Trade policy has played a vital role in the decline of European electronics business. The events that resulted in the disappearance of the European television industry, of a European and Japanese video recorder format and of other European consumer electronics are directly related to market structures in exporting countries and business practices. In this book, factual business data shows and economic models explain how restrictive trade practices result in elimination of efficient competitors in export markets. It deals with the memorable case how a videocassette recorder format was established by dumping and how politics enabled it. An innovative tariff increase for CD players was invalidated by heavy dumping, causing closure of production in Europe. European CTV industry succumbed under permanent dumping and a series of biases - as the interest of a state-owned company - and serious errors making trade instruments void and rules irreconcilable with international agreements. Practical and theoretical examples and explanations, some in detail, of trade rules are provided. The book sketches events - carelessness, prejudice or special interests, arbitrary and false application of trade instruments and fraud - resulting in disappearance of various European electronics business segments.

Technological advances have resulted in higher development of online businesses. As such, new entrepreneurs need to develop a different set of skills and strategies to be successful in the realm of digital business. Global Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation in the Sharing Economy is a pivotal reference source for the latest scholarly research on knowledge and skills essential to entrepreneurs for new business start-ups in the globalized and digital age. Featuring extensive coverage on a broad range of topics such as branding, social capital, and e-commerce, this publication is ideally designed for professionals, researchers, and academicians seeking current research on developing the right mindset, culture, and behaviors for business success in the digital age.

Helen Tsiganou's study explores the enormous diversity of worker participation schemes across national contexts. Using a historical comparative approach, worker participation schemes are examined in two major settings: the developed capitalist countries of the United States, Japan, Sweden, Norway, England, Germany, and France; and the centrally planned less developed socialist countries of Yugoslavia, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, China, and the Soviet Union. Tsiganou addresses the conditions under which participation schemes emerge and the reasons for similarities or differences among these schemes. She first studies the origins and history of schemes within a given national setting. She then draws on specific national experiences and makes cross national comparisons. This is not a systematic, detailed, country-by-country comparison but an explanation of the enormous diversity of worker participative schemes through comparative analysis. Part I of this volume examines the motives and goals behind various participatory schemes and their development and outcomes in the two distinct settings. The comparative logic and analytical framework of the book is laid out against a background of existing theoretical and analytical work. Meanings and definitions attached to worker participation, and their significance in denoting the dynamics of power within the workplace and society, are also covered. This section concludes with a discussion of the book's major assumptions. Part II deals with the diversity of workers participation schemes in several developed countries--countries with advanced industry and democratic pluralist political systems. Part III discusses schemes in several centrally planned socialist societies; and their efforts through reforms to correct their weaknesses. The final section summarizes the findings of the study and explores issues that emerge as cross-national and cross-sectional comparisons are made.

Buck shines a new light on China's transition to capitalism by focusing on and analyzing the development of networks between the urban and rural factories that have produced the regional economy of greater Shanghai. These networks have incorporated millions of villagers into the national and the global economy. By getting inside these networks and watching as their restructuring unfolds, Buck reveals hidden aspects of major changes: China's transition from centralized planning to market economy, the transformation of Shanghai from industrial to financial center, and a wave of privatization that has swept away the last vestiges of socialism.

