This book examines the role and potential of derivative actions in shareholder protection in public limited companies. Derivative actions have been a focal point of legislators' agendas on shareholder protection, in the past few decades, throughout Europe and beyond. Nevertheless, there remain jurisdictions, such as Greece, which are still devoid of this remedy. Against this backdrop, this book examines whether and how the derivative action may improve shareholder protection, constituting thus a mechanism that justifies legislative attention. It does so in three parts. First, it analyses the desirable role derivative actions assume in protecting shareholder property, monitoring corporate management and mitigating agency costs, alongside their economic implications, introducing the reader to the contemporary international debate on the topic. Having set the desiderata, the second part proceeds with the comparative analysis of Greek, German and UK law - jurisdictions that have recently reformed their provisions on shareholder protection - examining not only the law on derivative actions and their Greek counterpart remedy but also mechanisms of shareholder protection that do, or could, assume functions similar to those of the derivative action. By critically assessing the merits and failures of the respective UK, German and Greek shareholder protection laws, the book then proceeds to offer (in Part III) a model framework of shareholders' derivative litigation for jurisdictions considering reform. Written in an accessible format, it will be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in this important aspect of company law and corporate governance.

* Removes the lid from the 'black box' of the board of directors to reveal its inner workings and suggest improvements * Takes a behavioral approach, highlighting such issues as individual and group biases * Based on an extensive study of over 100 Brazilian directors, as well as corporate governance experts in nine countries outside Brazil * Provides actionable guidance for directors, executives, and managers

* Removes the lid from the 'black box' of the board of directors to reveal its inner workings and suggest improvements * Takes a behavioral approach, highlighting such issues as individual and group biases * Based on an extensive study of over 100 Brazilian directors, as well as corporate governance experts in nine countries outside Brazil * Provides actionable guidance for directors, executives, and managers

Managing Towards Supply Chain Maturity takes a view of the crucial issues involved in supply chain management, namely risk, information and social capital management. Over the last dozen or so years, the outsourcing and offshoring processes have grown in importance. It is now more and more the case that enterprises concentrate on their key competences while transferring operations or specific tasks to other countries. Modern supply chains are becoming supply networks; hence there is a need for conscious and concerted implementation of methods to manage risk, information and social capital. These issues are very important for the efficiency and competitiveness of supply chains and are discussed in detail. The discussion includes the results of research and introduces the concept of risk, information and social capital management that will ensure supply chain excellence and maturity according to the Poirier's model that has been taken as the point of reference for this study. From a managerial point of view this study can play a significant role in determining the best risk and information management practices in the context of the outsourcing and offshoring of business processes.

This book presents the foundations for the future of tourism in a structured and detailed format. The who-is-who of tourism intelligence has collaborated to present a definitive blueprint for tourism reflecting the role of science, market institutions, and governance in its innovation and sustainability. The book adopts a comprehensive approach, exploring recent research and the latest developments in practice to inform the reader about instruments and actions that can shape a successful future for tourism. Broad in scope, the book incorporates the perspectives of leading tourism academics, as well as the views of tourism entrepreneurs, destination managers, government officials, and civil leaders. The book is divided into three parts, the first of which addresses the scientific facets of innovation, analyzing the challenges and opportunities that technology provides for organic and disruptive developments in tourism, which will shape its future. In turn, the second part examines socio-cultural paradigms - with a view to dismantling traditional barriers to innovation. It also explores the role of heritage and the ethics of inclusiveness as drivers for sustainable tourism. The third part investigates new ways and means in governance and policy making for tourism. It introduces advances such as strategic positioning, symbiotic partnerships, and innovative management, and closes by presenting governance frameworks for an inclusive and sustainable future of tourism.

This book examines education in entrepreneurship through an action-learning environment that uses educational innovation tools. It explores various education tools, technology tools and pedagogical methods being implemented into university curriculums around the world. Entrepreneurship in society is rapidly gaining popularity as entrepreneurial activities aimed to create social value are fundamental in the development of an innovative, sustainable economy. This notion has been encouraging universities to incorporate entrepreneurship-related competencies into the curriculums of almost all subjects. Thus, developing an action-learning environment with educational innovation tools, technology tools and pedagogical methods is becoming increasingly important to universities. Students must be fully prepared to face the many challenges in the world and to help develop an innovative and sustainable economy. Universities should therefore promote active learning through innovation so that students can become active participants in their learning. Featuring contributions and case studies from academics, researchers and practitioners from around the world, the is book provides international perspective into entrepreneurship education and innovation.

