on people and a value-driven approach.

The buzz and hype created over the last few years around Digital Transformation has resulted in confusion and ubiquity that has rendered the term nearly meaningless. Transformation extends far beyond the technology stack and must include the organization's culture, its operating processes, and virtually every facet of how it functions.This fact means that leaders must break through the hype and demystify this term once and for all. They must get past the breathless hyperbole and understand what it really means to lead their organization through a continuous digital transformation process.The demystification of digital transformation and understanding what it really means is critical for all leaders. And that's what this book is about.

Today, it is essential for leaders to interact closely within an organization's community to effectively promote its organizational development. Understanding trust at the individual level allows for business improvement. Servant Leadership Styles and Strategic Decision Making provides the relevant theoretical framework and the latest empirical research on servant leadership styles and cognitive styles from an Eastern perspective. Featuring coverage on a variety of topics including autocratic leadership, leadership effectiveness, and organizational support, this book explores decision-making theories as moderators and mediators for leadership effectiveness. This book is designed for managers, professionals, researchers, educators, and administrators seeking current research on participative leader decision making and philosophy.

This incisive review analyses the most influential academic research in a burgeoning subject - the economics of music. The literature stems from both mainstream economics journals as well as pertinent works from accountancy, sociology and management sources. Topics discussed include live music, music production, labour markets and ownership and music competitions. This review provides a valuable resource for students and economists involved in this fascinating field, as well as those seeking to enter it.

Global Value Chains and Production Networks: Case Studies of Siemens and Huawei presents theories and frameworks that facilitate the evolution of GPN studies, from macro perspectives based on territory and industry to the use of micro (firm-level) data. The book explores these theories and frameworks through detailed case studies of two major corporations, Siemens and Huawei. With the GPN/GVC structure of Chinese firms not well known outside China, despite the growing importance of Chinese firms in the global economy, this guide plays a pivotal role in facilitating the use of data that promise to unlock economic cooperation and value.

This title explains all the basic concepts of business management concisely. Aspects for first-level training are discussed and presented in a meaningful manner.

The emergence of financial technology (FinTech)-related products is causing major disruptions in financial services that enable financial solutions and innovative business models resulting in the fusion of finance and smart mobile technology. As ASEAN is undergoing a paradigm shift from government-to-government (G2G) to community-to-community (C2C) relationships with the emphasis on integration and collaboration, the adoption of FinTech and its possible future directions needs to be studied further. Financial Technology and Disruptive Innovation in ASEAN provides an assortment of innovative research that explores the recent FinTech initiative in ASEAN with respect to its process, strategies, challenges, and outcomes and highlights new business models, products, and services that affect financial markets and institutions and the provision of financial services. While highlighting topics including blockchain technology, cloud computing, and mobile banking, this book is ideally designed for business executives, managers, entrepreneurs, financial and banking practitioners, policymakers, academicians, students, professionals, and researchers.

Innovation and standardization might seem polar opposites, but over many years various scholars have noted close connections between the two. This Handbook assembles a broad range of thinking on this subject, with contributions from several disciplinary perspectives by over 30 leading scholars and experienced practitioners. Collectively, they summarize and synthesize the existing body of knowledge - theory and evidence - pertaining to standards and innovation, and provide insights into how this knowledge can be useful to scholars, industrial strategists, policy-makers and standards practitioners. Drawn from leading experts in several social science disciplines, this Handbook provides new insights into innovation processes and systems using theoretical, empirical and applied approaches. By situating standards and standardization as specific factors which play distinctive roles in innovation-driven growth, it establishes that standardization (doing things the same way) is an essential component of innovation (doing things differently). The book also provides novel and practical insight into how standards are incorporated into innovation strategies and policies. Comprehensive and original, this collection will be a vital resource for all students and academics of social, natural and engineering science communities. Policy-makers and practitioners will also find a wealth of experience and knowledge within its pages.

This book integrates new thinking on the image, marketing, and branding of places at all levels, from town squares to cities and countries, and of the products and peoples associated with them, thereby bridging the 'country' and 'place' silos in place-related research and practice. Insightful contributions from top scholars reflect fresh theorizing and provide a critical appraisal of conventional wisdom by juxtaposing intriguing contexts, questioning commonplace practices, and challenging methodologies and theoretical assumptions. Chapters explore interdependencies among residents, visitors, brand managers, and consumers; image effects of place and social identity, cross-border acquisitions, popular culture exports, and sporting mega-events; country-of-origin research, cross-cultural consumer behaviour, international marketing, destination branding, and brand modelling; and cutting-edge methodological approaches and managerial best practices in place marketing. The book's interdisciplinary know-how and approach makes it an invaluable and comprehensive reference for researchers, managers, consultants, and students alike, in areas from marketing, place management, international business, and tourism to communications, social psychology, urban geography, and regional economics.

