Many firms are now developing policies for outsourcing IT and other basic functions, this book analyzes this issue from the perspective of both the outsourcer and the insourcer. Dimitris N. Chorafas describes management needs and shows how technology can be used to meet these needs. The book also highlights the benefits and risks that companies face when they attempt to differentiate themselves through new technology. The book is based on an extensive research project in the US, UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Sweden.

Taking advantage of the many specialists visiting Spain prior to the INFORMS Meeting in Barcelona, hold from July 14th to July 17th 1997, we organized a work shop on Decision Analysis Applications at the Real Academia de Ciencias, Madrid, Spain, from J uly 11th to 12th 1997, under the sponsorship of de the Instituto Espaiia. This workshop had a precedent in the International Conference Decision Making: Towards the 21st Century also held at the Real Academia de Ciencias in 1993. The idea of organizing an event, this time devoted to applications of Decision Analysis, was due to Prof. Sixto Rfos, who some four years ago, .sponsored and encouraged by the Royal Academy of Sciences, was the creator of an Interdisciplinary Working Group on Decision Analysis -formed with researchers from within and outside this Academy- which has been active since then, organizing periodical meetings, and whose last project has tumed out into this Workshop. The workshop turned out to be an stimulating opportunity for communicating and discussing the enormous variety of applications of Decision Sciences. In this volume we have included most of the invited papers and a selection of refereed contributed papers. Due to the varied nature of the applications, we have grouped them into five groups ending, as way of an epilog, with a paper by Sarin which contains important insights and reftections on the nature of Decision Analysis in public and private sectors."

If you've ever felt ignored as a customer, humiliated by a teammate, drained by workplace politics, or painfully isolated in a big company, then you've experienced the business effects of emotional disconnection.

In today's knowledge-driven and service centered economy, emotional excellence isn't idealism. It is a practical necessity for growth and retaining superior talent. The Industrial Revolution is over, and the Emotional Revolution has now begun.

Recognizing that emotion is part of the fabric of human biology, the hundred billion neurons in every brain can be emotionally engaged to:

Evoke intense customer passion to boost sales

Eliminate the financial self-destruction of infighting

Excite employees to care for each other to ensure effectiveness

Written for anyone from the small business employee to the corporate CEO, this step-by step guidebook contains dozens of practical checklists and examples to immediately create connection with customers and colleagues. If you get the emotions right, you get the business right.

Proceedings of the ISPRA-Course held at the Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenieros Navales, Spain, September 22-26, 1986 in collaboration with Universidad Politecnica de Madrid

The author outlines the reasons why management risk must be examined within the perspective of each company's business challenges. He suggests there is a synergy between shareholder value and business ethics. He also underlines the importance of honesty, the risks associated with short-sighted management and over-centralization, the benefits of innovative strategies and senior management's accountability for reliable financial reporting. The text is based on an extensive research project done by the author between 2000 and 2002 in the US, the UK, France, Italy and Switzerland.

This volume offers comprehensive treatment of the latest developments in critical systems thinking and practice. The book features contributions by researchers at the prestigious Centre for Systems Studies at the University of Hull, England. The emphasis is on rigorous analysis of the wide range of approaches to problem solving reported in the research literature. This work will enhance the studies of researchers and students in the areas of systems problem solving, action research, management science, and operational research.

Cross-Cultural Risk Perception demonstrates the richness and wealth of theoretical insights and practical information that risk perception studies can offer to policy makers, risk experts, and interested parties. The book begins with an extended introduction summarizing the state of the art in risk perception research and core issues of cross-cultural comparisons. The main body of the book consists of four cross-cultural studies on public attitudes towards risk in different countries, including the United States, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Sweden, Bulgaria, Romania, Japan, and China. The last chapter critically discusses the main findings from these studies and proposes a framework for understanding and investigating cross-cultural risk perception. Finally, implications for communication, regulation and management are outlined. The two editors, sociologist Ortwin Renn (Center of Technology Assessment, Germany) and psychologist Bernd Rohrmann (University of Melbourne, Australia), have been engaged in risk research for the last three decades. They both have written extensively on this subject and provided new empirical and theoretical insights into the growing body of international risk perception research.

