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Books > Business & Economics > Business & management > Business mathematics & systems > General
The Frugal Innovation and Bottom of the Pyramid Markets series comprises four volumes, covering theoretical perspectives, themes and various aspects of interest across four key geographical regions where BOP markets are located - South America, Asia, Africa and more engineered countries. BOP always addresses the poorest people or socioeconomic order or groups within a country, society, region or continent, thus, this series contributes a profound understanding of BOP markets across the most important geographical areas around the world and presents valuable insights on how the private sector can work together with other stakeholders to develop and operationalize economically viable business models in BOP markets, all the while contributing to sustainable development. Private actors such as multinationals, SMEs and entrepreneurs have a critical role to play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals agenda as laid down by United Nations in September 2015. Yet, BOP markets face unique challenges and the private sector alone cannot orchestrate sustainable value creation activities. Each volume presents several theoretical strands that highlight the diverse approaches and solutions to developing BOP markets further. Frugal, reverse and inclusive innovations can foster (sustainable) development and provide new business models and value streams that other countries can also benefit from. A variety of stylistic elements, such as research work, interviews and roundtable discussions, offer a wide and vivid impression of ongoing challenges and fruitful solutions.
Going beyond the why and what of purpose-led business, this book sets out an innovative business model of how to lead and operate a company to deliver its purpose. Western capitalism is in crisis due to the growing disconnect between business and society, and there are growing calls for a shift from the primacy of shareholder value to the primacy of purpose. But there is a paucity of codified best practice for how CEOs should go about making this shift. Enter Alan Barlow: a CEO practitioner who demonstrates with analytical rigor and evidence-based argument a business model for how CEOs can actually deliver a purpose-defined company that yields both bigger benefits for society and bigger profits for the business. Current and aspiring business leaders and executives will benefit from not only this new business model but also a fully documented route map for monitoring and reviewing successful impact, and highly focused non-financial and financial metrics for benchmarking. Completing the loop for 'company purpose' means that business can become a force for good for society.
The Frugal Innovation and Bottom of the Pyramid Markets series comprises four volumes, covering theoretical perspectives, themes and various aspects of interest across four key geographical regions where BOP markets are located - South America, Asia, Africa and more engineered countries. BOP always addresses the poorest people or socioeconomic order or groups within a country, society, region or continent, thus, this series contributes a profound understanding of BOP markets across the most important geographical areas around the world and presents valuable insights on how the private sector can work together with other stakeholders to develop and operationalize economically viable business models in BOP markets, all the while contributing to sustainable development. Private actors such as multinationals, SMEs and entrepreneurs have a critical role to play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals agenda as laid down by United Nations in September 2015. Yet, BOP markets face unique challenges and the private sector alone cannot orchestrate sustainable value creation activities. Each volume presents several theoretical strands that highlight the diverse approaches and solutions to developing BOP markets further. Frugal, reverse and inclusive innovations can foster (sustainable) development and provide new business models and value streams that other countries can also benefit from. A variety of stylistic elements, such as research work, interviews and roundtable discussions, offer a wide and vivid impression of ongoing challenges and fruitful solutions.
Causal analytics methods can revolutionize the use of data to make effective decisions by revealing how different choices affect probabilities of various outcomes. This book presents and illustrates models, algorithms, principles, and software for deriving causal models from data and for using them to optimize decisions with uncertain outcomes. It discusses how to describe and summarize situations; detect changes; evaluate effects of policies or interventions; learn what works best under different conditions; predict values of as-yet unobserved quantities from available data; and identify the most likely explanations for observed outcomes, including surprises and anomalies. The book resents practical techniques for causal modeling and analytics that practitioners can apply to improve understanding of how choices affect probabilities of consequences and, based on this understanding, to recommend choices that are more likely to accomplish their intended objectives.The book begins with a survey of modern analytics methods, focusing mainly on techniques useful for decision, risk, and policy analysis. Chapter 2 introduces free in-browser software, including the Causal Analytics Toolkit (CAT) software, to enable readers to perform the analyses described and to apply modern analytics methods easily to their own data sets. Chapters 3 through 11 show how to apply causal analytics and risk analytics to practical risk analysis challenges, mainly related to public and occupational health risks from pathogens in food or from pollutants in air. Chapters 12 through 15 turn to broader questions of how to improve risk management decision-making by individuals, groups, organizations, institutions, and multi-generation societies with different cultures and norms for cooperation. These chapters examine organizational learning, community resilience, societal risk management, and intergenerational collaboration and justice in managing risks.
