This book examines Russia's capacity to respond to a changing world through the lens of the country's oil industry. Against a backdrop of social, political and climatic change, Indra Overland and Nina Poussenkova present a systematic analysis of how modern energy developments in the form of shale oil, offshore oil and the global energy transition are handled. The book profiles Russia's five largest oil companies - Rosneft, LUKOIL, Gazprom Neft, Surgutneftegas and Tatneft - which are vital channels for much of Russia's income and constitute the backbone of the Russian economy. It explores the importance of the petroleum sector to Russian society, the place of Russian oil and gas in the world's energy supply and the rapid pace of change in the global energy industry. In doing so, it offers insights into internationalization, oil price fluctuations, corporate social responsibility and the impact of Western sanctions against Russia. This is an important read for scholars working on the Russian economy and energy business, particularly corporate social responsibility, organisational change and politics. It will also be a helpful reference tool for anyone working on the global petroleum sector who needs an update on the world's largest energy exporter.

In this book are fifty-two compelling tales that will lead the reader on a journey of discovery of the African continent. It tracks the ancient grail of traditional African medicine or muthi. The journey takes one year, with one story for each of the fifty-two weeks. Many of the stories inherited through Africa’s compelling oral tradition are between these covers: committed to paper for the first time ever.

The ancient African people were the first aromatherapists who well understood the effect of plants on the human body, mind and soul. Innately spiritual, the thousands of lineages of African people across thousands of years have all used plant medicines for healing, always with the blessing of their ancestors.

Knowledge of African plant mythology and its associated healing practices is most certainly a grail because on this great continent we call Africa, knowledge has always been an oral tradition. Because it was never written down, thousands of years of healing wisdom and intelligence have been lost in the transference from one generation to the next.

This book endeavoures to bring to light the deep history of fifty-two of the thousands of indigenous medicinal plants of Africa, before it is too late. The focus is towards Southern Africa because this region is a hotspot of cultural and botanical diversity. Unlike the healing knowledge of other ancient cultures, such as India or China, little of Africa’s healing history is recorded.

As you read the stories about fifty-two of the continent’s prominent indigenous plant cures, the authors hope you, too, will experience some of the magnetism, mystery and wisdom of Africa. They hope it will help you understand a bit more about yourself and about our species: the human being.

Learn to design, build, and scale products consumers can't get enough of How do today's most successful tech companies Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Tesla design, develop, and deploy the products that have earned the love of literally billions of people around the world? Perhaps surprisingly, they do it very differently than most tech companies. In INSPIRED, technology product management thought leader Marty Cagan provides readers with a master class in how to structure and staff a vibrant and successful product organization, and how to discover and deliver technology products that your customers will love and that will work for your business. With sections on assembling the right people and skillsets, discovering the right product, embracing an effective yet lightweight process, and creating a strong product culture, readers can take the information they learn and immediately leverage it within their own organizations dramatically improving their own product efforts. Whether you're an early-stage startup working to get to product/market fit, or a growth-stage company working to scale your product organization, or a large, long-established company trying to regain your ability to consistently deliver new value for your customers, INSPIRED will take you and your product organization to a new level of customer engagement, consistent innovation, and business success. Filled with the author's own personal stories and profiles of some of today's most-successful product managers and technology-powered product companies, including Adobe, Apple, BBC, Google, Microsoft, and Netflix INSPIRED will show you how to turn up the dial of your own product efforts, creating technology products your customers love. The first edition of INSPIRED, published ten years ago, established itself as the primary reference for technology product managers, and can be found on the shelves of nearly every successful technology product company worldwide. This thoroughly updated second edition shares the same objective of being the most valuable resource for technology product managers, yet it is completely new sharing the latest practices and techniques of today's most-successful tech product companies, and the men and women behind every great product.

