The work contains selected and thoroughly reviewed research papers of the topics Operations Management, Supply Chain Management, Digitalization, Sustainability, Transportation Management, Process Management, Risk Management, Corporate Social Responsibility and Governance. The papers reflect the current state-of-the-art in logistics and supply chain management and new ideas and technical developments are discussed.

This book presents contributions of intelligent management theories and models for a more effective management of sustainable business practices in competitive, profitable and socially responsible organizations. It communicates the latest developments and thinking on the sustainability and intelligent management subjects worldwide, increasing the knowledge and effectiveness of all those involved in these areas whether in the profit or non-profit sectors or in the public or private sectors.

Internet and World Wide Web platforms, big data analytics, software, social media and civic technologies allow for the creation of smart ecosystems in which connected intelligence emerges and disruptive social and eco-innovation flourishes. This book focuses on three grand challenges that matter for any territory, no matter where it is located: (i) smart growth, a path that more and more cities, regions and countries are adopting having realised the unlimited potential of growth that is based on knowledge, innovation and digital technologies; (ii) safety and security, which is a pre-requisite for quality of life in a world of intense social, natural and technological threats; and (iii) sustainability, use of renewable energy, protection of living ecosystems, addressing climate change and global warming in a period of rapid urbanisation that makes established sustainability models and planning patterns quickly obsolete. The core argument of the book is that problem-solving and novel solutions to these grand challenges emerge in smart ecosystems through connected intelligence. It is the broadest form of intelligence that combines capabilities from heterogeneous actors (humans, organisations, machines) and propel problem-solving through externalities and resource agglomeration, user engagement and collaboration, awareness and behaviour change. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of urban and regional studies, innovation studies, economic geography and urban planning, as well as urban policy makers.

Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) are becoming more and more relevant both for their innovative content and as innovation boosters for manufacturing firms and, with this scenario in mind, this book first offers an in-depth analysis of what innovation in KIBS is and its performance outcomes, and then synthesizes what we know about KIBS firms' innovation models, as well as their specific peculiarities and limitations. This book examines the recent trends in innovation, service design and development in KIBS, starting from a review of the extant literature, explaining the role and specific traits of innovation in KIBS. Then, it progresses our knowledge about KIBS and about how new technologies are offering unique opportunities to use and share their knowledge, within and across boundaries. The book also includes several cases that show how, at the micro level, firms can effectively design their services and boost their innovation performance, by overcoming some of the traditional limits of innovation in services. While KIBS literature traditionally emphasizes that innovative and performing KIBS firms rely on tight client-provider interactions with service customization, recent research suggests that alternative modes of innovation are viable for performing KIBS firms: KIBS firms can develop mass customization strategies, ease interactions with clients via ICT interfaces and leverage on focused collaborations with expert clients. Particularly, the digitalization and ICT technologies are fostering platform and modular architectural designs of KIBS, as in the software and web design services. The book seeks a broader understanding of innovation in KIBS in the digital era and will be an essential guide for both academics and practitioners interested in KIBS innovation and design.

This book advances the international debate on the development of e-commerce with focus on emerging ASEAN economies. It provides readers insights on Asia's needs and efforts to improve the regional legal and economic conditions to support e-commerce. This book looks at the rules and regulations on e-commerce, and e-commerce for inclusiveness growth. It provides insights from several ASEAN member states and discovers the requirements for Asian countries to better grasp the new juncture of growth associated with economic digitalization, which also have deep implications on continuous regional integration and community-building.

Written by two of the field's most respected researchers, Modern Industrial Organization goes beyond the traditional structure-conduct-performance framework by using the latest advances in microeconomic theory, including transaction cost analysis, game theory, contestability, and information economics. Updated to reflect new trends and topics, the 4th Edition focuses on providing students with a clear, unified structure for analysing theories and empirical evidence about the organisation of firms and industries.

