Personal technology continues to evolve every day, but business technology does not follow that trend. Business IT is often treated as a necessary evil that can't be relied upon to take companies to the next level in their corporate evolution. In "The Golden Age of Drive-Thru IT," author Kedar Sathe offers useful, wide-ranging, and imaginative advice about how to revive and strengthen IT departments.

Sathe, who has been programming computers since age fourteen, discusses how businesses must establish and execute new IT strategies to maintain and increase their bottom line. "The Golden Age of Drive-Thru IT" describes various aspects of technology and how IT can rise to every occasion and become a strategic enabler. It shows how IT can become nimble and flexible, yet produce robust and graceful solutions that allow companies to drive toward success in an efficient and enriching fashion.

"The Golden Age of Drive-Thru IT" communicates how innovative ideas and smart, enthusiastic contributors will allow IT transformations to take place, reinvent itself, rise to its true potential, and stop selling itself short.

Ideal for college students in intermediate finance courses, this book uniquely applies mathematical formulas to teach the underpinnings of financial and lending decisions, covering common applications in real estate, capital budgeting, and commercial loans. An updated and expanded version of the time-honored classic text on financial math, this book provides, in one place, a complete and practical treatment of the four primary venues for finance: commercial lending, financial formulas, mortgage lending, and resource allocation or capital budgeting techniques. With an emphasis on understanding the principles involved rather than blind reliance on formulas, the book provides rigorous and thorough explanations of the mathematical calculations used in determining the time value of money, valuation of loans by commercial banks, valuation of mortgages, and the cost of capital and capital budgeting techniques for single as well as mutually exclusive projects. This new edition devotes an entire chapter to a method of evaluating mutually exclusive projects without resorting to any imposed conditions. Two chapters not found in the previous edition address special topics in finance, including a novel and innovative way to approach amortization tables and the time value of money for cash flows when they increase geometrically or arithmetically. This new edition also features helpful how-to sections on Excel applications at the end of each appropriate chapter. Lays the foundation of all the topics that are typically covered in a financial management textbook or class Demonstrates how the mastery of a few basic concepts-such as the time value of money under all possible situations-allows for a precise understanding of more complex topics in finance Describes how all advanced capital budgeting techniques can be reduced to the simplest technique-the payback period method Examines traditional financial techniques using simple interest rate and accounting rate of return methods to conclusively show how these practices are now defunct

This book is for corporate managers with a mandate for 'innovation', but no idea how to make that happen.C-suite executives and boards of directors are increasingly looking for companies to reinvent themselves or risk being left behind. With this book, companies can monetize employee's ideas in a manner that doesn't cost a fortune or create conflicts of interest within the ranks. Not every creative expression is going to result in tens of millions of dollars in revenue-but many will create licensing opportunities that are, at the very least, essentially free money for new product development. Another cadre of readers will realize their innovation-rich futures are languishing in corporate purgatory. Should they quit and pitch their 'million-dollar idea' to another organization entirely (as outsiders), or can they take this book to their leaders and drive change, one manager at a time?

This book advances our understanding of interaction processes in multi-organisational partnerships, alliances and networks. By adopting a relational approach on collaboration, control, learning, conflict in and failure of inter-organisational relationships and networks, the book attempts to fill an existing gap in the literature. In so doing, it poses and answers leading questions such as: Which processes matter inside inter-organisational relationships and networks? What are the consequences of relations within them? The contributors' approach is relatively novel in the field of network studies: the process or relational stance taken complements existing knowledge on structural characteristics of inter-organisational relationships and networks. A number of key processes essential to their functioning and performance are addressed, and a future research agenda for structuralist, interactionist and combined approaches is recommended. Academics and practitioners focussing on organisation studies in general, and inter-organisational network research more specifically, will find this book a compelling read, as will consultants in inter-organisational collaboration and relationships.

