"Uberization," "digitalization," "platform economy," "gig economy," and "sharing economy" are some of the buzzwords that characterize the current intense discussions about the development of the economy and work around the world, among both experts and laypersons. Immense changes in the ways goods are manufactured, business is done, work tasks are performed, education is accomplished, and so on, are clearly underway. This also means that demand for careful, first-rate social scientific analyses of the phenomena in question is rapidly growing. This edited volume gathers distinguished researchers from economics, business studies, organization studies, medicine, social psychology, occupational health, pedagogics, and sociology to put particular work in both public and private sectors and education in both academic and vocational settings at the focus of the emerging digitalized platform economy. The authors anchor their analyses and conceptual and theoretical work in distinctive empirical developments that are taking place in one of the leading countries of digitalization processes: Finland. Finnish case studies reflect general global developments and show their particular, context-related actualization in multiple ways. This double exposure enables the authors of this multi- and interdisciplinary volume to advance conceptualization and theorization of the key phenomena in digitalizing platform societies in novel, creative, and groundbreaking directions. This book will without doubt be of great value to academic researchers and students in the fields of economics, business studies, work studies, social sciences, education, technology, digitalization, platforms, occupational health, entrepreneurship, and professions.

'An exciting, astute analysis of how our capacity for desire has been slotted into the grooves of digital capitalism, and made to work for profit - from porn to Pokemon' - Richard Seymour We are in the middle of a 'desirevolution' - a fundamental and political transformation of the way we desire as human beings. Perhaps as always, new technologies - with their associated and inherited political biases - are organising and mapping the future. What we don't seem to notice is that the primary way in which our lives are being transformed is through the manipulation and control of desire itself. Our very impulses, drives and urges are 'gamified' to suit particular economic and political agendas, changing the way we relate to everything from lovers and friends to food and politicians. Digital technologies are transforming the subject at the deepest level of desire - re-mapping its libidinal economy - in ways never before imagined possible. From sexbots to smart condoms, fitbits to VR simulators and AI to dating algorithms, the 'love industries' are at the heart of the future smart city and the social fabric of everyday life. This book considers these emergent technologies and what they mean for the future of love, desire, work and capitalism.

With recent advances in IT in areas such as AI and IoT, collaboration systems such as business chat, cloud services, conferencing systems, and unified communications are rapidly becoming widely used as new IT applications in global corporations' strategic activities. Through in-depth longitudinal studies of global corporations, the book presents a new theoretical framework and implications for IT-enabled dynamic capabilities using collaboration systems from the perspective of micro strategy theory and organization theory. The content of the book is based on longitudinal analyses that employ various qualitative research methods including ethnography, participant observation, action research and in-depth case studies of global corporations in Europe, the United States and Asia that actively use collaboration systems. It presents a new concept of micro dynamism whereby dynamic "IT-enabled knowledge communities" such as "IT-enabled communities of practice" and "IT-enabled strategic communities" create "IT-enabled dynamic capabilities" through the integration of four research streams - an information systems view, micro strategy view, micro organization view and knowledge-based view. The book demonstrates that collaboration systems create, maintain and develop "IT-enabled knowledge communities" within companies and are strategic IT applications for enhancing the competitiveness of companies in the ongoing creation of new innovation and the realization of sustainable growth in a 21st century knowledge-based society. This book is primarily written for academics, researchers and graduate students, but will also offer practical implications for business leaders and managers. Its use is anticipated not only in business and management schools, graduate schools and university education environments around the world but also in the broad business environment including management and leadership development training.

This book explores the strategic decisions made by organizations when implementing cybersecurity controls and leveraging economic models and theories from the economics of information security and risk-management frameworks. Based on unique and distinct research completed within the field of risk-management and information security, this book provides insight into organizational risk-management processes utilized in determining cybersecurity investments. It describes how theoretical models and frameworks rely on either specific scenarios or controlled conditions and how decisions on cybersecurity spending within organizations-specifically, the funding available in comparison to the recommended security measures necessary for compliance-vary depending on stakeholders. As the trade-off between the costs of implementing a security measure and the benefit derived from the implementation of security controls is not easily measured, a business leader's decision to fund security measures may be biased. The author presents an innovative approach to assess cybersecurity initiatives with a risk-management perspective and leverages a data-centric focus on the evolution of cyber-attacks. This book is ideal for business school students and technology professionals with an interest in risk management.

