How can managers analyze their current and future business strategies? This textbook introduces the fields of business analysis and strategic management to provide students with an understanding of the key questions that need to be asked to understand an organization's options. The second part of the book provides tools and techniques to help organize and improve corporate strategy. Uniquely, the authors provide resources to assess aspects of strategic goals which are sometimes overlooked such as financial performance, ethical and environmental considerations and business models. They cover a diverse range of companies from Supermarkets like Aldi and Tesco to Caermory Whiskey and Chinese manufacturing. This textbook is perfect reading for students who want to apply strategic thinking to organizations and benefits from the inclusion of new case studies throughout the text as well as 10 extended cases in a separate section.

This book reports on the results of an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary workshop on provenance that brought together researchers and practitioners from different areas such as archival science, law, information science, computing, forensics and visual analytics that work at the frontiers of new knowledge on provenance. Each of these fields understands the meaning and purpose of representing provenance in subtly different ways. The aim of this book is to create cross-disciplinary bridges of understanding with a view to arriving at a deeper and clearer perspective on the different facets of provenance and how traditional definitions and applications may be enriched and expanded via an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary synthesis. This volume brings together all of these developments, setting out an encompassing vision of provenance to establish a robust framework for expanded provenance theory, standards and technologies that can be used to build trust in financial and other types of information.

Business Analytics for Decision Making, the first complete text suitable for use in introductory Business Analytics courses, establishes a national syllabus for an emerging first course at an MBA or upper undergraduate level. This timely text is mainly about model analytics, particularly analytics for constrained optimization. It uses implementations that allow students to explore models and data for the sake of discovery, understanding, and decision making. Business analytics is about using data and models to solve various kinds of decision problems. There are three aspects for those who want to make the most of their analytics: encoding, solution design, and post-solution analysis. This textbook addresses all three. Emphasizing the use of constrained optimization models for decision making, the book concentrates on post-solution analysis of models. The text focuses on computationally challenging problems that commonly arise in business environments. Unique among business analytics texts, it emphasizes using heuristics for solving difficult optimization problems important in business practice by making best use of methods from Computer Science and Operations Research. Furthermore, case studies and examples illustrate the real-world applications of these methods. The authors supply examples in Excel (R), GAMS, MATLAB (R), and OPL. The metaheuristics code is also made available at the book's website in a documented library of Python modules, along with data and material for homework exercises. From the beginning, the authors emphasize analytics and de-emphasize representation and encoding so students will have plenty to sink their teeth into regardless of their computer programming experience.

While technology advances at a high pace in the age of machine learning, there is a lack of clear intent and framing of acceptable ethical standards. This book brings together the complex topic of "good" technology in a cross-functional way, alternating between theory and practice.The authors address the ever-expanding discussion on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ethics by providing an orientation. Pragmatic and recent issues are especially taken into account such as the collateral effects of the COVID19 pandemic. An up-to-date overview of digitization - already a very broad field in itself - is presented along with an analysis of the approaches of AI from an ethical perspective. Furthermore, concrete approaches to consider appropriate ethical principles in AI-based solutions are offered. The book will be appealing to academics, from humanities or business or technical disciplines, as well as practitioners who are looking for an introduction to the topic and an orientation with concrete questions and assistance.

Managers need access to some statistical advice from time to time to help in solving business problems. Students need access to statistical methods to support work in non-statistics courses, case studies and projects. What is needed will depend on the demands of the problem and how much statistics the manager or student already knows. The requirement is for flexible decision support.This unique book presents statistical ideas and models in easily accessible form describing both methods and issues of application.statsNotes are organized as a set of over one hundred notes rather than as a number of chapters. This enables managers and students to locate just what they need for the problem they have. Each note consists of a description of what to do, an example, the rationale, links to other notes.Managers and students can choose to use as many notes as necessary, which might be just one note or a set of linked notes.Deciding which method will be helpful depends not just on finding an appropriate statistical method but on the business context too. statsNotes provide advice at three levels: While the range of topics covered is similar to those in introductory textbooks and courses, the focus is on management decision and the methods for dealing with risky decisions and management judgment in this book are usually found in more specialist texts.

This book explores the gender dimension in technology commercialization through a collection of papers by internationally renowned scholars in the USA, Mexico and Europe. Technology, Commercialization and Gender looks at various gender imbalances in this key innovation area and demonstrates that the construction of gendered identities within male-dominated work environments such as technology commercialization is a complex and lengthy process, often faced with institutional culture obstacles. More gender awareness and openness along all stages of the innovation chain, as well as more research and policy interventions are needed to ensure better use of highly-skilled human capital in knowledge-based economies around the globe.

