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Books > Business & Economics > Business & management > Management of specific areas > General
This book explores the methodological and application developments of network design in transportation and logistics. It identifies trends, challenges and research perspectives in network design for these areas. Network design is a major class of problems in operations research where network flow, combinatorial and mixed integer optimization meet. The analysis and planning of transportation and logistics systems continues to be one of the most important application areas of operations research. Networks provide the natural way of depicting such systems, so the optimal design and operation of networks is the main methodological area of operations research that is used for the analysis and planning of these systems. This book defines the current state of the art in the general area of network design, and then turns to its applications to transportation and logistics. New research challenges are addressed. Network Design with Applications to Transportation and Logistics is divided into three parts. Part I examines basic design problems including fixed-cost network design and parallel algorithms. After addressing the basics, Part II focuses on more advanced models. Chapters cover topics such as multi-facility network design, flow-constrained network design, and robust network design. Finally Part III is dedicated entirely to the potential application areas for network design. These areas range from rail networks, to city logistics, to energy transport. All of the chapters are written by leading researchers in the field, which should appeal to analysts and planners.
This volume gathers selected peer-reviewed papers presented at the XXVI International Joint Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (IJCIEOM), held on July 8-11, 2020 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The respective chapters address a range of timely topics in industrial engineering, including operations and process management, global operations, managerial economics, data science and stochastic optimization, logistics and supply chain management, quality management, product development, strategy and organizational engineering, knowledge and information management, work and human factors, sustainability, production engineering education, healthcare operations management, disaster management, and more. These topics broadly involve fields like operations, manufacturing, industrial and production engineering, and management. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable resource for those engaged in optimization research, operations research, and practitioners alike.
The UK's Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) annual programme unites senior personnel from around the world who are preparing for the highest responsibilities in civilian and military spheres. Each year, representatives of some fifty countries share on average over a thousand years of experience in some of the most complex and demanding environments on earth. In Business and Battle is the synthesis of the expert analysis and experience of participants in that programme, tested and sharpened by extensive international field work and coupled with contributions by first-rate presenters external to the programme. It deals with strategy and top level strategic leadership together and views them from multinational, multicultural and multisectoral perspectives. In so doing, it pushes the boundaries beyond a mere description of commercial, civilian and military strategic environments; it provides extensive and deep insights into how to interpret and shape those environments.
Over the last decade, the role of the board of directors in deciding on potentially value-creating decisions has gained greater prominence. Following extensive board research into the origins, reasons, effects and consequences of boardroom influence of directors, this book prepares directors for playing a more influential role in shaping such decisions. Boards are only as effective as the relationships their members have with each other. Despite this, many of the published guides on board work do not focus sufficiently on the human dimension of governance, nor has there been a comprehensive understanding of the effect that group membership has on the decision behaviour of the individual director, or vice versa. The author offers the reader actionable strategies to successfully navigate the complex dynamics that are inevitable when a group of powerful individuals with strong individual identities has to work together. Without a realistic understanding of the silent risks that a suboptimal dynamic may pose to the processes of making critical decisions, boards may find their decision outcomes compromised. Despite the best intentions, such dynamics can have a chilling effect on an individual director's contribution, marginalising or diminishing the value of their contribution and their influence on the board. This book will be a valuable resource guide for aspiring and experienced company directors wishing to strengthen their effectiveness in the advisory role and develop a more influential voice in shaping the strategic direction of their companies.
These proceedings focus on selected aspects of the current and upcoming trends in transportation, logistics, supply chain management, and decision sciences. In detail the included scientific papers analyze the problem of Decision Making under Uncertainty, Stochastic Optimization, Transportation, Logistics and Intelligent Business. The variety of the papers delivers added value for both scholars and practitioners. This book is the documentation of the symposium "The Seventh International Forum on Decision Sciences", which took place in Windsor, Canada.
Enhancing Board Effectiveness seeks to examine the conceptualization and role of the board in a variety of contexts and articulate solutions for improving the effectiveness of the board, especially in developing and emerging markets. Enhancing Board Effectiveness with therefore address the following central questions: To what extent is the concept and role of the board evolving? What rights, powers, responsibilities and other contemporary and historical experiences can enhance the effectiveness of the board, especially in the particular contexts of developing and emerging markets? What socio-economic, political, regulatory and institutional factors/actors influence the effectiveness of the board and how can the policies and practices of such actors exert such influences? In what ways can a reconstructed concept of the board serve as a tool for theoretical, analytical, regulatory and pragmatic assessment of its effectiveness? In examining this issues, Enhancing Board Effectiveness will investigate theoretical, socio-economic, historical, empirical, regulatory, comparative and inter-disciplinary approaches. Academics in the relevant fields of accounting, behavioural psychology/economics, development studies, financial regulation, law and management/organizational studies, political economy and, public administration will find this book of high interest.
