This book discusses theoretically and empirically the trade-off relationship between the frequency of product adaptation activities and the constraints on development resources, and how companies can respond to these constraints. The objective of this book is to identify effective management practices in continuous product development. With the continuation of development activities, companies are required to constantly adapt their products to changes in the external environment. In continuous product development, the development process extends beyond product release, and interaction with the external environment is not limited to the planning stage but occurs multiple times throughout the process. What impact does the multiple adaptation activities have on the product performance as development activities become more continuous, and how to use limited development resources to provide stable and constant high-quality adaptation activities with optimal frequency have become urgent issues in the development sites. To address these research questions, this book focuses primarily on the development activities of the online game industry. The factors that bring about superior product performance are examined by combining case studies and questionnaire surveys on online game development projects. Furthermore, user community management is also discussed from the perspective of the interaction process between multiple user groups.

A growing number of organizations are meta-organizations; rather than individuals they have other organizations as their members. This comprehensive book explains, in-depth, the unique way in which meta-organizations function, how they differ from organizations with individual membership, and how they are crucial agents in the process of globalization. The book opens a whole new area for organizational research. It will be essential reading for researchers and postgraduate students interested in organization theory, globalization, politics and organizations, or international organizations.

This book provides quantitative evidence on the issues in fiscal and monetary policies in Mongolia and presents necessary policy recommendations for policymakers and academic circles. Mongolia belongs to a natural resource-based, transition economy and thus has faced the risk of the so-called resource curse-including the "Dutch Disease" and immaturity in market-based systems, particularly in financial markets. Consequently, reformations of resource allocation and policy governance in fiscal and monetary fields have been required. So far, however, there have been only a very limited number of quantitative studies in the Mongolian economy among the vast literature of Asian studies. This book applies scientific approaches to address fiscal and monetary issues, such as data-oriented and econometric methods (a structural vector auto-regression model, a spatial econometric model, and panel estimation with fixed effects, among others). In this manner, the book enriches empirical evidence in academic literature and also contributes to evidence-based policymaking. All the authors are young leaders of government officials in the Ministry of Finance, Financial Regulatory Commission, and National Statistics Office in Mongolia, who have been trained in academic research methodologies at Saitama University, Japan, on JICA-JDS scholarships. Thus, academic researchers and policymakers will be prominent members of the target audience for this work.

This book trailblazes co-evolution approaches which have been prototyped and tried out by the authors, with global academic and practitioner backgrounds. It was devised to help humanity, people, perceived as complex adaptive systems, to self-organize, co-create, and manage complexity, by showcasing with own example, as individuals and open networks. The book bundles main components needed for facilitation in complexity, while each chapter covers conceptual solutions for specific complexity strategies, tactics, operations - projects. These solutions serve as blueprints and roadmaps, providing approaches for practitioners and researchers alike. The main features incorporated in all the approaches are transcending silos and organizational hierarchies toward a borderless collaboration between diverse stakeholders with dynamic roles and accountabilities regarding purposes, missions and solutions. The book includes suggestions for strategic, tactical and operational managerial and governance approaches for disruptive, short-term, innovative, open, large-scale engagements where rapid onboarding, situational awareness, innovation and innovation in context, and action are expected while fast facilitation, dynamic reconfiguration, and self-organization are required. It also describes how long-term sustained co-creative action needs to be facilitated, to adapt to external and internal complexity dynamics while initiating positive change. This book showcases how co-creation and co-dreaming emerge with co-evolution. Chapters 1, 2, and 11 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book is concerned with the unprecedented involvement of the French state in the industrial sector of the country's economy during the First World War. That war was a great forcing-house for change, and one of the traditional relationshps of French society which was radically altered during this period was that of the state to private industry. Professor Godfey's study is unique as far as France is concerned: it is the only full study of the workings of the French war economy from 1914 to 1918 and on the politics of businessmen.

This book deep dives into emerging consumer trends in the food and beverage industry in Italy, particularly in light of the COVID-19 crisis, and explores how firms have evolved to meet consumer needs and succeed in this challenging context. Through a series of case studies, the authors explore the food and beverage industry's defining characteristics and how each particular sector has become so important to the Italian economy. Drawing on cases that feature small, medium and large enterprises, the authors reveal how firms have adapted their business strategies to meet new customer demands and market trends, highlighting the winning characteristics of the ever-evolving 'Made in Italy' brand, concluding with a recommended strategy of best practices for future implementation. Providing examples that can be studied, applied and analyzed by researchers, students, and practitioners, this unique book offers a detailed understanding of the different innovations and adaptations that companies in the food and beverage sector have put in place in response to ever evolving markets and trends, and how innovation becomes the key to success.