This practical text offers a research-based account of the technical communication profession and its practice, outlining emergent touchpoints of this fast-changing field while highlighting its diversity. Through research on the history and the globalization of technical communication and up-to-date industry analysis, including first-hand narratives from industry practitioners, this book brings together common threads through the industry, suggests future trends, and points toward strategic routes for development. Vignettes from the workplace and examples of industry practice provide tangible insights into the different paths and realities of the field, furnishing readers with a range of entry routes and potential career sectors, workplace communities, daily activities, and futures. This approach is central to helping readers understand the diverse competencies of technical communicators in the modern, globalized economy. The Profession and Practice of Technical Communication provides essential guidance for students, early professionals, and lateral entrants to the profession and can be used as a textbook for technical communication courses.

Disruption resulting from the proliferation of AI is coming. The authors of the bestselling Prediction Machines can help you prepare. Artificial intelligence (AI) has impacted many industries around the world-banking and finance, pharmaceuticals, automotive, medical technology, manufacturing, and retail. But it has only just begun its odyssey toward cheaper, better, and faster predictions that drive strategic business decisions. When prediction is taken to the max, industries transform, and with such transformation comes disruption. What is at the root of this? In their bestselling first book, Prediction Machines, eminent economists Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb explained the simple yet game-changing economics of AI. Now, in Power and Prediction, they go deeper, examining the most basic unit of analysis: the decision. The authors explain that the two key decision-making ingredients are prediction and judgment, and we perform both together in our minds, often without realizing it. The rise of AI is shifting prediction from humans to machines, relieving people from this cognitive load while increasing the speed and accuracy of decisions. This sets the stage for a flourishing of new decisions and has profound implications for system-level innovation. Redesigning systems of interdependent decisions takes time-many industries are in the quiet before the storm-but when these new systems emerge, they can be disruptive on a global scale. Decision-making confers power. In industry, power confers profits; in society, power confers control. This process will have winners and losers, and the authors show how businesses can leverage opportunities, as well as protect their positions. Filled with illuminating insights, rich examples, and practical advice, Power and Prediction is the must-read guide for any business leader or policymaker on how to make the coming AI disruptions work for you rather than against you.

Currently, most organizations are dependent on IS/ICT in order to support their business strategies. IS/ICT can promote the implementation of strategies and enhancers of optimization of the various aspects of the business. In market enterprises and social organizations, digital economy and ICTs are important tools that can empower social entrepreneurship initiatives to develop, fund, and implement new and innovative solutions to social, cultural, and environmental problems. The Handbook of Research on Multidisciplinary Approaches to Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and ICTs is an essential reference source that discusses the digitalization techniques of the modern workforce as well as important tools empowering social entrepreneurship initiatives. Featuring research on topics such as agile business analysis, multicultural workforce, and human resource management, this book is ideally designed for business managers, entrepreneurs, IT consultants, researchers, industry professionals, human resource consultants, academicians, and students.

Cutting through the confusion around the nature and implications of digitalization, this book explores the rise of the new digital networks, how they affect traditional infrastructure, and how they will eventually need to be regulated. The authors examine how digitalization affects infrastructures in telecommunications, transport, and energy, and how digital platforms establish themselves as a new network on top of and in addition to traditional ones. Complex concepts are introduced through short and colorful stories about the founders of the most popular platforms (Google, Facebook, Skype, Uber, etc.) and how they grew to positions of power, drawing parallels with century-old traditional network industries' monopoly power (AT&T, General Electric, etc.). The authors argue that these digital platforms strongly interfere with traditional infrastructures that are heavily regulated and provide essential services for society - meaning that digital platforms should be considered as a new and much more powerful type of infrastructure and will require regulation accordingly. A global audience of policy makers, public authorities, consultants, lawyers, students, and academics, as well as anyone with an interest in these digital platforms, will find this book enlightening and essential reading.