Public-Private Partnerships for Infrastructure - Principles of Policy and Finance, Second Edition explains how public private partnerships are prepared, procured, financed, and managed from both the public- and private-sector perspectives. As the use of public private partnerships continues to develop world-wide, both in the area of public policy and private financing and contracting, the Second Edition of this leading textbook: Captures and explains the latest approaches, providing a comprehensive all-round guide for those on both the public- and private-sector sides of the table Emphasises a step-by-step approach within a comprehensive, cross-referenced format Includes clear explanations of PPP evaluation, structuring and financing concepts for the benefit of those new to the topic: no prior knowledge is assumed or required Provides detailed reference points for more experienced practitioners Draws from the authors' experience and practice in PPP markets worldwide to provide a perspective on practical application of the key underlying principles Includes an extensive glossary of technical and financial terms used in the PPP sector

"If a partner understands better the role alliances play in business strategy, is able to engage in a strategic conversation around the needs for and benefits derived from an alliance, and has a more sophisticated approach to partner selection, there should be fewer conflicts down the road." -from Alliance Competence

Dell Computers revolutionized the PC market when the company formed an alliance between Intel and FedEx. Through this partnership, Dell was able to mass-customize and deliver computers faster than most of its competitors.

With monthly losses around $1 million, USAir decided to join forces with British Airways. Through this alliance, USAir became a global player in the airline industry, and gave both companies the ability to save millions in annual costs by incorporating joint purchasing of services, fuel, aircraft, and more.

Strategic alliances are becoming more and more essential to the viability of a company. These alliances are pervasive throughout the corporate landscape and have a big impact on the way business is conducted across the globe. Written by strategy experts from the University of Virginia's prestigious Darden School, Alliance Competence combines the latest research and case studies to explore the key aspects necessary to develop a successful alliance.

Enhanced by a five-year study of global companies, this book offers unique insights about building the foundations of alliance competence. These competencies provide firms with a source of sustainable competitive advantage that will help them compete more successfully in global markets. Through actual "war stories" the problems and challenges that alliances tend to face are revealed, as well as concrete suggestions for managing through the evolutionary cycle.

After examining all the research available, the authors introduce a process they've developed called The No Blame Review(TM) (NBR). This collaborative, nonjudgmental process helps alliances constructively confront times when the alliance seems off track. The NBR creates an objective, nonthreatening, and non-value-laden opportunity for alliance managers and strategic sponsors on both sides to raise, investigate, and review serious issues. It also allows partners to check the alliance's vital signs and to make a determination that all systems are in alignment. This process provides the most positive approach to conflict resolution.

The insight, real-world examples, and research featured in Alliance Competence will give you the tools and diagnostics necessary for locating potential allies and creating a successful alliance.

"A thoughtful, experience-based exploration of the subtleties and nuances that must be addressed when entering into complex alliance relationships. Required reading!" -Lawrence M. Small, President and COO, Fannie Mae

"From global service enterprises to e-business start-ups, firms in the future will win or lose by how well they manage their alliance strategies. This book is a gold mine of valuable perspectives, useful advice, and practical checklists that will help you tilt the game in your favor. Read it and, more importantly, use it to develop your own alliance competence." -Benjamin Gomes-Casseres, Director, MBA Program, Brandeis University and author,

The Alliance Revolution

"This book gives us a frame for learning-in terms of basics, it's the best I've seen. A must-read for those seeking prosperous alliances!" -Dr. Stephan Kessel, Chairman of the Executive Board, Continental AG, Hannover

"In this time when alliances are crucial to the organization, all partners must understand and commit to the success of the alliance. This book makes these issues clear and provides tools to achieve-a very valuable resource for anyone in the business world today." William Mustain, President and CEO, Comdial Corporation

The Socialist Industrial State (1976) examines the state-socialist system, taking as the central example the Soviet Union - where the goals and values of Marxism-Leninism and the particular institutions, the form of economy and polity, were first adopted and developed. It then considers the historical developments, differences in culture, the level of economic development and the political processes of different state-socialist countries around the globe.

