This book develops, evaluates and refines a cloud service relationship theory that explains how cloud users' uncertainties arise in these relationships and how they can be mitigated. To that end, the book employs principal-agent theory and the concepts of bounded rationality and social embeddedness. Beyond advancing IS research, the findings presented can greatly benefit governments, IT departments and IT providers, helping them to better understand cloud service relationships and to adjust their cloud service strategies accordingly.

This book presents current research on boundary spanning elements. The editors bring together extant knowledge in the field and present a uniform narrative. Previous studies have often been disseminated across several academic disciplines like services marketing, personal selling and sales management etc. and this monograph aggregates studies dealing with boundary spanning elements or has boundary spanning elements related to the marketing function as the main empirical platform under a uniform theoretical perspective. Each chapter in the book deals with an important research theme and synthesizes studies in relation to boundary spanning elements.

Communication is key to success in every aspect of life and ever so in a competitive business environment. This book examines managerial communication from seminal theoretical and demonstrative vantage points through interdisciplinary amalgamation of sciences and the liberal arts. It presents new paradigms of managerial communication in the form of manoeuvres that can act as game changers in tug-of-war business situations, including difficult negotiations, conflicts and interpersonal dissonance that characterise the day-to-day corporate workplace tenor. This volume: Develops persuasion strategies based on argumentation tactics derived, for example, from legal cross-examination. Introduces 'problematisation' and 'deconstruction' as effective communication tools into mainstream managerial discourse. Employs Harvard Business School cases to demonstrate problem-solving skills, which will further serve as guide to writing business reports, plans and proposals. Positions business writing methods as taxonomical tenets that can help tackle complex business scenarios. Draws business diagnostic procedures from diverse fields such as Sherlock Holmes from popular culture, and Jared M. Diamond from ecology. This book will be a significant resource for business communication practitioners, especially corporate managers and leaders, sales and marketing professionals, and policymakers. It will be of interest to teachers and students alike, in business communication, organization behaviour, human resource management and marketing communications. It will act as a useful aid for classroom efficacy for teachers and academics.

The American research university enjoyed an unprecedented boom from the end of World War II until the 1990s. All sources of financial support for universities--federal grants, private gifts, state appropriations, student tuition, and revenues from university medical centers--grew substantially. As a result, traditionally prestigious universities expanded and numerous other universities were transformed from primarily teaching institutions to significant research centers. But in the 1990s, research universities have experienced the first protracted challenge to the boom of the preceeding four decades. This book examines the nature of the challenges to research universities, and their likely effects on the number, size, and operation of these universities. The authors assess the prospects for research support from government, industry, and profits from university medical centers, and conclude that the future does not appear bright in these cases. They also examine the methods used by the federal government to pay for university research, and propose changes that would make both universities and the federal government better off by reducing the administrative costs of federal grants. Their primary conclusion is that in the next decade American research universities will face increasingly stringent budgets, and will be forced to shrink and refocus their activities in order to survive as research institutions.

This book reveals the secrets of Yamato Transport's success in maintaining and extending its leadership in Japan's domestic parcel delivery market. It presents six cases that illustrate how Yamato's flagship service, TA-Q-BIN, has evolved since the 1970s to the benefit of consumers, particularly urban dwellers, and how TA-Q-BIN has become an integral part of Japanese daily life. Each of the six unique cases serves as an independent teaching case for undergraduate and graduate students, describing the particular service design, operations management, innovation, supplier management, and social responsibility within the context of an Asian last-mile logistics service provider. The book also includes insightful presentations of the challenges facing supply chain and logistics service providers in Asia, and their innovative responses to these challenges using real-world cases. Besides featuring interviews with Yamato's key stakeholders and their strategic clients, Japan-based and other Asia-Pacific Yamato operational centers make up the field method included in this book, while secondary data is drawn from trade and academic domains. Some of the cases are written in a didactic fashion, with suitable stopping points for students to pause and deliberate over the managerial issues confronting the decisions that Yamato makes during the course of its business and operational strategies. The results are particularly useful to readers interested in how operations and logistics decision-making are practiced in a homogeneous Asian context and in an urban environment. This book is essential reading for undergraduate and MBA students, as well as practitioners in industry.

