Like the Emerald City, Las Vegas glitters brightly in the vast Nevada desert, a haven for refugees from the ordinary America. A hip, iconic, playground that exports nothing, it nonetheless earns billions from consumer services alone.
As other cities try to mirror its success, and huge respectable corporations like Coca-Cola invest in a piece of the pie, the very traits that have ostracized Las Vegas in the past - hedonism, money worship and permissiveness have today made it America's fastest growing urban center. From the gambling-driven, mob-run Sin City of the 1940s to the corporatization of the Strip as a respectable family entertainment center after the 1970s, Las Vegas has shown incredible economic resilience and adaptability.
The first full account of America's new dream capital, this book brilliantly shows how Las Vegas gambled on the post-industrial service economy, well before the rest of the country knew it was coming, and won.

The economic restructuring that has gone on since the 1980s has produced a new economic space in which service and high tech firms are at the forefront of innovation. One of the features of the new economy is what pop geographer Joel Kotkin calls 'nerdistans', or smaller cities with a substantial high-tech sector, limits on growth, environmentally friendly policies and a generally well-educated population. In New Money, Nice Town, Leonard Nevarez takes a close look at how 'new economy' firms in 'quality of life' cities interact with local political structures, finding that they are both more liberal and more detached than their traditional counterparts. This new global economy has created communities whose politics are more democratic, but also more tenuous and unstable.

The advent of the era of "e-Service," the provision of services over electronic networks like the internet, is one of the dominant business themes of the new millennium. It reflects the fundamental shift in the economy from goods to services and the explosive expansion of information technology. This book provides a collection of different perspectives on e-Service and a unified framework to understand it, even as the business community grapples with the concept. It features contributions from key researchers and practitioners from both the private and public sectors, as well leading scholars from the fields of marketing, information systems, and computer science. They focus on three key areas: the customer-technology interface; e-Service business opportunities and strategies; and public sector e-Service opportunities. The insights they offer will be equally useful to students, scholars, and practitioners.

The advent of the era of "e-Service," the provision of services over electronic networks like the internet, is one of the dominant business themes of the new millennium. It reflects the fundamental shift in the economy from goods to services and the explosive expansion of information technology. This book provides a collection of different perspectives on e-Service and a unified framework to understand it, even as the business community grapples with the concept. It features contributions from key researchers and practitioners from both the private and public sectors, as well leading scholars from the fields of marketing, information systems, and computer science. They focus on three key areas: the customer-technology interface; e-Service business opportunities and strategies; and public sector e-Service opportunities. The insights they offer will be equally useful to students, scholars, and practitioners.

This book is devoted to the analysis of the three main tasks of China's tourism development: Firstly, the theory of tourism development since the initiation of reform and opening-up. Secondly, the practice and problems in infrastructure building. Thirdly, the mold and policy used in the course of development. The book pursues three major objectives: firstly, to portray the stage of development; secondly, to analyze the specific experience in China's case; thirdly, to review theory and try to put forward advice on investment and management.

Crisis and Disaster Management for Sport is the first book to introduce key concepts and best practice in crisis and disaster management in sport and international sports events. The book draws from multiple disciplines to provide insight into the issues and challenges involved in planning for, and managing, crises and disasters in the context of sport. With an initial focus on sports event and venue resilience, the book also explores social, community and individual resilience within sport and examines concepts and issues such as fandom, risk perception, crowd control and management, crisis communication and reputational risk and the growing challenges posed by climate change. The book includes real-world case studies as well as disaster management-related simulation and scenario-building exercises and looks ahead to what might be the most significant threats in future to the safe and sustainable management of sport. With the devastating impacts of COVID-19 illustrating the central importance of resilience and proper preparation for crises and disasters, this book is an essential read for all researchers, students, practitioners and policy-makers working in sport, tourism, entertainment, leisure and critical event studies.

Contents:
Introduction
1. The economics of mutuality: a perspective on UK building societies Leigh Drake and David T. Llewellyn
2. Mutuality through credit unions: a cross-national approach Olive McCarthy, Robert Briscoe and Michael Ward
3. Housing co-operatives and social exclusion David Rodgers
4. Consumer co-operatives in retrospect and prospect Johnston Birchall
5. The mutualisation of public services: lessons from the new leisure trusts Richard Simmons
6. Mutuality in insurance and social security: retrospect and prospect Deborah Mabbett
7. Farmer co-operatives: organisational models and their business environment Jerker Nilssen
8. Mutuals in regional economic development: Mondragon and Desjardins Race Mathews
9. The competitive advantages of stakeholder mutuals Shann Turnbull
10. Member participation in mutuals: a theoretical model Johnston Birchall and Richard Simmons
11. The new mutualism and Labour's Third Way Stephen Yeo

