This book presents a general conceptual framework to translate principles of system science and engineering to service design. Services are co-created immaterial, heterogeneous, and perishable state changes. A service system includes the intended benefit to the customer and the structure and processes that accomplish this benefit. The primary focus is on the part of the service system that can reproduce such processes, called here a Service Machine, and methodological guidelines on how to analyze and design them. While the benefit and the process are designed based on the domain knowledge of each respective field, service production systems have common properties. The Service Machine is a metaphor that elicits the fundamental characteristics of service systems that do something efficiently, quickly, or repeatedly for a defined end. A machine is an artifact designed for a purpose, has several parts, such as inputs, energy flows, processors, connectors, and motors assembled as per design specifications. In case of service machine, the components are various contracts assembled on contractual frames. The book discusses Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Emergency Departments (ED) as cases. They illustrate that service machines need to be structured to adapt to the constraints of the served market acknowledging the fact that services are co-created through the integration of producers' and customers' resources. This book is highly recommended for those who are interested in understanding the fundamental concepts of designing service machines.

Does Information Technology matter? This book argues that even as Information Technology hardware, software, data and associated processes are becoming more of a commodity, it has never been more important to manage Information Technology as a strategic asset. However, managing Information Technology as a strategic asset is notoriously difficult, as is studying the impact of Information Technology on firm performance. This book sets out to identify, explain and critically evaluate current research in this area. A unique feature of this book is the use of economic theory to explain management theory and its consequences in professional practice. Beginning with a thorough introduction to Schumpeterian economic theory, the authors re-cast the pre-eminent theory in strategic management research (the Resource Based View) in the light of a Schumpeterian analysis and identify Dynamic Capabilities as an extension of, but also a radical departure from, RBV. The role of Information Technology as an endogenous technology is discussed and it is argued that how we define Information Technology determines not only how we study it but also how we use it and benefit from it. The book is aimed primarily at the academic research market, but should also be of some interest to managers. It is useful more specifically for all those studying business, Information Technology, strategy, management and innovation.

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.

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.

This volume presents a comprehensive analysis of microfinance initiatives in India. Through substantive field research and case studies ranging across the country, it examines Indian microfinance within its distinct socio-economic realities - the role of women, financial inclusion, rural entrepreneurship, and innovation - its interactions with multiple institutions, the challenges, as well as future directions.

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.

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.

Modern economies depend on innovation in services for their future growth. Service innovation increasingly depends on information technology and digitization of information processes. Designing new services is a complex matter, since collaboration with other companies and organizations is necessary. Service innovation is directly related to business models that support these services, i.e. services can only be successful in the long run with a viable business model that creates value for its customers and providers. This book presents a theoretically grounded yet practical approach to designing viable business models for electronic services, including mobile ones, i.e. the STOF model and - based on it - the STOF method. The STOF model provides a 'holistic' view on business models with four interrelated perspectives, i.e., Service, Technology, Organization and Finance. It elaborates on critical design issues that ultimately shape the business model and drive its viability.

The concepts for Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) will fundamentally change supply chains, production processes and industries. Intelligent technologies such as IoT, edge and cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and digital assistance systems are drivers of this change. This book provides a comprehensive overview of IoT use cases with illustrative practical examples of how digitization or innovation projects can be successfully implemented. It takes into consideration that processes are getting more flexible and efficient, and new digital technologies allow seamless, location-independent communication in near real time between things, processes and people through the digitization of physical objects and processes. Considering these changes, the book provides a guideline on how companies should position themselves for the future with industrial IoT in order to still play a decisive role in the industry in a few years' time. The book is aimed at both decision-makers and practitioners who, on the one hand, recognize the opportunities and possibilities for their company and, on the other hand, want to learn how to use the appropriate technologies. With this in mind it will be valuable for entrepreneurs, managers, architects and also developers in the field of Industry 4.0.

