Strategies and practices for growing ecosystems are increasingly important in shaping industries and markets. Sustaining productive innovation is not just about you. It depends on others as well as your willingness and ability to collaborate effectively. This book is about how to use, as well as develop, a co-innovation platform to accelerate innovation and sustain ecosystem growth. It will show how you, your team and your organization can create and foster collaborative innovation among a diverse set of organizations that are located outside of your company's hierarchy. A co-innovation platform provides an environment where firms can combine or recombine ideas to generate novel solutions. A distinctive feature of the co-innovation platform is its resource-open and hands-on approach to innovation. For many organizations, resource limitations, organizational obstacles and/or time constraints kill an idea before it takes shape. By providing access to demand-side and supply-side resources and capabilities to facilitate co-innovation, the platform solves this problem and shapes the ecosystem's innovation trajectory from the ground up. This book provides strategic and practical guidance for orchestrating collaborative problem solving and ecosystem growth.

The labour economy is being transformed by new technology, as employers embrace new practices that utilise flexible work contracts and a whole new generation of tech-savvy employees. Leaders and decision-makers, managers and aspiring professionals, and a whole generation of students soon to join the workforce, will find Reshaping the Future: Phenomenon of Gig Workers and Knowledge-Economy invaluable. Unique insight is given into the changing business environment and the laws that are being created to regulate it. Those that adopt successful strategies, as set out by Moghavvemi, Teng, and Mahmoud will have the competitive edge needed to survive these changes, and thrive, well into the mid-twenty-first century.

Technical advancements are an important part of modern society, but particularly important in the business world. The success or failure of business operations can be affected by the technical operations working within it. Technology, Innovation, and Enterprise Transformation addresses the crucial relationship between a business and its technical implementations, and how current innovations are changing how the industry operates. Highlighting current theoretical frameworks, novel empirical research discoveries, and fundamental literature surveys, this book is an essential reference source for academicians, professionals, and researchers who are interested in the latest technical insights within the business field.

For the last 50 years, we have been building communities for the wrong reason. "How to Build a VillageTown" proposes to turn real estate development upside down, so that people may regain control of their lives, their communities and their future. Instead of building communities to sell cars, "How to Build a VillageTown" proposes people build communities that provide for their needs and aspirations... places to live that are places they love. The idea is not new. Over 2,000 years ago, Aristotle wrote that when several villages come together so they may become economically self-supporting, the purpose for their continuance is to enable their citizens to enjoy a good life, understood as the social pursuits of conviviality, citizenship, artistic, intellectual and spiritual growth. In almost every place and time, except our own, every aspect of community design, from the central plaza with its meeting places, cafes, taverns and shops, to their support for the artistic, educational and holy places followed these timeless patterns and principles of design. The people who live there help shape its design which is what gives it its character and authenticity. Beginning after World-War II, starting in America and spreading to other parts of the world, we radically redesigned how people live based on a different intent: to perpetually boom national economies. We invented suburbs to sell cars. We reshaped life based on this plan that came to be known as suburban sprawl. The core principle was that of separation. We separated destinations, generations and stages of life. The design principle became that of standardization. If we look at everything that surrounds us in daily life, we notice the extent to which our physical environment has become generic and bland. We redefined citizens as consumers, and in the process lost sight of why we build communities. This radical experiment in suburban sprawl failed to deliver on its promise. We now face a host of new and serious problems our ancestors knew not. For the most part, our response to these problems is either denial or investing substantial energy trying to fix broken and broke systems. In "How to Build a VillageTown," you are invited to take a different approach. Called a VillageTown - a town made of villages - it proposes people come together to form villages, about 500 people in each, with about twenty villages side by side to create the necessary economic and social critical mass of a town of 10,000 people. The optimal size proposes a 150 acre urban core surrounded by a 300 acre greenbelt and a 50 acre industrial park. Within the urban core, all is walkable - no cars within. This rescales everything, permitting a secure, stimulating place for all ages and stages of life. Human-scaled, it more resembles the market-town of yore; only it takes advantage of modern technology, most notably Telepresence that permits one to be in two places at once. It proposes creating its own local economy that enables its citizens to regain control over their own lives and enjoy a Good Life. The purpose of the series of VillageTown books is to put forth a proposal to build a new, timeless form of community to replace suburbs. All profits from book sales go to raise the funds required to build VillageTowns.The author takes no royalties, the publisher charges no fees. To support the idea, to help make it go from a good idea to real built communities, buy books, give them as gifts, leave them in cafes or anywhere else folks gather. This is not a drill. If you like the idea and want to live in a VillageTown, please go to the web site, VillageForum.com and become involved.

CEO EXCELLENCE, by McKinsey senior partners Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller and Vikram Malhotra is a unique and timely business book which will draw on 25 years of research and interviews with top leaders of some of the world's most respected companies. The resulting book will demonstrate that while the role of CEO is unique within every organisation, it is surprisingly similar across companies even in disparate industries. Furthermore, the best CEOs approach their role with distinct mindsets and practices. This book is about truly world class leadership, showing how the best CEOs think, adapt and approach challenges (never more relevant than in this extraordinary time). It will show why a brilliant CEO can have such an immense impact, and demonstrate how to model yourself and your performance on the very best - so that your turn to lead comes sooner, and is more successful.

