"A highly readable and yet comprehensive book on network businesses that have become governable with the advent of cloud and big data computing. Vivek Kale is a master of simplifying the complex world of network theory and its relevance to business." -Jagdish N. Sheth, Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing, Emory University Agile Network Businesses: Collaboration, Coordination, and Competitive Advantage reflects the shift from traditional networks to virtual and agile networks that enable businesses to operate dynamically, thereby representing markets more closely. This book enables IT managers and business decision-makers to understand clearly what network businesses and enterprises are, what they can do for them, and how to realize them. Customers in geographically dispersed markets are demanding higher quality products in a greater variety, at lower cost, and in a shorter time. Thus, enterprises have moved from a few centralized and vertically integrated facilities to geographically dispersed networks of capabilities, competencies and resources, which are the core of network businesses. Enterprises are now constructing more fluid network businesses in which each member facility focuses on differentiation and relies increasingly on its partners, suppliers, and customers to provide the rest. Network businesses have emerged as an organizational paradigm for collaboration and coordination across loosely connected individual organizations. This pragmatic book: Introduces network solutions and distributed systems that are a first step towards enabling a network enterprise. It also gives a detailed description of networks and agent system that have paved the road to network enterprises. Describes the basics of service-oriented architecture (SOA), cloud computing, and big data that are essential to network enterprises. Details the distinguishing aspects of network enterprises, which include virtual enterprises, management of network enterprises, and collaborative network enterprises. Covers such major application areas as supply, manufacturing, e-business, platform, social and wireless sensor networks. Introduces decision networks in the context of supply chain networks This book reinterprets the traditional supply chain in terms of the flow of decisions, information, and materials, which leads to reconfiguring the traditional supply chain network into mutually separate decision networks (e.g., fourth-party logistics or 4PL), information networks (e.g., wireless sensor networks), and logistics networks (e.g., third-party logistics or 3PL).

Chicago went from nothing in 1830 to become the second-largest city in the nation in 1900, while the Midwest developed to become one of the world's foremost urban areas. This book is an economic history of the Chicago metropolitan area from the 1820s to the present. It examines the city in its Midwestern region and compares it to the other major cities of the North. This book uses theories of the economics of location and other economic models to explain much of Chicago's history. Chicago maintained its status as the second-largest city through the first decades of the 20th century, but rapid growth shifted to the Sunbelt following World War II. Since the 1950s the city's history can be divided into four distinct periods; growth with suburbanization (1950-1970), absence of growth, continued suburbanization, and central city crisis (1970-1990), rebound in the 1990s, and financial crisis and deep recession after 2000. Through it all Chicago has maintained its position as the economic capital of the Midwest. The book is a synthesis of available literature and public data, and stands as an example of using economics to understand much of the history of Chicago. This book is intended for the college classroom, urban scholars, and for those interested in the history of one of world's foremost urban areas.

Now in its third edition, Cost-Benefit Analysis has been updated, offering readers the perfect introduction to project, programme and policy appraisal using basic tools of financial and economic analysis. The key economic questions of any social cost-benefit analysis are: do the benefits of the project or policy exceed the costs, no matter how widely costs and benefits are spread, and irrespective of whether or not project impacts, such as environmental effects, are reflected in market prices? And which group or groups of individuals receive the benefits and which bear the costs? This book addresses these questions with an emphasis on putting the theory presented in the book into practice. This third edition has several attractive features: Readers are encouraged to develop their own skills by applying the tools and techniques of cost-benefit analysis to case studies and examples, including an analysis of a project which is developed throughout the book. The book emphasizes the use of spreadsheets which are invaluable in providing a framework for the cost-benefit analysis. A dedicated chapter provides guidance for writing up a report which summarises the analysis which has been undertaken. New pedagogical features, including Technical Notes and Examples, have been added as an aid to readers throughout the text. An appendix provides 14 additional case studies which can be developed in class or as assignment projects. Additional material for instructors and students is provided through Support Material maintained by Routledge. This updated edition is an ideal text for a course on cost-benefit analysis where the emphasis is on practical application of principles and equipping students to conduct appraisals. It is also a useful handbook for professionals looking for a logical framework in which to undertake their cost-benefit analysis work.

A critical reviews on state-owned enterprise (SOE) reforms and enterprise governance in China, including the challenge, quandary and outlook Combines both theorectical and empirical discussions on China's SOE mixed-ownership reform The Chinese version is a prize winning title, giving insights into China's enterprise reform and development

Over the last thirty years Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) have been used to deliver transport capital projects and services. PPPs are complex arrangements that require a multi-disciplinary approach in order to assure their success, though research on the subject has been fragmented. This book fills the gap in existing literature by providing insight into these complex arrangements at their various stages of development. Public Private Partnerships in Transport: trends and theory is structured to follow the life-cycle of a PPP project and strikes a balance between theory and practice. Divided into four parts, each section highlights major concerns and offers and array of views and policy recommendations. Parts include context for national implementation, decision models, performance measures and efficiency standards. This book includes an expanded discussion on the findings presented, discussed and analysed at the closing event of the COST Action TU1001 network on the topic of PPPs in transport. The result will be of significant interest to the academic community, policy makers and practitioners.

