A major development in recent research on the multinational enterprise (MNE) is the increased attention given to the interdependent, differentiated roles of the subsidiaries and their implications for MNE and subsidiary management. Paralleling this development is the shift away from studying subsidiaries as subunits to be controlled by the headquarters to investigating what subsidiaries do and how their activities can help develop firm-specific advantages. This volume includes contributions from leading scholars in the field from North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Different from the traditional, single-discipline based investigation, it presents a multi-disciplinary approach to researching subsidiary dynamics and its effective management, with a focus on three important issues: the role of the headquarters within the context of subsidiaries as members of a differentiated, interdependent network; the development of subsidiary capabilities and their impact on firm performance; and, subsidiaries as learning agents for the MNE, particularly in emerging markets such as China.

This book describes a wide range real-case applications of Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) in maritime related subjects including shipping, port, maritime logistics, cruise ports, waterfront developments, and shipping finance, etc. In such areas, researchers, students and industrialists, in general, felt struggling to find a step-by-step guide on how to apply MCDM to formulate effective solutions to solving real problems in practice. This book focuses on the in-depth analysis and applications of the most well-known MDCM methodologies in the aforementioned areas. It brings together an eclectic collection of twelve chapters which seek to respond to these challenges. The book begins with an introduction and is followed by an overview of major MCDM techniques. The next chapter examines the theory of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in detail and investigates a fuzzy AHP (FAHP) approach and its capability and rationale in dealing with decision problems of ambiguous information. Chapter 4 proposes a generic methodology to identify the key factors influencing green shipping and to establish an evaluation system for the assessment of shipping greenness. In Chapter 5, the authors describe a new function of fuzzy Evidential Reasoning (ER) to improve the vessel selection process in which multiple criteria with insufficient and ambiguous information are evaluated and synthesized. Chapter 6 presents a novel methodology by using an Artificial Potential Field (APF) model and the ER approach to estimate the collision probabilities of monitoring targets for coastal radar surveillance. Chapter 7 develops the inland port performance assessment model (IPPAM) using a hybrid of AHP, ER and a utility function. The next chapter showcases a challenging approach to address the risk and uncertainty in LNG transfer operations, by utilizing a Stochastic Utility Additives (UTA) method with the help of the philosophy of aggregation-disaggregation coupled with a robustness control procedure. Chapter 9 uses Entropy and Grey Relation Analysis (GRA) to analyze the relative weights of financial ratios through the case studies of the four major shipping companies in Korea and Taiwan: Evergreen, Yang Ming, Hanjin and Hyundai Merchant Marine. Chapter 10 systemically applies modern heuristics to solving MCDM problems in the fields of operation optimisation in container terminals. Arguing that bunkering port selection is typically a multi-criteria group decision problem, and in many practical situations, decision makers cannot form proper judgments using incomplete and uncertain information in an environment with exact and crisp values, in Chapter 11, the authors propose a hybrid Fuzzy-Delphi-TOPSIS based methodology with a sensitivity analysis. Finally, Chapter 12deals with a new conceptual port performance indicators (PPIs) interdependency model using a hybrid approach of a fuzzy logic based evidential reasoning (FER) and a decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL).

This book includes details on the environmental implications of recycling, modeling of recycling, processing of recycled materials, recycling potential of materials, characterisation of recycled materials, reverse logistics, case studies of recycling various materials etc.

Although much has been written about the economy of the Soviet Union, little attention has been given to its insurance system. Providing a unique introduction to the topic, Insurance in the Soviet Union examines whether socialist ideology changes the legal foundations and implementation of insurance. The book describes the administrative structure, market, extent of protection, types of policies, and the place of insurance in the general structure of Soviet finance.

