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

The book includes the latest research advances and cutting-edge analyses of real case studies in the disciplines of Industrial Engineering and Operations Management from diverse international contexts. This work presents a revised version of the best papers presented at the XIII International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Industrial Management promoted by ADINGOR (Asociacion para el Desarrollo de la Ingenieria de Organizacion), which took place at the Polytechnic School of Engineering of Gijon (University of Oviedo), Asturias, Spain, from July 11th to 12th, 2019.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

First book to combine financial results with proprietary benchmarking data and in-depth interviews with experienced knowledge practitioners. The resulting framework provides an inside- and outside-the-firm view of the risks and opportunities found in knowledge management and competitive intelligence.

Nature-Inspired Computing Paradigms in Systems: Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, Safety and Cost (RAMS+C) and Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) covers several areas that include bioinspired techniques and optimization approaches for system dependability. The book addresses the issue of integration and interaction of the bioinspired techniques in system dependability computing so that intelligent decisions, design, and architectures can be supported. It brings together these emerging areas under the umbrella of bio- and nature-inspired computational intelligence. The primary audience of this book includes experts and developers who want to deepen their understanding of bioinspired computing in basic theory, algorithms, and applications. The book is also intended to be used as a textbook for masters and doctoral students who want to enhance their knowledge and understanding of the role of bioinspired techniques in system dependability.

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 explores theories and brings empirical evidence of innovations in learning and teaching and practice-driven leadership and governance of higher education institutions across developed and developing countries aiming to recover and sustain during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic. A fresh managerial approach to identifying the critical challenges, opportunities and strategies of higher education services management is the fundamental essence of this book. The book includes unique chapters, and these are carefully designed. This book has original scholarly contributions, including case studies, and explains how higher education institutions can deal with the challenges of the Covid-19 Pandemic. The cross-cultural insights of both public and private sector higher education institutions across the globe are a helpful guide for academics, researchers, advanced students, and practitioners to identify and understand the best practices about what worked well and what did not during the Covid-19 Pandemic. The chapters help formulate a strategic recovery plan for higher education institutions to mitigate the challenges of the post-Covid-19 Pandemic.

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 book provides readers an in-depth understanding of the inner mechanisms and principles of the global supply chain. Authored by the Head of Supply Chain and Transport Industries at the World Economic Forum, it draws on a wealth of operational and managerial expertise in the global supply chain industry that drive the world's economies. The book analyzes the importance and impact of globally networked sourcing, production and distribution, and presents detailed information on the opportunities, limitations and challenges of linear value and supply chain systems. Building on a series of recent industry cases and with a focus on the latest developments in actual business processes and models, it reveals how the transformation toward circular supply chains and regenerative resource management forms the basis for success and sustainability in business. "The book brings together technical, social, political, and geographical trends, suggesting how supply chain management can lead the quest for many of the world's most pressing challenges." Yossi Sheffi, Professor of Engineering, MIT, Head, MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics "This book provides an essential roadmap, guiding the reader easily through complex developments and concepts." John Manners-Bell, CEO Transport Intelligence and Honorary Visiting Professor, Guildhall Business School, London "With strategic foresight, Lehmacher develops a vision of a circular economy within which consumer, manufacturer and logistics companies assume collective responsibility for sustainable value creation." Alfred Talke, Group Managing Director ALFRED TALKE Logistic Services "Those who are active in logistics and supply chain management, in practice or academia, will discover a fresh view on the whole field of activity beyond the day-to-day-business." Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Wimmer, Chairman of the Executive Board, BVL International

