There are relatively few women in senior executive positions and on the boards of major companies. Based upon research and in the context of contemporary management debates the authors argue the business case for promoting women to these positions in order to create more value for shareholders. The book draws upon interviews with chairpersons and chief executives and includes case study material.

This book investigates the birth and evolution of craft breweries around the world. Microbrewery, brewpub, artisanal brewery, henceforth craft brewery, are terms referred to a new kind of production in the brewing industry contraposed to the mass production of beer, which has started and diffused in almost all industrialized countries in the last decades. This project provides an explanation of the entrepreneurial dynamics behind these new firms from an economic perspective. The product standardization of large producers, the emergence of a new more sophisticated demand and set of consumers, the effect of contagion, and technology aspects are analyzed as the main determinants behind this 'revolution'. The worldwide perspective makes the project distinctive, presenting cases from many relevant countries, including the USA, Australia, Japan, China, UK, Belgium, Italy and many other EU countries.

We are at present caught between two worlds. Globalization, networking and new communications technology mean that traditionally oriented companies are being replaced by new, non-linear, "hypertext" structures. However, for many these are still a mystery. Based on his extensive practical experience as CEO of a multinational industrial group, Jacques Chaize aims to provide simple tools enabling all levels of reader to better understand and live with the hypertext corporation and feel ready to take the leap into the future.

Storytelling in organizations is a notion that encompasses both the stories that the organization produces and the ones told by its members. It provides both an in-depth treatment of the literature on narratives, stories and storytelling and an extensive empirical case from an American banking institution.

A ground-breaking and sharply insightful book revealing the wide-ranging effects of the global economic crisis, the Arab Spring and the ongoing rebalancing of the world economy on international migration and its configuration. It debunks 'the business as usual' approach to the future challenge of migration and argues for a new approach to the issue.

This volume examines the controversy surrounding the use of competition law to combat excessive pricing. While high or monopolistic pricing is not regarded as an antitrust violation in the US, employing abuse of dominance provisions in competition laws to fight excessive pricing has gained popularity in some BRICS jurisdictions and a number of EU-member states in recent years. The book begins by discussing the economic arguments for and against the prohibition of excessive or unfair prices by firms with market power. It then presents various country studies, focusing on developed countries (such as the UK and Israel) and on the BRICS countries, to highlight various practical challenges involved in recognizing excessive prices as abusive conduct on the part of dominant firms, including how to define, measure and identify excessive prices. The contributors also discuss other policy options that can be used to fight excessive prices in order to protect consumer welfare.

The book focuses classical oligopoly theory as developed in 1840-1940. By the end of this period oligopoly came under the spell of game theory in its probabilistic equilibrium format. Work by Cournot, von Stackelberg, Palander, and Hotelling, causal and dynamic in essence, but ignored, is reconsidered in the light of modern dynamics using topology and numerics. As particular features, von Stackelberg leadership is included in the dynamic Cournot model, the Hotelling problem is solved with elastic demand, thus skipping the absurd idea of quadratic transportation costs. Further, it is shown that the celebrated destabilisation of Cournot equilibrium under increased competition is due to mistakenly assuming constant returns, and that the whole idea of rational expectations is untenable in dynamic oligopoly. Early original ideas in oligopoly theory, such as coexistence and multiplicity of attractors are focused again after many undeserved decades of oblivion.

This book takes an in-depth look at the software industry as a major factor in future global economic performance. It explores how software-based companies are a significant factor behind economic growth and serve as important bridge builders between industries. Countries with a weak and underdeveloped software industry risk being left behind in the 21st century. The book examines the case of Germany as one of the world's major industrial nations, which is facing loss of competitiveness due to its underdeveloped software sector. It shows how the German software market is characterized by a multiplicity of small and medium sized companies and exhibits a shortage of globally dominating companies. This is presented and examined in the light of Germany being a powerhouse for technologies in sectors other than the software industry. The book analyzes the current situation and future potential of the German software industry. Using empirical analysis and international case studies, it presents the status quo and offers recommendations for policy makers. It shows effective management strategies for the sustainable international growth of software-based companies. The recommendations in this book are intended to secure Germany's front seat on the express train bound for the second half of the 21st century.

