This book aims to provide relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical research findings in Internet of Things (IoT) in Management Science and Operations Research. It starts with basic concept and present cases, applications, theory, and potential future. The contributed chapters to the book cover wide array of topics as space permits. Examples are from smart industry; city; transportation; home and smart devices. They present future applications, trends, and potential future of this new discipline. Specifically, this book provides an interface between the main disciplines of engineering/technology and the organizational, administrative, and planning capabilities of managing IoT. This book deals with the implementation of latest IoT research findings in practice at the global economy level, at networks and organizations, at teams and work groups and, finally, IoT at the level of players in the networked environments. This book is intended for professionals in the field of engineering, information science, mathematics, economics, and researchers who wish to develop new skills in IoT, or who employ the IoT discipline as part of their work. It will improve their understanding of the strategic role of IoT at various levels of the information and knowledge organization. The book is complemented by a second volume of the same editors with practical cases.

This book focuses on data and how modern business firms use social data, specifically Online Social Networks (OSNs) incorporated as part of the infrastructure for a number of emerging applications such as personalized recommendation systems, opinion analysis, expertise retrieval, and computational advertising. This book identifies how in such applications, social data offers a plethora of benefits to enhance the decision making process. This book highlights that business intelligence applications are more focused on structured data; however, in order to understand and analyse the social big data, there is a need to aggregate data from various sources and to present it in a plausible format. Big Social Data (BSD) exhibit all the typical properties of big data: wide physical distribution, diversity of formats, non-standard data models, independently-managed and heterogeneous semantics but even further valuable with marketing opportunities. The book provides a review of the current state-of-the-art approaches for big social data analytics as well as to present dissimilar methods to infer value from social data. The book further examines several areas of research that benefits from the propagation of the social data. In particular, the book presents various technical approaches that produce data analytics capable of handling big data features and effective in filtering out unsolicited data and inferring a value. These approaches comprise advanced technical solutions able to capture huge amounts of generated data, scrutinise the collected data to eliminate unwanted data, measure the quality of the inferred data, and transform the amended data for further data analysis. Furthermore, the book presents solutions to derive knowledge and sentiments from BSD and to provide social data classification and prediction. The approaches in this book also incorporate several technologies such as semantic discovery, sentiment analysis, affective computing and machine learning. This book has additional special feature enriched with numerous illustrations such as tables, graphs and charts incorporating advanced visualisation tools in accessible an attractive display.

This book offers a multidisciplinary resource on digital government, while specifically focusing on its role within the emerging market of India. The Government of India (GoI) is concentrating on transforming India under the Digital India initiative. In order to do so, it has emphasized three core areas: (1) Computing infrastructure as a utility to every citizen; (2) Governance and services on demand; and (3) Digital empowerment of citizens. The chapters in this book address issues surrounding these areas, highlighting concepts such as knowledge societies, urban operations and logistics, issues in managing emergent Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), and also smart analytics for urbanization. The chapters contribute to the theory, practice and policy for a "Digital India." The book captures lessons, knowledge, experiences (about challenges, drivers, antecedents, etc.) and best practices emerging from implementation of various projects. While the book is dedicated to a "Digital India," this book can also be valuable resource for public administrators, government officials and researchers in other emerging markets and developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America where similar socio-political and economic conditions exist.

A unique core text that provides both a framework and roadmap for lecturers designing a teaching programme as well as the core text for them to use with their students Fully updated with a new chapter on climate change education, along with coverage of many rising topics such as risk and resilience, blockchain, AI, and social justice issues The roadmap can also be used by lecturers that need to embed Sustainable Development Goals into their teaching on a range of business and management programmes, including marketing, HR, Economics, Operations Management and financial reporting Supported by a teacher's manual and PowerPoint slides

This book addresses major challenges faced by farmers and the technological solutions based on Internet of Things (IoT). A major challenge in agriculture is cultivating and supplying high-quality produce at the best. Currently, around 50% of global farm produce never reaches the end consumer due to wastage and suboptimal prices. The book presents solutions that reduce the transport costs, improve the predictability of prices based on data analytics and the current market conditions, and reduce the number of middle steps and agents between the farmer and the end consumer. It discusses the design of an IoT-based monitoring system to analyze crop environments and a method to improve the efficiency of decision-making by analyzing harvest statistics. Further, it explores climate-smart methods, known as smart agriculture, that have been adopted by a number of Indian farmers.

