This comprehensive guide provides all the necessary tools and strategies one needs to successfully launch and grow a business cleaning homes. The authors combine personal experience with expert advice on every aspect of setting up and running a thriving home-based housecleaning business. In addition to the essentials common to the series, this volume also includes information on franchising, selecting cleaning products and treating stains, and much more. Special features include: - a sample service manual - room-by-room home-cleaning plans - a sample invoice - a service and payment record - a checklist of start-up requirements This new edition will also address the benefits of cleaning with "green" ecofriendly chemicals--both from an environmental and a marketing perspective.

Open Innovation describes an emergent model of innovation in which firms draw on research and development that may lie outside their own boundaries. In some cases, such as open source software, this research and development can take place in a non-proprietary manner. Henry Chesbrough and his collaborators investigate this phenomenon, linking the practice of innovation to the established body of innovation research, showing what's new and what's familiar in the process. Offering theoretical explanations for the use (and limits) of open innovation, the book examines the applicability of the concept, implications for the boundaries of firms, the potential of open innovation to prove successful, and implications for intellectual property policies and practices. The book will be key reading for academics, researchers, and graduate students of innovation and technology management.

This book introduces special programs designed to enhance thinking and problem solving at the preschool, elementary, secondary, college, and graduate levels, as well as proven instructional methods to aid the elderly in retaining or regaining essential mental skills. The volume also considers difficult problems confronting psychology, including such disparate issues as the appropriate content of courses to develop thinking, resistance to the introduction of programs in schools and universities, and psychology's limitations on progress in these areas.

The concept of smart cities has become one of the most significant new lines of thinking to emerge in the social sciences in recent years, both from the research and policy angles. To date, the focus in smart specialization has been on what regions as a whole can do to bring about innovation, but it hasn't necessarily addressed the role cities play within the field. This book aims to address that gap, drawing together a team of leading contributors, to illustrate this process with particular focus on cities. Smart Development in Smart Communities discusses the cross-fertilization between smart specialization and cities in fostering smart development and its interactions with the macro-, micro- and meso-economic framework, from both a theoretical and applied perspective. Specific topics covered by the book include: human capital formation and utilization; centralized/decentralized industrial policies; innovation policies; collective learning; and the role of public utilities in sustaining smart development processes. This book tackles some of the most important questions that must be faced when investigating how structural change and innovation processes are shaping local and global economic development. It will be of interest to academics and researchers in the area of Development Economics, Urban Studies and Public Management.

High-speed Rail (HSR) is a technological transportation advance that has raised the interest of policy makers and researchers worldwide. The study of High-speed Rail is a recent phenomenon but has received increasing attention due to the extension of this mode of transportation around the globe. Evaluating High-Speed Rail contains some of the most recent and cutting edge studies on HSR from different disciplines. The book is organized around a variety of key topics related to the evaluation of High Speed Rail projects and experiences. These topics include: the economic appraisal and evaluation of High-Speed Rail projects; the evaluation of indirect and direct effects of High-Speed Rail; its territorial, redistributive and environmental impacts; its contribution or limitation to urban growth; and the management of challenges created by the arrival of High-Speed Rail lines to core cities. It also covers the contribution of High-Speed Rail to tourism and its impact on intermodal competition, with especial consideration to air transportation. Chapters analyse the expected effects of introducing on-track competition and designing public-private contracts to develop new lines. This cutting-edge volume offers rigorous analysis from top researchers in the field with a clear intention to deliver policy implications and provide the latest analysis on the impact of High Speed Rail. This book is suitable for students and academics interested in transportation infrastructure, economic impacts of public investments, mobility, planning and urban affairs, as well as researchers and policy makers in the transportation and infrastructure sector.

The acid test of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is simply this: does it lead to positive impacts on society and the environment or is it just rhetoric? And if it does lead to positive impacts, how can these be enhanced? This timely book tackles this cutting-edge challenge by presenting empirical findings from a range of surveys and in-depth case studies. These build on a new methodological and theoretical framework for assessing and explaining the sustainability impact of CSR.For selected sustainability issues - mitigation of climate change and chemical risk, resource management in marine fisheries, promotion of gender equality and countering of bribery - and within different European industries, the authors show that the rhetoric of CSR is still stronger than its reality. They do so by investigating into CSR practices which encompass the creation of a vision on CSR, its strategic and operative implementation and its organisational and cultural embedding within companies and their supply chains. The authors conclude that the reality of CSR is strong enough to allow for some rhetoric. They name intra- and extra-company success factors for, and limits of, producing sustainability impacts through CSR. Finally, they discuss its contribution to achieving public policy goals and the governance paradigms that are necessary to make CSR effective. The volume successfully combines a business and public policy perspective, based on an interdisciplinary approach. This book will be invaluable for both students and researchers interested in the effects of CSR, and will prove a useful tool for policy-makers and CSR practitioners alike.

