This book gathers selected peer-reviewed papers from the 15th World Congress on Engineering Asset Management (WCEAM), which was hosted by The Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul Campo Grande, Brazil, from 15--18 August 2021 This book covers a wide range of topics in engineering asset management, including: strategy and standards; sustainability and resiliency; servitisation and Industry 4.0 business models; asset information systems; and asset management decision-making. The breadth and depth of these state-of-the-art, comprehensive proceedings make them an excellent resource for asset management practitioners, researchers, and academics, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and platforms are closely related. Most investments in AI, especially in critical technologies, are provided by large platforms. This book describes how platforms invest in AI and how AI will impact the next generation of competences, following a twofold approach to do so: on the one hand, the book seeks to understand how platforms for investment in intangibles and AI are organized, but on the other hand, it provides a framework to describe how AI will change jobs and competences in the future. Moreover, the book addresses five main themes: 1. platforms, platformization, and the foundations of their business models; 2. artificial intelligence, technological tendencies, and the policy agenda; 3. artificial intelligence, productivity, and the next generation of competences; 4. artificial intelligence, productivity, and the digital divide; 5. artificial intelligence, ethics, and the post-truth society. The book's content is mostly based on papers presented at the last two installments of the World Conference on Intellectual Capital for Communities. It brings together the views of leading scholars and experts on how artificial intelligence and platformization will impact competences in the near future.

Why are historically Catholic countries and regions generally more corrupt and less competitive than historically Protestant ones? How has institutionalization of religion influenced the prosperity of countries in Europe and the Americas? This open access book addresses these critical questions by elucidating the hegemonic and emancipatory religious factors leading to these dissimilarities between countries. The book features up-to-date mixed methods from interdisciplinary research contributing to existing studies in the sociology of religion field by demonstrating-for the first time-the effect of the mutually reinforcing configuration of multiple prosperity triggers (religion-politics-environment). It demonstrates the differences in the institutionalization of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism by applying quantitative and qualitative methods and by performing a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) of 65 countries. The author also provides a comprehensive survey and results of empirical research on different theories of development, focusing on the influence of religion.

This textbook helps students to understand the social, economic, and environmental importance of the mutual relations between industries in the same and in different regions and nations and demonstrates how to model these relations using regional, interregional, and international input-output (IO) models. It enables readers to extend these basic IO models with endogenous household expenditures, to employ supply-use tables (SUTs) that explicitly distinguish the products used and sold by industry, and to use social accounting matrices (SAMs) that detail the generation, redistribution and spending of income. In addition to the standard demand-driven IO quantity model and its accompanying cost-push IO price model, the book also discusses the economic assumptions and usefulness of the supply-driven IO quantity model and its accompanying revenue-pull IO price model. The final chapters highlight three main applications of the IO model: (1) economic impact analysis of negative supply shocks as caused by, for example, natural disasters, (2) linkages, key sector, and cluster analysis, (3) structural decomposition analysis, especially of regional, interregional, and international growth, and demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of these IO applications. Written for graduate students of regional and spatial science as well as for economists and planners, this book provides a better understanding of the foundations, the power, the applicability and the limitations of input-output analysis. The second, completely revised edition expands on updating IO tables, modelling the disaster reconstruction phase, and includes an appendix on the necessary matrix algebra.

Start-ups are easy, but... is A.-W. Scheer's retrospective on his experiences founding, growing and taking public a successful, international company. Since its founding in 1985, IDS Scheer has grown to become the world leader in business process performance, with subsidiaries and representatives in 50 countries. This book contains the author's experiences and opinions about founding companies and watching them prosper, about how research and science work, and about the politics of innovation. It was written for entrepreneurs or potential company founders who would like to learn more about the challenges of building a company. It is also written for students who want to find out what it is like to live like a businessperson. Furthermore, the book is written for members of the scientific community, to motivate them to a more business-oriented approach at their research institutions.