This book examines how Industry 5.0 can be defined and implemented for Supply Chain Management and what essential characteristics it has. In outlining Supply Network 5.0, it examines how humans and machines, especially robotic process automation systems and artificial intelligence tools, will work together in the New Normal. To provide a comprehensive overview, it proposes a new conceptualization of Supply Network 5.0's business model based on the Business Model Canvas and SCOR framework and provides a dedicated analysis of the proposed solutions and real-world implications of its implementation. Including case studies from several different sectors and including significant analysis on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, this book will provide a cutting-edge perspective for academics and students of supply chain management, digital business and innovation.

This book presents a rich compilation of real-world cases on digitalization, the goal being to share first-hand insights from respected organizations and to make digitalization more tangible. As virtually every economic and societal sector is now being challenged by emerging technologies, the digital economy is a highly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous place - and one that holds substantial challenges and opportunities for established organizations. Against this backdrop, this book reports on best practices and lessons learned from organizations that have succeeded in overcoming the challenges and seizing the opportunities of the digital economy. It illustrates how twenty-one organizations have leveraged their capabilities to create disruptive innovations, to develop digital business models, and to digitally transform themselves. These cases stem from various industries (e.g. automotive, insurance, consulting, and public services) and countries, reflecting the many facets of digitalization. As all case descriptions follow a uniform schema, they are easily accessible, and provide insightful examples for practitioners as well as interesting cases for researchers, teachers and students. Digitalization is reshaping business on a global scale, and it is evident that organizations must transform to thrive in the digital economy. Digitalization Cases provides first-hand insights into the efforts of renowned companies. The presented actions, results, and lessons learned are a great inspiration for managers, students, and academics. Anna Kopp, Head of IT Germany, Microsoft Understanding digitalization in all its facets requires knowledge about its opportunities and challenges in different contexts. Providing 21 cases from different companies all around the world, Digitalization Cases makes an important contribution toward the comprehensibility of digitalization - from a practical and a scientific point of view. Dorothy Leidner, Ferguson Professor of Information Systems, Baylor University This book is a great source of inspiration and insight on how to drive digitalization. It shows easy to understand good practice examples which illustrate opportunities, and at the same time helps to learn what needs to be done to realize them. I consider this book a must-read for every practitioner who cares about digitalization. Martin Petry, Chief Information Officer and Head of Business Excellence, Hilti

This textbook introduces readers to practical statistical issues by presenting them within the context of real-life economics and business situations. It presents the subject in a non-threatening manner, with an emphasis on concise, easily understandable explanations. It has been designed to be accessible and student-friendly and, as an added learning feature, provides all the relevant data required to complete the accompanying exercises and computing problems, which are presented at the end of each chapter. It also discusses index numbers and inequality indices in detail, since these are of particular importance to students and commonly omitted in textbooks. Throughout the text it is assumed that the student has no prior knowledge of statistics. It is aimed primarily at business and economics undergraduates, providing them with the basic statistical skills necessary for further study of their subject. However, students of other disciplines will also find it relevant.

This text focuses on the use of smoothing methods for developing and estimating differential equations following recent developments in functional data analysis and building on techniques described in Ramsay and Silverman (2005) Functional Data Analysis. The central concept of a dynamical system as a buffer that translates sudden changes in input into smooth controlled output responses has led to applications of previously analyzed data, opening up entirely new opportunities for dynamical systems. The technical level has been kept low so that those with little or no exposure to differential equations as modeling objects can be brought into this data analysis landscape. There are already many texts on the mathematical properties of ordinary differential equations, or dynamic models, and there is a large literature distributed over many fields on models for real world processes consisting of differential equations. However, a researcher interested in fitting such a model to data, or a statistician interested in the properties of differential equations estimated from data will find rather less to work with. This book fills that gap.

Electronic payment is the economic backbone of all e-commerce transactions. This book covers the major subjects related to e-payment such as, for example, public key infrastructure, smart cards, payment agents, digital cash, SET protocols, and micro-payment. Its first part covers the infrastructure for secure e-payment over the Internet, whereas in the second part a variety of e-payment methods and systems are described. This edited volume offers a well-written and sound technical overview of the state of the art in e-payment for e-business developers, graduate students, and consultants. It is also ideally suited for classes and training courses in e-commerce or e-payment.

