Corporate governance is not just about models of best practice organisation or prescriptions following laws or social conventions. Corporate governance is also about persons of power seeking performance, and they do so in ways that transcend structures and pre-conceived notions of the structural set-up of the business. This book emphasises the decision-making dimensions of corporate governance, placing it right in the messy middle of the ever-changing world of capitalism, focussing on the interplay between professional managers and shareholders. This book aims to bring together several fresh perspectives on the development of capitalism seen through the lens of corporate governance. It illustrates the role of intentionality and persons, both as a method with which to understand processes of change, but also as a principle with which to seek a deeper understanding of the corporate governance choices made. It will be of interest to researchers, academics and students in the fields of corporate governance and entrepreneurship, as well as practitioners and other audience interested in the evolution of capitalism and corporate culture.

* International approach, with examples and cases from the US, Europe and Africa * Each chapter contains objectives, case studies, discussion questions and further reading suggestions. * PPT slides and data sets available as digital supplements

This book explains the requirements of ISO 9001 for establishing quality management system (QMS) for an organization. The requirements are illustrated with examples from industries for understanding the requirements and preparing the documents of QMS with high clarity. Methods of integrating ISO 9001 requirements with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software are presented. The software integrated approach enables process owners to focus on their core tasks of achieving the planned outputs of processes and the software generates quality records automatically.

Extensive research conducted by the Hasso Plattner Design Thinking Research Program at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, USA, and the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany, has yielded valuable insights on why and how design thinking works. The participating researchers have identified metrics, developed models, and conducted studies, which are featured in this book, and in the previous volumes of this series. Offering readers a closer look at design thinking, and its innovation processes and methods, this volume addresses the new and growing field of neurodesign, which applies insights from the neurosciences in order to improve design team performance. Thinking and devising innovations are inherently human activities - and so is design thinking. Accordingly, design thinking is not merely the result of special courses or of being gifted or trained: it is a way of dealing with our environment and improving techniques, technologies and life in general. As such, the research outcomes compiled in this book are intended to inform and provide inspiration for all those seeking to drive innovation - be they experienced design thinkers or newcomers.

This book 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.

The growing complexity, fluidity and instability of the environment as well as changing needs are challenges that both enterprises and higher education institutions must face. Higher education institutions understand that their key product, i.e. knowledge, is a value that can and should be offered to enterprises in a desirable form as a key to innovation and development as well as the basis of the necessary internal transformation to respond to requirements of our times. Attempts to explain the process of collaboration between higher education institutions and businesses based on an institutional perspective fail to capture the complexity of this process. The purpose of this book is to develop a model approach to managerial competencies that affect the innovativeness of enterprises and to identify internal and external key factors strengthening or limiting the impact of managerial competencies on the innovativeness of an enterprise including organisational structure, strategy, organisational culture and more. It will be of value to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of entrepreneurship, innovation, management, strategy, and will be particularly useful to organisations that are aware of their operating conditions in the knowledge-based economy and of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemics on the acceleration of the digital transformation of the contemporary world.

This book is based on the work of the YEEES Research Centre, an international network of scientists from partner universities in Germany, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa. It presents inter- and transdisciplinary research that explores different ways of understanding resilience, an essential characteristic for systems, organizations and people - providing them with strength in the face of attacks and challenges, and both enabling and fostering constant adaptation and improvement. Building resilience to face today's ever-changing societal and environmental realities requires unbiased research activities that transcend the borders of countries and academic disciplines alike. The research addressed in this book, thus, is multidisciplinary and includes contributions to areas such as sustainable agriculture, entrepreneurial ecosystems, and smart communities, as well as groundbreaking work on skills development and ICT education. Highlighting the variety of research activities and their outcomes, this book offers a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners in the fields of sustainable resilience development.