China has used industrial policies to try to build large corporations that can challenge those based in more advanced countries. By the late 1990s the operational mechanism of China's large firms had seen large advances. Simultaneously, a revolution has taken place in global business systems, and China's large firms are even further behind the global leaders than when they began their reforms. The WTO will require China to operate rapidly on the "global playing field" in competition with the world's leading corporations, and this increased gap presents a deep challenge for China's business and political leaders. Peter Nolan presents here the first in-depth case studies of China's large corporations under economic reform, combined with systematic benchmarking of these firms against the world's leading corporations. The book is an unrivalled resource of information on Chinese businesses, and also leads the reader to consider the impact of China's response to its current challenges not only on China itself, but on the wider global economy.

This unique book examines conceptual, empirical, and practical issues associated with corporate reputation. Emphasizing the importance of the roles of corporate social disclosure and organizational effectiveness, the authors emphasize the need for an integrative framework in explaining the nature of corporate reputation. Utilizing valuable data provided by Fortune magazine, the book provides both a historical evaluation of reputational rankings of Fortune 500 firms for the period 1987-1991 and insights as to the market reaction to disclosure of these rankings. These can be utilized by firms in building reputation, investors in evaluating their strategies, and public policy officials in dealing with corporations.

Following an extensive review of the conceptual foundations of corporate reputation, namely corporate social performance and disclosure and organizational effectiveness, the authors present explanatory and predictive models of corporate reputation. They then examine the potential relationship between corporate reputation and shareholders' wealth--the market reaction to reputation signals. Their findings suggest that a firM's benefit from the disclosure of reputation signals will depend on size and expectations, and that such disclosure appears to lead to a significant, lagged market reaction. Based on a detailed analysis of the 1987-1991 performance of U.S. firms on eight key attributes of reputation, the authors conclude with insights that can be utilized by corporations and investors alike.

This volume continues this series of international business issues with an exploration of the development and growing complexity of the global marketplace. One section should be of particular interest to those involved in European business. Entitled "Enlarging the European Perspective," it deals with marketing strategy in post-Cold War Eastern Europe and European integration and banking in Greece. The international theme is further developed with chapters on Mexico, the US and Japan.

Multinational firms are often seen as controlling the secrets of industrial success, and conversely, as causing industrial decline. As a consequence their activites are the subject of intense debate. This study assesses the role of multinational enterprise in international competition - including trade and technology licensing - and analyses the profound implications that follow for policy formulation. This is the first book to use a systematic comparative approach, in which the experience of five major developed economies, the USA, Japan, the UK, Sweden and West Germany, are appraised using the framework of modern economic theory.

This book challenges the established, neoclassical view of industrial success in developing countries. By re-examining the role of government intervention in the industrialization of Brazil and South Korea, it seeks to show that the key to industrial success does not lie in a simple combination of outward-orientation and laissez-faire, but in the government's success in remedying crucial market failures in the product and factor markets.

This edited book explores how stakeholders play a key part in any entrepreneurial endeavour because of their investment in the outcome. This book highlights that it is important to understand the reason and rationale for stakeholder engagement in entrepreneurship. Furthermore, this book showcases how there are different kinds of stakeholders from businesses directly linked to an entity to others that have a more policy influence on the industry segment. This book demonstrates that it is useful to understand to what extent stakeholders influence entrepreneurial decision making. This book states that most stakeholders tend to take an indirect role in the governance of a business in terms of what strategic decisions are made. This can change in times of crisis or change depending on the nature of the relationship. This book makes the case that stakeholders can take positive action in the form of advice or help. This book asserts that stakeholders who have an ongoing direct role are likely to invest more time and effort in an entrepreneurial endeavour. This book uncovers that it is important to re-evaluate on a continual basis whether the relationship is working and what needs to be done in order to increase efficiency. This edited book focuses on the role of stakeholders in an entrepreneurial context thereby being amongst the first research books to place specific attention on stakeholder management through public and private partnerships.

