Thanks to its engaging writing style and accessible structure, Fletcher has become the ultimate one-stop text for any student studying Tourism. Its broad appeal and popularity increases with each new edition, making it excellent value for any student who wants to understand and explore the principles of the subject. Well-liked by students and lecturers alike, Tourism: Principles and Practice is the ultimate reference text for anyone wishing to understand the complex and varied issues involved with such a diverse and constantly changing subject.

This book covers all sustainable fibres applicable in the fashion sector and discusses their importance in the context of sustainability. It is the first of its kind to address all the minute details pertaining to these fibres and to connect these fibres with the world of sustainable fashion. It stresses their importance in developing sustainable apparel, since fibres play a major role as the starting point in the life cycle of clothing.

Plant Factory: An Indoor Vertical Farming System for Efficient Quality Food Production, Second Edition presents a comprehensive look at the implementation of plant factory (PF) practices to yield food crops for both improved food security and environmental sustainability. Edited and authored by leading experts in PF and controlled environment agriculture (CEA), the book is divided into five sections, including an Overview and the Concept of Closed Plant Production Systems (CPPS), the Basics of Physics and Physiology - Environments and Their Effects, System Design, Construction, Cultivation and Management and Plant Factories in Operation. In addition to new coverage on the rapid advancement of LED technology and its application in indoor vertical farming, other revisions to the new edition include updated information on the status of business R&D and selected commercial PFALs (plant factory with artificial lighting). Additional updates include those focused on micro and mini-PFALs for improving the quality of life in urban areas, the physics and physiology of light, the impact of PFAL on the medicinal components of plants, and the system design, construction, cultivation and management issues related to transplant production within closed systems, photoautotrophic micro-propagation and education, training and intensive business forums on PFs.

Edward Huizenga explores how knowledge and service intensive companies can thrive on innovation and entrepreneurship in the ICT sector. He applies new theoretical insights from strategy and organisation theory, and includes case studies of 30 European service companies. These case studies address the key innovation issues and present answers as to why a constant search for innovation improves firms' competitive position. The key success factors are identified together with those differences that define the frontrunners who are able to turn new ideas into profit. With its mix of academic insights, managerial practices and implementations, this book benchmarks company performance in innovation and develops new theoretical strategy insights including; resource-based ideas; firm's innovation styles; strategic timing; the customer's involvement and the management implications. Innovation Management in the ICT Sector is aimed at, and will be of value to, a readership of academics in the area of strategic management, organisation and innovation, policymakers involved in innovation and economic growth at all levels of government as well as managers in the ICT sector.

A successful construction business is a knowledge business. And knowledge must be managed effectively to be used efficiently, especially in a complex project-oriented business such as construction, where skills acquired and lessons learned on one project need to be applied to the next. A holistic approach to knowledge management (KM) is taken in this book to incorporate all of the relevant themes, tackling technological, socio-cultural and organisational issues, with the creation of value as a focus throughout. Information is drawn from a broad range of sources to explain core theories and provide guidance on practical application. Topics covered include: * changing business relationships in a knowledge economy; * knowledge creation processes and theories; * data, text and knowledge mining techniques; * the learning construction organisation; * future technology for knowledge management. Written by the authors of the first EU-funded KM research project in the field of construction, this textbook is uniquely well-researched, and is the perfect introduction to KM for students across the built environment. It is also a crucial guide to the topic for practitioners.

Get your organization's expertise out of its silos and make it flow-with lessons from over a decade of experience

Looking at knowledge management in a holistic way, "Mastering Organizational Knowledge Flow: How to Make Knowledge Sharing Work" puts the proper emphasis on non-technical issues. As knowledge is deeply connected to humans, the author moves away from the often overused and therefore burned-out term "knowledge management" to the better-suited term "knowledge flow management."Provides lessons learned and case studies from real experienceDiscusses key knowledge flow components, success factors and traps, and where to start

Covering topics such as the power of scaling, internal marketing, measuring success, cultural aspects of sharing, and the role of Web2.0, "Mastering Organizational Knowledge Flow: How to Make Knowledge Sharing Work" allows you to stay up-to-date with today's knowledge flow management, and implement best practices to position your organization to take advantage of all of its assets.

The proceedings volume consists of academic papers on decision-making under uncertainty, smart decision, stochastic optimization, management simulation and its applications. It presents some compelling and valuable results on the cutting-edge modeling methods and the practical case studies in the operations management process for power, transportation, and logistics companies.

This volume collects research papers addressing topical issues in economics and management with a particular focus on dynamic models which allow to analyze and foster the decision making of firms in dynamic complex environments. The scope of the contributions ranges from daily operational challenges firms face to strategic choices in dynamic industry environments and the analysis of optimal growth paths. The volume also highlights recent methodological developments in the areas of dynamic optimization, dynamic games and meta-heuristics, which help to improve our understanding of (optimal) decision making in a fast evolving economy.

This is one of the most important books ever published in the West on Japanese culture."" - Times Literary Supplement ""In both scope and sophistication of argument presented, Najita's Visions of Virtue ranks among the best books to appear in recent years in the field of Japanese intellectual history."" - Journal of Asian Studies

Technology Transfer and US Public Sector Innovation provides an overview of US technology policies that are the genesis for observed technology transfer activities. By describing the technology transfer process from US federal laboratories and other public sector organizations, this exploration informs the reader in detail of how the transfer process behaves and the social benefits associated with it. Empirical information and evidence are presented on myriad forms of technology transfer including, but not limited to, patents, licenses and CRADA activity. Publications are a form of technology transfer as are new metrics that quantify the efficiency of the technology transfer process. Link and Oliver's work will be of great use to public policy makers in industrialized countries, scientists in federal laboratories worldwide and academic researchers. In addition, it will hold an important position in national and academic libraries.

