This book investigates the potential of the Spanish Sociedades Laborales (SLs) as an instrument of active labour market policy for re-turning the unemployed to the labour market and also the transferability of the scheme to other EU Member States. Spanish Sociedades Laborales (SLs) - mostly small and micro enterprises - are a qualified form of conventional corporation, majority-owned by their permanent employees. Unemployed persons can capitalise their unemployment benefits as a lump sum to start a new SL or to recapitalise an existing SL by joining it. This makes SLs similar to start-up subsidies for the unemployed, an established instrument of active labour market policy across the EU. The new 2015 Law on Worker-Owned and Participatory Companies substantially modernised the concept of SLs 30 years after its inception. The book tackles two currently widely discussed policy issues at both the EU level as well as the national level, i.e., reactivating unemployed in the context of ALMP and encouraging employee co-ownership in the context of the economic reform agenda in particular with regard to corporate governance, regional economic stimuli and distributive justice.

In this volume, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology provides managers with the practical guidance they need to make decisions about the crucial process of employee selection in today's changing business environment. An outstanding group of contributors--each with direct experience creating effective selection programs for contemporary organizations--makes applicable proven strategies for the design and management of the selection process. They examine selection management in its organizational, social, and legal contexts and help human resource professionals forge links between selection and other critical HR functions such as training, development, recruitment, and resourcing.

Bringing together some of the world's leading thinkers, academics and professionals to provide practitioners, students and academicians with comprehensive insights into implementing effective service innovation. This book presents service innovation holistically and systemically across various service areas, including health, education, tourism, hospitality, telecommunications, and retail. It addresses contemporary issues through conceptual and applied contributions across industry, academia, and government, providing insights for improved practice and policy making. Featuring cutting-edge research contributions, practical examples, implementations and a select number of case studies across several growth service industries, this book also includes examples of failed service innovation attempts in order to demonstrate a balanced view of the topic and to make clear the pitfalls to be avoided. Culminating in a suggested step-by-step guide to enable service organization's managers to understand and implement the concepts of service innovation and manage its evolutionary processes effectively, this book will prove a valuable resource to a wide reaching audience including researchers, practitioners, managers, and students who aspire to create a deeper scientific foundation for service design and engineering, service experience and marketing, and service management and innovation. Includes endorsements from professionals in the field of service innovation.

Martin Starr addresses two of the most important concerns in business today: the globalization of commerce and the problem that U.S. business is having competing with other companies worldwide. Starr approaches these problems from the standpoint of how American corporations can develop business alliances with corporations elsewhere, rather than competing with them, and how they can build on their own strengths by incorporating the strengths of others. He fully analyzes the massive changes that are creating a new global-based economy, and offers strategies and tactics that can help corporate America to improve its global standing.

Following a brief introductory essay, the work is divided into four main sections. Part I looks at the causes of economic turmoil, focusing on the long-wave cycles of technological change that have placed the industrialized United States at a disadvantage. Part II examines the effects of technological change, in particular the increasing need for flexible manufacturing systems and new methods of management. The reorganization of established firms, and the use of global corporate alliances, is the focus of Part III, while Part IV explores timing, the new competitive variable of the 1990s, and the strategies of time-based management. Also included are two research reports that describe how Japanese firms employ alliances and how foreign firms view the effect of alliances. This book will be an essential resource for managers and executives in all types of corporations, as well as for students in business and related fields.

The geography of networks and R&D collaborations, in particular the spatial dimension of interactions between organisations performing joint R&D, have attracted a burst of attention in the last decade, both in the scientific study of the networks and in the policy sector. The volume is intended to bring together a selection of articles providing novel theoretical and empirical insights into the geographical dynamics of such networks and R&D collaborations, using new, systematic data sources and employing cutting-edge spatial analysis and spatial econometric techniques. It comprises a section on analytic advances and methodology and two thematic sections on structure and spatial characteristics of R&D networks and the impact of R&D networks and policy implications. The edited volume provides a collection of high-level research contributions with an aim to contribute to the recent debate in economic geography and regional science on how the structure of formal and informal networks modifies and influences the spatial and temporal diffusion of knowledge.

