An illuminating insight into the Metaverse - what it is, how it works, and and why it will soon be playing a major role in business, technology and society.

In Into the Metaverse, Cathy Hackl, a globally recognized futurist and one of the world's first Chief Metaverse Officers, shares her insights on what companies need to do to harness the next iteration of the internet - the metaverse. In this book you'll find a wealth of information on issues such as:

- What is the metaverse and what it means for your brand, organization or company
- How to make money in the metaverse through understanding the underlying concepts behind it such as gaming, synthetic media, spatial computing and artificial intelligence.
- How to lead in the metaverse through industries that are already forging ahead, such as fashion and marketing.
- Who should manage the metaverse function within your organization and why some companies should consider creating a role for a Chief Metaverse Officer.
- Finally, how to protect the metaverse and action steps you can take towards the future.

Essential reading for any executive, Into the Metaverse, will reshape how you think about the internet and its place for those who want to lead successful businesses, today and into the future. If the internet was first used to connect us to information, and then developed into a social media forum to connect people, then Web3, which connects people, places and things, will help enable the successor state to today's mobile internet - the Metaverse. It will bring together and merge our physical and digital lives, and - in the same way that social media upended our lives and our businesses - the Metaverse will shake things up even more. Into the Metaverse is the essential business guide to understanding the ground-breaking technologies that enable this monumental shift and the opportunities it presents from a business and societal perspective.

Digital Marketing: Communicating, Selling and Connecting is an invaluable and vital tool for students seeking a comprehensive introduction to the subject of digital marketing. Written by a leading expert in the field, it is an unparalleled resource for students in marketing, as well as an accessible supplementary text for business and management students. Covering digital marketing's background and development, its practical challenges and unique benefits, and its operational foundations, this textbook introduces both technological and marketing concepts. It culminates with discussion of the future of digital marketing in an increasingly networked world. Key Features: In-depth introductions to the foundations and basic operating principles of digital marketing Multiple chapters covering consumer decision making online, and how digital marketing affects the consumer Chapters on service technology and visual design, for a deeper understanding of digital marketing Coverage of digital marketing in both B2B and B2C contexts Discussion of legal and ethical aspects of digital marketing Discussion questions in each chapter to promote engagement with the material and deepen student understanding. Charles Hofacker has drawn on extensive expertise to create an invaluable resource. Written for undergraduate students of marketing and digital marketing this textbook will be useful for anyone looking for an introduction to the subject.

How to make change happen in business.

A practical and revealing guide for anyone dealing with transformation, whatever their business or sector. Understand how to deliver digital change at the coalface, alongside the relevant management theory. With case studies detailing the successes and challenges they have overcome, you’ll learn from the experiences from managers, academics and relevant stakeholders in each chapter, including the FT.

When a pseudonymous programmer introduced "a new electronic cash system that's fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party" to a small online mailing list in 2008, very few paid attention. Ten years later, and against all odds, this upstart autonomous decentralized software offers an unstoppable and globally-accessible hard money alternative to modern central banks.

The Bitcoin Standard analyzes the historical context to the rise of Bitcoin, the economic properties that have allowed it to grow quickly, and its likely economic, political, and social implications. While Bitcoin is a new invention of the digital age, the problem it purports to solve is as old as human society itself: transferring value across time and space. Ammous takes the reader on an engaging journey through the history of technologies performing the functions of money, from primitive systems of trading limestones and seashells, to metals, coins, the gold standard, and modern government debt. Exploring what gave these technologies their monetary role, and how most lost it, provides the reader with a good idea of what makes for sound money, and sets the stage for an economic discussion of its consequences for individual and societal future-orientation, capital accumulation, trade, peace, culture, and art.

Compellingly, Ammous shows that it is no coincidence that the loftiest achievements of humanity have come in societies enjoying the benefits of sound monetary regimes, nor is it coincidental that monetary collapse has usually accompanied civilizational collapse. With this background in place, the book moves on to explain the operation of Bitcoin in a functional and intuitive way.