"The Challenge of Remaining Innovative" explores innovation as a complex phenomenon that may be organizational as well as technological, that operates both within firms and across the broader economy, and that involves matters not only of research and development, but also of marketing, design, and government relations. The contributors explore two main themes: the challenge of remaining innovative and the necessity of managing institutional boundaries in doing so.
The collection is organized into four parts, which move outward from individual firms; to networks or clusters of firms; to consultants and other intermediaries in the private economy who operate outside of the firms themselves; and finally to government institutions and politics. This scheme delineates a variety of ways in which entrepreneurship has persisted across the 20th century--and accentuates how ongoing organizational re-arrangement has contributed mightily to its sustained vitality.

Cultural proximity consists in shared language, codes ,and norms of communication and exchange between actors. It is generally considered important for organizations, enhancing communication and facilitation interaction between actors. In such situation, diversity is often seen as a source of richness and originality. However, high levels of proximity might create some risk, leading to lock-in and inertia, with a negative impact on the innovativeness of the organization. While the role of cultural proximity is subject to much debate within organizations studies, a comprehensive understanding of cultural proximity remains elusive. This book explores the organizational implications of the concept of cultural proximity, delving into the managerial challenges posed by diversities and similarities in culture within a business environment using different levels of analysis. The key messages of the present book, grounded on original empirical evidence, can be summarized as follows: cultural proximity is a key factor for managing innovation in present times; innovation requires a deliberate orchestration of the dichotomy between cultural proximity/cultural diversity; there are specific circumstances where proximity can be beneficial for managers and entrepreneurs. The book will be of value to researchers, academics, managers, and students in the fields of management science, human resource management, innovation studies, and organizational studies.

Migrant Entrepreneurship: Emerging Themes and Interpretations with Insights from Italy delivers a fresh perspective on new issues linking migration and entrepreneurship, by providing in-depth theoretical insights drawing on management studies, and a strong empirical focus centered in the Italian context. This book aims at delivering an understanding of up-to-date knowledge on the topic of migrant entrepreneurship, addressing the most relevant gaps, and suggesting new directions for research and policy-making so as to have a broad impact on theory and practice. A range of emergent themes are explored including migrant entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ecosystems, internationalization of migrant-owned ventures, and entrepreneurship by returnees. Bolzani presents an international overview of each topic, contextualizes country-level specificities and outlining how they connect to wider global trends. Migrant Entrepreneurship offers illuminating new theoretical perspectives on a range of vital issues linked conceptually at national and international levels. The book presents a positive view of migration through looking at entrepreneurial efforts carried out by migrants both in the host and home countries, offering a broader perspective on the topic with respect to previous literature, and focusing critically on emerging trends for research and policy-making.

Greenwashing is an emerging trend that seeks to overemphasize the sustainability practices by companies to their customers. In a comprehensive analysis of this widespread marketing and corporate communication practice, Agostino Vollero examines the understanding of greenwashing, provides a systematic review of available literature review, and reflects on theoretical approaches and research trends. Additionally explored are specific case studies that offer lessons in avoiding the greenwashing trap and a build a look to the future in this context. Greenwashing: Foundations and Emerging Research on Corporate Sustainability and Deceptive Communication showcases fascinating insights and new perspectives in this field, which will be of great interest to scholars of Management, Marketing Communications, Corporate Communication, Accounting and Business Ethics.

Within the IT-related business domain, it is important to advance theory building and practices regarding management and governance issues. Business Strategy and Applications in Enterprise IT Governance emphasizes how organizations enable both businesses and IT people to execute their responsibilities in support of business/IT alignment and the creation of business value from IT enabled corporation investments. This publication distributes leading research that is both academically executed and relevant for practice in the professional IT and business community.

Organizations are increasingly relying on electronic information to conduct business, which has caused the amount of personal information to grow exponentially. Threats, Countermeasures, and Advances in Applied Information Security addresses the fact that managing information security program while effectively managing risks has never been so critical. This book contains 24 chapters on the most relevant and important issues and advances in applied information security management. The chapters are authored by leading researchers and practitioners in the field of information security from across the globe. The chapters represent emerging threats and countermeasures for effective management of information security at organizations.