This book is an outcome of the 33rd International Conference EnviroInfo 2019, held at the University of Kassel, Germany. It presents a selection of papers that describe innovative scientific approaches and ongoing research in environmental informatics and the emerging field of computational sustainability. The respective articles cover a broad range of scientific aspects including advances in core technologies such as earth observation, environmental modelling, big data and machine learning, as well as applications of ICT solutions intended to support societal transformation processes toward the more sustainable management of resource use, transportation and the energy supply. Given its scope, the book is essential reading for scientists, experts and students in these fields of research.

This book attempts to reflect the project reality as closely as possible, covering the ISO 21500:2012 standard that has just been introduced and the benefits from the best contributions worldwide and also providing the concise yet powerful tool box. It shall be easy to use and intuitively supportive of project managers. So far, evidence indicates that these targets are successfully met. One of its key recognitions, and in consequence a distinctive feature of this book, is the impact that the project manager's personality has on the fate of the project. The project manager's successful self-management in work & life and in leadership processes should be considered as important in any endeavor as all other project management processes, covered by the new standards and guidelines.

Nine innovative methods to think outside the box and solve complex system problems
Managing Complex Systems provides specific tools and guidance needed to be a more creative and innovative thinker. Following the author's methodology, the reader will be better able to devise and implement nontraditional solutions to seemingly intractable complex problems. By challenging the reader to think in new and creative ways, the book offers a road map to success, whether measured in terms of competitive advantage, greater market share, improved productivity, or higher profits, all based upon better solutions to difficult problems.
The first four chapters set the foundation for creative thinking by exploring the nature of large-scale systems and complexity, thinking inside and outside the box, and examples of how an inventive mind solves problems in both management and scientific domains. Subsequent chapters address nine focused methods that the author has formulated to help the reader think outside the box:
* Broaden and generalize
* Crossover
* Question conventional wisdom
* Back of the envelope
* Expanding the dimensions
* Obversity
* Remove constraints
* Thinking with pictures
* Systems approach
Real-life examples are provided for each method that demonstrate how the approach enhances problem solving and decision making in system development and management. Following the discussion of the nine methods, the author examines group decision making as well as additional creative thinking procedures devised by other researchers, including references that assist in exploring these methods in greater detail. The author ends with a wrap-up chapter that includes a test to help readers practice their tendencies toward creative thinking skills and action with respect to solving real-world problems.
The nine methods discussed in this book have broad applicability and can be used successfully by managers with a wide range of responsibilities in business and technology. For anyone who is tired of the same old approach with the same old results, this book is essential reading.

Grain boundaries are important structural components of polycrystalline materials used in the vast majority of technical applications. Because grain boundaries form a continuous network throughout such materials, their properties may limit their practical use. One of the serious phenomena which evoke these limitations is the grain boundary segregation of impurities. It results in the loss of grain boundary cohesion and consequently, in brittle fracture of the materials. The current book deals with fundamentals of grain boundary segregation in metallic materials and its relationship to the grain boundary structure, classification and other materials properties.

This publication is in collaboration with the University of Buckingham and is the result of a combined research and review process carried out by the three Editors who belongs to the University of Ferrara, Italy, the University of Buckingham, UK and Swansea University, UK. The book deepens the debate about the lean enterprise from both an academic and a professional management perspective. It thus provides the reader with a sound understanding of the modern lean enterprise and its current evolution. A range of innovative topics are covered, with individual chapters addressing the combinations of lean with hoshin kanri, green management, IT, organizational learning, flow accounting, system thinking, problem solving, internationalization aspects, luxury industry, and product innovation. Since the term "lean" first entered contemporary operations management language in 1990 to describe a set of practices proven to deliver superior performance over mass production systems, the lean approach to waste reduction and value generation has moved from vehicle production to other manufacturing sectors. It has reshaped the support functions of manufacturing businesses and has evolved from private industry into the public sector. Lean thinking is now a dominant model of operations management and has brought with it a new language and toolbox.

This write-in workbook is an invaluable resource to help students improve their Maths and English skills and help prepare for Level 1 and Level 2 Functional Skills exams. The real-life questions are all written with a Construction Multi-Skills context to help students find essential Maths and English theory understandable, engaging and achievable. Written by Gary Taylor, lecturer with a wealth of experience in the Construction Multi-Skills and Plumbing industries, this workbook is an effective resource to support Maths and English learning in the classroom, at work and for personal study at home.