This volume presents extensive research devoted to a broad spectrum of mathematics with emphasis on interdisciplinary aspects of Optimization and Probability. Chapters also emphasize applications to Data Science, a timely field with a high impact in our modern society. The discussion presents modern, state-of-the-art, research results and advances in areas including non-convex optimization, decentralized distributed convex optimization, topics on surrogate-based reduced dimension global optimization in process systems engineering, the projection of a point onto a convex set, optimal sampling for learning sparse approximations in high dimensions, the split feasibility problem, higher order embeddings, codifferentials and quasidifferentials of the expectation of nonsmooth random integrands, adjoint circuit chains associated with a random walk, analysis of the trade-off between sample size and precision in truncated ordinary least squares, spatial deep learning, efficient location-based tracking for IoT devices using compressive sensing and machine learning techniques, and nonsmooth mathematical programs with vanishing constraints in Banach spaces. The book is a valuable source for graduate students as well as researchers working on Optimization, Probability and their various interconnections with a variety of other areas. Chapter 12 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Industrialisation has brought great benefits to humankind but now, after 200 years of fossil fuel use, land clearance and pollution, the planet's boundaries are being stretched to their limits. Going beyond these confines would have severe consequences for humankind. To prevent this from happening, government, corporate and community initiatives must focus on reducing the environmental impact of approximately 400 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), given that they produce approximately 70% of the world's pollution, 60% of carbon emissions and have a significant impact on land. To date, research shows that SMEs have been environmental laggards and more needs to be understood to improve sustainability in the SME sector. Broadening the researcher's methodological focus, beyond traditional singular approaches, improves knowledge generation and better informs policy and practice. This book paves the way by showing the reader that a mixed method research design is able to provide a deep, diverse and holistic understanding of sustainability and SMEs. Importantly, the book also provides an in-depth mapping of mixed method sustainability and SME research at a regional level. As this book is about environmental sustainability framed in a business context, it will be of interest to researchers, academics, students and those in industry who are enquiring about the environmental sustainability of SMEs.

This book examines trends and challenges in research on IT governance in public organizations, reporting innovative research and new insights in the theories, models and practices within the area. As we noticed, IT governance plays an important role in generating value from organization's IT investments. However there are different challenges for researchers in studying IT governance in public organizations due to the differences between political, administrative, and practices in these organizations. The first section of the book looks at Management issues, including an introduction to IT governance in public organizations; a systematic review of IT alignment research in public organizations; the role of middle managers in aligning strategy and IT in public service organizations; and an analysis of alignment and governance with regard to IT-related policy decisions. The second section examines Modelling, including a consideration of the challenges faced by public administration; a discussion of a framework for IT governance implementation suitable to improve alignment and communication between stakeholders of IT services; the design and implementation of IT architecture; and the adoption of enterprise architecture in public organizations. Finally, section three presents Case Studies, including IT governance in the context of e-government strategy implementation in the Caribbean; the relationship of IT organizational structure and IT governance performance in the IT department of a public research and education organization in a developing country; the relationship between organizational ambidexterity and IT governance through a study of the Swedish Tax Authorities; and the role of institutional logics in IT project activities and interactions in a large Swedish hospital.

Original ideas start in a persons mind, but the environment where they operate is crucial for the capture and development of these ideas. Equally important is the interaction with others in developing and evaluating ideas, as a brilliant idea only influences the world if it is put into use. This book hopes to inspire the team leader, innovation manager or research group leader. It deals with the delicate balance of managing and controlling intellectual property in a collaborative environment. Insights on how new inventions can be evaluated are offered. Following the whole cycle of innovation from a creative idea to where a product or service can be put on the market, examples illustrate how an innovative environment can be created and maintained. Strategies and solutions based on the science of team development are presented and leadership models for the different phases of group development are provided. The book will be of interest to researchers, academics, product developers, entrepreneurs, and advanced students in the fields of technology and innovation management and entrepreneurship and small business management but also for leadership.