The book presents a coherent description of distributed manufacturing, providing a solid base for further research on the subject as well as smart implementations in companies. It provides a guide for those researching and working in a range of fields, such as smart manufacturing, cloud computing, RFID tracking, distributed automation, cyber physical production and global design anywhere, manufacture anywhere solutions. Foundations & Principles of Distributed Manufacturing anticipates future advances in the fields of embedded systems, the Internet of Things and cyber physical systems, outlining how adopting these innovations could rapidly bring about improvements in key performance indicators, which could in turn generate competition pressure by rendering successful business models obsolete. In laying the groundwork for powerful theoretical models, high standards for the homogeneity and soundness of the suggested setups are applied. The book especially elaborates on the upcoming competition in online manufacturing operations and respective control procedures. By outlining encapsulation and evolving decision-making principles, Foundations & Principles of Distributed Manufacturing fully conceptualizes the view of manufacturing networks as sets of loosely coupled interacting smart factory objects. Moreover, the book provides concrete approaches to a number of future fields, where distributed manufacturing might be applied. Both researchers and professionals will profit from the authors' broad experience in Distributed Manufacturing and Fractal Enterprise implementations, where they initiated and completed a number of successful research projects: within the global Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) scheme, within the European Research Area frameworks as well as national contexts, and both in industry and at leading research institutions. This background ensures well-founded theory on one hand and valuable practical results on the other in a fascinating area that is still under intensive research. Readers will acquire essential insights as well as useful guidance for categorizing and specifying extended distributed manufacturing solutions and their professional implementations.

Enhancing inter-firm networks and interorganizational strategies, is part of the Research in Management Consulting series.

This book examines the relationship between regulation and market integration, with a special focus on China. It pursues a Law and Economics and Comparative Law approach (China and EU) to analyze the current obstacles to market integration and domestic economic growth in China. Topics covered at the national level include competition law, public procurement rules and financial regulation. At the regional and local level, this book addresses questions related to administrative monopolies, self-regulation, legal services markets, and environmental law.

This proceedings volume presents new methods and applications in applied economic research with an emphasis on advances in panel data analysis. Featuring papers presented at the 2017 International Conference on Applied Economics (ICOAE) held at Coventry University, this volume provides current research on econometric panel data methodologies as they are applied in microeconomics, macroeconomics, financial economics and agricultural economics. International Conference on Applied Economics (ICOAE) is an annual conference that started in 2008 designed to bring together economists from different fields of applied economic research in order to share methods and ideas. Applied economics is a rapidly growing field of economics that combines economic theory with econometrics to analyse economic problems of the real world usually with economic policy interest. In addition, there is growing interest in the field for panel data estimation methods, tests and techniques. This volume makes a contribution in the field of applied economic research in this area. Featuring country specific studies, this book will be of interest to academics, students, researchers, practitioners, and policy makers in applied economics and economic policy.

Business intelligence has always been considered an essential ingredient for success. However, it is not until recently that the technology has enabled organizations to generate and deploy intelligence for global competition. These technologies can be leveraged to create the intelligent enterprises of the 21st century that will not only provide excellent and customized services to their customers, but will also create business efficiency for building relationships with suppliers and other business partners on a long term basis. Creating such intelligent enterprises requires the understanding and integration of diverse enterprise components into cohesive intelligent systems. Anticipating that future enterprises need to become intelligent, Intelligent Enterprises of the 21st Century brings together the experiences and knowledge from many parts of the world to provide a compendium of high quality theoretical and applied concepts, methodologies, and techniques that help diffuse knowledge and skills required to create and manage intelligent enterprises of the 21st century for gaining sustainable competitive advantage in a global environment. This book is a comprehensive compilation of the state of the art vision and thought processes needed to design and manage globally competitive business organizations.

This book gives a systematic exposition of China's logistics development to the English-reading community. The ultimate goal of the book is to present a timely portrayal of China's logistics market growth and the evolution status of China's logistics industry. Being the fourth volume of the "Contemporary Logistics in China", the book strives to offer in-depth analysis on some hot issues and dilemmas amid the on going dynamic and multi-faceted development and also a source of reference for interested readers in academic and professional fields.

This book accomplishes an analysis of critical aspects of managerial implications on the business with information. The business dealing with information is spreading in the service market; and, an efficient management of informational processes, in order to perform successful business with them, is now crucial. Besides, economical/business, technological or any other kind of information, organized in a variety of forms, can be considered as an 'informational product'. Thus, creating a business value out of information is challenging but vital, especially in the modern digital age. Accordingly, the book covers the methods and technologies to capture, integrate, analyze, mine, interpret and visualize information out of distributed data, which in turn can help to manage information competently. This volume explores the challenges being faced and opportunities to look out for in this research area, while discussing different aspects of this subject. The book will be of interest to those working in or are interested in joining interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work in the areas of information management, service management, and service business. It will also be of use to young generation researchers by giving them an overview on different aspects of doing business with information. While introducing them to both technical and non-technical details, as well as economic aspects, the book will also be extremely informative for professionals who want to understand and realize the potential of using the cutting-edge managerial technologies for doing successful business with information/ services.

