Lean Thinking was launched in the fall of 1996, just in time for the recession of 1997. It told the story of how American, European, and Japanese firms applied a simple set of principles called 'lean thinking' to survive the recession of 1991 and grow steadily in sales and profits through 1996. Even though the recession of 1997 never happened, companies were starving for information on how to make themselves leaner and more efficient. Now we are dealing with the recession of 2001 and the financial meltdown of 2002. So what happened to the exemplar firms profiled in Lean Thinking? In the new fully revised edition of this bestselling book those pioneering lean thinkers are brought up to date. Authors James Womack and Daniel Jones offer new guidelines for lean thinking firms and bring their groundbreaking practices to a brand new generation of companies that are looking to stay one step ahead of the competition.

This book guides process-industry professionals from the implementation of the basic foundations of Continuous Improvement (CI) through to an organization where CI is a "way of life" and a defining feature of the culture of the organization. The readers of this book are seeking solutions to such pressing issues as: * Eliminating accidents and near misses. * Reducing customer complaints. * Improving customer delivery performance. * Elimination of accidents and near misses. * Reducing customer complaints. * Improving customer delivery performance. * Introducing new products. * Improving staff productivity. * Removing costs to meet the budget. * Dealing with absence and poor morale. * Improving staff retention. This book provides them with guidance on how to address issues in these areas in a way that enables improvements to be realized quickly but not at the expense of a long-term goal of a sustainable Continuous Improvement culture. In addition, this book presents the implementation of CI as a cyclical journey with no endpoint. The stages are ordered in a sequence that enables the reader to get started in their area of the company and build up the elements without the need for an overall organizational strategy at the beginning. Continuous Improvement is a vast subject with many takes on principles, approaches, and tools. This book is about how all the fundamentals of these areas fit together and, as such, covers only some of them. However, within the bibliography, I have signposted the books that have guided me during my career and which go into the principles, approaches, and tools further.

The rapid pace and increasing convergence of internet, phone and other communications technologies has created extraordinary opportunities for business but the complexity of these new service mixes creates parallel opportunities for fraud and revenue leakage. Companies seeking to use communications technology as a delivery or payment platform for digital services are particularly at risk. They need to understand both their strategic and operational risks as well as those affecting their stakeholders - partners and customers. Effective risk management is as much about awareness, culture, training and organization as it is about technology. Mark Johnson's practical guide, Demystifying Communications Risk, highlights cases from a wide range of geographies and cultures and is designed to raise awareness of the multi-faceted and often complex forms that operational revenue risks take in the communications sector. It provides managers with an understanding of the nature and implications of the risks they face and the human, organizational and technological approaches that can help avoid or mitigate them.

This groundbreaking new book by business scholar William C. Frederick presents an innovative, exciting - even revolutionary - view of corporate management and the challenges it confronts in today's world. The author proposes a management paradigm shift transforming the way corporations do business. Management scholarship and research may well be rechanneled from current orientations to new models, concepts, and theories of what it takes to manage corporations in a planetary world confronting climate change, energy crises, and securing the well-being of all global citizens. Natural Corporate Management (NCM) is an awareness and an acceptance by the managers of today's business corporations of the close functional linkage between natural forces and human economic choices. NCM is not a set of techniques or methods but is a growing consciousness by managers of the presence and influence of nature in all managerial decisions. The book's central theme is that business and nature are locked into an evolutionary partnership that defines all aspects of corporate management, including decisions, policy, goal-seeking, organizational design, workplace behavior, and productive operations. This partnership of Nature and Nurture yields economic, social, and ecological dividends for corporations, their stakeholders, and the global community. An "Evolutionary Cascade" depicts the various phases of evolutionary change - physical, organic, genetic, human, neurological, symbolic - beginning with the Big Bang origin of the Universe and continuing to modern times. These evolutionary events collectively influence the operational activities of all business firms. A "Natural Theory of the Firm" summarizes the NCM approach, as well as the mind-set of corporate managers, and the bio-socio-economic consequences of their decisions. This theoretically-innovative book proposes an agenda of corporate actions to promote long-term sustainability and economic well-being of business, its stakeholders, and planetary citizens everywhere. It will be essential reading for managers and researchers at all levels who wish to engage seriously with the challenges of organic life and its long-term sustainability.