This book guides readers through the broad field of generic and industry-specific management system standards, as well as through the arsenal of tools that are needed to effectively implement them. It covers a wide spectrum, from the classic standard ISO 9001 for quality management to standards for environmental safety, information security, energy efficiency, business continuity, laboratory management, etc. A dedicated chapter addresses international management standards for compliance, anti-bribery and social responsibility management. In turn, a major portion of the book focuses on relevant tools that students and practitioners need to be familiar with: 8D reports, acceptance sampling, failure tree analysis, FMEA, control charts, correlation analysis, designing experiments, estimating parameters and confidence intervals, event tree analysis, HAZOP, Ishikawa diagrams, Monte Carlo simulation, regression analysis, reliability theory, data sampling and surveys, testing hypotheses, and much more. An overview of the necessary mathematical concepts is also provided to help readers understand the technicalities of the tools discussed. A down-to-earth yet thorough approach is employed throughout the book to help practitioners and management students alike easily grasp the various topics.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses are especially vulnerable. This is one of the first books that explicitly examines the linkage between crisis and entrepreneurship with a specific focus on small businesses. The book adopts a holistic approach and outlines strategies that small business owners can utilize as well as business opportunities that are available in these new market conditions. It also provides a comparative analysis of the current and future market conditions to enable a better understanding of how institutional structures can facilitate or hinder growth. The book also goes on to explain why and how creativity and innovation can help to mitigate the impact of such a crisis on business and highlights why business continuity is especially crucial to family-owned businesses. This timely publication will help to guide small business owners and entrepreneurs to maintain business continuity and build up their resilience in a challenging business climate.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses are especially vulnerable. This is one of the first books that explicitly examines the linkage between crisis and entrepreneurship with a specific focus on small businesses. The book adopts a holistic approach and outlines strategies that small business owners can utilize as well as business opportunities that are available in these new market conditions. It also provides a comparative analysis of the current and future market conditions to enable a better understanding of how institutional structures can facilitate or hinder growth. The book also goes on to explain why and how creativity and innovation can help to mitigate the impact of such a crisis on business and highlights why business continuity is especially crucial to family-owned businesses. This timely publication will help to guide small business owners and entrepreneurs to maintain business continuity and build up their resilience in a challenging business climate.
Information technology strategies are critical to business as they can deliver not only effective business operations, but also competitively differentiated products and services for firms. Yet many business and government enterprises have found their IT organizations to be misaligned with business strategies, or even worse, so dysfunctional that business values are actually destroyed instead of added. Information Technology Strategy and Management: Best Practices describes the principles and methodologies for crafting and executing a successful business-aligned IT strategy to provide businesses with value delivery. This book dispenses best practices in holistic management of businesses, people, and systems for IT strategy to researcher, educators, students, and IT professionals.
Gendered Capitalism: Sewing Machines and Multinational Business in Spain and Mexico, 1850-1940 is a history of the gendered corporation, a study that examines how ideas and ideals about domesticity and the cultures of sewing and embroidery, being gender-specific, shaped the US-headquartered Singer Sewing Machine Company's operations around the world. In contrast to production-driven and culture-neutral analyses of the multinational enterprise, this book focuses on both the supply and the demand side to argue that consumers and the cultural worlds of those-mainly women-using the sewing machine for personal purposes or for the market shaped corporate organization. This book is a global history of Singer, but it also focuses on the cases of Spain and Mexico to highlight nations where the sewing machine multinational never established manufacturing operations. Casa Singer was a mostly profitable and a long-term selling and marketing operation in both countries. Gendered Capitalism demonstrates that local Spanish and Mexican agents, both men and women, developed and expanded Singer's selling system to the extent that the multinational company was seen as domestic, both in the location sense, and because of its focus on the private sphere of the home. By bringing the cases of Spain and Mexico, and the cultural, everyday realm of practices related to sewing and embroidery that the sewing machine was part of, to the center of the study of international business, Gendered Capitalism further reveals the layers of complexities and multitudes that conform the history of global capitalism. This book will be of interest to readers and scholars in the fields of business history, economic cultural history, management studies, international business, women's history, gender studies, and the history of technology.