Valuable software, realistic examples, clear writing, and fascinating topics help you master key spreadsheet and business analytics skills with SPREADSHEET MODELING AND DECISION ANALYSIS, 8E. You'll find everything you need to become proficient in today's most widely used business analytics techniques using Microsoft (R) Office Excel (R) 2016. Author Cliff Ragsdale -- respected innovator in business analytics -- guides you through the skills you need, using the latest Excel (R) for Windows. You gain the confidence to apply what you learn to real business situations with step-by-step instructions and annotated screen images that make examples easy to follow. The World of Management Science sections further demonstrates how each topic applies to a real company. Each new edition includes extended trial licenses for Analytic Solver Platform and XLMiner with powerful simulation and optimization tools for descriptive and prescriptive analytics and a full suite of tools for data mining in Excel.

Knowledge management (KM) - or the practice of using information and collaboration technologies and processes to capture organizational learning and thereby improve business performance - is becoming one of the key disciplines in management, especially in large companies. Many books, magazines, conferences, vendors, consultancies, Web sites, online communities and email lists have been formed around this concept. This practical book focuses on the vast offerings of KM solutions-technology, content, and services. The focus is not on technology details, but on how KM and IT practitioners actually use KM tools and techniques. Over twenty case studies describe the real story of choosing and implementing various KM tools and techniques, and experts analyse the trends in the evolution of these technologies and tools, along with opportunities and challenges facing companies harnessing them. Lessons from successes and failures are drawn, along with roadmaps for companies beginning or expanding their KM practice. The introductory chapter presents a taxonomy of KM tools, identifies IT implications of KM practices, highlights lessons learned, and provides tips and recommendations for companies using these tools. Relevant literature on KM practices and key findings of market research groups and industry consortia such as IDC, Gartner and APQC, are presented. The majority of the book is devoted to case studies, featuring clients and vendors along the entire spectrum of solutions: hardware (e.g. handheld/wearable devices), software (e.g. analytics, collaboration, document management) and content (e.g. newsfeeds, market research). Each chapter is structured along the "8Cs" framework developed by the author: connectivity, content, community, commerce, community, capacity, culture, cooperation and capital. In other words, each chapter addresses how appropriate KM tools and technologies help a company on specific fronts such as fostering adequate employee access to knowledge bodies, user-friendly work-oriented content, communities of practice, a culture of knowledge, learning capacity, a spirit of cooperation, commercial and other incentives, and carefully measured capital investments and returns. Vendor history, product/service offerings, implementation details, client testimonials, ROI reports, and future trends are highlighted. Experts in the field then provide third-party analysis on trends in KM tools and technique areas, and recommendations for KM practitioners.

Information Systems Development: Reflections, Challenges and New Directions, is the collected proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Information Systems Development held in Edinburgh, Scotland, August 24 - 26, 2011. It follows in the tradition of previous conferences in the series in exploring the connections between industry, research and education. These proceedings represent ongoing reflections within the academic community on established information systems topics and emerging concepts, approaches and ideas. It is hoped that the papers herein contribute towards disseminating research and improving practice

First published in 1973, this title examines the development patterns of small businesses. It considers why people found firms; the factors that contribute to entrepreneurial success; problems of management succession and inheritance; the strengths and weaknesses of family firms; the reasons why small firms are taken over; and the social, economic and managerial context of their growth, decline, and revival. Based on a survey of sixty-four firms, each employing fewer than five hundred people, in engineering, hosiery, and knitwear, and on the records of 370 similar organisations, a striking gap in performance and management attitudes emerges as between dynamic, mostly founder-run firms and stagnant, mostly inherited ones. Where many books are either minutely specialised or highly abstract and over-generalised, Jonathan Boswell's work is practical and diagnostic, probing the inner recesses of the small firm sector. With particular relevance to the difficulties faced by entrepreneurs in today's economic environment, this title advances selective measures to deal with old firms and inheritance, and a wide range of policies to encourage new entrepreneurship.