Many organizations critically depend on very large information systems. In the authors' experience these organizations often struggle to find the right strategy to sustainably develop their systems. Based on their own experience at a major bank, over more than a decade, the authors have developed a successful strategy to deal with these challenges, including: - A thorough analysis of the challenges associated with very large information systems - An assessment of possible strategies for the development of these systems, resulting in managed evolution as the preferred strategy - Describing key system aspects for the success of managed evolution, such as architecture management, integration architecture and infrastructure - Developing the necessary organizational, cultural, governance and controlling mechanisms for successful execution

This title provides managers, executives and other professionals with an innovative method for critical decision-making. The book explains the reasons for decision failures using the Law of Unintended Consequences. This account draws on the work of sociologist Robert K. Merton, psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, and economist Herbert Simon to identify two primary causes : cognitive biases and bounded rationality. It introduces an innovative method for "test driving" decisions that addresses both causes by combining scenario planning and "what-if" simulations. This method enables professionals to learn safely from virtual mistakes rather than real ones. It also provides four sample test drives of realistic critical decisions as well as two instructional videos to illustrate this new method. This book provides leaders and their support teams with important new tools for analyzing and refining complex decisions that are critical to organizational well-being and survival.

The book discusses the effects of artificial intelligence in terms of economics and finance. In particular, the book focuses on the effects of the change in the structure of financial markets, institutions and central banks, along with digitalization analyzed based on fintech ecosystems. In addition to finance sectors, other sectors, such as health, logistics, and industry 4.0, all of which are undergoing an artificial intelligence induced rapid transformation, are addressed in this book. Readers will receive an understanding of an integrated approach towards the use of artificial intelligence across various industries and disciplines with a vision to address the strategic issues and priorities in the dynamic business environment in order to facilitate decision-making processes. Economists, board members of central banks, bankers, financial analysts, regulatory authorities, accounting and finance professionals, chief executive officers, chief audit officers and chief financial officers, chief financial officers, as well as business and management academic researchers, will benefit from reading this book.

This book presents the theory and practice of product lifecycle management, chiefly focusing on modern approaches suitable for digitalized enterprises. In addition to describing adaptive methods for advanced product creation using big data analytics, it presents economic and mathematical models for managing product lifecycles based on the application of recent methods (e.g. digital design and automated intelligent systems) to control pre-production and production processes. Given its scope, the book appeals to researchers, economic analysts and entrepreneurs alike.

The modern consumer is no longer attracted by single-minded, predictable and one-benefit-focused brand promises. The old-fashioned FMCG communication strategies based on television, radio and print with constant repetition have become outdated. From Great to Gone shows that what's needed are 'Lego' strategies, whereby the marketing and communication strategies are built up by many key facets (like building blocks) and delivered to the consumer through a mix of various touch points. Most importantly, you need to leave consumers to put all of that together themselves. There are major internal and external hurdles to transforming FMCGs successfully into FICGs - Fast Innovating Consumer Goods. It requires new brand strategies and flatter, more top-down than bottom-up, decision-making organisations and a 21st-century model for advertising agencies. Externally these companies need a new route to market through transformation of their old retail dependencies. Changes are also required in all communication delivery, reflecting modern consumers' connectivity and unlimited access to information. In the book the authors showcase what the winners of the 21st century have in common that has enabled them to become FICGs. New, unimagined models continue emerge, to which, with the authors' guidance producers and retailers may develop their own sustainable responses.

Territorial Development and Action Research examines the role of action research within fields such as territorial development and innovation. Most researchers analyse these fields from the outside, developing a theoretical understanding of what should be done, but not of how to do it. Based on their own experience of territorial development processes from the inside out, James Karlsen and Miren Larrea argue that filling the gap regarding social relations in the innovation process makes it possible for researchers to engage in the processes taking place in the territory, thereby revealing how to make things work. This book will help researchers face the pressure to engage and play a useful role in the development of their host regions. It will help policy makers to continuously learn and redefine policy approaches and bring about collaboration through networks, programs and projects where researchers and practitioners in regional, local and urban development work together to construct territorial development. Readers will acquire a better understanding of micro-territorial development processes and the roles played by individuals and coalitions in endogenous development processes.