The International Conference on Informatics and Management Science (IMS) 2012 will be held on November 16-19, 2012, in Chongqing, China, which is organized by Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Nanyang Technological University, University of Michigan, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, and sponsored by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). The objective of IMS 2012 is to facilitate an exchange of information on best practices for the latest research advances in a range of areas. Informatics and Management Science contains over 600 contributions to suggest and inspire solutions and methods drawing from multiple disciplines including: * Computer Science * Communications and Electrical Engineering * Management Science * Service Science * Business Intelligence

In an intensely competitive global economy marked by the rapid emergence of new players, products, and services, there's more pressure than ever on information services organizations to provide low-cost, rapidly developed systems to meet the complex, changing needs of their companies. These greater expectations come at a time when the usefulness of current information systems has been severely questioned and the ability of IS organizations to respond more effectively has been hampered by sharp reductions in money and manpower. This latest volume in the groundbreaking Ernst & Young Information Management Series demonstrates how IS managers and other key personnel can create a more productive IS environment by applying the principles of "development effectiveness" to information technology strategies. Development Effectiveness shows how this new cost-effective approach ultimately wins the support of even the most resistant IS personnel. It allows for a successful transition from the current problematic state of most IS organizations to a desired future state in which IS becomes a full partner in helping users meet today's business challenges. Development Effectiveness first details the problems common to IS environments and it also highlights the leading practices of those organizations that are setting new standards for information systems development performance. Development Effectiveness helps lay the foundation for making IS organizations more productive. The book shows how TQM and business process reengineering can be applied within IS and how TQM and organizational change management principles support an appropriate planning framework. It also discusses the process of designing ahigh-performance IS development organization that gets essential work done while providing enough flexibility to meet changing work needs. The book tackles two of the thorniest obstacles to an effective transition - the strong resistance to change within the organization and the hard task of justifying the costs of the new IS environment. Without blinking, it offers surefire methods designed to overcome barriers to change and management techniques to help sustain change initiatives. Development Effectiveness describes the overall transition framework - preparing for, planning, and managing actual transition projects. It provides an organization with the tools to assess its current position and its readiness and ability to change, as well as a model that incorporates the essential features of an effective and continuously improving development environment. Development Effectiveness doesn't provide any easy answers or "silver bullets". What it does offer today's IS organization is a solid, realistic framework for ensuring that companies are constantly armed with the information they need to prevail in a rapidly changing global environment.

This volume discusses digital diplomacy and artificial intelligence within the context of global governance and international security. Rapid digitalization has changed the way international actors interact, offering new opportunities for international and bilateral cooperation and reinforcing the role of the emergent actors within global governance. New phenomena linked to digitalization and artificial intelligence are emerging and this volume brings a multidisciplinary, mixed-methods approach to studying them. Written by globally recognized experts, each chapter presents a case study covering an emerging topic such as: international regulation of the web and digital diplomacy, the interplay of artificial intelligence and cyber diplomacy, social media and artificial intelligence as tools for digital diplomacy, the malicious use of artificial intelligence, cyber security, and data sovereignty. Incorporating both theory and practice, quantitative and qualitative analysis, this volume will be of interest to graduate students and researchers in international relations, diplomacy, security studies, and artificial intelligence, as well as diplomats and policymakers looking to understand the implications of digitalization and artificial intelligence in their fields.

Organizations today are being challenged to make sense of changes in environments that, now more than ever, are described as VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous). They are also being driven to understand how the future will evolve and what impact it will have not only on the organizations themselves, but also on industries and societies. In recent decades a field has emerged to support organizations in addressing these challenges: strategic foresight. This book is a comprehensive introduction to strategic foresight. It presents a history of the field and explains the main principles in thinking about the future. The book describes how organizations can apply strategic foresight, and explains how it relates to other fields such as strategy, innovation and leadership, highlighting the relevance of strategic foresight not only for organizations but also for individuals, particularly managers and leaders. Grounded in the theoretical foundations of strategic foresight, the book reflects the latest academic research and explores practical applications in different contexts. It draws on more than two decades of experience that the author has in the field as a researcher, a consultant and in the corporate context. This is essential reading for managers and leaders of public and private organizations who want to establish strategic foresight practices, as well as students of foresight and managers in the fields of innovation, research & development and marketing.