This open access book explores the global challenges and experiences related to digital entrepreneurial activities, using carefully selected examples from leading companies and economies that shape world business today and tomorrow. Digital entrepreneurship and the companies steering it have an enormous global impact; they promise to transform the business world and change the way we communicate with each other. These companies use digitalization and artificial intelligence to enhance the quality of decisions and augment their business and customer operations. This book demonstrates how cloud services are continuing to evolve; how cryptocurrencies are traded in the banking industry; how platforms are created to commercialize business, and how, taken together, these developments provide new opportunities in the digitalized era. Further, it discusses a wide range of digital factors changing the way businesses operate, including artificial intelligence, chatbots, voice search, augmented and virtual reality, as well as cyber threats and data privacy management. "Digitalization mirrors the Industrial Revolution's impact. This book provides a complement of perspectives on the opportunities emanating from such a deep seated change in our economy. It is a comprehensive collection of thought leadership mapped into a very useful framework. Scholars, digital entrepreneurs and practitioners will benefit from this timely work." Gina O'Connor, Professor of Innovation Management at Babson College, USA "This book defines and delineates the requirements for companies to enable their businesses to succeed in a post-COVID19 world. This book deftly examines how to accomplish and achieve digital entrepreneurship by leveraging cloud computing, AI, IoT and other critical technologies. This is truly a unique "must-read" book because it goes beyond theory and provides practical examples." Charlie Isaacs, CTO of Customer Connection at Salesforce.com, USA "This book provides digital entrepreneurs useful guidance identifying, validating and building their venture. The international authors developed new perspectives on digital entrepreneurship that can support to create impact ventures." Felix Staeritz, CEO FoundersLane, Member of the World Economic Forum Digital Leaders Board and bestselling author of FightBack, Germany

This companion provides broad and in-depth insights into family business in Asia and how Asian family firms navigate in the digital economy. The first part of the book looks at key concepts of family business while the second part presents Asian family firms' cases from Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia and other Asian economies. This comprehensive reference will help readers understand how family firms in Asia compete and survive in the world market especially in the digital age and why and how Asian economies can emerge as one of the most dynamic regions in the world.

Effective Security Management, Sixth Edition teaches practicing security professionals how to build their careers by mastering the fundamentals of good management. The author, Charles Sennewald, brings common sense, wisdom, and humor to this bestselling introduction to security management that is ideal for both new and experienced security managers. The sixth edition of this classic professional reference work on the topic includes newly updated and expanded coverage of topics such as the integration of security executive into the business, background checks and hiring procedures, involvement in labor disputes, organized crime, and the role of social media.

Much of our life is consumed looking for quantitative relationships. For example, How much more sleep do I need at night to make me feel better? How many calories do I need to eliminate to lose weight? How much larger does my budget on the job need to be for me to be more effective? All these quantitative questions are preceded, and depend on, qualitative questions. For example, before I decide how much extra sleep I need at night, I need to determine if extra sleep will actually make me feel better. In another example, I need to determine if a larger budget will make me more effective on the job, before I think about how much more money I will need. What elements influence job performance, and how do they interact? We spend much of our life trying to find answers to such quantitative and qualitative questions. We are, then, in search of a kind of intelligence that includes numbers but is also above and beyond them. We call it "supernumerary" intelligence (SI). To aid our quest for SI, we use Quantitative CyberQuest (QCQ) and the Public Administration Genome Project (PAGP) as useful tools. QCQ is a philosophy as well as an analytic tool that helps in exploring the supernumerary. QCQ is particularly wellsuited for sorting out variables as well as their interrelations. It involves a combination of statistics, systems analysis, research methodology, qualitative research, and artificial intelligence. QCQ also provides a relatively easy to understand but still powerful set of tools and guidancemechanisms to pilot (the "Cyber" part) users in their "Quest" for supernumerary relationships.

With the emergence of cloud computing, traditional approaches to software engineering must be adapted in order to take full advantage of the benefits promised by cloud technologies.

This timely and authoritative text/reference presents the latest research on "Software Engineering Frameworks for the Cloud Computing Paradigm," drawn from an international selection of researchers and practitioners. The book offers both a discussion of relevant software engineering approaches and practical guidance on enterprise-wide software deployment in the cloud environment, together with real-world case studies.

Topics and features: presents the state of the art in software engineering approaches for developing cloud-suitable applications; discusses the impact of the cloud computing paradigm on software engineering, including the semantic web; offers guidance and best practices for students and practitioners of cloud-based applications architecture; examines the stages of the software development lifecycle, with a focus on the requirements engineering and testing of cloud-based applications; reviews the efficiency and performance of cloud-based applications; explores feature-driven and cloud-aided software design, presenting strategies for cloud adoption and migration; provides relevant theoretical frameworks, practical approaches and current and future research directions.

