Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is indispensable in the spheres of business, government, education and entertainment. It makes internet marketing, e-government, e-learning and online chat services possible, as well as e-commerce. Today, no business training is complete without covering at least the basics of e-commerce. But although e-commerce opens up new opportunities, it also presents threats and risks. The success of e-commerce hinges on security and trust. Every business manager should therefore have a fundamental awareness of the meaning of e-commerce and ICT security and risk management. The success of e-commerce also hinges on building relationships. Managing e-commerce in business (third edition) explores the ways in which entrepreneurs and managers can make use of e-commerce related aspects to improve their contact with their customers and enhance their business and marketing strategies.

How did John F. Kennedy put a man on the moon in just under ten years? What can chess teach us about actionable insights? And why should you shake up a business at a time of great success?

All of these questions have their answer in strategic thinking. But what is strategic thinking exactly? Are we born with it, or can we nurture it?

As a distinct and important capability in leaders, strategic thinking is a remarkably poorly defined, little understood concept, confined to management courses and board meetings. But in The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking, world-renowned expert Michael Watkins shows leaders how they can benefit from it, as long as they have the tools to nurture it.

Exploring the six specific mental disciplines that together constitute strategic thinking, each chapter shows how they can create value, and offers prescriptions on how to develop the strategic thinking mindset ourselves. Academically grounded but jargon-free, with real-world examples from all sectors and ages, The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking assesses our innate ability to think strategically, and helps us to cultivate it, leading to better decisions that get proven results.

In 2012, Hubert Joly joined as CEO of Best Buy, a company on the brink of disruption, and led one of the most remarkable comeback stories in American business annals. While CEO he didn't seek the spotlight, but now he's ready to share the principles that helped him complete this remarkable turnaround.

Having recently stepped down as Chairman and CEO of Best Buy, Joly shares the leadership principles illustrated by multiple vivid and concrete stories that underpinned the remarkable resurgence of Best Buy and that he believes are at the heart of business: pursue a noble purpose, put people at the center, embrace all stakeholders, and treat profit as an outcome. There was a time when many would call this a soft philosophy. But times have changed. The world and business are facing unprecedented challenges. Business can be, in fact needs to be a force for good.

In 2019, Best Buy and 180 other companies signed the momentous Business Roundtable statement in support of stakeholder capitalism, highlighting that you can do well by doing good. The Covid-19 pandemic further pushed many businesses to lead from a place of purpose and with humanity.

More broadly, Joly's principles echo and reaffirm that the notion of stakeholder capitalism isn't just a nice idea, it's the winning strategy.

The business environment can change at any given time and organisations need to be ready to respond if they want to survive. Strategic management is an important and ongoing process of formulating and implementing strategies that help an organisation 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. The Strategic Management Process explains strategy in such a way that every reader will understand not only how vital the strategic management process is to any organisation but also exactly what it entails.

The Strategic Management Process follows an understandable and practical approach, making use of numerous figures and "strategy in action" case studies to support the theory. The textbook is aimed at students in strategic management as well as at 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.

Kobus Lazenby was an associate professor in the Department of Business Management at the University of the Free State, specialising in strategic management and project management. He has been retired since April 2017. The other contributors lecture in strategic management at various South African universities.

These are difficult times. The Covid-19 pandemic has proved to us that we cannot rely on tomorrow to be like today; there is no such thing as ‘business as usual’. The social and economic upheaval has been devastating, and its effects long-lasting, making these times even more uncertain. The antidote to this uncertainty is clarity.

Maanda Tshifularo has had the privilege of interacting with successful innovators, culture shifters, business leaders and thought leaders, and their ‘common success denominator’ is the ability to see, say, and do things, with purposeful clarity. He has identified ‘Super Clarity’ as the differentiator that helps leaders navigate the ambiguity and half-heartedness which have become the default state in many organisations, leading to plummeting employee morale and productivity.