The more complex and ambiguous this world becomes, the greater the uncertainty leaders will face in their day to day professional and personal lives, and the greater the need to recognize and develop their leadership skills to help be the voice of reason when there's nothing around them but chaos. The book presents real case studies where the authors offer action learning methodologies grounded in various leadership theories. Whether you are a firm or skeptical believer in leadership development, the authors in this book, through their experiences and observations, illustrate how awareness, purpose, attitude, confidence, trust and mindset can play such a critical role in overcoming the toughest of circumstances.

A critical reviews on state-owned enterprise (SOE) reforms and enterprise governance in China, including the challenge, quandary and outlook Combines both theorectical and empirical discussions on China's SOE mixed-ownership reform The Chinese version is a prize winning title, giving insights into China's enterprise reform and development

This book carries on the ideal of providing a systematic exposition of the logistics development in China to the English-reading community at large in the spirit of the four predecessor volumes, published in previous years. This book is the fifth volume in a series entitled "Contemporary Logistics in China", authored by the researchers in Logistics Center at Nankai University. Specially, the opening chapter of this book presents a synopsis of the intent, the history, the framework, the topical coverage and the train of thought of the sequel in the latest five years. As the previous four volumes, our ultimate aim and desire is to present a timely portrayal of the rapid pace of growth of China's logistics market and the status of its logistics industry's evolution.

This volume presents state-of-the-art models, algorithms, and applications of quantitative methods in management and economics. The papers are clustered into four parts, focusing on optimization issues, applications of Operations Research in production and service management, applications of Operations Research in logistics, and interdisciplinary approaches.

This original and exciting work differs from existing books on entrepreneurship by focusing specifically on the relationship between knowledge and entrepreneurship.The book uniquely combines an academic review of theoretical and empirical contributions with an analysis of the practical implications for engaging in and learning about venture creation. The authors concentrate on specific types of firms reliant upon advanced knowledge and show how a systemic perspective of entrepreneurship is required, involving design thinking, in order to capture the relationships between individual, venture and eco-system. Managing Knowledge Intensive Entrepreneurship will be insightful for academics and practitioners, as well as advanced students on entrepreneurship courses. Contents: Preface 1. Introduction 2. The KIE Creation Model 3. Accessing Resources and Ideas 4. Managing and Developing the Knowledge Intensive Entrepreneurship Venture 5. Evaluating Performance and Outputs 6. Design Thinking as a Tool for Entrepreneurship 7. Societal Impacts of Knowledge Intensive Entrepreneurship and the Role of Public Policy Appendix References Index

Knowledge management presents a new way of understanding organizations and companies, and is especially suited to sophisticated and highly technical firms and operations such as those in the construction industry.

This new book draws on hard data from three separate research programs in Sweden and shows how the concept of knowledge can make sense in the construction industry, an industry which can be viewed in essence as being engaged in the material transformation of "nature into buildings." In particular it explores and examines three different businesses: a medium sized construction firm; Wing rdh Architecture, Sweden s most prestigious architecture firm; and BESAB, a specialist concrete injection firm working on underground construction. An emerging theme is the situational and context-bound nature of knowledge in the construction industry, thus showing "knowledge" to be a remarkably heterogeneous concept.

A range of readers should find the book useful, from students and construction managers through to researchers.

Communities of Practice are accessible to both experts and new members of a particular community with diverse academic and cultural backgrounds as well as varying social expectations and experiences. Despite the tremendous opportunities for collective learning and knowledge sharing that Communities of Practice offer, not enough is known about these communities in emerging economies and their potential to facilitate cooperation between experts from around the world. Organizational Knowledge Facilitation through Communities of Practice and Emerging Markets seeks to fill the knowledge gap surrounding Communities of Practice and their role within developing nations. Focusing on critical topics related to different types of knowledge communities and the ways in which such communities generate innovation, this research-based publication is an ideal reference source for academics, business professionals, researchers, entrepreneurs, and those currently studying at the graduate level.

The Leader's Guide to Resilience is your essential toolkit to build authentic strength within your business, so you can thrive in a changing and challenging world. Resilience is the core of growth and regrowth. It is what contributes most to the advancement of your organisation and your role as leader. Your personal resilience, and that of your teams, organisation and broader community network, must be actively nurtured to give you the tools to face anything that comes your way. This book will give you clear, effective and adaptable methods to initiate your first steps in building resilience, as well as advanced practical ways to refine, develop and future-proof your progress once on the path. Whatever life throws at you, resilience will help you bounce back. 2021 Firebird Book Award Winner - Business, Leadership and Motivation

Rapid application of new technologies and highly leveraged innovation processes are key for the success of companies and organizations in dynamic markets. Based on the experiences of one of the industry's most modern innovation centers this book provides an insight into the tools and methods used to align customer requirements, competitive challenges and technological development. Both, scientists and practitioners, will benefit from the lessons learned and presented in this volume.

This book reports the elements required for implementing Just in Time (JIT) technique in companies. The main reasons for low implementation processes and the main benefits from the successful implementation of them are highlighted in this book. Structural equation models are presented to help identify the essential elements in JIT.

This thesis reports on an innovative production-scheduling model for virtual computer-integrated manufacturing (VCIM) systems. It also describes a robust genetic algorithm for production scheduling in VCIM systems. The model, which is the most comprehensive of its kind to date, is not only capable of supporting collaborative shipment scheduling and handling multiple product orders simultaneously, but also helps cope with multiple objective functions under uncertainties. In turn, the genetic algorithm, characterised by an innovative algorithm structure, chromosome encoding, crossover and mutation, is capable of searching for optimal/suboptimal solutions to the complex optimisation problem in the VCIM production- scheduling model described. Lastly, the effectiveness of the proposed approach is verified in a comprehensive case study.