In this fourth volume of The Deals of Warren Buffett, we trace Buffett’s journey as he made Berkshire Hathaway the most respected company in the world.

When we left Buffett at the end of Volume 3 towards the end of the 1990s, he was leading the largest corporation in America and his personal fortune had reached $40 billion. In this enthralling next instalment, we follow Buffett’s investment deals over the first few years of the 21st century, as Berkshire grew to become a giant with annual profits north of $4 billion.

Buffett, then in his early 70s, was still tap dancing to work, thoroughly enjoying analysing companies, finding bargains and interacting with his growing team of managers.

By studying the decision-making that went into his investment deals and the successful and unsuccessful outcomes, we can learn from Buffett and become better investors ourselves.

During this period, exploiting the low prices following the dot-com crash, Buffett made investments in the following companies: MidAmerican Energy, CORT, Moody’s, H&R Block, Shaw Industries, Star Furniture, Jordan’s Furniture, Ben Bridge Jeweler, Justin Boot, Acme Brick, Benjamin Moore and CTB.

For each of these deals, investing expert and Buffett historian Glen Arnold dives into unprecedented detail to analyse the investment rationale, the stories of the individuals involved and, where possible, the profits Buffett made.

The best way to learn how to navigate change successfully is to look at practical examples of change management programmes. Organizational Change Explained shares stories and insights from experienced change practitioners so professionals can reflect on their own work, respond critically to what others have done, and take away new tools and techniques to apply to their own change management practice. The book includes a range of cases from different sectors and countries including GlaxoSmithKline and the NHS to offer insights no matter the scale of the change management programme. Organized around central themes such as shaping and design, change leadership, and communication and engagement, Organizational Change Explained presents each case alongside an introduction, conclusion, list of key learning points, questions for reflection and sources of further reading. The book is invaluable to anyone tasked with leading or managing change within their teams, projects, departments or divisions, whether at local level or across geographic locations, countries and cultures.

We make decisions, and these decisions make us and our organisations. And in theory, decision-making should be easy: a problem is identified, the decision-makers generate solutions, and choose the optimal one - and powerful mathematical tools are available to facilitate the task. Yet if it is all so simple why do organisations, both private and public sector, keep making mistakes - the results of which are borne by shareholders, employees, taxpayers and ultimately society at large? This guide to decision making. by leading decision science academic Helga Drummond, aims to improve decision-making in organisations. It explores how and why decisions go awry in the first place - and offers practical advice on what decision-makers can do to counter the psychological, social and other forces that can undermine individual judgment and pull organisations off course. Full of examples of good and bad decision-making from around the world, it will make readers think more clearly about decisions big and small.

Business thinking skills that really work Better creative thinking leads to brilliant decision making and successful, innovative solutions to business problems. Using the proven practical skills, techniques and advice in this book, you will learn how to think better, faster and more productively, enabling you to shape, train and inspire your thinking to deliver more effective results. * Improve your critical analysis and thinking skills * Become confident in making better and more creative decisions * become faster and more effective at problem solving This book will enable you to become a calm, logical and well-argued decision maker with the ability to deliver better solutions and outstanding results - and win the accolade for your work - "well thought through, persuasively argued with a creative set of options. Well done."

In our increasingly globally interconnected world, understanding and appreciating the sociocultural context within which individuals make their decisions is critical to developing successful partnerships. The collection of chapters in this volume illustrates how advances in information and social media technologies, as well as modeling and simulation tools, combined with the social sciences, can be leveraged to better understand how sociocultural context influences decision making. The chapters in this volume were contributed by leading experts from academia, industry, and government and provide: Insights into cross-cultural decision making based on recent international events, with grounding in an historical context Discussions of cutting-edge modeling techniques used today by professionals across multiple organizations and agencies Descriptions of specific cross-cultural decision making tools designed for use by laypeople and professionals Case studies on the role of cross-cultural decision making grounded in current events and (in many cases) military applications.

Making important business decisions is usually a difficult and complicated task. In the modern economy where businesses have to solve increasingly complex decision-making problems, it is important to learn and use methods and techniques including the analysis of behavioral data to support decision-making in practice. This book presents various methods and solutions to problems in modern data acquisition techniques and practical aspects of decision making. In particular, it addresses such important issues as: business decision making, multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), multidimensional comparative analysis (MCA), decision games and data acquisition techniques for decision making (declarative techniques and cognitive neuroscience techniques). Important topics such as consumers' rational behavior, environmental management accounting, operational research methods, neuroscience including epigenetics, DEA analysis etc., as well as case studies related to decision making in management are also included.