Bitcoin is a decentralized, distributed piece of software that converts electricity and processing power into indisputably accurate records, thus allowing its users to utilize the Internet to perform the traditional functions of money without having to rely on, or trust, any authorities or infrastructure in the physical world. Bitcoin is thus best understood as the first successfully implemented form of digital cash and digital hard money. With an automated and perfectly predictable monetary policy, and the ability to perform final settlement of large sums across the world in a matter of minutes, Bitcoin's real competitive edge might just be as a store of value and network for final settlement of large payments--a digital form of gold with a built-in settlement infrastructure. Ammous' firm grasp of the technological possibilities as well as the historical realities of monetary evolution provides for a fascinating exploration of the ramifications of voluntary free market money. As it challenges the most sacred of government monopolies, Bitcoin shifts the pendulum of sovereignty away from governments in favor of individuals, offering us the tantalizing possibility of a world where money is fully extricated from politics and unrestrained by borders.

The final chapter of the book explores some of the most common questions surrounding Bitcoin:

• Is Bitcoin mining a waste of energy?
• Is Bitcoin for criminals?
• Who controls Bitcoin, and can they change it if they please?
• How can Bitcoin be killed?
• And what to make of all the thousands of Bitcoin knock-offs, and the many supposed applications of Bitcoin's 'blockchain technology'?

The Bitcoin Standard is the essential resource for a clear understanding of the rise of the Internet's decentralized, apolitical, free-market alternative to national central banks.

The authors of this unique volume provide a timely and valuable perspective on how technology and the Internet revolution are changing business and spurring development across the world, especially in emerging countries. Utilizing a framework grounded in rigorous theory, they provide a fine-grained understanding of electronic commerce adoption processes by public and private sector entities in developing countries. In so doing, they consider how each exchange encounter is shaped by, and in turn shapes, relational characteristics that form the basis for growth and development. Using a resource-based view of economies, the authors hypothesize that differences in the adoption of electronic commerce technologies in developing economies can be attributed to a sense-and-respond capability of governments with respect to new technologies, which they term 'technological opportunism'. One of their main objectives is to establish the distinctiveness of technology opportunities from related constructs, such as innovativeness, and show that it offers a significantly better explanation of technology adoption and diffusion than do existing constructs. The book examines a number of developing countries' experiences with electronic government, bringing real life experience to the adoption of an e-government model by looking at the issue from strategic as well as operational perspectives. The volume's ground-breaking research and conclusions will be of great interest to professionals, researchers and students in the areas of e-commerce and economic development; government officials of developing and newly industrialized countries contemplating e-government initiatives; and information technology managers.

'In this book, Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum contribute significantly to one of the most important issues of our time - how to move forward in the Fourth Industrial Revolution' Jack Ma, Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group Holding, People's Republic of China 'It's no secret that technologies are reshaping the world's economies and societies. To manage the risks and spread the benefits, we have to act now, and in the interest of stakeholders everywhere' Andrew McAfee, Co-Founder, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, MIT, USA We are on the brink of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. And this one will be unlike any other in human history. Characterized by new technologies fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, the Fourth Industrial Revolution will impact all disciplines, economies and industries - and it will do so at an unprecedented rate. World Economic Forum data predicts that by 2025 we will see: commercial use of nanomaterials 200 times stronger than steel and a million times thinner than human hair; the first transplant of a 3D-printed liver; 10% of all cars on US roads being driverless; and much more besides. In The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Schwab outlines the key technologies driving this revolution, discusses the major impacts on governments, businesses, civil society and individuals, and offers bold ideas for what can be done to shape a better future for all. 'The technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are extraordinary. Leadership has to be equally extraordinary to manage the complexities of systemic change' Eric Schmidt, Technical Advisor, Alphabet, USA