Not only does a super-clear leader achieve and make a meaningful contribution, but they also experience remarkable joy and personal growth in the journey.

It has never been more crucial for leaders to provide clarity and, in this book, Maanda defines and explains the importance of Super Clarity, and how to translate purpose into our day-to-day activities to unlock exceptional results, job satisfaction, team cohesion and employee engagement.

He outlines in Lead with Super Clarity the critical steps that we can take, as business leaders or in our own lives, to foster clarity – and, in so doing, create an environment characterised by purpose, insight and alignment.

Self-mastery is the pinnacle of self-effectiveness. It is the reset button that puts you back in control of your life and helps you make healthy choices in both your personal and business life. If you’ve ever experienced anxiety, self-doubt, confusion, procrastination, helplessness, lack of self-control, impatience and a constant need for instant gratification, then Servings of Self-Mastery is for you.

With self-mastery you are able to coach yourself out of the negative mind-states that hold you back. This book will help you recognise the thoughts, feelings and beliefs that stand in your way of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual fulfilment. It will equip you with the agency to reframe these barriers into positive energy that will catalyse and catapult you into action, and this is how the best among us experience flow.

With short, easy-to-digest pep talks, you may want to read this book from cover-to-cover, or choose a specific chapter to read on those days when you need a little support and inspiration.

Alistair Mokoena’s Servings of Self-Mastery is packed with bitesized reminders of the greatness within us, together with the tools to unlock potential and abundance in all aspects of our lives. It is a book that is written with love and compassion to help you thrive.

Business Research Methods covers all the stages in undertaking research using a clear, structured step-by-step guide.

Christina Quinlan's qualitive and holistic approaches are combined with William Zikmund's quantitative and advanced methods in this fully updated third edition, to give students a broad spectrum of approaches for their research project.

This comprehensive text is essential reading for all business students getting to grips with research methods for their project.

A stunning new insight into how the most crucial lesson you can learn in today’s challenging business environment is how to change the fundamentals of what you do, rather than carry on fighting a battle that is already lost.

The near destruction of the music industry at the hands of online piracy and its subsequent recovery on the backs of digital streaming platforms is more than just the biggest story of disruption and reinvention of the digital age. It is also a trove of insights on how to confront the metamorphosis we are all facing in dealing with the Covid-19 era, as accelerating tech and economic changes reshape our work, our play and our very minds.

Will Page, Spotify’s first chief economist, extrapolates music’s journey into eight guiding principles for pivoting through the ubiquitous disruption in nearly all industries. Expect the unexpected with transferable lessons coming from Starbucks, Tupperware and even Groucho Marx. The notion of 'Tarzan Economics' ties these principles together: a framework for recognising and acting on disruption, by letting go of the old vine and grabbing onto the new. Page joyfully brings these insights to life and provides a guide for knowing not just how to grab the new vine, but when. He assesses the new dynamics of the 'long tail', identifies friends and foes in the battle for scarce attention and provides a practical tool for discovering the right role for each of us to succeed in this new modern world.

As we emerge from the unprecedented disruption of a global pandemic, Pivot shows all of us - individuals, organisations and institutions - that if the vine we are holding onto is withering, we can have confidence to reach out for a new one in 2023 and beyond.

Operational risk management is fast becoming an independent management discipline in its own right. As such, it is crucial for risk managers to understand the concept and make use of available management methods to ensure a streamlined management process. It is therefore imperative to implement a framework for the development of a risk management culture, the introduction of a strategic risk management process and an effective risk management governance structure. Operational risk management effectively identifies and evaluates operational risk exposures, as well as the development and implementation of control measures, the costs of risks and the continuous monitoring of processes within the business environment from a risk management perspective - communicating the relevant concepts and the implementation of a practical approach to operational risk management. Contents include the following: Recognising operational risk exposures; Formulating mitigating action plans; Allocating responsibilities for the management of action plans; Improving control measures on a proactive basis; Reducing operating losses; Improving insurance management; Ensuring accurate risk reporting and disclosure; Improving shareholder value; Becoming a risk stable organisation; Ensuring a realistic risk appetite. Operational risk management is aimed at banking, financial management and economics students, as well as organisations interested in the management of operational risk.

