In the twenty-first century technology has become global, and firms compete using knowledge and capital. The 'traditional firm' has a need for innovation and depends on efficient knowledge management to improve productivity. This book examines five firms that produce the same commodity, white chicken meat, in different parts of the world and under very different conditions. It brings to bear the expertise and international perspectives of the author team, utilizing theoretical discussions and case studies to address the question: How do local firms use knowledge to compete in an increasingly globalized world? This book will be of interest to any postgraduate student, researcher or policymaker hoping to achieve a firmer grasp of innovation and knowledge management: a recurring and highly pertinent theme in contemporary economics.

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.

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.

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.

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.

It is often asserted that the ruling elite in Western capitalist economies now consists of liberal intellectuals and their media sympathisers. By contrast this book looks at the real elite in Australian and New Zealand society and shows that there is still a ruling class based upon economic dominance. From an analysis of corporate and public records, interviews, and other primary and secondary data, it develops a picture of networks of power that are changing but are as real as any network in the past.

Ikujiro Nonaka’s A Dynamic Theory of Organisational Knowledge Creation outlines the creation of organisational knowledge through the constant conversion of the two types of knowledge, tacit and explicit, which Nonaka believes has the potential to guide managers’ knowledge creation strategies. This argument is centred on the conviction that companies are not passive parties that simply utilise existing knowledge for providing solutions to the customers, and that organisations and environments simultaneously influence knowledge creation. This text is considered fundamental for the knowledge management field and as such, it has been utilised by a large number of academics.

China's phenomenal economic growth in the past 30 years has witnessed the rise of its global natural resources companies. At the same time, the emerging of a middle class in China and their desire to improve living standards including better dwelling conditions, better health and nutrition, has driven strong demand in mineral resources, energy and quality food. The so called 'socialist market economy' in China has seen this growing demand being met partially by companies with 'national significance'. In the resources sector, these companies are represented by companies listed in stock exchanges in China as well as globally such as in New York and London; at the same time, most of these companies are also controlled by the Chinese government. China's resources companies have expanded overseas in search of new acquisition targets whilst seeking to extend their global reach with a focus on resource rich countries. The expansion of these companies internationally, and the unique ownership structure of these companies, has posed challenges for regulators, trading partners of these companies, investors and other interested parties seeking to understand how these companies are governed and the implications of government ownership for resource security globally. Resource Security and Governance: The Globalisation of China's Natural Resources Companies contains case studies of the global expansion efforts of Chinese global natural resources companies; it reviews the governance structures of these companies and analyses how these have affected the inter-relationship between these companies and their trading partners, governments, regulators in targeted countries and investors globally. In addition, this book examines how the unique structure of these companies may affect resource security globally and touches on other related matters such as climate change, and air and water security in China.

This book presents a series of studies that demonstrate the value of interactions between knowledge management with the arts and humanities. The carefully compiled chapters show, on the one hand, how traditional methods from the arts and humanities - e.g. theatrical improvisation, clay modelling, theory of aesthetics - can be used to enhance knowledge creation and evolution. On the other, the chapters discuss knowledge management models and practices such as virtual knowledge space (BA) design, social networking and knowledge sharing, data mining and knowledge discovery tools. The book also demonstrates how these practices can yield valuable benefits in terms of organizing and analyzing big arts and humanities data in a digital environment.

To navigate the complex ecosystem of societal challenges, the International Conference on Knowledge Management Conference (ICKM 2017) focused on big data and data analytics as part of the relationship to the wider concept of knowledge management processes and practices.This book includes top papers presenting the major, and diverse, topics discussed at the conference. The papers covered various aspects of big data ranging from enhancing access to the big data to facilitating its wide applications in healthcare, social media, library and information centers, governments, and corporations.

The book examines applications in two disparate fields linked by the importance of valuing information: public health and space. Researchers in the health field have developed some of the most innovative methodologies for valuing information, used to help determine, for example, the value of diagnostics in informing patient treatment decisions. In the field of space, recent applications of value-of-information methods are critical for informing decisions on investment in satellites that collect data about air quality, fresh water supplies, climate and other natural and environmental resources affecting global health and quality of life.