This book focuses on service economy development, particularly on how an industrial economy evolves into a service economy. The book is organized in three sections: The first theoretically answers the general question "what is the service economy?" The second explains the mechanism of the service economy's formation and development, revealing the evolution trends and attempts to answer the question "where does the service economy come from?" The third section includes an in-depth analysis of Chinese case studies to answer the key question "how can the service economy development be promoted?" Readers will discover what the service economy is and how it relates to and differs from the industrial economy. More importantly, it will provide policy-makers with suggestions for how to promote service-economy development.

This book presents latest research on the evolution of consumer services, as these services continue to become a larger part of the economy in the world. Four core focal points lead the central message of the book: first, the convergence of back and front offices; second, placing the client as a fundamental input of services production and delivery process, and 'industrializing' the customers' role to combine efficiency and experience; third, the constitution and role of inputs necessary for the configuration, production and delivery of the service, with the crucial role of 'operationalizing' the customers' experience; and fourth, the adoption of new technologies and the appropriate transfer of manufacturing managerial practices through service industrialization. This is a special volume of articles based on solid research and analysis, including conceptualization of the important issues, as well as recommendations for managers. It presents case histories and managerial practices in some key sectors, such as financial services, health care, tourism/hospitality, entertainment and media, online services and home and personal services

"I found this text to be exactly what we were looking for to give our students a good understanding of the contemporary issues that affect the Events industry. I have recommended this as essential reading. It is well written and the format makes it an easy read raising key issues and challenging theory." - Tanya Bellingham, School of Tourism & Hospitality, University of Plymouth "An essential events managment reference handbook which addresses a number of key issues within the industry. A very interesting read!" - Thomas Fletcher, Liverpool John Moores University In recent years we have seen an enormous growth of festivals and event activity and the literature within the field is consequently huge. In order to make sense of this rapid and dynamic development, students are dependent on a book that can lead them through the myriad of theoretical frameworks offered. This book naturally situates itself in the middle of this need, offering a comprehensive and illuminating account of the festival and event field. Written with academic rigour yet accessible at the same time, Quinn proves herself to be an outstanding communicator and stimulator of knowledge. International in content and timely in its up to date coverage of key topics, this will be an invaluable reference source for students from of Event Management, Hospitality Management, Tourism Management, and Sport and Leisure Management.

Professional services are increasingly seen as an important foundation for future economic growth and prosperity. Yet research on innovative and entrepreneurial processes in professional services has been surprisingly scarce. This Handbook provides a collection of original contributions from leading scholars outlining the current stock of knowledge in the area as well as providing directions for further research. The expert contributors discuss entrepreneurship and innovation from a number of different perspectives, including the entrepreneurial professional team, the entrepreneurial firm and the institutional environment. The first part of the book looks at the challenges of entrepreneurship specific to the professional service firm while the second explores the creation and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities in the professional service team. Part III turns to the organization and Part IV to the management and growth of the entrepreneurial professional service firm. The final part discusses the interplay between professions, firms and the institutional environment. Researchers, scholars and PhD students in the areas of entrepreneurship and professional service firms along with advanced students of management will find this volume of great value. Contributors: J. Benders, D.M. Brock, T. Clark, L. Empson, R. Fincham, J. Flood, J. Gluckler, H. Gruber, A. Halinen, K. Handley, S. Heusinkveld, E. Jaakkola, K. Laursen, L. Lefsrud, B.R. Lowendahl, V. Mahnke, N. Malhotra, M. Mohe, M. Mone, T. Morris, D. Muzio, N. Nikolova, M. Reihlen, S. Segal-Horn, J. Sieweke, M. Smets, M. Stollfub, L. Strannegard, A. Sturdy, R. Suddaby, R.-J. van den Berg, P. Vejrup-Hansen, A. Werr, M. Woywode