With the thrill of the game and the excitement of documenting captivating moments for sports history, sports broadcasting is one of the most desired jobs among sports and journalism professionals. Designed to provide students with the skills to be successful in their careers, Sports Broadcasting With HKPropel Access is a comprehensive look at the field, with coverage of all aspects of the job that an entry-level sports broadcaster will need to know about. The text begins with the history and background of the sports broadcasting industry. Students will next learn about modern topics that are critical in the business today, with an overview of the various outlets, including television, radio, streaming, and podcasting. They will then dive into lessons on the skills every sportscaster needs for success, including conducting in-person and remote interviews of coaches and players, writing for broadcast versus writing for other channels such as web and mobile devices, shooting games or events, producing a sportscast, and editing video for broadcast. The career demands of both television and radio broadcasting are explored, and the increasing popularity of podcasting and streaming is examined. Students will journey through the steps involved in preparing for a live sports production, including play-by-play for radio and television, color commentary, and sideline reporting. A look into the different types of social media and their impact on sports broadcasting is followed by tips and advice on creating an effective social media presence and best practices for using social media as a sports broadcaster. The final chapters prepare students to pursue a career in sports broadcasting-offering practical advice on preparing resumes, portfolios, and job searching-and discuss issues and ethics relevant to modern-day sports broadcasting. Throughout the text, Major Moments sidebars discuss defining moments in the history of sports broadcasting and their impact on the field today, while Pro Advice sidebars feature interviews with sports broadcasting professionals and offer career tips and practical advice. Related online learning aids and activities delivered through HKPropel further the learning experience. These include key term flash cards and downloadable worksheets. Video lessons and audio clips demonstrate skills covered in the text, such as setting up for an interview, capturing footage with a cell phone camera, and preparing for a broadcast. Student activities related to the video can be assigned and tracked by instructors through HKPropel, while writing prompts and a video editing assignment provide valuable hands-on experience in tasks students will need to be successful in their careers. With Sports Broadcasting, students will gain the knowledge and practical skills they need to be a well-rounded broadcaster in any segment of the field. Note: A code for accessing HKPropel is included with all new print books.

Sport governance no longer stirs public opinion only when scandals surface; it has become a persistent concern for a number of stakeholders, such as the media, sport followers, and corporates that produce and sponsor sport. Contemporary sport governance is characterised by tension between sport's potential for commercial benefit on the one hand and moral education and social development on the other. The perceived incompatibility of these two aspects has led to intense conversations in the media, administrative circles, and the public sphere about the need for ethics to be the key element of governance. The chapters in this volume explore the contemporary forms of governance that is structured by sport's extensive transnational networks, shifts in what the stakeholders mentioned above understand by 'ethics', and the emergence of new stakeholders. They identify as the two major directions of contemporary sport governance the growing significance of the non-West, especially in relation to event hosting, and the need for controlling the behaviour of emergent interest groups. The latter is a complex constellation of athletes, officials, supporters, lawyers, and politicians who share power and collectively determine corporate and non-profit governance, legal aspects, and regulatory mechanisms from within their subjective locations. The chapters in this book were originally published in a special issue in Sport in Society.

Series Information:
Routledge Studies in the Modern World Economy

This study locates what is happening to teachers work in the global economy. Within the dramatically changed circumstances of globalization, schools are being required to act as if they were private businesses driven by the quest for efficiency and operating in a supposed atmosphere of marketization and competition with each other for resources, students, reputation, and public support for their continued existence. Meanwhile, this ideology of schools as cost centres has become so pervasive that there has been little public debate on its desirability or its alternatives. This book seeks to addresses this imbalance and provides a major renovation of labour process theory in an educational context. Two case studies provide a tangible working expression of the labour process of teaching, showing how teachers are simultaneously experiencing significant changes to their work, as well as responding in ways that actively shape these processes.

Extended critical case studies provide a tangible working expression of the labour process of teaching, showing how teachers are simultaneously experiencing significant changes to their work, as well as responding in ways that actively shape these processes. For teachers and researchers, this book shows what processes are at work in the global economy which impact on, and sometimes control, the role of the teacher. It also reveals how teachers accommodate, resist or redefine their working circumstances, and explores methods researchers might employ in order to increase our understanding and knowledge of the effect of globalization on teaching.