This book delves into the essential concepts and technologies of acquiring systems. It fills the gap left by manuals and standards and provides practical knowledge and insight that allow engineers to navigate systems as well as the massive tomes containing standards and manuals. Dedicated to card acquiring exclusively, the book covers: Payment cards and protocols EMV contact chip and contactless transactions Disputes, arbitration, and compliance Data security standards in the payment card industry Validation algorithms Code tables Basic cryptography Pin block formats and algorithms When necessary the book discusses issuer-side features or standards insomuch as they are required for the sake of completeness. For example, protocols such as EMV 3-D Secure are not covered to the last exhaustive detail. Instead, this book provides an overview, justification, and logic behind each message of the protocol and leaves the task of listing all fields and their formats to the standard document itself. The chapter on EMV contact transactions is comprehensive to fully explain this complex topic in order to provide a basis for understanding EMV contactless transaction. A guide to behind-the-scenes business processes, relevant industry standards, best practices, and cryptographic algorithms, Acquiring Card Payments covers the essentials so readers can master the standards and latest developments of card payment systems and technology

Master the evergreen traffic strategies to fill your website and funnels with your dream customers in this timeless book from the $100M entrepreneur and co-founder of the software company ClickFunnels. The biggest problem that most entrepreneurs have isn't creating an amazing product or service; it's getting their future customers to discover that they even exist. Every year, tens of thousands of businesses start and fail because the entrepreneurs don't understand this one essential skill: the art and science of getting tra­ffic (or people) to find you. And that is a tragedy. Traffic Secrets was written to help you get your message out to the world about your products and services. I strongly believe that entrepreneurs are the only people on earth who can actually change the world. It won't happen in government, and I don't think it will happen in schools. It'll happen because of entrepreneurs like you, who are crazy enough to build products and services that will actually change the world. It'll happen because we are crazy enough to risk everything to try and make that dream become a reality. To all the entrepreneurs who fail in their first year of business, what a tragedy it is when the one thing they risked everything for never fully gets to see the light of day. Waiting for people to come to you is not a strategy. Understanding exactly WHO your dream customer is, discovering where they're congregating, and throwing out the hooks that will grab their attention to pull them into your funnels (where you can tell them a story and make them an offer) is the strategy. That's the big secret. Traffic is just people. This book will help you find YOUR people, so you can focus on changing their world with the products and services that you sell.

The fast and easy way to start and run an online business

Starting an online business is no longer a novelty. It's a fact of life for individuals and established companies alike. The good news is that e-commerce and the practice of selling goods and services through a Web site and is not only here to stay, but it's thriving. More good news is that the steps required to conduct commerce online are well within the reach of ordinary people, even if you have no business experience. All you need is a good idea, a bit of start-up cash, computer equipment, and a little help from the practical, hands-on information in "Starting and Running an Online Business For Dummies."

""With strategies to help you identify your market, design your website, choose services, trade securely, boost sales, and stay ahead of the competition; "Starting and Running an Online Business For Dummies" is just what you need to succeed. You'll discover how to open an online business in ten easy steps, how to select the right web host and design tools, why giving your e-business site structure and style is vital, techniques on attracting and keeping customers, and much more. Advice on how to get your business on the Web quickly and economically Completely revised and updated Includes the latest information on web hosting, search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, harnessing the power of social media marketing, and moreWhether you're a budding entrepreneur or a small business owner looking to expand your business online, this up-to-date and easy-to-follow guide covers all the essentials you need to know to get on the Web quickly and economically, without all the technical jargon and hype bogging you down.

Beginning in the mid-2010s, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has seen remarkable changes in information technology which have blurred the boundaries between the physical, digital, and biological worlds. Industry 4.0 has enabled so-called "smart factories" in which computer systems equipped with machine learning algorithms can learn and control robotics with minimal need for human input. While smart technology has enabled many manufacturing businesses to increase efficiency and cut costs, many others are still struggling with implementing it. This book aims to help students, practitioners and industry leaders to become change agents and take their first steps on the path of transformation. Smart Business and Digital Transformation addresses the challenge of becoming "smart" from three different perspectives: smart factory, smart industry, and smart environment. Covering technologies including the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), mobility, 5G, Big Data analytics, the book shows how enterprises can take advantage of them and ultimately beat the competition. The book considers the importance of operational processes, business models, and organizational culture. The contributing authors and editors, based at Corvinus University, present a multi-dimensional picture of industry 4.0 which is both diverse in its voices and unified in its vision. Smart Business and Digital Transformation meets the growing demand for a textbook that not only presents the latest concepts and theories but is also practical for planning, managing, and implementing digital transformation in practice. The chapters include case studies to demonstrate the practical applications, and each chapter ends with review and discussion questions to develop students' skills and competencies. Students of business and digital transformation on advanced undergraduate and MBA courses will find it an indispensable guide to a vibrant and challenging topic.