Innovative Knowledge Management: Concepts for Organizational Creativity and Collaborative Design provides a valuable resource for promoting current academic discourse on innovation in knowledge-intensive organizations and contexts. A defining collection of field advancements, this Premier Reference Source creatively showcases wide-ranging issues relevant to the use of knowledge management.
Placing special emphasis on the significant security issues associated with modern container international transport, this book provides in-depth exploration of both United States and European Union port and shipping policy, alongside that of wider international trade. The authors take an original and topical look at the security initiatives introduced by the USA and their impact in the EU. Based on original research by renowned experts in the field, this book provides vital insight for academics, government policy-makers and practitioners.
This book argues that the current international intellectual property rights regime, led by the World Trade Organization (WTO), has evolved over the past three decades toward overemphasizing private interests and seriously hampering public interests in access to knowledge and innovation diffusion. This approach concentrates on tangible and codified knowledge creation and diffusion in research and development (R&D) that can be protected via patents and other intellectual property rules and regulations. In terms of global policy initiatives, however, it is becoming increasingly clear that the WTO in particular is mostly a conflict-resolution facility rather than a global governance body able to generate cooperation and steer international coordinated policy action. At the same time, rent extraction and profits streaming from legal hyperprotection have become pervasively important for firm strategies to compete in a globalized marketplace. "Knowledge Governance: Reasserting the Public Interest" offers a novel approach - knowledge governance - in order to move beyond the current regime.
Between the high-level concepts of business intelligence and the nitty-gritty instructions for using vendors tools lies the essential, yet poorly understood layer of architecture, design, and process. Without this knowledge, Big Data is belittled - projects flounder, are late, and go over budget. "Business Intelligence Guidebook: From Data Integration to Analytics" shines a bright light on an often neglected topic, arming you with the knowledge you need to design rock-solid business intelligence and data integration processes. Practicing consultant and BI professor Rick Sherman takes the guesswork out of creating systems that are cost-effective, reusable, and essential for delivering vital Big Data into the hands of business decision-makers. After reading this book, you will be able to design the overall
architecture for functioning data warehousing, business
intelligence, and data-integration systems. You will have the
information you need to plan, budget, and manage a successful
business intelligence program through its entire lifecycle, and
build and implement data integration and BI systems that are
cost-effective, on-time, and increase the business ROI of Big Data.
Finally, you ll give your career a boost by demonstrating essential
knowledge that puts corporate BI projects on a fast-track to
success.
This book provides a clear overview of the legal rules relating to directors' disqualification in Australia, Germany, South Africa, the UK and the US, and to highlight the differences in the disqualification regimes of these jurisdictions. The book seeks to determine whether disqualification on application should be developed further as a corporate law and corporate governance tool to ensure that individuals who have a proven record of posing a particular risk to the business community, shareholders and creditors, are indeed disqualified from being directors. The book is unique as it provides a single source where the disqualification regimes of all these jurisdictions are explored and compared. The book will appeal to scholars of corporate law, regulators and policy-makers. The book will also be of particular interest to senior managers and directors to determine precisely what the laws regarding disqualification of company directors are, and what type of behaviour might expose them to potential disqualification.
In today's fast growing digital world, the web, mobile, social networks and other digital platforms are producing enormous amounts of data that hold intelligence and valuable information. Correctly used it has the power to create sustainable value in different forms for businesses. The commonly used term for this data is Big Data, which includes structured, unstructured and hybrid structured data. However, Big Data is of limited value unless insightful information can be extracted from the sources of data. The solution is Big Data analytics, and how managers and executives can capture value from this vast resource of information and insights. This book develops a simple framework and a non-technical approach to help the reader understand, digest and analyze data, and produce meaningful analytics to make informed decisions. It will support value creation within businesses, from customer care to product innovation, from sales and marketing to operational performance. The authors provide multiple case studies on global industries and business units, chapter summaries and discussion questions for the reader to consider and explore. Big Data for Managers also presents small cases and challenges for the reader to work on - making this a thorough and practical guide for students and managers.