This volume emphasises knowledge transfer from the lab to the field and describes collaboration technology through three lenses: Proof of Concept, Proof of Value, and Proof of Use. The contributors focus on work practices that extend collaboration into a structured form where groups can work together to solve real-world complex problems. As with the other AMIS volumes, the contributors comprise internationally known experts in the field of Information Systems. Includes online access.

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.

Directors and government ministers across the world are increasingly being held accountable for failed IT systems, data loss and poor decisions about their organisation's data. The answer lies in IT professionals working in parallel with their governing body to create an environment where information and information systems can be accessed and used by the appropriate stakeholders. Written in two halves, this valuable book is designed to bridge the gap between the governing body and CIOs/ IT managers. It will help them to create a safe and robust governance framework for their organisation by applying the principles of the ISO IT Governance Standard 38500 on directing, evaluating and monitoring IT activity. A practical approach to best practices in IT governance Shows how to govern, protect and manage information and technology assets Reduces the risk involved in delivering business information systems Written by a leader of the group that developed the ISO/IEC 38500 standard

Focusing on issues in the management and governance of IT innovation, this book links concepts and theories of academic learning to actual real-life scenarios from the successful experiences of public and private sector organisations in Singapore. While there is little disagreement that innovation is the fundamental source of value creation and competitive advantage, investment in IT to support and foster innovation by no means guarantees success. There are various issues to be considered, such as the question of processes and structures that need to be in place in order to maximise value, how to leverage IT innovation to formulate constantly evolving strategies so as to seize emergent opportunities, and how to overcome challenges faced in implementation, amongst others. Suitable as a complement to main texts for academic courses on accounting information systems and management information systems, as well as a guide for business professionals in this field, the book provides a concise introduction on the subject through the use of case studies and teaching notes, affording a broad perspective on the most important issues.

"Handbook of Computational Economics" summarizes recent advances in economic thought, revealing some of the potential offered by modern computational methods. With computational power increasing in hardware and algorithms, many economists are closing the gap between economic practice and the frontiers of computational mathematics. In their efforts to accelerate the incorporation of computational power into mainstream research, contributors to this volume update the improvements in algorithms that have sharpened econometric tools, solution methods for dynamic optimization and equilibrium models, and applications to public finance, macroeconomics, and auctions. They also cover the switch to massive parallelism in the creation of more powerful computers, with advances in the development of high-power and high-throughput computing.

Much more can be done to expand the value of computational modeling in economics. In conjunction with volume one (1996) and volume two (2006), this volume offers a remarkable picture of the recent development of economics as a science as well as an exciting preview of its future potential.
Samples different styles and approaches, reflecting the breadth of computational economics as practiced todayFocuses on problems with few well-developed solutions in the literature of other disciplinesEmphasizes the potential for increasing the value of computational modeling in economics

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.

The tools, guidelines, and procedures that IS auditors need

Auditing Information Systems, Second Edition, explains clearly how to audit the controls and security over all types of information systems environments. The concepts and techniques in the book enable auditors, information security professionals, managers, and audit committee members of every knowledge and skill level to truly understand whether or not their computing systems are safe. The book provides a detailed examination of contemporary auditing issues such as:

• Information systems audit approach (physical, logical, environmental security)
• Security certifications such as SAS 70, TruSecure, SysTrust, and WebTrust
• Computer forensics
• E-Commerce and Internet security (including encryption and cryptography)
• Information privacy laws and regulations
• Information systems project management controls
• New technologies and future risks

Auditing Information Systems, Second Edition gives auditing professionals the tools they need to get their job done right. It is a must-have reference for any auditor’s library.

For courses in Graduate MIS, Decision Support Systems, and courses covering the principles of enterprise resource planning systems. This text takes a generic approach to enterprise resource planning systems and their interrelationships, covering all functional areas of this new type of management challenge. It discusses the re-design of business processes, changes in organizational structure, and effective management strategies that will help assure competitiveness, responsiveness, productivity, and global impact for many organizations in the years ahead.

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.

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.