Social choice and decision-making are key topics in economic theory and Robert Urquhart delves into the world of philosophy in this superb new book.

In today's knowledge-driven world, innovation and innovation systems have become key policy issues. However, the extent of knowledge that is available on these concepts in less developed countries is still relatively low. Much of what we know about innovation theory and systems has come from the developed countries and reflects their world view. This apparent knowledge deficit has major implications for less developed countries. Innovation Systems and Capabilities in Developing Regions adds to the growing body of knowledge on developing countries. The theoretical and empirical case studies presented here advance the notion that, while developing countries may not engage in frontier research, a critical knowledge base upon which these countries compete for global markets is emerging. There is evidence that state and non-state actors are increasingly emphasising policies that sit within the framework of national innovation systems. This book illuminates this shift in policy competence at national levels. The contributions in this volume highlight the need for thorough understanding of the role of diffusion-based innovation linked to technology transfer and acquisition. They also provide empirical evidence on the drivers, dynamics and impact of such innovation in developing economies and the constraints that apply. Contributors also document the application of the innovation system approach in developing countries as well as the build-up and diffusion of technological capabilities within innovation systems. Academics, higher level students, policy makers and practitioners involved with innovation and the economics of technical change, particularly in developing countries, will find this a valuable book.

The importance of entrepreneurship for achieving economic growth in contemporary economies is widely recognized, both by policy makers and economists. It is deeply embedded in the current European policy approach that the creativity and independence of entrepreneurs contribute to higher levels of economic activity. Indeed, according to the European Commission (2003, p. 9), "The challenge for the European Union is to identify the key factors for building a climate in which entrepreneurial initiative and business activities can thrive. Policy measures should seek to boost the Union's levels of entrepreneurship, adopting the most appropriate approach for producing more entrepreneurs and for getting more firms to grow. " Audretsch (2003, p. 5) states that "Entrepreneurship has become the engine of economic and social development throughout the world. " The relation between entrepreneurship and economic growth is embedded in several strands of the economic literature. A first strand of literature involves the general understanding of the role of entrepreneurship in the modern economy. Seminal contributions were made by Schumpeter (1934), Knight (1921) and Kirzner (1973). These economists stress different aspects of the role of the entrepreneur. While Schumpeter stresses the innovating aspect, Knight stresses the risk assuming aspect. Kirzner, finally, stresses the role of the entrepreneur in leading markets to equilibrium. Acs (1992) discusses the contribution of small firms in modern economies.

This book charts the experiences of a textile enterprise in Russia during the 1990s, analysing post-Soviet management and managerial practices in order to illuminate the content, nature and direction of industrial restructuring in the Russian privatised sector during the years of economic transition. Based on extensive factory-level fieldwork, it focuses upon changes in ownership, management and labour organisation, unveiling the complex texture of social, communal and gender relations in the workplace over an extended period of time, including through crisis and bankruptcy, acquisition by new capitalist owners and attempted restructuring. It argues, contrary to dominant Western managerial theories which blame the failure of transition on the irrationality of Russian managerial strategies, that the rationale for the continued reliance on Soviet era managerial practices lay in the peculiar form of social relations in the workplace which were characteristic of the Soviet system. It engages with key issues, often neglected in the literature, such as social domination, power and conflict, that capture the problematic and open-ended character of social and economic transformation in post-Soviet production. It demonstrates that far from a simple transition to a market economy, the post-Soviet transition has reproduced most of the features of the old Soviet system, including its patterns of labour relations.

Unique combination of risk and construction insurance Fully up to date with FIDIC 2017 Suite of Contracts used globally on engineering and construction projects, particularly in the Middle East The book and author have been highly influential in changing the FIDIC contracts and the author has won awards for his work with the FIDIC organisation

This engaging and accessible book is a must-read for every economics student. It explores what the global economy is, how it developed and how it operates today, and why certain aspects of it have become controversial. The global economy represents the combined economic output of all countries on Earth and is currently estimated at around $80 trillion. While globalization has made it possible for greater economic interaction between nations and rapid growth on a worldwide scale, many have argued that it has also helped to widen the gap between the richest and poorest nations. The movement of goods and services between countries also has major impacts on national politics and international diplomacy, as well as significant implications for human rights and welfare. Part of Greenwood's new Student Guides to Business and Economics series, The Global Economy gives readers an in-depth yet reader-friendly look at one of the most important aspects of modern economics. Using simple language and relevant real-world examples, this book is appropriate for high school and undergraduate economics students as well as general-interest readers curious to learn more about the global economy. Provides a concise and easy-to-read overview of a broad and foundational topic in modern economics Helps readers better understand the complex relationship between national and international economies Includes a Questions for Further Discussion section, designed to stimulate classroom discussion and encourage critical thinking Offers an at-a-glance chronology of events related to the history of the global economy, allowing readers to trace the evolution of concepts and practices over time