This practical and clearly-structured volume is an ideal self-study primer for students of cloud computing and software engineering. Software engineers, application developers and IT infrastructure managers will also find the work to be an invaluable reference.

In this book, leading CEOs, CIOs and experts from international corporations explore the role of digitalization and cloud-based processes as the main business drivers of the 21st century. Focusing on how to get started with digitalization and how to handle the technologies involved, they employ analyses and practical case studies to demonstrate how to unleash the potential offered by the cloud, and how to achieve the most critical success factors - quality and security - through the right partnerships. Readers will discover why the cloud will soon take over the driver's seat in cars, and why Heineken CIO Anne Teague claims that innovation is impossible without high-quality IT. The book reveals what IT managers can learn from Silicon Valley and China today, and why Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Hoettges believes Europe's future depends on successful digitalization. In a closing strategic assessment, the editor Ferri Abolhassan presents the cloud as the essential backbone of digitalization. In short, the book provides readers the first comprehensive, high-level assessment of cloud-based digital transformation in the era of Industry 4.0.

This book offers a general theoretical framework for approaching innovation and entrepreneurship, using practical and up-to-date examples to demonstrate three different levels of innovation and entrepreneurship: the macro-level, which concerns the impact of innovation activity on economic growth and production systems; the meso-level, which concerns the relations between firms, research institutes and governmental bodies and their role in innovation activity; and the micro-level, which concerns the dynamics of innovations within firms and organisations. Providing a critical overview of existing research and demonstrating the importance of a transdisciplinary framework for studies of innovation and entrepreneurship, the author advances a general concept of 'collective entrepreneurship' that emphasises the social and collaborative nature of innovation and entrepreneurship, thus shedding light on processes of innovation and entrepreneurship as active practices of social construction. As such, it will appeal to scholars of economic sociology, political science, economic geography and economists, as well as those with interests in innovation policy.

Much of our life is consumed looking for quantitative relationships. For example, How much more sleep do I need at night to make me feel better? How many calories do I need to eliminate to lose weight? How much larger does my budget on the job need to be for me to be more effective? All these quantitative questions are preceded, and depend on, qualitative questions. For example, before I decide how much extra sleep I need at night, I need to determine if extra sleep will actually make me feel better. In another example, I need to determine if a larger budget will make me more effective on the job, before I think about how much more money I will need. What elements influence job performance, and how do they interact? We spend much of our life trying to find answers to such quantitative and qualitative questions. We are, then, in search of a kind of intelligence that includes numbers but is also above and beyond them. We call it "supernumerary" intelligence (SI). To aid our quest for SI, we use Quantitative CyberQuest (QCQ) and the Public Administration Genome Project (PAGP) as useful tools. QCQ is a philosophy as well as an analytic tool that helps in exploring the supernumerary. QCQ is particularly wellsuited for sorting out variables as well as their interrelations. It involves a combination of statistics, systems analysis, research methodology, qualitative research, and artificial intelligence. QCQ also provides a relatively easy to understand but still powerful set of tools and guidancemechanisms to pilot (the "Cyber" part) users in their "Quest" for supernumerary relationships.

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The systems movement, now 40 years old, is made up of many associations of systems thinkers from different disciplines all over the world. The United Kingdom Systems Society (UKSS) was formed in 1978. Today it has over 300 members and is committed to the development and promotion of "systems" philosophy, theory, concepts and methodolo gies for improving decision making for the benefit of organizations and wider society. The first UKSS International Conference was held at the University of Hull in July ofHuddersfield 1989. Since then we have held International Conferences at the Universities (1991) and Paisley (1993). The UKSS International Conferences are now an established biannual event and this, our fourth international conference, will be jointly hosted by the Universities of Hull and Humberside. Systems science is considered to be a trans-discipline which promotes critical and effective intervention in complex organisational and social problem situations. As such it traverses "hard," through "soft" to "critical" systems thinking and methodologies. Yet, despite the currently robust state of the UKSS the systems movement cannot be described as an international movement: different subdisciplines are at different stages of development and are often engaged in pursuing their own particular interests and themes with little "conversation" between the subdisciplines despite their common interest in systems."