A rich database of over 2,200 outsourcing arrangements, studied across sectors and geographies, and over time, from inception, through contract signing, to outcomes. This book has unparalleled insight into the robust practices that have been proven effective time and again.

This book offers a systematic discussion and explanation on what industrial security is, what the influencing factors of industrial security are, how industrial security should be evaluated and how early warnings should work from the viewpoint of developing countries. Studying theories of industrial security is necessary for the development of industrial economics theory, innovations in industrial economy studies, and an important supplement to and improvement on the theories of industrial economics. Also, studying industrial security theories can offer valuable guidance for the practice of industrial economics and national industrial policy making.

This book brings together original research on the role of networks in regional economic development and innovation. It presents a comprehensive framework synthesizing extant theories, a palette of real-world cases in the aerospace, automotive, life science, biotechnology and health care industries, and fundamental agent-based computer models elucidating the relation between regional development and network dynamics. The book is primarily intended for researchers in the fields of innovation economics and evolutionary economic geography, and particularly those interested in using agent-based models and empirical case studies. However, it also targets (regional) innovation policy makers who are not only interested in policy recommendations, but also want to understand the state-of-the-art agent-based modeling methods used to experimentally arrive at said recommendations.

Who controls corporations? is perhaps one of the central questions of power structure research. Ralph M. Faris seeks to answer that question and more specifically Who controls Delaware Valley corporations? through a sustained study of the formal ties between corporations commonly referred to as interlocks. Corporate Networks and Corporate Control provides empirical evidence of the nature and extent of interlocking directorates among Fortune 500 and Fortune 50 ranked corporations within that area. Faris generates a profile of nationally and locally oriented multiple interlockers to compare with current sociological descriptions of the national ruling class and identifies forty-eight multiple-interlockers along with data on their connections to policy-setting groups, sociocultural organizations, and religious denominations. This scaled-down but more descriptive version of a larger national study of Fortune 500 companies takes a comprehensive look at the affiliations of Philadelphia's corporate network including memberships in elite private clubs, policy-setting groups, and more. Tables and figures make the interlocking connections particularly accessible. In early chapters, Faris gives one of the clearest expositions of three different theoretical models of corporate control--Managerialism (and its more recent version, Resource Dependency), Class Cohesion, and Finance Control--and explains their distinct patterns of interlocking. Subsequent chapters give a complete picture of the methodologies of interlock analysis, including previous methods and approaches, and present a clear rendering of the facts of data collection and the geographical focus. The last two chapters examine closely the Delaware Valley's corporate network and multiple interlocks in the context of power structure research using the actual data base of interlocking directorates in the Delaware Valley to measure the accuracy of the three models in predicting their respective patterns. This top-notch investigation makes an outstanding contribution to the fields of Economics and Economic History and will be a source of authoritative information for courses in political sociology, political economy, introductory economics, and power structure analysis in political science.

What changes are occurring at the macro and the sectoral levels, how the labour market changes are taking place and what impactis felt on the low income households are some of the questions that the present volume focuses on. It begins by examining the sectoral composition of growth, revisiting the issues related to industry-services balance, and also brings out the spatial dimension of growth. On the one hand the industry does not seem to have played a major role in the context of employment generation as imported technology is by and large capital intensive in nature. On the other hand, the services-led growth is seen to have reduced the pace of poverty reduction. Given the services-led growth the possible impact of trade in services on employment both in the formal and informal sectors have been worked out, indicating limited positive spill-over effects. The labour market outcomes are brought out with great details suggesting that rapid economic growth in India could not result in productive employment generation on a large scale. The gender dimensions of employment are brought out to verify if reduction in labour market inequality can result in improving the position of women in other spheres encompassing the decision making process both within the household and outside the household. Issues relating to urbanisation and rural-urban migration are also covered to understand the dynamics of urban poverty and to bring out the challenges of population transfer given the spatial concentration of growth. The job search practices pursued by the low income households are often pursued in terms of informal networks. What problems are associated with such mechanisms in experiencing improvements in wellbeing levels are covered in the present volume. On the whole, the volume offers an explanation of limited poverty reduction in a situation of rapid economic growth on the basis of an inter-disciplinary framework though efforts are being made to keep the methodology quantitatively rigorous. "

