Clients are consistently demanding lower prices at the time of each purchase and companies can only react by reducing costs. This volume shows that the only way to do this, is to reinvent the business model. New consumers, new pricing, new brands, new strategies.

Global sports events are rarely far from the public eye. Such mega-events are about much more than the sporting competitions themselves. They entail global exposure and intense struggles by different stakeholders. This is the first book to examine sports mega-events from a mobilities perspective. It analyses the 'mobile construction' of global sports mega-events and the role this plays in managing labour, imaginaries, policies and legacies. In particular, the book focuses on the tension between the various mobilities and immobilities that are implied in the process of constructing a mega-event. It seeks to uncover the ways in which an event is a series of fluid interactions that occur sequentially and simultaneously at multiple scales in diverse spheres of interaction. Contributions explore the dynamics through which mega-events occur, revealing the textures and nuance of the complex systems that sustain them, and the ways that events ramify throughout the international system.

Risk management is a domain of management which comes to the fore in crisis. This book looks at risk management under crisis conditions in the COVID-19 pandemic context. The book synthesizes existing concepts, strategies, approaches and methods of risk management and provides the results of empirical research on risk and risk management during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research outcome was based on the authors' study on 42 enterprises of different sizes in various sectors, and these firms have either been negatively affected by COVID-19 or have thrived successfully under the new conditions of conducting business activities. The analysis looks at both the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the selected enterprises and the risk management measures these enterprises had taken in response to the emerging global trends. The book puts together key factors which could have determined the enterprises' failures and successes. The final part of the book reflects on how firms can build resilience in challenging times and suggests a model for business resilience. The comparative analysis will provide useful insights into key strategic approaches of risk management. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781003131366/ has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Examines the shift in leading companies in India towards greater 'value added' and innovative work. Is the move towards greater levels of innovation the future of the services off-shoring industry in India?

Erik Lehmann untersucht die Honorarsituation von Wirtschaftsprufern bei freier Preisbildung und analysiert darauf aufbauend Gebuhrenordnungen ausgewahlter Freier Berufe, um die resultierenden Erkenntnisse auf die Qualitatsproblematik der Wirtschaftsprufer zu projizieren. Der Autor entwickelt daruber hinaus einen Kriterienkatalog, welcher bei der Konzeption einer Gebuhrenordnung berucksichtigt werden koennte, um eine Qualitatssicherung bestmoeglich zu erreichen.

I consider it a privilege to have been invited to write a preface for "The Limits to Certainty." It is however paradoxical that a theo retical physicist be asked to write about a monograph dealing mainly with service economics. Notwithstanding, I am delighted to do so. Indeed, it is striking that two so widely different fields like physics and social science, and more especially economics, can interact in such a constructive way. There is no question here of reductionism. Nobody claims to be able to reduce social scien ces to physics, nor to use patterns of social interaction in order to formulate new laws for atoms. What is at stake here is more im portant than reduction; the age-old separation between the so-cal led "hard" and "soft sciences" is breaking down. This separation has a long history. First, one should recall the influence of Newton's achievement on the formulation of scienti fic goals. This influence led to the formulation of equilibrium mo dels for supply/demand adjustment. As was noticed by Walter Weisskopf: "the Newtonian paradigm underlying classical and non-classical economics interpreted the economy according to the patterns developed in classical physics and mechanics, in analogy to the planetary system, to a machine or clockwork: a closed auto nomous system ruled by endogenous factors of a highly selective nature, self-regulating and moving to a determinate, predictable point of equilibrium" (The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance (1984), Vol. 9, no. 33, pp. 335-360)."

This third annual volume of the International Place Branding Yearbook looks at the case for applying brand and marketing strategies to the economic, social, political and cultural development of cities, towns and regions around the world to help them compete in the global, national and local markets. It focuses on sustainability and smart growth.

Assembling Health Care Organizations combines an institutional theory perspective with a materialist view of the technologies, devices, biological specimens, and other material resources mobilized and put to work in health care work.

Far too often in the ?eld of archeology, the wheel of understanding and insight has a narrow focus that fails to recognize critical studies. Crucial information rega- ing pivotal archeological investigations at a variety of sites worldwide is extremely dif?cult, if not impossible, to obtain. The majority of archeological analysis and reporting, at best, has limited publication. The majority of archeological reports are rarely seen and when published are often only in obscure or out-of-print journals - the reports are almost as hard to ?nd as the archeological sites themselves. There is a desperate need to pull seminal archeological writings together into single issue or thematic volumes. It is the int- tion of this series, When the Land Meets the Sea, to address this problem as it relates to archeological work that encompasses both terrestrial and underwater archeology on a single site or on a collection of related sites. For example, despite the fact that we know that bays and waterways structured historic settlement, there is a lack of archeological literature that looks at both the nautical and terrestrial signatures of watersheds in?uence on historic culture.