Innovation requires teaming. (Put another way, teaming is to innovation what assembly lines are to car production.) This book brings together key insights on teaming, as they pertain to innovation. How do you build a culture of innovation? What does that culture look like? How does it evolve and grow? How are teams most effectively created and then nurtured in this context? What is a leader's role in this culture? This little book is a roadmap for teaming to innovate. We describe five necessary steps along that road: Aim High, Team Up, Fail Well, Learn Fast, and Repeat. This path is not smooth. To illustrate each critical step, we look at real-life scenarios that show how teaming to innovate provides the spark that can fertilize creativity, clarify goals, and redefine the meaning of leadership.

In the critically acclaimed first edition of A Social Critique of Corporate Reporting, David Crowther examined the perceived dialectic around traditional and environmental reporting to show it to be a false dialectic. Corporate reporting continues to change rapidly to incorporate more detail and especially environmental and social information. At the same time the mechanism for reporting has changed and the internet now enables more information to be provided to an ever wider range of stakeholders and interest groups. The perceived conflict between financial performance representing the needs of investors and other dimensions of performance representing the needs of other stakeholders still however continues to exist. In this updated edition, this perceived conflict is re-examined along with the wider purposes of corporate reporting. These are examined in the context of web based reporting and a greater concern for all stakeholders. The conclusion is that, although recent developments have produced changes, the essential conflict is still professed to exist, but remains a largely imaginary one. The analysis in this book makes use of both statistics and semiotics and in so doing develops a semiology of corporate reporting that offers an alternative to other research that is largely based on econometrics. Researchers, higher level students and others with an interest in or responsibility for corporate reporting, corporate social responsibility, accounting research, or semiotics will find this book essential reading.

Tailored specifically to the digital world in the 2020s, this easy-to-read practical guide is packed with expert insights along with plenty of real world examples.

Weaving core digital marketing principles into a specifically South African context, you’ll learn:

• How to craft a digital sales strategy
• How to create a website
• The basics of search engine optimisation
• How to write emotive web copy that inspires action
• How to navigate the world of influencers and social media

This edited volume builds on the previously published Self-Initiated Expatriation: Individual, Organizational, and National Perspectives, which served to give in-depth insights into the concept and the processes of self-initiated expatriation and presented different groups undertaking self-initiated foreign career moves. While more than a hundred articles on self-initiated expatriation (SIE) have been published in the meanwhile, an examination of the research questions and samples of SIEs in published SIE research shows that the role of context and its impact on SIEs' career-related decisions and behaviors has not been explored sufficiently. This raises the question in how far existing research results are comparable. The aim of this follow-up volume is to deepen the understanding of SIEs' careers, focusing on the contextual influences of space, time, and institutions on the heterogeneous SIE population. More specifically, the editors aim to shed light on spatial conditions in terms of the home and host country conditions on the self-initiated expatriation experience and examine developments over time in terms of temporality of conditions and SIEs' life-course. Moreover, the influence of the institutional context in terms of occupational, organisational, and societal specificities will be analysed. All chapters are based on strong theoretical foundations that serve to conceptualise "context" and are written by both established and emerging global academics and researchers. Self-Initiated Expatriates in Context contributes to conceptual clarity in the burgeoning field of SIE research by drawing attention to the importance of exploring context and, thus, boundary conditions to careers. It offers specific guidance for an improvement of future SIE-related research in order to enhance the validity of future empirical studies as well as for an improvement of managerial practice. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, practitioners, and students in the fields of international business, human resource management, organisational studies, and strategic management.