To whom does a father, retiring from his life as a successful entrepreneur, pass control of the business he has built? Once it would always have been his eldest son, but increasingly women are becoming involved in family firms having risen to positions of influence and leadership. Using revealing case studies from the daughters who succeeded their entrepreneur fathers in a wide variety of challenging situations, cultures and continents, Father-Daughter Succession in Family Business discusses the changes which have led to daughters gaining influence in more and more family businesses. It looks at the tensions this succession can produce between old notions of how men and women should behave, and the new style of leadership that often comes about when a woman takes the helm. This book will help consultants, business educators, and researchers, as well as those who are themselves involved in significant family managed enterprises to better understand why it can no longer be assumed in any part of the World that the first born son will take over the reins of the family business.

This text conducts a survey into the ways in which the word "network" has been deployed in a wide range of literature. In particular, it offers a commentary on how the idea of networks has been used to illustrate contemporary forms of socio-economic organization (as with the idea of a "network society" or a "network state", for instance), broadly conceived to also include the political aspects of networks. The term "network" has become a ubiquitous metaphor to describe too many aspects of contemporary life. In doing so, Grahame Thompson argues, the term has lost much of its analytical precision and has no clear conceptual underpinnings. The problem is that something claiming to explain everything ends up by explaining very little. The book brings some intellectual clarity to the discussion of networks by asking whether it is possible to construct a clearly demarcated idea of a network as a separable form of socio-economic co-ordination and governance mechanism with its own consistent logic. In doing this, the primary contrast is with hierarchies and markets as alternative and already well understood forms of socio-economic co-ordination each with their own distinctive logic.

Do recent moves in the construction industry towards collaborative working and other new procurement procedures really make good business sense? Procurement in the Construction Industry is the result of research into this question and it includes the first rigorous categorizing of the differences between procurement methods currently in use. In the process of carrying out this research, the team has produced a comprehensive study of procurement methods which looks in detail at the relative benefits and costs of different ways of working, with sometimes surprising results. As such, it is not only a valuable guide for practitioners on the complexities of the procurement process, but also an outline of the relevance of economic theory to the construction sector.

This book examines cooperation between the US and the EU on financial regulatory reform, notably at the outset and the first three years of the global financial crisis. It discusses the development of US-EU cooperation on financial regulation over the last few decades at several levels, including at heads of state level, markets regulator level and at international level, and progresses with a detailed examination of cooperation at the outset of the financial crisis. It looks at the nature of and motivation for intense US-EU cooperation on coordinating a response to the crisis and presents a compelling argument that a defacto alliance was formed, which served to benefit respective US and EU interests domestically and in the international financial system. Providing a new perspective on financial regulatory reform after the last financial crisis and the relationship of regulatory outcomes to international financial governance, this volume will be of use to researchers interested in transatlantic relations, financial regulation, international relations, global governance, and the European Union, as well as professionals and policymakers working in foreign relations, financial markets, or banking policy.

The break-up of BAA and the blocked takeover of Bratislava airport by the competing Vienna airport have brought the issue of airport competition to the top of the agenda for air transport policy in Europe. Airport Competition reviews the current state of the debate and asks whether airport competition is strong enough to effectively limit market power. It provides evidence on how travellers chose an airport, thereby altering its competitive position, and on how airports compete in different regions and markets. The book also discusses the main policy implications of mergers and subsidies.

This book examines the economics of natural resource markets and pricing, as well as the field of natural resource economics in general. It presents the key contributions to this field of research, including the pioneering works and contemporary studies. The book highlights the basic principles and ideas underlying theoretical models of resource pricing. The models considered in the book underline the fundamental determinants of resource prices and the economic nature of rents for non-renewable and renewable resources. Besides the classical theory of exhaustible resource economics, the book includes several issues that are of high importance for global economic growth, such as the transition to alternative energy and the economics of climate change. The authors also consider the issues of commodity pricing and a resource cartel's activity that are relevant to the world oil market. The book provides analytical solutions illustrated with numerical examples. It allows an intuitive understanding of the subject and the model inferences through graphical illustrations and an informal introduction. It, therefore, is a must-read for everybody interested in a better understanding of resource prices, resource markets, and resource economics.