Although the topic of business-government relations (BGR) is obviously not original, the authors seek to make their work unique by creating a conceptual framework that attempts to utilize empirical data to address this interdependence systematically. To attain this goal, Stevens, Wartick, and Bagby build on the fragmented foundations of relevant BGR literature. Major issues addressed include the legal environment of BGR; the relationships between resource dependence and BGR attitudes of private-sector executives; the perceptions of BGR by public-sector managers; and an analysis of the Grace Commission as an example of a contemporary, nonproductive business-government interaction. This volume would be especially appropriate for libraries serving graduate students and faculty in the areas of business and public administration. "Choice"

Although much has been written on the various aspects of the business-government relationship, this new research-based study is among the first to explore the dynamics of this interaction fully and to provide the comprehensive analysis needed to bring many diverse elements into perspective. An in-depth study of the problems confronting business and government in their efforts to work together, it examines private and public sector managerial views and attempts to integrate them in the context of real world experience. The sources of problems and specific alternative courses are identified using a data-based analytical approach that focuses on substantive issues.

This book addresses the latest organizational, regulatory, and governance issues of main port systems, linking them to the financial aspects that are currently in use regarding investments in the port industry. A general review of port management and operations is complimented by analysis of country specific systems and a look at how ports could develop in the future. This book aims to examine how different port organizational and regulatory contexts affect port investment practices and related financial tools. The book is of use to researchers and practitioners interested in maritime economics and transportation studies.

This book supports companies in the transport sector, political decision-makers, transport engineers, planners and scientists doing fundamental research who are confronted by growing challenges in transport. These challenges arise from a number of powerful socio-technical trends, including: digitalisation, globalisation, urbanisation, and the requirements of individual users and the increased need to reduce environmental impact of transport. Providing the innovations required to cope with these challenges is not a simple matter. Towards Innovative Transport Systems structures and compiles theoretical foundations from evolutionary economics, the sociology of technology and innovation research in a way that provides a broad understanding of innovation processes without demanding prior knowledge. Using the Concept of Transport System Evolution (CTSE), it explains in depth the economics of innovation in the transport sector, thus contextualising processes, drivers and obstacles at work in current practice; among such processes are the changeover to electric mobility, the realization of autonomous cars, the revival of railway by innovations and dealing with disruptive innovations in transport. The CTSE is an approach to making concrete the multi-level perspective for the transport sector introduced by Frank Geels. On the basis of the CTSE, the author proposes principles for a novel innovation policy in transport that can serve the reader as a guide when making strategic decisions.

This book is about quality redundancy and its replacement by the "performativity" norm. Performativity is a linguistic, social, and political mechanism that produces the intended performance. The author, Alexander Tsigkas, sees this book as a natural continuation of his prior book The Lean Enterprise - From the Mass Economy to the Economy of One. He argues that performativity is the flip side of quality on a coin called identity, and in postmodernism, that is, in the age of Industry 4.0 and beyond, companies should be aiming for performativity and achieve quality as one of its many consequences. The author, therefore, encourages modern businesses to transition from quality orientation as conformance alone to a performance orientation. The author brings forward historic, current, and philosophical perspectives in charting performativity as a new goal for modern businesses. Many examples, case studies, and conceptual constructs are used to drive in the idea of how to create a performative enterprise.

Two of the most important economic processes at work in recent years are the globalization of the world economy and the economic transition in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. This book analyses the transition process from a comparative perspective and places these changes within the wider framework of globalization. It assesses the problems of transition faced by business and governments to better understand the direction in which future economic and political policy should move for improved growth. It evaluates the current stage of economic development in the transitional countries and discusses trends in the world economy since the early 1990s. Specifically, it addresses trends in global and regional development strategies, government policies, privatization, foreign investment and external balances. The authors then analyse the future prospects for economic and political relations between Eastern Europe and the European Union, the World Trade Organization and the international community as a whole. Some of the specific issues they focus on include US industrial competitiveness policy, economic nationalism, privatization in Eastern Europe, venture capital activities, the required economic conditions for Eastern European countries to join the European Union, regionalism and industrial policy for Eastern Europe, and lessons to be learned from the Japanese and Hong Kong transformations, as well as a comparative assessment of some political aspects of the economic strategies in Japan and Germany. Eastern Europe and the World Economy will be welcomed by scholars and students interested in the economics of transition, comparative economic systems, international economics and development economics, as well as by policymakers and government officials.