As challenges to the era of globalisation emerge, international business grows in importance and complexity as a field of study. This shortform textbook introduces learners to the frameworks within which international business occurs and to the range of actions that companies might undertake in these environments. Owing to an emphasis on cross-border interactions, international business is a politicised field, and this book provides readers with the tools to deepen their understanding not only of the actions that companies might take but also of the economic, societal, cultural and political frameworks affecting how decisions are made. With a refreshing realism in its approach, this book will be perfect brief reading for students required to understand the obstacles that global business practitioners must overcome to succeed.

Effective Document and Data Management illustrates the operational and strategic significance of how documents and data are captured, managed and utilized. Without a coherent and consistent approach the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization may be undermined by less poor management and use of its information. The third edition of the book is restructured to take this broader view and to establish an organizational context in which information is management. Along the way Bob Wiggins clarifies the distinction between information management, data management and knowledge management; helps make sense of the concept of an information life cycle to present and describe the processes and techniques of information and data management, storage and retrieval; uses worked examples to illustrate the coordinated application of data and process analysis; and provides guidance on the application of appropriate project management techniques for document and records management projects. The book will benefit a range of organizations and people, from those senior managers who need to develop coherent and consistent business and IT strategies; to information professionals, such as records managers and librarians who will gain an appreciation of the impact of the technology and of how their particular areas of expertise can best be applied; to system designers, developers and implementers and finally to users. The author can be contacted at [email protected] for further information.

Solar power has come of age. Not only has it become one of the key alternatives to fossil fuels, it can now be deployed in a way that makes a viable business with a financial profit. This book shows industry professionals and students how to do just that. Solarnomics describes the economics of building and operating a solar power plant today and provides a window into a future in which several technologies collaborate, and in which all participants in the electricity grid become smarter at scheduling both the supply and demand for electric power to give humanity a future that is sustainable, both environmentally and economically. The book shows how to estimate costs and revenues, how to tweak the design of a project to improve profitability, how to calculate return on investment, how to assess and deal with risk, how to raise capital, how to combine solar with batteries to make a hybrid microgrid, and how to be prepared for future developments in the evolving smart electricity grid. Solarnomics will enable professionals in the solar industry to assess the potential profitability of a proposed solar project, and it will enable students to add an extra dimension to their understanding of sustainability.

We spend a lot of our time at work and would be depressed with nothing to do. But when it gets to Monday, many of us are already longing for the weekend and the prospect of escape. How did work become so tedious and stressful? And is there anything we can do to make it better?

Based on his popular Economist Bartleby column, Philip Coggan rewrites the rules of work to help us survive the daily grind. Ranging widely, he encourages us to cut through mindless jargon, pointless bureaucracy and endless meetings to find a new, more creative - and less frustrating - way to get by and get on at work.

Incisive, original, and endlessly droll, this is the guide for beleaguered underlings and harried higher-ups alike. As Rousseau might have said: "Man was born free, but is everywhere stuck in a meeting." If you've ever thought there must be a better way, this is the book for you.

Addresses one of the hottest issues facing all businesses today, and one that can destroy companies overnight - cybersecurity. Identifies how to implement cybersecurity strategy and practices in a straightforward way. Demystifies a crucial topic for executives, taking it away from an information technology issue and making it understandable for business leaders and board members with governance oversight. Ideal reading for executives, and also students on the growing number of courses on this topic.

A practical guide for HR functions, leaders and managers to executing successful redundancies Teaches a strategic approach to redundancy that mitigates against its negative effects to the organization and individuals affected, while realising the desired outcomes that drive value Packed with practical tools including consultation letter templates, sample processes, policies, handouts, project plans and workshops, which are editable and downloadable from our website, and guidance on managing difficult conversations