A powerful "how-to-do-it-better" book, this is the first guidebook on competitive intelligence that uses case studies to provide behind-the-scenes insights into how professionals improve competitive intelligence processes. All organizations need to stay competitive in their respective fields to ensure success. Competitive intelligence (CI) is an established discipline that focuses on giving businesses and nonprofit organizations the advantage of staying fully informed about what their competitors are doing, are capable of doing, and will likely do. CI is a particularly valuable and powerful tool that supports everything from strategic planning to marketing and new business development to human resources-if it's executed properly. This groundbreaking book uses real-world case studies to expose common CI challenges and present a simple methodology for spotting problems, understanding how to rectify each problem, educating others in order to bring about improvements in a process, and testing and validating that the changes are working. Competitive Intelligence Rescue: Getting It Right provides invaluable insights from Carolyn M. Vella and John J. McGonagle, two of the most prolific authors, recognized experts, and in-demand speakers on the topic of competitive intelligence worldwide. Any manager, executive, or owner of any organization-including medium-sized and large enterprises such as businesses, law firms, hospitals, nonprofits, and universities-as well as anyone inside or outside of a firm who provides competitive intelligence to managers or executives will benefit from reading this book, regardless of previous experience with or knowledge about CI. Provides readers with practical tools and strategies to immediately identify and address their CI problems Enables businesses to realize discernible improvements in performance, planning, competitiveness, and agility Offers helpful checklists and other easy-to-use aids to make improving CI operations a straightforward process Serves leaders in any organization-for profit or nonprofit-charged with the challenge of maintaining a competitive edge in their industry

Although various factors contribute to failed change, one of the key reasons for change failure is the inability of leaders to gain the trust of employees, to understand the interaction between their subordinates, and to convince them to support change and to commit the energy and effort necessary to implement it. The aims of this book are to establish theories in order to describe and explain how human behaviors and contexts interact dynamically in these changes, and manage change and justice by reducing inequalities, giving emphasis to distributive justice. In addition, the aim of this book is also for readers to better understand employees' perceptions of organizational justice by senior management which is particularly important during the organizational change because change cannot succeed without the acceptance and support from employees. Organizational Justice and Organizational Change: Managing by Love provides readers a theoretical understanding and recommendations for acting properly in an organization, forming a comprehensive tool and better enable practitioners to achieve management of change and justice in organizations. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, practitioners, and students in the fields of change management, organizational studies, leadership, and strategic management.

How to harness the power of storytelling in your communications at work.

Whether you're standing up in front of a crowd at a conference or chatting with a colleague on Zoom, storytelling is the most effective way to get your point across. It works in 90 second Superbowl TV spots, it works in 10 second social media formats, and it works in that email you have to fire off in 5 seconds flat.

Why? The short answer is that people don't make decisions based on logic. They make decisions based on emotions. To persuade, influence and inspire, you need to make an emotional connection. And storytelling is the best way of doing that.

Journalist-turned-business coach Mark Edwards has developed his own methodology - SUPERB - for telling compelling stories at work. From the classic Hero's Journey to why we all need to Save a Cat, Best Story Wins shows how storytelling will make better communicators of us all.

Consumer Behaviour as a field of study has grown significantly due to the increased influence of consumers in the market. There has been a corresponding transitional shift from a business-to-consumer approach to a consumer-to-business one, which has had a specific impact on the marketing domain. Marketing as a core discipline was crafted in the infancy stage to ensure consumers got the right product, at the right price, in the right place and by use of the right promotion. The complexity in modern society involves correctly determining this “right”. Consumer Behaviour provides a current South African perspective on consumers and their ever-changing needs, as influenced by a number of psychological, cultural and environmental factors.

Consumer Behaviour discusses the dynamics of consumers and their consumption practices and behaviours, and the importance of adjusting marketing efforts accordingly to ensure business success.It reflects a relevant and current outlook, including exploring the changes and challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Consumer Behaviour is aimed at undergraduate Marketing students and those who are already in the field wanting to improve their knowledge on consumer behaviour in South Africa.

One of the most powerful tools available to an organization is its ability to create, maintain, and share knowledge and information vital to the success of the organization. From Manufacture to Mindfacture: A Relational Viable Systems Theory explores the concept of the organizational structure through the lens of the viable systems approach. Focusing particularly on human interaction and collaboration within a business setting, this research-based publication is ideally designed for use by business managers, social theorists, upper-level students, and researchers. Topics Covered The many academic areas covered in this publication include, but are not limited to: Cybernetics Human Capital Intellectual Capital Knowledge Management Management Science Organizational Development Relational Viability Value Creation

The three pillars of sustainability - Environmental protection, Social sustainability, and Economic sustainability - are well known since the Brunndtland Commission report. However, these pillars are meant to be approached and treated as equal counterparts, yet this rarely happens as individuals, corporations, businesses, and institutions will weight one pillar with more importance than the others. The Equal Pillars of Sustainability works to redress this problem and to look at what action is taken or might be taken to achieve equality. It is investigated whether this equality can be achieved in all circumstances or what alternatives need to be considered. It might be argued that Brundtland was wrong, and these three pillars are not the centrepiece of sustainable development. In this book we consider these views and actions to arrive at a view which will inform debate and guide future action. Developments in Corporate Governance and Responsibility as a series offers the latest research on topical issues by international experts and has practical relevance to business managers. This is the only book series endorsed by the Social Responsibility Research Network.