The Crisis-Prone Society offers preventative measures that can be taken by business professionals and scholars alike to alleviate the growing potential for crises today. These measures are distilled by close analysis of our recent social history of disasters.

Engineering Effective Decision Support Technologies: New Models and Applications presents a collection of the latest research in DMSS and applies those theoretical considerations to best practices in the field. This reference includes empirical case studies and an analysis of new models and perspectives in knowledge management, promoting discussion of DMSS strategies among managers, researchers, and students of information science.

Value stream design is increasingly asserting itself as "the" key approach for production optimization, but there has never been a detailed and systematic presentation of the value stream method before a gap that has now been filled by this book.

The author provides an easily comprehensible code of practice for the effective analysis of production processes, product family-oriented factory structuring and the target-oriented development of an ideal future state of production. The book plausibly conveys ten design guidelines for production optimization with corresponding equations, descriptive illustrations and industrial examples well-proven in numerous industrial projects. It addresses the professional public, practitioners wishing to avoid waste and systematically improve their factories value streams, and students - tomorrow s practitioners.

In contrast to other publications, this book complements the value stream analysis and its unique compact visualization of the entire production process by a detailed illustration of the information flow and a comprehensive discussion of the operator balance chart. The -traditional- concept of value stream design is significantly expanded with a view to its applicability in complex productions by way of methodological innovation and further development concerning campaign formation, value stream management and technological process integration. The method is embedded in a comprehensive procedural approach for factory planning, starting with the definition of the desired lean production goals."

"Uberization," "digitalization," "platform economy," "gig economy," and "sharing economy" are some of the buzzwords that characterize the current intense discussions about the development of the economy and work around the world, among both experts and laypersons. Immense changes in the ways goods are manufactured, business is done, work tasks are performed, education is accomplished, and so on, are clearly underway. This also means that demand for careful, first-rate social scientific analyses of the phenomena in question is rapidly growing. This edited volume gathers distinguished researchers from economics, business studies, organization studies, medicine, social psychology, occupational health, pedagogics, and sociology to put particular work in both public and private sectors and education in both academic and vocational settings at the focus of the emerging digitalized platform economy. The authors anchor their analyses and conceptual and theoretical work in distinctive empirical developments that are taking place in one of the leading countries of digitalization processes: Finland. Finnish case studies reflect general global developments and show their particular, context-related actualization in multiple ways. This double exposure enables the authors of this multi- and interdisciplinary volume to advance conceptualization and theorization of the key phenomena in digitalizing platform societies in novel, creative, and groundbreaking directions. This book will without doubt be of great value to academic researchers and students in the fields of economics, business studies, work studies, social sciences, education, technology, digitalization, platforms, occupational health, entrepreneurship, and professions.

Humans at Work in the Digital Age explores the roots of twenty-first-century cultures of digital textual labor, mapping the diverse physical and cognitive acts involved, and recovering the invisible workers and work that support digital technologies. Drawing on 14 case studies organized around four sites of work, this book shows how definitions of labor have been influenced by the digital technologies that employees use to produce, interpret, or process text. Incorporating methodology and theory from a range of disciplines and highlighting labor issues related to topics as diverse as census tabulation, market research, electronic games, digital archives, and 3D modeling, contributors uncover the roles played by race, class, gender, sexuality, and national politics in determining how narratives of digital labor are constructed and erased. Because each chapter is centered on the human cost of digital technologies, however, it is individual people immersed in cultures of technology who are the focus of the volume, rather than the technologies themselves. Humans at Work in the Digital Age shows how humanistic inquiry can be a valuable tool in the emerging conversation surrounding digital textual labor. As such, this book will be essential reading for academics and postgraduate students engaged in the study of digital humanities; human-computer interaction; digital culture and social justice; race, class, gender, and sexuality in digital realms; the economics of the internet; and technology in higher education.

