Ryall and Bramson's Inference and Intervention is the first textbook on causal modeling with Bayesian networks for business applications. In a world of resource scarcity, a decision about which business elements to control or change - as the authors put it, a managerial intervention - must precede any decision on how to control or change them, and understanding causality is crucial to making effective interventions. The authors cover the full spectrum of causal modeling techniques useful for the managerial role, whether for intervention, situational assessment, strategic decision-making, or forecasting. From the basic concepts and nomenclature of causal modeling to decision tree analysis, qualitative methods, and quantitative modeling tools, this book offers a toolbox for MBA students and business professionals to make successful decisions in a managerial setting.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) will change the lives of people and businesses more fundamentally than many people can even imagine today. This book illustrates the importance of AI in an era of digitalization. It introduces the foundations of AI and explains its benefits and challenges for companies and entire industries. In this regard, AI is approached not just as yet another technology, but as a fundamental innovation, which will spread into all areas of the economy and life, and will disrupt business processes and business models in the years to come. In turn, the book assesses the potential that AI holds, and clarifies the framework that is necessary for pursuing a responsible approach to AI. In a series of best-practice cases, the book subsequently highlights a broad range of sectors and industries, from production to services; from customer service to marketing and sales; and in industries like retail, health care, energy, transportation and many more. In closing, a dedicated chapter outlines a roadmap for a specific corporate AI journey. No one can ignore intensive work with AI today - neither as a private person, let alone as a top performer in companies. This book offers a thorough, carefully crafted, and easy to understand entry into the field of AI. The central terms used in the AI context are given a very good explanation. In addition, a number of cases show what AI can do today and where the journey is heading. An important book that you should not miss! Professor Dr. Harley Krohmer University of Bern "Inspiring, thought provoking and comprehensive, this book is wittingly designed to be a catalyst for your individual and corporate AI journey." Avo Schoenbohm, Professor at the Berlin School of Economics and Law, Enterprise Game Designer at LUDEO and Business Punk

This study was awarded the Preis des Prasidiums fur ausgezeichnete Dissertationen der Universitat Paderborn as well as the Preis der Unternehmergruppe Ostwestfalen fur hervorragende Dissertationen. Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) - especially its fuzzy set version - has emerged as a new methodological tool in management studies which is ideally suited to test configurational theories. For the first time, the peculiarities of QCA in large-N designs are comprehensively analysed. Based on a systematic compilation of 145 empirical QCA studies valuable insights for the use of QCA as a quantitative technique are presented. For example, an innovative formula is developed which can substantially improve future model specifications. In a next step, the potential of QCA in management research is outlined by tracing configurational theories in a range of disciplines including strategy, HRM, marketing, and international business. This tour d'horizon through management studies highlights the wide application area of the methodology. Finally, an illustrative study is conducted using the fuzzy set version of QCA.

Analytics is one of a number of terms which are used to describe a data-driven more scientific approach to management. Ability in analytics is an essential management skill: knowledge of data and analytics helps the manager to analyze decision situations, prevent problem situations from arising, identify new opportunities, and often enables many millions of dollars to be added to the bottom line for the organization. The objective of this book is to introduce analytics from the perspective of the general manager of a corporation. Rather than examine the details or attempt an encyclopaedic review of the field, this text emphasizes the strategic role that analytics is playing in globally competitive corporations today. The chapters of this book are organized in two main parts. The first part introduces a problem area and presents some basic analytical concepts that have been successfully used to address the problem area. The objective of this material is to provide the student, the manager of the future, with a general understanding of the tools and techniques used by the analyst.

Every information system brought into service in every type of organisation requires user acceptance testing. It is by far the most common activity carried out by non-IT specialists. This book is designed to be a hands-on manual for non-testing specialists to plan and carry out an effective acceptance test of an information system. It provides a structured and step-by-step approach to effective acceptance testing and identifies ways of making the process as simple and cost-effective as possible. "A UAT guide for users: that is a novel thought This fills a gap in my bookshelf, a volume I wish I had years ago. It would have helped me to help the business. But more than that: it would have helped business users to help themselves, and see that UAT is more than just a necessary evil, but has clear purpose, methods, goals and skills. This is a step by step guide that is clear and praise worthy. You never know, it could be a recruiting arm for professional testers in the future, brought in from the business." Peter Morgan, Testing Practitioner.