This book examines the linkages between exchange rates and India's merchandise trade since the 1990s. It looks at India's trade in the post-liberalisation period through its two main components: commodities and trading partners, and provides a bird's eye view through aggregate analyses accompanied by a historical narrative of the evolution of trade and exchange rate dynamics. Presenting a comprehensive analysis of bilateral and product-specific trade, the book explores the impact of exchange rate on labour intensive sectors and charts out major development. It also offers compelling evidence to suggest that if some commodities are identified as integral to India's export plans, then the impact of exchange rate must be weighed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) prior to a market intervention. This timely volume will be of interest to scholars and researchers of economics, business and finance, development studies, trade, business, and industry as well as practitioners, think-tanks, and policy makers.

The demand for economic inclusion has increasingly intensified, as manifested by the growing movements of farmers, workers, and social activists. Therefore, the question of adequate social representation of marginalized and underprivileged communities has to be made pivotal in the discourse of inclusion. This book investigates selected aspects of labour market informality in India. It examines the key factors that have expedited labour informality- contractualisation - in the manufacturing sector since the early 1990s. It analyses the features of informality and inclusion from the perspective of not just class but also the caste hierarchy in Indian society, thus offering readers an exhaustive overview of economic inclusion following the economic reforms and providing fresh insights into labour market informality through the lens of the social divisions in Indian society. Developed on a wide canvas of multiple processes, policies and factors that have contributed to this phenomenon, the book offers an elaborate analysis of contractualisation within the industry from the perspectives of labour legislation and the labour market. In addition, it contextualizes the issue of job informality for the post economic reforms era, from 1991 onwards. It examines the impact of the policies of economic reform on contractualisation across industries and states. Further, the book discusses the dynamics of the labour market reforms in India, given that there is a higher incidence of labour informality in India. It also highlights how the policy quest for inclusive growth has remained unfulfilled. This book will be a useful guide for advanced students, academic researchers, scholars and policy makers that are engaged with the issue of informal sector employment.

This book is the eighth volume in a series entitled "Contemporary Logistics in China," authored by researchers from the Logistics Research Center at Nankai University. In the spirit of the seven preceding annual volumes, this book carries on the ideal of providing a systematic exposition on the logistics development in China for the English-speaking community at large. Specially, this volume captures China's logistics development at a crucial turning point. This present report consists of ten chapters, organized into three sections. The introductory section, consisting of three chapters, depicts the current development status of the logistics market, the logistics facilities and technology, and the regional logistics market. The second section addresses the logistics characteristics of four rapidly expanding industries in China-the third-party logistics, the highway logistics, the express logistics, and the multimodal transport. The final section, consisting of three chapters, discusses some hot logistics topics in China. Chapter 8 studies the capital operation in China's logistics industry. The next chapter deals with the development of intelligent logistics in China. The last chapter of this section presents the development of regional logistics along the Belt and Road routes. As with the previous volumes, the ultimate aim of this book is to present a timely portrait of the rapid growth of China's logistics market and the status quo of its logistics industry. In so doing, the book offers an in-depth analysis of critical issues involved in the ongoing dynamic and multi-faceted development, and provides a valuable reference resource for interested readers in the academic and professional fields.

Breaking new ground in research on temporary organizations, this volume of Research in the Sociology of Organizations brings together papers that examine how temporary organizations navigate the tensions and deal with the paradoxes that are the consequences of temporal limitation. This volume explores diverse forms of temporary organizations including: animation festivals, cultural celebrations, unconferences, start-up accelerators, humanitarian emergency response, strategic initiatives, projects and megaprojects, project portfolios and networks of projects. This volume uses 3 key questions to unify this empirical diversity: 1. The pace and rhythm of temporary organizing: how do conflicting temporal norms shape work and life in temporary organizations? 2. What are the tactics and practices that temporary organizations develop when dealing with the tensions and paradoxes they confront? 3. When relying for resources and working on behalf of permanent organizations, how do temporary organizations deal with the tensions between attachment to, and detachment from, permanent organizations.