"Industrial issues are often inextricably linked with labour market concerns and policy approaches that attempt to consider production and employment separately are inherently flawed."
This controversial statement sums up the heart of this important book. With contributions from such scholars as Keith Cowling, Malcolm Sawyer and Michael Kitson, Industrial and Labour Market Policy and Performance covers such topics as:
* the increasing inequality between rich and poor
* the links between innovation, competition and collaboration
* education, skills formation and human resource management
The evidence-led nature of the book will make it an important and useful read for students and academics involved in labour economics, industrial economics and industrial policy. The controversial findings of many of the chapters and its readable style will also appeal to informed policy commentators as well as policy-makers themselves.

This book focuses on the study of the environment for the survival and development of Chinese private enterprises. It analyzes the historical development and current overall development of private enterprises in China, their number, size structure, contribution to GDP, employment and tax revenue, and size of investment. It summarizes the laws and regulations relating to the development of private enterprises. It assesses their survival environment in comparison with SOEs' and from the perspective of entrepreneurs. The book also addresses the problems with the protection of property rights of private enterprises, their market entry, their capital mobility and their own management. It concludes with the analysis of the main factors hindering the development of private enterprises in China and some policy recommendations for improving the environment for their survival and development.

Ship management is a worldwide activity. Modern ships are sophisticated designed structures equipped with several automatic devices. It is estimated that 90 per cent of commodities transported worldwide are carried by ships. Therefore there is great interest from many private and public organizations that those ships are operating, manned, designed and maintained within international acceptable standards. The obligation of stakeholders to comply with maritime regulations is included in most statutory and commercial agreements and therefore inadequate implementation of maritime regulations exposes stakeholders to commercial risks. This book explores how the application of mathematical decision-making tools could be used to manage maritime regulations. Performance management tools are proposed which would allow stakeholders to monitor the regulatory performance of their organization in order to reduce or eliminate those commercial risks. The process of introducing an implementation process for maritime regulations worldwide is described within this text. An emphasis is put on the role of main stakeholders in the regulatory process and reasons that increase the willingness of stakeholders to participate in the implementation of regulations. This book will be of interest to scholars and students interested in the management of the shipping industry as well as ship owners and managers who are charged with implementing maritime regulations.

In this book, Radlo increases understanding of offshoring, outsourcing and international production fragmentation, and explains the impact of this phenomenon on the economies and enterprises. Key features include a comprehensive theoretical explanation of offshoring and outsourcing at both macroeconomic and microeconomic level, as well as an explanation of practical consequences of the mentioned phenomenon for the development of the global economy, national economies, concrete industries and enterprises. Unlike other publications, which are often characterized by narrow management or a macroeconomic approach to the analysis of offshoring and outsourcing, Radlo's text offers real insight into the global impact of production fragmentation.

The years since the global financial crisis have seen something of a renaissance in the manufacturing industry. The United States has launched its Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, and China owes much of its spectacular economic boom in the last decades to its being the 'world's factory'. Is there room for the EU in this landscape? This timely new book explores Europe's role in this evolving environment. It argues that on the one hand, in terms of sheer numbers, the role of the manufacturing industry in the EU is on a par with other major global economies. However, the book also states that Europe falls short of its global competitors (the USA in particular) in terms of its involvement in the most innovative manufacturing sectors. The volume therefore argues that this creates the opportunity for a new European industrial policy. Exploring the development of current EU policy, the book puts forward suggestions as to how the EU can improve in terms of the competitiveness of its technology policy. Placing the EU's position in the context of the industrial structures of the USA, Japan and the BRICs, the book blends theoretical models and practical examples in order to offer a the state of the art look at the current and future direction of Europe's industrial policy. This book will be of relevance to all those with an interest in European economics, industrial economics, public policy, European politics and European studies.

The development of the information technology (IT) industry in the Asia Pacific region faces two challenges. Firstly, can its established physical, technical, regional and governance infrastructures be adapted to meet the challenges embedded in the set of products and processes created by the IT industry? Secondly, as this adaptation evolves, which cities and regions will be best suited to connect to or lead global responses to these challenges? The chapters in this book have set out to explore these questions, providing details of change in a range of aspects of the IT industry such as mobile phones, software services, and flat screen design in regions in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India, China and Australia. The book also outlines the policy responses of national and regional governments in Singapore, India and China and India. These case studies provide a basis to understand effective strategies which could be formulated for the future. This book's originality emerges from the fine detail provided about firms, in particular regions and cities, from research carried out by young scholars in the past two years. This makes it very useful for readers keen to understand the recent changes in this dynamic industry in a fast growth part of the world, and it will also help to shape thinking by policy makers on policy settings that can be applied.