The Bookshop in Wigtown is a bookworm's idyll - with thousands of books across nearly a mile of shelves, a real log fire, and Captain, the bookshop cat. You'd think after twenty years, owner Shaun Bythell would be used to the customers by now. Don't get him wrong - there are some good ones among the antiquarian porn-hunters, die-hard Arthurians, people who confuse bookshops for libraries and the toddlers just looking for a nice cosy corner in which to wee. He's sure there are. There must be some good ones, right? Filled with the pernickety warmth and humour that has touched readers around the world, stuffed with literary treasures, hidden gems and incunabula, Remainders of the Day is Shaun Bythell's latest entry in his bestselling diary series.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. Transport significantly affects everyday life in our modern world. Highlighting key challenges and opportunities, this Research Agenda identifies current and future themes that are central to both research and practice in the transport sector. With chapters written by eminent scholars and practitioners, it provides readers with a state-of-the art analysis of the topic. This Research Agenda identifies areas of research required to inform transport policy development that will in turn support improved societal outcomes. Chapters examine transport policy from a range of different viewpoints, offering insights into socio-economic environments, the importance of technology, and the differing approaches to transport policy across five continents. Transport is on the cusp of major transformation, and such disruptive change demands the broad, integrated approach that this Research Agenda provides. Written in a non-technical style, this book will appeal to transport policy practitioners, looking to improve current infrastructure to better suit the needs of the future. Public policy and geography scholars focusing on the impact and importance of transport will also find this to be a valuable read.

Bridging theory and practice, this book offers insights into how Europe has experienced the evolution of modern electricity markets from the end of the 1990s to the present day. It explores defining moments in the process, including the four waves of European legislative packages, landmark court cases, and the impact of climate strikes and marches. Leonardo Meeus explains the sequence of electricity markets in Europe from wholesale to balancing markets, forward transmission markets, capacity mechanisms, redispatching and flexibility markets. Chapters explore current issues including the new paradigm that places the citizen at the centre of the energy transition. Concluding that most of the market integration process in Europe so far has required horizontal coordination between transmission system operators in different countries, the book looks ahead to the importance of vertical coordination between the transmission and distribution. An invaluable book for energy policymakers and practitioners working in Europe, the solutions offered for contemporary issues will also be helpful for those working in international or multi-region electricity markets more widely. Academics involved in the world of electricity regulation will also find this an invigorating read.

This accessible and comprehensive textbook explores the role of advertising in the marketplace. It investigates how firms' advertising strategies are informative, persuasive or add value to the product advertised. The book explains in detail empirical methodologies used to identify the impact of advertising on consumer demand and on market structure, and reviews some recent empirical findings. It concludes with an in-depth exploration of digital advertising and auctions along with a framework for current antitrust investigations into two-sided platforms (Google, Facebook) that are funded by advertising revenues. How advertising works in the marketplace, and whether it works well, is a complex question to address because there are three sets of players involved-the firms that advertise their products, the potential consumers who view the ads and the platform or medium that intermediates between them. Understanding how these three sets of players interact is the key to understanding the role of advertising in a market economy. The book begins by looking at the rise of advertising in market economies, a phenomenon not accounted for in standard textbook microeconomic models and carefully explains why. This is followed by an examination, both theoretical and empirical, of how firms strategically use advertising to reach consumers and expand the demand for their products. There are also chapters focused on the challenges of deceptive advertising and regulation. The final chapters investigate how two-sided platforms, such as Google and Facebook, are sustained by advertising revenues, and include a review of auction theory and the structure of advertising auction exchanges. These chapters also provide a detailed analysis of public policy issues, including media bias and antitrust concerns. While designed for use by students in any course that covers the economics of advertising, this book is also an excellent resource for any reader interested in a deeper understanding of this important topic.

A unique and comprehensive source of information, this book is the only international publication providing economists, planners, policymakers and business people with worldwide statistics on current performance and trends in the manufacturing sector. The Yearbook is designed to facilitate international comparisons relating to manufacturing activity and industrial development and performance. It provides data which can be used to analyse patterns of growth and related long term trends, structural change and industrial performance in individual industries. Statistics on employment patterns, wages, consumption and gross output and other key indicators are also presented.

This insightful Handbook brings together the practical guidance of over 50 international practitioners in sustainable tourism. Applying strong research design principles it provides a workable and rational toolkit for investigating practical challenges while accounting for modest timeframes and resources. Expert contributors illustrate how to undertake environmental, socio-cultural and economic assessments that establish the feasibility of new tourism ventures and ascertain their impact over time. Chapters cover fundamentals including how to conduct feasibility studies and business plans, and address key topics such as visitor management and overcrowding. Offering how-to tools and step-by-step guidance, this Handbook combines academic insight with extensive professional experience to outline the best practices for an array of tasks to inform sustainable tourism planning, development and operation. Incorporating concrete solutions employed in numerous contexts, this Handbook is crucial reading for practitioners of sustainable tourism and agencies commissioning sustainable tourism assignments who are in need of innovative methods and up-to-date guidance in the field. It will also benefit tourism scholars, particularly those investigating practical methodologies for creating sustainable tourism experiences.