Management as we know it has been the driver of business growth in U.S. economies for a couple of centuries. Yet the practice of management is no longer focused on creating real value. Instead, it is now all about using sophisticated financial techniques-and practices like outsourcing and downsizing, among others--to improve profitability. Such addition through subtraction results in higher profits in the short term but puts the corporation and its employees at risk in the long term--not to mention the entire U.S. economy. Innovation and productivity improvement, corporate manager Jack Buffington argues, are lost arts in American business. So is getting back to basics the answer? Buffington's provocative thesis: Management as we know it probably can't be repaired. "It must be replaced."

Asian economies, meanwhile, are growing by leaps and bounds thanks in part to short-term, ill-advised decisions made by U.S. managers. Local companies and divisions of multinational organizations in emerging countries are on track to eventually overtake those of the West, putting our job base and prosperity at peril. If we want to bring manufacturing jobs back here to the U.S., corporate managers must seek productivity and innovation improvements in U.S. operations.

Jack Buffington knows all too well how quickly things can go downhill for U.S. businesses. Turned into a relentless cost-cutter by the forces of globalization and Wall Street's expectations for short-term gains, he--like thousands of other U.S. executives--has watched some of the companies he's worked for disappear for want of real value. Whereas America once prized managers who displayed skill in optimizing the interplay of capital, labor, and technology to grow a company, today's professional manager is rewarded more often for being a cost cutter than an innovator.

Fortunately, this book not only outlines the problem, it outlines the solution as well by establishing a 21st-century definition of management that will succeed in today's global economy. Rather than angling to produce a penny more of earnings per share to please the financiers, corporate managers will see once again how to use their ingenuity to produce products, services, and business processes that not only provide generous profits but sustain a business--and its jobs--for years to come. By heeding Buffington's call, the U.S. can rekindle its zeal for innovation, leading to an era in which consumers, workers, investors, and managers all prosper.

The book addresses the most recent challenges faced by the postal and delivery sector. This book includes original essays by prominent researchers and practitioners in the field of postal and delivery economics, originally presented at the 28th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics held online, December 1-5, 2020. Chapters discuss topics such as the sustainability of the universal service obligations (USO) quality of service, last mile solutions, competition in liberalized markets, data protection, environmental sustainability, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This book will be a useful tool not only for graduate students and professors interested in postal and regulatory economics, but also for postal administrations, consulting firms, and federal government departments.

This book explores the superiority of the management systems found in world class Japan manufacturers and the process by which these systems are being imported to the USA. The concept of Japanese manufacturing methods, in particular the system known as "lean production," is transforming American industry. The editors and contributors use the term "Japanese Advanced Manufacturing Systems" to refer to social, organizational, and technological systems used by world class Japanese manufacturers. They look at the system at the factory level, the corporate system level, and at a level outside the corporate system, including consumer markets, the regulatory environment, the technology sector, and the educational system outside the firm. The two industries that are addressed are automobiles and electronics.

Enterprise Level Security 2: Advanced Topics in an Uncertain World follows on from the authors' first book on Enterprise Level Security (ELS), which covered the basic concepts of ELS and the discoveries made during the first eight years of its development. This book follows on from this to give a discussion of advanced topics and solutions, derived from 16 years of research, pilots, and operational trials in putting an enterprise system together. The chapters cover specific advanced topics derived from painful mistakes and numerous revisions of processes. This book covers many of the topics omitted from the first book including multi-factor authentication, cloud key management, enterprise change management, entity veracity, homomorphic computing, device management, mobile ad hoc, big data, mediation, and several other topics. The ELS model of enterprise security is endorsed by the Secretary of the Air Force for Air Force computing systems and is a candidate for DoD systems under the Joint Information Environment Program. The book is intended for enterprise IT architecture developers, application developers, and IT security professionals. This is a unique approach to end-to-end security and fills a niche in the market.

