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Books > Business & Economics > Industry & industrial studies > General
The city of gold is in a death spiral.
Award-winning journalist, inner-city activist, and municipal civil servant Nickolaus Bauer takes a deep dive into how Africa’s economic hub has reached the brink of collapse and what it will take to rescue Joburg.
For local and international readers interested in tracking the collapse and possible resurrection of one of Africa’s greatest cities.
For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about. Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at worst-case scenarios.
Michael Lewis’s taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19. The characters you will meet in these pages are as fascinating as they are unexpected.
A thirteen-year-old girl’s science project on transmission of an airborne pathogen develops into a very grown-up model of disease control. A local public-health officer uses her worm’s-eye view to see what the CDC misses, and reveals great truths about American society. A secret team of dissenting doctors, nicknamed the Wolverines, has everything necessary to fight the pandemic: brilliant backgrounds, world-class labs, prior experience with the pandemic scares of bird flu and swine flu…everything, that is, except official permission to implement their work.
Michael Lewis is not shy about calling these people heroes for their refusal to follow directives that they know to be based on misinformation and bad science. Even the internet, as crucial as it is to their exchange of ideas, poses a risk to them. They never know for sure who else might be listening in.
A gripping true story of resilience, justice, and the fight for digital
sovereignty.
When civic-tech platform GovChat challenged the global giant Meta
(WhatsApp/Facebook), few believed a South African startup could take on
one of the most powerful corporations on earth. What followed was not
just a courtroom battle, but a struggle over democracy, public access
to services, and the future of digital innovation in Africa and beyond.
In The Silicon Empire vs Social Impact, Professor Eldrid Jordaan
GovChat’s founder and a leading global voice on digital transformation
takes readers inside this historic fight. From late-night legal
strategy sessions to tense tribunal hearings, he reveals the
high-stakes battle that tested not only his company but also the very
idea of whether Big Tech should control who gets to serve citizens.
Inside the Book You’ll Discover:
- The untold story of GovChat’s rise as Africa’s largest citizen
engagement platform.
- The behind-the-scenes legal showdown with Meta, exposing how Big
Tech wields its dominance.
- Lessons in resilience, leadership, and purpose from a startup
that refused to be silenced.
- A blueprint for startups, policymakers, and innovators navigating
the digital economy
This book is more than a corporate battle – it’s a story of purpose
over profit, a testament to the power of communities, and a call for
Digital Justice worldwide.
Perfect for:
- Entrepreneurs and startup founders
- Policymakers, lawyers, and regulators
- Tech leaders and digital transformation enthusiasts
- Anyone who loves true stories of courage, resilience, and impact
Big Data and Smart Service Systems presents the theories and
applications regarding Big Data and smart service systems, data
acquisition, smart cities, business decision-making support, and
smart service design. The rapid development of computer and
Internet technologies has led the world to the era of Big Data. Big
Data technologies are widely used, which has brought unprecedented
impacts on traditional industries and lifestyle. More and more
governments, business sectors, and institutions begin to realize
data is becoming the most valuable asset and its analysis is
becoming the core competitiveness.
In the first decade of the 21st century, five rising powers
(Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) formed an
exclusive and informal international club, the BRICS. Although
neither revolutionaries nor extreme revisionists, the BRICS
perceive an ongoing global power shift and contest the West's
pretensions to permanent stewardship of the existing economic
order. Together they have exercised collective financial
statecraft, employing their expanding financial and monetary
capabilities for the purpose of achieving larger foreign policy
goals. This volume examines the forms and strategies of such
collective financial statecraft, and the motivations of each
individual government for collaborating through the BRICS club.
Their cooperative financial statecraft takes various forms, ranging
from pressure for "inside reforms" of either multilateral
institutions or global markets, to "outside options" exercised
through creating new multilateral institutions or jointly pushing
for new realities in international financial markets. To the
surprise of many observers, the joint actions of the BRICS are
largely successful. Although each member has its unique rationale
for collaboration, the largest member, China, controls resources
that permit it the greatest influence in intra-club
decision-making. The BRICS cooperate due to both common aversions
(for example, resentment over being perennial junior partners in
global economic and financial governance and resistance to
infringements on their autonomy due to U.S. dollar dominance and
financial power) and common interests (such as obtaining greater
voice in international institutions, as the IMF). The group seeks
reforms, influence, and enhanced leadership roles within the
liberal capitalist global system. Where blocked, they experiment
with parallel multilateral institutions in which they are the
dominant rule-makers. The future of the BRICS depends not only on
their bargaining power and adjustment to market players, but also
on their ability to overcome domestic impediments to sustainable
economic growth, the basis for their international influence.