Political leaders and institutions across the Global South are continually failing to respond to the needs of their citizens. This incisive book sets out to establish the pathways to and outcomes of accountability in a development context, as well as to investigate the ways in which people can seek redress and hold their public officials to account. Providing a timely complement to the current literature on accountability, the book features contributions from a diverse range of experienced and up-and-coming scholars and practitioners across the globe. Chapters explore questions of how improved accountability relations emerge, under what conditions they can be maintained, and what role civil-society actors, donors, and new ICT tools can and should play in developing countries. Integrating empirical case studies from Brazil, Egypt, India, Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia with a strong theoretical framework on accountability relations, the book delivers a comprehensive analysis of accountability initiatives across the Global South and ultimately reflects on how they contribute to reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16. This insightful book will be an essential resource for academics, policymakers, and practitioners worldwide who are engaged in enhancing public sector accountability and implementing SDG 16. It will also help to guide social movements and citizen-led action.

This two-volume book, Biomolecules and Pharmacology of Medicinal Plants, will be a valuable desk reference book on bioactives and pharmacology of medicinal plants. Listing the medicinal plants by species, each of these 77 chapters detail the plants' bioactive phytocompounds and their chemical structures along with their pharmacological activities and properties. These include the plants' antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, and nephroprotective properties. Bioactive compounds typically occur in small amounts, and they have more subtle effects than nutrients. Bioactive compounds influence cellular activities that modify the risk of disease and cure and alleviate disease symptoms. These compounds can act as antioxidants, enzyme inhibitors and inducers, inhibitors of receptor activities, and inducers and inhibitors of gene expression among other actions. A wide array of biological activities and potential health benefits of medicinal plants have been reported, which include antiviral, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic properties as well as protective effects on the liver, kidney, heart, and nervous system. The volumes will be a must-have reference for pharmacy institutes and pharmacy professors, phytochemists and research scholars, botanists working with medicinal plants, and postgraduate students of pharmacy and medicine round the world. The comprehensive information presented here provides an invaluable source to aid in the development of new drugs.

Growing up, Robert Lipsyte was the smart-aleck fat kid, the bully magnet who went to the library instead of the ballpark. As the perpetual outsider, even into adulthood, his alienation from Jock Culture made him a rarity in the press box: the sportswriter who wasn't a sports fan. This feeling of otherness has colored Lipsyte's sports writing for fifty years, much of it spent as a columnist for the New York Times. He didn't follow particular athletes or teams; he wasn't awed by the access afforded by his press pass or his familiarity with the players in the locker room.

The experience and insight earned over a half-century infuse An Accidental Sportswriter. Going beyond the usual memoir, Lipsyte has written "a memory loop, a circular search for lost or forgotten pieces in the puzzle of a life." In telling his own story, Lipsyte grapples with American sports and society--from Mickey Mantle to Bill Simmons--arguing that Jock Culture has seeped into our business, politics, and family life, and its definitions have become the standard to measure value. Full of wisdom and an understanding of American sports that contextualizes rather than celebrates athletes, An Accidental Sportswriter is the crowning achievement of a rich career and a book that will speak to us for years to come.

Global. International. Multinational. These are the words that describe and move business today. Sport is no exception. This text describes the international governance structures that shape sport throughout the world and explains the organisation and development internationally of both professional and amateur sport. International trends in sport and the organisation of international sporting events are among the topics addressed.

This insightful book reappraises how traditional high culture attractions have been supplemented by popular culture events, contemporary creativity and everyday life through inventive styles of tourism. Greg Richards draws on over three decades of research to provide a new approach to the topic, combining practice and interaction ritual theories and developing a model of cultural tourism as a social practice. Taking readers on a concise journey from the 1900s to the present day, Rethinking Cultural Tourism examines the evolution of cultural tourism and the resulting consequences, analysing the dynamics of new practices and emerging trends. The book concludes by considering how technology is causing a shift in tourist behaviour and experiences to meet the ever-growing demand for new travelling experiences and discovering new places and cultures. This innovative, thought-provoking book is an essential read for researchers of cultural and creative tourism and social practices, as well as providing a useful review of the development of cultural tourism for scholars in related fields such as human geography.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. As the world faces extreme economic, environmental and political crises, this bold and accessible Advanced Introduction argues for a future-facing approach to the creative economy and creative innovation. The book analyses contemporary and historical arts and culture whilst assessing historical shifts from national to global cultures; analogue to digital technologies; and individualist to systems thinking. Key features include: A new approach to the creative industries based on complex systems and evolutionary dynamics Combining humanities-based analysis with economics of innovation A critique of important theorists and intellectual traditions involved in the study of modern mediated creativity Reconceptualizing arts, copyright, cities, time, global media and social agency A thought-provoking reassessment of modernity to pivot creative enterprise for the challenges of the Anthropocene era. Scholars and students of media and communications studies, political economy and economics will benefit from the new approach to creative media and culture, and its proposals to rethink the economics of creativity and innovation. This book will be a helpful guide for policy-makers, consultants and freelancers who work across the borderlines of art, media, technology, business and regulation.