Now in its third edition, Cost-Benefit Analysis has been updated, offering readers the perfect introduction to project, programme and policy appraisal using basic tools of financial and economic analysis. The key economic questions of any social cost-benefit analysis are: do the benefits of the project or policy exceed the costs, no matter how widely costs and benefits are spread, and irrespective of whether or not project impacts, such as environmental effects, are reflected in market prices? And which group or groups of individuals receive the benefits and which bear the costs? This book addresses these questions with an emphasis on putting the theory presented in the book into practice. This third edition has several attractive features: Readers are encouraged to develop their own skills by applying the tools and techniques of cost-benefit analysis to case studies and examples, including an analysis of a project which is developed throughout the book. The book emphasizes the use of spreadsheets which are invaluable in providing a framework for the cost-benefit analysis. A dedicated chapter provides guidance for writing up a report which summarises the analysis which has been undertaken. New pedagogical features, including Technical Notes and Examples, have been added as an aid to readers throughout the text. An appendix provides 14 additional case studies which can be developed in class or as assignment projects. Additional material for instructors and students is provided through Support Material maintained by Routledge. This updated edition is an ideal text for a course on cost-benefit analysis where the emphasis is on practical application of principles and equipping students to conduct appraisals. It is also a useful handbook for professionals looking for a logical framework in which to undertake their cost-benefit analysis work.

Quarter examines business owners who use their firms as laboratories for social innovation. After providing an introduction to this phenomenon in an historical perspective and discussing the 19th-century British industrialist Robert Owen, he provides ll case studies of contemporary innovators from six countries-the UK, US, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, and New Zealand.

The case studies fall into two broad groups. The first involves business people who promote innovative ownership and decision-making strategies such as donating their shares to a trust and thereby creating a company without shareholders so that employees can assume greater control; creating a worker co-operative; and transferring ownership to employees through an employee stock ownership plan. The second group of case studies involves innovative efforts at changing the relationship to the surrounding community through creating socially and environmentally responsible businesses. Quarter concludes by looking at the potential and limitations of this phenomenon for building a social movement. A provocative look at the social organization of work that will be of interest to scholars and researchers of industrial organization and to business leaders examining innovative ownership arrangements.

This book explores the impact of railroads on 19thcentury Russian peasant collectivism. The mutual-insurance mechanism in a precarious agricultural environment, provided bya structured communal-village system predicated on the reputation and authorityof community norms,is exposed to rationalist exchange-occasioning an institutional adaptation process:the individualization of property rights in land. Spatial-mobility technology animated market integration, specialization, literacy,and human-capital acquisition among peasant wage workers who commuted from their villages.Temporarily rising transaction costs forced the Tsar to concede household property rights in land in the so-called Stolypin reform of 1906.This challenge to the imperial patrimony, powered by the railroads, steered late imperial Russia toward constitutional governance.The spatial-mobility technology gave peasants access to centers of agglomeration of knowledge, changedcognitive perceptions of distance, and reduced the uncertainty and opportunity costs of travel. The empirical findings in this monograph corroborate the conclusion that the railroads occasioned a cultural revolution in late imperial Russia and made Stalin unnecessary for the modernization of the Euro-asian giant. This book highlights the profound effect that the development of the railroads had on Russian economic and political institutions and practices. It will be of indispensable valueto students and researchers interested in transitional economics and economic history.

Firms do not patent every invention. In many cases they rather rely on trade secrecyorothernon-legalmeanstoprotecttheirintellectualproperty, i. e. the returns on their investments in research and development (R&D). A patent confers to its ownerthe exclusiverights to prevent third parties frommaking, using, o?ering for sale, selling, or importing for these purposes the patent protected product (Art. 28, Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Int- lectual Property Rights (TRIPs)). In exchange for the temporary monopoly which is securedby this protection, the patentee has todisclose the invention in a manner su?ciently clear and complete for it to be carried out by a p- son skilled in the art (Art. 83, European Patent Convention (EPC)). Thus every patent has the drawbackof a possible loss of a technologicalleadership caused by the mandatory disclosure of formerly proprietary knowledge. The patentee has to fear that this transfer of enabling knowledge included in the patent description may bene't his rivals by facilitating their rapid catch-up. The relevance and actual enforcement of the disclosurerequirement is und- lined by the European Commission's Green Paper on Innovation (European Commission (1996)). In the so-called Route of Action 8 on the promotion of intellectual and industrial property it is stated that a desirable action should be the"promotion of patent information services as a method of technology watch based, in particular, on the information system set up by the European Patent O?ce"(European Commission (1996), p. 42).