Cutting through the confusion around the nature and implications of digitalization, this book explores the rise of the new digital networks, how they affect traditional infrastructure, and how they will eventually need to be regulated. The authors examine how digitalization affects infrastructures in telecommunications, transport, and energy, and how digital platforms establish themselves as a new network on top of and in addition to traditional ones. Complex concepts are introduced through short and colorful stories about the founders of the most popular platforms (Google, Facebook, Skype, Uber, etc.) and how they grew to positions of power, drawing parallels with century-old traditional network industries' monopoly power (AT&T, General Electric, etc.). The authors argue that these digital platforms strongly interfere with traditional infrastructures that are heavily regulated and provide essential services for society - meaning that digital platforms should be considered as a new and much more powerful type of infrastructure and will require regulation accordingly. A global audience of policy makers, public authorities, consultants, lawyers, students, and academics, as well as anyone with an interest in these digital platforms, will find this book enlightening and essential reading.

This critical ethnographic study of knowledge workers and knowledge-intensive organization workplaces focuses on the issues of timing and schedules, the perception of formality and trust and distrust in software development as well as motivation and occupational identity among software engineers. The book is a cross-cultural, comparative study of American and European high-tech workplaces that addresses the issues currently of interest to both Academia and to practice and provides a rare international comparison of organizations from both sides of the Atlantic. Its conclusions shed new light on the problems typical for software projects. The book specifically focuses on, and gives voice to, the perspectives of knowledge workers rather than managers and will thus be useful to not only scholars and human resource managers from software companies, but also to high-tech professionals. Scholars and professionals in organization studies, management, HRM, innovation and knowledge management will find this book engaging and enlightening.

This seminal study explores the significant changes in the global IT industry as production has shifted from the developed world to massive sites in the developing world that house hundreds of thousands of workers in appalling low-wage conditions to minimize labor costs. Yet little is known about this phenomenon as the major contract manufacturers deliberately hide their names from the public on behalf of brand-name customers such as Apple. In short, the authors argue, globalization is not always helping the IT workers of the world, many of whom are working in unbearable factory conditions. From Silicon Valley to Shenzhen traces the development of the new networks of globalized mass production in the IT industry and the reorganization of work since the 1990s, capturing the systemic nature of an industry-wide restructuring of production and work in the global context. Their wide-ranging and detailed analysis makes an important contribution to ongoing academic and political debates on the globalization of production, especially by taking these debates beyond narrow perspectives of determining criteria of "success" for participation in global production networks. Rather, they emphasize the changing nature of work, employment relations, and labor policies and their implications for the possibilities of sustainable economic and social development.

__________ *Picked by the Financial Times as a Best Read of 2021* 'Impressive and inspiring' Financial Times 'I have no intention of making small bets' - Masayoshi Son In order to understand what's happening in Silicon Valley, you just need to look at Masayoshi Son. __________ There is no one in the world right now who is in a better position to influence the next wave of technology than Masayoshi Son. Not Jeff Bezos, not Mark Zuckerberg, not Elon Musk. They might have the money, but they lack Masa's combination of ambition, imagination, and nerve. Masayoshi Son is the most powerful person in Silicon Valley. As CEO and founder of the Japanese investment firm, SoftBank Group, 'Masa' has invested in some of the most exciting and influential tech companies in recent memory - Uber, WeWork, ByteDance, and many others. Prior to that, he was known as one of the first investors in Alibaba and Yahoo! He has an audacious vision for the future and one that is unmatched in the tech industry. Aiming High provides insight into this charismatic and visionary leader. Originally published in Japan, this book charts Son's rise from a Korean immigrant who left Japan at 16 to becoming one of the wealthiest people in the world. With unprecedented access to Son, including exclusive interviews, this book creates an authoritative account of how SoftBank Group and it's visionary and charismatic CEO is shaping the future of tech. __________

Software product management and pricing are key success factors for any organization providing software, be it a software company or an organization responsible for software in a company that belongs to a different industry. After defining the term "software product" and looking at the business and organizational sides, the core elements of software product management and pricing are discussed. Recommendations are given on how to deal with these elements depending on different types of organizations and products in order to achieve the long-term success.