Revealing the flaws in human decision making, this book explores how AI can be used to optimise decisions for improved business outcomes and efficiency, as well as looking ahead into the significant contributions Decision Intelligence (DI) can make to society and the ethical challenges it may raise. Offering an impressive framework of Decision Intelligence (DI), from the theories and concepts used to design autonomous intelligent agents to the technologies that power DI systems and the ways in which companies use decision-making building blocks to build DI solutions that enable businesses to democratise AI, this book provides a systematic approach to AI intelligence and human involvement. Replete with case studies on DI application, as well as wider discussions on the social implications of the technology, this book appeals to both students of AI and data solutions and businesses considering DI adoption.

• Describes machine learning in plain language to a non-technical audience • Explains how to manage machine learning projects to deliver value • Highlights important considerations when deploying machine learning systems in organisations

Beginning in the mid-2010s, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has seen remarkable changes in information technology which have blurred the boundaries between the physical, digital, and biological worlds. Industry 4.0 has enabled so-called "smart factories" in which computer systems equipped with machine learning algorithms can learn and control robotics with minimal need for human input. While smart technology has enabled many manufacturing businesses to increase efficiency and cut costs, many others are still struggling with implementing it. This book aims to help students, practitioners and industry leaders to become change agents and take their first steps on the path of transformation. Smart Business and Digital Transformation addresses the challenge of becoming "smart" from three different perspectives: smart factory, smart industry, and smart environment. Covering technologies including the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), mobility, 5G, Big Data analytics, the book shows how enterprises can take advantage of them and ultimately beat the competition. The book considers the importance of operational processes, business models, and organizational culture. The contributing authors and editors, based at Corvinus University, present a multi-dimensional picture of industry 4.0 which is both diverse in its voices and unified in its vision. Smart Business and Digital Transformation meets the growing demand for a textbook that not only presents the latest concepts and theories but is also practical for planning, managing, and implementing digital transformation in practice. The chapters include case studies to demonstrate the practical applications, and each chapter ends with review and discussion questions to develop students' skills and competencies. Students of business and digital transformation on advanced undergraduate and MBA courses will find it an indispensable guide to a vibrant and challenging topic.

An insider's account of the rise of digital money and cryptocurrencies Dubbed "CryptoDad" for his impassioned plea to Congress to acknowledge and respect cryptocurrencies as the inevitable product of a fast-growing technological wave and a free marketplace, Chris Giancarlo is considered one of "the most influential individuals in financial regulation." CryptoDad: The Fight for the Future of Money describes Giancarlo's own reckoning with the future of the global economy--at the intersection of markets, technology, and public policy--and lays out the fight for a Digital Dollar. CryptoDad is Giancarlo's own personal story, detailing his forays into the world of Wall Street to his tenure as the 13th Chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), where he pushed for the agency to recognize the digitization of markets. His growing fame as a Twitter presence in this essential debate has given Giancarlo a platform to makes a case for the future of cryptocurrencies as the natural successor to America's current failing financial market infrastructure. CryptoDad provides readers with: A thorough exploration of digital change and how it affects the lives of everyone in a global economy A revolutionary consideration of regulatory responses to the rapid pace of technological innovation A call to update our aging financial organizations, particularly the infrastructure of money itself, and focus on renewed faith and confidence in free market innovation A foreword by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, two of the biggest names in cryptocurrencies CryptoDad argues that the next digital wave will be the coming Internet of Value, where cryptocurrencies will do the Internet of Information did to immaterial things: make them accessible, distributable, and movable instantly across the globe. This book is an ideal introduction to the importance of technology in the marketplace.