Rooted in the study of chaos and complexity, "Adaptive Action" introduces a simple, common sense process that will guide you and your organization into reflective action.
This elegant method prompts readers to engage with three deceptively simple questions: What? So what? Now what? The first leads to careful observation. The second invites you to thoughtfully consider options and implications. The third ignites effective action. Together, these questions and the tools that support them produce a dynamic and creative dance with uncertainty. The road-tested steps of adaptive action can be used to devise solutions and improve performance across multiple challenges, and they have proven to be scalable from individuals to work groups, from organizations to communities.
In addition to laying out the adaptive action framework and clear protocols to support it, Glenda H. Eoyang and Royce J. Holladay introduce best practices from exemplary professionals who have used adaptive action to meet personal, professional, and political challenges in leadership, consulting, Alzheimer's treatment, evaluation, education reform, political advocacy, and cultural engagementOCoreadying readers to employ this new toolkit to meet their own goals with a sense of ingenuity and flexibility."

A manifesto for transforming our thinking from reactionary short-termism to the long-term, widening our scope beyond today, tomorrow, even five years from now to gain perspective, become more creative, and reclaim meaning in our lives.

Every major problem we face today, from climate change to work anxiety, is the result of short-term thinking. We are constantly bombarded by updates, notifications, and “Breaking News,” that are overwhelming our central nervous systems, forcing us to react in the moment and ultimately disconnecting us from what truly matters. But there is a solution. We must embrace what Ari Wallach, futurist and founder of Longpath Labs, calls the “longpath”—a mantra and mindset he developed to help us get beyond short-term thinking, focus on the long view, and cultivate a futureconscious mindset.

Drawing on history, philosophy, theology, neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and technology, Longpath reframes how we see our lives and the world. Wallach teaches us how to utilize the longpath mindset to strengthen our ability to look ahead, increase our capacity for cooperation, and even boost our creativity. Every decision we make today impacts the future. Wallach helps us improve our decision-making, challenging each of us to ask, “what is my longpath?”—what is my end goal and how does my choice align with my values and needs?

Whether it’s work, marriage, parenting, or simply trying to be a good human on the planet, framing decisions from a much larger scale creates a more fulfilling and sustainable life now and for future generations. By adopting the longpath mindset, we can relieve our reaction to stressful events and occurrences, cultivate future-conscious thinking, and come up with solutions to improve our lives today and tomorrow—and those of future generations.

Since the mid-1990s risk management has undergone a dramatic expansion in its reach and significance, being transformed from an aspect of management control to become a benchmark of good governance for banks, hospitals, schools, charities and many other organizations. Numerous standards for risk management practice have been produced by a variety of transnational organizations. While these many designs and blueprints are accompanied by ideals of enterprise, value production, and good governance, it is argued that the rise of risk management has also coincided with an intensification of auditing and control processes. The legalization and bureacratization of organizational life has increased because risk management has created new demands for proof and evidence of action. In turn, these demands have generated new risks to reputation.
In short, this important book traces the rise of the managerial concept of risk and the different logics and values which underpin it, showing that it has much less to do with real dangers and opportunities than might be thought, and more to do with organizational accountability and legitimacy.

Includes 10 handy do's and don'ts of using KPIs Want to measure the performance of your people and your business? Need a quick overview of the most useful KPIs and how to use them? Only want what you need to know, rather than reams of theory? With the critical Key Performance Indicators required to understand your employees, financials and customers, this book tells you what you need to know, fast. 'This book does a fantastic job of narrowing down the best KPIs for you and your team. It's short, sharp and incredibly useful.' --Thomas H. Davenport, Distinguished Professor at Babson College and author of BigData@Work

"Collaborative Evaluations: Step-by-Step, Second Edition" is a comprehensive guide for evaluators who aim to master collaborative practice. Liliana Rodr guez-Campos and Rigoberto Rincones-Gmez present their Model for Collaborative Evaluations (MCE) with its six major components: identify the situation, clarify the expectations, establish a collective commitment, ensure open communication, encourage effective practices, and follow specific guidelines.
Fully updated to reflect the state-of-the-art in the field, each core chapter addresses one component of the model, providing step-by-step guidance, as well as helpful tips for successful application. To further demonstrate the utility of the MCE, this new edition includes recurring vignettes about several evaluators and clients, illustrating frequent questions and specific challenges that arise when evaluators take a collaborative approach. Drawing on a wide range of collaborative evaluations conducted in the business, nonprofit, and education sectors, this precise and easy-to-understand guide is ideal for students and practitioners who want to use its tools immediately."