Based on over twenty years of experience, the author of this practical guide provides the executive with a comprehensive discussion of the issues and tools involved in the location or relocation of a business operation. A company's search for the ideal site is one of the most important managerial functions. The firm may need to expand for the development of new products, new markets, or additional production capacity. In some cases, a new location may be needed to house newly developed production equipment or to obtain higher efficiency and reduced operating costs. Other reasons include security, lower labor cost, and access to raw materials. Whatever the reason, a well-defined plan and detailed analysis program will aid and simplify the process.

The author walks the reader through each stage in the process, from planning the move, organizing and administering the search, and selecting the general area to evaluating a specific community and site and assembling a final report. The book provides helpful tables and survey samples, making it easier to utilize the information effectively. Besides executives involved in the process, economic development specialists and students will find the book useful.

This book assesses Chinese acquisitions in developed countries, evaluates the drivers and opportunities and, above all, explores the major operational challenges. It discusses topics such as cross-cultural issues, integration strategies, risk and resilience, the influence of emerging technologies, servitization, impacts on reshoring, corporate social responsibility, branding strategies, knowledge management, and transfer of best practices. While emerging market multinational corporations' (EMNCs) use of mergers and acquisitions as a strategic vehicle has received considerable attention, much less is known about their post-entry activities, such as the implementation of post-acquisition and integration strategies. It can be expected that, compared with their Western counterparts, EMNCs will face radically different challenges that may undermine the success of their products, brands and marketing. Addressing these issues by means of a case study approach, this book is an ideal teaching resource for a variety of courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. It also appeals to academics, researchers, and practitioners with a keen interest in manufacturing industry.

The theoretical basis of commercial law, corporate governance law, and corporate law is still unsatisfactory. There essentially is no theory of commercial law, and existing theories of corporate governance and corporate law cannot explain the behaviour of firms or the contents of existing regulation. This book proposes a coordinated solution for all three areas. The starting point is that all three areas deal with the organisation of firms. Commercial law, corporate governance, and corporate law are therefore studied from the perspective of the firm rather than that of the judge or the investor. Changing the perspective makes it easier to formulate an "umbrella" theory of commercial law, and theories of corporate governance and corporate law as applications of the main theory. The book provides examples of how the proposed theories work by studying legal corporate governance tools and practices that increase the sustainability of the firm. Sustainability can be bolstered by making the governance model more self-enforcing and ensuring that it fosters innovation.

Mass production is on its way out, according to Glenn Bassett, and is being replaced by a project shop economy. In a visionary book that is both theoretical and practical Bassett examines the factors turning our economy back to the short-run production methods that prevailed until the Industrial Revolution, 150 years ago. This economic change can be disorienting to management and can produce wrenching changes on the shop floor. Using the models and methods of management science, the author shows how to make the transition easier. He offers fresh strategies for measuring business effectiveness and specific management practices appropriate to the flexible, small-scale job shop. These include moderate to low capacity utilization, scheduling sensitivity to bottlenecks, and development of the job shop's most important asset--its highly skilled workers.

The historical analyses in this work are compelling to any reader aware of the limitations of passive consumerism. An economy characterized by mass production of commodity goods and services is inherently unstable because people will naturally begin to seek self-expression in the special and the uncommon. Not just a countertrend in a society of mass markets, this reemphasis of craftsmanship and quality represents a full-scale reversion to nonstandardization. Bassett helps managers understand the true value of custom production. While the project shop can never possess the precision and efficiency of mass production, it is more effective. It puts out higher quality products and provides a more humane workplace that utilizes the full potential of skilled workers. This book will help managers of short-run/custom production and service operations and production operations managers to adapt to the changing workplace and economy.