This book examines suitable approaches to and makes policy suggestions on China's industrial upgrading according to the requirements of the transformation of economic growth. It is divided into two major parts, the first of which provides an in-depth analysis of the impact that transforming economic growth will have on industrial development, particular regarding export policy adjustments, the rise of labor wages, and the development of a low-carbon economy, offering valuable insights into the difficulties entailed by the transformation process. In turn, Part II discusses the paths chosen for China's industrial upgrading, examines its past failures and current orientation, and puts forward corresponding policy suggestions for the future.

This book sheds new light on the advancement of various industries in developing Asian countries through an application and re-examination of catch-up industrialization theory. With contributors presenting their own perspectives on the progression of a range of different industries in Asia, this volume provokes readers to reconsider their current understanding of industrialization in latecomer countries. More specifically, the chapters discuss Taiwan's semiconductor industry, Korea's steel industry, and Malaysia's palm oil industry, amongst others. The authors also explore the 'catch-down' innovation strategy in China and India. Varieties and Alternatives of Catching-up provides a thorough analysis of the strategies employed by numerous Asian countries to radically transform their low-income agricultural economies to middle-income industrialized ones. This book is essential reading for researchers and scholars interested in Asian economic development.

The book presents theoretical and empirical research on the integrated assessment of cartels' effects on national economies. The empirical analysis is based on three cases in Lithuania, a country chosen because it corresponds to the features of a small economy with a developing culture of competition. An integrated assessment of a cartel's impact by measuring the net economic effect created by its operations on the market is extremely important at the scale of national economies. If a cartel's true impact is not identified and evaluated, it is impossible to make important strategic decisions, for the whole economy instead of individual affected parties and to establish an optimum baseline for mitigating the harm done to the economy. Thus, an integrated cartel impact assessment can help to more proactively combat cartel agreements on the market and improve the economic welfare of the respective country.

This book will be of interest to scholars and students of Asian studies, cultural industries, economic geography, and related areas of study. It discusses the results of a microscopic survey focusing on topics such as how animation studios form business relationships and how workers gain skills in the industry. The methodology was based on traditional Japanese economic geographical methods. The study also examines macroscopic issues such as why industrial agglomerations are formed in metropolises, why metropolises develop mutual networks, and how a type of cultural product is created in the metropolises. The methodology uses case studies of the animation industries in Japan, South Korea, and China. The detailed analysis covers the process of the industry s agglomeration within the East Asian metropolises of Tokyo, Seoul, and Shanghai as well as the division of labor among them. In addition, the transaction relationships among animation studios are examined, together with the promotion of the industry in the peripheral region of Okinawa, Japan. Differences in work styles and output among these cities are also examined. The research presented in this book contributes to understanding the spatial structure and reality of creativity inan innovative industry, particularly the East Asian content industry."

This book focuses on Indian manufacturing industries and analyses the impact of inward foreign direct investment on the domestic sector on the one hand, and exports and outward foreign direct investment by Indian companies on the other. Although the emphasis is mostly general, specific industries, such as the automotive industry or the wind energy sector are also explored. The differences between low and high technology industries are also addressed. In terms of theoretical setting and analysis, the book draws both from international business and industrial organization literature. The various characteristics of Indian industries, such as the determinants and impacts of R&D, the effects of spillovers, the drivers of productivity and technical efficiency are thoroughly researched employing appropriate quantitative methodologies that are relevant to the specific domain and topic under investigation. The book also focuses on the bearing of policy on promoting manufacturing industries in India and is therefore of interest to researchers, industrialists and policy makers alike.

Joint Industrial Councils: Inception, Adoption, and Utilization, 1917-1939 is a study of how a WWI proposal for "permanent improvement" in labor-management relations came about, why the target industries ignored it, and how it found a purpose in the second-tier industries, for which it was not originally intended. The press, social reformers, academics, and various business interests touted JICs as the beginning of worker control of industry, while skilled trade unions saw them as a plot to harm workers' interests. Their eventual modest use was directed to needs within individual industrial enterprises and not to more global missions, such as the remaking of British industry in general. But successful JICs undertook serious issues that management and unions needed to address, such as wage rates, retirement plans for workers, and safety-related concerns. Moreover, the level of labor-management understanding in JIC industries improved to the point that these industries suffered no strikes in the inter-war period; the conditions of employment for the workers improved; and productivity increased.