Discover how SAP S/4HANA transforms your supply chain! Explore functionalities for sourcing and procurement, production execution, plant maintenance, sales order management, transportation management, warehouse management, and more. See how intelligent technologies elevate your logistics operations with SAP Business Technology Platform and learn about complementary cloud solutions like SAP Ariba and SAP IBP. This is your starting point for logistics with SAP S/4HANA!In this book, you'll learn about: a. Key Functionality See what SAP S/4HANA 2021 has to offer! Walk through your logistics business processes, from production planning to inventory valuation and beyond. Learn about new features such as predictive MRP, centralized procurement, and production engineering and operations. b. Logistics Innovations Your supply chain is getting smarter. Discover intelligent technologies enabled by SAP BTP: blockchain, intelligent robotic process automation, machine learning, and more. c. Planning Your Migration Prepare for your logistics transformation. Plan your roadmap to SAP S/4HANA, evaluate your implementation approaches, and get insight into the new RISE with SAP offering. Highlights include: 1) Planning and scheduling 2) Sourcing and procurement 3) Manufacturing operations 4) Quality management 5) Plant maintenance 6) Sales order management 7) Transportation management 8) Inventory management 9) Warehouse management 10) Intelligent technologies 11) Reporting and analytics 12) Industry use cases

How to Account for Sustainability offers an inspiring and practical framework for building your company's sustainability efforts. It takes you from concept to innovation and back to action for all aspects of sustainability. Each chapter has four sections: (1) a specific description of a sustainability challenge, (2) an example of a business making a profit by confronting the challenge, (3) an exercise to tease out a range of possible business solutions for you and your company, and (4) simple and memorable takeaways. This short, expert guide is structured around the world's most accepted guidelines for sustainability reporting: the Global Reporting Initiative. By the time you've finished it you'll have a framework for measuring, managing and accounting for sustainability in your business -- in clear, simple and feasible steps.

Managers and analysts routinely collect and examine key performance measures to better understand their operations and make good decisions. Being able to render the complexity of operations data into a coherent account of significant events requires an understanding of how to work well with raw data and to make appropriate inferences. Although some statistical techniques for analyzing data and making inferences are sophisticated and require specialized expertise, there are methods that are understandable and applicable by anyone with basic algebra skills and the support of a spreadsheet package. By applying these fundamental methods themselves rather than turning over both the data and the responsibility for analysis and interpretation to an expert, managers will develop a richer understanding and potentially gain better control over their environment. This text is intended to describe these fundamental statistical techniques to managers, data analysts, and students. Statistical analysis of sample data is enhanced by the use of computers. Spreadsheet software is well suited for the methods discussed in this text. Examples in the text apply Microsoft Excel. Readers will have access to the example workbooks and Adobe Flash videos illustrating key steps using Microsoft Excel from the Business Expert Press website.

From authors used to operating between the commercial, public and independent sectors of the mixed cultural economy, Understanding Creative Business bridges the gap between creative practice and mainstream business organisation, entrepreneurship and management. Using stories, case studies and exercises it discusses the positioning of creative practice within professional and business development, cultural policy-making and the wider cultural economy, and suggests what the broader field of business and management studies can learn from the informal structure and working practices of creative industries networks. Consideration is given to how ethical and moral value orientations animate creative practice and how they play into the wider debate about social responsibilities within business and public policy. The authors also explore the way creative business practices often coalesce around emergent and self-organized networks and how this signals alternative approaches to management, entrepreneurship, business organisation and collaboration. Above all else this book is about relationships; the practical examples expose the ways creative business can professionalise research, develop and sustain routes to growth through 'open' collaborative innovation and the lessons this holds for more general business innovation and policy engagements with the public domain. Written in accessible language, this book will be useful to researchers, students, educators and practitioners within the creative industries; to those working within cultural policy, arts and cultural management; and to all with an interest in management and leadership.

This unique new textbook on Information Systems (IS) provides an answer to a few basic questions in the field: What is the scientific nature of IS? How do we design IS in today's connected world? What is the relationship between IS and innovation in knowledge economies? Whereas mainframe corporate computers tended to dominate the thinking in the 1980s, the dominating factor today is personal digital devices that connect the world as one whole IS. Network science is emerging to describe these digital connections (e.g., social networking), and service science is similarly emerging to describe service value networks.This book therefore synthesizes the emerging network science and service science with the classic IS theory, resulting in a new set of principles for IS strategic planning. It also reviews the standard IS topics of system analysis and database design, covering the whole spectrum of databases and all the major methods and techniques of database design. The role of IS as a technological innovation in the knowledge economy is also analyzed. In doing so, new concepts such as basic values of IS, systems of IS, sustainability of IS, IS as a service system, IS as a human value network, and the hyper-network model for innovation by IS, are developed.