Organizations of all kinds struggle to understand, adapt, respond and manipulate changing conditions in their internal and external environments. Approaches based on the causal, linear logic of mechanistic sciences and engineering continue to play an important role, given people's ability to create order. But such approaches are valid only within carefully circumscribed boundaries. They become counterproductive when the same organizations display the highly reflexive, context-dependent, dynamic nature of systems in which agents learn and adapt and new patterns emerge. The rapidly expanding discussion about complex systems offers important contributions to the integration of diverse perspectives and ultimately new insights into organizational effectiveness. There is increasing interest in complexity in mainstream business education, as well as in specialist business disciplines such as knowledge management. Real world systems can't be completely designed, controlled, understood or predicted, even by the so-called sciences of complexity, but they can be more effective when understood as complex systems. While many scientific disciplines explore complexity principally through abstract mathematical models and simulations, Emergence: Complexity & Organization explores the emerging understanding of human systems from both the 'hard' quantitative sciences and the the 'soft' qualitative perspectives. This 2006 Annual includes articles from Elizabeth McMillan, Daniel Solow, Kathleen Carley, Paul Cilliers, Ysanne Carlisle, James Hazy, and many more, which explore a range of complexity-related topics from philosophical concerns through to the practical application of complexity ideas, concepts and frameworks in human organizations. Also included are a series of three reproductions of classical papers in the fields of complexity and systems, each with critical introductions that explore their modern relevance: "The Philosophic Functions of Emergence" by Charles A. Baylis (originally published in 1929); "Novelty, Indeterminism, and Emergence" by W. T. Stace (originally published in 1939); "The Functions of the Executive: The Individual and Organization" by Chester I. Barnard(originally published in 1938).

"Leaders everywhere" are frustrated by the challenges of leading a team, growing the organization, and overcoming a difficult economy. How do successful leaders actually accomplish their goals? Through applying the laws of nature, every leader can achieve his or her goals. Learn from occurrences such as oil spills, wildfires, soil erosion, and more. By observing how other successful leaders have applied these lessons, you will find a path to being an influential leader. This book is written for every leader who desires to excel and refuses to accept second best for his or her organization. There is a growing need for outstanding leaders who will undertake the challenges and lead their organizations forward. Learn how to hire and retain talent, increase productivity, and empower your team to greatness

How well does your organization manage the risks associated with information quality? Managing information risk is becoming a top priority on the organizational agenda. The increasing sophistication of IT capabilities along with the constantly changing dynamics of global competition are forcing businesses to make use of their information more effectively. Information is becoming a core resource and asset for all organizations; however, it also brings many potential risks to an organization, from strategic, operational, financial, compliance, and environmental to societal. If you continue to struggle to understand and measure how information and its quality affects your business, this book is for you. This reference is in direct response to the new challenges that all managers have to face. Our process helps your organization to understand the "pain points" regarding poor data and information quality so you can concentrate on problems that have a high impact on core business objectives. This book provides you with all the fundamental concepts, guidelines and tools to ensure core business information is identified, protected and used effectively, and written in a language that is clear and easy to understand for non-technical managers.
Shows how to manage information risk using a holistic approach by examining information from all sourcesOffers varied perspectives of an author team that brings together academics, practitioners and researchers (both technical and managerial) to provide a comprehensive guideProvides real-life case studies with practical insight into the management of information risk and offers a basis for broader discussion among managers and practitioners

Understanding the basic tenets of management is certainly important, but following the conventional wisdom-such as not "wasting time"-is not necessarily the key to solving problems or achieving personal success. Providing advice that goes against that conventional wisdom is exactly what this book is about, whether it concerns how to get things done as you move up in a company or how to develop relationships and support both inside and outside an organization. In fact, not only is the advice unconventional-and in many cases heretical-so too are the subjects covered. For example, the importance of validating assumptions is not something you are likely to read about in most business books. But as Howard Pines explains, if you don't, you are likely to make both embarrassing and sometimes costly errors. Similarly, while there are many books that will tell you how to get a job, there are virtually no others that explain how to determine the best time and way to leave a job and/or a business. In addition, even when discussing aspects of business that are covered in other books, such as negotiating or dealing with change, the author enables you to see those subjects in a way that is both different and helpful. "Wasting Time" does not, however, provide simple answers. Rather, based on the author's fifty years of hands-on experience as a human resources executive, successful HR consultant, and business owner, the book shows how even issues that appear to be straightforward may, in reality, provide interesting dilemmas that require creative thinking and non-traditional approaches if you want to achieve the best solution

These five short stories are about people and organisations struggling with change. In each tale our hero or heroine experiences one of the major pitfalls that beset people going through change at work and discovers how to turn the situation on its head. In short, they learn to work with the grain of human nature and thereby achieve successful change. Although the stories are easy and enjoyable to read, each one packs a punch, illustrating a key technique for dealing with change; the book makes an excellent training aid, and an inspiring read for anyone grappling with the challenges of change. 5 Tales of Change is a companion volume to the author's first book, The 5 Forces of Change, described by Professional Manager Magazine as " - a masterclass on the competencies required to achieve effective organisational change - This work provides an outstanding guide to managers charged with securing organisational change in today's volatile business environment."