In a 24/7 world and a global economy, there is no doubt that relationships impact virtually every economic transaction. In Relationship Economics, Lindon Robison and Bryan Ritchie argue that what needs to be understood is not just whether relationships matter (which, of course, they do), but also, how much, and in what circumstances they should matter. Providing a rigorous and measurable definition of the way that relationships among individuals create a capital, social capital, that can be saved, spent, and used like other forms of capital, Robison and Ritchie use numerous examples and insightful analysis, to explain how social capital shapes our ability to reduce poverty, understand corruption, encourage democracy, facilitate income equality, and respond to globalization. The first part of the book explains how social capital can be manipulated, stored, expended, and invested. The second part explores how levels of social capital within relationships influence economic transactions both positively and negatively, which in turn shape poverty levels, economic efficiency, levels and types of political participation, and institutional structures.

European Commission Decisions on Competition provides a comprehensive economic classification and analysis of all European Commission decisions adopted pursuant to Articles 101, 102 and 106 of the FEU Treaty from 1962 to 2009. It also includes a sample of landmark European merger cases. The decisions are organised according to the principal economic theory applied in the case. For each economic category, the seminal Commission decision that became a reference point for that type of anticompetitive behaviour is described. For this, a fixed template format is used throughout the book. All subsequent decisions in which the same economic principle was applied are listed chronologically. It complements the most widely used textbooks in industrial organisation, competition economics and competition law, to which detailed references are offered. The book contains source material for teachers and students, scholars of competition law and economics, as well as practising competition lawyers and officials.

Faced with the ever-accelerating pace of technological change and the restructuring of markets, many firms have been questioning the appropriateness of their own organizational structure and effectiveness. Consequently, we have witnessed much organizational experimentation and the development of new forms of organizing over the last decade. Firms are more dependent than ever on the need for continuous and radical innovations - and often innovations that go beyond their existing businesses. This challenges firms in terms of knowledge and idea sharing, and often necessitates the need to expand beyond the boundaries of the single firm for multi-party collaboration to meet serious challenges and develop creative solutions.

Drawing from the Fourth International Workshop on Organization Design, and featuring contributions from an international array of specialists, this volume focuses on the expansion beyond the boundaries of the single firm and multi-firm networks, to include, for example, community-based organization designs. A community is a connected set of firms; the connections can take on many different dimensions. For organization design theory, community-based organizations have many implications. For one, organization design theory has to identify and describe designs that enhance collaborative behavior among firms without restricting the ability of the individual firm to continue to compete within its own marketplace. Moreover, organization design theory also has to identify and describe information processing strategies and designs that allow the continuous generation, sharing, and application of existing information and knowledge.

The development of effective collaborative community designs is critically important to the global economy because, increasingly, our future depends on pursuing shared goals and sustainably developing our global commons. Ideally, the ideas and findings in this book will contribute to increased attention to new organization designs capable of meeting 21st-century opportunities and challenges.

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By making available the almost unlimited energy stored in prehistoric plant matter, coal enabled the industrial age - and it still does. Coal today generates more electricity worldwide than any other energy source, helping to drive economic growth in major emerging markets. And yet, continued reliance on this ancient rock carries a high price in smog and greenhouse gases. We use coal because it is cheap: cheap to scrape from the ground, cheap to move, cheap to burn in power plants with inadequate environmental controls. In this book, Mark Thurber explains how coal producers, users, financiers, and technology exporters drive this supply chain, while fragmented environmental movements battle for full incorporation of environmental costs into the global calculus of coal. Delving into the politics of energy versus the environment at local, national, and international levels, Thurber paints a vivid picture of the multi-faceted challenges associated with continued coal production and use in the twenty-first century.

Economic restructuring has been a notable feature of so-called mature industrial economies such as the UK and Australia in the last two decades, with deregulation, privatisation, technological change and globalisation combining to reshape such economies. Some industries have grown, while others have declined. Moreover, while overall employment in the UK and Australia has grown, many newly-created positions require skills not found in the industries shedding labour, or are in casualised and low paid occupations. Many lesser-skilled workers leaving declining industries are therefore at risk of long-term unemployment or leaving the workforce entirely. Both mental and physical health can be affected after redundancy. It is therefore crucial that the measures put in place in many domains of social policy (such as formal health policy, employment assistance, community development, housing assistance and so on) to adequately address the difficulties confronting this group. This volume takes a closer look at the impact of manufacturing - notably automotive - plant closures in the UK (Birmingham) and Australia (Adelaide) in recent years and policy responses to those closures. It attempts to tease out differences in policy response and effectiveness, and attempts to identify areas where policy could be made to work better in terms of adjusting to large scale manufacturing change and resulting job losses. In so doing, it begins, for the first time we believe, to take a comparative approach to understanding the impact of plant closures and policy responses.

