This book examines the recent evolution of the concept of data as an economic and managerial phenomenon. The author first describes and discusses open data and then introduces the concept of linked data, with a focus on assets for reuse. Furthermore, he addresses the main challenges of big data. Value is identified as the main incentive for the adoption of linked data; accordingly, the next two chapters study sources of data value from a macroeconomic and micro economic perspective, respectively. This contributes to the systematization of important issues at the crossroads of enterprise data and data sharing: data ownership, personal data, and data privacy. In turn, the book reveals the role of innovation as a main vehicle for creating value by unifying big, open, and linked data. It studies the ways in which value can be created, transferred, and captured in the form of business models, before the closing chapter verifies the data unification model by combining open and linked geographical data with big data from a major telecom company.

This open access book examines the implications of internal crowdsourcing (IC) in companies. Presenting an employee-oriented, cross-sector reference model for good IC practice, it discusses the core theoretical foundations, and offers guidelines for process-management and blueprints for the implementation of IC. Furthermore, it examines solutions for employee training and competence development based on crowdsourcing. As such, the book will appeal to scholars of management science, work studies, organizational and participation research and to readers interested in inclusive approaches for cooperative change management and the IT implications for IC platforms.

Research and Practical Issues of Enterprise Information Systems II, Volume 2 presents work from the IFIP TC 8 WG 8.9 International Conference on the Research and Practical Issues of Enterprise Information Systems (CONFENIS 2007).

Enterprise information systems (EIS) have become increasingly popular over the last 15 years. EIS integrate and support business processes across functional boundaries in a supply chain environment. In recent years, more and more enterprises world-wide have adopted EIS such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) for running their businesses. Previously, information systems such as CAD, CAM, MRPII and CRM were widely used for partial functional integration within a business organization. With global operation, global supply chain, and fierce competition in place, there is a need for suitable EIS such as ERP, E-Business or E-Commerce systems to integrate extended enterprises in a supply chain environment with the objective of achieving efficiency, competency, and competitiveness. As an example, the global economy has forced business enterprises such as Dell and Microsoft to adopt ERP in order to take the advantage of strategic alliances within a global supply chain environment. Today, not only the large companies, but also the medium companies are quickly learning that a highly integrated EIS is more and more a required element of doing business. Businesses all over the world are investing billions of dollars in acquiring and implementing EIS in particular ERP systems by SAP and Oracle. As a result, there is a growing demand for researching EIS to provide insights into challenges, issues, and solutions related to the design, implementation and management ofEIS.

Information systems are the backbone of many of today's computerized applications. Distributed databases and the infrastructure needed to support them have been well studied. However, this book is the first to address distributed database interoperability by examining the successes and failures, various approaches, infrastructures, and trends of the field. A gap exists in the way that these systems have been investigated by real practitioners. This gap is more pronounced than usual, partly because of the way businesses operate, the systems they have, and the difficulties created by systems' autonomy and heterogeneity. Telecommunications firms, for example, must deal with an increased demand for automation while at the same time continuing to function at their current level. While academics are focusing on investigating differences between distributed databases, federated databases, heterogeneous databases, and, more generally, among loosely connected and tightly coupled systems, those who have to deal with real problems right away know that the only relevant research is the one that will ensure that their system works to produce reasonably correct results. Interconnecting Heterogeneous Information Systems covers the underlying principles and infrastructures needed to realize truly global information systems. The book discusses technologies related to middleware, the Web, workflows, transactions, and data warehousing. It also overviews architectures with a discussion of critical issues. The book gives an overview of systems that can be viewed as learning platforms. While these systems do not translate to successful commercial realities, they push the envelope in terms of research. Successful commercial systems have benefited from the experiments conducted in these prototypes. The book includes two case studies based on the authors' own work. Interconnecting Heterogeneous Information Systems is suitable as a textbook for a graduate-level course on Interconnecting Heterogeneous Information Systems, as well as a secondary text for a graduate-level course on database or information systems, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.