Since the explosion of multimedia, the creation and promotion of multimedia clusters has become a target for regional development strategies across the globe. This work offers the first inter-regional comparison of the multimedia industry.
Analysing thirteen American, European and Asian regions, leading academics examine factors which drive the emergence of multimedia clusters and processes by which they are formed,

This book examines how transnational corporations, small to medium enterprises and governments have emerged as the principal players in industrial development. This valuable work examines this trend, with particular reference to the role of the tax policy in technology development, the financing of technology-sector SMEs, the role of government policy and the relationship between competition and co-operation.

This second edition of The Management and Marketing of Services builds on the success of the first edition and now includes increased coverage of many key areas, extensive examples and case studies. This second edition looks closely at relationship marketing and public sector issues as well as providing expanded sections on: the definition of services, expectations, competitive advantage, pricing of services, segmentation/positioning of services, the service encounter and service employees. The Management and Marketing of Services is a highly accessible text ideal for practitioners and students looking for a comprehensive treatment of this subject area.

Several senior natural resource analysts study the role played by innovation, particularly technological innovation, in the pursuit of heightened productivity. Increasing the output of a given input improves a firm's bottom line, makes it more competitive internationally, and reduces the potential for resource depletion and shortages. Thus, high productivity is a necessary ingredient of economic prosperity. This book illustrates the importance of technological innovation in achieving an acceptable level of output and efficiency.

In this important new offering, a team of resource scholars describes and chronicles the development of recent innovations in selected natural resource industries. The authors also reveal the causes, sources, and net effect of such innovation on productivity. In all of these sectors productivity has increased considerably since the early 1980s, although the level of improvement varies across industries. To what degree did technological innovation contribute to that increase?

Individual detailed case studies detail important innovations in America's coal, petroleum, copper, and forest industries. The primary focus is on extraction and production technologies, although the existence and importance of innovation in other areas such as management technique also enter the picture. For example, the combination of new technology with restructuring seems to have breathed new life into a floundering U.S. copper industry. The authors describe the origin and diffusion of important innovation, and the concluding chapter quantifies the net effect of such innovation on productivity.

Interviews with innovative business leaders and compelling case studies reveal today's best practices for customer and employee loyalty, high profits and sustainability, and a fulfilling work culture in businesses of all sizes.  Dan Sachs guides established and emerging businesses as they strengthen employee morale, customer retention, and profits. In The Million Dollar Greeting, he interviews cutting-edge leaders from large and small companies that are consistently profitable with their success directly tied to exceptional customer satisfaction and employees who rank their company among the top places to work.  The original words of the business owners, including their practices, are shared and analyzed by Sachs and instructional takeaways are written for the business world as it exists today and with consideration for expected changes over the coming years. Topics covered include answering the question of what modern-day customer service is and why it matters in the digital age; what interpersonal practices lead to brand loyalty, high financial rewards, and the retention of top employees; how to create a dynamic work culture and the best ways to support employees of different age groups; and what practices will grow increasingly critical for businesses to implement over the coming years.  Among the business leaders interviewed in the book and companies given as case examples are: Rob Siefker of Zappos Mark Hoplamazian of Hyatt Hotels Ari Weinzweig of Zingerman’s Delicatessen Steve Hindy of Brooklyn Brewery Mike McDerment of FreshBooks Richard Coraine of Union Square Hospitality Group Paul Speigelman of BerylHealth Jerrod Melman of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Nick Sarillo of Nick’s Pizza & Pub  For all entrepreneurs, managers, and employees eager to see their company thrive, this insightful volume reveals how to make your business stand out from competitive companies, how to be effective in your position, and how to make sure fulfillment and success define your business in today’s competitive climate and for years to come.   

Over the past four decades the wealthiest OECD economies-in Europe, North America, and Australasia- have faced massive structural change. Industrial sectors, which were once considered the economic backbone of these societies, have shrunk inexorably in terms of size and economic significance, while service sectors have taken over as the primary engines of output and employment expansion. The impact on labor markets has been profound: in many OECD countries more than three-quarters of employment is now in services, while industrial sectors, on average, account for less than one-fifth. This sectoral shift in the locus of economic activity has potentially radical implications for politics and society. However, these implications are only beginning to be understood. This path-breaking book is a systematic attempt to understand the distinct political economy of service societies. It examines how different types of socio-economic regimes manage the service transition, with a central focus on job creation and destruction and the changing characteristics of labor markets, and shows that the economic, distributional, and political outcomes with which it is associated vary across countries depending on their political-institutional structures.