Prior to 1979, China had a bifurcated and geographically-dispersed
industrial structure made up of a relatively small number of
large-scale, state-owned enterprises in various industries
alongside numerous small-scale, energy-intensive and polluting
enterprises. Economic reforms beginning in 1979 led to the rapid
expansion of these small-scale manufacturing enterprises in
numerous energy-intensive industries such as aluminum, cement, iron
and steel, and pulp and paper. Subsequently, the government adopted
a new industrial development strategy labeled "grasp the large, let
go the small." The aims of this new policy were to close many of
the unprofitable, small-scale manufacturing plants in these (and
other) industries, create a small number of large enterprises that
could compete with OECD multinationals, entice these larger
enterprises to engage in high-speed technological catch-up, and
save energy. China's Technological Catch-Up Strategy traces the
impact of this new industrial development strategy on technological
catch-up, energy use, and CO2 emissions. In doing so, the authors
explore several detailed, enterprise-level case studies of
technological catch-up; develop industry-wide estimates of energy
and CO2 savings from specific catch-up interventions; and present
detailed econometric work on the determinants of energy intensity.
The authors conclude that China's strategy has contributred to
substantial energy and CO2 savings, but it has not led to either a
peaking of or a decline in CO2 emissions in these industries. More
work is needed to cap and reduce China's CO2 emissions.
The United Africa Company (UAC), formed in 1929 by the fusion of
the Niger Company and the African and Eastern Corporation, was by
far the largest single commercial organization in West and
Equatorial Africa, and thus central to modern African economic
history. This is the first detailed account to be published and one
which fills a serious gap in the literature. It was not
commissioned by the company (now reabsorbed into Unilever) but the
author had full access to all confidential material in the UAC and
Unilever archives and complete freedom in what he wrote. The book
is not intended to be primarily a company history but uses the UAC
as a focal point for detailed study of how the role of foreign
merchant capital changed in response to economic and political
developments in Black Africa during this critical half century.
This book charts the early days of Hampton, the fourth of
Peterborough's new townships,1 from the time when, as the
'Brickpits', much of it was an area of complete desolation only
considered suitable for landfilling, until it emerged as the
largest development of its kind since Welwyn Garden City, in the
1930s. Along the way it will explain the challenges, many of them
unique to this unusual site, which were faced by the very small
team of pioneers tasked with creating a viable project in the most
unpromising circumstances. By 2018 more than 5,000 homes have been
erected at Hampton and more than 12,500 people now live there. How
it came about that a company, which had no history of property
development, should become involved in creating such a project with
all its complexities is a matter of continuing interest especially
at a time of national housing shortage. It does seem that, if we
are to have any success in addressing our housing needs, we should
learn the lessons of putting together a project on this s
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not
used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad
quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are
images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to
keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the
original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain
imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made
available for future generations to enjoy.
BEST OF THE 2022 RUSA Book & Media AWARDS One of Biblioracle's
8 favorite nonfiction books of 2021 in the Chicago Tribune The New
York Post's BEST BOOKS OF 2021 USA Today's 5 BOOKS NOT TO MISS
Alexander nimbly and grippingly translates the byzantine world of
American health care into a real-life narrative with people you
come to care about. --New York Times Takes readers into the world
of the American medical industry in a way no book has done before.
--Fortune By following the struggle for survival of one small-town
hospital, and the patients who walk, or are carried, through its
doors, The Hospital takes readers into the world of the American
medical industry in a way no book has done before. Americans are
dying sooner, and living in poorer health. Alexander argues that no
plan will solve America's health crisis until the deeper causes of
that crisis are addressed. Bryan, Ohio's hospital, is losing money,
making it vulnerable to big health systems seeking domination and
Phil Ennen, CEO, has been fighting to preserve its independence.