A new wave of digital technologies has impacted the business world like a tsunami. But after a first phase characterized by hype and unrealistic expectations, there is now a shared need for a better understanding of how to create real and sustainable value by adopting these technologies. This book suggests a pragmatic approach to value creation by embracing the post-digital mindset: a more mature attitude toward digital innovation focused on putting these technologies at work rather than marveling at them. After the illustration of a post-digital manifesto, the book explores all the key topics and tools that are relevant for the decision makers in this context.

Written primarily for information systems managers, systems analysts, and end users who interface with them, this volume explores the group approach to decision support systems. As Thierauf points out, group decision making enhances the effectiveness of overall organizational decision making by eliminating some of the shortcomings--particularly the potential for uncorrected error--of individual decision making. When the collective expertise of the group is combined with the objective findings from a computerized mode of operation designed to help the decision making process, group decision support systems are the result. Thierauf explains the principles of group decision support systems, demonstrates their practical applications, and describes methods that can be used to design effective group decision support systems.

The book begins by presenting the underlying framework for group decision support systems and examining the characteristics of decision making in the group environment. There follows two chapters which offer a comprehensive treatment of the hardware and software necessary and one devoted to work redesign and the development of group decision support systems. The final section addresses the applications of group decision support systems to strategic planning, marketing, manufacturing, accounting, and personnel. Numerous figures illustrate points made in the text. An important contribution to the MIS literature, this book both delineates the need for more widespread use of group decision support systems and clearly explains how to implement such systems in every area of business operations.

In this book, the authors analyze big data on global interdependence caused by the flows of commodities, money, and people, using a network science approach to obtain differing views of globalization and to clarify the facts on isolation of communities. Globalization reduces international economic inequality, i.e., it allows emerging countries to catch up while it increases relative poverty in some advanced countries. How should this trade-off between international and domestic inequalities be resolved? At the same time, the reduction of biocultural diversity caused by globalization needs to be avoided. What kind of change is required in local communities to conserve biocultural diversity? On the issue of commodity flow, research results of the supply-chain network, isolation in industry, and resource flows and stocks are presented in this book. For monetary flow, ownership networks, value-added networks, and profit shifting were studied; and regarding the flow of people, linkage of ethnic groups, immigrant assimilation, and refugees were examined. Based on the resulting view of globalization and isolation, the development of the isolation index using machine learning is discussed. Finally, recommendations for evidence-based policymaking in the United Nations are considered.

This book offers readers a deeper understanding of the Cyberspace, of how institutions and industries are reinventing themselves, helping them excel in the transition to a fully digitally connected global economy. Though technology plays a key part in this regard, societal acceptance is the most important underlying condition, as it poses pressing challenges that cut across companies, developers, governments and workers. The book explores the challenges and opportunities involved, current and potential future concepts, critical reflections and best practices. It addresses connected societies, new opportunities for governments, the role of trust in digital networks, and future education networks. In turn, a number of representative case studies demonstrate the current state of development in practice.

Triple Bottom Line (TBL or 3BL) was coined as a wide and inspiring approach for businesses aimed at understanding how to create, track and manage economic, social, and environmental value added. The sustainability sector is strongly increasing its relevance among academics and practitioners, and the market opportunities associated with the Sustainable Development Goals are estimated in over $ 12 trillion per year by 2030. Although this is a promising context, a recent article suggested a rethinking of the TBL, arguing that sustainability goals' value should not be assessed in terms of profit and loss, but of people wellbeing and planet health, looking for a societal profit. Technology plays a crucial role in our society. Respectively, the Agenda 21 and the Paris Agreement consider technology to be essential in the pursue of the sustainable development and the achievement of the SDGs. Adding to this, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital solution in several field, from the way of working to the way of buying and consuming. Companies are becoming more aware of the responsibility they have with the environmental and human context, and people are looking for a work reflecting their values and purposes to motive them. This book aims to contribute to the understanding on the role of technology and its emerging and innovative solutions in the achievement of a sustainable development while making profit. It will be of value to researchers, academics, practitioners, and students in the fields of strategic management, entrepreneurship, management of technology and innovation, and sustainable development.