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Books > Business & Economics > Business & management > Management & management techniques > Management decision making
This transdisciplinary volume investigates the ways in which people and organisations deal with the overflow of information, goods or choices. It explores two main themes: the emergence of overflows and the management of overflows, in the sense of either controlling or coping with them. Individual chapters show the management of overflows taking place in various social settings, periods and political contexts. This includes attempts by states to manage future consumption overflow in post-war Easter European, contemporary economies of sharing, managing overflow in health care administration, overflow problems in mass travel and migration, overflow in digital services and the overflow that scholars face in dealing with an abundance of publications. An electronic version of this book is available under a creative commons licence: manchesteropenhive.com/view/9789198469813/9789198469813.xml -- .
Dozens of books have been published recently on the errors and biases that affect our judgments and choices. Drawing on cognitive science, their lessons are excellent for many kinds of decisions - consumer choice and financial investments, for example - but stop short of addressing many of the most important decisions we face in management, where we can actively influence outcomes and where competitive forces mean we have to outperform rivals. As Phil Rosenzweig shows, drawing on examples from business, sports and politics, this sort of decision-making relies on mastering two very different abilities. First, the analytical problem-solving skills associated with the brain's left hemisphere; and second, what Tom Wolfe called 'the Right Stuff': the ability to take calculated risks. Bringing fresh and often surprising insights to topics including confidence and overconfidence, the uses and limits of decision models, leadership and authenticity, expert performance and deliberate practice, competitive bidding and new venture management, Left Brain, Right Stuff, the myth-busting follow-up to The Halo Effect, explains how to perform when making even the most difficult decisions.
What algorithms are tractable depends on the speed of the processor. Given the speed of digital computers, polynomial algorithms are considered tractable. But, a human can take several seconds to make one binary comparison between two pens. Given this slow speed, sublinear algorithms are considered tractable for an unaided human and this defines Simon's concept of bounded rationality.Humans make simplifications to solve the intractable consumer optimization problem. Consumers search for goods and services item-by-item, which greatly reduces the number of alternatives to consider. In addition, consumers have operators that can process a set in a single operation. Also, consumers budget by incremental adjustment.In considering consumer performance the question to ask is how close to optimal is consumer performance and not whether consumers optimize as a yes/no question. Given the ordinal nature of utility theory this creates a basic measurement problem. The book presents a review of the literature on consumer performance.This is an opportune time to study consumer procedures because the Internet provides a media to make substantial improvements in consumer performance. The book includes a case study comparing the performance of a digital camera selection code with the advice of sales people. A field experiment demonstrates that the software code provides better advice.
This book systematically studies how game theory can be used to improve security in chemical industrial areas, capturing the intelligent interactions between security managers and potential adversaries. The recent unfortunate terrorist attacks on critical infrastructures show that adversaries are intelligent and strategic. Game theoretic models have been extensively used in some domains to model these strategic adversaries. However, there is a lack of such advanced models to be employed by chemical security managers. In this book, game theoretic models for protecting chemical plants as well as clusters are proposed. Different equilibrium concepts are explored, with user-friendly explanation of how to reflect them to realistic cases. Based on efficient analysis of the properties of security issues in chemical plants/clusters, models in this book are capable to support resources allocations, cost-effectiveness analysis, cooperation incentives and alike.
This book deals with stochastic combinatorial optimization problems in supply chain disruption management, with a particular focus on management of disrupted flows in customer-driven supply chains. The problems are modeled using a scenario based stochastic mixed integer programming to address riskneutral, risk-averse and mean-risk decision-making in the presence of supply chain disruption risks. The book focuses on integrated disruption mitigation and recovery decision-making and innovative, computationally efficient multi-portfolio approach to supply chain disruption management, e.g., selection of primary and recovery supply portfolios, demand portfolios, capacity portfolios, etc. Numerous computational examples throughout the book, modeled in part on realworld supply chain disruption management problems, illustrate the material presented and provide managerial insights. Many propositions formulated in the book lead to a deep understanding of the properties of developed stochastic mixed integer programs and optimal solutions. In the computational examples, the proposed mathematical programming models are solved using an advanced algebraic modeling language such as AMPL and CPLEX, GUROBI and XPRESS solvers. The knowledge and tools provided in the book allow the reader to model and solve supply chain disruption management problems using commercially available software for mixed integer programming. Using the end-of chapter problems and exercises, the monograph can also be used as a textbook for an advanced course in supply chain risk management. After an introductory chapter, the book is then divided into six main parts. Part I addresses selection of a supply portfolio; Part II considers integrated selection of supply portfolio and scheduling; Part III looks at integrated, equitably efficient selection of supply portfolio and scheduling; Part IV examines integrated selection of primary and recovery supply and demand portfolios and production and inventory scheduling, Part V deals with selection of resilient supply portfolio in multitier supply chain networks; and Part VI addresses selection of cybersecurity safequards portfolio for disruption management of information flows in supply chains.
