Fifteen years ago, a company was considered innovative if the CEO and board mandated a steady flow of new product ideas through the company's innovation pipeline. Innovation was a carefully planned process, driven from above and tied to key strategic goals. Nowadays, innovation means entrepreneurship, self-organizing teams, fast ideas and cheap, customer experiments. Innovation is driven by hacking, and the world's most innovative companies proudly display their hacker credentials. Hacker culture grew up on the margins of the computer industry. It entered the business world in the twenty-first century through agile software development, design thinking and lean startup method, the pillars of the contemporary startup industry. Startup incubators today are filled with hacker entrepreneurs, running fast, cheap experiments to push against the limits of the unknown. As corporations, not-for-profits and government departments pick up on these practices, seeking to replicate the creative energy of the startup industry, hacker culture is changing how we think about leadership, work and innovation. This book is for business leaders, entrepreneurs and academics interested in how digital culture is reformatting our economies and societies. Shifting between a big picture view on how hacker culture is changing the digital economy and a detailed discussion of how to create and lead in-house teams of hacker entrepreneurs, it offers an essential introduction to the new rules of innovation and a practical guide to building the organizations of the future.

A myriad of security vulnerabilities in the software and hardware we use today can be exploited by an attacker, any attacker. The knowledge necessary to successfully intercept your data and voice links and bug your computers is widespread and not limited to the intelligence apparatus. Consequently, the knowledge required can - at least in part - also easily be accessed by criminals trying to 'transfer your wealth' and competitors looking for your trade secrets. The temptation to use these easily accessible resources to the disadvantage of a rival company grows as global competition gets fiercer. Corporate espionage is nothing new, but since the dawn of the Internet Age the rules have changed. It is no longer necessary to be on-site to steal proprietary information. Cyberattacks today are cheap and attackers run a very low risk of getting caught, as attacks can be executed from anywhere in the world - an ideal breeding ground for criminal activities - and the consequences can be disastrous. In Understanding Cyber Risk: Protecting your Corporate Assets the author provides a wealth of real world examples from diverse industries from all over the world on how company assets are attacked via the cyber world. The cases clearly show that every organization can fall victim to a cyberattack, regardless of the size or country of origin. He also offers specific advice on how to protect core assets and company secrets. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in cyber security, and the use of cyberattacks in corporate espionage.

The mobile communications market in developing countries is growing at a rapid rate. This is evident in the rapid spread of mobile broadband cellular networks such as 3G. 4G is also being deployed in developing countries around the world. As the global communications market proceeds towards 5G, it is evident that developing countries will not be left behind. However, there are challenges and barriers on the road ahead specific to developing countries. To aid policy makers, researchers and members of the academia make informed decision that will help the advancement of 5G, this handbook provides an insight into the impact of existing mobile cellular networks in some developing countries. Topics discussed in this handbook include: * Digital divide * Policy outlook * 5G and rural areas * 5G readiness * Telco Business models * Telecom tower pricing * Mobile application adoption

"Martin Fransman is a pioneer in analyzing the development of high-tech industries. This study of broadband internet, put together by Fransman and a group of informed coauthors, examines the different paths taken by Korea, Japan, the United States, and several countries in Western Europe. It is a fascinating and illuminating story."
--Richard R. Nelson,
Professor Emeritus, Columbia University
"Global Broadband Battles is a fascinating and detailed account of the reasons why Japan and Korea have risen to world leadership in broadband communication, while the U.S. and Europe have been lagging. Fransman's book forcefully presents important policy lessons for companies and governments: competition should be fostered, the entry of new firms should be supported, and a regulatory regime allowing new competitors to be innovative should be encouraged."--Franco Malerba, Director of Centre for Research on Innovation and Internationalization, Bocconi University, Italy

In The Dynamics of Technical Innovation, Geert Duysters explores the evolution of complex industrial systems over time by examining technological and market developments in the computer, telecommunications and semiconductor industries.An integrated theoretical framework is developed by Professor Duysters to study the relationship between technological change, changing industry structures, and innovation strategies by several different categories of company. This is followed by an in-depth empirical analysis of technological convergence, strategic technology partnering and globalization - three major factors in the development of information technology over the past decade. The Dynamics of Technical Innovation is one of the first attempts to measure quantitatively the technological convergence process in information technology. Providing new insights on the internationalization of research and development, this analysis of recent and historical developments in the information technology industry which will be welcomed by scholars and practitioners interested in international business, technological change and innovation management.