Gendered Capitalism: Sewing Machines and Multinational Business in Spain and Mexico, 1850-1940 is a history of the gendered corporation, a study that examines how ideas and ideals about domesticity and the cultures of sewing and embroidery, being gender-specific, shaped the US-headquartered Singer Sewing Machine Company's operations around the world. In contrast to production-driven and culture-neutral analyses of the multinational enterprise, this book focuses on both the supply and the demand side to argue that consumers and the cultural worlds of those-mainly women-using the sewing machine for personal purposes or for the market shaped corporate organization. This book is a global history of Singer, but it also focuses on the cases of Spain and Mexico to highlight nations where the sewing machine multinational never established manufacturing operations. Casa Singer was a mostly profitable and a long-term selling and marketing operation in both countries. Gendered Capitalism demonstrates that local Spanish and Mexican agents, both men and women, developed and expanded Singer's selling system to the extent that the multinational company was seen as domestic, both in the location sense, and because of its focus on the private sphere of the home. By bringing the cases of Spain and Mexico, and the cultural, everyday realm of practices related to sewing and embroidery that the sewing machine was part of, to the center of the study of international business, Gendered Capitalism further reveals the layers of complexities and multitudes that conform the history of global capitalism. This book will be of interest to readers and scholars in the fields of business history, economic cultural history, management studies, international business, women's history, gender studies, and the history of technology.
* Provides a concise, accessible and practice-led alternative to the existing theory-heavy and long Innovation and Entrepreneurship textbooks, whilst offering more depth than the plethora of 'how to' guides available * Provides a theoretical foundation to relevant best practice * Designed to support the Senior Leader Master's Degree Apprenticeship available at universities across the UK, as well as broader postgraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship modules.
Quality and standardisation in e-learning have become crucial success factors for organisations in learning, education and training: E-Learning has changed from an early adopter stage to an integrated part of learning scenarios leading to major changes in educational organisations towards quality orientation. For building a knowledge society, it is critically important to thoroughly understand quality and standards in e-learning. The handbook provides a cross-national perspective on these issues and draws a clear picture of the situation in quality development and standardisation. It covers topics of a rather foundational nature in quality and standardisation research as well as descriptions of quality approaches, instruments, standards, experiences and best practices. The Handbook is directed to learners, professionals, researchers and policy makers people creating the next generation of learning. "
The most important theme of the discourse on sustainable development and sustainability challenges concerns the relationship between innovation and sustainability. This book represents a realistic critical overview of the state of affairs of sustainable innovations, offering an accessible and comprehensive diagnostic point of reference for both the academic and practitioner worlds. In order for sustainable innovation to truly become mainstream practice in business it is necessary to find out how organizations can strategically and efficiently accommodate sustainability and innovation in such a manner that they accomplish value capturing (for firms, stakeholders, and for society), not merely creating a return on the social responsibility agenda. Addressing this challenge, the book draws together research from a range of perspectives in order to understand the potential shifts and barriers, benefits, and outcomes from all angles: inception, strategic process, and impact for companies and society. The book also delivers insights of (open) innovation in public sector organizations, which is not so much a process of invention as it is one of adoption and diffusion. It examines how the environmental pillar of the triple bottom line in private firms is often a by-product of thinking about the economic pillar, where cost reductions may be achieved through process innovation in terms of eliminating waste and reducing energy consumption. The impact of open innovation on process innovation, and sustainable process innovation in particular, is an underexplored area but is examined in this book. It also considers the role of the individual entrepreneur in bringing about sustainable innovation; entrepreneurs, their small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as the innovation ecosystems they build play a significant role in generating sustainable innovations where these smaller organizations are much more flexible than large organizations in targeting societal needs and challenges. The readership will incorporate PhD students and postgraduate researchers, as well as practitioners from organizational advisory fields.
This book is a self-contained, practical introduction how to use FeatureIDE for modeling and implementing variable systems. In particular, readers learn how to analyze domains using feature models, specify requirements in form of configurations, and how to generate code based on conditional compilation and feature-oriented programming. Given the interactive style of the book, readers can directly try out the open-source development environment. All code examples are available in the standard distribution on GitHub and can immediately been used for individual modifications. Each part of the book is presented as a step-by-step tutorial and additionally illustrated using an ongoing example of elevator control software written in Java. Written by the core development team of FeatureIDE, this book is suitable for students using a tool for deepening the theoretical foundations of variability modeling and implementation, and as a reference for practitioners needing a stable and scalable tool for industrial applications. FeatureIDE is the most used open-source tool for feature modeling and has been continuously improved since 2004. The success of FeatureIDE is due to being a vehicle for cutting-edge product-line research by still providing an easy-to-use and seamless integration into Eclipse.
Filling a gap in the current literature, this book addresses the social approach to the design and use of innovative business models in the digital economy. It focuses on three areas that are of increasing importance to businesses and industry today: social issues and sustainability; digitization; and new economic business models, specifically the sharing and circular economies. The authors aim to solve current scientific concerns around the conceptualization and operationalization of social business models, addressing management intentions and the impact of these models on society. Based on observation of social phenomena and the authors' research and practical experience, the book highlights best practices for designing and assessing social business models.