Social impacts are increasingly used as one of the main justifications for staging and funding events, and yet there is very little empirical evidence on the extent to which these impacts are realised by different kinds of events or in different settings.

This timely volume fills this gap by being the first to explore the different social aspects of events, looking in particular at the role of events in developing social capital, social cohesion and participation in local communities. Based on cutting edge empirical research, it evaluatesthe contribution of both cultural and sports events to social capital, social cohesion, community spirit and local pride in range of different types of events and settings, with case studies drawn from Europe, Australia and South Africa. It therefore furthers knowledge about the social benefits and impacts of events and significantly contributes to the development of Events as a discipline.

Written by leading academics in this area, this volume is essential reading for all those interested in Events Management and Studies.

Following on from The Entertainment Industry: An Introduction, Entertainment Management takes the next step in the development of entertainment as a practice and as an academic subject. Aimed at higher level undergraduates, the book discusses best practices in the entertainment industry, profiling a different discipline per chapter, each one a branch of entertainment that offers employment opportunities within the sector. Fields include marketing, P.R., the media, live events, artist management, arts and culture, consultancy and visitor attractions. The book aims to reflect the knowledge students will need for real world of entertainment management such as technical standards, business management, people management, economic aspects and legal issues. Each chapter discusses the background of the discipline, best practice management principles, issues in the wider environment, case studies of real organisations and future trends.

All organizations are becoming service organizations. But most weren't built to deliver services successfully end-to-end, and the human, operational and financial impacts are abundantly clear. In the digital era the stakes are even higher, given how rapidly services change. Yet default working practices (governance, planning, funding, leadership, reporting, programme and team structures) inside large organizations haven't changed. Rather than modernize just one service at a time, it's the underlying organizational conditions that need to be transformed - anything less is futile. The Service Organization is the result of years of research and consulting, as well as dozens of interviews with executives. It explores significant challenges that leaders will recognize, and turns them into solvable puzzles by providing practical advice and tools that reimagine what the organization does from the perspective of its customers - and it organizes the activity needed to deliver the best outcomes. This book is for everyone involved, from designers to technologists and from operational staff to policymakers and leaders. It includes surprisingly simple and doable, but non-obvious, steps that don't depend on seniority or pay band and that are typically overlooked by even the most progressive professions, teams and companies. Kate Tarling sets a bold, ambitious and practical agenda for all service organizations. Her book is full of behind-the-scenes examples from the global companies, public sector bodies and non-profits that are now delivering and leading successful services. It shows how to reinvent organizations so they rely not just on 'transforming technology' but on putting the success of their services at the heart of how they operate.

Investigating the capacity of sport to act both as a conduit for traditional development assistance activities and as an agent for change in its own right, this book argues that sport can contribute to the development process, particularly where traditional development approaches have difficulty in engaging with communities.

This book offers insight into important trends in the global travel and tourism industry and analyzes developments in the aviation and hospitality industry and destination management. The most recent developments in marketing and sales as well as in travel technology and business travel are of key importance for managing travel and tourism companies. The articles are based on presentations and panel discussions presented at the world?'s largest tourism convention, the ITB Convention Market Trends & Innovations.

The Fundamentals of Event Design aims to rethink current approaches to event design and production. The textbook explores the relationship between event design and multiple visitor experiences, as well as interactivity, motivation, sensory stimuli and co-creative participation. Structured around the key phases of event design, the book covers all the critical dimensions of event concepting, atmospherics, the application of interactive technologies, project management, team leadership, creative marketing and sustainable production. The concepts of authenticity, creativity, co-creation, imagineering and storytelling are discussed throughout, and practical step-by-step guidance is provided on how to create and deliver unique and memorable events. The chapters include industry voices offering real-life insight from leading international event practitioners and individual and/or team assignments to stimulate learners' creativity, visualisation and problem solving. This is the first textbook in event design that integrates areas of anthropology, social psychology, management, marketing, graphic design and interactivity. Focusing on bringing theory into practice, this is essential reading for all Events Management students.

This book offers insight into important trends in the global travel and tourism industry and analyzes developments in the aviation and hospitality industry, destination management and general travel behavior. The articles are based on presentations and panel discussions presented at the world's largest tourism convention, the ITB Convention Market Trends and Innovations.