This book describes the importance of integration and clustering in creating sustainable economic growth. Modern economic conditions demonstrate the need for governmental stimulation of cluster initiatives in entrepreneurship, and make it necessary to study the experience of developed countries in the sphere of stimulation of cluster initiatives in entrepreneurship, and to offer recommendations for improving the system of state stimulation of these initiatives. The authors conclude that at present, innovational economy is an economic system that functions on the basis of business networks, as this model offers innovational cooperation between specialists from various scientific and technical spheres, between organizations of various sizes (large, medium, and small), and between groups of various types of companies. Cluster strategy in modern global practice is one of the most important tools of public policy for increasing the competitiveness of national economies. This means that the most competitive spheres develop on the basis of the cluster principle, and support for cluster building increases a country's economic competitiveness.

This volume discusses continuous improvement strategies of Japanese convenience store operators. The study highlights the efforts of companies operating under lean management systems to identify new, dynamic, firm-specific capabilities in highly competitive markets.

Over the past fifteen years, the optimal enforcement of EU competition law has become a major concern. This book contains a unique collection of articles by lawyers and economists on current issues in the public and private enforcement of competition law. Public enforcement has been strengthened in numerous ways for example, through the introduction of a leniency programme and a substantial increase in fines for competition law violations. At the same time the EU Commission has been promoting private enforcement for example, by developing a legal framework that grants victims of EU antitrust law infringements access to compensation.

The contributions in this book address a range of topics in the area of competition law enforcement, including the role of fines and leniency programmes in public enforcement; access to evidence and the quantification of damages in private enforcement; and the interaction between public and private enforcement of competition law in Europe."

The proliferation of the internet has often been referred to as the fourth technological revolution. This book explores the diffusion of radical new communication technologies, and the subsequent transformation not only of products, but also of the organisation of production and business methods.

Turkey has been reforming its energy markets since the 1980s, culminating in two major bills in the early 2000s. The country has restructured electricity and natural gas markets, establishing an independent regulatory agency (EMRA) and passed legislation on renewable and nuclear energy. With these regulatory reforms, Turkey, as a candidate country for accession to the European Union (EU), has aimed to direct the energy markets to a more competitive environment in parallel with EU energy directives. This book contains an analysis of regulatory reforms in Turkish energy markets (electricity, natural gas, renewable and nuclear energy), the impact of these reforms on country's energy portfolio and role in global energy trade, especially between the EU, the Caspian, Caucasus, and Central Asia. Finally, the book concludes with recommendations for Turkish energy policy. The authors are expert scholars who have written extensively on Turkish regulatory reform and energy economics and who have broad knowledge of global energy market dynamics. The book will be a unique guide for those concerned with the different areas of the Turkish economy and international audiences interested in energy markets of Turkey and surrounding regions, making the book of interest to not only researchers in academia but also industry practitioners, regulators and policy makers as well.

Although the role of multinational corporations (MNCs) in developing countries has been the subject of intense academic interest, few studies have attempted a systematic examination of relations between small mineral-producing Third World countries and the MNCs involved in the extraction of these mineral resources. This book fills that gap by analyzing the opportunities available to a developing country with a limited mineral resource base to improve its bargaining position with the MNCs. Trinidad, a small petroleum producer whose industry has always been dominated by multinationals, is used throughout as an illustrative case study. A major contribution to the international business and international relations literature, this volume both adds an important dimension to the literature on multinational-host country relations and offers an in-depth analysis of the politics of a major Caribbean nation.