Introduction; B.R. Munier. 1. Fifty Years of Maurice Allais' Economic Writings: Seeds for Renewal in Contemporary Economic Thought; B.R. Munier. 2. Maurice Allais, Belatedly Recognized Genius; T. de Montbrial. 3. Self-Organizing Markets; J. Lesourne. 4. A Theory of Spatial General Equilibrium in a Fuzzy Economy; C. Ponsard. 5. Maurice Allais, Unrecognized Pioneer of Overlapping Generations Models; E. Malinvaud. 6. Some Possible Uses of Households Assets in the National Economy, with reference to American Households; A. Babeau. 7. Should we get Rid of Economic Calculus? M. Boiteux.
Today there are more technology, technologists, knowledge and experts than at any time in human history; but from a global perspective, it is difficult to argue that this accumulation of knowledge and technology has put the world in an unambiguously better position than it was in the past. Business is not getting any easier to do and major corporate collapses based on poor decisions, poor conduct, and poor judgement continue to occur. In public administration too, basic institutions and services (education, health, transport) seem to be continually undergoing "crises" of inadequate delivery and excessive pressure. Wisdom and Management in the Knowledge Economy explains why unwise managerial practice can happen in a world characterized by an excess of information and knowledge. Drawing on Aristotle's idea of practical wisdom, the book develops a theory of social practice wisdom that addresses important social psychological and sociological dynamics that underpin wise management and organizations. As well as providing a detailed theory of social practice wisdom, this book considers practical issues in organizational communication, behavior, culture, change and knowledge as well as in HRM, leadership, ethics, strategy, international business, business education, and wisdom research. By introducing the notion of social practice wisdom, aspects of social structure, organizational culture, and organizational communication needed for wisdom to flourish are for the first time rendered visible in a way that opens new possibilities for wiser management, wiser organizations, and wisdom research.
Problem solving tools to solve any business challenge. Using proven, innovative techniques from some major players in the business world, this is the go-to book for every professional who wants to find better answers to their business challenges.
Ernst G. Frankel This book has its origin in lecture notes developed over several years for use in a course in Systems Reliability f r engineers concerned with the design of physical systems such as civil structures, power plants, and transport systems of all types. Increasing public concern with the reliability of systems for reasons of human safety, environmental protection, and acceptable investment risk limitations has resulted in an increasing interest by engineers in the formal application of reliability theory to engineering design. At the same time there is a demand for more effective approaches to the design of procedures for the operation and use of man made systems, more meaningful assessment of the risks introduced, and use such a system poses both when operating as designed and when operating at below design performance. The purpose of the book is to provide a sound, yet practical, introduction to reliability analysis and risk assessment which can be used by professionals in engineering, planning, management, and economics to improve the design, operation, and risk assessment of systems of interest. The text should be useful for students in many disciplines and is designed for fourth-year undergraduates or first-year graduate students. I would like to acknowledge the help of many of my graduate students who contributed to the development of this book by offering comments and criticism. Similarly, I would like to thank Mrs. Sheila McNary who typed untold drafts of the manuscript, and Mr."
Trust is an important factor in risk management, affecting judgements of risk and benefit, technology acceptance and other forms of cooperation. In this book the world's leading risk researchers explore all aspects of trust as it relates to risk management and communication. Drawing on a wide variety of disciplinary approaches and empirical case studies (on topics such as mobile phone technology, well-known food accidents and crises, wetland management, smallpox vaccination, cooperative risk management of US forests and the disposal of the Brent Spar oil drilling platform), this is the most thorough and up-to-date examination of trust in all its forms and complexities. The book integrates diverse research traditions and provides new insights into the phenomenon of trust. Factors that lead to the establishment and erosion of trust are identified. Insightful analyses are provided for researchers and students of environmental and social science and professionals engaged in risk management and communication in both public and private sectors. Related titles The Tolerability of Risk (2007) 978-1-84407-398-6
The comprehensive and crystal-clear companion to making the right acquisition decisions and executing them well: Acquisition is the most powerful corporate development tool available to companies and will therefore always be on the business agenda. Very practical and easy to follow: diagrams, checklists and case studies throughout. The authors have an accessible style and approach The Audience: High level entrepreneurs, senior executives, directors, and business strategists. Updates include: new and updated case studies, analysis of different types of company and how this could affect the transaction, a guide to working with external advisors.