This book aims to systematically assess laws and practices, close gaps that currently prevent a full profiling of financial participation, provide a description of individual countries against the background of comparable scores for the EU 27 and to promote a common platform for financial participation within the European Union.

This book provides an authoritative, inter-disciplinary, and up-to-date survey of relevant concepts, research areas, and applications of intellectual capital. Until now, the literature had lacked a comprehensive analysis of intellectual capital (IC) in regard to sustainability, block chain, and other related technologies and virtual environments. This book shows the importance of intellectual capital for contemporary organizations: how it contributes to theories of the firm, how it affects organizational performance, how is it linked with the organizational ambidexterity, how it connects to the technological developments like block chain and digital technologies, and what would be its association with sustainability. Central to our thesis is the systemic nature of intellectual capital in organizations: how intellectual capital interacts with and complements other organizational resources and developments. This book also shows as to how applying the notion of intellectual capital to organizations requires us to consider how intangible forms of capital differ from more traditional forms, implying the need for a theory of firm that accommodates a concept of dynamic, heterogeneous intellectual capital. Although a lot has been written on IC, this book proves to be the first with scholastic and action-oriented perspective on as to how a firm can manage its IC to create value. This book also demonstrates as to how the subjective aspects of IC can be measured and what can be their strategic implications. A discussion on IC disclosure also appears in the latter part of the book. In doing so, this book reveals as to how the value creation of today's businesses is driven by the IC. This book also introduces the readers to the new application of IC and its association with the contemporary disruptive technologies. This is a book for IC researchers and academicians who want to understand the diverse aspects of IC, for business managers who want to be at the cutting edge, for those early in their careers who seek a challenging new path, and for the top-level managers of the world who have their eye on the future.

Shipbuilding in the United Kingdom provides a systematic historical account of the British Shipbuilders Corporation, first looking at this major industry under private enterprise, then under state control, and finally back in private hands. The chapters trace the evolution of public policy regarding shipbuilding, ship repair, and large marine engine building through the tenures of radically different Labour and Conservative governments, and through the response of the board of the British Shipbuilders Corporation, trade unions, and local management also. The book benefits from comprehensive archival research and interviews from the 1990s with leading players in the industry, as well as politicians, shipbuilders, trade union leaders, and senior civil servants. This authoritative monograph is a valuable resource for advanced students and researchers across the fields of business history, economic history, industrial history, labour history, maritime history, and British history.

The book explores the evolving economics of gold as a global commodity as well as the production and trade of gold in and from the African continent. The growth of gold as an increasingly important and diverse source of African wealth is examined, alongside the impact that the rise of China in the 21st century has had on the demand for gold. The volatility of the gold price has increased as a result of the dramatic decline of gold demand for manufacturing purposes. Gold is Africa's second largest export after oil and is a perfect metaphor for a continent rich in resources while so much of its population lives in such dire poverty. The artisanal and small scale gold mining (ASGM) sector, is surprisingly widely perceived as being beneficial to the development of Africa despite its exploitation and dreadful health and environmental consequences. African Gold: Production, Trade and Economic Development considers policy issues regarding the gold mining sector, the economics of beneficiation, the retreat of jewelry manufacturing across the continent as well as 'Africa's golden future'. It is a relevant book for both academics and policymakers interested in Africa, natural resource, and development economics.

"Schedule-Based Modeling of Transportation Networks: Theory and Applications" follows the book Schedule-Based Dynamic Transit Modeling, published in this series in 2004, recognizing the critical role that schedules play in transportation systems.

Conceived for the simulation of transit systems, in the last few years the schedule-based approach has been expanded and applied to operational planning of other transportation schedule services besides mass transit, e.g. freight transport. This innovative approach allows forecasting the evolution over time of the on-board loads on the services and their time-varying performance, using credible user behavioral hypotheses. It opens new frontiers in transportation modeling to support network design, timetable setting, and investigation of congestion effects, as well as the assessment of such new technologies, such as users system information (ITS technologies).

