* 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

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.

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.

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.

Who will lead your organization into the future? Have you created the systems to properly implement required succession transitions? Have you put the financial tools in place to fund the transition? Do you want a plan that connects with your personal and company core values? When do you include timely planning related to strategy and talent issues? What are the appropriate communication strategies for sharing your plan? What legal issues need consideration related to the strategy, financial, and people aspects of succession? So, what is preventing you from starting this effort tomorrow? Small and family businesses are the bedrock of all businesses. More people are employed by small and family-owned businesses than by all multinational companies combined. Yet the research on small and family businesses is bleak: fewer than one-third of small business owners in the United States can afford to retire. Only 40% of small businesses have a workable disaster plan in case of the sudden death or disability of the owner, and only 42% of small businesses in the United States have a succession plan. Fewer than 11% of family-owned businesses make it to the third generation beyond the founder. Lack of succession planning is the second most common reason for small business failure. Many organizations often wonder where to start and what to do. Succession Planning for Small and Family Businesses: Navigating Successful Transitions presents a comprehensive approach to guiding such efforts. Small and family-owned businesses rarely employ first-rate, well-qualified talent in human resources. More typically, business owners must be jacks-of-all-trades and serve as their own accountants, lawyers, business consultants, marketing experts, and HR wizards. Unfortunately, that does not always work well when business owners embark on planning for retirement or business exits. To help business owners avert problems, this book advises on some of the management, tax and financial, legal, and psychological issues that should be considered when planning retirement or other exits from the business. This comprehensive approach is unique when compared to the books, articles, and other literature that currently exist on the market. This book takes on a bold and integrated approach. Relevant research combined with the rich experiences of the authors connects this thorough, evidence-based approach to action-based approaches for the reader.

Written by an author that has real world experience in launching a cyber consulting company. Comprehensive coverage ranging all the way from the legal formation to be used to which segment of the Cybersecurity Industry should be targeted. Explains how CISOs can market their services and get key customers.

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 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.

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

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.

This book presents an in-depth study of how the drive to optimize organizational performance can be significantly improved by investigating the causal relationships between profitability, productivity, and sustainability (PPS). This is presented through an assessment of a triple combined therapy that studies the interplay between Organizational DNA, Strategic Alignments for Value, and their implications for Sustainability. Through this approach, this volume seeks to answer critical mind-searching questions and provide useful guides as to how some firms are able to sustainably create higher value or wealth, especially through corporate entrepreneurship, or via the creation of new business models than others. In tackling the three elements of profitability, productivity, and sustainability, this book also provides greater insight through an in-depth study of the pervasively unresolved and disturbing issues surrounding the prospects of increasing the chances of success for entrepreneurial start-off ventures, making it of value to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of organizational studies, strategy, and sustainability.

Owing to the convergence of multiple cultures coupled with the unprecedented rapid development in the decades since the late 1990s, the value creation and innovation logic of Asia Pacific business models (BMs) has been constantly altered by cultural heterogeneity. As a result, a more complex and diverse landscape relative to Western developed economy BMs evolved. Moreover, the digitalization has fundamentally changed the way people do business, which has promoted a new wave of BM evolution. Unlike a typical linear mode of innovation driven by market demands in many Western cultures, a large number of entrepreneurial enterprises from the Asia Pacific with eastern religions and philosophies have tended to adopt unconventional, culturally grounded strategies of value creation and innovation in their BMs. However, it is difficult to find a Western equivalent to the value-creating route that embodies the humanitarian spirit of Confucianism accommodating simultaneously social and economic values to accelerate innovation during internationalization in existing literatures. This book offers a more holistic picture and contemporary interpretation for identifying and characterizing the unorthodox innovation patterns and the perplexing value-creating logic of Asia Pacific BMs at the crossroads of diverse cultures. It was originally published as a special issue of the Asia Pacific Business Review. This book is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 72272136; 71988101).

Trust is a fundamental concept in modern society. This book provides current findings of trust research from various disciplines: communication studies, information systems, educational and organizational psychology, sports psychology and economics. The volume analyses how trust relationships have changed and are still changing under the influence of digitalization. In addition to presenting the current state of research, the implications for trust relationships in the digital world are examined. The book brings together empirical findings with the implications for media, business, sports and science. It is of value to interdisciplinary researchers and graduate students.