This is the first book on a new policy approach that has been widely adopted in Europe and beyond. It analyses the concept of smart specialisation and discuss the need for smart specialisation strategies, explains why the approach is new and different from more standard policy processes and explores what are the conditions for successful implementation. Smart Specialisation: Opportunities and Challenges for Regional Innovation Policy describes the origin of the concept, explains when a smart specialisation policy is necessary, provides a detailed analysis of the design principles of the policy and discuss the pertinence of this approach according to regional development levels. Finally the book discuss the practical implementation phase of the process - based on the first feedback acquired from certain regions engaged in the preparation of their smart specialisation strategy. The book is original in that it provides the first full analysis of smart specialisation strategies both at theoretical and practical levels. It has been written at the critical period of the implementation of smart specialisation strategies in every region in Europe. The fact that the EU has adopted smart specialisation as a mandatory principle for every region and member states will make this book well received by and very useful for: i) policy makers in regional and national administrations in Europe, ii) policy makers in other parts of the world who are in charge of regional policy and have heard about the concept, iii) consultants, analysts and experts who are active on the "markets for smart specialisation diagnosis and expertise", iv) scholars, researchers and graduate students working in the field of regional studies, technology policy and geography of innovation.

For decades, governments have tried to foster industrial competitiveness and economic growth. Many instruments are known to work, and many lessons have been learned. However, humanity is increasingly feeling the effects of natural resource depletion. The rate of this depletion is deeply unsustainable, and it is - as of yet - inextricably linked to economic growth and development. To preserve acceptable living conditions for future generations, while at the same time creating these conditions for millions of poor in the first place, we must achieve a de-linking of economic activity and resource depletion. This book identifies the drivers and success factors of green industrial policy, which seeks to reconcile the synergies and trade-offs which exist between economic and environmental goals. Greening the economy is a goal which will require enormous investment. As markets are currently failing to provide the required incentives for environmental sustainability, governments must intervene and provide 'policy rents' for investments in sustainability while withdrawing rents from polluting investments. In this they will face the risk of political capture by interest groups and difficult choices among technologies. Rent management is therefore the heart of green industrial policy and the focus of this book. On top of this, the country examples provided in this volume focus on the emerging powers, which will have an important influence the future of our planet. However, the lessons learned are valuable not only for countries introducing green industrial policies for the first time, but also for those under pressure to reform existing policies. This book will be of interest to students, researchers and policymakers in the areas of energy policy, sustainable development, industrial economics and ecological economics.

This edited volume examines the American influence on West German and Japanese industry from the 1950s to the 1970s, providing a valuable contribution to the debate on 'Americanization' from a historical and comparative perspective. Individual contributions provide an in-depth analysis of the adoption and modification of management and technological issues from the US in West Germany and Japan at the micro-economic level.

This book takes a variety of theoretical and empirical approaches to the issue of organization and authority in the modern corporation. Including contributions from scholars in the US, Germany and Japan, it considers such relations, and the possible advantages of family ownership. The book combines historical and contemporary case studies from a range of different industries.

This book presents an historical analysis of the global paper industry evolution from a comparative perspective. At the centre are 16 producing countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, the USA, Germany, Canada, Japan, the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Russia). A comparative study of the paper industry evolution can achieve the following important research objectives. First, we can identify the country specific historical features of paper industry evolution and compare them to the general business trends explicable by existing theoretical knowledge. Second, we can identify and isolate the factors causing both the rise and fall of industrial populations. Third, a shared research agenda can produce an intensive analysis of global industry dynamics. Finally, an extended research period of 250 years can identify what is truly unique in the paper industry evolution and the extent to which it took the same path as other important manufacturing industries.

This book explores the dynamics of place, location and territories from the perspective of an experience-based economy. It offers a valuable contribution to this new approach and the planning and management challenges it faces. This book emphasises three key avenues to understanding the experience economy. First, the book reconsiders innovation processes and the relationship between the consumption and production of experience value. Second, it considers emerging forms of governance related to experience-based development in businesses and cities. Third, it examines the role of place as a value, resource and outcome of experiential innovation and planning. This book will be of interested to researchers concerned with urban and regional development.

Industrial issues are often inextricably linked with labour market concerns and policy approaches that attempt to consider production and employment separately are inherently flawed."
This controversial statement sums up the heart of this important book. With contributions from such scholars as Keith Cowling, Malcolm Sawyer and Michael Kitson, Industrial and Labour Market Policy and Performance covers such topics as:
* the increasing inequality between rich and poor
* the links between innovation, competition and collaboration
* education, skills formation and human resource management
The evidence-led nature of the book will make it an important and useful read for students and academics involved in labour economics, industrial economics and industrial policy. The controversial findings of many of the chapters and its readable style will also appeal to informed policy commentators as well as policy-makers themselves.