This book guides process-industry professionals from the implementation of the basic foundations of Continuous Improvement (CI) through to an organization where CI is a "way of life" and a defining feature of the culture of the organization. The readers of this book are seeking solutions to such pressing issues as: * Eliminating accidents and near misses. * Reducing customer complaints. * Improving customer delivery performance. * Elimination of accidents and near misses. * Reducing customer complaints. * Improving customer delivery performance. * Introducing new products. * Improving staff productivity. * Removing costs to meet the budget. * Dealing with absence and poor morale. * Improving staff retention. This book provides them with guidance on how to address issues in these areas in a way that enables improvements to be realized quickly but not at the expense of a long-term goal of a sustainable Continuous Improvement culture. In addition, this book presents the implementation of CI as a cyclical journey with no endpoint. The stages are ordered in a sequence that enables the reader to get started in their area of the company and build up the elements without the need for an overall organizational strategy at the beginning. Continuous Improvement is a vast subject with many takes on principles, approaches, and tools. This book is about how all the fundamentals of these areas fit together and, as such, covers only some of them. However, within the bibliography, I have signposted the books that have guided me during my career and which go into the principles, approaches, and tools further.

The importance of creating a favourable impression is hard to overstate in all walks of life - in business it's vital to achieve strategic goals. Customers, journalists, bloggers, investors, governments and other groups are all important stakeholders in an organizations performance and in persuasively communicating a company's ethical and socially responsible behaviour, these groups can be kept onside. Supported throughout by lively examples, this book contains guidance for implementing strategies that engage stakeholders - highlighting those organizations which employ communication professionals as key performers. Van Riel reveals how a dominant logic develops among executives, which influences styles and techniques of trust-building communication. The practical insights demonstrated via cases including Google, Unilever and Barclays make this book useful reading for MBA and other graduate classes across areas such as public relations and reputation management as well as thinking managers across the globe.

This is a very timely book! Public procurement for innovation has become a prominent tool of demand-side innovation policy in recent years. A better understanding of the underlying assumptions and intentions, as well as the opportunities of this bundle of instruments and their limitations, is highly relevant for both innovation policy analysts, students and practitioners. The book presents the latest knowledge and insights of world-leading experts in the field of public procurement for innovation.' - Stefan Kuhlmann, University of Twente, the Netherlands, President of the European Forum for Studies of Policies for Research and InnovationPublic procurement for innovation (PPI) is a demand-side innovation policy instrument. It occurs when a public organization places an order for the fulfillment of certain functions or needs, which cannot be met at that moment or within a reasonable period of time through a new or improved product. Providing evidence of the benefits to public and private actors from selective use of this policy instrument, this book illustrates the requirements and constraints for its operationalization. It significantly improves our knowledge of the key determinants of effective public procurement, aiming to promote innovative capabilities in the supplying sectors and beyond. It also provides case studies and conceptual contributions that help extend the frontier of our understanding in areas where there are still significant knowledge gaps. Scholars interested in the study of innovation policies and practitioners involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of PPI will benefit from this state-of-the-art exploration. Contributors: Y. Caloghirou, J. Edler, C. Edquist, A.T. Furtado, L. Georghiou, Y. Li, J. Nauta, P. Panaghiotopoulos, A. Protogerou, C. Garcia Ribeiro, J. Rigby, M. Rolfstam, L. Tsipouri, E. Uyarra, V. Valovirta, H. van Meerveld, N.S. Vonortas, G. Whyles, J. Yeow, J.M. Zabala-Iturriagagoitia

Be Data Analytical is the book organizations and individuals need to understand how to truly use analytics to turn data into valuable insights and drive smarter decision making. Data needs analytics to turn it into value and for organizations to be truly data-driven, they need to use analytics correctly. However, most organizations do not move beyond the first, most rudimentary stage of analytics. They miss out on the powerful insights and opportunities available with all the four levels of analytics: descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive. Be Data Analytical reveals how to supercharge data value through all the four levels of analytics, bringing data to life and enhancing data-driven decision making. Be Data Analytical examines each of these four levels of analytics in-depth: what they are, why they matter, how they can be used strategically and how they can be implemented. The book also explores how individuals and organizations can improve their skills and performance in each of these areas. Written by a global trailblazer in the world of data literacy, the book shows professionals, managers, leaders and organizations how to use analytics for the successful and strategic conversion of data into value, insight and action.

