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.

This book explores the drivers of technological upgrading and catch-up in the emerging economies, paying specific attention to technology and innovation policies, national innovation systems, the role of foreign direct investment and small and medium enterprises. It provides practical implications for other developing countries

This book presents a new look at the leadership of Greek shipowners in world shipping in the second half of the twentieth century. The authors examine the fundamental factors of the dynamism of Greek entrepreneurship in family businesses and provides evidence for the organization, management and strategies of Greek family shipping companies.

Today, Stakeholder Management is a term commonly used to describe the policy towards all interest groups that have a stake in a company or an institution, but the crucial question is how this concept can be best applied to a company's context. In this book, companies using a Stakeholder Management tool give their first-hand account of how this tool enables them to successfully measure, monitor and manage their stakeholders' performance. The experience of these companies highlights how across different sectors and countries strong customer relationships, committed employees and successful relationships with suppliers can be created to stay at the forefront of today's global economy. Company contributions are complemented by expert articles about current business topics such as Performance Measurement, Balanced Scorecard and Data Mining methodologies.

This book reveals how the Japanese national ministries can exploit their Special Status Corporations (public corporations, supported primarily with public funding from a state-run banking agency) in order to intensify their administrative power over industries and local governments and to perpetuate the interests of elite civil servants by facilitating the migration to post-retirement positions in the private sector. The book explains why the existence of these organizations inhibits the Prime Ministers efforts to implement structural reforms.

This book focuses on profiling, analysing, benchmarking and modelling in socio-economic terms, the ways that creativity, invention and innovation flourish. The work is based on comparative, conceptual and empirical research of 15 American, European and Asian knowledge-based innovation networks and knowledge clusters. It highlights critical success and failure factors, and the lessons learned about entrepreneurial initiatives, outcomes and impacts. It identifies and articulates insights that inform both public sector policies and private sector practices to render them more effective and efficient.

This book examines concepts and tools for selecting and modifying a combination of technologies that will be either developed by a technology supply organization, such as a national laboratory or a corporate research center, or adopted by a technology application organization, such as a government administrative office or a corporation management department, to either advance public goals or enhance corporate strategies.

Ernest Aves (1857-1917) was an influential social analyst and civil servant. This title, first published in 1907, during Aves' work for the Board of Trade, investigates the different forms of industrial co-operation within Britain; the fundamental principle of this is stated as "equitable association", leading to increased profitability and the strengthening of industry. Chapters discuss such areas as centralisation, co-operative production and co-operative agriculture. This interesting reissue will be of particular value to students of economics with an interest in co-operative industry and the history of economic thought.

Corporate Realities, first published in 1995, provides a concise but comprehensive review of the management issues relating to different types of organisation. Avoiding academic jargon, it describes the characteristics of administrative, manufacturing, service and professional organisations. It explores the features of both small and large businesses. The authors demonstrate how the transition from small to large scale can be achieved, as well as reviewing recent attempts to recreate entrepreneurial forms of organisation in the context of larger, more complex ones. Most importantly, it identifies future trends and the skills that will be needed to manage corporations at the turn of the century. This book will be of interest to students of business studies.

The focus of this volume is the phenomenon of globalization, and specifically its relevance to and impact on small business and entrepreneurship. The works presented here stem from a pioneering, three day conference held at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, under the joint auspices of McGill's Centre for International Business Studies, and the Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies. Leading international scholars came together to begin integrating research in what had previously been from widely divergent fields.

The book presents four sections covering: theoretical overviews of the emerging field of international entrepreneurship; the use of alliances and networks to facilitate the entry of small businesses into the global arena; the results of three empirically based research studies designed to better understand the market forces and managerial characteristics which appear to underlie the success of SME's in the global arena; and visionary contributions on forces which will shape the successful international firm of the future. The diversity reflected in this volume and the common thread which unites the work calls for new strategic approaches by small firms, large firms, and governments alike. This work will help readers to better understand and anticipate the dramatic changes coming, and to design appropriate corporate strategic responses.

As the world economy becomes more integrated, products become more globalized. Airplanes, automobiles, computers, watches, and garments are among products whose constituent parts are made all over the world. This volume presents arguments and evidence showing that this process is benign: it raises competitiveness, creates jobs, and enhances economic welfare.

Since 1950 the governments of Iraq have attempted vigorously to develop the economy and have stressed industrial development. Here Dr Ferhang Jalal discusses, analyses and appraises a number of policies adopted by the government of Iraq designed to promote the growth of the industrial sector. The policies were of two kinds: the establishment of enterprises financed, constructed and operated by the government; and the encouragement of the expansion of private industrial enterprises through provision of finance, by way of tax exemptions of all kinds, through controls over the allocation of investment, and by protecting them from foreign competition. The author discusses the extent to which investment programmes formulated by planners were able to be implemented, and analyses in detail the factors facilitating and those constraining a more rapid rate of industrial growth.