Technology currently encourages the capture and storage of vast quantities of data and information and so thinkers, reasoners, and decision-makers have available large resources to support their tasks. At the same time, there is a need to engage with an enormous range of complex issues that require reasoning and decisions that are actionable to address them. Approaches for Community Decision Making and Collective Reasoning: Knowledge Technology Support acts to provide knowledge for each individual in a group with the broad structural wealth of reasoning. It also acts as an explicit structure that technological devices for supporting reasoning within a group can hook onto. If you are interested in how groups can structure their activities towards making better decisions or in developing technologies for the support of decision-making in groups, then this book is an excellent way to understand the state of the art and possible ways forward.

For buyers of a business or anyone involved in any phase of the due diligence process, Gordon Bing provides a unique, comprehensive, one-volume source of information and guidance. His book will help investors research, evaluate, and understand an existing or proposed business not only from a financial standpoint, but also from equally important nonfinancial standpoints. It provides a full explanation of the due diligence process, including systematic methods to determine the information you need, why you need it, and how to get it. Keyed to each topic, chapter by chapter, is a full list of specific questions that should be asked during due diligence proceedings to be studied beforehand and carried with you as a valuable on-the-spot reference. A unique, practical resource for professionals and a hands-on text for students in business schools and upper division undergraduate courses in mergers and acquisitions.

Chapters 1 and 2 discuss how to plan, organize, and conduct due diligence. In Chapter 3, Bing shows how to construct a list of the information and documents you will need. Chapter 4, by M&A attorneys James W. Ryan and Robert C. Beasley, deals with the legal aspects, responsibilities, and perils of performing or failing to perform due diligence. From there the book focuses on specific areas of due diligence inquiry--including management, marketing, human resource and other important functions--and helps you develop your own tailor-made investigation best suited to the company you are studying. The book concludes with a unique checklist of all the questions explained earlier--a manual you can study beforehand and then carry with you into meetings on site.

Knowledge has only recently been widely recognized as an organizational asset, the effective management of which can afford a firm competitive advantage. This book takes an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge management relating it to business strategy, dynamic capabilities and firm performance. Some of the most eminent scholars in management have contributed to this timely book, including John Seely Brown, Chris Argyris, Georg von Krogh, Soumitra Dutta, Howard Thomas and John McGee, Arie Lewin and Silvia Massini. The book offers practitioners and students alike state of the art research in the field of organizational knowledge and management.

Applied Stochastic Models and Control for Finance and Insurance presents at an introductory level some essential stochastic models applied in economics, finance and insurance. Markov chains, random walks, stochastic differential equations and other stochastic processes are used throughout the book and systematically applied to economic and financial applications. In addition, a dynamic programming framework is used to deal with some basic optimization problems. The book begins by introducing problems of economics, finance and insurance which involve time, uncertainty and risk. A number of cases are treated in detail, spanning risk management, volatility, memory, the time structure of preferences, interest rates and yields, etc. The second and third chapters provide an introduction to stochastic models and their application. Stochastic differential equations and stochastic calculus are presented in an intuitive manner, and numerous applications and exercises are used to facilitate their understanding and their use in Chapter 3. A number of other processes which are increasingly used in finance and insurance are introduced in Chapter 4. In the fifth chapter, ARCH and GARCH models are presented and their application to modeling volatility is emphasized. An outline of decision-making procedures is presented in Chapter 6. Furthermore, we also introduce the essentials of stochastic dynamic programming and control, and provide first steps for the student who seeks to apply these techniques. Finally, in Chapter 7, numerical techniques and approximations to stochastic processes are examined. This book can be used in business, economics, financial engineering and decision sciences schools for second year Master's students, as well as in a number of courses widely given in departments of statistics, systems and decision sciences.

Risk Analysis in Finance and Insurance, Second Edition presents an accessible yet comprehensive introduction to the main concepts and methods that transform risk management into a quantitative science. Taking into account the interdisciplinary nature of risk analysis, the author discusses many important ideas from mathematics, finance, and actuarial science in a simplified manner. He explores the interconnections among these disciplines and encourages readers toward further study of the subject. This edition continues to study risks associated with financial and insurance contracts, using an approach that estimates the value of future payments based on current financial, insurance, and other information. New to the Second Edition Expanded section on the foundations of probability and stochastic analysis Coverage of new topics, including financial markets with stochastic volatility, risk measures, risk-adjusted performance measures, and equity-linked insurance More worked examples and problems Reorganized and expanded, this updated book illustrates how to use quantitative methods of stochastic analysis in modern financial mathematics. These methods can be naturally extended and applied in actuarial science, thus leading to unified methods of risk analysis and management.