Improvements in information and communication technologies (ICTs) have brought about a sea change in the ways in which most people in the industrialized world work. In many organizations the ability to "work remotely" or "telecommute" has helped productivity improve. However, many of the benefits promised by the onset of "mobile working" have failed to materialize. This book explains the technology and strategic issues surrounding mobile working and presents a clear analysis of how this process can be managed.

Combining a better understanding of the state of the art in e-business technologies with a focus on how organizations can effectively provide information support for mobile working, this book will also investigate the relationship between human and organizational factors and success in mobile working.

With detailed case studies from a range of countries, this book will be useful reading on a range of courses at Masters and MBA level, including e-business, mobile technologies, operations management, technology management and change management.

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.

Practical negotiating skills, including those needed for cross-cultural negotiations have long been taught in classrooms, along with some of the theory that underpins them. Most of this has been based on the notion that negotiation will be interpersonal and face-to-face. In recent years, though, globalization, the telecommunications boom and the ever increasing need for today's professionals to conduct cross-cultural business transactions has led to a new way of negotiating, bargaining, and resolving disputes. In e-Negotiations, Nicholas Harkiolakis and his co-authors highlight the challenge that awaits the young professionals who are today training in business schools. Future dispute resolutions and bargaining will take place between faceless disputants involved in a new kind of social process. Any adolescent with a mobile phone and Internet access knows that most of today's social transactions take place via a hand held or other electronic device. In a world of video conferences, chat rooms, Skype, Facebook, and MySpace, critical financial, business and political decisions are made through interaction between two-dimensional characters on screens. Here, the authors compare and contrast e-negotiation as it currently is with traditional face-to-face negotiation. Case studies illustrate how cross-cultural negotiations can be managed through modern channels of social influence and information-sharing and shed light on the critical social, cognitive and behavioral role of the negotiator in resolving on-line, cross-cultural, conflicts and disputes, and generally in bargaining and negotiation. This book, with its practical exercises, will be of immense help to students and professionals needing to 'practice' with the new negotiating media.

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

E-commerce and V-business examines the impact of the Internet and associated technologies on two related aspects of business: electronic commerce and virtual organization. Using a combination of recent theory and empirical evidence it demonstrates how forward thinking organizations are reaping considerable advantages from exciting new business models in these areas. Such models require radical rethinking of many aspects of traditional business. The book covers many of the critical and contemporary issues stemming from these important new developments. The collected papers in this book illustrate the wide variety of business opportunities afforded by e-commerce and virtual business. They describe and discuss the important issues that follow in the wake of an organization deciding to pursue consumers electronically and organize its operations virtually. It brings a good balance of theory and practical issues from different perspectives from different parts of the globe

Search Marketing Strategies focuses on how to make the most from the search engine industry. Concentrating on the strategic element rather than the procedural approach, the author demonstrates how to adapt the tactical techniques, such as paid search, site side optimization and analytics packages, into search strategies in order to achieve marketing or corporate objectives such as branding, sales and customer acquisition.

A growing number of information providers are now online, and as a result being able to produce copy that is suitable for an online readership is of increasing importance. In this text the basic principles of copywriting are covered, along with more specific guidance on writing for online sources. The differences between writing for online and offline are highlighted to enable the reader to distinguish between the two and consequently write the best form of copy for the end source.
Different sources of online content require different approaches, and therefore the author takes a structured approach, taking each of these channels in turn, for example writing for web sites, writing for email, ezines and newsletters, writing for search engines, and writing for online ads. By approaching each topic individually, specific guidance is provided enabling the reader to be properly equipped with the tools required to write the most appropriate copy for the task in hand.
* Helps its readers to write, edit and publish more effective content for the online readership
* Addresses B2B issues as well as B2C - this area is often neglected
* Set out in a clearly structured style to enable readers to scan the material therefore making the content easily accessible