Independently commissioned by IAI, the three studies comprising this book examine inter-Arab industrial and economic cooperation. The first chapter analyses the industrial strategies, economic policies and attempts at harmonisation and cooperation of the Arab countries, providing a detailed picture of the convergences and divergences, the potential and the difficulties faced by the region. The second chapter examines the importance of coordinating economic polices if economic integration is to be sustained, and considers the implications to the world economy. Lastly, the third chapter examines Arab labour flows, a key factor in the development of the Arab countries. First published in 1979.

In dynamic investment planning the time of investment is a significant issue. By simplifying the mathematical notation, the author of this book seeks to make control theory a practical tool that can be applied to the problem of timing. The book, first published in 1977, begins with an introduction to one important approach to control theory - dynamic programming. Then some of the relevant literature that deals with investment decision-making is reviewed. This is followed by a mathematically formulated planning model. The computational aspects of the model are discussed and a complete computer flow chart is given. The second part of the book gives a thorough application of the theory by means of a detailed case study - the planning of a steel industry. The case study illustrates how a fairly abstract dynamic analysis can be effectively integrated with practical decision-making concerns. This book is ideal for students of economics and business.

With the advent of Thatcherism in the UK and Reaganomics in the USA, 'industrial policy' had become something of a discredited notion in the 1980s. The emphasis had shifted to programmes of deregulation, de-nationalization, and tax reform. The essays in this challenging and vigorous collection, first published in 1989, sprung from work that had been conducted in the USA, notably at the Harvard Business School, on reappraising the role of the public sector in industrial management. This American work suggested ways in which public sector and other bodies might have revitalized industrial life. This book is ideal for students of business and economics.

The physical distribution of products is an important element in the marketing operations of all productive enterprises, and in many cases efficient distribution is the most important single factor leading to success. With the emergence of post-industrial society the role of distribution has come to increasingly be viewed as a generator of wealth in the economy, attracting the interest of public policy makers anxious to influence investment, employment and efficiency in the sector.

First published in 1982, this book isolates the major trends affecting the main institutions in distribution and contrasts the processes of change amongst the countries and regions of the European Economic Community. Structural change in the industry is related to spatial change in the regions and comparisons made of the varied public policy responses in member countries. An interesting and relevant reissue, this title will be of particular value to economics and business students with an interest in the development of the European consumer and post-industrial Europe.

China's long-term economic success is driven by new firms, new sectors and new business practices. This book explores the establishment of new private firms and listed companies, the development of knowledge industries, in particular the IT and banking sectors and the co-evolution of public governance and business institutions. The contributors discuss the role of local institutions in coordinating business activities and unleashing entrepreneurship, arguing that the sudden growth of new firms and industries is facilitated by changes in business behaviour and institutions. Initial private exchange and investment in an environment of ill-functioning markets are shown to depend on local networks and local business culture which, in turn, rely on local tax regimes setting incentives for inherited bureaucracies to engage in economic transformation. Finally, the book establishes local institutions and local governance as crucial dimensions of China's emerging business system. Contributing to the theory of endogenous institutional change, The Chinese Economy in the 21st Century will be of great appeal to academics and students interested in management, comparative business systems, transition economics, evolutionary economics, Chinese studies and Asian studies.

First published in 1891, this seminal work examines the primary causes of poverty during the industrial age. Through considering how poverty is measured, the growth of urbanisation and the supply of low-skilled labour in the workforce, Hobson arrives at possible solutions to the problem of poverty and explores the ethical issues surrounding it.

This original new book offers a comprehensive and engaging perspective on the theory of vertical differentiation. It enables the reader to grasp the key concepts and effects that product quality has both on firms' behaviour and market structure, and the ways in which this relationship has evolved. With contributions from prominent figures in the field, the book investigates a number of important topics, such as the choice of the optimal product range, profit sharing, the existence of equilibrium in duopoly games, positional effects attached to status goods, international trade, collusion, advertising and the dynamics of capital accumulation for quality improvement and product innovation. Using both static and dynamic approaches, these aspects are assessed in relation to the manifold issues of regulation, competition policy and trade policy. Product differentiation and its influence on consumer behaviour and the performance of firms is a core topic in the existing literature in the fields of industrial organization, international trade and economic growth. This book will be an essential read for researchers, students and professional scholars working in these areas, especially those with an interest in antitrust regulation.

Hong Kong's laissez-faire tradition has crippled attempts to transform it into a more knowledge-intensive economy and this is a lesson with wide applicability. Many emerging economies face innovation bottlenecks, but even some more advanced economies face similar constraints and may benefit from the lessons of its negative example.