Team-working, partnership, quality circles, works councils, industrial democracy, empowerment - are they distinct and innovative arrangements or is it a case of new wine in old bottles? In the post war period we have seen numerous forms of organizational participation sometimes as experiments, sometimes as negotiated expediency, and sometimes as hype. Different ideas have emerged from different parts of the world, in different industries, at different times with different objectives. In this book four experienced international analysts take the longer view and look at the changing forms of - and changing debates around - orgnaizational participation. The review an extensive literature of experiments and practical experiences through a critical evaluation of the available data to reach balanced conclusions about the importance and utility of this concept for organizations now and in the future.

This book examines failure in the urbanisation of Northwest China as a result of government industrial policies that have impacted on the economic development of the region. By looking at the under-researched provinces of Gansu, Qinghai and Inner Mongolia, which make up a quarter of China's territory, Zheng and Deng challenge the common story of China's miracle growth and reveal the dark side of the country's pursuit of modernity. Severe weather conditions, chronic drought, permanent lack of oxygen and unforgiving terrain in the Northwest make farming, manufacture and services difficult simply because people tend not to stay. Yet, China's current political system forces growth to take place even though basic conditions and prerequisites for market-based growth are missing. This volume analyses 'ghost cities' and social tension in the process of 'forced urbanisation' in which huge amount of resources are wasted, the local environment is systematically damaged and ordinary people's basic rights are brutally violated in the name of higher GDP and greater government glory.

This book contains the description of machines and systems as investments goods in production. These machines have a technological and economical life cycle over the time used. By explaining the paradigms of life cycle management, the book describes how the life cycle of such investment goods can be designed, operated and optimized to deliver maximum benefit in industrial environment. Additional examples from industry including case studies and calculations demonstrate practical applications and deliver benefit not only for academic or educational purpose but also for industrial practitioners.

Urban heritage, which is part of the conceptual expansion of cultural heritage, has become an extraordinarily complex notion. Any aspect of urban life and experience can become heritage and this heritage is then continuously re-interpreted and exploited as a source not only for a city's identification, but also for its cultural and economic innovation. This book provides a detailed overview of Central European urban heritage. It examines the key aspects of urban heritage - tangible/monumental, natural/landscape, world heritage/urban quarter and heritage experience/dark heritage. The 'regimes of urban heritage' approach retraces two hundred years of the development of European urban heritage to understand how it has become so significant and how it could integrate practically every area of urban existence. The novelty of the book is the interpretation of this development as a process of successive and integrating regimes, which are examined through the changing urban heritage agency and discourse. Through the examples of European cities and towns, such as Belgrade, Budapest, Gdansk, Krakow, Ljubljana, Subotica, Szentendre, Vienna, but also Edinburgh, Nordic cities and Rome, these changes reveal their inner complexities and become comparable in an interdisciplinary analysis. Further, a particular aspect of the history of these cities is revealed through the development of their own urban heritage. The book is primarily aimed at academics, researchers and postgraduate students of cultural and economic geography, cultural history, culture and heritage management, modern and contemporary history as well as urban history, planning and sociology.

This book is an introductory text on building measurement and estimating for simple buildings in Hong Kong, based on the Hong Kong Standard Method of Measurement of Building Works 4th Edition Revised 2018 (HKSMM4 Rev 2018). It provides a toolkit for students and surveying technicians who are new to the subject. This second edition updates the contents in line with the HKSMM4 Rev 2018 and incorporates the latest industry developments such as BIM. The main text is divided into five parts following the development of a typical project. Part 1, Building the project team, introduces the team setup for a typical project. Part 2, Deciding the procurement strategy, explains the various procurement decisions to be made by an employer before any cost estimating and measurement work takes place. Part 3, Preparing for tender, covers the tendering methods, tender documentation and approximate estimating techniques used by Quantity Surveyors. Part 4, Measuring quantities, introduces measurement principles and HKSMM4 Rev 2018, followed by a detailed review of the measurement methods for each major trade, with worked examples. Part 5, Estimating unit rates, explores the basic techniques for unit rate preparation. The book contains worked examples from real Hong Kong building projects, self-assessment questions, reminders and points of note. It is essential reading for Hong Kong construction and surveying students, international Quantity Surveyors working in the local area and those wanting international examples of Quantity Surveryors practice.