Analysis, Control and Optimization of Complex Dynamic Systems gathers in a single volume a spectrum of complex dynamic systems related papers written by experts in their fields, and strongly representative of current research trends. Complex systems present important challenges, in great part due to their sheer size which makes it difficult to grasp their dynamic behavior, optimize their operations, or study their reliability. Yet, we live in a world where, due to increasing inter-dependencies and networking of systems, complexity has become the norm. With this in mind, the volume comprises two parts. The first part is dedicated to a spectrum of complex problems of decision and control encountered in the area of production and inventory systems. The second part is dedicated to large scale or multi-agent system problems occurring in other areas of engineering such as telecommunication and electric power networks, as well as more generic context.

Manufacturing operations are the real wealth creators within a business, accounting for the majority of management and financial assets needed to sustain the company. Make it encapsulates the author's many years of experience gained designing manufacturing systems and supply-chains in factories across the world. It provides a proven, logical sequence of events needed to design effective modular factories capable of competing with the world's best.

In their 1999 'Best-Managed' Companies Awards, 'Aviation Week and Space Technology' (Vol. 150, No. 22) quoted the author's former company, Lucas Aerospace, as achieving 'Most improved major aerospace company 1994 - 1998' status, ranking it second in Competitiveness, assessed by an amalgamation of asset utilisation, productivity and financial stability.
This book has been written for managers charged with the responsibility for improving business profitability and for engineers facing the challenge of introducing more cost effective manufacturing processes. Many manufacturing businesses have failed to invest adequate resources in designing factory operations, mainly due to the lack of expertise and detailed knowledge needed to undertake this demanding task.
John Garside is a Principal Fellow at Warwick International Manufacturing Group, The University of Warwick. This follows an extensive industrial career in highly competitive first tier system and component manufacturing businesses, who supplied many of the world's leading aerospace, automotive and industrial equipment makers.
Written in a concise style giving ready access to information.
Provides detailed checklists allowing managers to make informed judgements concerning the critical resources needed to meet and exceed customer expectations.
Informs you how to 'Make it ' imparting practical knowledge on how to create world class factories.

There are two main approaches to knowledge management (KM), the process-centred approach which treats KM as an interpersonal communication process and the product-centred approach which focuses on the artefacts for knowledge, i.e. the documents, their creation and reuse in corporate computer-based systems. Knowledge Asset Management presents a knowledge asset-centric approach which fuses the previous two approaches together. It provides a conceptual framework to guide managers in the planning and development of the initiative and presents a methodology for organisations to: define and document their knowledge management strategy.- audit and design business processes that enhance and facilitate corporate learning.- facilitate knowledge sharing between people in the organisation.- measure and evaluate the quality and value of the organisation's intellectual capital. The book also introduces a way for developing an intranet-based environment to support: the collection and classification of internal and external information.- reuse of stored knowledge using flexible and customisable knowledge navigators and advanced search mechanisms including keyword and concept-based searching (e.g. visualization of the information space).- collaboration via on-line workspaces. Knowledge Asset Management gives an in-depth look at the technologies and methodologies required for knowledge management. Written by four highly experienced consultants in the field, the books also includes case studies showing how the principles work in practice. "One of the rare books today on Knowledge Management that addresses the leveraging of an organization's intellectual assets by using an integrative and holistic approach. Well worth reading!" Michael Stankosky, Professor of Knowledge Management and Co-founder/co-director of the Institute for Knowledge Management, The George Washington University "This book is a useful illustration of Knowledge Management implementation principles: it synthesizes theoretical and pragmatic approaches to the subject and does a competent job of embracing the various dimensions of a Knowledge Management initiative." Daniele Chauvel, Director, European Center for Knowledge Management; Business School Marseille-Provence "For those organisations who wish to take a strategic view of knowledge management, this book shows how they can take KM to the next level - not driven by a technology solution but based on the strategy and needs of the business." Marc Auckland, Chief Learning Officer and Head of the BT Academy, BT "The KM method proposed in this book enables enterprises to exploit their knowledge more effectively by making it easily available to employees and by facilitating the exchange and integration of information used by knowledge workers in a variety of business situations" Ciro Maddaloni, SOGEI S.p.A., Gruppo Telecom Italia.