Originally published in 1984, this book grew out of the papers (and discussions) presented at the Seminar conducted at London Business School during March-June 1983, with a focus on the problems of public enterprise in the context of the developing world. Essentially, three facts of thought emerged: first, on the working of public enterprises in developing countries; second, on joint ventures and consultancies involving public enterprises in the two groups of countries; and third, on the value and relevance of experience of public enterprises in developed countries, particularly in the UK, for the developing countries. Broadly, the Chapter 1 belongs to the first category, Chapters 6 and 7 to the second and Chapters 8 to 13 to the third. The concluding review seeks to highlight some of the major issues that deserve notice in the light of the views expressed in the papers and the discussions that took place on them.
This book explores the relationship between families, firms, and regions and the extent to which these relationships contribute to regional economic and social development. Although family business participation in economic activities has been a common phenomenon since pre-industrial societies, and its importance has evolved throughout time and across spatial contexts, the book suggests that these factors have often been neglected in family business and regional studies. Taking this research gap into account, the book aims to deepen our understanding of the role family firms play in the regional economy. In particular, it explores two seldom studied questions. Firstly, what role do family firms play in regional development? Secondly, how do different spatial regional contexts shape family firm operations and performance? Family Business and Regional Development presents a model of "spatial familiness" and uses themes such as productivity, networks and competitiveness to shed new light on family businesses. Moreover, it approaches the juxtaposition between family business and regional studies to encourage the cross-fertilisation of ideas, theories, and research methods between the two fields. Bringing together leading experts in entrepreneurship, regional economics, and economic geography, this book will be a valuable reading for advanced students, researchers and policymakers interested in family firms, regional studies and economic geography.
Originally published in 1965, Professor Jewkes re-examines the principles which should determine the dividing line between the role of the State and the field of individual responsibility in economic life. Beginning with a brief account of how the functions of Government at the time had been widened in recent years and the rights of individuals curbed, he examines the fundamental difficulties in establishing any rational demarcation between the one sphere and the other in deciding what part the economist should play in helping to resolve the enigma. He next examines the outstanding failures and successes of public and private enterprise respectively in the Western World in recent years. Finally, he asks what are the dominant features of the economic world in which we live and what type of social institutions are most likely to enable us to make the best of our environment. The author's general conclusion is that, although mixed economics will undoubtedly continue to be the rule, yet stability and economic growth will be endangered unless our social and economic institutions are flexible enough to provide continuous, and as far as possible spontaneous, adjustments to the unpredictable changes of a world in constant transition.
In both the developed world and the third world public enterprise has come to assume considerable importance in the structure and development of national economies. Originally published in 1984, this book, by an acknowledged international authority on public enterprise, explores this concept in both the major and the developing economies. He analyses how public enterprise functions and demonstrates how it may be integrated into both traditional Western mixed economies and third world economies with a much high level of state control.
This book features papers from CEPE-IACAP 2015, a joint international conference focused on the philosophy of computing. Inside, readers will discover essays that explore current issues in epistemology, philosophy of mind, logic, and philosophy of science from the lens of computation. Coverage also examines applied issues related to ethical, social, and political interest. The contributors first explore how computation has changed philosophical inquiry. Computers are now capable of joining humans in exploring foundational issues. Thus, we can ponder machine-generated explanation, thought, agency, and other quite fascinating concepts. The papers are also concerned with normative aspects of the computer and information technology revolution. They examine technology-specific analyses of key challenges, from Big Data to autonomous robots to expert systems for infrastructure control and financial services. The virtue of a collection that ranges over philosophical questions, such as this one does, lies in the prospects for a more integrated understanding of issues. These are early days in the partnership between philosophy and information technology. Philosophers and researchers are still sorting out many foundational issues. They will need to deploy all of the tools of philosophy to establish this foundation. This volume admirably showcases those tools in the hands of some excellent scholars.
