Effective Training & Development is essential if you are to continuously get the best from your people and extend the knowledge shelf--life of your company. This module explores the vast array of options available to the HR function including on--the--job learning, formal management education, coaching and mentoring. Cost--effectiveness and measurable payback are also dealt with as cornerstones of any training and development activity.

Small businesses with an international intention tend to adopt a proactive approach to e-commerce in order to benefit from this medium, taking advantage of electronic developments in the global marketplace. E-Commerce Adoption and Small Business in the Global Marketplace: Tools for Optimization focuses on the adoption of e-commerce applications that optimize potential opportunities presented to organizations. With expert international contributions, this advanced publication provides a comprehensive account of developments in the new and exciting area of research and study.

Mobile devices have become an essential item in the daily lives of many people. As with any innovation, mobile services present both opportunities and challenges to current business models. The development of mobile communication coupled with evolving mobile services have completely changed the business landscape and have transformed consumer behavior. It is important to understand the impact that these services have on users' lives, business, and society. Impact of Mobile Services on Business Development and E-Commerce is a collection of innovative research that focuses on the importance of mobile services in business development and discusses the provision of decentralized services, mobile commerce and marketing, and new models for the delivery of mobile services such as business-to-consumer and peer-to-peer. While highlighting topics including global market, consumer behavior, and customer satisfaction, this book is ideally designed for business managers, executives, marketers, entrepreneurs, financial advisors, consumer behavior analysts, computer engineers, software developers, IT specialists, students, researchers, and business professionals.

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'?

Although e-businesses are adopting pervasive computing with passion, they must remain aware of the operational, ethical, legal, and financial risks involved in it. Pervasive Computing for Business: Trends and Applications examines implications of pervasive computing in order for current and future e-business managers to make responsible decisions regarding where, when, and how to use this technology. With expert international contributions, this collection benefits researchers, academicians, and practitioners interested in this growing field.

Although the topic of e-commerce has been very widely discussed and researched, it is not often discussed in terms of its affect on leadership and management structures. Electronic Commerce and Organizational Leadership: Perspectives and Methodologies investigates the ways in which e-commerce not only affects daily business operations, but more specifically, it focuses on how e-commerce has a great influence on administrative hierarchy and leadership. This unique publication highlights these issues within higher education institutions, but more specifically, in historically black colleges and universities. Researchers and administrators who seek to understand and improve the hierarchical and organisational structures through the deeper investigation of information technology, e-commerce, and its impacts will find this book valuable.

Following the success of the first two editions, Age of Conversation 3: It's Time to Get Busy again kick-starts the discussion about how the global marketing landscape is changing. With over 170 of the world's leading marketers, writers, thinkers and creative innovators contributing chapters, this collaborative work investigates the roles that community, conversation, experimentation, engagement, and collaboration play in shaping the 21st century's economy of ideas. As businesses, public and private organizations, and individuals realize that there's much more to social media and its impacts than meets the eye, Age of Conversation 3 shows us which platforms, tools, and approaches truly work, as well as those that simply don't. "Social media" may be the business buzzword (or, buzz-phrase) of 2010, but what's happening beyond the hype? What new practices and guidelines is social media imposing on business-as-usual? And what makes this type of media so much different than the media we're all used to? From the boardroom to the locus of customer interaction, social media is transforming the way we do business. The impact of this is being felt in every customer interaction, each business decision, and even in the way we source, retain and engage our staffs. This third book in the Age of Conversation series is crowdsourced, bringing together the world's leading practitioners to share their stories, perspectives, observations, and strategies. Their diverse insights and varying approaches are a reflection of the global, changing nature of business today.

Rapid technological advancements have the ability to positively or negatively impact corporate growth and success. Professional leaders and decision makers must consider such advancements when designing and implementing new policies in preparation for the sustainable future of the business environment. Multi-Sided Platforms (MSPs) and Sharing Strategies in the Digital Economy: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a critical scholarly resource that examines platform strategies and business models with a focus on multi-sided platform business models. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics, such as digital collaboration, business ecosystem, and platform value chain, this book is an ideal resource for managers, researchers, academics, practitioners, and students interested in recent trends in business models in the digital age.