This up-to-date, research-oriented textbook focuses on the relationship between compensation systems and firm overall performance. In contrast to more traditional compensation texts, it provides a strategic perspective to compensation administration rather than a functional viewpoint. The text emphasizes the role of managerial pay, its importance, determinants, and impact on organizations. It analyzes recent topics in executive compensation, such as pay in high technology firms, managerial risk taking, rewards in family companies, and the link between compensation and social responsibility and ethical issues, among others. The authors provide a thorough and comprehensive review of the vast literatures relevant to compensation and revisit debates grounded in different theoretical perspectives. They provide insights from disciplines as diverse as management, economics, sociology, and psychology, and amplify previous discussions with the latest empirical findings on compensation, its dynamics, and its contribution to firm overall performance.

From uncovering major retailers' links to sweatshop abuses and revealing the deception of American tobacco companies, to questioning corporations' ties to repressive dictators, shaming food processors into selling dolphin-safe tuna and demanding that businesses stop destroying old growth forests, citizens have become far more aggressive in directly challenging corporate behavior. Written by two activists who are constantly in the eye of this storm, Insurrection charts the growth of this dissatisfaction and gives us a glimpse of where this movement might be heading.

Markets are taken as the norm in economics and in much of political and media discourse. But if markets are superior why does the public sector remain so large? Avner Offer provides a distinctive new account of the effective temporal limits on private, public, and social activity. Understanding the Private-Public Divide accounts for the division of labour between business and the public sector, how it changes over time, where the boundaries ought to run, and the harm that follows if they are violated. He explains how finance forces markets to focus on short-term objectives and why business requires special privileges in return for long-term commitment. He shows how a private sector policy bias leads to inequality, insecurity, and corruption. Integrity used to be the norm and it can be achieved again. Only governments can manage uncertainty in the long-term interests of society, as shown by the challenge of climate change.

Launch Your New Career is for professionals who are serious about launching their coaching business to help others and to make a positive impact in the world. In Launch Your New Career, author and Master Results Coach, Carine Kindinger shares her own recipe for success that she used to transition from a day job to becoming a successful Results Coach. Launch Your New Career teaches professionals: The keys to creating the breakthrough needed to launch their coaching business while paying the bills How to access resources they didn't even know exist The real truth about starting their own coaching practice Tools and strategies for a successful launch Tricks to use the power of proximity to surround themselves with the right people and create shortcuts for themselves

The last four decades have seen major changes in the global economy, with the collapse of communism and the spread of capitalism into parts of the world from which it had previously been excluded. Beginning with a grounding in Marxian political economy, this book explores a range of new ideas as to what economic geography can offer as it intersects with public policy and planning in the new globalised economy. Approaches to Economic Geography draws together the formidable work of Ray Hudson into an authoritative collection, offering a unique approach to the understanding of the changing geographies of the global economy. With chapters covering subjects ranging from uneven development to social economy, this volume explores how a range of perspectives, including evolutionary and institutional approaches, can further elucidate how such economies and their geographies are reproduced. Subsequent chapters argue that greater attention must be given to the relationships between the economy and nature, and that more consideration needs to be given to the growing significance of illegal activities in the economy. The book will be of interest to students studying economic geography as well as researchers and policy makers that recognise the importance of the relationships between economy and geography as we move towards a sustainable future economy and society.

Productivity, Technology and Economic Growth presents a selection of recent research advances on long term economic growth. While the contributions stem from both economic history, macro- and microeconomics and the economics of innovation, all papers depart from a common viewpoint: the key factor behind long term growth is productivity, and the latter is primarily driven by technological change. Most contributions show implicitly or explicitly that technological change is at least partly dependent on growth itself. Furthermore, technology appears to interact strongly with investment in physical and human capital as well as with changes in historical, political and institutional settings. Together these papers are an up-to-date account of the remarkable convergence in theoretical and empirical work on productivity and growth over the past decades. The first part deals with the characteristics of growth regimes over longer periods, ranging from 20 years to two centuries. The next four chapters study the determinants of productivity growth and, in some cases, productivity slowdown during the last quarter of the twentieth century. The final five chapters focus on the role of technology and innovation as the key determinants of growth. Productivity, Technology and Economic Growth is, therefore, a welcome collection for academic scholars and graduate students in economics, history and related social sciences as well as for policy makers.