How can the public manager create and co-create value in the digital economy? While there is much exciting work being done, there is a pressing need to recontextualize public value theory (PVT), specifically in terms of its theoretical precepts, in the fluid and dynamic environment that the digital economy has produced. Much of the theoretical undergirding of PVT predates the full onset of today's digital economy, leaving aside phenomena including citizen-driven innovations, decentralized digital structures, and the algorithmic foundations of new economic life. This is why a conceptually driven exercise in contemporizing PVT would be of great value to public administration's theoreticians seeking to lead the theory in catching up to the praxis. This book seeks to answer the question of creating and co-creating public managerial value by developing chapters that revisit categories central to the functions of public managers in relation to other value-creating agents under PVT. It introduces new and important lenses to PVT that are grounded in the praxis of the digital economy, raising new questions about old problems in PVT and generating newer formulations that push PVT forward and make its debates salient to the futures that lay before the modern public manager. The book therefore constitutes an important effort to take PVT forward by shedding new light on the potency of the public manager in confronting and constructing the digital economy through co-creation with the other agents of public value. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, and policy makers in the fields of public and nonprofit management, public administration and policy, and PVT.

Unlike the competition, which can be much more theory-heavy texts, this book focuses on how strategy works in everyday practice, which is becoming the core focus of Strategic Management courses globally; New edition has been fully updated throughout, including new case studies from emerging markets and pedagogy such as practice boxes and reflective questions to aid student comprehension of the theory; Online resources include chapter-by-chapter PowerPoint slides and a test bank of questions.

This book covers advancements across business domains in knowledge and information management. It presents research trends in the fields of management, innovation, and technology, and is composed of research papers that show applications of IT, analytics, and business operations in industry and in educational institutions. It offers a combination of scientific research methods and concepts, with contributions from globally renowned authors; presents various management domains from a number of countries for a global perspective; and provides a unique combination of topics and methods while giving insights on the management domain using a holistic approach. The book provides scholars with a platform to derive maximum utility in the area of management, research, and technology by subscribing to the idea of managing business through performance and management technology.

The complexities and multiple levels of analysis involved in studying organizational phenomena require clarity in conceptualization and appropriate measurement methods to capture these dynamics. The facet approach can integrate diverse perspectives and address challenges posed by interdisciplinary organizational research. Facet Theory, a methodology conceived by Professor Louis E. Guttman, is a comprehensive research strategy. Based on set theory, it brings to the social sciences a discipline similar to mathematics and the natural sciences. It offers a formal approach to define the universe of content by uniquely addressing construct clarity and empirical verification for management studies. Relying on qualitative data, it helps generate mathematically derived models that have common structures across different research domains. Thus, Facet Theory helps render objective and quantitative what had previously appeared to be subjective and qualitative. It offers unique procedures for studies characterized by multitudes of interacting variables, promotes the systematic study of configurations, and can help advance cumulative research on organizing in teams, enterprises, or markets. The chapters in this volume provide recent advances and applications of Facet Theory, demonstrating how it enhances rigor and new insights for organizational research. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of International Studies of Management & Organization.

Managing and transferring knowledge - at the right time, in the right place and with the right quality for customers - enables companies to survive in times of fierce competition. The focus of this work is therefore on Knowledge Management and Customer Relationship Management. The theoretical part comprises several approaches to knowledge, its transfer and the barriers to be overcome when sharing knowledge. This is followed by a description of CRM and CKM (Customer Knowledge Management), outlining how crucial their successful use is. The practical part explores on the one hand the dependence on knowledge and on the other hand its availability for a good customer relationship. It includes a case study that investigates both the administrative and the operational area of a concrete company. The survey results are then discussed in detail, key success factors identified and mistakes pointed out. After this critical analysis, final recommendations are given that every company can benefit from.

This book investigates intercultural service encounters (ICSEs) in light of the rapidly globalizing world economy, examining the extant literature on the topic and identifying areas which require further exploration. With a focus on intercultural communication and competence, the author analyses diverse conceptual frameworks, providing theoretical models and practical initiatives for those working within the services marketing industry. An excellent resource for anyone interested in how culture shapes customer and employee expectations and perceptions, this book addresses the potential implications and limitations of future models.

Buddhist and Taoist Systems Thinking explores a radical new conception of business and management. It is grounded on the reconnection of humans with nature as the new competitive advantage for living organizations and entrepreneurs that aspire to regenerate the economy and drive a positive impact on the planet, in the context of the Anthropocene. Organizations today struggle in finding a balance between maximizing profits and generating value for their stakeholders, the environment and the society at large. This happens in a paradigm shift characterized by unprecedented levels of exponential change and the emergence of disruptive technologies. Adaptability, thus, is becoming the new business imperative. How can, then, entrepreneurs and organizations constantly adapt and, at the same time, design the sustainable futures they'd like? This book uniquely explores the benefits of applying Buddhist and Taoist Systems Thinking to sustainable management. Grounded in Taoist and Zen Buddhist philosophies, it offers a modern scientific perspective fundamentally based on the concepts of bio-logical adaptability and lifefulness amidst complexity and constant change. The book introduces the new concept of the Gaia organization as a living organism that consciously helps perpetuate the conditions for life on the planet. It is subject to the natural laws of transformation and the principles of oneness, emptiness, impermanence, balance, self-regulation and harmonization. Readers will find applied Eastern systems theories such as the Yin-Yang and the Five Elements operationalized through practical methodologies and tools such as T-Qualia and the Zen Business model. They are aimed at guiding Gaia organizations and entrepreneurs in leading sustainable transformations and qualifying economic growth. The book offers a vital toolkit for purpose-driven practitioners, management researchers, students, social entrepreneurs, evaluators and change-makers to reinvent, create and mindfully manage sustainable and agile organizations that drive systemic transformation.