Many of the initial developments towards the Internet of Things have focused on the combination of Auto-ID and networked infrastructures in business-to-business logistics and product lifecycle applications. However, the Internet of Things is more than a business tool for managing business processes more efficiently and more effectively it will also enable a more convenient way of life.

Since the term "Internet of Things" first came to attention when the Auto-ID Center launched their initial vision for the EPC network for automatically identifying and tracing the flow of goods within supply-chains, increasing numbers of researchers and practitioners have further developed this vision.

The authors in this book provide a research perspective on current and future developments in the Internet of Things. The different chapters cover a broad range of topics from system design aspects and core architectural approaches to end-user participation, business perspectives and applications.

This book discussing in detail the Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) of the global economy using the comprehensive Multi-Regional Input-Output (MRIO) technique. The content is presented in two parts, the first of which offers an introduction to social accounting and how it has been developed over the past few years with details on the methodologies and databases used. The second part of the book describes the footprints of the social accounts that have the highest impact on people's well-being (employment, income, working conditions,and inequality) and how they are linked to international trade. The need for reporting on such indicators falls within the purview of corporate/national social responsibility (part of the Triple Bottom Line). The book offers a valuable contribution to the literature for researchers and students engaged in the social sciences, human rights, and the implications of international trade on labour in developing countries.iv>

Events Management 1e John Beech, Sebastian Kaiser and Robert Kaspar The Business of Events Management provides an accessible and lively introduction to the practice of managing an event, festival, conference or congress. Written by a team of international experts, the book incorporates the latest thinking in events management and highlights key theories, concepts and models by using a range of case studies and examples. This book will enable you to: * Manage the financial aspects of events management * Understand the impact of events on built and natural environments * Explain the role of volunteers in an event and understand the challenges that managing them involves * Understand the key issues in planning and designing a venue Each chapter features a real-life case study to illustrate key concepts and place theory in a practical context, as well as preparing students to tackle any challenges they may face in managing events. Case studies include the Edinburgh International Festival, the 2010 Winter Olympics and Indian Premier League Cricket.

Design-type research deals with the multidisciplinary issues of methodology of design, design principles and guidelines, and philosophy of design with the aim of producing knowledge that aids designers in becoming more effective and efficient. Design-Type Research in Information Systems: Findings and Practices aims to demonstrate that Design-Type Research is a legitimate scientific activity, particularly in the context of the field of Information Systems. Contending that the philosophy, methodology and principles of traditional science also apply to design-type of science, the research contained within this book is important to the widespread acceptance and promotion of design-type research.

The aim of this book is to present qualitative and qualitative aspects of logistics operations and supply chain management which help to implement the sustainable policy principles in the companies and public sector sinstitutions. Authors in individual chaptersaddress the issues related to reverse network configuration, forward and reverse supply chain integration, CO2 reduction in transportation, improvement of the production operations and management of the recovery activities. Some best practices from different countries and industries are presented. This book will be valuable to both academics and practitioners wishing to deepen their knowledge in the field of logistics operations and management with regard to sustainability issues."

A unique, non-traditional book for business students and members of today's workplaces. Focusing on 4 main topics, 1) Authentic Leadership, 2) Workplace Spirituality, 3) Appreciative Inquiry, and 4) Ethical leadership and Emotional Intelligence, this work offers a series of thought-provoking, motivating, growth-oriented, exercises that will help you tap into your internal locus of control. All exercises have been successfully shared and validated by the contributors during a variety of global Organization Behavior related conferences, as well as in classrooms and corporate workshops. The exercises are widely diverse, and come from instructors from various cultures, which guarantees their global appeal. A great book that focuses on increased interaction, greater participation, and understanding by doing.