This book explores how cultural policies are reflected in the design, management and promotion of the Olympic Games. Beatriz Garcia examines the concept and evolution of cultural policies throughout the recent history of the Olympic Games and then specifically evaluates the cultural program of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Garcia argues that the cultural relevance of a major event is highly dependant on the consistency of the policy choices informing its cultural dimensions. She demonstrates how major events, such as the Olympic Games, frequently fail to leave long-term cultural legacies and are often unable to provide an experience that fully engages and represents the host community, due to their over-emphasis on an economic rather than a social and cultural agenda.

An engaging story of life and death, An Odd Undertaking features Bill Wood's memories of his career as an undertaker in London during the 1990s. From learning the trade, to the challenging work of body removal, to humorous tales about what happens when things don't go quite as planned, this is a thoroughly entertaining and thought provoking read. Follow Bill in the wake of the Grim Reaper as he meanders through topics as varied as funerals, exhumations and mortuary tales, while respecting the solemnity of death and quelling some of the myths and misunderstandings about undertakers and funerals along the way. An Odd Undertaking is a book that is as much about life as it is about death, a fascinating read on an unusual topic.

Journeys to a Graveyard examines the descriptions provided by eight Russian writers of journeys made to western European countries between 1697 and 1880. The descriptions reveal the mentality and preoccupations of the Russian social and intellectual elites during this period. The travellers' perceptions of western European countries are treated here as an ambivalent response to a civilization with which Russia was belatedly coming into close contact as a result of the imperial ambition of the Russian state and the westernization of the Russian elites. The travellers perceived the most advanced European countries as superior to Russia in terms of material achievement and the maturity and refinement of their cultures, but they also promoted a view of Russia as in other respects superior to the western nations. Heavily influenced from the late eighteenth century by Romanticism and by the rise of nationalism in the west, they tended to depict European civilization as moribund. By this means they managed to define their own emergent nation in a contrastive way as having youth and promising futurity.

Ever since the first Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, sports have become an integral part of human civilization. The last decade has been commemorated by the centennial celebration of the modern Olympic movement. With great anticipation, the Olympics return to Athens, Greece, and we are once again reminded that we live in one of the most exciting periods in the history of sports. Reflecting back on my years of service as the International Olympic Com mittee president, I cannot overlook the remarkable changes that have taken place in the world of sports during these two decades. The technological de velopment and consequent globalization of the world economy opened up a window of new opportunities for the sports industry. As a result, manage ment, economics, and other sciences have become a significant part of modern sports. It is my pleasure to introduce this volume comprising an interesting collec tion of papers dealing with various aspects of management, economics and optimization applied to sports. May this book serve as a valuable source of information to researchers and practitioners as well as to casual readers look ing for a deeper insight into the magnificent world of sports."

Modern Advances in Tourism Research provides a thorough assessment of state-of-the-art academic research in this field of economic science. The authors start by scoping the scene of tourism research. They progress to a comprehensive analysis of themes of particular interest for researchers and academics interested in the workings of the tourism markets, such as new analysis frameworks in tourism economics and new operational tools in tourism research.

The practice of city branding is being adopted by increasing numbers of city authorities around the world and it is having a direct impact on public and private sector practice. The author captures this emerging phenomenon in a way that blends a solid theoretical and conceptual underpinning together with relevant real life cases.

Foundations for Efficient Web Service Selection describes the foundational framework for efficient Web service selection. It lays out a theoretical underpinning for the design of models and algorithms for searching and optimizing access to Web services. Excerpts from Prof. Fabio Casati's foreword: " This excellent book looks at the search problem from a broader perspective. Instead of narrowing down on a specific aspect or subproblem of service search, it dissects and analyzes the fundamental problems in search and presents concrete, applicable solutions as well as the theoretical foundations behind them...One aspect I found particularly significant in the book is the mind shift it generates from thinking about service modeling for the sake of supporting deployment or invocation to modeling for supporting search. This design for search approach is exactly what we do when we design databases because search is what we worry about in that case, and there is no reason why this shouldn't be the case for services if we want services to be searchable with a similar effectiveness."

Services Marketing and Management provides an in-depth consideration of how services are conceptualized, designed and managed, creating the basis for a clear understanding of the multi-dimensional aspects of services.

Unlike many textbooks on services marketing this book puts services management and delivery in context. Firstly, it explores the effect of organizational structures, management styles, internal marketing and management competencies on service management decision making and implementation. Secondly, Services Marketing and Management considers detailed examples of not-for-profit and for-profit service organizations and service delivery.

Finally, this text addresses contemporary issues for services managers and speculates on some of the challenges for the future of services marketing.

This textbook is designed for postgraduate and MBA students of services management and services marketing courses as well as undergraduates.