This book presents an overview of different institutional arrangements for tourism, biodiversity conservation and rural poverty reduction in eastern and southern Africa. These approaches range from conservancies in Namibia, community-based organizations in Botswana, conservation enterprises in Kenya, private game reserves in South Africa, to sport hunting in Uganda and transfrontier conservation areas. The book presents a comparative analysis of these arrangements and highlights that most arrangements emerged in the 1990s through either a decentralized or centralized change trajectory that was sponsored by donors. They aim to address some of the challenges of the 'fortress' types of conservation by combining principles of community-based natural resource management with a neoliberal approach to conservation, evident in the use of tourism as the main mechanism for accruing benefits from wildlife. The book illustrates the empirical relevance of these novel arrangements by presenting their growth in numbers and discuss how these arrangements differ in their form. With respect to the conservation and development impacts of these arrangements, we show that they have secured large amounts of land for conservation, but also generated governance challenges and disputes on tourism benefit sharing, affecting the stability of these arrangements to generate socioeconomic and conservation benefits.

Selling and delivering a project to a satisfied client, and making a profit, is a complex task. Project manager and author Robin Hornby believes this has been neglected by current standards and is poorly understood by professionals in the field. Commercial Project Management aims to rectify this deficiency. As a unique 'how-to' guide for project and business managers, it offers practical guidance, and a wealth of explanatory illustrations, useful techniques, proven checklists, real life examples, and case stories. It will give project managers a needed confidence boost and a head start in their demanding role as they go 'on contract'. At the heart of Robin's approach is a vendor sales and delivery lifecycle that provides a framework for business control of projects. Unique elements include the integration of buyer and vendor project lifecycles, the recasting of project management as a cyclic set of functions to lead the work of the project, and the elevation of risk assessment from a project toolkit to a fundamental control process. Beyond project management, the book proposes a comprehensive template for the firm whose business is delivering projects. This is a how-to book for project and business managers working in a commercial environment looking for practical guidance on conducting their projects and organizing their firm.

In a world moving towards services, driving service productivity is a central challenge for leaders and members of all types of organisations: for service businesses there is a clear need to be "productive", but it is far less clear what this exactly means. In this book, we invite you on a journey that explores the ways, tools and options for driving service productivity. We take an innovator's perspectives and look at the tricky challenge of service productivity as a landscape of options for designing the future of services. Case examples, from the airport, hotel, healthcare, and professional service industry, offer insights in the methods used and approaches taken in business practice. Research results provide food for thought and valuable advice on the path towards superior service productivity. Throughout the book we also listen to the views and advices of interviewed experts from academia as well as business practice on how to drive service productivity. A forecast on how service productivity and service innovation might evolve in the future provides us - and hopefully you as a reader - with the necessary food for thought to develop our own understanding of driving service productivity in different business settings. Overall, this book is not a traditional "academic product" that summarises the views of a few, but a co-created offering that profited enormously from the contributions of so many.

Applied Sport Business Analytics With HKPropel Access provides a practical explanation of the use of data analytic metrics in sport, exploring selected techniques and tools as well as addressing fundamental applications of analytics within modern sports organizations. Current and aspiring sport managers will develop their understanding of how analytics can be used strategically to make data-informed decisions by selecting and translating data into evidence and meaningful metrics. The text begins with an introduction to the world of analytics, exploring the social, economic, and business foundations that form the history of data analytics. Different strategies used to make data-driven decisions are discussed to demonstrate the importance of analytics in a modern sport context. The text explains terms and methods that are typical in sport analytics, bridging the gap between sport managers and sport analysts to help them understand the perceptions and needs of one another. The text's focus on quantitative statistical analysis-with its exploration of modeling, predictive analytics, and forecasting-helps students learn how to analyze data and make use of it. Students will then learn to turn data into visual representations such as cluster diagrams to reveal clear results. With practical exercises that utilize five included datasets and are heavily support by related video tutorials delivered through HKPropel, even those without programming experience will learn how to program and transform complex statistical data into easy-to-understand visuals. Case studies exploring real-world scenarios-including player position analysis in women's professional basketball, esport player popularity and market analysis, and prospective player evaluation for the NFL draft-examine managerial implications to help develop understanding of what questions to ask, how to interpret data, and how to use data to make informed decisions. Finally, an in-depth look at how cutting-edge analytics mechanisms were used to analyze over one million tweets associated with the NBA over an entire season will illustrate how to successfully work with large amounts of data to achieve results. Concepts throughout the book are made easy to understand through exercises, datasets, and video lectures on key topics, all accessible through HKPropel. These tools combine to provide valuable experience and practical understanding. Interview With a Professional sidebars offer additional real-world glimpses into the use of analytics by practitioners in sport business. Applied Sport Business Analytics will provide a broader and deeper knowledge of the use of sport analytics for aspiring sport managers, data analysts, and practitioners alike. It will prepare them to translate metrics in a useful way that allows them to make data-informed and data-driven decisions to achieve desired outcomes in their organization. Note: A code for accessing HKPropel is included with all new print books.