From naughty lists to sprinting swans, wandering ducks to Amarula-based incentives, The First Kudu takes you on the roller coaster ride of a start-up, and dives into real learnings along the way.

The narrative invites you to journey through the chaos with the young team and unpacks in gritty detail what goes into building a tech start-up – with stories of fun and failure honestly told in equal measure.

The First Kudu tells the story of HouseME, a rental technology company founded in South Africa that grew to 34 employees and 50 000 registered users, processing hundreds of millions of rands each year. The company won awards, raised several rounds of funding and was sought after by competitors.

It was exciting. It was excellent. And then… it was dead.

Ben Shaw (former CEO) and Lorne Hallendorff (former COO) provide a whirlwind tour of what goes into building a start-up at the southern tip of Africa and what they would do differently, were they to do it again.

Most of the research into what constitutes effective leadership emanates from the United States and is not very useful in an African context. Africa is a continent of extraordinary cultural, geographic, economic and political diversity, featuring largely emerging economies and rapid political economic and social development. This book seeks to set leadership theory in the African context.

It takes into account typical African circumstances, values and beliefs, designed for the development of leaders' skills and provides practical, real-life examples, exercises and case studies. As well as an overview of the extensive research literature about leadership, the book provides practical, real-life examples, exercises and case studies, so it can be used in a range of management development courses and/or leadership course or workshops.

The detailed insights into, and information about, how leadership can be effectively applied in the contemporary African context should help to enhance readers' leadership skills.

The co-founder and longtime president of Pixar updates and expands his 2014 New York Times bestseller on creative leadership, reflecting on the management principles that built Pixar’s singularly successful culture, and on all he learned during the past nine years that allowed Pixar to retain its creative culture while continuing to evolve.

For nearly thirty years, Pixar has dominated the world of animation, producing such beloved films as the Toy Story trilogy, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up, and WALL-E, which have gone on to set box-office records and garner eighteen Academy Awards. The joyous storytelling, the inventive plots, the emotional authenticity: In some ways, Pixar movies are an object lesson in what creativity really is. Here, Catmull reveals the ideals and techniques that have made Pixar so widely admired—and so profitable.

As a young man, Ed Catmull had a dream: to make the first computer-animated movie. He nurtured that dream as a Ph.D. student, and then forged a partnership with George Lucas that led, indirectly, to his founding Pixar with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter in 1986. Nine years later, Toy Story was released, changing animation forever. The essential ingredient in that movie’s success—and in the twenty-five movies that followed—was the unique environment that Catmull and his colleagues built at Pixar, based on philosophies that protect the creative process and defy convention, such as:

• Give a good idea to a mediocre team and they will screw it up. But give a mediocre idea to a great team and they will either fix it or come up with something better.
• It’s not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It’s the manager’s job to make it safe for others to take them.
• The cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them.
• A company’s communication structure should not mirror its organizational structure. Everybody should be able to talk to anybody.

Creativity, Inc. has been significantly expanded to illuminate the continuing development of the unique culture at Pixar. It features a new introduction, two entirely new chapters, four new chapter postscripts, and changes and updates throughout. Pursuing excellence isn’t a one-off assignment but an ongoing, day-in, day-out, full-time job. And Creativity, Inc. explores how it is done.