Enterprise Process Management Systems: Engineering Process-Centric Enterprise Systems using BPMN 2.0 proposes a process-centric paradigm to replace the traditional data-centric paradigm for Enterprise Systems (ES)--ES should be reengineered from the present data-centric enterprise architecture to process-centric process architecture to be called as Enterprise Process Management Systems (EPMS). The real significance of business processes can be understood in the context of current heightened priority on digital transformation or digitalization of enterprises. Conceiving the roadmap to realize a digitalized enterprise via the business model innovation becomes amenable only from the process-centric view of the enterprise. This pragmatic book: Introduces Enterprise Process Management Systems (EPMS) solutions that enable an agile enterprise. Describes distributed systems and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) that paved the road to EPMS. Leverages SOA to explain the cloud-based realization of business processes in terms of Web Services. Describes how BPMN 2.0 addresses the requirements for agility by ensuring a seamless methodological path from process requirements modeling to execution and back (to enable process improvements). Presents the spreadsheet-driven Spreadsheeter Application Development (SAD) methodology for the design and development of process-centric application systems. Describes process improvement programs ranging right from disruptive programs like BPR to continuous improvement programs like lean, six sigma and TOC. Enterprise Process Management Systems: Engineering Process-Centric Enterprise Systems using BPMN 2.0 describes how BPMN 2.0 can not only capture business requirements but it can also provide the backbone of the actual solution implementation. Thus, the same diagram prepared by the business analyst to describe the business's desired To-Be process can also be used to automate the execution of that process on a modern process engine.
Leaders in healthcare today face many challenges ranging from managing interprofessional teams and teamwork, to payment reform, to tackling issues such as homelessness and the opioid crisis. Leaders have access to depth of information and resources to help them solve these complex and real-world problems. However, it is our belief that given the complexities of healthcare, there is value in sharing and learning from those who have first-hand experience with interprofessional leadership in healthcare. Challenges and Opportunities in Healthcare Leadership: Voices from the Crowd in Today's Complex and Interprofessional Healthcare Environment, is a volume in a book series titled, Contemporary Perspectives in Business Leadership. In this book, authors share their true, authentic reflections and professional stories describing the lived experience(s) of the author/leaders and how the experience changed the author/leaders' approach as an interprofessional leader. Each chapter includes a (1) story about the topic and the lived experience, (2) perspectives, and (3) lessons of the author(s). Additionally, scholarly commentary and discussion questions included within each chapter create opportunity for application to leadership theories and strategies as well as allow for reflection and further dialogue on the topic. The intended audience is broad, including faculty and students in institutions of higher education, interprofessional healthcare team leaders and members, and other healthcare stakeholders who have experience in interprofessional healthcare leadership. The book is applicable for leadership growth and development at a personal, group, or organizational level.
According to Peter Drucker the most important challenge of management in the 21st century will be to increase knowledge worker productivity substantially. This book presents tried and tested methods, and concrete suggestions to analyse and design effective knowledge work. Each topic is accompanied by a self diagnosis allowing the reader to assess their own situation. The authors include case studies to provide inspiration as to the 'next practices' for shaping the future of knowledge work. Amongst others, the book addresses the following questions: What is knowledge work? What are strategies and methods for increasing productivity, quality, effectiveness and value of knowledge work? Can knowledge workers be managed, and if yes, how? How should ICT support be selected and utilised to best effect? What are adequate methods for measuring performance of knowledge workers? This book bridges the gap between research and practice, presenting the current state of management concepts and research on knowledge work, and providing many best practice examples, and will appeal to management educators, students, trainers, HR professionals, consultants, and knowledge workers themselves.
The book studies the interplay between open innovation and knowledge management issues in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). With the proliferation of the open innovation paradigm and against the backdrop of increasing external knowledge transfer activities, knowledge management is more important than ever for innovation and firm performance of any type of organization. In fact, knowledge management is no longer a pure intra-organizational activity but constitutes a vital interface function between the organization and its external partners/stakeholders.Throughout the book, readers will obtain both a broad overview of the two main concepts namely open innovation and knowledge management and its interplay. In addition, research will be presented which will help the readers to develop and/or expand their understanding of the phenomenon. This broad approach can also support in broadening the mindset regarding the topic under investigation and its application. Thereby, this book will primarily focus on SMEs and their approach with respect to the interplay in question.In order to achieve the above-mentioned aim, the book consists of ten chapters that are assigned to three parts. Part 1 introduces to the main concepts, namely, SMEs, Open Innovation, Knowledge Management, and the interplay between open innovation and knowledge management in SMEs. This is followed by Part 2, which provides empirical research insights into the phenomenon of interest. The book concludes with Part 3 which addresses promising future avenues regarding the study of open innovation and knowledge management in SMEs. All the chapters are written by leading international researchers in the respective fields, which makes the book a unique piece of work.