For anyone planning events--student, novice, or experienced professional--"Confessions of an Event Planner" is an "apprenticeship in a book." This insider's guide takes you on a narrative journey, following a fictional event planning company that stages various types of events around the world for many different clients.

While other books, college courses, and training programs give you the theory and how-to of the profession, "Confessions of an Event Planner" reveals the real world of event planning and what can happen--usually the unexpected--on an event program when actual participants are added to the event planning design and execution mix. In a climate of media scrutiny and corporate scandals, event planners must be masters of discretion, knowing how to avoid and deal with everything from sexual romps to financial shenanigans, to chainsaw wielding salesmen dead set on "re-landscaping" the grounds of the resort they're staying at. From an event planner who's seen it all and knows how to deal with it all, comes practical first-hand advice delivered in an entertaining and accessible format.

Each chapter is set in a unique location, with a cast of characters, and a host of challenges and problems to overcome--from the boardroom to the resort guest bedrooms. Readers learn what they can come up against, how to problem solve creatively on the fly, get ideas for staging spectacular events, and see the principles of event planning in action. The scenario in each chapter is introduced by an outline of what will be covered in the chapter, and each chapter concludes with a series of review questions to explore key issues and stimulate reflection or discussion for individuals or groups. Ideal as a companion to Judy Allen's six other event planning books, as a textbook in event planning courses, or as a professional training tool "Confessions of an Event Planner" prepares planners for what they can expect once they start working in the world of corporate and social event planning, and will help decision-makers set company policies, procedures and protocol and promote discussion about codes of conduct in the office and offsite.

This book aims to contribute to the literature and aid in developing a theoretical and practical framework in the area of health and wellness tourism. With contributions and research from different countries using a practical approach, this book is an essential source for students, researchers and managers in the health and wellness tourism industry. Recently, there has been an increased interest in health and wellness due to greater life expectancy, aging populations, increasing levels of stress among others. In this context, the concepts of health, wellness, beauty, relaxation, and tourism can be combined to satisfy the needs of people seeking better quality-of-life. This has given rise to health and wellness tourism, a new market segment that contributes to employment and economic growth in the new economy. Health and wellness tourism involves two aspects: therapeutics, which seeks to cure certain diseases; and relaxation and leisure. As an alternative to traditional tourism, health and wellness tourism provides a new means of achieving regional and local development from a demographic, social, environmental and economic point-of-view. It contributes to tourist destinations' economic growth, acting as a pillar to support other complementary activities. In short, health and wellness tourism contributes to employment growth and regional wealth, contributes to tourism seasonality, promotes quality in tourism destinations, helps create new tourist services with high value, promotes establishment of international cooperation networks, and yields a number of additional benefits. Featuring a variety of programs and initiatives from different regions, with an emphasis on thermal and thalassotherapy establishments, this volume sheds light on this emerging market segment and its implications for economic and policy development.

Historical research on the Olympic Movement is highly valuable as it displays processes of continuity and transformation by which knowledge building processes on the Olympic Movement, its structure and on Olympic sport can be expanded. The Olympic Movement can be addressed from multidisciplinary perspectives, including management, sociology, education, philosophy and history. This comprehensive collection examines the multifaceted profile of the Olympic and Paralympic Movement and presents new insights drawn from a variety of research projects. Historical and political dimensions of the Olympic and Paralympic Movement are addressed, along with educational, ethical, commercial and sociological perspectives. This book was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport.

Western patients are increasingly travelling to developing countries for health care and developing countries are increasingly offering their skills and facilities to paying foreign customers. The potential and implications of this international trade in medical services is explored in this book through analysis of the market.