This book details qualitative research focusing on Internet startups, digital entrepreneurship, race and sex discrimination, and the sharing economy. Addressing the intersections between issues of gender, age, ethnicity and class, the author interviews startup founders, including many husband and wife teams, in order to understand the working and private lives of digital entrepreneurs in and from Taiwan who utilise Internet and mobile technologies, against a backdrop of the country's political, social and economic history. It investigates contemporary debates about entrepreneurship as they are experienced by new generations of start-uppers who challenge existing social and cultural norms by becoming creative workers and embracing the precarity that exists in the volatile digital economy.

View the Table of Contents.
Read the Preface.

"An important contribution to the contemporary critique of high tech industry."
-- "Contemporary Sociology"

"Offers a lot for the general reader. The authors must be congratulated."
--"International Migration Review"

"Powerful and passionate exposA(c)"
-- "Journal of American Ethnic History"

"An important contribution to the environmental sociology literature."
-- "Choice"

"Powerful, compelling and revealing. Pellow and Park weave a fascinating story of both the historical and current domination of gender, class and race in Silicon Valley."
-- "Alternatives Journal"

"The Silicon Valley of Dreams . . . exposes the numerous inequities that plague the area, from the huge number of temporary workers, the highest per capita in the nation, to the obvious absence of union jobs."
--"Conscious Choice"

"The authors of [this] important [book] share a sense of compassion for and commitment to the struggle of labor, community, civil rights and environmental activists."
--"Los Angeles Times"

""The Silicon Valley of Dreams" provides a progressive intervention into environmental sociology and into public discourse on the relationship between immigration and environment."
-- "American Journal of Sociology"

"Critical reading for students and scholars in ethnic studies, immigration, urban studies, gender studies, social movements and environmental studies, as well as activists and policy-makers working to address the need of workers, communities and industry."
--"Educational Book Review"

Next to the nuclear industry, the largest producer of contaminants in the air, land, and water is theelectronics industry. Silicon Valley hosts the highest density of Superfund sites anywhere in the nation and leads the country in the number of temporary workers per capita and in workforce gender inequities. Silicon Valley offers a sobering illustration of environmental inequality and other problems that are increasingly linked to the globalization of the world's economies.

In The Silicon Valley of Dreams, the authors take a hard look at the high-tech region of Silicon Valley to examine environmental racism within the context of immigrant patterns, labor markets, and the historical patterns of colonialism. One cannot understand Silicon Valley or the high-tech global economy in general, they contend, without also understanding the role people of color play in the labor force, working in the electronic industry's toxic environments. These toxic work environments produce chemical pollution that, in turn, disrupts the ecosystems of surrounding communities inhabited by people of color and immigrants. The authors trace the origins of this exploitation and provide a new understanding of the present-day struggles for occupational health and safety.

The Silicon Valley of Dreams will be critical reading for students and scholars in ethnic studies, immigration, urban studies, gender studies, social movements, and the environment, as well as activists and policy-makers working to address the needs of workers, communities, and industry.