Editorial Objectives This series aims to present the latest research on entrepreneurship, innovation and the impact on economic performance. Topicality Advances in the Study of Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Economic Growth (ASEIEG) provides a timely and relevant discussion and exploration of entrepreneurial topics, their impact, and ties to key values in today's society, such as social, environmental and economic issues and challenges. Topics range from aspects of entrepreneurial behavior to determinants of entrepreneurial research with contributions from top scholars across the US and the globe. Key Benefits Organization and history of series allows a rich, multi faceted foundation for entrepreneurial topics in a rapidly changing information age. Research can be disseminated in a clear and effective manner to promote communication between the business and academic communities and to foster entrepreneurship within the society. Key Audiences Key audiences range from private industry to policy officials to researchers and educators. The role and understanding of entrepreneurship, the implications for current critical conditions and sustained vibrant economies, is rapidly growing. This series provides each with a highly useful blend of topics and scholarly perspectives. Coverage The series includes related articles and papers, frequently driven by organized colloquia and other business/academic exchange, with interdisciplinary perspectives including those of economics, marketing, law, finance, management, history, science, higher education administration and sociology. Coverage includes but is not limited to: Institutional entrepreneurial development Intellectual property concerns, patenting, and other property rights issues Environmental entrepreneurship and innovation Innovation within and across firms Effect of government regulation and tax policies Organizational factors, market structure effects and marketing strategies Entrepreneurship programmes and other educational activities Relative performance of entrepreneurial firms.

What role do transitional justice processes play in determining the gender outcomes of transitions from conflict and authoritarianism? What is the impact of transitional justice processes on the human rights of women in states emerging from political violence? Gender Politics in Transitional Justice argues that human rights outcomes for women are determined in the space between international law and local gender politics. The book draws on feminist political science to reveal the key gender dynamics that shape the strategies of local women's movements in their engagement with transitional justice, and the ultimate success of those strategies, termed 'the local fit'. Also drawing on feminist doctrinal scholarship in international law, 'the international frame' examines the role of international law in defining harms against women in transitional justice and in determining the 'from' and 'to' of transitions from conflict and authoritarianism. This book locates evolving state practice in gender and transitional justice over the past two decades within the context of the enhanced protection of women's human rights under international law. Relying on original empirical and legal research in Chile, Northern Ireland and Colombia, the book speaks more broadly to the study of gender politics and international law in transitional justice.

In this new edition, stemming from the work of the International Bar Association Committee on Business Organizations, leading international practitioners address the increasingly complex issues surrounding due diligence, disclosures and protection of the buyer and seller in corporate acquisitions practice. The book also addresses the structure of acquisition agreements, including warranties and the effect of different controlling laws. Environmental due diligence is also included in considering current international commercial practice. Based on a major IBA conference held in June 1991, the work (in this updated and revised form) covers the USA, Canada, Germany, England and Wales, the Netherlands, Italy, France, and Japan. As in the previous edition, the material is presented systematically for ease of reference and comparison. The book aims to serve as a valuable handbook for practitioners.

Imperfections and Behavior in Economic Organizations analyzes the organization of economic decision making in a contemporary setting. The contributors focus on two important aspects of this analysis. First, they address the issue of imperfect or incomplete information and communication in economic organizations and consider imperfections arising from the interaction of the market organization with its environment. Second, the issue of cooperation in a competitive environment is thoroughly analyzed and alternative social trade organizations are designed to dissipate the allocation problems that arise in these situations.

This book clarifies the mechanisms of economic globalization in changing industries' locations and shows how industries' locations have changed through those mechanisms. First, the book deals with the retailing industry. Introducing the concept of a contact price into the market area analysis, it is shown in Part I that retailers' market areas and prices are changed in different ways by a reduction of transportation costs. The mechanism of these changes is explained by checking the contact prices at apexes of the retailers' market areas. Then the book moves to the manufacturing industry and deals with a firm's production process. Part II of the book shows the manner in which the production volume of factories within an agglomeration is decreased as the number of factories within the agglomeration increases. Subsequently, considering the fact that many production factories depart from agglomerations to other sites to reduce production costs, a method of searching for a factory's new site is proposed in which a firm can seek out an optimal location of a factory in a short period of time. By referring to a chaotic phenomenon, a firm sets a location prospective area in a large geographical area and selects an optimal location within that area. In the third part of the book the city system is the focus. Part III elucidates the theoretical formation of a city system and analyzes structural changes of a city system due to a reduction of transportation costs. The mechanism of the change is explained by a flexible market area theory which studies a city system by using the market areas established in the free-entry equilibrium. Then, the economic relationships between the cities within a city system are examined from the point of view of the land rent in the cities' areas. This analysis shows the influences of a change in the largest city on other cities. Finally, the relationships between a city system and regional performance are examined using real data. The examination shows that the city system reveals the regional performance.