'An invaluable resource for making sense of the world, making good decisions, and placing smart bets. A fast-paced and fun read jam-packed with useful information on every page.' Annie Duke, author of Thinking in Bets ________________ Turn yourself into a superthinker and make the right decisions every time. You want to make better decisions. You want to be right more of the time professionally and personally. However, being more right consistently is a hard problem because the world is such a complex, evolving place. How do you navigate this complexity? Mental models are decision-making tools that guide our perception of the world and our behaviour in it. They help us understand life, make decisions and solve problems. The best models help us make intelligent investments, develop ground-breaking technologies and even travel to outer space. - Note your frame of reference before debating someone with different political views. If you understand how your perspective contrasts with someone else's you can prevent the conversation from getting hostile. - Apply the sunk cost fallacy to the end of a doomed project. Just because you've put a lot of hours into it doesn't mean that you have to keep going. - Before blaming someone, consider Hanlon's Razor, 'Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by carelessness'. - Try to solve mysteries with Occam's Razor, 'Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected'. When you hear hoof beats, think of horses not zebras. Building on our knowledge of well-known models such as the Bandwagon Effect or Paradigm Shift and introducing us to the lesser known like the Eisenhower Matrix or the Boiling Frog Symbol, this indispensable book distils the most effective mental models into a single, digestible volume. It will make even the most complex models accessible and engaging to enable you to make better, more informed decisions in every part of your life. ________________ 'Internalizing these mental models will help you understand the world around you. Once you can spot them, you can change your own behavior to avoid common traps, adjust how you interact with people to get better results, and maybe even articulate new mental models of the world that have yet to be discovered.' Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO, Coinbase 'You can't really know anything if you just remember isolated facts. If the facts don't hang together on a latticework of theory, you don't have them in a usable form. You've got to have models in your head.' Charlie Munger, vice chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

Includes personal anecdotes, case examples, and vignettes with short, concise chapters making this book easy reading for the busy executive.

At this critical junction in the history of humankind, leaders that are proficient in magical thinking aren’t going to solve our problems. Creating alternative realities is not the answer. We need a very different kind of leadership―leaders who can resist the calls of regression and whose outlook is firmly based in reality. We need leaders who analyze and draw conclusions from, or use their own experiences as a development tool, face their strengths and weaknesses, and critique their own experiences in order to build new understandings.

In this very personal and entertaining book, Manfred Kets de Vries, one of the “gurus” in the field of leadership studies offers his thoughts on leadership and life, reflections written for executives and the people who deal with them. As a psychoanalyst and leadership professor let loose in the world of renowned global organizations―as a passionate educator and scholar, or just a human being at the receiving end of heart-rending emails―he examines the pitfalls of leadership and the challenges for the professionals who work with senior executives in today’s AI-focused world.

He points out why leaders can derail, and what steps they can take to prevent this from happening. Ultimately, this book encourages you to “Know yourself,” but makes no bones about the challenge it represents. Understanding our “inner theatre” will always be an uphill struggle. Kets de Vries points out why deep dives into our inner world are always fraught with many anxieties.

Included in the many subjects covered by the author are the loneliness of command, the management of disappointment, the destructive role of greed, the impact of stubbornness, the role of storytelling, the importance of wellness, and the role of corporate culture. In addition, the book addresses the important topic of how to create great teams and best places to work. Furthermore, the book touches on endings– the ending of our career and the growing realization of the inevitable ending of our life. As time grows short, Kets de Vries emphasizes that we have no time to lose in dealing with our anxieties, regrets, and the things we spend much of our life determined not to see.

Taking a deep dive into self-knowledge requires courage and support, and he is here to guide you through it.

So you’ve come up with a winning idea for a product to sell online. What now? How do you turn your idea into a successful e-commerce business?

Selling Products Online is the book for you. Brought to you by Heavy Chef and Payfast, this guide gives you everything you need to start an e-commerce business in 10 practical steps – and you don’t have to be an expert on websites, advertising or logistics to get going.

It is designed to support you on every step of your e-commerce journey and will show you how to:

• Find your customers.
• Set up your e-commerce store.
• Take online payments.
• Sell on existing platforms.
• Attract more customers.
• Fulfil online orders.
• Manage stock.
• Serve your customers.
• Make a profit.
• Build your team.