The rapid success of for-profit colleges and universities (FPCUs) only recently has caught the attention of scholars in academe. The continuing expansion of the proprietary higher education sector has lead to fundamental questions regarding the purpose and function of FPCUs. As new technologies continue to emerge, education is becoming of increasing import to employees seeking to upgrade their skills and employers in search of individuals who possess the necessary expertise and training to help their organizations succeed. For-profit institutions challenge traditional notions of the academy--such as shared governance, tenure, and academic freedom--by utilizing administrative practices that more aptly apply to the corporate arena. Moreover, they exclusively employ non-tenure-track faculty members. This study provides a framework for understanding faculty roles and responsibilities at for profit colleges and universities. The author employs a series of in-depth interviews with 53 faculty members, from four for-profit institutions. Utilizing a cultural framework, the study explores the attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of faculty work with particular consideration given to faculty member's non-tenure-track status, participation in decision-making activities, and academic freedom. The study examines the culture of the faculty work by asking how the profit-seeking nature of the institution affects their efforts inside and outside of the classroom. The author introduces a new component to the cultural framework that illustrates how the close ties between FPCUs and business and industry affect the nature of faculty work.

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

- Structured thematically to align with the process and project-driven nature of professional designers, in academia and practice - Identifies and articulates new forms of practice that are increasingly unbound by conventional territories, procedures, and strategic objectives - Includes open-ended set of activities, charts, worksheets, and discussion questions to foster entrepreneurial thinking in formative projects and practices - Includes curated selection of contemporary examples of entrepreneurship around the world and interviews from leading entrepreneurs and design professionals

- Structured thematically to align with the process and project-driven nature of professional designers, in academia and practice - Identifies and articulates new forms of practice that are increasingly unbound by conventional territories, procedures, and strategic objectives - Includes open-ended set of activities, charts, worksheets, and discussion questions to foster entrepreneurial thinking in formative projects and practices - Includes curated selection of contemporary examples of entrepreneurship around the world and interviews from leading entrepreneurs and design professionals

This practical guide is written for organisations that are implementing a business continuity management system and certification in line with ISO 22301. The development of a BCMS requires commitment, time, resourcefulness and management support. This book will fully equip those new to business continuity management or to management systems with survival skills for the ups and downs of the journey. Enriched with checklists, worksheets and invaluable top tips.

This is a book about creating information systems within firms that will truly give managers the information they need to make informed business decisions. The author contends that information is part of an ecological system in which it undergoes a process of evolution and adaptation to the requirements of the local users. The book explains ecological planning tools that guide managers to develop information systems to meet their changing needs.

Equips students and recent graduates with the tools and confidence to develop their own digital presence, addressing the growth in employability and professional skills courses globally; Unlike competing texts, requires no pre-existing technical knowledge, approaching the subject from a strategic and employability perspective rather than a technical or purely marketing approach; Introduces the new ABCDE framework and a series of practical tools and international case studies

Designed for use by professionals and graduate-level students in public administration and not-for-profit management, this is a comprehensive, clearly written guide to the use of statistical analysis in the management of nonprofit organizations. The volume emphasizes statistical models that use more than one variable and is unique in presenting multivariate statistics specifically with the public and nonprofit manager in mind. Examples throughout have been chosen to be relevant to the not-for-profit organization and each chapter contains several real-life illustrations of how statistical techniques can be used in actual practice. In addition to explaining statistical methods and techniques in detail, the author focuses on why statistics should be used and helps the reader obtain an intuitive grasp of the rationale behind the statistics. Because she stresses the logic of proofs and the limitations of results rather than the pure mathematics of statistical derivation, the volume is accessible to students and managers with only a little statistical background.

Following a chapter that introduces the concept of multivariate analysis, Stiefel explains simple and multiple regression models in detail. Later chapters discuss other techniques that are becoming widely used in not-for-profit organizations: logit and probit analysis, time-series models, and simultaneous equation models. Two types of examples are used to make the material immediately relevant to the not-for-profit manager: real-world examples culled from professional journals and reports in a variety of fields including health care, education, finance, budgeting, and administrative science; and examples of results obtained using statistical programs run on a personal computer. Thus the book enables the reader to understand and interpret both the statistics used in professional articles and statistical results as they appear on computer printouts. Four appendixes review basic statistical methods such as simple summation operators, the Pearson Correlation Coefficient, and hypothesis testing for the sample mean.