Meanwhile, Bryan, a town of 8,500 people in Ohio's northwest
corner, is still trying to recover from the Great Recession. As
local leaders struggle to address the town's problems, and the
hospital fights for its life amid a rapidly consolidating medical
and hospital industry, a 39-year-old diabetic literally fights for
his limbs, and a 55-year-old contractor lies dying in the emergency
room. With these and other stories, Alexander strips away the
wonkiness of policy to reveal Americans' struggle for health
against a powerful system that's stacked against them, but yet so
fragile it blows apart when the pandemic hits. Culminating with
COVID-19, this book offers a blueprint for how we created the
crisis we're in.
"When economy and ecology are seamlessly enmeshed, then the economy
will revolve at optimum speed. When they are not, then friction
between them will slow both their cycles, grind down bio mass and
release wasted economic heat." "Bio fuels have a greater
atmospheric CO2 effect than fossil fuels. If we burn life, we add
to atmospheric CO2, but also reduce the mass of CO2 absorbing life.
If we burn fossil fuels, we add to atmospheric CO2, but the mass of
life continues to live and breathe." (From the Lost Coefficient of
Time) The Lost Coefficient of Time sets out to refute the
assumption quoted below, which has informed the Carbon audits of
the IPCC, carbon trading schemes, carbon footprint calculations,
most university departments and in particular, the Zero Carbon
Britain 2030 report by the Centre for Alternative Technology. "If
biomass is burned, the chemistry is more or less reversed, and the
original energy and raw material (CO2 and water) are released.
There is then no net gain or loss of CO2, which is why biological
fuels are considered to be "Carbon neutral." Patrick Noble is an
organic farmer of over thirty years experience.
A unique and comprehensive source of information, this book is the
only international publication providing economists, planners,
policymakers and business people with worldwide statistics on
current performance and trends in the manufacturing sector. The
Yearbook is designed to facilitate international comparisons
relating to manufacturing activity and industrial development and
performance. It provides data which can be used to analyse patterns
of growth and related long term trends, structural change and
industrial performance in individual industries. Statistics on
employment patterns, wages, consumption and gross output and other
key indicators are also presented.
Public private partnerships (PPPs) have been a controversial
approach to procuring public infrastructure services. Against a
background of recent trenchant criticism of PPPs, Mervyn K. Lewis,
a leading scholar in the area, re-examines their utility. He
questions what PPPs can and cannot do, why governments choose this
route and whether PPPs can ever be good value for money. The author
analyses the extensive use of PPPs for hospitals and transport
megaprojects and outlines the key challenges to implementing them,
shaping the future direction of the PPP model. Exploring the
psychological influences on decision-making, the book also puts a
new focus on the people delivering the project; it is not only a
matter of selecting the right model. Professor Lewis concludes
that, although the PPP model remains problematic, if chosen
appropriately every procurement approach has its place in good
policy. Providing an in-depth exploration of the features of PPPs
and the complexities of megaprojects, Rethinking Public Private
Partnerships will be of considerable interest to academics and
students of public policy, economic regulation and governance, and
public finance. Its re-assessment of the field will also prove
invaluable for government procurers, advisory firms and PPP
experts.
Providing an overview of industrial development using a variety of
different approaches and perspectives, the Handbook of Industrial
Development brings together expert contributors and highlights the
current multiple and interdependent challenges that can only be
addressed using an interdisciplinary approach. Chapters discuss the
existing issues faced by industry following both the digital and
environmental transitions, highlighting their regional roots and
the interplay with the wider institutional framework. Investigating
the necessity for companies to design new products and production
processes and also re-think their corporate responsibilities, this
Handbook illustrates the need for a much broader vision taking into
account historical, social, political and cultural viewpoints at
all governmental levels. Furthermore, it takes an analytical look
at further research, including insightful directions for future
industrial development policies. Answering complex policy questions
for today, this crucial Handbook will be invaluable for
policymakers looking for insights into sustainable industrial
development as well as practitioners who are seeking an up-to-date
comprehensive overview of the topic. Economic development and
innovation scholars and researchers will also find the future
research ideas interesting and informative.
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