"Empowerment Evaluation in the Digital Villages" analyzes a $15 million community change initiative designed to bridge the digital divide in East Palo Alto, East Baltimore, and San Diego. Involving a partnership between Hewlett-Packard, Stanford University, and three ethnically diverse communities, this initiative enabled its constituencies to build their own technology-oriented businesses, improve their education systems, and improve their economic health. While examining this large-scale, multi-site case, Fetterman highlights the potential for empowerment evaluation to build local capacity and sustain improvements within communities. He provides deep insights into key steps in empowerment evaluation by exploring the way that each of these phases took place in the digital villages. Additionally, the text provides evaluators with real-world stories and practical advice from the front lines. The Digital Village case also demonstrates the social value of combining corporate philanthropy, academic prowess, and community empowermentOCohighlighting the role of evaluation in this process."

"Empowerment Evaluation in the Digital Villages" analyzes a $15 million community change initiative designed to bridge the digital divide in East Palo Alto, East Baltimore, and San Diego. Involving a partnership between Hewlett-Packard, Stanford University, and three ethnically diverse communities, this initiative enabled its constituencies to build their own technology-oriented businesses, improve their education systems, and improve their economic health. While examining this large-scale, multi-site case, Fetterman highlights the potential for empowerment evaluation to build local capacity and sustain improvements within communities. He provides deep insights into key steps in empowerment evaluation by exploring the way that each of these phases took place in the digital villages. Additionally, the text provides evaluators with real-world stories and practical advice from the front lines. The Digital Village case also demonstrates the social value of combining corporate philanthropy, academic prowess, and community empowerment--highlighting the role of evaluation in this process.

This book offers an essential review of central theories, current research and applications in the field of numerical representations of ordered structures. It is intended as a tribute to Professor Ghanshyam B. Mehta, one of the leading specialists on the numerical representability of ordered structures, and covers related applications to utility theory, mathematical economics, social choice theory and decision-making. Taken together, the carefully selected contributions provide readers with an authoritative review of this research field, as well as the knowledge they need to apply the theories and methods in their own work.

"Stafford Beer is undoubtedly among the world's most provocative, creative, and profound thinkers on the subject of management, and he records his thinking with a flair that is unmatched. His writing is as much art as it is science. He is the most viable system I know." Dr Russell L Ackoff, The Institute for Interactive Management, Pennsylvania, USA. "If . anyone can make it Operations Research] understandably readable and positively interesting it is Stafford Beer . everyone in management . should be grateful to him for using clear and at times elegant English and . even elegant diagrams." The Economist This is the second edition of a book which has already become a management 'standard' both in universities and on the bookshelves of managers and their advisers. Brain of the Firm develops an account of the firm based upon insights derived from the study of the human nervous system, and is a basic text from the author's theory of viable systems. Despite the neurophysiology, the book is written for managers to understand. The companion volume to this book is The Heart of Enterprise, which is intended to support and complement this text. "Stafford Beer's works represent required reading for everyone who believes that a capacity for rigorous thinking is an essential attribute of today's successful managers and administrators. Brain of the Firm shows a first-rate intellect at work and provides concepts, models and inspiration for both practitioners and teachers." Sir Douglas Hague, CBE

Throughout history, humankind has progressed in a somewhat predictable manner. Leaders have been able to leverage the accumulated knowledge residing within the world's organizations to presage tomorrow's demands and make their decisions accordingly. But there are times that defy such extrapolations, and ours seems to be one of them. Faced with a veritable maelstrom of technological innovation and ensuing social upheaval, today's organizational leaders must be risk takers, basing their decisions for the future not on the existing bodies of concrete information, but on an invaluable reserve of organizational wisdom and executive courage. The contributors to this book explore the roles wisdom and courage play in shaping our organizational lives and the implications they hold for the advancement of organizational science and practice. Filled with new thought and compelling insights, Organizational Wisdom and Executive Courage offers executives, educators, and scholars alike the means to broaden their thinking about change and management.