This book is among the first to use a media events framework to examine Chinas Internet activism and politics, and the first study of the transformation of Chinas media events through the parameter of online activism. The author locates the practices of major modes of online activism in China (shanzhai [culture jamming]; citizen journalism; and weiguan [mediated mobilization]) into different types of Chinese media events (ritual celebration, natural disaster, political scandal). The contextualized analysis of online activism thus enables exploration of the spatial, temporal and relational dimensions of Chinese online activism with other social agents such as the Party-state, mainstream media and civil society. Analysis reveals Internet politics in China on three interrelated levels: the individual, the discursive and the institutional. Contemporary cases, rich in empirical research data and interdisciplinary theory, demonstrate that the alternative and activist use of the Internet has intervened into and transformed conventional Chinese media events in various types of agents, their agendas and performances, and the subsequent and corresponding political impact. The Party-market controlled Chinese media events have become more open, contentious and deliberative in the Web 2.0 era due to the active participation of ordinary Chinese people aided by the Internet.

The role of service level manager is a critical one in that the agreements negotiated with customers should inform the activities of the service provider. This book aims to help those whose role is to establish, negotiate, manage or update service level agreements and to use these as the basis of continual service improvement. It covers areas such as purpose, required skills, responsibilities, interface and career progression as well as tools, standards and frameworks related to the role.

The global impact of so-called 'offshoring', including of information technology (IT) and related services, continues to be a topic of great interest to academics, practitioners and policy makers. The Indian IT industry has sustained high levels of growth in revenues and employment since the late 1980s. Even following the global financial crisis and meltdown in 2008, the industry has reported growth, albeit at a lower rate. Furthermore, the high rates of technological change and increased competition has forced businesses and managers to be innovative and create new business models. This book examines how managers and entrepreneurs in the Indian IT industry have explored and exploited human capital opportunities at various stages of the industry's evolution to create innovative human resources (HR) practices and new business models. Based on extensive academic research and deep reflective practitioner accounts, this collection presents expert content, views and a coherent picture of the challenges and changes in the Indian IT industry and analyses how the industry has remained competitive in a constantly changing environment. This book will appeal to researchers, students and practitioners, particularly in the fields of human resources and strategic management.

Are entrepreneurs essentially the same everywhere? Are the processes of entrepreneurship similar? Or are they shaped by their environments? If so, how?
We know a lot about national differences in management practices, corporate governance, and even innovation systems, but we know surprisingly little about national differences in entrepreneurship. Comparative Entrepreneurship compares processes of entrepreneurship in the UK and Japan, countries associated with liberal market economies and coordinated market economies respectively.
Focusing on high tech manufacturing it identifies basic similarities and key differences. Similarities are found in approaches to opportunity and business creation, which are strikingly different from recent policy emphases in the UK and Japan, inspired by Silicon Valley (hence the entrepreneurs live in Wthe shadow of Silicon Valley"). Differences--in the backgrounds of entrepreneurs, founding teams, attitudes to growth and risk, innovation, competitive advantages, HRM emphases, and inter-firm collaborations--are summed up by the concepts of "project entrepreneurship" and "lifework entrepreneurship." These are closely related to the respective environments, especially the nature of markets in both countries. They also embody different time orientations, with implications for financing and governance.
This study brings insights from entrepreneurship to comparative institutions and varieties of capitalism, and vice versa, and draws on two surveys and 25 case interviews in both the UK and Japan. It concludes with a discussion of dilemmas for entrepreneurship policy in the UK, Japan, and other countries.

The Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) movement demonstrates how labour can self-organise production, and, as is shown by the free operating system GNU/Linux, even compete with some of the worlds largest firms. The book examines the hopes of such thinkers as Friedrich Schiller, Karl Marx, Herbert Marcuse and Antonio Negri, in the light of the recent achievements of the hacker movement. This book is the first to examine a different kind of political activism that consists in the development of technology from below.