Despite a shared interest in the analysis of complex organizations operating in complex environments, macro-organization theory and research on the multinational corporation have developed quite independently of each other. This book, the product of a collaborative endeavour by scholars from both fields, represents the first systematic effort to build a broad bridge between these two areas of research. 'An excellent collection of essays which provides both the general and specialist reader with a fascinating insight into the latest advances in organisational theory.' John H. Dunning, Universities at Reading and Rutgers.

An examination of how small firms in developing countries acquire technological capability, the knowledge and skills required to operate technology effectively, and the ability to adapt it to local conditions. It aims to fill a gap in the established literature on technological capability, which has neglected the small scale sector in spite of the important role it plays in employment generation. The author develops a methodology for a quantitative assessment of the learning process, using case material from the small scale capital goods sector in Pakistan's Punjab Province.

Cultural entrepreneurship uses culture as a way to understand innovative business ventures. Culture in this edited book involves the beliefs and values associated with certain forms of behaviour. This means the way individuals are involved in business ventures is based on their cultural ideas. This edited book focuses on how cultural entrepreneurship is an important way to understand how cultural products and services such as art, food, music and literature influence the development of business ventures. Thereby highlighting the interesting and unique way cultural ideas are embedded in entrepreneurial activities.

Given the past decade of abuse of shareholder rights, corporate governance is essential for Russia's future. In this comprehensive volume, an international group of contributors - academics, corporate executives, government officials, policymakers, specialists from nongovernmental organizations, and legal experts - examine the crucial role of corporate governance as well as the external institutions and forces that affect it. Offering coverage from numerous perspectives, the contributors explore external and institutional influences on corporate governance, its workings within corporations, and the relationships between boards of directors, managers, shareholders, and the government. Case studies of three major companies illustrate the challenges and opportunities involved in creating sound practices. The concluding section provides a summary of the current situation and discusses implications for the future of Russia's corporate governance. A valuable source of information, Corporate Governance in Russia is a must-read for business people, government officials, academic researchers, students, and all those interested in Russia and what the future holds.

An upward trend is now discernible in many areas of the economy. However, cautious optimism disguises the fact that in many instances improvements in the competitive situation have been achieved by short-term cutbacks in workforces and cut-throat pricing policies. Innovation and investments in new technologies have often failed to be recognized as future-orientated measures.

Can economic globalization and environmental protection co-exist or does globalization inevitably lead to environmental degradation? How have firms in Europe responded to increased environmental regulation in the face of growing international competition, particularly from newly industrializing and transition economies? This book attempts to answer these questions using case studies of three pollution-intensive industries: iron and steel, leather tanning, and fertilizers. Based on in-depth interviews with managers and regulators in Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, the book illustrates the variety of responses to the conflicting pressures of globalization and environmental protection at corporate and industry levels. It also considers the impact which shifting competitive advantage has on the environment in newly industrialized countries and transition economies. Environmental managers and regulators of national and international environmental agencies will find Environmental Regulation in the New Global Economy of great interest, as will, academics and students of economics, environmental management, business studies, geography and international relations.

Dr. Geisler's far-reaching, unique book provides an encyclopedic compilation of the key metrics to measure and evaluate the impact of science and technology on academia, industry, and government. Focusing on such items as economic measures, patents, peer review, and other criteria, and supported by an extensive review of the literature, Dr. Geisler gives a thorough analysis of the strengths and weaknesses inherent in metric design, and in the use of the specific metrics he cites. His book has already received prepublication attention, and will prove especially valuable for academics in technology management, engineering, and science policy; industrial R&D executives and policymakers; government science and technology policymakers; and scientists and managers in government research and technology institutions.

Geisler maintains that the application of metrics to evaluate science and technology at all levels illustrates the variety of tools we currently possess. Each metric has its own unique strengths and weaknesses, but overall, metrics offer the best possible way to evaluate science and technology. He then finds that in general, science and technology have a positive effect on the human experience. Truly state of the art in the study of the metrics of science and technology, their outcomes and contributions to society and the economy, the book provides unique analyses of the academic world and its most useful metrics: the industrial science/technology research and development complex, and the government network of laboratories. For each, Geisler gives a comprehensive analysis of the main metrics and their best applications. His book is thus also usable in certain advanced undergraduate and graduate courses and seminars that treat technology and engineering management, project management in technology industries, and the evaluation of social and economic programs.