Monetary incentives, as a driving force for human behavior, are the main theme of this book. The primary goals underlying the application of monetary incentive systems in companies are motivating employees to strive for superior productivity in line with the interests of employers, and hiring adequately skilled employees. The first goal refers to incentive effects, the latter to sorting effects. This book introduces important theories and concepts concerning behavior under influence of monetary incentives; it reviews existing economic frameworks and identifies specific contingency variables. Based on an integrative framework of elements influencing incentive and sorting effects, a laboratory experiment is presented including detailed methodological discussion on experimentation and data analysis as well as an extensive presentation of findings and discussion of implications.

This volume is devoted to innovation with a special focus on its two sides, namely creation and destruction, and on its role in the evolution of capitalist economies. The first part of the book looks at innovation and its effects on economic performance, addressing issues of motives, behavioral rules under uncertainty, actor properties, and technology characteristics. The second part concentrates on potential consequences of innovative activities, in particular structural change, the "innovation-mediated" effect of skill-oriented policies on regional performance, the destructive effects of innovation activities, and the question whether novelty is always good. The role of innovation in the evolution of capitalism itself is discussed in the third part.

This book explores how African countries can convert their natural resources, particularly oil and gas, into sustainable development assets. Using Ghana, one of the continent's newest oil-producing countries, as a lens, it examines the "resource curse" faced by other producers - such as Nigeria, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea - and demonstrates how mismanagement in those countries can provide valuable lessons for new oil producers in Africa and elsewhere. Relying on a broad range of fieldwork and policymaking experience, Panford suggests practical measures for resource-rich developing countries to transform natural resources into valuable assets that can help create jobs, boost human resources, and improve living and working conditions in Ghana in particular. He suggests fiscal, legal, and environmental antidotes to resource mismanagement, which he identifies as the major obstacle to socioeconomic development in countries that have historically relied on natural resources.

The large public corporations powering the U.S. economy--Churchill's Horses, in Bogie's metaphor--are underachievers, and all of us are paying the price. Why? The reasons are shrouded in the myths that these corporations use to mask their great power and disguise the interests it serves. "Myth" the shareholders who own a public corporation control it by electing the directors who govern it. "Anti-Myth" (fact): shareholders of a public corporation don't elect the directors, and the directors don't govern the corporation. Shareholders don't even own the corporation in any meaningful sense of the word. Yet Churchill's Horses spend billions propping up the current price of their shares rather than invest the money in their (and our) future prosperity. Using many voices from current and recent business literature, Bogie leads you through myths and anti-myths to understand how public corporations have lost focus and ignored their most important stakeholders. Few readers will emerge with all their assumptions and beliefs intact.

The global food crises of 2008 and 2010 and the increased price volatility revolve around biofuels policies and their interaction with each other, farm policies and between countries. While a certain degree of research has been conducted on biofuel efficacy and logistics, there is currently no book on the market devoted to the economics of biofuel policies. The Economics of Biofuel Policies focuses on the role of biofuel policies in creating turmoil in the world grains and oilseed markets since 2006. This new volume is the first to put together theory and empirical evidence of how biofuel policies created a link between crop (food grains and oilseeds) and biofuel (ethanol and biodiesel) prices. This combined with biofuel policies role in affecting the link between biofuels and energy (gasoline, diesel and crude oil) prices will form the basis to show how alternative US, EU, and Brazilian biofuel policies have immense impacts on the level and volatility of food grain and oilseed prices.

Many people have great ideas. Without the necessary skills and means most never get to realize them. If they could cooperate with competent firms and entrepreneurs together both could achieve much and this is increasingly happening. Mechanisms are being established making a division of labour between inventors and implementers a reality. This is changing the nature of innovation from an internal R&D, or purely entrepreneurial attempt, to a more cooperative innovation. An Idea Economy emerges, where anyone has the possibility to profit from their ideas, and everyone will benefit from more and better innovation. This book presents us the emergence and structure of the Idea Economy by extending the seminal concepts of Entrepreneurial Society and Open Innovation. Part I describes the big picture on how innovation is evolving, where we are today, and what an Idea Economy will look like. Part II points the way forward, discussing in detail on how cooperation in the innovation process works, and why this is only recently becoming possible.