This book introduces readers to a powerful method for cross-cultural due diligence in mergers and organizational collaborations. It employs the context of joint ventures between local communities and companies in the domain of hospitality in emerging tourism destinations. The book first analyzes the impact of cultural diversity in mergers between local communities and the private sector, revealing the characteristics and functions of culture and paying specific attention to the roles of organizational and community cultures in hospitality. In two subsequent methodological chapters the book presents a theoretical framework for cultural due diligence and identifies the principal actors, technical aspects and core principles. On the basis of a separate case study from northern Thailand, the book provides an example of cultural context analysis and presents the findings and results. In a concluding chapter the book presents an outlook on further research and development in this field.

This volume was prepared by a select group of international experts in response to a need expressed by the Canadian government to identify and analyze some of the major challenges facing governments in conducting business in the knowledge-based economy. Special emphasis is placed on identifying the policy issues which governments will need to address in the upcoming years. This volume presents essays in three primary categories: Trends and Forces Shaping the New Reality Restructuring and Reorganizing in a Knowledge-Based Economy Key Governance Issues in the Knowledge-Based Economy A/LISTA Part one describes the salient features of the knowledge-based economy. What are its economic underpinnings? What are its technological characteristics? Whereas, in the past, growth was determined primarily by the availability of land, natural resources, labor, and capital, at the end of the twentieth century knowledge has become the major factor of economic growth. Part two examines management issues and economic phenomena typical of a knowledge-based economy. What makes new technology adoption and implementation successful? What can government do to make it more successful? Part three is directly focused toward questions of political economy and economic policy considerations, including technical, economic, and societal solutions. The volume concludes with a summary of the new ways in which firms and governments should manage business in a knowledge-based economy.

The author describes the property rights that exist in different organizational forms and explains how these establish incentives for managerial decision behavior. She compares the rights, incentives, and corresponding decision behavior in for-profit, nonprofit, and public organizations under conditions of unbounded rationality. She shows that managerial responses to regulation, tax, and industrial organization policies may differ from the usual predictions when property rights are considered. She also shows how property rights link economic and organization theory.

The comprehensive guide to all the essential legal and business considerations in structuring domestic and international strategic business alliances. Readers are provided with a clear and concise introduction to the various domestic and international laws and regulations that impact strategic business relationships, including intellectual property law, antitrust law, commercial law, tax law, agency and distribution laws, and foreign investment laws. An indispensable resource for consummating sales representation arrangements, licensing arrangements, research and development arrangements, manufacturing and distribution arrangements, joint ventures, equity investment, and negotiated acquisitions. The book is intended for entrepreneurs, executives, and professionals. Entrepreneurs, executives, lawyers, accounts, and others involved in structuring cooperative business arrangements will benefit from the step-by-step approach to each strategic business relationship. The book provides guidance on each of the crucial steps in the negotiation process, including the selection of the prospective strategic business partner, the protection of trade secrets and confidential information, the due diligence process, representations and warranties, and dispute resolutions. Readers will gain an understanding of the essential bodies of law that might affect a relationship, such as intellectual property law, antitrust and competition law, laws relating to the sale of goods, agency and distribution laws, tax laws, export controls and antiboycott laws, and foreign inbound investment and technology transfer laws. The book covers each basic strategic business relationship that a firm might enter into to facilitate the development, manufacture, and distribution of products and services, including long-term functional contracts and joint ventures, minority investments, and negotiated acquisitions.

The family business has a far-reaching influence on economies throughout the world, and in many countries they account for over half of the Gross National Product. This text considers: how to define a family-controlled business and the significance of this form of privately-held enterprise; how a board of outsiders can add value to a family business; how to handle intra-business tensions; and how to gain control at the highest level.

"Breaking Free" is about making the transition from working for the man to working for yourself by starting your own business or freelancing. By focusing on the personal experiences, ideas, and actions of a variety of self-employed people--including freelance writers, contractors, service providers, store owners and franchisees, sales reps, and others--this book offers readers deep insights into the ideas and decisions required to make self-employment a reality. Along the way, author and self-employed professional Chris Lauer offers a wealth of practical small-business insights and tips. "Breaking Free" thus offers would-be entrepreneurs and freelancers something priceless--both the skills and encouragement required to shake free of corporate shackles and take the leap into small-scale entrepreneurship.