This book is a multidisciplinary study of the translation and localisation of video games. It offers a descriptive analysis of the industry - understood as a global phenomenon in entertainment - and aims to explain the norms governing present industry practices, as well as game localisation processes. Additionally, it discusses particular translation issues that are unique to the multichannel nature of video games, in which verbal and nonverbal signs must be cohesively combined with interactivity to achieve maximum playability and immerse players in the game's virtual world. Although positioned within the theoretical framework of descriptive translation studies, Bernal-Merino incorporates research from audiovisual translation, software localisation, computer assisted translation, comparative literature, and video game production. Moving beyond this framework, Translation and Localisation in Video Games challenges some of the basic tenets of translation studies and proposes changes to established and unsatisfactory processes in the video game and language services industries.

Global corporations initiate, join and maintain socio-technological change and hence, alter the ways in which we organize our lives. Demanding significant investment of resources and time, the development and implementation of new technologies on different levels must take into consideration these subtle processes. As such, it is particularly important that we have a greater insight into the practices of hi-tech corporations, in view of the often inflated promises of and concerns about the destiny of technological breakthroughs, especially those promising sizeable economic outcomes and societal transformation. Elena Simakova undertook a lengthy ethnographic study, working alongside marketing managers in a global IT corporation in their Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) headquarters in the UK. Using the experience gained through a close participation in their everyday corporate rituals and routines, her account challenges common perceptions of how corporations make the world think and act with regard to technologies in particular ways. The book contains an interesting case study on the launch of a radio frequency identification (RFID) based solution. Unravelling the construction of expectations, inclusions and exclusions around emerging technologies, this reflexive account also tackles uneasy practical and methodological questions pertinent to corporate ethnography. This book is an essential read for scholars in science and technology studies, economic sociology, anthropology, as well as management and organizational studies and research policy.

As economic activity has become more information-intensive and ideas about the information society have been canvassed widely, information technology has overshadowed thinking about the role of communication and information. In the advanced economies investment in information-handling equipment has grown rapidly in importance and almost throughout the world telecommunications facilities are advocated as the leading edge of development.This wide-ranging collection charts the responses of the economics discipline to these changes, initially slowly but with gathering pace, as communication and information have moved from the sidelines to centre stage. This book will be an indispensible reference source by all those in the economics community, those interested in information science, library studies and communication.

This book offers an in-depth analysis of the roles and strategies of subsidiaries of American multinational companies (MNCs) in Taiwan's IT industry. Based on semi-structured interviews with 16 managing directors of the different foreign-owned subsidiaries and 100 functional unit managers, the authors investigate (1) the roles of functional units in evaluating strategy formulation and change in foreign subsidiaries; (2) the factors that determine strategy formulation and change in foreign subsidiaries and their functional units; and (3) the linkages between cross-functional units. The research underscores the view that MNCs' strategies are composed of assorted heterogeneous elements.

The Data-Driven Guide for your Digital Transformation Payday In Digital Transformation Payday: Navigate the Hype, Lower the Risks, Increase Return on Investments, Tim Bottke, Senior Strategy Partner at Deloitte and Associate Professor for Strategy and Digital Transformation at SDA Bocconi, a Financial Times/Forbes/Bloomberg Businessweek Top-Five European business school, delivers a provocative, new perspective on digital business transformation--using research to get beyond the hype and uncover its real financial payback. Have you ever asked yourself: "Should I really embark on a digital transformation journey that is likely full of pain, failure, and high cash-outs? One that puts a lot of pressure on our stock price and my nerves? Who will thank me for that? Will there ever be a measurable return on invest for all these technologies that supports positive market value impact?" If so, this book is for you. You'll find unique insights and guidance for managers, executives, board members, and investors as you navigate an immense array of strategic and operational choices, opportunities, and pitfalls. You'll also learn to demystify digital strategy and technology buzzwords, better define the initial focal point and process of your firm's digital transformation, and establish new ways of thinking in terms of value impacts--and how to measure them--right from the start. The book also includes: A proven framework for defining your next digital transformation effort end to end, and configuring your initiatives for maximum return on investment Empirical data to help you understand your company's odds of navigating your chosen digital transformation initiatives with financial payback An indispensable resource for business leaders, Digital Transformation Payday will also earn a place in the libraries of entrepreneurs, founders, leaders of established companies, and digital enthusiasts.