This book discusses emerging themes in the area of humanitarian logistics. It examines how humanitarian logistics and supply chains play a key role, focusing on rapidly delivering the correct amount of goods, people and monetary resources to the locations needed to achieve the success of relief efforts in response to global emergencies such as flood, earthquakes, wars etc. With an increase in the frequency, magnitude and impact of both natural and manmade disasters, effective delivery of humanitarian aid is an issue that is becoming increasingly important in the context of disaster management. The book focuses on how logistics systems and supply chains responsible for delivering this aid from origin to recipients can be made more effective and efficient. It also discusses how the development of information technology systems that can provide visibility to the disaster relief supply chain marks a huge step forward for the humanitarian sector as a whole. As more organizations begin to adopt and implement these systems and visibility is established, the use of key performance indicators will then become essential to further enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of these supply chains.

Combining a range of case studies with theoretical research, this volume analyzes current developments and best practice. The contributors discuss innovative approaches in assessment, peer assessment, the NCVQ model, the positive side of assessment, staff training for assessment, and much more.

This book systematically describes the development of manufacturing servitization in the Asia-Pacific region. It offers a practical and theoretical reference guide to the manufacturing companies in the Asia-Pacific region, which is now a major global manufacturing center. Servitization is a fairly recent trend in the manufacturing industry: some American and European manufacturing companies have successfully transformed to service oriented manufacturing companies over the past three decades, while Asian-Pacific region companies have only more recently begun to recognize the importance of servitization. But some Asia-Pacific region companies have been exploring approaches in the same direction of servitization without being aware of the concept. One unique aspect of this book is the fact that it takes into consideration the social and cultural influences of this region. It introduces companies within and beyond the region, as well as the academic world, to the current state of development of the Asia-pacific manufacturing industry and its servitization trend. This is the first book that focuses on this topic, one which is of great theoretical and practical importance.

Tourism and hospitality industry is facing a substantial amount of opportunities and challenges due to the globalization. The Third International Conference on Tourism and Hospitality between China and Spain (ICTCHS) provides a unique global forum for academics, thought leaders and key industry practitioners from diverse backgrounds and interests to meet, discuss and debate critical issues that will affect the future direction of tourism and hospitality research and practice.

This book demonstrates pioneering work on user-based service innovation using an analytical framework. This approach involves understanding the needs of users, the service firms collaborating with them, and recognizing the fact that users are innovators and, as such, services develop while in use. As well as presenting case studies, the book discusses theoretically what user-based innovation means in the context of services. Three main fields are analyzed: user-based innovation in knowledge-intensive business service, user-based innovation in public services, and models and methods for structuring user-based innovation. Incorporating both an academic and analytical approach, this insightful book will be a source of inspiration for researchers in innovation and services. Graduate and postgraduate students in business administration and innovation, as well as administrators in public administrations and executive managers in service firms will also find plenty of important information in this invaluable resource. Contributors: D. Chadee, L. Fuglsang, M. Hasu, A. Helkkula, P. Helminen, M. Holopainen, M. Holzweber, H. Kostama, L.L. Langergaard, M. Lehtonen, O. Makela, T. Mattelmaki, J. Mattsson, H.W. Nicolajsen, R. Raman, E. Saari, A. Scupola, F. Sorensen, D. Sundbo, J. Sundbo, M. Toivonen, T. Tuominen, T. Turunen, K. Valminen

Though their primary concern, organizations in the creative industries don't only succeed or fail based on the exercise of their creative resources. Their fortunes also depend on their understanding and approach to the problem of competition. In Strategic Analysis: A creative and cultural industries perspective, Jonathan Gander offers a much needed introduction to how the practice of strategic thinking and analysis can be applied to this diverse and dynamic field. The book employs a range of competitive scenarios and case studies in which to practically apply a recommended set of analytical frameworks and examine the strategic challenge facing the enterprise and the wider sector. This concise and practical text focuses on providing a clear series of steps through which to identify and tackle strategic issues facing an enterprise, making it perfect reading for students and practitioners in the creative sector who seek a strategic understanding of the competition they are involved in.