Organizations can make data science a repeatable, predictable tool, which business professionals use to get more value from their data Enterprise data and AI projects are often scattershot, underbaked, siloed, and not adaptable to predictable business changes. As a result, the vast majority fail. These expensive quagmires can be avoided, and this book explains precisely how. Data science is emerging as a hands-on tool for not just data scientists, but business professionals as well. Managers, directors, IT leaders, and analysts must expand their use of data science capabilities for the organization to stay competitive. Smarter Data Science helps them achieve their enterprise-grade data projects and AI goals. It serves as a guide to building a robust and comprehensive information architecture program that enables sustainable and scalable AI deployments. When an organization manages its data effectively, its data science program becomes a fully scalable function that's both prescriptive and repeatable. With an understanding of data science principles, practitioners are also empowered to lead their organizations in establishing and deploying viable AI. They employ the tools of machine learning, deep learning, and AI to extract greater value from data for the benefit of the enterprise. By following a ladder framework that promotes prescriptive capabilities, organizations can make data science accessible to a range of team members, democratizing data science throughout the organization. Companies that collect, organize, and analyze data can move forward to additional data science achievements: Improving time-to-value with infused AI models for common use cases Optimizing knowledge work and business processes Utilizing AI-based business intelligence and data visualization Establishing a data topology to support general or highly specialized needs Successfully completing AI projects in a predictable manner Coordinating the use of AI from any compute node. From inner edges to outer edges: cloud, fog, and mist computing When they climb the ladder presented in this book, businesspeople and data scientists alike will be able to improve and foster repeatable capabilities. They will have the knowledge to maximize their AI and data assets for the benefit of their organizations.

This book starts with the basic premise that a service is comprised of the 3Ps-products, processes, and people. Moreover, these entities and their sub-entities interlink to support the services that end users require to run and support a business. This widens the scope of any availability design far beyond hardware and software. It also increases the potential for service failure for reasons beyond just hardware and software; the concept of logical outages. High Availability IT Services details the considerations for designing and running highly available "services" and not just the systems infrastructure that supports those services. Providing an overview of virtualization and cloud computing, it supplies a detailed look at availability, redundancy, fault tolerance, and security. It also stresses the importance of human factors. The book starts off by providing an availability primer and detailing the reasons why you need to be concerned with high availability. Next, it outlines the theory of reliability and availability and the elements of actual practices in this high availability (HA) area, including Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Change Management. Examining what the major hardware and software vendors have to offer in the HA world, the book considers the ubiquitous world of clouds and virtualization as well as the availability considerations they present. The book examines high availability concepts and architectures such as reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS); clusters; grids; and redundant arrays of independent disks (RAID) storage. It also covers the role of security in providing high availability, cluster offerings, emergent Linux clusters, online transaction processing (OLTP), and relational databases.

For decades, outsourcing has been a major international phenomenon in business. The areas of Technology, Information Technology and Management represent a unique case for outsourcing both in terms of benefits and potential interorganisational problems. This fully updated text has been brought up to date with this new landscape, including discussion of Robotic Process Automation, Internet of Things, cloud computing, low code and DevOps and agile. With a range of new global case studies in manufacturing, logistics, chemical industry and cloud services, this textbook offers a strong grounding in real-world industrial experience that effectively combines theory with practice. Uniquely, this book focuses on both sides of the outsourcing relationship, providing a balanced exploration of the ways in which these partnerships can be managed successfully. Accessible and cutting-edge, the third edition of Managing Information Technology Outsourcing provides an in-depth, practical perspective on this important and far-reaching challenge in information technology management. It is an ideal text for students, academics and practitioners alike.

Recent development experience points to the way business can be the key to a dynamic small business sector, especially where those links are built on high trust co-operative relations. This book reviews different types of small business network, illustrated by an international selection of case studies, including: * Chinese family business networks * ethinic minority business networks * Japanese and South Korean business group networks * Taiwan's subcontracting networks * European industrial districts Network promotion initiatives in Singapore, New Zealand, Scandinavia and the UK are each discussed to provide a comprehensive comparative assessment of small business networks.

Addressing the effect of big data analytics-capable information systems on organizational ambidexterity, this book investigates how these systems can be used to enhance organizational agility and flexibility, generally considered to be two key determinants of organizational ambidexterity. With a focus on the opportunities for businesses rather than the burden that big data can represent, the authors highlight the impact of big data on ambidextrous organizations and how current organizational structures can be modified in order to improve big data analytics and implement big data-capable information systems.