This book presents a framework for developing an analytics strategy that includes a range of activities, from problem definition and data collection to data warehousing, analysis, and decision making. The authors examine best practices in team analytics strategies such as player evaluation, game strategy, and training and performance. They also explore the way in which organizations can use analytics to drive additional revenue and operate more efficiently. The authors provide keys to building and organizing a decision intelligence analytics that delivers insights into all parts of an organization. The book examines the criteria and tools for evaluating and selecting decision intelligence analytics technologies and the applicability of strategies for fostering a culture that prioritizes data-driven decision making. Each chapter is carefully segmented to enable the reader to gain knowledge in business intelligence, decision making and artificial intelligence in a strategic management context.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses are especially vulnerable. This is one of the first books that explicitly examines the linkage between crisis and entrepreneurship with a specific focus on small businesses. The book adopts a holistic approach and outlines strategies that small business owners can utilize as well as business opportunities that are available in these new market conditions. It also provides a comparative analysis of the current and future market conditions to enable a better understanding of how institutional structures can facilitate or hinder growth. The book also goes on to explain why and how creativity and innovation can help to mitigate the impact of such a crisis on business and highlights why business continuity is especially crucial to family-owned businesses. This timely publication will help to guide small business owners and entrepreneurs to maintain business continuity and build up their resilience in a challenging business climate.

This book examines the changing business and economic environment for postal services in Lithuania and the upcoming challenges for this industry. Postal services continue to play a central part in the development of national economies. However, the economic and social role of postal services has changed rapidly and fundamentally over the last two decades. In most industrialized countries, paper-based communications are in serious decline, while the demand for parcel delivery services is rising steadily with the continuing development of e-commerce, just-in-time production techniques, and global supply chains. For the postal sector as a whole, the centre of gravity has shifted dramatically from letters and documents to parcels. The authors explain how the organizational paradigm has inexorably shifted from that of a national, government-owned postal administration providing the basic delivery services required by society, to a system of interdependent local and regional undertakings that both compete and cooperate with one another. The book argues that there are no indications that the postal sector has stopped changing, and that it seems most probable that the European Union's postal sector will look quite different in 2035 than it does today. In closing, the book explains how the shareholders of postal services companies have recently confirmed that the time has come to rethink the strategy of creating and maintaining competitiveness in the postal services industry.

Never has the need for church planting been more acute or more necessary. The world around us is beset with problems of every kind-political, social, economic, racial, and moral. The list is endless, and the difficulties are systemic and entrenched. The best minds, institutions, and efforts are being marshaled to address these problems, but are we getting to the root issues? Could it be that the solutions lie elsewhere? Indeed, the greatest reformer to ever live told us the hope we need comes from the church. Yes, the church, as anemic and as irrelevant as it may seem to some (or many). Jesus said of the community He would birth, "You are the light of the world and the salt of the earth" (Matt. 5:13-14). The church, in all its forms, from small to big, whether found in the countryside or in megacities is God's redeeming force for society, for culture, and for the nations. The church is God's secret weapon and His change agent for the world. He's all in on the church. As such the church is God's organizational servant on the earth. It's to be an enterprise of the highest quality. It's to sparkle with kingdom power, love, and truth. As Ephesians 3:10 states, "[God's] intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms." For such a task, outstanding leaders are needed. Great leaders are not just for the arenas of business, politics, or the military. The church must also focus on recruiting, training, and deploying the best. As the leader goes, so goes the organization. This book assists in the great endeavor of planting churches. It gives church planters a biblical and conceptual framework so they can be armed with a map for how to go about establishing new works. This framework is rooted in the humble yet glorious, small yet significant, quiet yet powerful ways of Jesus.

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.

This book develops insights of digitalization and the future of financial services to originate an innovative approach to financial field, in order to underpin research and practice in the wide area of digital finance. The aim of this book is to extend our understandings on how digitalization and the future of financial services can be helpful in different business circumstances in many cross-functional financial areas, such as financial markets, financial risk management, financial technologies, investment finance, etc. Thus, the book aims at addressing the relevance of digital finance for different players, highlighting differences in tools and processes as well as identifying innovative practices in financial digitalization. This can result in some novel theoretical and practical insights that can foster financial players, in order to proactively explore and exploit opportunities in financial digitalization and offset financial risks and increase efficiency.

This book readdresses fundamental issues in knowledge management, leading to a new area of study: knowledge processes. McInerney 's and Day 's superb authors from various disciplines offer new and exciting views on knowledge acquisition, generation, sharing and management in a post-industrial environment. Their contributions discuss problems of knowledge acquisition, handling, and learning from a variety of perspectives.

Over the past decade, diverse organizations have been turning to open source software for their technological needs, in both internal processes management and public interaction. Turning the data generated by organizations ranging from universities to large corporations into usable information has plagued users for years, making open source solutions one of the primary goals of these institutions. Open Source Solutions for Knowledge Management and Technological Ecosystems addresses the issues surrounding the search for each organization's unique data management needs, defining the tools necessary to fulfill them within their technological ecosystem, along with the selection, interoperability, and integration of these tools. This book is ideal for managers, business professionals, software engineers, information technology professionals, and students of business and IT.