Make the most of your online business resources The growing acceptance and use of the Internet as an increasingly valuable travel tool has tourism and hospitality businesses taking a critical look at their business-to-customer online environments while pondering such questions as, How do I get people to visit my Web site? Is my Web site attracting the 'right' kind of e-consumers? and How do I turn browsers into buyers? The Handbook of Consumer Behavior, Tourism, and the Internet analyzes the latest strategies involving Internet business applications that will help you attractand keeponline travel customers. Researchers from the United States, Europe, and Asia present the latest findings you need to make the right decisions regarding long-term e-commerce development and planning. The Handbook of Consumer Behavior, Tourism, and the Internet examines vital issues affecting the travel and tourism industry from an online perspective. This book analyzes the latest theory and research on general online buyer characteristics, the differences between online and offline consumer behavior, the differences between broadband and narrowband users, the online search process, quality and perception of lodging brands, and Web site design, maintenance, and development. Each section of the book includes a model/diagram that serves as an overview of the topic, followed by a thorough discussion on the topic from several sources. Each section ends with commentary on the areas where future research is needed. The book's contributors use a variety of research methodologies ranging from qualitative data analyses using artificial neutral network analysis, to experimental design, non-parametric statistical tests, and structural equation modeling. Topics examined in the Handbook of Consumer Behavior, Tourism, and the Internet include: the need for businesses to use internal examinations to determine and meet online consumer needs the emerging field of e-complaint behaviorconsumers taking to the Web to voice complaints about travel services how to use e-tools to measure guest satisfaction how to measure consumer reaction to Web-based technology the Internet's impact on decision making for travel products and how to use e-mail marketing, electronic customer relationship management (eCRM), Web positioning, and search engine placement The Handbook of Consumer Behavior, Tourism, and the Internet is equally valuable as a classroom resource or professional reference, providing up-to-date material on Internet applications and their impact on consumers and e-commerce.

Why are jokes funny? Why do we laugh? In "Funny Peculiar, " Mikita Brottman demurs from recent scholarship that takes laughter-- and the broader domain of humor and the comical--as a liberating social force and an endearing aspect of self-expression. For Brottman, there is nothing funny about laughter, which is less connected to mirth and feelings of good will than to a nexus of darker emotions: fear, aggression, shame, anxiety.
Brottman rethinks not only the mechanisms of humor but also the relation of humor to the body and the senses. To this end, she provides an engrossing account of the life and work of Gershon Legman, exiled author, publisher, and sexologist, Alfred Kinsey's first bibliographer, and legendary compiler of the dirty joke. Like Freud, Legman was convinced of the impossibility of understanding humor apart from sex, and Brottman shows how his two massive works on the subject, "Rationale of the Dirty Joke" and "No Laughing Matter, " provide a framework for understanding the ambivalent and often hostile impulses that underlie the comic impulse in its various guises. In lively and enlivening chapters, she traverses dirty jokes, the figure of the "evil clown" in popular culture, the current popularity of "humor therapy," changing fashions in stand-up comedy, and the connection between humor and horror. Brottman's sparkling prose, laced with wit, does not obscure the seriousness of "Funny Peculiar." It is a thoughtful and wide-ranging elaboration of the Freudian claim that joking, in point of fact, is no laughing matter.

As businesses adapt to the realities of the digital world, this book is designed to provide users with the conceptual and practical knowledge they need to understand the implications of the Internet for business. It guides readers through the concepts, trends, and characteristics of doing business online, to provide them with the ability to develop and implement effective strategies for digital business. While most marketing books emphasize the perspectives and influences of consumers, marketers, and policy makers, this one also includes a discussion of the influence of technology on the nature of the interactions between the other three perspectives. Topics covered include developing business intelligence with online research, building online business models, and implementing business strategy. Addresses the role of the Internet on business-to-business exchanges. For large and small business managers/owners.