This book examines intellectual property (IP) as an important value driver for start-ups. Businesses of all sizes are inevitably confronted with intellectual property issues at some point, but start-ups and their collaborators face unique challenges and opportunities in IP management. Identifying, generating, and exploiting intellectual property can lead to sustainable competitive advantages and avoidance of risks. Many start-ups sense the complexity of IP management and therefore place their energy elsewhere. However, the clear conclusion to be drawn from this unique collection of contributions is that putting an IP management strategy in place is critical to the successful development of a business. Prof. Dr. Martin A. Bader and Prof. Dr. Sevim Suzeroglu-Melchiors have years of experience as consultants, entrepreneurs, business owners, and researchers where they saw firsthand the need for a comprehensive yet practical resource for start-ups and their key stakeholders. This book explores different perspectives in dealing with IP from six different angles: the start-up's view, the investor's view, the corporation's view, the university's view, the global IP office's view, and the advisor's view. Each section consists of chapters written by leading experts from around the globe including Silicon Valley, Canada, Israel, Switzerland, Germany, Finland, France, Australia, Brazil, India, Japan, Singapore, and South Africa. Contributors bring practical experience from a wide range of sectors, such as information and communication technology, software, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cybersecurity, industrial automation, internet of things, life sciences, pharma, crop science, biotech, medtech, mining, sustainability, climate tech, and even quantum technologies. This timely publication serves as a guidebook for entrepreneurs and other key stakeholders in the start-up ecosystem. It empowers founders to develop their own IP management strategy to mitigate risk, create and capture value, and lay the groundwork for sustainable growth. An essential reference for start-ups to achieve business excellence. "This edited book volume offers valuable insights, bringing together perspectives of key stakeholder groups from a wide variety of innovation ecosystems - an invaluable resource." -Carsten Fink, Chief Economist, World Intellectual Property Organization, Geneva "A timely book for those wanting a clear overview of the issues the different players encounter in the start-up ecosystem. A useful resource indeed. Congratulations to the editors and team."-Audrey Yap, Managing Partner YUSARN AUDREY LLC, Past President LESI, Chairman Singapore Innovation & Productivity Institute, Singapore "A 'must read' for all innovators in the start-up world. It is truly a fantastic book and one I would recommend being bought and read (in full)!"-Laurence Freeman, Professor (Adjunct), CU Denver Business School, Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship, Denver, Colorado, United States

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.

Bring your company into the digital era without compromising your core business In The Digital Transformer's Dilemma: How to Energize Your Core Business While Building Disruptive Products and Services, the authors show companies how to go digital while also advancing their core business. The book emphasizes how to strike a difficult balance between establishing a new (digital) business and re-vitalizing - and digitizing - the legacy business. The core of the book is focused on the actual implementation of the digital transformation across both businesses, providing concrete tips, tricks, tools and action plans across six key dimensions: Crafting a flexible organization Using technology as a driver Designing the necessary processes Building transformational leaders "Right-skilling" the workforce of the future Galvanizing cultural change The Digital Transformer's Dilemma is a very visual book, filled with dozens of engaging illustrations that bring the contained concepts to life on the page. Based on 100+ interviews with senior executives at leading companies (such as Nestle, Novartis, Volkswagen, BNP Paribas, BASF and Michelin) and smaller hidden champions, numerous illuminating case studies, and the authors' own experience from working in international management consulting and years of academic experience, the book highlights the fundamental principles required for executives and businesspeople to transform legacy organizations into digitally empowered companies.

This book investigates organizational learning from a variety of information processing perspectives. Continuous change and complexity in regulatory, social and economic environments are increasingly forcing organizations and their employees to acquire the necessary job-specific knowledge at the right time and in the right format. Though many regulatory documents are now available in digital form, their complexity and diversity make identifying the relevant elements for a particular context a challenging task. In such scenarios, business processes tend to be important sources of knowledge, containing rich but in many cases embedded, hidden knowledge. This book discusses the possible connection between business process models and corporate knowledge assets; knowledge extraction approaches based on organizational processes; developing and maintaining corporate knowledge bases; and semantic business process management and its relation to organizational learning approaches. The individual chapters reveal the different elements of a knowledge management solution designed to extract, organize and preserve the knowledge embedded in business processes so as to: enrich organizational knowledge bases in a systematic and controlled way, support employees in acquiring job role-specific knowledge, promote organizational learning, and steer human capital investment. All of these topics are analyzed on the basis of real-world cases from the domains of insurance, food safety, innovation, and funding.

This book tackles issues associated with inconsistency in pairwise comparisons from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Human judgments are seldom absolutely consistent, or absolutely precise, therefore problems of measuring and handling inconsistency belong among hot topics of the current research, especially in the theoretical framework of multiple criteria decision aiding (MCDA). The book presents and discusses the state-of-the-art of this field including both cardinal and ordinal inconsistency, the problems of different scales for comparisons and inconsistency reduction, and the alternative approaches to inconsistency detection and measurement. This book is a unique one-stop guide for readers who are interested in inconsistency in pairwise comparisons. Researchers and practitioners in the area of multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) will find this informative book particularly valuable.