Highly Commended International Business Book from the 2021 Business Book Awards Nonfiction Book Awards Silver Winner from the Nonfiction Authors Association Winner of CompTIA's 2020 Diversity Technology Leader Spotlight Award Winner of a Technology Rising Star Award from the 2020 Women of Color in STEM Conference Break through barriers to achieve a rewarding future in tech Women of Color in Tech: A Blueprint for Inspiring and Mentoring the Next Generation of Technology Innovators will help you overcome the obstacles that often prevent women of color from pursuing and staying in tech careers. Contrary to popular belief, tech careers are diverse and fun--and they go far beyond just coding. This book will show you that today's tech careers are incredibly dynamic, and you'll learn how your soft skills--communication, public speaking, networking--can help you succeed in tech. This book will guide you through the process of cultivating strong relationships and building a network that will get you were you want to be. You'll learn to identify a strong, knowledgeable support network that you can rely on for guidance or mentorship. This step is crucial in getting young women of color into tech careers and keeping them there. Build your professional network to get the guidance you need Find a mentor who understands your goals and your struggles Overcome negativity and stay motivated through difficult times Identify and develop the soft skills that you need to get ahead in tech Read this book to help bring to life your vision of a future in tech. With practical advice and inspiring stories, you'll develop the right tools and the right mindset. Whether you're just considering going into tech or you want to take your current career to the next level, Women of Color in Tech will show you how to uncover the resources you need to succeed.

Managing risk is essential for every organization. However, significant opportunities may be lost by concentrating on the negative aspects of risk without bearing in mind the positive attributes. The objective of Project Risk Management: Managing Software Development Risk is to provide a distinct approach to a broad range of risks and rewards associated with the design, development, implementation and deployment of software systems. The traditional perspective of software development risk is to view risk as a negative characteristic associated with the impact of potential threats. The perspective of this book is to explore a more discerning view of software development risks, including the positive aspects of risk associated with potential beneficial opportunities. A balanced approach requires that software project managers approach negative risks with a view to reduce the likelihood and impact on a software project, and approach positive risks with a view to increase the likelihood of exploiting opportunities. Project Risk Management: Managing Software Development Risk explores software development risk both from a technological and business perspective. Issues regarding strategies for software development are discussed and topics including risks related to technical performance, outsourcing, cybersecurity, scheduling, quality, costs, opportunities and competition are presented. Bringing together concepts across the broad spectrum of software engineering with a project management perspective, this volume represents both a professional and scholarly perspective on the topic.

Examines the social media mechanism and how it is transforming communication in an increasingly networked society Social Media Communication: Trends and Theories explores how social media is transforming the way people think and behave. Providing students with an in-depth understanding of the mechanism underlying social media, this comprehensive textbook uses a multidisciplinary approach to examine social media use in a wide range of communication and business contexts. Each chapter is based on original research findings from the author as well as recent work in communication studies, neuroscience, information science, and psychology. Divided into two parts, the text first describes the theoretical foundation of social media use, discussing the impact of social media on information processing, social networking, cognition, interpersonal and group communication, the media industry, and business marketing. The second half of the book focuses on research-based strategies for effectively using social media in communication and business such as the news industry, heath care, and social movements. Offering detailed yet accessible coverage of how digital media technology is changing human communication, this textbook: Helps readers make the best use of social media tools in communication and business practices Introduces more than a dozen theories in the areas of communication, psychology, and sociology to highlight the theoretical frameworks researchers use in social media studies Identifies a variety of trends involving social media usage, including the app economy and patient care Addresses the relation between social media and important contemporary topics such as cultural diversity, privacy, and social change Presents 14 imperative social media topics, each with the power to change the ways you see and use social media Social Media Communication: Trends and Theories is the perfect textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in communication, business, journalism, business, and information science and technology. It is also an invaluable resource for researchers, educators, journalists, entrepreneurs, and professionals working in media management, advertising, public relations, and business marketing.