Published in 1999, Creative Governance sets out to develop new ideas on the development of Fisheries in Europe. The scholarly and political attention for fisheries in general within Europe is predominantly focused on problems of controlling catch. In this book it is not the problems of harvesting which are taken as the starting point, but opportunities in fisheries as a whole: catch, processing, market and consumption of fish and fish products. The discussion is broadened to include the management of fisheries from the perspective of governance rather than management or policy. Governance is a new and important concept currently being developed in several areas of social science, in this book the governance concept is related to the creation of new opportunities of fisheries in Europe. The combination of these two approaches is not only important for fisheries (in Europe) but also to the governance of natural resources more generally where the shift from a problem to an opportunity and from a management or a governance approach might shed new light and stimulate new actions. The book is the product of close cooperation between scholars from biological, geographical, political science, management studies and anthropological backgrounds.
This book presents strategies and practices to allow everyday companies to cope with the fundamentally changing landscape of business models and to take advantage of the huge business opportunities arising from the advent of big data. It develops several case studies from companies in traditional industries like LEGO, Yamato and Mediq, but also examines small start-ups like Space Tango, which is partnering with major multinationals to develop new business models using big data. The book argues that businesses need to adapt and embark on their big data journey, helps them take the first step, and guides them along their way. It presents successful examples and deducts essential takeaway lessons from them, equipping executives to capitalize on big data and enabling them to make intelligent decisions in the big data transformation, giving their companies an essential competitive edge.
This book describes how chief information officers (CIOs) can embrace and drive the digital transformation by providing innovative leadership that uses old skills in a novel way. The book explores ways in which new actors and factors will play a key role in this process and how new relations can be created among things, data, and people. In addition, the design of digital organizations and the implementation of digital technologies are carefully examined and it is explained how digital workspaces can be designed, organized, and used. A set of methods is provided for linking new digital tools in order to meet the goals and challenges of building a digital enterprise. The digital economy is disrupting the way of interaction within value chains, creating fresh spaces for competition and novel ecosystems. With the advent of social media networking, mobility, big data and cloud computing, 4.0 manufacturing, etc., we are witnessing the birth of new digital organizations. However, sharing of leadership of this change among different actors can create disorder and inefficiency. Against this background, the future role of the CIO will be crucial.
This book is a comparative law study exploring the piercing of the corporate veil in Latin America within the context of the Anglo-American method. The piercing of the corporate veil is a remedy applied, in exceptional circumstances, to prevent and punish an inappropriate use of the corporate personality. The application of this remedy and the issues it involves has been widely researched in Anglo-American jurisdictions and, until recently, little attention has been given to this subject in Latin America. This region has been through internal political conflicts that undermined economic development. However, rise of democratic governments has created the political stability necessary for investment and economic development meaning that the corporate personality is now more commonly used in Latin America. Consequently, corporate personality issues have become a subject of study in this region. Drawing on case studies from Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina, Piercing the Corporate Veil in Latin American Jurisprudence examines the ingenuity of Latin American jurisdictions to deal with corporate personality issues and compares this method with the Anglo-American framework. Focusing in particular on the influence of two key factors- legal tradition and the uniqueness of each legal system- the author highlights both similarities and differences in the way in which the piercing of the corporate veil is applied in Latin American and Anglo-American jurisdictions. This book will be of great interest to scholars of company and comparative law, and business studies in general.
strategy, but we also focus on execution. We talk about organizational design, and also refect on leadership practices. Our assumption is that in a dynamic world, leaders at all levels, have to constantly switch gears, wear different hats, and na- gate at different altitudes. They have to think about the "total" enterprise, not in terms of compartmentalized silos or felds of functional expertise. Much like a g- eral contractor, they have to draw on specialized expertise, as and when needed, yet keep the big picture in mind. Our hope is that our diagnostic tools can help teams develop a shared frame of reference and generate cross-functional dialogue. The third driving force behind this second edition is the gradual convergence between the worlds of entrepreneurial start-ups and challenges facing established corporations. Innovation, agility, and initiative are no longer the exclusive preserve of start-ups. Established companies are looking for ways to re-invent themselves, to innovate, to think creatively, and to make their enterprises more fexible, agile and entrepreneurial. We have had the good fortune to sit at the intersection of these two worlds. We hope our ideas can beneft both groups. We set out to provide a "buffet table," a menu of options that can be helpful for the two ends of the spectrum.