This book was published as a special issue of Policy Studies.

This book focuses on the impact on financial regulation and examines the impact of financial regulation on bank performances from different perspectives. More specifically, this study investigates how bank sector reforms and bank regulation and supervision affect the competition, stability and risk-taking behavior in banking system.

This book explores the core themes of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) highlighting the digital transformation that has been occurring in society and business. Representing an interface between technologies in the physical, digital and biological disciplines the book explores emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, 3-D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage, and quantum computing. The findings of collaborative research studies on the potential impact of the 4IR on the labour markets, occupations, future workforce competencies and skills associated with eight industry sectors in Australia are reported. The sectors are: agriculture and mining; manufacturing and logistics; health, medical and nursing; education; retail; financial services; government services and tourism.

* The first comprehensive guide to UX analytics, written for digital business professionals at all levels and without an analyst background * Serves as a ready reference, with over 50 case studies and 35 cheat sheets to guide smart decision-making * Teaches the C-SUITE method for applying UX analytics to any digital optimization challenge, created by a trained software engineer and multichannel marketing expert

* The first comprehensive guide to UX analytics, written for digital business professionals at all levels and without an analyst background * Serves as a ready reference, with over 50 case studies and 35 cheat sheets to guide smart decision-making * Teaches the C-SUITE method for applying UX analytics to any digital optimization challenge, created by a trained software engineer and multichannel marketing expert

New products often fail not because they are bad products, but because they don't meet consumer expectations or are poorly marketed. In other cases, the marketing is spot on, but the product itself does not perform. These failures drive home the need to understand the market and the consumer in order to deliver a product which fulfills the two equally important goals of consumer trial and repeat purchase. The linkage of these issues is often compromised in the "innovate or die" world of corporate new products. An Integrated Approach to New Food Product Development explores this inter-relationship and the inter-relationship of the key disciplines essential for marketplace success. Proven Approaches from Industry Experts The book introduces The Success Equation based on the interrelationship of the key tasks critical to defining and executing for new product success. The sections that follow highlight the importance of every task and the impact of each disciplines' contribution throughout the process in optimizing the success of the product. The book explores integration of all parts, from defining consumer needs and food concept to understanding the importance of positioning, packaging and trade, to the technology and manufacturing required to accurately meet these needs. The Success Equation encompasses the elements that not only dramatically increase a product's success, but also make that success increasingly sustainable. Combines Solid Theory with Actual Marketing Practice The text blends academic, ivory tower research with the experiences of seasoned, real market practitioners, which when combined, provide the tools for successful new product innovation. The concise, hands-on information includes advanced and emerging innovations in management, marketing, technology, strategy, consumer research and sales. The integrated coverage provides a complete picture of the expertise and knowledge needed to leverage new product development into commercial success.

Technology infrastructure supports the design, deployment and use of both individual technology-based components and the systems of such components that form the knowledge-based economy. As such, it plays a central role in the innovation process and in the promotion of the diffusion of technologies. Thus, it is an important element contributing to the operation of innovation systems and innovation performance in any modern economy.

Technology infrastructure, either in the narrow or broad sense, is not well understood as an element of a sector 's technology platform or of a national innovation system. Similarly misunderstood are the processes by which such infrastructure is embodied in standards or diffused through various institutional frameworks. In fact, because of the public and quasi-public good nature of technology infrastructure, firms as well as public-sector agencies under invest in it, thus inhibiting long-term technological advancement and economic growth.

This volume of essays brings together a collection of papers from eminent scholars on all of the various dimensions of technology infrastructure mentioned above. To our knowledge, it is the first such collection of papers and we expect this scholarship to become the foundation for future research in this area.

This book was published as a special issue of Economics of Innovation and New Technology.

This book presents the first broad reflection on the challenges, opportunities, and implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Unique results and insights are derived through case studies from diverse disciplines, including engineering, economics, data science, policy-making, governance, and humanscience. Particularly related to these 'softer' disciplines, we make some unexplored yet topical contributions to the literature, with a focus on the GCC (but by no means limited to it), including AI and implications for women, Islamic schools of thought on AI, and the power of AI to help deliver wellbeing and happiness in cities and urban spaces. Finally, the readers are provided with a synthesis of ideas, lessons learned, and a path forward based on the diverse content of the chapters. The book caters to the educated non specialist with interest in AI, targeting a wide audience including professionals, academics, government officials, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and non-governmental organizations.