The Conservatives and Industrial Efficiency, 1951-1964 responds to the need for a full assessment of the Conservatives performance in this crucial period. Drawing upon a wide range of archival sources, Nick Tiratsoo and Jim Tomlinson explore the different aspects of the efficiency question. Beginning with the major issue of attempts in the 1950s to americanize British industry, the authors also discuss the Conservatives policy on ompetition, education and training, investment and research and development. This new survey reveals that the Conservatives were informed about each of these issues, yet shrank from effective reform. They were, rather, reduced to inertia by ideological dilemmas, internal party antagonisms and conflicting strategic objectives. Tiratsoo and Tomlinson conclude that 1951 - 1964 were indeed 'thirteen wasted years'. This book will be of interest to all those concerned with the post-1945 economic and political history of Britain.

The History of Mitsubishi Corporation in London examines the culture clashes, the friendships and the changing businesses that Mitsubishi Corporation's London branch oversaw in the eighty-five years following its foundation. It examines the paradox of how Mitsubishi Corporation could operate internationally for nearly a century, and still remain resolutely Japanese. With the slowdown in Japanese economic growth however, this book asks whether the corporation needs to change its mission, as well as controversially questioning whether information technology is in fact a barrier to, rather than a driving force for, successful globalization. As a long-term employee of Mitsubishi both in Tokyo and London, Pernille Rudlin has a unique perspective on the world of Japanese corporate culture in Britain. No other corporate history has examined a Japanese subsidiary in such detail, including interviews with more than thirty employees past and present.

Much recent research in Urban Studies has concentrated on the notion of the 'global city' but discussion has also covered a larger set of mega cities, with populations in excess of 10 million. This analysis has begged the question of the optimal size for a city - is larger always better? Smaller Cities explores the advantages and disadvantages of different sized cities, trying to determine their place in the global economy and hierarchy. How can smaller cities gain or retain their competitiveness in a world of large cities? In a globalized world, the nation has perhaps been diminished as an economic actor, with fiscal shortcomings and political gridlock leaving cities more or less on their own in the task of enhancing their competitiveness and improving the economic lives of their residents. This book argues that smaller cities of varying population can be important actors in competitiveness and aims to bring attention to an area often overlooked by researchers. In short, are Pittsburgh, San Diego and Austin less competitive than London and Mumbai? This volume will be of interest to students, researchers, and city professionals who work in urban economy and urban geography.

This comprehensive book contains case studies on the evolution of competition policy, with an emphasis on merger policy, for seven major US industries that have experienced substantial deregulation in the past forty years - electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, railroads, airlines, hospitals and banking. Also included is a comparison of the EU's experience in attempting to bring about competition in the energy, finance, and airline industries. The contributors to the volume, each a recognized expert on the industry examined, explore the positive and negative implications of the substitution of market-oriented processes for historic patterns of command and control regulation. The chapters reveal clear similarities in the economic, legal and public policy issues that have arisen following deregulation of these economic sectors. Together they provide a good basis to discern the consistency of the problems and the relative success of differing responses to these issues over a range of industries going through similar transformation. While taking a basically positive view of the movement away from direct regulation, the contributors identify a number of continuing problems with achieving workable competition in these industries. The thorough analyses presented here will be of great value to law, economics, and political science researchers interested in deregulation, economic consultants advising government agencies or private parties, attorneys who focus on deregulated industries, policy planners at the agencies overseeing these industries, and students in advanced seminars on economic regulation.

Accomplishing sustainability in the agribusiness sector is a significant, yet time-sensitive, challenge, especially when balanced with the need to grow sufficient quantity and quality of food to keep the growing global population healthy. Through both quantitative and qualitative methods, this book explores the extent to which the agribusiness sector is already evolving to become sustainable and the ways in which innovation in the industry can help address sustainable development goals, particularly around zero hunger, gender equality, decent work, responsible consumption and production, and climate action. The contributors to this volume address the following key questions: What are the drivers and barriers for the agribusiness sector to become sustainable? Which business models best facilitate the implementation of sustainable goals? How can we measure the extent to which the agribusiness sector is becoming more sustainable? How can the agribusiness sector leverage recent technological advancements to achieve its sustainability goals? The analysis of the sustainability challenges for the sector ranges across various facets of the industry including employment, pre-production industries, agriculture, food processing, distribution, and trade. This book will be of significant interest to readers in agribusiness, innovation management, and sustainability.

The short essays in this volume, contributed by leading experts on Chinese economic policy, provide crisp and insightful analyses of the Chinese state's approach toward markets, the role of key actors and institutions, the evolving nature of industrial policy and the effectiveness of China's international commitments to constrain such practices, and a preview of the likely contents and significance of China's 13th Five-Year Plan.