The legal services marketplace has become ever more competitive. Identifying a robust business strategy and sources of competitive advantage are difficult challenges for law firms today. The review of legal services carried out by Sir David Clementi, leading to the Legal Services Bill, paves the way for yet more change, competition and consolidation. As well as reviewing the way that law firms are regulated, the Bill will de-regulate the ownership of law firms, so that they can be made public or owned by multi-disciplinary principals. For the first time, firms now face the prospect of not being wholly owned and managed by lawyers, and of being able to seek capital in the general finance markets in the same way as other businesses. Stephen Mayson has been a consultant to law firms all over the world for more than 20 years, and is one of the most respected commentators on legal practice. In this new book, he presents the first in-depth and systematic treatment of strategy, competitive advantage and valuation for the legal services market. The text provides practical guidance for law firms on how respond to the reforms to be introduced by the Legal Services Bill, and in particular how to build and preserve value in the new environment. It explores in detail a range of factors that firms need to address in order to face both known and new forms of competition, and build a sustainable business. In the first part of the book, the author explores the emerging landscape of legal services. He discusses fair market valuation and the link between strategy, competitive advantage and valuation, before addressing regulation and competition. Here the decline of regulatory barriers (including the Clementi Review and the Legal Services Bill) and the effects of maturing markets are examined, as well as the issues and challenges of consolidation and polarisation of legal service providers, and globalisation. Mayson then examines the nature of competitive advantage, including its foundations and sustainability. In the third section, the principles of valuation, including definitions of value and methods of valuation, are looked at, in addition to an analysis of the drivers of value in law firms and guidance on how to optimise and sustain income. A section on the implications of valuation then focuses on issues such as the possible tensions between individuals and the organisation, collective action and commitment, and the longevity of the firm. In the final section, the author looks at the foundations of strategy, such as: its context; the 'strategic triangle' of services, clients and geography; strategic objectives and risks; the strategic response; and the building of capital for competitive advantage (including a discussion of financial, physical, human, social and organisational capital). The book ends with a discussion of future prospects for the legal services market. Law Firm Strategy: Competitive Advantage and Valuation is an invaluable text for those already managing law firms, those looking to compete with existing law firms in the new environment, and those who are not lawyers but find themselves with an opportunity to own, invest in or manage a legal services business.
Drawing on the work of Jurgen Habermas's social theory for the critical study of management, organization and employment, this book proposes a new definition of legitimate corporate action; based on Habermas's principles of communicative rationality and discourse ethics. Systematic in its application of the full range of Habermas's arguments to management and economics, it uses insights from these disciplines to inform a critique and reconstruction of Habermas's work. The result is a distinctive new conceptualization of the relationship between social interaction and economic structures and institutions. Concluding that corporate legitimacy - the successful combination of market economics with distributive and environmental justice - is only possible in the context of deliberative forms of democratic workplace governance, the findings of this work have serious implications for our understanding of corporate social responsibility and of the part managers and employees can play in putting it into practice.
Along with the increasing deregulation of European utility markets the dynamics of and the competitive pressure in the utility industries have steadily increased over the last years. These changes in the regulatory framework towards an integrated market environment have resulted in new challenges for the management of power and gas companies and in a substantial need for strategic reorientation. In the context of these developments the Handbook Utility Management reflects current challenges in the utility industries and provides solutions from a managerial perspective. The inclusion of latest insights from top managers, renowned researchers, professionals in utility-related investment banking and consulting, and professionals in public and supranational organizations on all value chain activities within the industry makes the Handbook an indispensable asset for both professionals and researchers.
In September 2015, at the United Nations, world leaders agreed on seventeen Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs. This book extrapolates the SDGs into the idea of a purposeful world. In this context, the purpose for humanity is to thrive sustainably alongside other life forms and to consciously celebrate the process. The SDGs serve as a powerful vision, time-stamped at the 2030 time horizon, not just for world leaders but for us all. However, faced with the challenges of implementing the SDGs, we (including business leaders, government leaders and anyone wishing to make a difference) can feel overwhelmed. Wilson takes the reader on a journey of thought and invites them to work out their personal role in sustainability as well as their collaborative role alongside others in their communities and organisations. Written in a very accessible style, the book celebrates some of the many achievements made by ordinary people as a catalyst for hope, sets out a number of achievable goals and provides exercises to enable the reader to adopt practices that help to make a difference. It is the perfect book to help turn the SDGs into action at every level - governmental, organisational and personal. |
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