For courses in database management. A comprehensive text on the latest in database development Focusing on what leading database practitioners say are the most important aspects to database development, Modern Database Management presents sound pedagogy and topics that are critical for the practical success of database professionals. The 13th Edition updates and expands materials in areas undergoing rapid change as a result of improved managerial practices, database design tools and methodologies, and database technology - such as application security, multi-user solutions, and more - to reflect major trends in the field and the skills required of modern information systems graduates.

This book closes the gap between information technologies and management decision making. It treats currently relevant topics in information technology--knowledge-based expert systems, graphic-user interface, fuzzy logic, neural networks, data storage, client server, and integration of heterogeneous databases--by using examples and, more importantly, by relating these methods to the needs of the decision maker by taking into account the individual's decision style. The authors provide a solid basis for determining how decision makers use and access information that becomes part of the design of information systems. Integrating the decision maker into the design results in a more intelligent information system because the focus is on the outcome rather than on the methodology or computer power used.

Information and communication technology, in particular artificial intelligence, can be used to support economy and commerce using digital means. This book is about agents and multi-agent distributed systems applied to digital economy and e-commerce to meet, improve, and overcome challenges in the digital economy and e-commerce sphere. Agent and multi-agent solutions are applied in implementing real-life, exciting developments associated with the need to eliminate problems of distributed systems. The book presents solutions for both technology and applications, illustrating the possible uses of agents in the enterprise domain, covering design and analytic methods, needed to provide a solid foundation required for practical systems. More specifically, the book provides solutions for the digital economy, e-sourcing clusters in network economy, and knowledge exchange between agents applicable to online trading agents, and security solutions to both digital economy and e-commerce. Furthermore, it offers solutions for e-commerce, such as, mapping and alignment of ontologies for business, negotiation, automated auctions, recommender systems to support traders in business activities, and game simulations.

For one- or-two-semester courses in business statistics. Give students the statistical foundation to hone their analysis skills for real-world decisions Basic Business Statistics helps students see the essential role that statistics will play in their future careers by using examples drawn from all functional areas of real-world business. Guided by principles set forth by ASA's Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction (GAISE) reports and the authors' diverse teaching experiences, the text continues to innovate and improve the way this course is taught to students. The 14th Edition includes new and updated resources and tools to enhance students' understanding, and provides the best framework for learning statistical concepts.

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.

This book brings together valuable insights about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the business environment from an Asian perspective. While some businesses in Asia have been swift to embrace the new normal, others have found the disruption to the traditional way of doing business challenging. Businesses are striving to respond, adapt, and thrive under the shadow of the unprecedented upheaval to the business environment that has forced them to rethink their strategies, processes, and operating models. There seems to be a consensus among business scholars and stakeholders that the continuous embrace of change and transformation of business models will assist businesses to sustain a long-term competitive advantage. The chapters in this book explore shifts in business innovation and strategies linked to the "new normal" of doing business during the pandemic, bringing to light issues, challenges, and opportunities that firms can expect to face in their need to ensure sustainability post-pandemic and beyond.

This book describes the trends in digital innovation that are of most importance for businesses and explores the key challenges. The book is in three parts, the first of which focuses on developments in digital systems. Here, the ever-growing relevance of big data, cloud computing, and mobile services for business is discussed, and detailed consideration is given to the importance of social listening for understanding user behavior and needs and the implications of IT consumerization. In the second part, trends in digital management are examined, with chapters devoted to work practice, digital business identity as well as branding and governance. The final part of the book presents and reviews case studies of digital innovation at the global level that provide a benchmark of best practices, with inclusion of instructive fact sheets. While the book offers academic coverage of the digital transformation of business organizations and the associated challenges, it also describes concrete, real-world issues in clear, easy-to-understand language and will serve as a toolbox for managers that can be readily consulted. The text is supported by informative illustrations and tables, and practitioners will also benefit from the reported case studies and highlighted insights and recommendations.

This book contains selected papers presented at the seventh Conference on Working Group 3.7 of the Internation Federation for Information Processing. The focus of Working Froup 3.7 is on ITEM: Information Technology in Educational Management. The event toook place in Hamamatsu, Japan, and enabled the exchange of findings and ideas between researchers in educational management and information technology, policy-makers in the field of education, developers of ITEM systems, and vendors. The overall goal of the conference was to demonstrate and explore directions for developing and improving all types of educational institutions through ITEM.