When we talk about clusters, it's the fabulous destiny of Silicon Valley that first comes to mind - the place where entrepreneurs and policymakers alike flock. But do we really understand the complex mechanics of these clusters? What tools can economics and other related disciplines use to analyze their performance? When it comes to spending taxpayer money to support cluster development, do benefits actually exceed costs? This book provides a synthesis of cluster theory and presents methodologies to analyze their structure and performance. It also contains insights into how to renew regional innovation policy. The French edition of this volume was granted Best Book in Economics 2016 by The French Association of Economics (AFSE)

Despite the size, complexity and importance of the construction industry, there has been little study to date which focuses on the challenge of drawing reliable conclusions from the available data. The accuracy of industry reports has an impact on government policy, the direction and outcomes of research and the practices of construction firms, so confusion in this area can have far reaching consequences. In response to this, Measuring Construction looks at fundamental economic theories and concepts with respect to the construction industry, and explains their merits and shortcomings, sometimes by looking at real life examples. Drawing on current research the contributors tackle: industry performance productivity measurement construction in national accounts comparing international construction costs and prices comparing international productivity The scope of the book is international, using data and publications from four continents, and tackling head on the difficulties arising from measuring construction. By addressing problems that arise everywhere from individual project documentation, right up to national industrial accounts, this much-needed book can have an impact at every level of the industry. It is essential reading for postgraduate construction students and researchers, students of industrial economics, construction economists and policy-makers.

This enlightening text analyses the origins of Western complaints, prevalent in the late nineteenth century, that Japan was characterised at the time by exceptionally low standards of 'commercial morality', despite a major political and economic transformation. As Britain industrialised during the nineteenth century the issue of 'commercial morality' was increasingly debated. Concerns about standards of business ethics extended to other industrialising economies, such as the United States. Hunter examines the Japanese response to the charges levelled against Japan in this context, arguing that this was shaped by a pragmatic recognition that Japan had little choice but to adapt itself to Western expectations if it was to establish its position in the global economy. The controversy and criticisms, which were at least in part stimulated by fear of Japanese competition, are important in the history of thinking on business ethics, and are of relevance for today's industrialising economies as they attempt to establish themselves in international markets.

This book highlights cutting-edge research in the economics and management of networks as an interdisciplinary field, offering new theoretical, empirical and practical perspectives on the management, governance, ownership and control of cooperatives, franchising networks and strategic alliances. Further, it presents a strategic group perspective on franchisers and discusses both social entrepreneurship issues in franchising and franchising strategies for Indigenous entrepreneurship in Australia. Lastly, it offers a dynamic capabilities approach to alliance portfolio management and analyses the antecedents of the transitions taking place in the lifecycles of alliances.

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.

This book tries to build a broad view on industrial processes of large economies and their integration in the world. It provides insight into the industrialization progresses of the quartet of USA, China, Germany and Japan, all attaining individual industrialization success by distinct trade, fiscal and industrial policy path, the underlying principles of which can be traced back to respective nation's roots in civilization. The combination of their industrial output led to the integrated formation of international industrial distribution. While being highly productive, the current distributed pattern yields benefits that are unevenly dispersed among different regions, industries and societal groups within each participating nation and among engaging economies. To address the uneven benefits distribution at both domestic and international levels, large industrial economies took a plethora of policy actions that will impact industrial ecosystem and portfolio results. The book aims to help readers to build better investment strategies and robust risk management practice under the context of uncertainty and successfully navigate through choppy waters in the years ahead.

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.