The book offers new critical insights into the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable development in Africa. The extent to which CSR initiatives can contribute to sustainable development in Africa remains debatable. This book examines in a very clear structure how, when, and whether CSR initiatives are able to contribute to the realization of the sustainable development goals, peace, and environmental sustainability at the micro-levels of society. It also explores some macro-level issues such as the relationship between taxation and CSR, CSR and human rights, and CSR and public governance and, in so doing, challenges existing CSR dogmas. With themes aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this book provides useful practical guidance for policymakers and business leaders seeking to better understand the strength and limitations of CSR as a vehicle for advancing sustainable development in Africa. It will also appeal to scholars, researchers, and students of African studies, development studies, international business, strategic management, and business and society.

Strategic Recreation Management is a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the fundamental principles, managerial techniques and practices in the public administration of recreational services. It covers every key facet of public management as it concerns recreational service, including organizational, operational, planning, developmental, and managerial procedures, as well as examining all the contextual factors that influence the delivery of recreation, such as political pressures, economics, social considerations, physical resources, and citizens' perception of the field and its performance. Each chapter offers illustrative case studies from the real world of recreation management, with chapters sequenced to represent the typical day-to-day challenges and issues in recreation service. Authors Jay Shivers and Joseph Halper have many years' experience of working in the recreational sector, as educators and practitioners, and the result is a textbook that provides the perfect foundation for any degree-level course in recreation management, as well as being an indispensible reference for all professionals working in recreation service.

The Handbook of Research on Artificial Intelligence, Innovation and Entrepreneurship focuses on theories, policies, practices, and politics of technology innovation and entrepreneurship based on Artificial Intelligence (AI). It examines when, where, how, and why AI triggers, catalyzes, and accelerates the development, exploration, exploitation, and invention feeding into entrepreneurial actions that result in innovation success. Individual chapters explore the factors that shape and drive innovation and entrepreneurship, including modalities (such as the Internet of Things (IoT)), challenges (such as privacy and safety concerns), and opportunities (such as augmenting the efficacy frontier of technological solutions enabled by AI). This Handbook provides comprehensive coverage of AI, technology, and innovation and entrepreneurship for academics, policy makers, practitioners, and students.

When the chips are down you have to step forward, speak up and take action - or sink. Matthew Ingle, Yorkshire born and bred, left school in 1971 with four O levels. He went to work at a timber yard in Huddersfield, before joining the management training programme at Magnet. When he was made redundant in 1994, he had an idea for a business, jotted down on a single sheet of paper but no name, no products, no buildings and no backers. Howdens was founded in 1995, and today is a FTSE 100 company with 10,000 staff, sales of over GBP2 billion and a royal warrant. This is the story of how he got there: the highs and lows, the disasters turned to triumphs, the unsung heroes and the grafters - and the no-nonsense business principles that guided him along the way. Kitchens, or Sink weaves memoir with business insight, telling us a great deal about the state of manufacturing in the UK, how Matthew learned to turn setbacks into opportunities and established the standards he set for himself and his workforce. This is an honest and uplifting story, which also offers sound and pragmatic advice to anyone starting their own business.

This ground-breaking book specifically focuses on the leadership of innovation and entrepreneurship in healthcare by providing a detailed step-by-step framework for effective leadership in the challenging and dynamic healthcare environment. Taking a fresh approach, it utilizes resources within healthcare organizations and the creative abilities of their people to provide a long-term solution to address key global issues, including the aging population, rising costs and long waiting lists, together with the challenges of staff recruitment and retention. Claudine Kearney offers in-depth insights into what is required to achieve success in the development of innovation. Chapters also demonstrate how to lead innovation, entrepreneurship and design thinking in healthcare as well as how to achieve results with a future oriented mindset. Visionary in its approach, the book examines both internal and external healthcare environment, addressing the key elements such as organizational strategy, culture and structure to overcome challenges. It also provides a thought-provoking analysis on the significant global challenges experienced within healthcare following the Covid-19 pandemic. Highlighting key learning points, this book will be an excellent resource for postgraduate students and scholars with a specific focus on medical and scientific innovations as well as those responsible for management within healthcare.