The recent financial crisis has made it paramount for the financial services industry to find new perspectives to look at their industry and, most importantly, to gain a better understanding of how the global financial system can be made less vulnerable and more resilient. The primary objective of this book is to illustrate how the safety science of Resilience Engineering can help to gain a better understanding of what the financial services system is and how to improve governance and control of financial services systems by leveraging some of its key concepts. Resilience is the intrinsic ability of a system to adjust its functioning prior to, during, or following changes and disturbances, so that it can sustain required operations under both expected and unexpected conditions. This definition is focused on the ability to function, rather than just to be impervious to failure, and thereby bridges the traditional conflict between productivity and safety. The core concept of the book is that the behaviour of the financial services system is the result of the tight couplings among the humans, organizations and technologies that are necessary to provide complex financial functions such as the transfer of economic resources. It is a consequence of this perspective that the risks associated with these systems cannot be understood without considering the nature of these tight couplings. Adopting this perspective, the book is designed to provide some answers to the following key questions about the financial crisis: - What actually happened? - Why and how did it happen? - Could something similar happen again? How can we see that in time and how can we control it? - How can sustainable recovery of the global financial system be established? How can its resilience be improved?

This title, first published in 1973, covers the period of 1959 to 1968. The study suggests that government policies had very little effect on the employment structures of the sub-regions at this time, despite government intervention and policy objectives in Great Britain to reduce levels of unemployment in the depressed regions and curb congestion in the Midland and South East England conurbations. Instead, regional employment structures seemed to be determined by what was happening to industries at a national level. This study will be of interest to economists, planners, regional scientists and geographers, as well as students in these fields.

In recent decades, the world has witnessed, unprecedented in terms of speed and geographic coverage, diffusion of new information and communication technologies (ICT). The on-going digital revolution pervasively impacts and reshapes societies and economies and therefore deserves special attention and interest. This book provides extensive evidence on information and communication technologies development patterns and dynamics of this process across developed economies over the period 1980 to the present day. It adopts newly developed methodology to identification of the 'critical mass' and isolation of technological takeoff intervals, which are intimately related to the process of technology diffusion. The statistically robust analysis of country-specific data demonstrates the key economic, social and institutional prerequisites of ICT diffusion across examined countries, indicating what factors significantly foster or - reversely - hinder the process.

The corporate objective, namely, in whose interests a company should be run, is the most important theoretical and practical issue confronting us today, as this core objective animates or should animate every decision a company makes. Despite decades of debate, however, there is no consensus regarding what the corporate objective is or ought to be, but clarity on this issue is necessary in order to explain and guide corporate behaviour, as different objectives could lead to different analyses and solutions to the same corporate governance problem. In addition to the study on the corporate objective in Anglo-American jurisdictions, the discussion of this topic in the context of China is also very important on the grounds that China has become the second largest economy in the world and is playing an increasingly significant role in global affairs. Though a socialist state, China has also been relying heavily on the corporate vehicle as the most important business organisational form to ensure its rapid economic development since its market reforms in 1978. Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means's observation made over eight decades ago that large public companies dominate the world remains true today, not only in the West but also in China. The regulation and governance of such companies will have a material impact on the further development of the Chinese economy, which could in turn directly affect the world economy. Company law and corporate governance therefore receive much attention and have become a vital issue in China. Although the current focus is primarily on corporate performance, the fundamental question at the heart of corporate governance, namely the corporate objective, is still unresolved. Contrary to the widely held belief that the corporate objective should be maximising shareholder wealth, this book seeks to demonstrate that the shareholder wealth maximisation approach is both descriptively inaccurate and normatively unsuitable. As an antithesis to it, stakeholder theory generally develops to be a more suitable substitute. Justifications and responses to its main criticisms are offered from descriptive, normative and instrumental aspects, whilst new techniques of balancing competing interests and more workable guidance for directors' behaviour are brought forward as essential modifications. Along with the unique characteristics of socialist states, the stakeholder model is expected to find solid ground in China and guide the future development of corporate governance. This book will be important and useful to researchers and students of corporate law, corporate governance, business and management studies.