* Joey F. George I was honored to be asked to open the VI Conference of the Italian Chapter of the Association for Information Systems (ItAIS), held in Olbia, on the Costa Smeralda of Sardinia, Italy, in October 2009. Over 90 research papers were presented over two days, and over 120 people attended the conference. Each day, five par- lel sessions featured papers on diverse information systems topics. Session themes included Information and Knowledge Management; Organizational Change and Impact of ICT; IS Quality, Metrics and Impact; E-Justice and Ethics of Information Systems; Information Systems Development and Design Methodo- gies; E-Services in Public and Private Sectors; Innovation Transfer of IT Research Projects; the Strategic Role of Information Systems; Accounting Management and Information Systems; Human Computer Interaction; and Emerging Issues in a Globalized and Interconnected World. The majority of attendees were from Italy, which would be expected for a meeting of the Italian Chapter of AIS. However, as much as 30% of participants came from elsewhere, from other parts of Europe to be sure, but also from as far away as Nigeria, Mexico and Australia. That the conference was so decidedly international provides support for the 2009 con- rence theme, "Achieving Fusion in the Interconnected World. " Amid lively d- cussion and intellectual exchanges, professional networks were extended well beyond the Costa Smeralda and new connections and friendships were made.

This book examines the concepts of open innovation, crowdsourcing and co-creation from a holistic point of view and analyzes them considering their suitability to the tourism industry. Methods, theories and models are discussed and examined regarding their practical applicability in tourism. The book illustrates the theoretical mechanisms and principles of Open Innovation, Crowdsourcing and Co-creation with case studies and best practices examples. In addition to the scientific target group, the book is a useful resource for managers of the entire tourism industry. First, the book presents the theoretical fundamentals and concepts in 11 specific chapters. This basis is then enriched by three parts with case studies, focusing on information, creation and provision respectively. Finally in a concluding part the editors sum up the book and give an outlook on the implications, learnings and future perspectives of open innovation, crowdsourcing and collaborative consumption in the tourism industry.

Trail-blazing social entrepreneurs are tackling the world's most pressing problems that government, business, or charity have failed to solve. They are creating businesses with a primary mission of social change. Scott Boyer is one such social entrepreneur. This 28-year veteran of Big Pharma left a six-figure salary to start OWP Pharmaceuticals and the ROW Foundation. This commercial business and non-profit organization exist in a symbiotic relationship we call a "tandem hybrid social enterprise." This model combines a multimillion dollar business with a foundation that's on track to become the largest funder of projects serving people with epilepsy and associated psychiatric disorders in the world. The tandem hybrid incorporates the principles learned by Scott and others for building a truly unique social enterprise from the ground up; one that is: Driven by a compelling social mission Financed by commercial success Structured to retain control Scalable and sustainable for the long haul Powering Social Enterprises With Profit And Purpose offers a detailed blueprint that has proven commercially and philanthropically successful and that can be replicated in most business sectors.

This book deals with leadership trends in the next decade and beyond. It critically examines how knowledge management can be used to address emerging societal and business issues, such as sustaining complex product quality, controlling automation generated unemployment, increasing cyber insecurity in virtual workforce environment, and unstable government and market trends. These issues require unique leadership qualities to be effective in extremely challenging business and socio-political environments. Included among the topics explored by the authors in this book are: investment for the development of diverse human capital, use of data analytics for performance improvement, declining demographic dividends in population deficient areas, and globally increasing women and minority education and employment. Scholars in business and economics, and managers in industry and government will find this book to be a valuable resource in exploring new directions for the future development of leadership.

Is your enterprise architecture making a difference? Does it contribute to the goals of your company? Are the architects your best paid employees? If you are striving for a full-hearted yes to these questions, this is the book for you.

Building an Enterprise Architecture Practice provides practical advice on how to develop your enterprise architecture practice. The authors developed different tools and models to support organizations in implementing and professionalizing an enterprise architecture function. The application of these tools and models in many different organizations forms the basis for this book. The result is a hands-on book that will help you to avoid certain pitfalls and achieve success with enterprise architecture.

A lot of organizations nowadays have a team of enterprise architects at work but struggle with questions like:

a [ How do I show the added value of enterprise architecture?

a [ How do I determine what specific architectures are necessary for my organization?

a [ What steps do I need to take to improve my enterprise architecture practice?

a [ How do I fulfill the role of enterprise architect?