Procrastination is a business's worst enemy, but it is most
damaging when if affects the ability to lead...
In recent years, there has been increasing implementation of group and team decision-making within organizations, much of it managed electronically, between members of what are "virtual" groups or teams. Recent research into effective team implementation emphasizes "trust" as an intermediary process, and trust must be a part of any account of team decision-making. This book provides an integrated framework that represents process in decision-making by interactive groups and teams. This framework furthers both our understanding of process and our capabilities in implementation, based on an account of group decision-making that differentiates the information types contributing to decision quality and relates them to process in interactive groups and teams. Author Steve Silver emphasizes the social structure that is inherent in the interaction of decision-makers as group or team members and effects on the information they exchange.
This book takes a fresh look at safety decision-making by documenting and examining stories told by front-line managers in three different high-hazard industries: a chemical plant, a nuclear power station and an air-navigation service provider. From Piper Alpha to Deepwater Horizon, accident analysis has stressed the importance of excellent decision-making by those in charge out in the field. Organizations rely critically on the judgement and experience of such senior operations personnel and yet these qualities are undervalued in a business environment that emphasises documentation and measurement. Whilst operational managers are guided by rules, they also draw on their own long experience and can formulate a situation-specific 'line in the sand' to apply the experience of the operating team to complex, real-world situations that rule writers may not have foreseen. This volume refocuses our attention on the people who make these important decisions and the organizational processes that support the best choices. Jan Hayes uses her multi-disciplinary experience to draw together an account of safety decision-making that is both technically robust and yet accessible to academics, practitioners and regulators alike. Readers will see that the stories retold in this book provide a way for operational managers to share their knowledge, experience and expertise - with each other and with us.
It's not what we know, but how we learn. This is the key that Learning to Read the Signs uses in order to evaluate and apply ideas and facts to one's organization life. The book asks the reader to go back to and reclaim pragmatism: an activity of thought involving four parts: Investigation, Hypothesis, Action, and Testing. Pragmatism is a method of interpretation or inquiry which offers to the thoughtful business practitioner a way to better understand the reality in which we operate, to think critically and creatively, and for business people to think together to make the best use of all our perspectives and talents. Questions raised in this book include: What are the signs telling us? Where are we headed and why? Why are things going the way they are? What is our purpose?
This book outlines the creative process of making environmental management decisions using the approach called "Structured Decision Making." It is a short introductory guide to this popular form of decision making and is aimed at environmental managers and scientists. ""This is a distinctly pragmatic label given to ways for helping individuals and groups think through tough multidimensional choices characterized by uncertain science, diverse stakeholders, and difficult tradeoffs. This is the everyday reality of environmental management, yet many important decisions currently are made on an ad hoc basis that lacks a solid value-based foundation, ignores key information, and results in selection of an inferior alternative. Making progress - in a way that is rigorous, inclusive, defensible and transparent - requires combining analytical methods drawn from the decision sciences and applied ecology with deliberative insights from cognitive psychology, facilitation and negotiation. The authors review key methods and discuss case-study examples based in their experiences in communities, boardrooms, and stakeholder meetings. The goal of this book is to lay out a compelling guide that will change how you think about making environmental decisions. Visit www.wiley.com/go/gregory/sdm to access the figures and tables from the book.
The epistemological and methodological issues within management sciences constitute a difficult area for theoretical reflection. The main goal of this book is to deepen epistemological and methodological reflection concerned with the foundations of organization and management in order to broaden the methodological awareness of researchers from the field of management sciences. This book does not describe paradigm change; it points out possible evolutional directions for management reflection. The key matter is to convince of the uncertainty and of the contextual nature of the knowledge obtained through management.
This book deals with complex problems in the fields of logistics and supply chain management and discusses advanced methods, especially from the field of computational intelligence (CI), for solving them. The first two chapters provide general introductions to logistics and supply chain management on the one hand, and to computational intelligence on the other hand. The subsequent chapters cover specific fields in logistics and supply chain management, work out the most relevant problems found in those fields, and discuss approaches for solving them. Chapter 3 discusses problems in the field of production and inventory management. Chapter 4 considers planning activities on a finer level of granularity which is usually denoted as scheduling. In chapter 5 problems in transportation planning such as different types of vehicle routing problems are considered. While chapters 3 to 5 rather discuss planning problems which appear on an operative level, chapter 6 discusses the strategic problem of designing a supply chain or network. The final chapter provides an overview of academic and commercial software and information systems for the discussed applications. There appears to be a gap between general textbooks on logistics and supply chain management and more specialized literature dealing with methods for computational intelligence, operations research, etc., for solving the complex operational problems in these fields. For readers, it is often difficult to proceed from introductory texts on logistics and supply chain management to the sophisticated literature which deals with the usage of advanced methods. This book fills this gap by providing state-of-the-art descriptions of the corresponding problems and suitable methods for solving them.