Facing the amplitude and the acceleration of changes, management must also change, and it must become alert, adaptable, and agile. The children of the Internet, the likes of Google, Amazon, Facebook and Tesla, are born agile, and they challenge the traditional organizations that have long lost their original agility. The latter may have innovated externally i.e. on the market-oriented part of their organization. Yet, internally their mindset, their models, and their methods have remained tightly trapped in traditional tenets. Confronted with the need for deep changes, an increasing number of business-leaders launch change-management programs, yet, conceived and carried out in traditional ways, up to 70% of them result in partial or total failure. Management cannot innovate itself, it needs people with the right motivation and with the right mind-set. However, stuck in the old system, people can only keep working in the old ways and means. Thus, the leadership must start by replacing a traditional system with a new and agile one, which will unbridle entrepreneurship. The Platform of Agile Management and the Program to Implement It combines 3 principles that help to innovate thinking, 3 paradigms to innovate behaviours, and 3 practices to innovate and to accelerate actions. The proposed platform is comprehensive, connective, and congenial. It is implemented with an agile program that combines top down push by the leadership with the bottom up pulled by the people. Then, the proposed platform will generate continuous improvements and innovations of the performance drivers.

This fascinating new core textbook, authored by a highly respected academic with over a decade of industry experience, takes a global and strategic approach to the important topic of operations management (OM). Integrating contemporary and traditional theories the text covers everything a student needs to understand the reality of operations in the modern world and combines the latest cutting-edge thinking with innovative learning features. Written in a concise and engaging style and based on up-to-date research in the field, the book provides a range of international case studies and examples that help students to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world practice. This is a must-have textbook for students studying operations management modules on undergraduate, postgraduate and MBA programmes. In addition, this is an ideal textbook to accompany modules on operations strategy, production management and services management. Accompanying online resources for this title can be found at bloomsburyonlineresources.com/operations-management. These resources are designed to support teaching and learning when using this textbook and are available at no extra cost.

If you are buying a company how can you be sure you are buying the business you think you are? Are you sure it is as good as the seller says? How can you be certain unexpected costs and obligations will not suddenly appear once you are the owner and responsible for them? How best can you arm yourself for the negotiations? Designed to help you make your due diligence process as smooth and effective as possible, this collection of checklists by acknowledged expert, Peter Howson, will ensure you manage the risk aspects of any acquisition. The author takes you through the due diligence process itself from legal, financial and commercial to employment and IT, and guides you through the collection. Each checklist includes a short introduction that enables you to make the best use of the material. Due Diligence is, by its nature, a process for which checklists are a wonderful source of ideas and reassurance. Peter Howson's checklists (all of which are repeated in PDF form on the downloadable resources), is a must-have reference for anyone contemplating a merger or acquisition, a management buyout, joint venture or other risky business transactions involving third parties.

'Making IT Count: from strategy to implementation' focuses on the practical elements of delivering Information Technology strategy. Studies regularly show that over half of Information Technology strategies are never implemented, or are unsuccessful in delivering the desired results, and that a significant percentage of strategies implemented were never in the original plans. The linkage between strategy development and delivery needs a very clear focus; this is the key topic that the authors address. The book highlights eight major fallacies in managing IT, and eighteen better practices. It then details how to draw up strategy, instigate navigation techniques and make sourcing decisions. Change and delivery are a major focus, as is infrastructure development. Caselets and full length case studies of organizations such as General Electric, Siemens, Colonial Mutual, Charles Schwab, Macquarie Bank, ICI, United Airlines, Norwich Union, Walgreens and Dell and have been included to show how strategies have been successfully implemented and managed.