Digital transformation (DT) has become a buzzword. Every industry segment across the globe is consciously jumping toward digital innovation and disruption to get ahead of their competitors. In other words, every aspect of running a business is being digitally empowered to reap all the benefits of the digital paradigm. All kinds of digitally enabled businesses across the globe are intrinsically capable of achieving bigger and better things for their constituents. Their consumers, clients, and customers will realize immense benefits with real digital transformation initiatives and implementations. The much-awaited business transformation can be easily and elegantly accomplished with a workable and winnable digital transformation strategy, plan, and execution. There are several enablers and accelerators for realizing the much-discussed digital transformation. There are a lot of digitization and digitalization technologies available to streamline and speed up the process of the required transformation. Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies in close association with decisive advancements in the artificial intelligence (AI) space can bring forth the desired transitions. The other prominent and dominant technologies toward forming digital organizations include cloud IT, edge/fog computing, real-time data analytics platforms, blockchain technology, digital twin paradigm, virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) techniques, enterprise mobility, and 5G communication. These technological innovations are intrinsically competent and versatile enough to fulfill the varying requirements for establishing and sustaining digital enterprises. Enterprise Digital Transformation: Technology, Tools, and Use Cases features chapters on the evolving aspects of digital transformation and intelligence. It covers the unique competencies of digitally transformed enterprises, IIoT use cases, and applications. It explains promising technological solutions widely associated with digital innovation and disruption. The book focuses on setting up and sustaining smart factories that are fulfilling the Industry 4.0 vision that is realized through the IIoT and allied technologies.

Our work life is changing. Every day new companies, technologies, and ideas emerge that impact how, where, and most importantly, why we work. Despite this exciting evolution, people remain the heart of change. People are tricky. People don't seem to evolve as fast as global trends. People get Stuck. Teams have people moving at different speeds with different levels of adoption in our evolving workplace. Some evolve and some don't. Teams get Stuck. Leaders, managers, and teammates struggle with this resistance and get frustrated. Frustrated people impact the performance of every organization. Organizations get Stuck. Why? The answer is deeply human and biological, rooted in the way our brain interacts with everything in the world, even work. When people feel they are losing something, they react by getting Stuck. Stuck connects over 20 years of research on our brain's reaction to the evolving workplace with real stories of people journeying through the challenge of being Stuck. The organizations, leaders, and managers who understand these concepts will evolve with the future. Those organizations will understand LOSS as a tool to achieve business WINs. This book addresses a critical concept that closes a gap in other popular business publications. Many books tell leaders and managers the process of how to change their organizations. However, many of these books lack a key mechanism for understanding human interactions. The mechanism is a biological function developed through evolution called attachment - the human need to connect to different tangible and intangible objects for support. Attachment is the reason that people connect with leaders and corporate culture, but also what creates a deep sense of loss during even the smallest changes. Stuck offers a complete understanding of attachment and how it impacts individuals, relationships, and organizations. The root of the challenge is the human need to connect to different tangible and intangible objects for support. The basis of the need for support is grounded in our need for attachment. Those who learn to understand loss through attachment behavior and the attachments of others will succeed. In addition, this book provides original data-based evidence from assessments conducted with nearly 20,000 respondents and original stories from the application of attachment concepts in more than 150 organizations across all sectors around the globe. It shines a light on attachment and use it as a lens to better understand our workplace. Stuck is not an academic study. It is a practical guide for leading the brain through change. For the first time, the authors tell stories that demonstrate their research and offer a roadmap for how to leverage attachment research to drive business success. Stuck provides not only the deep lessons from the authors' research, but clear steps for readers to use the lessons of attachment in their own work. In this way, the book serves as a guide to those leaders, managers, and employees who are ready to be unStuck.