These questions are answered in this book and illustrated with a lot of best practices.

After reading the book the reader will have a better understanding of what makes enterprise architecture successful and will possess the tools to analyse his own situation and build an enterprise architecture practice accordingly.

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This book clearly describes how to establish an architecture practice that delivers value for an organization. The authorsdemonstrate a wealth of experience and a deep understanding of the multifaceted nature of this challenging task and they provide sound advice on how to avoid the many pitfalls that may be encountered along the way.

Recognising that there is no 'one-size-fits-all' approach, they show how to deploy a range of practical tools and approaches that will enable each organization to create its own road map to success. In particular, their Maturity Matrix is invaluable for balancing architecture priorities and targeting improvements. The book makes a significant contribution to the professionalization of the architect role.

Sally Bean, Enterprise Architecture Consultant

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Too many books on enterprise architecture leave one in a state of mental fuzziness: After reading them, the reader has learned a lot of impressive words but still does not know how to design an enterprise architecture. This step by step guide to DYA is different.

It provides pragmatic guidelines for developing enterprise architecture and presents a maturity model that helps the users of DYA to state realistic goals and to outline feasible steps to achieve these goals. Particularly useful is the emphasis on a coherent enterprise architecture vision, including the value added by the architecture. I warmly recommend this book to practicing enterprise architects.

Prof. Dr. Roel Wieringa, Universiteit Twente

The actionable guide for driving organizational innovation through better IT strategy With rare insight, expert technology strategist Peter High emphasizes the acute need for IT strategy to be developed not in a vacuum, but in concert with the broader organizational strategy. This approach focuses the development of technology tools and strategies in a way that is comprehensive in nature and designed with the concept of value in mind. The role of CIO is no longer "just" to manage IT strategy instead, the successful executive will be firmly in tune with corporate strategy and a driver of a technology strategy that is woven into overall business objectives at the enterprise and business unit levels. High makes use of case examples from leading companies to illustrate the various ways that IT infrastructure strategy can be developed, not just to fall in line with business strategy, but to actually drive that strategy in a meaningful way. His ideas are designed to provide real, actionable steps for CIOs that both increase the executive's value to the organization and unite business and IT in a manner that produces highly-successful outcomes. * Formulate clearer and better IT strategic plans * Weave IT strategy into business strategy at the corporate and business unit levels * Craft an infrastructure that aligns with C-suite strategy * Close the gap that exists between IT leaders and business leaders While function, innovation, and design remain key elements to the development and management of IT infrastructure and operations, CIOs must now think beyond their primary purview and recognize the value their strategies and initiatives will create for the organization. With Implementing World Class IT Strategy, the roadmap to strategic IT excellence awaits.

This contributed volume provides academic insights into the digital financial world. It illustrates the state-of-the-art research on financial technology and innovation with special focus on the impact in society. Technologies are not only door openers for the digital world, but they are also key drivers of change. These key drivers of digitalization, accelerating the pace, are literally forcing individuals to adapt. The authors discuss these dynamics and reflect on society's adaptability. The first part of the book focuses on cryptocurrencies as disruptive technology. It discusses the status quo, future trends and legal frameworks for virtual money. The second part of the book sheds light on value creation in a digitalized world. The authors discuss digital platforms and economic networks and the impact of digital dominance.

This book examines the interplay between IT solutions and specific management methods in organizations. In particular, it assesses the impact of IT reliability on factors like employees' commitment and organizational performance. After developing the necessary theoretical foundation, the book presents a framework for aligning IT solutions with a number of specific management methods in organizations. In addition, it demonstrates the extent to which IT reliability can be an indicator for this alignment, and discusses the impact on employees' commitment and organizational performance under various management methods. Case studies from organizations in Switzerland and Poland help to illustrate the findings. In closing, the book presents roadmaps for improving IT and business alignment so as to achieve higher commitment and better results.