This book gives a thorough and systematic introduction to the latest research results on hesitant fuzzy and its extensions decision making theory. It includes five chapters: Hesitant Fuzzy Set and its Extensions, Distance Measures for Hesitant Fuzzy Sets and Their Extensions, Similarity Measures for Hesitant Fuzzy Sets and Their Extensions, Entropy Measures for Hesitant Fuzzy Sets and Their Extensions, and Application of Information Measures in Multiple Criteria Decision Making. These methodologies are also implemented in various fields such as decision making, medical diagnosis, cluster analysis, environmental management, etc. This book is suitable for the engineers, technicians, and researchers in the fields of fuzzy mathematics, operations research, information science and management science and engineering, etc. It can also be used as a textbook for postgraduate and senior-year undergraduate students of the relevant professional institutions of higher learning.

Computational intelligence (CI) lies at the interface between engineering and computer science; control engineering, where problems are solved using computer-assisted methods. Thus, it can be regarded as an indispensable basis for all artificial intelligence (AI) activities. This book collects surveys of most recent theoretical approaches focusing on fuzzy systems, neurocomputing, and nature inspired algorithms. It also presents surveys of up-to-date research and application with special focus on fuzzy systems as well as on applications in life sciences and neuronal computing.

"Global Health, Pharmaceutical Industry and BRIC "explores the status and future growth of the global pharmaceutical industry and the changing needs of global health. Brazil, Russia, and China combined will be the largest pharmaceutical producer and has the largest pharmaceutical market potential in the world. This book fulfiles the need for a comprehensive book on the role of the global pharmecutical industry in general, and the participation of BRIC in specific to address global health needs.

In a technology-driven world, it is essential that enterprises develop reliable and rapid flows of knowledge to distribute evenly across organizations, time and place, and individuals in order to sustain a competitive advantage. However, most leaders and managers are unacquainted with effective knowledge flow practices. Harnessing Dynamic Knowledge Principles in the Technology-Driven World provides actionable principles of Knowledge Flow Theory to identify and solve problems for implementing these principles into practice. With emerging developments and widespread applicability, this book is a practical guide for scholars, business managers, and enterprise leaders and managers interested in understanding the dynamics of knowledge flows for competitive advantage in a technology-driven world.

Enterprise Interoperability is the ability of an enterprise or organisation to work with other enterprises or organisations without special effort. It is now recognised that interoperability of systems and thus sharing of information is not sufficient to ensure common understanding between enterprises. Knowledge of information meaning and understanding of how is to be used must also be shared if decision makers distributed between those enterprises in the network want to act consistently and efficiently. Industry's need for Enterprise Interoperability has been one of the significant drivers for research into the Internet of the Future. EI research will embrace and extend contributions from the Internet of Things and the Internet of Services, and will go on to drive the future needs for Internets of People, Processes, and Knowledge.

Over the past several decades, as the pace of globalization has accelerated, operational issues of international coordination have often been overlooked. For example, the global financial crisis that began in 2007 is attributed, in part, to a lack of regulatory oversight. As a result, supranational organizations, such as the G-20, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, have prioritized strengthening of the international financial architecture and providing opportunities for dialogue on national policies, international co-operation, and international financial institutions.

Prevailing characteristics of the global economic systems, such as the increasing power of financial institutions, changes in the structure of global production, decline in the authority of nation-states over their national economy, and creation of global institutional setting, e.g., global governance have created the conditions for a naturally evolving process towards enabling national epistemic communities to create institutions that comply with global rules and regulations can control crises.

In this context, transfer of technical knowledge from the larger organizations and its global epistemic communities to member communities is becoming a policy tool to "convince" participants in the international system to have similar ideas about which rules will govern their mutual participation. In the realm of finance and banking regulation, the primary focus is on transfer of specialized and procedural knowledge in technical domains (such as accounting procedures, payment systems, and corporate governance principles), thereby promoting institutional learning at national and local levels. In this volume, the authors provide in-depth analysis of initiatives to demonstrate how this type of knowledge generated at the international organization level, is codified into global standards, and disseminated to members, particularly in the developing world, where the legal and regulatory infrastructure is often lacking.
They argue that despite the challenges, when a country intends to join the global system, its institutions and economic structures need to move toward the global norms. In so doing, they shed new light on the dynamics of knowledge transfer, financial regulation, economic development, with particular respect to supporting global standards and avoiding future crises. "