eMaintenance: Essential Electronic Tools for Efficiency enables the reader to improve efficiency of operations, maintenance staff, infrastructure managers and system integrators, by accessing a real time computerized system from data to decision. In recent years, the exciting possibilities of eMaintenance have become increasingly recognized as a source of productivity improvement in industry. The seamless linking of systems and equipment to control centres for real time reconfiguring is improving efficiency, reliability, and sustainability in a variety of settings. The book provides an introduction to collecting and processing data from machinery, explains the methods of overcoming the challenges of data collection and processing, and presents tools for data driven condition monitoring and decision making. This is a groundbreaking handbook for those interested in the possibilities of running a plant as a smart asset.

It is almost universally accepted that requirements documents for new or enhanced IT systems by business analysts should include a 'data model' to represent the information that has to be handled by the system. Starting from first principles, this book will help business analysts to develop the skills required to construct data models through comprehensive coverage of entity relationship and class modelling, in line with, and beyond, the BCS Data Analysis syllabus.

This book is a systematic investigation of Korean cultural wave in South Asia, discovering and analysing the dynamics of fandom, mechanism of media industry and growing phenomena of Korean culture in this part of the world. This is one of the very first academic volumes in South Asia that examines cultural politics, language and literatures of Korea in a regional location when there might be some on examining the political and diplomatic relations divorced from socio-cultural interactions. It focuses on three major aspects: identity formation in the age of digital culture, fandom and aspiration in the wake of subculture, and transcultural flow in South Asia. Through these thematic indicators and empirical instances the volume explores the modes of transcultural flow vis a via the global cultural flow. The patterns and processes of identity construction transformed among the teenagers and youths in the realm of digital media and embodying the Korean cultural elements. The book will contribute in the area of media and cultural studies, global culture and politics, arts and humanities, social sciences and area studies. Chapter 1 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book examines the complex roles that texts serve as parts of an organizational cognitive infrastructure. Texts make knowledge and experience tangible and durable. They help shape interactions between people. As professions have become more writing-centered in recent decades, many organizations have instituted writing review practices to help newcomers produce better writing and thus become more effective organizational citizens.Dr. Swarts examines those writing review practices and questions whether available supportive technologies adequately prepare professional writers and professionals who write to appreciate the complex functions their texts serve. He reports on a study of the impact of two technologies (paper text and textual replay) on writing review. Unlike paper, which presents texts in a static form, textual replay presents texts as the products of writing practices. Textual replay records onscreen writing activity and creates a video that writers and reviewers use to supplement their discussion of revisions.

This book deals with complex variants of Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) and Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) within the manufacturing and service industries. The objective is to develop heuristics for these supply chain problems in order to offer practical solutions to improve operational efficiency. These heuristics are evaluated using benchmark and derived data-sets. Case studies pertaining to logistics in different industries including textile machinery manufacturing and banking are also included to demonstrate the created heuristics. High competition in today's global market has forced the organizations to invest in and focus on their logistics system. The critical function of logistics is the transportation within and across various supply chain entities. Both supply and distribution procedure require effective transportation management. A small improvement in routing problems can lead to huge logistics savings in absolute terms. This book should appeal to executives, researchers and consultants seeking supply chain management solutions.

This book explores the distinct nature of innovation in medium technology industrial sectors - which are the key to European international competitiveness - and examines the recent changes of networks within regional clusters. The authors present best-practice management and regional strategies, and develop an original and coherent theoretical framework for the analysis of innovation processes called 'Territorial Knowledge Management'. They concentrate on the territorial dimension and the cognitive economics approach, and go beyond the traditional focus on R&D in high-tech sectors. The pivotal role of intermediate institutions in the governance of modern co-ordinated market economies is also highlighted. Working towards defining new guidelines for creating networks of competence centers and removing barriers to the enlargement of knowledge and innovation networks in Europe, this book will prove an enlightening read for those with an interest in postgraduate level management and innovation studies. Management and policy-making practitioners at both the regional and European level will also find much to interest them.