Contributions to this conference hailed from all over the world. The papers in this volume investigate how ITEM can support and improve educational practice at the level of instruction as well as at the institutional level, an analysis of the history of ITEM as a field of study and practice, results of researcdh on how training can promote the implementation of ITEM systems, and theoretical analyses of the conditions under which ITEM will have the strongest impact. Moreover, all sectors of educational systems (from schools to universities) are represented by the various chapters of this book.

This book describes how manufacturing enterprises, by reinforcing their existing monitoring and control of manufacturing processes, can successfully face the ever-increasing pressure from internal and external environments to maintain their competitive advantage. Numerous performance measurement systems have been elaborated to satisfy these requirements, stressing the importance of financial and operational metrics. It also highlights the fact that research on generating and linking financial and operational metrics, especially in real-time, has not garnered sufficient attention to date. The book follows an approach that integrates enterprises across different levels and departments. By computing and linking the financial and operational metrics in real-time, the book demonstrates how to provide a comprehensive view of an entire enterprise.

Management of supply chains has been evolving rapidly over the last few years due to the inception of Industry 4.0, where businesses adopt automation technologies and data exchanges leading to dynamic and interconnected supply chain systems. Emphasizing on analytical approaches such as predictive and prescriptive modeling, this book presents state-of-the-art original research work dealing with advanced analytical models for the design, planning, and operation of the supply chain to provide faster and smarter decisions in the era of digitization. In particular, the book integrates machine learning and operations research models for faster and smarter decisions, presents prescriptive analytics models for strategic, tactical, and operational decision making in the supply chain, and addresses recent challenges such as sustainability in the supply chain, supply chain visibility, and supply chain digitalization. Key concepts are illustrated using real-life case studies, making the book a valuable reference for researchers, technical professionals, and students.

This book covers a broad range of topics related to digitalization. Specifically, it views digitalization across different organizational levels, such as the level of individuals, teams, processes, firms, and ecosystems. It includes a collection of recent research and reflections on the topic that helps to understand the technological foundations of digitalization and its impacts. It also reflects on the process of digitalization and how it changes established ways of working, collaborating, and coordinating. With this book, the editors and authors honor Professor Dr. Armin Heinzl for his enormous and ongoing contributions to information systems research, education, and practice.

The term "sustainability" has entered the lexicon of many academic disciplines and fields of professional practice, but to date does not appear to have been seriously consid ered within the systems community unless, perhaps, under other guises. Within the wider community there is no consensus around what sustainability means with some authors identifying 70 to 100 definitions of the term. Some see sustainability as the precise and quantifiable outcomes of biological systems whilst others see it in terms of processes rele vant to personal and organizational change with the potential to effect changes in our rela tionships with out environments. Internationally it has been increasingly used in relation to the term "sustainable development"--a term popularised by the Brundland Commis of definitions sion's report in 1987 entitled "Our Common Future. " Despite this diversity and polarised perception on its utility, unlike many other popular terms, it has not had its time and subsided quietly from our language. It is therefore timely for the systems com munity to explore the relationship between systems and sustainability in a range of con texts. Participants in this, the 5th International Conference of the United Kingdom Systems Society (UKSS), have been invited to reflect critically on the contribution of sys tems thinking and action to sustainability-to the sustainability of personal relationships, the organizations in which live and work, and our "natural" environment."

This proceedings volume highlights cutting-edge approaches for contemporary issues evolved in strategic marketing and the integration of theory and practice. It focuses on strategic research and innovative activities in marketing that can be used in everyday operations. The contributions have been divided into eight sections, grouping emerging marketing technologies together in a close examination of practices, problems and trends. The first section examines management challenges which influence societies, cultures, networks, organizations, teams, and individuals. It emphasizes ways business processes foster innovation and facilitate management transitions from dominant structures to more evolutionary, developmental paradigms. The second section discusses the benefits and guidelines to implementation of green marketing strategies. The following section pursues new perspectives of the role of location in marketing and its impact on consumer well-being. The next section explores the impacts of user generated content (UGC) on marketing theories and practice, which is followed by a section identifying how market-based assets can contribute to a sustainable competitive advantage. The sixth section covers understanding consumer perception to make marketing decisions. The final sections promote the use of business informatics and modeling in marketing and also the development of integrating information management in ways that change how people use information to engage in knowledge focused activities. The papers from the proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Strategic Innovative Marketing (IC-SIM 2017) have been written by scientists, researchers, practitioners and students that demonstrate a special orientation in strategic marketing, all of whom aspire to be ahead of the curve based on the pillars of innovation. This proceedings volume shares their recent contributions to the field and showcases their exchange of insights on strategic issues in the science of innovation marketing.