Heavy Chef sat down with some of South Africa’s pre-eminent entrepreneurs to fill these pages with real, practical advice from experts who’ve beaten their own paths to success in e-commerce. You’ll hear from the brains behind some of South Africa’s most-loved brands, including Faithful to Nature, Payfast, SnapScan, Yuppiechef, and many more. They’ll answer all your questions about selling products online in concise “bites” – as if you’re sitting down to coffee with them.

Go on. Tuck in

It's time to leapfrog the only hurdle between you and a million-dollar company.

More people than ever want to be their own boss, but venturing forward with your own business can be hugely intimidating. Are you investing effort in ideas that have no basis in customer demand? Are you shying away from even considering starting your own business? Noah Kagan knew this feeling all too well, but has since discovered how to banish the one simple thing holding aspiring entrepreneurs back, to become a 7-figure founder.

MILLION DOLLAR WEEKEND offers an into-the-deep-end process for overcoming fear and perfectionism and making the business of your dreams a reality. Step-by-step, Noah shows what it takes to oust fear and build the "ask muscle", and shares practical advice that every entrepreneur needs to master. By demystifying what it takes to start a business, turning risk into realistic action and fear into fun, this is the beginning of your journey to successful entrepreneurship.

And the best part? You can kickstart this process in a weekend.

Nolitha Fakude grew up as a shopkeeper’s daughter in the Eastern Cape, studied at the University of FortHare and then entered the workplace in 1990 as a graduate trainee at Woolworths. Subsequently, she has worked in very senior positions at some major blue-chip companies, including Woolworths, Nedbank and Sasol. She was also managing director and then president of the Black Management Forum (BMF).

Over a career spanning 29 years, Nolitha spearheaded programmes that ensure the development of women and marginalised communities in the workplace and society. A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, she has earned a well-deserved reputation as a corporate activist.

Nolitha is held in high regard within business circles and serves on numerous boards including the JSE Limited, Anglo American plc and Afrox Limited. Although Boardroom Dancing is her personal journey, it is also a lesson for South Africans committed to the transformation of boardrooms and the economy, and for women looking for role models as they climb corporate ladders and become thought-leaders

Nolitha Fakude was born in Cenyu a small village in the Eastern Cape outside Stutterheim and worked her way up from the shopfloor as a Graduate Trainee at Woolworths to become one of South Africa’s most respected and successful black business women. Nolitha is a humble leader who is widely respected as a pioneer who was at the forefront of transformation strategy, both within the companies she worked for and as a leader at the Black Management Forum where she worked with business, government and unions to drive change in South Africa.

Business-to-Business Marketing is the first B2B marketing book in South Africa written by local academics. Its content therefore includes material to which South African students of B2B marketing can relate more easily. This book is about businesses marketing their products and services to other businesses and covers concepts related to this environment. It gives valuable insights into business-to-business marketing management, as well as analysing B2B buying practices, supply chain management, the selection of business customers and the development of a B2B marketing strategy. It provides readers with an understanding of what B2B marketing is and how it differs from business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing. The book has a strong theoretical basis, while also exploring many case studies from a South African perspective.

Every now and then a book comes along that is both timely and remarkable, that integrates all aspects of life; from recognising one’s roots, developing a moral grounding, building from strong family foundations to follow a chosen path to reach one’s goals, and remaining humble when it all comes to pass.

Time and Chance is an account, in a variety of contrasting images, voices and experiences gained from travelling the world in pursuit of business, where LAZARUS ZIM, industrious Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) enthusiast, recounts his journey to become one of South Africa’s business leaders, with several firsts, while navigating the political minefield – disclosing descriptions of behind-the-scenes intrigue and conspiracy – and his interactions with Heads of State in South Africa and around the globe.

The recounting of Zim’s extraordinary rise to success oscillates between hope, faith, ethics, and diligence as he lays bare his successes and failures, and the organic wisdom, knowledge, and wit that have framed his business acumen and moral grounding.

It is a poignant reminder of a black child’s quest to fulfil his purpose in which the writer dares everyone to dream, even in the face of hopelessness.