The book begins with an introductory chapter that explores the two schools of thought -- the Marxists dependency and the bargaining perspectives -- regarding the role of multinationals in small mineral producing countries. The following chapters utilize a bargaining approach to examine the relationship between the Trinidadian government and foreign investors in the oil industry during the past 30 years. Singh concludes that nationalization is not the best answer for small mineral producers like Trinidad, because he host country's size makes undue dependence on the foreign investor likely for the duration of the concession agreement. In addition, Singh points out, the ability of the host government to achieve its managerial, technical, and capital goals vis-a-vis the foreign investor depends directly upon the government's ability to manage its domestic policies. Two appendices that profile officials interviewed during the course of the study, a bibliography, and an index for easy reference complete the study.

The past three decades have seen a remarkable rise of Afrikaners in business. In light of the government’s comprehensive black economic empowerment programme this has been one of the unexpected features of the South African economy.

Today many of these Afrikaner tycoons are competing internationally. With Koos Bekker at its helm, media group Naspers began dominating the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and was turned into a global consumer internet group. Johann Rupert strongly extended Richemont’s share internationally in the upper-end market of luxury goods, while Christo Wiese and Whitey Basson at Pepkor and Shoprite became Africa’s largest clothing and food retailers.

Fortunes describes how these and other business leaders, such as Jannie Mouton, Michiel le Roux, Douw Steyn, Roelof Botha, Hendrik du Toit and a number of commercial farmers, built their empires. It looks at their life and business philosophies and what makes them such successful entrepreneurs.

Recent years have also seen the sensational collapse of Steinhoff International, the furniture retailer led by Markus Jooste that destroyed some of these fortunes. While Jooste is the topic of one of the chapters, another looks at the philanthropic projects most of these tycoons are involved in.

The innovation economy sets new standards for global business and requires efficient innovation management to plan, execute and evaluate innovation activities, establish innovation capability and coordinate resources and capacities for innovation on an intra- and inter-organizational level. Communication has become a critical factor underpinning successful innovation. As a new communication field, innovation communication facilitates the successful launches of new products and services, the establishment of stakeholder relationships, and the strengthening of corporate reputation in the long-run. Consequently, firms today need to develop a strong portfolio of communication tools as an integral part of their strategic innovation management activities. This new edition mainly concentrates on emerging approaches and methods for integrating communication as part of strategic innovation management. A key theme is the provision of an integrated perspective to bridge the gap between innovation management and communication management at both strategic and operational levels. This book makes an important contribution to this evolving academic domain by providing multiple perspectives on the latest research on innovation communication and strategic open innovation. It also provides guidance for managers seeking to understand the diverse ways by which they can leverage communication to support successful innovation.

An inclusive treatment of political risk assessment aimed at a readership consisting of students of international business and executives of multinational firms concerned with this issue. Ting examines the sociopolitical foundations of the issue, approaches to political risk assessment found in the literature, micro-risk assessment associated with individual projects, forms of business macro-policy and exchange rates. The author also considers host-country investments, applications of risk-rating systems, and integration of political risk assessment into a risk-return calculus. Extremely clear, the book is more usable than earlier volumes. Choice Ting argues that a preoccupation with catastrophic and revolutionary changes, such as those that occurred in Iran and Nicaragua, has skewed models of risk analysis away from the most significant and likely forms of political risk--legal, regulatory, and technocratic changes in the host country--toward the much rarer dramatic and cataclysmic event. He proposes instead a model based on a micro or project-specific analysis and demonstrates how to integrate this analysis and the information it generates into actual international planning and operational decisions abroad.

This study presents new microeconomic analyses of congestion-prone services that comprise most private and public services at the final consumption stage. It accounts for two distinctive features of congestion-prone services: the discrepancy between capacity and throughput, and service quality competition. To accommodate these features, a series of new decision-making theorems for consumers and suppliers is developed. The resulting demand and cost functions incorporate service time as the variable that reflects congestion and service quality. In market equilibrium, interactions between consumers and firms endogenously determine the industrial organization type of each firm and thus allow the coexistence of multiple industrial organization types in the same market. Efficiency of resource allocation is assessed by applying two different criteria: service quality diversity throughout the market and Pareto optimality in each submarket.