"SHORT-TERM DECISIONS equal LONG-TERM DISASTERS" by Craig D. Allen, CFA, CFP, CIMA is an instruction manual for dealing with day to day decisions in a structured and constructive manner. This book does not espouse one specific solution to any problem. Rather, it proposes a systematic framework of decision-making, intended as a guide to help you solve your own problems through deliberate analysis and positive change. As the author states, "I see this book as a life manual, intended to guide you in your quest to get what you want out of life and to feel good about yourself in the process."

Too often, our natural tendencies drive us to look for a "quick fix" solution to a given problem that provides us with the most attractive, short-term benefit. As the author states: "What I will propose in this book is that human behavior tends to favor making decisions based on obtaining short-term benefits which rarely result in the person attaining their true goals." This book explores the motivating factors that push us towards these short-term decisions and the methods we can use to short-circuit this behavior to improve our decision-making process and thus the quality of our lives.

The book addresses the vital issue of how business leaders can prepare themselves to deal with the impact of unexpected events. It raises key questions for leaders to address if they are to avoid being distracted by crisis and remain in touch with a wider context that is subject to constant uncertainty and change.

This book provides a broad coverage of the recent advances in robustness analysis in decision aiding, optimization, and analytics. It offers a comprehensive illustration of the challenges that robustness raises in different operations research and management science (OR/MS) contexts and the methodologies proposed from multiple perspectives. Aside from covering recent methodological developments, this volume also features applications of robust techniques in engineering and management, thus illustrating the robustness issues raised in real-world problems and their resolution within advances in OR/MS methodologies. Robustness analysis seeks to address issues by promoting solutions, which are acceptable under a wide set of hypotheses, assumptions and estimates. In OR/MS, robustness has been mostly viewed in the context of optimization under uncertainty. Several scholars, however, have emphasized the multiple facets of robustness analysis in a broader OR/MS perspective that goes beyond the traditional framework, seeking to cover the decision support nature of OR/MS methodologies as well. As new challenges emerge in a "big-data'" era, where the information volume, speed of flow, and complexity increase rapidly, and analytics play a fundamental role for strategic and operational decision-making at a global level, robustness issues such as the ones covered in this book become more relevant than ever for providing sound decision support through more powerful analytic tools.

Learning plays a fundamental role in the production planning and growth of all organizations. With the need for more rapid changes in the global economy, the management of organizational change is a key factor in sustaining competitiveness in today's economy. This book has been developed with these learning needs' in mind. Human Learning: From Learning Curves to Learning Organizations covers a broad range of learning models and related topics beginning with learning curves to recent research on learning organizations. The book's focus is to enable researchers and practitioners to forecast any organization's learning needs' using the prediction aspects of an array of learning models. The book includes research and application discussions on topics such as accounting for previous experience; the learning-forgetting-relearning' phenomenon; parameter estimation with no previous experience; DeJong's incompressibility model; predictive learning models requiring only two learning parameters; long learning cycle times; the speed-error relationship; evaluating the cost of learning from the point of view of safety; and an examination of Learning Organizations. Each chapter is developed from published research and worked examples are used throughout.

Improving service and profits should be the constant aim of the operation side of any company. Beatriz Munoz Seca and Josep Riverola uncover the role of knowledge and problem solving as the cornerstones of the improvement process. They present the logic of the situation and show practical ways to implement the approach. Managing the knowledge process and involving the whole company in problem solving are the keys to success. Also the book presents and develops the concept of Problem Driven Management (PDM) as a new approach to Operations. MARKET 1: Researchers, Academics and Libraries in Universities and Business and Management Schools, especially on Operations Management and Knowledge Management programmes; Managers interested in Operations Management and Knowledge Management MARKET 2: Supplementary reading for MBA students interested in Operations Management and Knowledge Management

This book is a seminal contribution to decision making theory through its study of management decision making in six Beijing state enterprises during the period 1985 to 1989, when the government adopted decentralization as the key to reforming state industries. Through interviews, document surveys and analysis, the author provides a unique insight into not only the changes, but also the complex relations among managers, the Communist Party organization and planning authorities. Readers will gain a richer understanding of Chinese management issues and society.