Acclaim for previous editions: 'The International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics 2011 provides comprehensive statistical data on world manufacturing. . . The Yearbook represents a massive effort in data collection, data harmonization, and tabular presentation - well beyond the constraints of time and resources available to the average researcher or investigator. Therefore, the Yearbook presents a vast amount of information in a convenient form.' - William C. Struning, American Reference Books Annual 2012 'The UNIDO International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics is now a classic reference... The different editions of the Yearbook provide a unique statistical tool for analyzing the world industry.' - Revue d'Economie Industrielle / Industrial Economics Review 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.

The Market and Its Critics, first published in 1988, considers the reaction of socialist writers to the growth of the market economy in nineteenth century Britain, and examines in detail the diverse elements of the critique which they formulated. Dr Thompson looks at the theoretic and thematic continuities and discontinuities over the century, structuring his study around the idea of a changing socialist response to the market economy. Much of the literature in question is comprehensive, perceptive and acute. However, the writers invariably discounted the possibility of the market playing a role in a future socialist or communist commonwealth. The solutions they posited to the problem were inapplicable to the increasingly industrial economy of the time. It was this that left their writing vulnerable to attack, and which had profound consequences both for the fate of the socialist political economy in nineteenth century Britain and its subsequent evolution in the twentieth century.

Three quarters of our current electricity usage and transport methods are derived from fossil fuels and yet within two centuries these resources will dry up. Energy Economics covers the role of each fossil and renewable energy source in today's world, providing the information and tools that will enable students to understand the finite nature of fossil fuels and the alternative solutions that are available. This textbook provides detailed examinations of key energy sources - both fossil fuels and renewables including oil, coal, solar, and wind power - and summarises how the current economics of energy evolved. Subsequent chapters explore issues around policy, technology and the possible future for each type of energy. In addition to this, readers are introduced to controversial topics including fracking and global warming in dedicated chapters on climate change and sustainability. Each chapter concludes with a series of tasks, providing example problems and projects in order to further explore the proposed issues. An accompanying companion website contains extensive additional material on the history of the major types of fuel as well as technical material relating to oil exploration, the development of solar power and historical environmental legislation. This textbook is an essential text for those who study energy economics, resource economics or energy policy.

First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book examines the role of corporate structure, including the role of corporate headquarters, in the success of large firms. It considers these issues in relation to large global corporations, thereby providing a 'benchmark', which is then used as a contrast in a discussion of corporate structure and the role of corporate headquarters within large Chinese firms, many of which have evolved from former government ministries. It includes a detailed case-study of firms in the crucially important oil and petro-chemical sector. Overall, the book shows what a hugely competitive battle China's emerging 'national champions' face with their global competitors, and puts forward policy implications both for large Chinese firms and for the Chinese government concerning how business systems should be reformed further still in order to construct globally competitive large industrial corporations.

The 'Resource-Based View of the Firm' has emerged over the last fifteen years as one of the dominant perspectives used in strategic management. It addresses the fundamental research question of strategic management: Why it is that some firms persistently outperform others?
Resource-Based Theory provides a considered overview of this theory, including the latest developments, from one of the key thinkers in its development. In broad terms it offers an alternative to Michael Porter's approach, focusing more on the competences and capabilities of the firm, rather than its positioning in its chosen markets.
Jay B. Barney has long been recognised as one of the leading contributor to the resource-based theory literature. In this book he has collaborated with Delwyn N. Clark to produce the first book to examine the theory in a holistic and in-depth manner. The authors explore not only the applications of the theory in research, teaching, and practice, but also its early roots in traditional economic theory, development and proliferation in the 1990s, and later influence on management thinking.

More than thirty years ago the political turn that brought the dismantling of agricultural collectives and exclusive rights to small plots of farmland for rural families initiated a historic return to smallholding in the People's Republic of China. Today, agriculture in China is changing again. In many villages smallholder farming is giving way to large agricultural enterprises. This book explores this latest transformation of Chinese agriculture. It traces how the peasantry's frustration with the farming conditions, the priorities of national and local political agents and the changes in the management of collective land since the return to family-based farming have paved the way for a unique Chinese agrarian transition. The argument is based on careful analysis of agricultural politics since the early 1980s and data gathered in three field trips to Shandong, Sichuan, and Guizhou Provinces between 2008 and 2010. The findings highlight the importance of institutional path-dependencies and strategic government intervention (or its absence) for economic transformation. China's Agrarian Transition is one of the first comprehensive accounts of the latest developments in agriculture in the People's Republic and will provide a stimulating read for political scientists, sociologists, economists, and experts on China interested in the ongoing transformation of China's countryside.