This two-volume collection of key papers by leading scholars provides a comprehensive perspective on the evaluation and performance of risk regulation policies. An analysis of the statistical life provides the basis for an examination of the risk money tradeoffs reflected in individual decisions in the labour, product and housing markets and an investigation of how these concepts can be used to evaluate government regulatory policies, including the newly developed risk-risk analysis approach. The volumes also offer an assessment of the performance of government risk regulations and a comprehensive analysis of the formation of risk beliefs and the role of hazard warnings policies in fostering improved risk decisions. The editors have written an authoritative introduction which presents a review of the selected papers and identifies interesting topics for future research.
Analytics is one of a number of terms which are used to describe a data-driven more scientific approach to management. Ability in analytics is an essential management skill: knowledge of data and analytics helps the manager to analyze decision situations, prevent problem situations from arising, identify new opportunities, and often enables many millions of dollars to be added to the bottom line for the organization. The objective of this book is to introduce analytics from the perspective of the general manager of a corporation. Rather than examine the details or attempt an encyclopaedic review of the field, this text emphasizes the strategic role that analytics is playing in globally competitive corporations today. The chapters of this book are organized in two main parts. The first part introduces a problem area and presents some basic analytical concepts that have been successfully used to address the problem area. The objective of this material is to provide the student, the manager of the future, with a general understanding of the tools and techniques used by the analyst.
This book considers the problem of determining how many barrels of crude oil an oil-producing and exporting country should produce annually for export along with several other important problems that decision-makers in the crude oil industry face and discusses procedures for finding optimum solutions for them. It considers the important Objective Functions they need in making these critical decisions, and discusses procedures to find the best solutions. Outputs from the treatment units, in an oil refinery are only semi-finished products; these are blended into finished products like gasoline, diesel oil, etc., meeting various specifications that the marketplace demands. The book discusses models for solving these problems optimally with examples.
This book mainly introduces the latest development of generalized intuitionistic multiplicative fuzzy calculus and its application. The book pursues three major objectives: (1) to introduce the calculus models with concrete mathematical expressions for generalized intuitionistic multiplicative fuzzy information; (2) to introduce new information fusion methods based on the definite integral models; and (3) to clarify the involved approaches bymilitary case. The book is especially valuable for readers to understand how the theoretical framework of generalized intuitionistic multiplicative fuzzy calculus is constructed, not only discrete or continuous but also correlative (generalized) intuitionistic (multiplicative) fuzzy information is aggregated based on the definite integral models and the theory with a military practice is integrated, which would deepen the understanding and give researchers more inspiration in practical decision analysis under uncertainties.
If you have good economic principles, then more than likely, you're making good business decisions. Although economics is sometimes dismissed as a discourse of practical relevance to only a relatively small circle of academicians and policy analysts who call themselves economists, sound economic reasoning benefits any manager of a business, whether they are involved with production and operations, marketing, finance, or corporate strategy. This highly respected text will help you and any business manager with managerial economics, which is the application of microeconomics to business decisions. Inside, you'll learn about the key relationships between price, quantity, cost, revenue, and profit, which are detailed for an individual firm in the form of simple conceptual models. The book includes key elements from the economics of consumer demand and the economics of production. It also discusses economic motivations for expanding a business and contributions from economics for improved organization of large firms, as well as market price-quantity equilibrium, competitive behavior, and the role of market structure on market equilibrium and competition. It concludes by considering market regulation in terms of the generic problems that create the need for regulation and possible remedies for those problems.
Why are vast sums spent on controlling some risks but not others? Is there any logic to the techniques we use in risk regulation? These are key questions explored in The Government of Risk. This book exposes the components of risk regulation systems and examines their interaction and explanation. The approach employed is of a high policy relevance as well as of considerable theoretical importance.
Based on courses developed by the author over several years, this book provides access to a broad area of research that is not available in separate articles or books of readings. Topics covered include the meaning and measurement of risk, general single-period portfolio problems, mean-variance analysis and the Capital Asset Pricing Model, the Arbitrage Pricing Theory, complete markets, multiperiod portfolio problems and the Intertemporal Capital Asset Pricing Model, the Black-Scholes option pricing model and contingent claims analysis, 'risk-neutral' pricing with Martingales, Modigliani-Miller and the capital structure of the firm, interest rates and the term structure, and others. |
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