This landmark research volume provides the first detailed history of entrepreneurship in Britain from the nineteenth century to the present. Using a remarkable new database of more than nine million entrepreneurs, it gives new understanding to the development of Britain as the world's 'first industrial nation'. Based on the first long-term whole-population analysis of British small business, it uses novel methods to identify from the 10-yearly population census the two to four million people per year who operated businesses in the period 1851-1911. Using big data analytics, it reveals how British businesses evolved over time, supplementing the census-derived data on individuals with other sources on companies and business histories. By comparing to modern data, it reveals how the late-Victorian period was a 'golden age' for smaller and medium-sized business, driven by family firms, the accelerating participation of women and the increasing use of incorporation as significant vehicles for development. A unique resource and citation for future research on entrepreneurship, of crucial significance to economic development policies for small business around the world, and above all the key entry point for researchers to the database which is deposited at the UK Data Archive, this major publication will change our understanding of the scale and economic significance of small businesses in the nineteenth century.
Almost all organisations today face unprecedented levels of change, complexity and volatility. Navigating the resultant disruption dynamics is one of the most important stewardship challenges facing strategic leaders. Getting it right can pay enormous dividends, but getting it wrong can lead to spectacular failure and the ultimate demise of once admired organisations. To address this threat, strategic leaders need to better understand how to navigate complexity and volatility and how to execute strategy in this rapidly changing environment. This book identifies 12 different strategy execution processes used to realise deliberate and emergent strategies - each illustrated with case studies and essential lessons for strategic leaders. The authors then discuss the effectiveness of these processes in different types of complex environments, showing how, used in isolation, each process can, at times, impede performance, sometimes creating survival risks that materialise today or in the future. The authors show the importance of "ambidexterity" and the need for organisations to balance the pursuit of internal efficiency and external market flexibility, both of which are essential to thriving in complex environments. This book provides essential tools for leaders to rethink and reconfigure their strategy execution practices in light of the significant change surrounding their organisations. The book is based on a 5-year, multistage study comprehensively reviewing cutting-edge research on strategy execution, reviewing seminal texts on strategy execution and, through in-depth case study interviews and cross-sectional surveys, identifying contemporary strategy execution practices of a range of different organisations across industries and sectors.
Employee engagement is undeniably a crucial focus point for organisations in the twenty-first century, with motivation comprising the often missing, but vital, component of the developmental mix. Mapping Motivation for Engagement advocates a new paradigm for the twenty-first century: away from hierarchies and command-and-control management styles, towards a bottom-up approach in which the needs and motivators of the employees take centre stage. Co-written with Steve Jones, this is the third in a series of books that are all linked to the author James Sale's Motivational Map diagnostic tool. Each book builds on a different aspect of personal, team and organisational development. This book is a practical guide to the complexities of understanding and dealing with engagement in modern organisational life. Along with clear diagrams, reflective points, activities and a comprehensive index, the book provides free access to the online Motivational Map tool to facilitate a greater understanding of the contents. Drawing on copious amounts of the latest research, as well as models like the Macleod Report for the UK government, this book shows how Mapping Motivation can play a significant and crucial role in making engagement a reality, instead of a dream. Mapping Motivation for Engagement is a stimulating and thought-provoking read for a wide audience including, but not limited to, trainers and coaches working in management and motivation, experts in human resources, internal learning and development and organisational development as well as change and engagement consultants and specialists.
Extensive research conducted by the Hasso Plattner Design Thinking Research Program at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, USA, and the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany, has yielded valuable insights on why and how design thinking works. The participating researchers have identified metrics, developed models, and conducted studies, which are featured in this book, and in the previous volumes of this series. This volume provides readers with tools to bridge the gap between research and practice in design thinking with varied real world examples. Several different approaches to design thinking are presented in this volume. Acquired frameworks are leveraged to understand design thinking team dynamics. The contributing authors lead the reader through new approaches and application fields and show that design thinking can tap the potential of digital technologies in a human-centered way. In a final section, new ideas in neurodesign at Stanford University and at Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam are elaborated upon thereby challenging the reader to consider newly developed methodologies and provide discussion of how these insights can be applied to various sectors. Special emphasis is placed on understanding the mechanisms underlying design thinking at the individual and team levels. Design thinking can be learned. It has a methodology that can be observed across multiple settings and accordingly, the reader can adopt new frameworks to modify and update existing practice. The research outcomes compiled in this book are intended to inform and provide inspiration for all those seeking to drive innovation - be they experienced design thinkers or newcomers.
This book explores the role that data analysis plays in the managerial decision-making process. The author presents the notion of "beyond analytics," which proposes that through data collection managers evaluate patterns in business processes through models of cognitive representation, framing and modeling, and knowledge creation in businesses. The book focuses on how the massive amounts of business data can be reduced to manageable volumes, thus allowing managers to make informed decisions. Further, it relates beyond analytics to HR aspects of the business and succession planning. This book will inform organizational behavioral theorists how the management of data impacts the decision-making process in organizations. |
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