Entrepreneurship and innovation are the drivers of value creation in the twenty-first century. In the geography of the global economy there are 'hot spots' where new technologies germinate at an astounding rate and pools of capital, expertise, and talent foster the development of new industries, and new ways of doing business. These clusters of innovation have key attributes distinct from traditional industrial clusters that allow them to extend beyond geographic boundaries and serve as models for economic expansion in both developed and developing countries. How do these clusters emerge? What is the role of individual institutions such as governments, universities, major corporations, investors, and the individual entrepreneur? Are there systemic underpinnings, an invisible hand, that encourage these communities? The book begins with a presentation of the Clusters of Innovation Framework that identifies the salient components, behaviors, and linkages that characterize an innovation cluster, followed by an analysis of the archetypal cluster, Silicon Valley. Subsequent chapters probe how these characteristics apply in a diverse selection of economic communities in Germany, Belgium, Spain, the United Kingdom, Israel, Japan, Taiwan, China, Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil. Concluding chapters investigate the role of transregional organizations as cross-border disseminators of best practices in entrepreneurship and innovation. Students and professors of economics, business, public policy, management, entrepreneurship, and innovation will find this book a useful resource. Corporate executives, university administrators, government officials, policy makers, and entrepreneurs will also find it an insightful guide. Contributors: O. Berry, D. Chapman, J.-M. Chen, S.H. De Cleyn, I. Del Palacio, W. De Waele, J. Engel, F. Feferman, F. Forster, S. Kagami, M. Pareja-Eastaway, J.M. Pique, Q. Lang, C. Scheel, H. Schoenenberger, M. Subodh, V. Trigo, D. Wasserteil, P. Weilerstein, C.-T. Wen

This Companion provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview and critical evaluation of existing conceptualizations and new developments in innovation research. Arguing that innovation research requires inter- and trans-disciplinary explanations and methodological pluralism at various levels, it draws on multiple perspectives of innovation, knowledge and creativity from economics, geography, history, management, political science and sociology. The Companion provides the definitive guide to the field and introduces new approaches, perspectives and developments. The Companion systematically analyzes the challenges, problems and gaps in innovation research. Leading scholars reflect upon and critically assess the fundamental topics of the field, including: innovation as a concept innovation and institutions innovation and creativity innovation, networking and communities innovation in permanent spatial settings innovation in temporary and virtual settings innovation, entrepreneurship and market making innovation governance and management. Innovation researchers and students in economics, economic geography, industrial sociology, innovation studies, international business, management and political science will find the Companion to be an essential resource. It will also appeal to practitioners in innovation and policy makers in economic development, public policy and innovation policy. Contributors include: H. Bathelt, N. Bradford, T. Burger-Helmchen, M. Callon, U. Cantner, P. Cohendet, D.H. Cropley, L. D'Adderio, P. Desrochers, U. Dewald, G. Dosi, D. Dougherty, J.Y. Douglas, J.R. Faulconbridge, M.P. Feldman, M. Ferrary, D. Foray, N. Geilinger, E. Giuliani, J. Gluckler, B. Godin, F. Golfetto, G. Grabher, M. Granovetter, S. Haefliger, I. Hamdan-Livramento, A.B. Hargadon, A. Hatchuel, S. Henn, J.-A. Heraud, A.J. Herod, C. Hussler, O. Ibert, A. Lagendijk, P. Le Masson, S. Leppala, D. Leslie, S. Lhuillery, P. Li, N. Lowe, B.-A. Lundvall, E.J. Maelecki, L. Marengo, S. McGrath-Champ, J. Merkel, S. Ogawa, F. Pachidou, G. Parmentier, J. Penin, G. Pickren, A.C. Pratt, J. Raffo, A. Rainnie, A. Rallet, N.M. Rantisi, D. Rinallo, J. Roberts, R.G. Shearmur, L. Simon, B. Sinclair-Desgagne, B. Spigel, J. Szurmak, A. Torre, B. Truffer, A. Van Assche, W. Vanhaverbeke, S. Vannuccini, C. Vellera, E. Vernette, G. von Krogh, B. Weil, D.A. Wolfe