The economic climate is ripe for another golden age of shareholder activism

"Deep Value: How Shareholder Activist Hedge Funds Battle for Control of The World's Leading Corporations" is a must-read exploration of deep value investment strategy, describing the evolution of the theories of valuation and shareholder activism from Graham to Icahn and beyond. The book combines engaging anecdotes with industry research to illustrate the principles and methods of this complex strategy, and explains the reasoning behind seemingly incomprehensible activist maneuvers. Written by an active value investor, "Deep Value" provides an insider's perspective on shareholder activist strategies in a format accessible to both professional investors and laypeople.

The Deep Value investment philosophy as described by Graham initially identified targets by their discount to liquidation value. This approach was extremely effective, but those opportunities are few and far between in the modern market, forcing activists to adapt. Current activists assess value from a much broader palate, and exploit a much wider range of tools to achieve their goals. "Deep Value" enumerates and expands upon the resources and strategies available to value investors today, and describes how the economic climate is allowing value investing to re-emerge. Topics include: Target identification, and determining the most advantageous endsStrategies and tactics of effective activismUnseating management and fomenting changeEyeing conditions for the next M&A boom

Activist hedge funds have been quiet since the early 2000s, but economic conditions, shareholder sentiment, and available opportunities are creating a fertile environment for another golden age of activism. "Deep Value: How Shareholder Activist Hedge Funds Battle for Control of The World's Leading Corporations" provides the in-depth information investors need to get up to speed before getting left behind.

This latest volume of "Advances" contains a series of original and innovative empirical and survey papers that investigate theoretical and contemporary issues facing participatory organizations. The first four papers explore the growing area of participatory and labor-managed firms' survival. The second group of three papers offers a number of new approaches and insights into the performance effects of participatory firms, and the final group of papers provides a broad-ranging synthesis and assessment of the experience of employee ownership and participation in transition economies. Collectively, these nine papers truly constitute "Advances in the Economic Analysis of Participatory and Labor-Managed Firms."

The Covid, climate and cost of living crises all hang heavy in the air. It's more obvious than ever that we need radical social and political change. But in the vacuum left by defeated labour movements, where should we begin? For longtime workplace activist Ian Allinson, the answer is clear: organising at work is essential to rebuild working-class power. The premise is simple: organising builds confidence, capacity and collective power - and with power we can win change. Workers Can Win is an essential, practical guide for rank-and-file workers and union activists. Drawing on more than 20 years of organising experience, Allinson combines practical techniques with an analysis of the theory and politics of organising and unions. The book offers insight into tried and tested methods for effective organising. It deals with tactics and strategies, and addresses some of the roots of conflict, common problems with unions and the resistance of management to worker organising. As a 101 guide to workplace organising with politically radical horizons, Workers Can Win is destined to become an essential tool for workplace struggles in the years to come.

This book comprises chapters authored by experts who are professors and researchers in internationally recognized universities and research institutions. The book presents the results of research and descriptions of real-world systems, services, and technologies. Reading this book, researchers, professional practitioners, and graduate students will gain a clear vision on the state of the art of the research and real-world practice on system dependability and analytics. The book is published in honor of Professor Ravishankar K. Iyer, the George and Ann Fisher Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Urbana, Illinois. Professor Iyer is ACM Fellow, IEEE Fellow, AAAS Fellow, and served as Interim Vice Chancellor of UIUC for research during 2008-2011. The book contains chapters written by many of his former students.

This volume brings together current academic research and knowledge on the economics and management of professional road cycling. Each chapter treats a particular economic aspect of the sport, from organizational structure to marketing, finance, media coverage, labor, strategic behavior, and competitive balance. By discussing the existing research and complementing it with the newest concepts, ideas and data on professional road cycling, this book sets an agenda for further academic research while providing insights for all stakeholders in cycling: governments, cycling's governing bodies, team managers, race organizers, sponsors, media. Furthermore, the unique characteristics of the sport of cycling explored within this text inform broader management and industrial organization research, as they extend analyses of team labor, broadcast revenue generation, and sponsorship financing models. Revised and updated for the second edition, this volume includes new chapters on women's professional road cycling, the economic impact of hosting major cycling events, and the willingness to pay for professional road cycling events. This book is equally of interest to academic researchers, students studying sports economics, and policy makers, such as race organizers, team managers, and sponsors.