Distributed decision making (DDM) has become of increasing importance in quantitative decision analysis. In applications like supply chain management, service operations, or managerial accounting, DDM has led to a paradigm shift. The book provides a unified approach to such seemingly diverse fields as multi-level stochastic programming, hierarchical production planning, principal agent theory, negotiations or contract theory. Different settings like multi-level one-person decision problems, multi-person antagonistic planning, and leadership situations are covered. Numerous examples and real-life planning cases illustrate the concepts. The new edition has been considerably expanded by additional chapters on supply chain management, service operations and multi-agent systems.

An economy low in carbon and high in life satisfaction will require thousands, if not millions of exceptional leaders. This book is the first to bring together sustainability knowledge with the leadership skills and tools to help you become one of those leaders. In it you will find everything you need to get started straight away, and to grow your effectiveness, even in a world that remains perversely intent on the opposite. Whether you are new to the whole idea of sustainability, or reasonably well informed but not entirely confident about what to do for the best, this guide will help you 'do' sustainability. Free of checklists and policy recommendations, the focus is on you, and on developing your capacity to identify the right thing to do wherever you are and whatever your circumstances. This is essential reading for those in or aspiring to sustainability-literate leadership, and a must for all those teaching leadership and management.

This book starts from the relationship between urban built environment and travel behavior and focuses on analyzing the origin of traffic phenomena behind the data through multi-source traffic big data, which makes the book unique and different from the previous data-driven traffic big data analysis literature. This book focuses on understanding, estimating, predicting, and optimizing mobility patterns. Readers can find multi-source traffic big data processing methods, related statistical analysis models, and practical case applications from this book. This book bridges the gap between traffic big data, statistical analysis models, and mobility pattern analysis with a systematic investigation of traffic big data's impact on mobility patterns and urban planning.

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICES Although the fundamentals of the supply chain industry remain constant, massive shifts in the demands of the marketplace and powerful new technologies have changed the way supply chain and transportation companies must engage with and deliver solutions to their clients. In the newly revised Third Edition of Supply Chain Management Best Practices, noted journalist and supply chain expert David Blanchard delivers a compelling and comprehensive overview of the new technologies shaping the transportation and supply chain industries today and the processes that will transform them tomorrow. You'll discover a thorough introduction to supply chain management, along with examples of best-in-class supply chains in a variety of industries. You'll also find proven methods and KPIs for measuring the performance of a supply chain. The author presents the traditional core processes of supply chain management and discusses the techniques used by individual and trendsetting companies from around the world. Finally, you'll learn about the strategies, solutions, and technologies used by leading companies to design their global organizations. From drones and the Internet of Things to same-day delivery, omni-channel distribution, artificial intelligence, Uber-style freight transportation apps, blockchain, and robotics, the book discusses how the transfer of computing power from central mainframes into smartphones and cloud-based services has enabled game-changing technologies to reach companies of all shapes and sizes. Perfect for supply chain managers and professionals, chief financial officers, chief information officers, and controllers, Supply Chain Management Best Practices will also earn a place in the libraries of manufacturing, warehouse, and purchasing managers who seek a one-stop resource to help them understand the latest trends and the enduring foundations of the supply chain industry. BUILD BEST-IN-CLASS SUPPLY CHAIN CAPABILITIES IN YOUR ORGANIZATION WITH THIS NEWLY UPDATED RESOURCE FROM AN INDUSTRY LEADER The revised and updated Third Edition of Supply Chain Management Best Practices offers readers an insightful and comprehensive take on the concepts, processes, and technologies that define today's supply chain and transportation industries. You'll discover must-know information about traditional and core processes, as well as new technologies like drones, the Internet of Things, same-day delivery, and artificial intelligence that are transforming the industry. The book contains valuable case studies, stories, and recent examples from real organizations implementing exciting new supply chain initiatives that are changing the way professionals think about their field. You'll find proven methods for measuring the performance of supply chains and insights into the strategies, solutions, and technologies used by trendsetting companies across the world. Finally, you'll learn why the transfer of computing power from central mainframes to the cloud and handheld devices has fundamentally changed the supply chain industry. Ideal for executives, controllers, supply chain managers and professionals, as well as manufacturing, warehouse, and purchasing managers, the Third Edition of Supply Chain Management Best Practices remains an indispensable resource for anyone seeking to maintain and optimize a supply chain that functions as a competitive advantage.