Amidst a backdrop of political unrest and voter disillusionment, South Africa finds itself at a crossroads, challenging its resiliency like never before. Bruce Whitfield, leveraging his deep connection with the nation's most innovative minds, presents The One Thing: Small Ideas, Big Outcomes, A Brighter Future for South Africa. This book is a clarion call for focused action, inspired by the wisdom that when everything is a priority, nothing truly is.

Through exclusive insights from business leaders to pioneers in various fields, Whitfield orchestrates a compelling narrative on the transformative power of single, impactful ideas.

'The One Thing' is not just a book; it's a blueprint for individual and collective commitment to propelling South Africa towards a brighter, more potent future.

A practical, enjoyable and proven manual for leading transformational change - by the award-winning author of No Bullsh*t Leadership.

Drawing on an international career of leading successful change programmes, Chris Hirst cuts through the bullsh*t to reveal uncomplicated strategies for transformation - no matter the size of your organisation or the nature of the challenge. Leading change is about:

• Being honest and clear
• Building teams full of thriving people
• Finding your point of maximum impact

Most importantly, it's about taking action - and this book will show you how.

Many entrepreneurs starting up their own business have a great idea but they fail because they haven’t spent enough time planning how to carry it out. In this book, a team of successful entrepreneurs, business advisors and subject specialists lay out the process of planning and starting your own enterprise, introducing you to the world of entrepreneurship and advising how to grow a business.

Drawing on their personal experiences in the different phases of start-up and establishing their businesses they add valuable hands-on information.

Entrepreneurship – An African Perspective is a theoretical as well as practical guide to how to develop business ideas to establish a successful enterprise.

Unlock a new dimension in leadership by asking better questions.

Answers are overrated. In an unpredictable world, asking the right questions is significantly more powerful than clinging to stale, dated answers. What you knew yesterday won’t always take you where you need to go. Great leaders stand apart because they know how to ask themselves and their teams questions that spark insight, challenge assumptions, and drive action.

52 Big Questions for Business Leaders isn’t just a collection of prompts and provocations – it’s a guide to sharper, more intentional thinking. Whether you’re leading a start-up or a global enterprise, the questions in these pages will help you pause, reflect, and lead with clarity.

Drawing on decades of leadership experience, Mike Stopforth infuses wisdom, wit, and practical insight into the art of inquiry – because crafting big, beautiful questions is a skill worth mastering.

This isn’t a book to read once and shelve; it’s a tool to return to whenever you need fresh perspective, focus, or inspiration.

In the end, great leaders aren’t defined by the answers they give – but by the questions they dare to ask.

This introductory textbook to Business Management covers all the topics most important to those interested in the business world and managing businesses in South Africa, Africa and globally.

They include:

• General management, including planning, organising, leading and control
• Financial management
• Operations management
• Purchasing
• Logistics and supply chain management
• Management Information Systems
• Marketing management and public relations
• Human resource management.

The book also covers the business environment, entrepreneurship, business ethics and contemporary trends in 4IR relevant to management. It has been written by distinguished authors, all experts in their respective fields from various universities and the private sector, who share their knowledge and experience with a theoretically sound but practical approach. The intended readers are undergraduate students studying Introductory Business Management as part of a degree or diploma at a university, university of technology or private college.

What is the role off marketing in the business? How is value created in the marketing process? How can I develop a marketing plan? How do I conduct market research? Is the internet the best way to help me market my product or service, or are a multichannel approach the best solution as a distribution channel option?

This completely updated sixth edition of Introduction to marketing that started out in 1998 comprises twelve chapters that focuses on recent developments in the South African marketing environment. The business setting has changed drastically in the Post-Covid-19 environment. These changes are reflected in all the chapters of the textbook.

Of special interest are the new chapters that were introduced on sustainability, social responsibility and ethical decision-making in marketing, developing the marketing plan and how marketing is dealing with changes brought by Industry 4.0.