First published in 1985 Industrial Relations in Europe examines the development of trade unions and their relations with the employers and employers' organisations in a number of Western European countries in the 1980s. The shared characteristics of these systems are common heritage of political democracy, market economies, the right of employers to manage the business for which they are responsible and the right of employees to belong to unions which are free to bargain and to seek political goals which will advance the interests of their members. With case studies from Denmark, Germany, France, Great Britain, Norway etc. the volume showcases the major structural changes brought about by technological, economic and social factors which had significant implications for trade unions and traditional patterns of industrial relations. A major response was the erosion of centralized processes of decision making and a return to the individual, local initiative and an increased interest in entrepreneurship. This book is a must read for scholars of political economy, industrial economy and economics in general.

Design is central to every service or good produced, sold and consumed. Manufacturing and service companies located in high cost locations increasingly find it difficult to compete with producers located in countries such as India and China. Companies in high-cost locations either have to shift production abroad or create competitive advantage through design, innovation, brand and the geographic distribution of tasks rather than price. Design Economies and the Changing World Economy provides the first comprehensive account of the relationship between innovation, design, corporate competitiveness and place. Design economies are explored through an analysis of corporate strategies, the relationship between product and designer, copying and imitation including nefarious learning, design and competitiveness, and design-centred regional policies. The design process plays a critical role in corporate competitiveness as it functions at the intersection between production and consumption and the interface between consumer behaviour and the development and design of products. This book focuses on firms, individuals, as well as national policy, drawing attention to the development of corporate and nation based design strategies that are intended to enhance competitive advantage. Increasingly products are designed in one location and made in another. This separation of design from the place of production highlights the continued development of the international division of labour as tasks are distributed in different places, but blended together to produce design-intensive branded products. This book provides a distinctive analysis of the ways in which companies located in developed market economies compete on the basis of design, brand and the geographic distribution of tasks. The text contains case studies of major manufacturing and service companies and will be of valuable interest to students and researchers interested in Geography, Economics and Planning.

This book examines education about standardization in the context of sustainable management. It shows the role of standardization education in the global economy, and in markets, industries and businesses. The book presents knowledge on standardization for sustainable management, describes measures that can be taken to stimulate it, and highlights strategies for teaching and disseminating the concept. Subsequently presenting a number of best practices and case studies, the book seeks to align theory and practice. For researchers, this is the first academic publication that interconnects the concepts of sustainability, standardization and education. For professionals in the area of sustainability it shows that standardization is an essential instrument for enhancing sustainability for which proper education is needed. For standardization professionals the book reveals the links to sustainability and it shows not only the importance of education about standardization but also how this can be organized, and finally, for universities, the book shows that standardization deserves to be included in the curriculum, and it provides guidance and best practice examples about how this can be done.

This volume contains nine original innovative chapters on worker well-being. Three chapters are on time allocated to work and human capital acquisition, three on aspects of risk in the earnings process, two on migration, and finally one on how tax policies affect poverty. Questions answered include: Are more educated women now opting out of work with a higher probability than in the past? Under what circumstances do young adults allocate non-school time to educational pursuits? How do macroeconomic shocks affect labor force participation rates? Can tax policies alleviate poverty? Are workers compensated adequately for taking risks? Do differences in private and public sector earnings affect mobility between the two sectors? And, do migrant parents affect educational decisions of their offspring?

This book presents several pieces of empirical work which disentangle why the standard measure of productivity growth used in macroeconomics turn out to be procyclical for American manufacturing industries. Procyclical productivity is an essential feature of business cycles because of its important implications for macroeconomic modelling. The author explains why traditional Keynesian theories of the business cycle do not explain satisfactorily why productivity is procyclical, and argues that the force of technology for generating economic cycles is much more important than that of the management or mismanagement of monetary or fiscal policies. This book is aimed at those working in empirical macroeconomics but also industrial economics.

This volume, originally published in 1997, examines the combined effect of financial instability and industrial restructuring on postwar economic growth and recession in the US. It sheds light on the fundamental question of whether or not these trends are positive for the economy as a whole. To explain the cyclical nature of investment and finance, institutional theory regarding financial instability is examined in depth and related to Minsky's analysis of investment behaviour. The author has created an empirical model of this behaviour which, he claims, accurately predicts historical consumption investment and GDP cycles.

This edited collection examines the interaction between industrial relations and International Relations in the global economy. The role of trade unions has changed significantly in the era of economic globalisation and this book analyses the key developments in union strategy on a local, national, regional and global level.