Twenty years after the first publications and books on enterprise architecture, the domain is evolving from a technology-driven towards a more business-driven approach, thus empowering decision makers to adapt and transform an enterprise in order to keep up with changing business needs. At the same time the discipline of enterprise architecting has matured, leading to a better understanding of the profession of an enterprise architect.

With this book, the authors aim to provide an overview of enterprise architecture including the process of creating, applying and maintaining it, thus taking into account the perspectives of CxOs, business managers, enterprise architects, solution architects, designers and engineers. They explore the results that are produced as part of an enterprise architecture, the process by which these are produced, and the role the architect plays in this process. As such, they do not describe a specific method for developing an enterprise (IT) architecture, nor do they define a specific modeling language for enterprise architecture, rather they offer the reader a fundamental way of thinking about enterprise architecture, which will enable him to select and apply the right approach, architecture framework and tools that meet the objective and context of the architecture work at hand. This approach is emphasized by discussion statements at the end of each chapter, sparking thoughts about benefits, shortcomings, and future research directions.

Covering both theoretical foundations and practical use, and written in close collaboration between industry professionals and academic lecturers, Enterprise Architecture thus offers an ideal introduction for students in areas like business information systems or management science, as well as guidance and background for professionals seeking a more thorough understanding of their field of work.

This book is the Proceedings of the International Workshop on Finance 2011, held in Kyoto in the summer of 2011 with the aim of exchanging new ideas in financial engineering among researchers from various countries from both academia and industry. The workshop was held as a successor to the Daiwa International Workshop (2004-2008), and the KIER-TMU International Workshop (2009-2010). This workshop was organized by the Center for Advanced Research in Finance (CARF), Graduate School of Economics, the University of Tokyo, and Graduate School of Social Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University - and co-organized by Life Risk Research Center, Doshisha University.The workshop serves as a bridge between academic researchers and practitioners. This book contains about fifteen papers, all refereed, representing the presentations at the workshop. The papers address state-of-the-art techniques in financial engineering.

This book collects high-quality papers on the latest fundamental advances in the state of Econophysics and Management Science, providing insights that address problems concerning the international economy, social development and economic security. This book applies the multi-fractal detrended class method, and improves the method with different filters. The authors apply those methods to a variety of areas: financial markets, energy markets, gold market and so on. This book is arguably a systematic research and summary of various kinds of multi-fractal detrended methods. Furthermore, it puts forward some investment suggestions on a healthy development of financial markets.

Information technology has come to play an important role in organizations over the last few decades. Though it began as an entity dealt with by specialists, IT has evolved to become an everyday tool with both operational and strategic impacts. Most modern organizations have adopted different forms of IT, and become dependent on their computer-based information systems and their peripherals for everyday operations. Information technology offers opportunities to increase efficiency, customer value, and competitiveness.

Given the financial investment in IT required by organizations to remain competitive, IT has become a resource that needs to be managed. Management and Information Technology evaluates organizations? utilization of IT including knowledge management and e-learning, accounting, and business relationships. Presenting theories to help the reader understand the varying roles IT can occupy in different organizations, this volume illustrates the ways in which IT has become a key strategic tool.

Over the past decade, innovative technologies have resulted in an extensive growth of new services. Each new service requires a number of management and marketing decisions to be made well in advance of its launch and throughout its entire life cycle. This book develops mathematical models to facilitate decision-making dealing with technologically innovative services. Specifically, it develops (i) models for optimal pricing strategies of subscription services on monopolistic and duopolistic markets; (ii) an analytical model for optimal investment and optimal pricing strategies for innovative maintenance service contracts; and (iii) a model for targeting customers in marketing campaigns. In addition, the models (i)-(iii) can also be used to forecast an aggregate demand for a new service as well as the service demand for each individual customer.

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.

The book is distinct as it critically revisits what is 'social' in an enterprise without being limited by theoretical definitions Each chapter includes several case examples from international and well-renowned organizations to depict the dimensions and dilemmas a social enterprise can assume in practice It adopts a pragmatic hands-on community-based approach to drive in the message of social entrepreneurship Online resources include chapter by chapter PowerPoints slides, a video overview and additional case studies.