This book investigates the life, working conditions, and urban experiences of support service workers, such as janitors, security guards, culinary workers and carpool drivers, in the information technology (IT) sector of India. Largely omitted from academic discourse, support service workers are crucial to the Indian IT industry. Drawing on interviews with such workers in seven Indian cities with a large concentration of software service companies, this volume: Uses quantitative and qualitative analyses to map and assess workers' responses to migration from rural occupations to a modern urban employment setting; Explores the everyday grind of migrant workers in the context of the homogenizing effects of globalization in an alienating urban environment and discusses how their dislodgment from the structures of rural life - gender and caste roles - has placed them in a space of contestation between traditions and the opportunities and challenges offered by digital society in the form of freedom, individualism, flexibility and innovation; Traces the evolution of new areas of class, and identity formations, as well as the hegemonic relations within that ethos imposed by contractors and corporations. The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of sociology and social anthropology, urban studies, development studies, labour studies, social exclusion and South Asian studies.

As digital transformations continue to accelerate in the world, discourses of big data have come to dominate in a number of fields, from politics and economics, to media and education. But how can we really understand the digital world when so much of the writing through which we grapple with it remains deeply problematic? In a compelling new work of feminist critical theory, Bassett, Kember and O'Riordan scrutinise many of the assumptions of a masculinist digital world, highlighting the tendency of digital humanities scholarship to venerate and essentialise technical forms, and to adopt gendered writing and citation practices. Contesting these writings, practices and politics, the authors foreground feminist traditions and contributions to the field, offering alternative modes of knowledge production, and a radically different, poetic writing style. Through this prism, Furious brings into focus themes including the automation of home and domestic work, the Anthropocene, and intersectional feminist technofutures.

'It is rare for a business analysis to read like a thriller - this one does.' - Azeem Azhar, Founder, Exponential View 'Vital to understanding how[TikTok] works and the impact it's having.' - Damian Collins MP, former chairman of the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee 'TikTok Boom is a must read for students, scholars, and policy makers.' - David Craig, Clinical Professor, USC Annenberg TikTok is the new force in social media. Just a few years after its launch, TikTok has one billion accounts. Every day hundreds of millions of teenagers are gripped by its brief videos, powered by a secretive algorithm that can propel a meme or or a user or a product to global stardom within minutes. Multi-national businesses are scrambling to harness its raw marketing power. TikTok is a cultural hurricane, making instant hits of new and long-fogotten songs, books and TV shows, and a constant political and social commentary, playing out every minute of the day in tens of millions of videos. TikTok is also the first app outside the United States to challenge Silicon Valley's dominance of social media. Aware of the Chinese app's challenge to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok. TikTok is already banned in India. TikTok Boom reveals how TikTok has spread exponentially in the West since its launch in 2017. Its owner, ByteDance, wants to become China's answer to Google and has rolled out TikTok using smart tactics revealed for the first time in the book. Using a range of sources deep inside and outside ByteDance, TikTok Boom reveals the story of its founder Yiming Zhang and its origin in another app in China, Douyin. It follows the social media battle between short-form video apps and TikTok's final triumph after its merger with Musical.ly. It offers never-before-seen insights into TikTok's new influencer ecosystem. And it charts the increasing superpower tech rivalry between China and the West which is posing questions about TikTok's safety. TikTok Boom's author Chris Stokel-Walker has interviewed scores of people connected to the world's hottest app, including current and former employees, and some of TikTok's biggest names in front of and behind the lens. He explores the culture of ByteDance and finds out what has happened to its founder, Yiming Zhang, as the Chinese Communist Party seeks to reel in the country's runaway tech industry. TikTok Boom is a nuanced, informed and incisive read on the characters and strategies behind the world's new tech order, in a gripping read that has won plaudits from technologists. It's rich peopled with characters. TikTok Boom is the essential book for anyone who wants to know what TikTok's success means for culture, technology, geopolitics, marketing and advertising. Find out where TikTok came from and where it's going. Find out how TikTok Works and whether it can work for you. Reviews 'A careful, detailed teardown of the people, culture and technology behind the world's most dynamic social network. It is rare for a business analysis to read like a thriller - this one does.' - Azeem Azhar, Founder, Exponential View 'It's clear that Stokel-Walker's strength is that he's not just TikTok-literate, he's TikTok-fluent. He knows the product, the people, and the entire ecosystem inside and out, and it is this familiarity that makes his telling so compelling, because he knows how to make you feel like you, too, are an insider in this strange new world.' - Rui Ma, founder, Tech Buzz China 'Blending journalistic narrative with state-of-the-art academic research, no other author comes close to weaving this epic tale of the rise of China's first global platform threatening Silicon's Valley hegemony while operating as inflection point around the rise of one globe two Internet systems. This is a must read for students, scholars, and policy makers.' - David Craig, Clinical Professor, USC Annenberg

