Competition in today's global economy has become more complex due to the adoption of digitization and advanced methods of performance. Firms are compelled to adapt to new challenges that are altering the economic scope while maintaining a competitive edge. Empirical research is needed that highlights innovative and dynamic strategies that will allow corporations to maintain a level of sustainability and remain competitive in the global market. Dynamic Strategic Thinking for Improved Competitiveness and Performance provides emerging research exploring the innovative methods organizations have implemented in order to improve their overall effectiveness. This book analyzes novel strategies companies are using to adjust and respond to modern challenges including globalization and digitization. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as digital business, social media, and human capital, this book is ideally designed for researchers, policymakers, managers, practitioners, executives, government officials, students, and academicians seeking research on modern strategic performance methods for improving corporate sustainability and competitiveness.

This book surveys how economists engage with knowledge and beliefs in various fields of economic analysis, such as general equilibrium theory, decision theory, game theory, experimental economics, evolutionary theory of the firm, financial markets and the history of economic thought.The contributors to this book also suggest the need for a more integrated perspective on the meaning, as well as the role, of knowledge and beliefs in economics in the future. Possible lines of future research, such as the extension of the concept of rationality in economics or the focus on cognitive processes in economic action, are discussed. A platform for future research and investigation into the role of knowledge and beliefs in economics, this book will be of great appeal to advanced scholars interested in cross-fertilization between different fields of the social sciences and also to post-graduate students interested in the lines of research suggested in the book.

For too long, researchers have regarded local dynamism as the result of the actions of certain entrepreneurs. If this were the case, how could we explain the simultaneous presence of 'winning', stagnating or declining areas with very similar socioeconomic profiles within the same region? Departing from this restrictive and somewhat inadequate approach, Pierre-Andre Julien considers entrepreneurship as a collective behaviour specifically related to the dynamism of the milieu in which it develops. The author introduces a complex, innovative theory of local entrepreneurship, demonstrating that the emergence of new ventures and the development of existing enterprises cannot be understood without taking into account certain factors: locale, social capital, networking and entrepreneurial culture within a given area are all crucial to entrepreneurial growth. Expanding upon this theory, the book demonstrates how entrepreneurship can be fostered in order to support collective development. Various forms of partnership among socioeconomic actors are then analysed to highlight the social conventions and entrepreneurial culture that connect and intensify the energies at the root of local dynamism. This highly original book represents a departure from entrepreneurship literature that is largely limited to the study of entrepreneurs' behaviour. Its dynamic presentation of holistic theory will prove an extremely absorbing read for those with an academic or professional interest in business and management, entrepreneurship and regional development.

This book is about Data Analytics. In that respect, it is like others. What distinguishes it from the rest is the variety of open-source tool applications. This book incorporates the use of R Studio, Python, SAS Studio (University Edition), and KNIME. This book is also about manipulating Big Data. Apache Hadoop on Hortonworks Sandbox is introduced and we manage, move, handle, and transform data using Apache Hive, Apache Spark, MapReduce and TEZ, with terminal shell commands and Ambari. We show you how to set up a virtual machine in Microsoft Azure. We then use the data in later chapters for modeling. We cover Descriptive Modeling and Predictive. The content includes Support Vector Machines, Decision Tree learning, Random Forests, Naive and Empirical Bayes, Gradient Boosting, Cluster Modeling, Generalized Linear Models, Logistic Regression, and Artificial Neural Networks. Every chapter includes completely worked examples using one or more open-source tools.

The Korean Economy examines how Korea's inward FDI-led globalization, particularly since the financial crisis of 1997, has been experienced, understood, managed and often strongly resisted in various economic, social and cultural domains. It is an in-depth analysis combining perspectives from politics and economics, examining a number of grievances as seen through the eyes of actual foreign investors operating in Korea. The authors argue that it is precisely these obstacles that need to be addressed if Korea is to live up to its full potential in terms of becoming a truly attractive magnet for FDI and comprehensively integrating into the global economy. The authors make a convincing case that the challenges Korea currently faces are by no means limited to institutional and policy reforms, but rather are entrenched in an anti-globalization mindset shared by all sectors of society. This critical examination of the Korean government's inward FDI policies includes the experiences of around 50 CEOs of operating MNCs in Korea including various chambers of commerce and law firms. It also examines both perceptions and realities of the Korean market from in-depth interviews with over 50 foreign CEOs of MNCs operating in Korea, as well as a critical examination of Korea's current efforts to become a Northeast Asian business centre. This book will appeal to academics and postgraduate students of Asian studies and international business, the foreign business community (including existing and potential foreign investors to the Korean market) as well as government and policy makers.

This book documents the history of economic discourse in Australia and New Zealand from the early days of European settlement. Many of the early economists were immigrants (William Hearn, Charles Pearson, Catherine Spence, David Syme). A few (such as W.C. Wentworth, born on the First Fleet) were proud natives, self-taught but confident and assertive in their use of economic arguments. The 20th century brought European refugees (Heinz Arndt, Harro Bernardelli, Fred Gruen, Kurt Singer) and a healthy crop of locally-born public servant-economists (Bernard Ashwin, John Crawford, 'Nugget' Coombs, Leslie Melville, Roland Wilson). There were theorists of international renown (Richard Manning, Wilfred Salter, Trevor Swan), some who made important contributions to public policy debates (Ronald Henderson, Eric Russell) or distinguished themselves in econometrics (Rex Bergstrom, Bill Phillips). The 130 entries in this volume have been written by more than 50 international authorities, revealing the depth and diversity of economics in Australia and New Zealand over almost two centuries. This biographical dictionary is a rich and comprehensive original reference work that will appeal to many economists and researchers of history and public policy in addition to those involved in the history of economic thought.

The general store in late-nineteenth-century America was often the economic heart of a small town. Merchants sold goods necessary for residents' daily survival and extended credit to many of their customers; cash-poor farmers relied on merchants for their economic well-being just as the retailers needed customers to purchase their wares. But there was more to this mutual dependence than economics. Store owners often helped found churches and other institutions, and they and their customers worshiped together, sent their children to the same schools, and in times of crisis, came to one another's assistance.

For this social and cultural history, Linda English combed store account ledgers from the 1870s and 1880s and found in them the experiences of thousands of people in Texas and Indian Territory. Particularly revealing are her insights into the everyday lives of women, immigrants, and ethnic and racial minorities, especially African Americans and American Indians.

A store's ledger entries yield a wealth of detail about its proprietor, customers, and merchandise. As a local gathering place, the general store witnessed many aspects of residents' daily lives--many of them recorded, if hastily, in account books. In a small community with only one store, the clientele would include white, black, and Indian shoppers and, in some locales, Mexican American and other immigrants. Flour, coffee, salt, potatoes, tobacco, domestic fabrics, and other staples typified most purchases, but occasional luxury items reflected the buyer's desire for refinement and upward mobility. Recognizing that townspeople often accessed the wider world through the general store, English also traces the impact of national concerns on remote rural areas--including Reconstruction, race relations, women's rights, and temperance campaigns.

In describing the social status of store owners and their economic and political roles in both small agricultural communities and larger towns, English fleshes out the fascinating history of daily life in Indian Territory and Texas in a time of transition.