This book provides a rough entry into the interdisciplinary field of "Infranomics." It enables better decision making in an increasing ambiguous, complex, emergent, interdependent, and uncertain world where we attempt to anticipate modern society trends and patterns in order to react appropriately. However, as with any emerging discipline, much research is needed at the applications and conceptual level. The applications level may require development and testing of methods, tools, and techniques to enable analysis and decision-making in ambiguous, complex, emergent, interdependent, and uncertain conditions while the conceptual level may require taping into driving philosophies, theories, and methodologies that form the basis for "Infranomics." Striking the right balance between applications and conceptual foundation (theory) requires rigorous research.

This book provides a springboard for robust discussions on applications, theory, and transformation of current thinking to better deal with modern society s problematic issues using "Infranomics.""

Ever since newspaper companies first turned to their governments for support in the 1950s, print media has been supported by state aid in many parts of the world. Today, the principles and practicalities of these subsidies have been called into question, endangering the secure funding of expensive high-quality press output.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of today's global challenges in the print news media's struggle for survival. It presents current practices concerning government subsidies to newspapers for political, economic, and socio-cultural purposes against the background of declining readership and revenues, increased inter-media competition, austerity budgets imposed on national economies and shifting audience tastes. Using the insights of theoretical debates in the fields of media economics, media governance, and modern management theory, the book analyses these issues by investigating the power of government subsidies to shape and control newspaper markets. It brings together experts in these fields to combine theory with industry practices, aiming to help all parties involved to understand the complexity of issues and requirements necessary to preserve the social benefits of print media.

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.

The issues confronting the Securities and Exchange Commission, the courts, Congress, and securities and corporate lawyers regarding tender offers are examined in this timely collection of commentaries. New data is introduced on how to regulate tender offers and proxy contests for control of publicly held companies. In addition, the constitutional dimensions of state anti-takeover statutes, target managements's conduct in fending off hostile bidders, the SEC's advisory committee report of recommendations on tender offers and SEC tender offer rules are reviewed. Insider trading in the tender offer context and proposals for tender offer reform are also explored. Readers will learn what states are doing to regulate takeovers and what inside counsels should suggest when their firms become targets. They will also discover how target management's conduct is viewed and where further regulation will be most likely to occur.

This book examines the modules/elements required before implementing knowledge management solutions in typical manufacturing and service industry. The objective is to develop a framework, design and model suitable for all requirements and a strategy to properly implement. Related case studies from organizations are included, with the results provided to use as a solution to problems experienced when implementing knowledge management in the industry. Implementing a knowledge management system can be complex and dynamic, no matter how well planned and developed. Inevitably a degree of organizational inertia is focused on the current state rather than the new. Within an enterprise, personal and group involvement and interests process status and technology landscape can deflect the commitment needed to successfully implement such a system. Cumulative evidence from past research in knowledge management suggests that effective implementation of KM solution in any organization requires a robust designs and models for various critical elements of process, people and technology. Using the techniques provided in this book, readers should be able to design knowledge management strategies, to align objectives of the KM initiatives with their business goals.

The main objective of this book has been to carry out research into the definition of industrial policy and its goals; to evaluate previously-introduced policies and instruments; and to identify the future challenges for and features of a modern EU industrial policy. A modern industrial policy is seen as a non-traditional policy towards the industrial sector, based not necessarily on only the elimination of market failures (within the sectoral and/or horizontal approaches), but rather on the expanding the scope of industrial economic activities within the framework of both the pre- and post-fabrication stages. The book targets three market segments: academics; policy and decision-makers at the EU, national and regional level, as well as business practitioners. It includes a wide-ranging analysis of different spheres of industrial policies conducted within the European Union, making it of interest to an international audience. Each chapter also offers detailed and valuable comments, as well as conclusions that can be generally applied, ensuring the book's universality. The book presents the results of a research project conducted in the Collegium of World Economy at the Warsaw School of Economics.

This book demonstrates how rethinking and adapting basic employment services into labor intermediation services can help address the many labor market disconnections of developing country economies. It addresses how scarce resources required to escape poverty - good jobs, schools, and training - more often go to the privileged and well-connected than to those who need them most. With jobs now at the top of development debates, this is a rare book on how to practically adapt one key labor market policy to very different developing and emerging country markets. It shows through examples how developing countries can build in stages from basic employment services to diverse labor intermediation services - opening up job listings, stimulating public-private partnerships, and making job connections for those who don't have a "cousin Vinny who knows a guy". This book is for policy practitioners, development organizations, and academics who are ready to think differently about one of the policies that needs to change so that developing economies can better meet the employment and higher skill challenges of the global age.