* 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.

You're in big trouble if you rely on having "feet on the street" to generate new sales. Selling in today's economy has forever changed. Buyers today are more challenging to reach and offer less of their time to anyone in sales. So it's time to rethink how we generate sales to create a sustainable model that produces consistent results. This book addresses the shifts sales professionals, and their organizations need to make in introducing modern sales strategies. It provides insights and proven strategies for business owners, sales executives, leaders, and professionals -- anyone who desires to create a rapid and sustained increase in their sales without investing significant time or money. In a comprehensive review of the author's work with global companies, Casemore introduces a model for "Unstoppable Selling" -- capturing the strategies and tactics of how top-performing companies have continued to sell more each year, all while increasing the predictability of their sales growth. This book contains powerful models, tools, and resources, including the Hybrid Sales Funnel, Rocket Fuel Referral Process, and the Market Maximizer. In addition, the book demonstrates how you can quickly establish your Unstoppable Sales Machine regardless of the size or sector of your company. Introducing your own unstoppable sales machine will not require you to hire a bunch of experts or more employees. This book accepts you where you are and then walks you through the steps to quickly introduce and launch your very own machine. You'll find all the advice, guidance, case studies, and worksheets in this one convenient book ready for you to implement. If you intend to scale your business or want more freedom from the daily rollercoaster of your current sales strategy, this is the book for you. Selling is a noble profession and the heart and soul of every business -- Yet the continued evolution of today's customers, how they engage, select, and buy products and services, requires we rethink how we approach selling. In this book, Casemore shows you how to become an expert at sales while having the freedom and comfort of knowing that your machine will never let you down.

You're in big trouble if you rely on having "feet on the street" to generate new sales. Selling in today's economy has forever changed. Buyers today are more challenging to reach and offer less of their time to anyone in sales. So it's time to rethink how we generate sales to create a sustainable model that produces consistent results. This book addresses the shifts sales professionals, and their organizations need to make in introducing modern sales strategies. It provides insights and proven strategies for business owners, sales executives, leaders, and professionals -- anyone who desires to create a rapid and sustained increase in their sales without investing significant time or money. In a comprehensive review of the author's work with global companies, Casemore introduces a model for "Unstoppable Selling" -- capturing the strategies and tactics of how top-performing companies have continued to sell more each year, all while increasing the predictability of their sales growth. This book contains powerful models, tools, and resources, including the Hybrid Sales Funnel, Rocket Fuel Referral Process, and the Market Maximizer. In addition, the book demonstrates how you can quickly establish your Unstoppable Sales Machine regardless of the size or sector of your company. Introducing your own unstoppable sales machine will not require you to hire a bunch of experts or more employees. This book accepts you where you are and then walks you through the steps to quickly introduce and launch your very own machine. You'll find all the advice, guidance, case studies, and worksheets in this one convenient book ready for you to implement. If you intend to scale your business or want more freedom from the daily rollercoaster of your current sales strategy, this is the book for you. Selling is a noble profession and the heart and soul of every business -- Yet the continued evolution of today's customers, how they engage, select, and buy products and services, requires we rethink how we approach selling. In this book, Casemore shows you how to become an expert at sales while having the freedom and comfort of knowing that your machine will never let you down.

This book investigates the relationship between the firm and the territory, emphasizing the micro-organizational dimension and the interactions between actors at territorial levels. First, the book examines the particular features of the firm considering three key factors - structural design, power configuration and organizational culture - and the characteristics of the surrounding territory as a specific spatial ecosystem with its own institutions, agents, history and objectives. Second, it analyses organizational tenets at the micro- and meso levels with a view to explaining various relational models and their implications at the level of the firm and the territory. Although previous studies have focused on the territory as a geographical space in which firms procure resources and promote development, this book presents an innovative approach and makes a key contribution to the literature by dealing with the firm and the territory from an organizational perspective. The relationship is analysed as bidirectional: a key question concerns how the territory can impact the organizational dimension of the firm, and how the firm can characterize the territory. This will be considered in connection with various effects. The positive effects of the relationship with the territory are investigated in terms of territorial identity, territorial resilience and territorial sustainability. The negative effects include the role of criminal networks rooted in the territory, with firms acting as key agents.

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.

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.

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.