'Tourist Behaviour: The Essential Companion edited by Philip L. Pearce is an indispensable resource for courses on consumer behaviour in tourism and for all serious scholars in the field. The structure of the book is unique in following the entire consumer journey from ''dreaming and longing'' to ''returning home''. Pearce, the preeminent scholar and author on tourist behaviour, has produced another brilliant work together with an impressive list of contributing authors.' - Alastair Morrison, Purdue University, US Comprehensive and accessible, this Companion offers a thorough investigation into both traditional and fresh topics in tourist behaviour and experience. Arranged chronologically, the chapters examine tourist experience from the very idea of a tourist visit to the aftermath of returning home. With contributions from leading experts and emerging scholars across the globe, this Companion establishes the importance of studying tourist behaviour. Innovative topics including packing and preparation, dreaming and longing for trips, and memory are explored in detail. The book incorporates a selection of illustrative key case studies to ensure that it is highly accessible and readable to a range of audiences, while ensuring academic rigour. It examines both positive and negative impacts of the tourist experience on tourists themselves and the communities and environments they visit. The concluding chapter includes a vision for how tourism and sustainable development goals can be integrated to maximise the benefits of tourist behaviour and experience. Students and researchers of tourism and sustainability will greatly benefit from the research directions and suggestions indicated in each chapter of the book. This timely Companion will also prove to be a valuable resource for stakeholders looking to improve and expand upon the tourist experience.

This timely book focuses on the upgrading of firms within the global garment industry, examining how garment manufacturers and retailers in different countries internationalize, develop their capabilities and enhance their sustainability. It highlights the important role the global garments industry plays in the socio-economic development and environmental outcomes of emerging economies. Drawing on firm-centric, multi-level analyses, the book addresses four key questions: how do apparel manufacturing companies in emerging economies internationalize? What factors promote or hinder internationalization? What influences the abilities of suppliers to develop different capabilities? How do firms achieve sustainability? Interdisciplinary contributions draw on a range of perspectives, including global value chains, international business, operations management, innovation, and sociology, to answer these questions. Providing novel insights to the topic, this book will help firms, researchers and national and multilateral organisations improve the competitiveness of suppliers, workers' well-being and environmental outcomes. It will be particularly useful to business economics and economic geography scholars.

Little Book of Prada is the pocket-sized and beautifully illustrated story of the legendary fashion house. Understated elegance and luxury, technologically advanced fabrics and sublime originality of design are all hallmarks of the House of Prada. In this miniature monograph, Laia Farran Graves documents the history and heritage of the brand, from the company's origins as a leather-goods manufacturer to the global fashion empire created by Miuccia Prada. Little Book of Prada explores the evolutions and innovations of the brand, as well as a design ethos informed by an interest in minimalism and contemporary art. Images of individual garments, catwalk shots and fashion photography pay tribute to one of the world's most influential fashion houses and the woman behind it, in a perfectly designed and stylish format that makes a perfect gift for any lover of fashion.

Contextualisation: The nature and role of public policy. Theories and models for analysing public policy. History and development of policy studies and policy analysis. Public policy in more and lesser developed states. The public policy process: Policy agenda setting. Policy design. Policy decision making. Policy implementation. Programme management, project management and public policy implementation. Policy evaluation. Policy dynamics - change, failure and success. Capacity building for policy improvement: Education and training for policy analysis. The prevalence and institutionalisation of policy analysis in government.

Prepare students for assessment and further professional development with a wealth of contemporary case studies from around the world, referencing key trends. * Discover how to integrate sustainability and environmental improvements into kitchens and eating spaces, helping to increase energy conservation and boost your green credentials. * Harness the power social media and e-marketing to proactively grow your business, online visibility and engagement. * Ensure best practice is followed where food allergies and intolerances are concerned, so you can be confident you are providing a safe experience for all customers. * Develop your understanding of nutrition and culinary medicine with a unique contribution from Elaine Macaninch, a director of Culinary Medicine UK and the co-founder of the Education and Research in Medical Nutrition Network (ERimNN) * Plan for commercial success with clear coverage of financial aspects of food and beverage management, personal development and people management skills.