"Risk or uncertainty assessments are used as aids to decision making in nearly every aspect of business, education, and government. As a follow-up to the author's bestselling Risk Assessment and Decision Making in Business and Industry: A Practical Guide, Risk Modeling for Determining Value and Decision Making presents comprehensive examples of risk/uncertainty analyses from a broad range of applications. Decision/option selection

Standards have become widespread regulatory tools that are set to promote global trade, innovation, efficiency, and quality. They contribute significantly to the creation of safe, reliable, and high quality services and technologies to ensure human health, environmental protection, or information security. Yet intentional deviations from standards by organizations are often reported in many sectors, which can either contribute to or challenge the measures of safety and quality they are designed to safeguard. Why then, despite all potential consequences, do organizations choose to deviate from standards in one way or another? This book uses structuration theory - covering aspects of both structure and agency - to explore the organizational conditions and contradictions under which different types of deviance occur. It provides empirical explanations for deviance in organizations that go beyond an understanding of individual misbehaviour where mainly a single person is held responsible. Case studies of software-developing organizations illustrate insightful generalizations on standards as a mechanism of sensemaking, resource allocation, and sanctioning, and provide ground to re-think corporate responsibility when deviating from standards in the 'audit society'.

The rapid pace of technological innovation and the effects of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) revolution have resulted in dramatic changes on a global scale, from the empowerment of the individual to the spawning of global markets. From the business perspective, the widespread deployment of Information Technology (IT) has resulted in many organisational changes and the development and use of new management and business processes. An important challenge for today's manufacturing organisations is to be able to anticipate the impact of investments in new (frequently IT-based) manufacturing technologies and programmes. Ideally, management needs to be able to identify and articulate the many ways in which investment decisions influence their organisation - in terms of performance across a range of measures. Furthermore, in today's manufacturing environment, it is increasingly necessary that a close relationship exists between manufacturing decision making and corporate business strategy, so that manufacturing decisions complement and are fully aligned with the organisation's strategic objectives.
Strategic Decision Making in Modern Manufacturing introduces and explains the AMBIT (Advanced Manufacturing Business ImplemenTation) approach, which has been developed to bridge the gap between strategic management considerations and the operational effects of technology investment decisions on the manufacturing organisation, so that the likely impact of new manufacturing technology and/or programme implementations can be evaluated, anticipated and accurately predicted. The AMBIT approach focuses specifically on the non-financial aspects of such investment decisions andoffers an approach that allows a manager, or more frequently a management team, to understand the impacts of a new technology or a new programme on the manufacturing organisation in terms of manufacturing performance.
The prediction of future trends and patterns is a very imprecise and ambiguous activity at the best of times. Yet despite such ambiguity, managers need to be forward looking. They need appropriate tools and approaches to help them anticipate the future. Thus, whilst the pages of organisational history may be filled with anecdotes about organisations that failed to "predict" the future, it is the challenge of today's organisations to evade such a fate. The AMBIT approach delineated in this book has been specifically developed to anticipate the future by analysing the impact of managerial decisions.

"Applications of Management Science" is a blind refereed serial publication published on an annual basis. The objective of this research annual is to present state-of-the-art studies in the application of management science to the solution of significant managerial decision-making problems. It significantly aids the dissemination of actual applications of management science in both the public and the private sectors. Volume 14 is directed toward the application of management science to multi-criteria decision making, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and financial performance analyses. This volume is arranged in three sections. The first section focuses on multi-criteria decision making; the second focus is on the application of DEA to public schools, paper mills, nursing home quality, retailing, health care services, and performance efficiencies in cities. The third section focuses on multi-dimensional performance of a national stock market and the effect of organizational structure on micro-financial institutions. This volume will prove to be most valuable to those interested in financial performance measurements, productivity measurement and analysis, and management science, both as practitioners and researchers.