The purpose of this book is to provide readers with an introduction to the fields of decision making, location analysis, and project and machine scheduling. The combination of these topics is not an accident: decision analysis can be used to investigate decision seenarios in general, location analysis is one of the prime examples of decision making on the strategic Ievel, project scheduling is typically concemed with decision making on the tactical Ievel, and machine scheduling deals with decision making on the operational Ievel. Some of the chapters were originally contributed by different authors, and we have made every attempt to unify the notation, style, and, most importantly, the Ievel of the exposition. Similar to our book on Integer Programming and Network Models (Eiselt and Sandblom, 2000), the emphasis of this volume is on models rather than solution methods. This is particularly important in a book that purports to promote the science of decision making. As such, advanced undergraduate and graduate students, as weil as practitioners, will find this volume beneficial. While different authors prefer different degrees of mathematical sophistication, we have made every possible attempt to unify the approaches, provide clear explanations, and make this volume accessible to as many readers as possible.

The challenges that firms managing global work face are many. In addition to geographical and time zone differences, global firms face cultural differences. This book highlights the importance of organizing knowledge processes to overcome challenges involved in global work. It provides frameworks and tools that enable the reader to consider how to strike a balance between these knowledge processes. The book is a must read of practitioners, academics or students concerned with managing knowledge processes in globally distributed work

Reliability, Maintainability, and Supportability play a crucial role in achieving a competitive product. While manufacturing costs are important for the success of a product, they are not the sole domains in realizing its competitive edge. Improved manufacturing and operating quality and performance coupled with reduced acquisition cost and in-service cost of ownership are important in achieving business success. It is the early phase of design which offers the greatest opportunity to address these requirements, and thus create life cycle effectiveness. The main objective of Reliability, Maintenance and Logistic Support - A Life Cycle Approach is to provide an integrated approach to reliability, maintainability, maintenance and logistic support analysis. We not only look at the ways we can improve the design process to ensure the product offers value for money, but we also consider how the owners can get the most from these products once they have entered service. The approach provides a meaningful way of integrating reliability, maintenance and supportability to enhance the product performance and sales opportunities. Hence, the book covers the following objectives: (1) Introduce the concepts of reliability, maintainability and supportability and their role in the system life cycle and effectiveness. (2) Introduce the basic probability and statistical techniques that are essential for modelling reliability, maintainability and supportability problems. (3) Introduce reliability measures: how to predict them; how to determine from in-service real-world data; how to use them. (4) Analysis of advanced models in Reliability. (5) Discuss basic and advanced concepts in both maintainability and maintenance including preventive, corrective and condition based maintenance. (6) Discuss maintenance management and optimization concepts, such as reliability-centered maintenance and age-related maintenance. (7) Provide basic concepts in supportability and Integrated logistic support. (8) Discuss techniques for design for reliability, maintainability and supportability. (9) Analysis of simple and advanced models in spares forecasting and optimization. (10) Discuss data analysis, data management and data mining techniques.

The proceedings contain lectures and short papers presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute on "Reliability Theory and Its Application in Structural and Soil Me chanics", Bornholm, Denmark, August 31 -September 9,1982. The proceedings are organized in two parts. The first part contains 12 papers by the invited lecturers and the second part contains 23 papers by participants plus one paper from an invited lecturer (la~e arrival). The Institute dealt with specific topics on application of modem reliability theories in structural engineering and soil mechanics. Both fundamental theory and more ad vanced theory were covered. Lecture courses were followed by tutorial and summary discussions with active participation of those attending the Institute. Special lectures of topical subjects were given by a number of invited speake~, leading to plenary dis cussions and summary statements on important aspects of application of modem .re liability theory in structural engineering and soil mechanics. A great number of the participants presented brief reports of their own research activities.

Enterprise Modelling (EM) methods are frequently used by entrepreneurs as an analysis tool for describing and redesigning their businesses. The resulting product, an enterprise model, is commonly used as a blueprint for reconstructing organizations and such effort is often a part of business process re-engineering and improvement initiatives.

Automating Business Modelling describes different techniques of providing automated support for enterprise modelling methods and introduces universally used approaches. A running example of a business modelling method is included; providing a framework and detailed explanation as to how to construct automated support for modelling, allowing readers to follow the method to create similar support.

Suitable for senior undergraduates and postgraduates of Business Studies, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, practitioners in the fields of Knowledge Management, Enterprise Modelling and Software Engineering, this book offers insight and know-how to both student and professional.