The revelatory saga of Pixar's rocky start and improbable success

After Steve Jobs was dismissed from Apple in the early 1990s, he turned his attention to a little-known graphics company he owned called Pixar. One day, out of the blue, Jobs called Lawrence Levy, a Harvard-trained lawyer and executive to whom he had never spoken before. He hoped to persuade Levy to help him pull Pixar back from the brink of failure.

This is the extraordinary story of what happened next: how Jobs and Levy concocted and pulled off a highly improbable plan that transformed Pixar into one of Hollywood's greatest success stories. Levy offers a masterful, firsthand account of how Pixar rose from humble beginnings, what it was like to work so closely with Jobs, and how Pixar's story offers profound lessons that can apply to many aspects of our lives.

In the face of today's environmental and economic challenges, doomsayers preach that the only way to stave off disaster is for humans to reverse course: to de-industrialize, re-localize, ban the use of modern energy sources, and forswear prosperity. But in this provocative and optimistic rebuke to the catastrophists, Robert Bryce shows how innovation and the inexorable human desire to make things Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper is providing consumers with Cheaper and more abundant energy, Faster computing, Lighter vehicles, and myriad other goods. That same desire is fostering unprecedented prosperity, greater liberty, and yes, better environmental protection.Utilizing on-the-ground reporting from Ottawa to Panama City and Pittsburgh to Bakersfield, Bryce shows how we have, for centuries, been pushing for Smaller Faster solutions to our problems. From the vacuum tube, mass-produced fertilizer, and the printing press to mobile phones, nanotech, and advanced drill rigs, Bryce demonstrates how cutting-edge companies and breakthrough technologies have created a world in which people are living longer, freer, healthier, lives than at any time in human history.The push toward Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper is happening across multiple sectors. Bryce profiles innovative individuals and companies, from long-established ones like Ford and Intel to upstarts like Aquion Energy and Khan Academy. And he zeroes in on the energy industry, proving that the future belongs to the high power density sources that can provide the enormous quantities of energy the world demands.The tools we need to save the planet aren't to be found in the technologies or lifestyles of the past. Nor must we sacrifice prosperity and human progress to ensure our survival. The catastrophists have been wrong since the days of Thomas Malthus. This is the time to embrace the innovators and businesses all over the world who are making things Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper.

This book integrates new thinking on the image, marketing, and branding of places at all levels, from town squares to cities and countries, and of the products and peoples associated with them, thereby bridging the 'country' and 'place' silos in place-related research and practice. Insightful contributions from top scholars reflect fresh theorizing and provide a critical appraisal of conventional wisdom by juxtaposing intriguing contexts, questioning commonplace practices, and challenging methodologies and theoretical assumptions. Chapters explore interdependencies among residents, visitors, brand managers, and consumers; image effects of place and social identity, cross-border acquisitions, popular culture exports, and sporting mega-events; country-of-origin research, cross-cultural consumer behaviour, international marketing, destination branding, and brand modelling; and cutting-edge methodological approaches and managerial best practices in place marketing. The book's interdisciplinary know-how and approach makes it an invaluable and comprehensive reference for researchers, managers, consultants, and students alike, in areas from marketing, place management, international business, and tourism to communications, social psychology, urban geography, and regional economics.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. Over the past 20 years, the concept of creative industries has become a widely recognised policy paradigm adopted in numerous countries, agencies and educational institutions around the world. A Research Agenda for Creative Industries probes the key issues that will help to advance research into creative industries as a productive and innovative intervention in public policy. Issues addressed include how much should a research agenda for creative industries be policy-oriented? How workable is the so-called triple bottom line rationale for creative industries? What innovative theories, research approaches and methods are called for in advancing a creative industries agenda? With contributions from leading scholars, policy and industry specialists, this interdisciplinary Research Agenda will be a vital resource for students and academics working in the fields of communication, culture, film and media, geography, business and policy studies, and Internet and social media studies.

This edition of managing tourism services strives to promote and instill a strong customer-centric orientation in the reader. Therefore, the title places strong emphasis on service orientation and the content focuses on managerial functions as means of enhancing the experience of the tourist. This has led to the introduction of new chapters such as service people management and the consequence of tourism. Several existing chapters rewritten to enhance the customer-centric and service-orientated focus of this edition. Several new South African case studies and applications are included to ensure a truly South African perspective.