Featuring real stories about the initial spark that motivated individuals to pursue independence and entrepreneurship, "Breaking Free " follows a variety of entrepreneurs as they move from their jobs as employees to the ranks of the self-employed. It also covers the nuts and bolts of self-employment--pricing and marketing services, keeping an eye on the bottom line, and growing the business, among other topics. In addition, Lauer focuses on the advances in technology that make self-employment easier today than ever before. Unlike most books on self-employment, Lauer uses vivid, real-life stories and tips to help would-be entrepreneurs decide the route that is best for them. Experienced entrepreneurs describe how they came up with ideas for their businesses, how they kept their ventures in motion during the early days and over the long term, how they grew, and when they recognized it was time to call it quits and sell or shutter the business. This is not a book for the next Bill Gates, but for the majority of new business owners and those dreaming of creating their own jobs: people ready to take a few risks to make a decent living on their own terms and gain some independence. Both descriptive and prescriptive, "Breaking Free" presents the latest ways to capitalize on today's many opportunities for self-sufficiency and financial autonomy.

Vertical Markets and Cooperative Hierarchies comprises a selection of sixteen newly written essays that provide clarification to issues pertinent to contemporary cooperatives. Twenty three internationally recognized scholars of agricultural cooperatives, from a variety of disciplines such as industrial organization, finance, sociology, networks, and political theory, contributed theoretical work and empirical observations from different countries. The book is divided into five Parts: I. Cooperatives: between markets and hierarchies; II. Governance; III. Internal organizational issues; IV. Conduct of cooperatives; and V. Cooperative performance.

Family firms account for a large proportion of firms in most countries. In industrialised countries of North America and Western Europe, they generally account for a large share of small and medium sized enterprises. In emerging market economies such as India, they also account for the majority of the large firms. Their importance for factors such as employment creation notwithstanding, relative to the widely held Anglo-Saxon firms, which are ubiquitous in the economics, finance and management literatures, family firms have historically received much less attention from scholars of these disciplines. However, in part owing to increased focus on emerging markets, there is a growing literature on family firms. In How Family Firms Differ, the authors explore important aspects of family firms, drawing on the existing literature and their own research on these firms.

All companies which reach a critical size are faced with outsourcing decisions that can increase the value of their products and services primarily through lower costs, greater reliability and improved efficiency. Successful outsourcing decisions have an important knowledge dimension, where the outsourcing professionals need to be supported by historical and contextual knowledge regarding their own products performance but also the performance of suppliers. "Outsourcing in Manufacturing: the Knowledge Dimension" explains in detail how a manager can acquire, create, transfer and use knowledge that optimizes their outsourcing decisions and improves the changes of marketplace success.

"Outsourcing in Manufacturing: the Knowledge Dimension" gives examples of the key decisions that needs to be taken by managers regarding effective outsourcing. Decisions are divided around the structural and infrastructural aspects of outsourcing and the key knowledge that needs to be managed to support good decisions. The book contains illustrations and examples of key processes throughout and concludes with a section dedicated to case studies. These case studies represent a variety of manufacturing system types and sizes focused on supply chain integration, and which deploy various manufacturing paradigms including craft, mass, lean, adaptive, and sustainable manufacturing.

"Outsourcing in Manufacturing: the Knowledge Dimension" covers many theoretical and practical examples of critical outsourcing decisions, their knowledge aspects and how knowledge challenges can be dealt with in a systematic way. It provides a key resource for students, lecturers and industry managers looking to solidify their understanding and application of outsourcing decision making strategies.

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The authors show that the sucess of a joint venture in the People's Rebublic of China, to a considerable extent, depends on understanding the Chinese perspective. They not only offer this perspective, but mingle it with the Western view. This book provides information not readily available in Western literature. The authors help the reader develop a feel for Chinese ideology, culture and infrastructure. Chapter by chapter, they show that successful joint ventures in the PRC are definitely feasible.