The financial meltdown resulting from the subprime mortgage fiasco culminated in the most dramatic economic slowdown since the Great Depression. The global economic crisis raised the debate about the role of financial institutions and the role of regulators in an increasingly interconnected and rapidly changing world. It also altered the marketplace's perception of historically trusted financial institutions. Over the years, geopolitical, economic and technical trends have had a subtle, but very powerful, impact on the basic business model for financial institutions worldwide and on their interactions with accountholders. Add to that increased margin pressures, regulatory and compliance issues, fraud and compliance concerns, and competitive threats, and it becomes obvious that the old business model simply won't work going forward. At the same time, the financial industry is littered with some of the oldest technologies of any industry, which contributed to the poor credit decisions that fueled the crisis. A recognized entrepreneur and award-winning innovator, Louis Hernandez, Jr., using historical examples, points out that the rate of change impacting the financial services industry is accelerating. The industry has been slow to respond to change, and the focus on the recent crisis has uncovered fundamental problems that financial institutions have been avoiding. Hernandez outlines a process to map the future direction of individual institutions and the industry in a way that addresses near-term issues and overarching global changes, such as a re-emergent Asia and the dynamics of a knowledge economy. He points out that the "Too Big to Fail" thesis has given way to the seemingly more prudent, community-based institutions that largely avoided the subprime crisis. These institutions have demonstrated that they represent a unique pillar of economic stability. Now, he says, is the perfect time for the leaders of these community-based institutions to seize the day and lead the financial services industry back to the center of economic vitality and drive global economic growth, one community at a time. In Too Small to Fail, Hernandez issues the call to action, "Do you have the extraordinary drive it will take to inspire the industry and bring financial institutions back to their place as trusted intermediaries?"

MATLAB for Engineering Applications is a simple, concise book designed to be useful for beginners and to be kept as a reference. MATLAB is a globally available standard computational tool for engineers and scientists. This text is intended as a stand-alone introduction to MATLAB and can be used in an introductory course, as a self-study text, or as a supplementary text. The text's material is based on the author's experience in teaching a required two-credit semester course devoted to MATLAB for engineering freshmen. This title will be available in Connect, but is not available with SmartBook. Instructor Resources available for this title include: Solutions Manual, Presentation Tools Table (includes Lecture PowerPoints and Image Bank), MATLAB Files, MATLAB Live Scripts.

The book introduces concepts on a wide range of materials and has several advantages over existing texts, including: 1. The presentation of a series of scientific postulates and laws of RF and microwaves, which lay the foundation for the behavior of waves and their propagation on transmission lines, is unique to this book compared with similar RF and Microwave texts.2. The presentation of classical laws and principles of electricity and magnetism, all inter-related, conceptually and graphically.3. There is a shift of emphasis from rigorous mathematical solutions of Maxwell's equations, and instead has been aptly placed on simple yet fundamental concepts that underlie these equations. This shift of emphasis will promote a deeper understanding of the electronics, particularly at RF/Microwave frequencies.4. Wave propagation in free space and tramsmission lines has been amply treated from a totally new standpoint. Designing RF/Microwave passive circuits using the Smith Chart as covered in this book becomes a systematic and yet pleasant task, which can easily be duplicated by any practitioner in the field.5. New technical terms are precisely defined as they are first introduced, thereby keeping the subject matter in focus and preventing misunderstanding, and 6. Finally the abundant use of graphical illustrations and diagrams brings a great deal of clarity and conceptual understanding, enabling difficult concepts to be understood with ease.The fundamentals of RF and microwave electronics can be mastered visually, through many tested practical examples in the book and in the accompanying CD using Microsoft Excel environment. This book is perfect for RF/microwave newcomers or industry veterans The material is presented lucidly and effectively through worked practical examples using both clear-cut math and vivid illustrations, which help the reader gain practical knowledge in passive circuit design using the Smith Chart.

With an emphasis on key individuals and key movements, this book is the first attempt to provide a collection of critical essays on the history of technical communication designed to help guide future research. This collection consists of the classic; essays in the field that have made a major contribution to the development of the field, and the new; essays that contribute to our historical understanding of a specific element or period of technical communication. This, combined with an up-to-date bibliography of research in the area, make Three Keys to the Past as valuable to the experienced researcher in the field as to those just entering it.

The difference between B2B sales winners and losers is that winners are ready to win. Winners take time to honestly answer the question, "am I ready to sell?" Winners prepare themselves for winning through reproducible steps that will put them in a better position to win. These steps are not magic or unknowable - they can be learned. Once learned the key to success becomes discipline in applying the steps every day during every encounter with your prospects and your own sales team. Are You Ready to Sell shows the steps you need to be a winner in B2B sales. Owning this book will provide you with:

A winning process for sales preparedness throughout your daily selling life

Strategies to determine if a sales opportunity is an order opportunity

A road map for change to deal with the "new normal" of Business to Business selling

Strategies for creating a valuable lifetime income stream from your customers

Sales scenarios at the end of each chapter to test your strategies for winning

A mindset to move sold-to accounts back to prospects for value you can deliver

New strategies for building customer loyalty

Guidelines for shaping your prospect's definition of value throughout the sales process

Today's B2B industrial prospects are struggling to survive within the new normal of doing more with less. Help your prospects be winners in this environment and you will be an order winner. "Are You Ready to Sell?" equips you with the tools you need to be a consistent B2B sales order winner.

This book (hardcover) is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It contains classical literature works from over two thousand years. Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the cultural legacy and to promote the timeless works of classical literature. Readers of a TREDITION CLASSICS book support the mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion. With this series, tredition intends to make thousands of international literature classics available in printed format again - worldwide.

As technological change and digital disruption becomes normalized in the fourth industrial revolution, workplace leaders are seeking new solutions to evolving problems. Managing Technology and Middle- and Low-Skilled Employees is an illuminating study of workplace leadership for improving the employee experience and adjusting the organizational culture to reduce tensions between technology and people at work. Reliance on artificial intelligence has created apprehension and anxiety among some employees and the general public as they try to understand whether or not employees will be replaced by new technologies. This book examines technological developments, such as artificial intelligence and big data, and reveals the practical implications of how people and new technologies can co-exist, harmoniously, within the workplace through virtual teams. Managing Technology and Middle- and Low-Skilled Employees offers routes to new solutions for scholars and professionals in the fields of business, human resource development, human resource management, information systems, and workforce development.

As information resource management becomes increasingly dependent on emerging technologies to combat its challenges and decipher its effective strategies, the demand builds for a critical mass of research in this area. Innovative Technologies for Information Resource Management brings together compelling content related to the continually emerging technologies in areas of information systems such as Web services, electronic commerce, distance learning, healthcare, business process management, and software development. Focusing on the implications innovative technologies have on the managerial and organizational aspects of information resource management, this book provides academcians and practitioners with a requisite and enlightening reference source.