The IT revolution has affected the entire world by producing an Internet-based, digital economy in which geographical distance and borders have become less of an obstacle to global trade. Thanks to IT, developing countries in every region of the world have the opportunity to break out of the mould of raw material supplier to the developed nations and experience unprecedented growth in the Internet economy as producers too. The challenges faced by developing countries in harnessing the full potential of IT are not really very different from those that confronted the US in its journey toward an Internet economy. The responses, however, need not necessarily be the same for two reasons. First, it pays to learn from the mistakes of others. Secondly, the cultural differences between nations demands localization of the change management process that any IT deployment requires. This volume discusses the possible pitfalls and triumphs involved when implementing this entity into the structure of a developing country.

ITIL(R) 4 is the latest evolution of the leading best-practice framework for ITSM (IT service management). It has been significantly updated from ITIL v3 and addresses new ITSM challenges, includes new technologies and incorporates new ways of working. ITIL(R) Foundation Essentials ITIL 4 Edition is the ultimate revision guide for candidates preparing for the ITIL 4 Foundation exam. It is fully aligned with the Foundation course syllabus and gives a clear and concise overview of the facts. Whether you are taking an ITIL 4 Foundation training course or are a self-study candidate, new to the framework or looking to upgrade your ITIL 2011 certification, this guide is the essential companion. It: Provides definitions of the key terms and concepts used in ITIL 4; Presents detailed information in clear, user-friendly and easy-to-follow ways through tables, bullet points and diagrams; and Explains the key figures and diagrams in the ITIL syllabus. This second edition has been updated to align with amendments to the ITIL(R) 4 Foundation syllabus, including: Replacing 'change control' with 'change enablement' throughout; The removal of 'IT' from the definition of a change; and Updating definitions for customer, sponsor and user. Start preparing for your ITIL Foundation exam - order your copy today. ITIL(R) is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved. This book is an official AXELOS licensed product.

The 'end of history' has not taken place. Ideological and economic crisis and the status quo of neoliberal capitalism since 2008 demand a renewed engagement with Marx. But if we are to effectively resist capitalism we must truly understand Marx: Marxism today must theorise how communication technologies, media representation and digitalisation have come to define contemporary capitalism. There is an urgent need for critical, Marxian-inspired knowledge as a foundation for changing the world and the way we communicate from digital capitalism towards communicative socialism and digital communism. Rereading Marx in the Age of Digital Capitalism does exactly this. Delving into Marx's most influential works, such as Capital, The Grundrisse, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts, The German Ideology and The Communist Manifesto, Christian Fuchs draws out Marx's concepts of machinery, technology, communication and ideology, all of which anticipate major themes of the digital age. A concise and coherent work of Marxist media and communication theory, the book ultimately demonstrates the relevance of Marx to an age of digital and communicative capitalism.

Originally published in 1991, this book looks at the problems of applying Western computer programmes to the developing world, arguing that the difficulties are as much cultural as technological. The author shows that the underlying models for computer applications are made up from interpretations of reality which are closely related to Western scientific, technological and cultural development originating from the Renaissance. The book includes a case study of an Egyptian manufacturing company, which reveals the actual problems encountered in the process of computerization.

Originally published in 1990 this book provides an authoritative and detailed account of the initiatives of US state governments with science and technology programs designed to foster economic growth. Two key questions are posed: Do state governments have policy instruments that are sufficiently powerful to affect thelevels and growth rates of their regional economies? and Are national and global economic forces so powerful that they render state action ineffective? Several subsidiary themes are discusses in this context, namely: the most commonly used policy instruments, the impacts on federalism and on governance and how well the universities and other educational institutions serve the economic activities imposed on them.

Originally published in 1987, this book explores the history and geography of the computer industry in Britain and the evolution of the market leader firms, STC ICL and IBM (UK). It also examines the rising rate of new firm formation in the 1980s and the technology policies adopted by successive governments and analyses how well the industry is placed to cope with the challenges of technological change and increased international competition.