Ever wonder what it takes to land a job with the world's most sought after companies? In A Theatre Geek's Guide to Disney, Google, and the NFL, Brett Axler pulls back the curtain to reveal the steps from his journey and the lessons he learned along the way. From his early years in community and regional theater to landing his first job with an NFL-team, Axler shares the simple and normally overlooked steps applicants can take to land their dream job. He busts the classic experience and education requirement myths and outlines the powerful alternatives that make applicants stand out from the crowd. Using his own personal victories and defeats along with stories from the dozens of students and young professionals that he's mentored, Axler shares the step-by-step do's and don'ts of navigating a young career. Through his years at Comcast and Disney to his recent adventures that led him to Google, Axler shares his insights about education, professional networking, job searching, applying for the job, getting a resume to the top of the pile, and nailing an interview. With A Theatre Geek's Guide to Disney, Google, and the NFL, buckle up for a wild story full of priceless know-how from a theatre geek that accidentally found himself in professional sports and corporate America.

The world arms market has been in continuous flux since the end of the Cold War. This volume provides a policy-relevant analysis of the complex web of contemporary economic trends, political developments and strategic considerations that are shaping the contours of the new post-Cold War world market for weaponry.

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.

The main contribution of this book is the living composition, the model of living organizations. It is a new and original interpretation of the theory of living, self-producing systems (autopoiesis theory). Living composition is defined here as strategic components and their relationships. A living organization is thereby a self-producing system that is composed of ten different non-physical strategic components that are continually produced by the organization itself. The components and their relationships are defined so that they enable and facilitate interconnected openness and closure, i.e. the 'sensing' (interactive openness) and 'memory' (self-referentiality) of an organization. These characteristics and related knowledge flows enable the capability to learn and co-evolve with the broader business ecosystem. This book also presents consistency/intentionality platforms and evolution models that help to evaluate the learning and renewal capability of an organization and to improve its enabling infrastructure.
The living composition model has multiple implications for managers, consultants, and academics. It helps to identify the characteristics and development potential of the enabling structures of an organization, and to evaluate various development methods and activities in a larger framework. The sources of organizational learning and renewal are diverse and difficult to understand. This book shows how organizational learning and renewal can be explained by the theory of self-producing systems.

Sport has long been used as a tool for political gain and many major sporting events are now often framed as a panacea to help combat issues such as rising obesity rates, decreasing physical activity levels and wider urban decline. In reality though, fostering a temporary 'feel-good factor' is the most that many of these events can ever achieve even though a number are now sold on the popular rhetoric of legacy. Drawing upon a range of events and the work of international scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, this collection offers insights into the ways in which events outside of the big two are (re)positioned as part of the wider sporting landscape. The chapters originally published as a special issue in Sport in Society.

Consumer Services have been viewed as parasitic activities, dependent on other sectors of the economy for their viability and vitality. Yet local economic policy is now looking towards consumer services to solve severe economic problems. The rapid expansion of the service sector is now a principal feature of contemporary global economic restructuring. Consumer Services and Economic Development evaluates the contributions that consumer services can make to local economic development and revitalisation. A broad range of consumer service industries are examined in turn: tourism, sports, universities, retailing and cultural industries. Detailed local case studies illustrate the role, impact and effectiveness of consumer services in economic regeneration in a number of different contexts: the global city, contrsting urban areas and rural localities. With many localities in the advanced economies suffering from severe deindustrialisation and weak producer service growth, this book highlights the need for a fundamental rethink of both the function of services and of economic development theory and practice in general.

This book is a comprehensive guide to buying and developing multimedia in the most cost-effective manner. Focusing on the human factors in producing multimedia, rather than just the software, Buying and Selling Multimedia Services is aimed at both buyers and sellers of multimedia services and draws on real-world anecdotes|war stories|from project diaries and first-hand experience, to provide examples of the key ideas delineated within the book. These are true stories culled from 25 years of working on both sides of the desk as a purchaser of creative services for a Fortune 500 company and as a producer and seller for one of the largest multimedia production shops in the country. This book helps the multimedia producer and buyer to recognize flaws in past performances and to anticipate situations in future projects in order to save money and eliminate boardroom confrontations. Accusations, altercations, and recriminations can be avoided and the bottom line enhanced with the production of an effective product targeted to a receptive audience. Souter examines the skills necessary to both the producer and the purchaser of multimedia, allowing each to see the others' problems and viewpoints. Viewing the multimedia project from both sides, as both buyer and seller, Souter highlights the issues which will allow for effective communication between parties, resulting in a better product and a more creative relationship among all involved. In the second part of the book, Souter provides a comprehensive guide to all the digital formats available, to help the buyer and the developer select the most appropriate for a given project.