In a competitive environment rivals will quickly respond to changes and improvements. This new contribution demonstrates that companies need to have a methodology for developing strategy with regard to future technology. New technology needs to be integrated into a strategic process and companies who are able to establish the capabilities to achieve this will secure robust competitive advantage. This powerful new approach will be demonstrated with examples and cases.

Gender diversity as a corporate governance mechanism is high on the agenda for regulators, firms, and researchers. Particularly, gender board composition has received a great deal of attention in recent years. The theoretical foundations of the benefits associated with the inclusion of female directors on boards, how to measure gender diversity in the boardroom, and its real impact on board decisions and firm strategies remain hotly debated. Drawing on empirical data, this book summarises the current situation regarding gender board diversity and provides a concise overview of the most important concerns about this topic. This will be a vital tool to guide the future debate on gender diversity and corporate governance for researchers and advanced students, as well as regulators, policy makers and board members.

This book is about promoting corporate responsibility in its original meaning: businesses should have a positive impact on society, and society should not only be a lever of making a profit. When we treat social responsibility as an external function of the core business, we are exposed to the worst. Business for Society seeks to redress the balance and promotes the original idea of corporate responsibility. This first book in the series of the same name sets the scene and presents the key theories across the various management disciplines to answer the following questions: 'How, why and under what conditions can business act for society?' The book narrows and discusses examples of businesses which are making impressive strides in delivering positive impacts for society as well as their bottom lines; but as the concept of corporate responsibility has become more mainstream in recent years, many organisations have adopted the term and reduced it to a marketing message. Areas covered include a historical perspective on the hijacking of business responsibility towards society, management knowledge and value, the Business for Society project against hijacking, accounting for society, finance for society and governance for society and democracy. The book will be of interest for scholars and students in the fields of corporate social responsibility, business ethics and governance.

This book looks at how we can promote better governance practices in business organizations of developing economies. It presents a mix of conceptual perspectives and observations on corporate governance practices in a concise manner and illustrates through empirical evidence drawn from the Indian business environment. The secondary data analysis provides insights into Indian firms' corporate governance practices. This book is a useful reference for anyone who wishes to identify leading practices and develop broad recommendations applicable to corporate governance practices in developing economies in general.

The Enlightened Shareholder Value principle and Corporate Social Responsibility are areas of increasing academic and research interest. However, discussions on the ESV principle in relation to CSR are very limited. This book provides a critical analysis of the impact of the concept of ESV, embedded in the Companies Act 2006, on CSR and explores the scope for reform. Along with analysing existing empirical research, it presents the findings of an empirical study conducted to determine whether the concept of ESV is capable of promoting or assisting CSR. The book also examines whether implementing an ESV approach has had any impact on the CSR practices of multinational corporations that originate in the UK and operate in developing nations, as in order to assess whether the ESV principle links to CSR both its domestic and international impact need to be considered. This analysis was undertaken through the lens of a case study on the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh, with some focus on the Rana Plaza factory disaster. This study also assists in demonstrating the changes that need to be made to improve the current situation. Lastly, the book addresses the need for reform in the area and provides possible suggestions for reform. This interdisciplinary book will be of great interest to students and scholars of corporate law, corporate governance and business studies in general as well as policymakers, NGOs and government departments in many countries around the world working in the fields of CSR, sustainability and global supply chains.

Die Schriftenreihe Innovatives Wissensmanagement stellt der Wissenschaft sowie der Wirtschaftspraxis Fachbeitrage und Fallstudien in der Schnittmenge zwischen den Disziplinen Innovations- und Wissensmanagement zur Verfugung und verbindet diese Disziplinen in anwendungsorientierter Weise.