This edited volume focuses on big data implications for computational social science and humanities from management to usage. The first part of the book covers geographic data, text corpus data, and social media data, and exemplifies their concrete applications in a wide range of fields including anthropology, economics, finance, geography, history, linguistics, political science, psychology, public health, and mass communications. The second part of the book provides a panoramic view of the development of big data in the fields of computational social sciences and humanities. The following questions are addressed: why is there a need for novel data governance for this new type of data?, why is big data important for social scientists?, and how will it revolutionize the way social scientists conduct research? With the advent of the information age and technologies such as Web 2.0, ubiquitous computing, wearable devices, and the Internet of Things, digital society has fundamentally changed what we now know as "data", the very use of this data, and what we now call "knowledge". Big data has become the standard in social sciences, and has made these sciences more computational. Big Data in Computational Social Science and Humanities will appeal to graduate students and researchers working in the many subfields of the social sciences and humanities.

*Addresses a shift in thinking about entrepreneurial education, away from business and toward school education internationally. *Supports learning about and through entrepreneurial thinking within the context of school teaching. *Encourages teachers to develop their own entrepreneurial thinking skills.

Digital entrepreneurship refers to business activities in the digital media and information and information and communication technologies. It encompasses entrepreneurial pursuits in areas such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, internet of things, and augmented reality among many more. The digital economy is expected to bring about $60 Trillion in revenue by 2025. With the rise and proliferation of emerging technologies globally, entrepreneurs have pursued opportunities to leverage skills, abilities, and resources to find innovative revenue streams. Companies such as Facebook, Uber, and Twitter are examples of highly successful digital firms that have become giants in the industry. Entrepreneurs and executives from all over the world are looking to follow in their footsteps. The book will outline and discuss ideas and approaches for companies of all sizes to benefit from the digital economy. This edited book brings together chapter contributions from leading practice experts and academics from all over the world. It advances contemporary thinking on digital entrepreneurship and aims to become the ultimate reference guide on the subject, making it especially valuable to researchers, academics, students, and professionals in the fields of entrepreneurship, international business, and the management of technology and innovation.

Social Entrepreneurship: A Practical Introduction equips aspiring entrepreneurs with the tools needed to design and launch businesses to create positive social change in their communities. This accessible textbook aims to educate and motivate people interested in social entrepreneurship, showing that such businesses are a valuable part of the community development toolbox. Each chapter focuses on a key aspect of social entrepreneurship, from value creation and business planning to impact measurement and scaling up. Different social business models are presented, with analysis of their strengths and weaknesses. Cases and examples are included throughout the book and showcase real-life social enterprises in North America, South America, Europe, Australia, Africa, and the Caribbean. Discussion questions also support reflection and learning. A downloadable workbook offers support with checklists, social impact measurement, and other areas. An instructor manual containing test questions and experiential exercises is also available as a digital supplement for adopters. This book is ideal for introductory courses in social entrepreneurship and community development. It will also be valuable for those involved in social enterprises on the ground.

Features: Discusses simple interest and its application to promissory notes/treasury bills. Discusses compound interest with applications to present and future values. Introduces the banking field including loans, annuities, and the spot/forward FX market. Discusses trade discounts and markups/markdowns Introduces the insurance field and the role of the actuary Introduces the fields of data analytics and operations research Discusses business metrics and problem solving Introduces matrices and their applications Discusses calculus and its applications Discusses basic financial statements such as balance sheet, profit and loss and cash account. Reviews a selection of software to support business mathematics

The digital revolution is changing virtually every aspect of the business world. However, most attempts at the digital transformation of enterprises fail - largely because of a lack of comprehensive and coherent strategy. This book takes lessons learned from the rise of the digital platform giants and explores how they can be adapted and effectively applied to established businesses, allowing them to compete within the new digital business paradigm. Offering a holistic perspective on the business and technology landscape, the book describes the megatrends, evolution and impact of digital technologies and business models. It brings together what for many is a disjointed set of business transformation imperatives, to provide a practical guide to digital success. Drawing on the authors' decades of experience in supporting transformation and innovation, the book lays out a path to a progressive iteration of business change and value realization, balancing the perspectives of revolutionary transformation and change-enabling optimization.