Blogging and other types of social media such as wikis and social networking sites have transformed the way we use the internet in recent years. It is a transformation that business is eager to exploit. In order to do so, a clear commercial strategy needs to be established; does your organization wish to use the media actively as a business tool, or do you need to respond to the use of social media by others? Blogging and Other Social Media will address this question with practical guidance on using social media as well as the risks associated with it. A collaboration by leading thinkers and business users of social media, the book contains detailed and practical advice on the various forms of social media - their applications, advantages and disadvantages, how these technologies are evolving, and whether or not their use will benefit your business. The section covering social media and the law explains the risks and remedies related to abuse of copyright, defamation, privacy, data protection and user contracts as well as the opportunities and threats for online reputation. If you are looking to encourage your employees but want to protect your business from the threats this emerging media presents, get a copy of this practical guide and study it before you start including social media as part of your corporate marketing or communications strategy.

Research interest in the service sector has boomed in recent years as deindustrialisation became entrenched. Instead of being regarded as merely supplementary to traditional industry and manufacturing, services have generated progressively rising levels of growth in developed economies while at the same time coming to be recognised as major drivers of innovation. Among the factors which have helped service companies notch up swifter growth rates than all other sectors are the outsourcing of such services by other sectors, including the development of information and communication technologies, and changes to the regulatory, legal and market frameworks as well as globalisation and internationalisation. The result is a cluster of highly innovative firms which can loosely be grouped under the heading of Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS). Knowledge Intensive Business Services and Regional Competitiveness charts the development of these firms and explores their success through four mutually linked parts: KIBS and industrial dynamics; KIBS and their context; KIBS and their contribution to regional competitiveness and economic development; and finally, KIBS and public policy. This book is suitable for researchers and policy makers interested in the rise of these influential actors and their influence on regional competitiveness.

India’s global success in the Information Technology industry has also prompted the growth of neoliberalism and the re-emergence of the middle class in contemporary urban areas, such as Bangalore. In her significant study, BITS of Belonging, Simanti Dasgupta shows that this economic shift produces new forms of social inequality while reinforcing older ones. She investigates this economic disparity by looking at IT and water privatization to explain how these otherwise unrelated domains correspond to our thinking about citizenship, governance, and belonging.  Dasgupta’s ethnographic study shows how work and human processes in the IT industry intertwine to meet the market stipulations of the global economy. Meanwhile, in the recasting of water from a public good to a commodity, the middle class insists on a governance and citizenship model based upon market participation. Dasgupta provides a critical analysis of the grassroots activism involved in a contested water project where different classes lay their divergent claims to the city.

MANAGING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS, 6e, International Edition offers the "behind-the-scene" aspect of technology. By weaving together theory and practice, this text presents an understandable, integrated view of the many concepts skills, tools, and techniques involved in project management.

What accounts for the growing income inequalities in Silicon Valley, despite huge technological and economic strides? Why have the once-powerful labor unions declined in their influence? How are increasing waves of immigration and ethnic diversity changing the workplace in the Valley? "Silicon Valley, Women, and the California Dream" examines these questions from a fresh perspective: that provided by the history of women in Silicon Valley in the twentieth century.
Silicon Valley is internationally renowned. It is less well known, however, that the Valley once contained the world's largest concentration of fruit-processing plants, set in a sea of fruit orchards. Despite the many differences between the fruit and electronics industries, one important thread connects them: the production workers have been preponderantly immigrant women. (In the early part of the twentieth century, the newcomers came primarily from southern Europe; in the latter part of the century, they came mostly from Asia and Latin America, especially Mexico.) The author examines both industries, both work forces, and the changing nature of the local power structure. Although she documents the many sources of vitality and ferment that have undergirded the region's economic might, she also demonstrates that its wealth has not been equally distributed.