This outstanding book presents new original contributions from some of the world's leading economists including Ronald Coase, Douglass C. North, Masahiko Aoki, Oliver E. Williamson and Harold Demsetz. It demonstrates the extent and depth of the New Institutional Economics research programme which is having a worldwide impact on the economics profession.The book lays out the fundamental dimensions of the research programme with special emphasis on the interaction between institutional factors, both formal and informal, and the performance of different arrangements that organize transactions. After examining the foundations of New Institutional Economics and honouring Ronald Coase's contribution to the field, it presents controversial and conflicting views on the sources of growth. It places special emphasis on organizations and transactions, focusing on issues of trust, corruption, enforcement of contracts and modes of organization. Written by an eminent group of scholars, Institutions, Contracts and Organizations is an important landmark in the development of New Institutional Economics.

This second European edition of this classic textbook brings the exceptional introduction to organizational behaviour written by the masters of the subject, and adapts it to meet the needs of students studying in Europe today. Fully updated and revised, this adaptation continues the tradition of making current, relevant research come alive for students, while maintaining its hallmark features - clear writing style, cutting-edge content and compelling pedagogy. This new edition offers real-life examples drawn from a global range of organizations including Google, Cadbury, Apple, Capital One, Microsoft, Lego, Ferrari and more, plus up-to-date insights into the latest research and hot topics from across the world. Key features include: 'Myth or science?' boxes, which provide repeated evidence that common sense can often lead us astray in the attempt to understand human behaviour, and that behavioural research offers a means for testing the validity of common-sense notions. 'OB in the news' which prepares students to recognise and evaluate OB issues which often appear in the news when presented with them in newspapers, magazines, TV, etc. 'Face the facts': these boxes highlight interesting facts from recent surveys that emphasise key aspects of the text. For example, diversity across Europe, the extent of employee engagement, and the popularity of working in teams. "As a whole, the content of the book is strong, and is well-structured with a European focus." Mohammad Lafiti, Uppsala University, Sweden

The advancements in decision sciences theory and applications can be regarded as a continuously emerging field in all areas of interest including technology, industry, energy, healthcare, education, agriculture, social sciences, and more. Managers in all disciplines face an endless list of complex issues every day. One of the essential managerial skills is the ability to allocate and utilize limited resources appropriately in the efforts of achieving optimal performance efficiently. This is no less important for those who work in the transportation sector. Decision Sciences and Applications in the Transportation Sector explores the importance of decision sciences and the ways in which they apply to the transportation sector. This book covers technologies and tools including machine learning, mathematical modeling, and simulation and their applications in such tasks as reducing fuel costs, improving passenger flow, and ensuring vehicle safety. It is an essential reference source for managers, professionals in the transport industry, supply chain specialists, safety officers, IT consultants, executives, practitioners, scientists, students, researchers, and academicians.

This book illustrates how to anticipate the future using more than the traditional predictive models (forecasting) based on the forward projection of past experiences, and moving into more advanced methods of anticipation logic (foresight) to build probable scenarios based on weak signals, emerging trends, coexisting presents and potential paths of evolution. Utilizing a helpful, four-part structure, the authors indicate how corporate foresight is fundamental to interpret and lead change, focusing on the two cornerstones of organization and management. They advocate the separation of Research (oriented to the market of tomorrow) from Development (oriented to the market of today), the establishment of a Foresight unit and the concentration of research activities mainly on the acquisition and recombination of external know-how. After an overview of state-of-the-art literature on forecasting methods, they further propose the implementation of a "future coverage" methodology, which will enable companies to measure and verify the consistency between trends, strategic vision and offered products. These organizational and managing tools are then tested in a case study: the Italian company Eurotech SpA, a leader in the ICT sector. A useful resource for both managers and researchers, the book will help readers gain the tools necessary to tackle change and navigate complexity in organizations.

While many advances have been made in understanding the complexity of manufacturing and production engineering, the social and organizational context remains problematic due to the abstract nature of leadership and diverse personnel. Interdisciplinary perspectives to increase knowledge and understanding of engineering management and related processes are necessary in the industry. Enhancing Competitive Advantage With Dynamic Management and Engineering is an essential reference source containing scholarly research on the relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical research findings of strategic administration in engineering. It also explores how to better merge, interrelationship organizations, management, and employee needs in order to increase efficiency, productivity, and profitability. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as business process orientation, diversity management, and enterprise architecture, this book provides vital research for managers, researchers, engineers, and other professionals within engineering and production management.

Robert Greifeld was CEO of NASDAQ for over a decade, during which time it was named Company of the Year, ranked one of the best performing companies in the U.S., included in Fortune's annual list of 100 fastest growing companies and shares of the company's stock rose a whopping 800%.

In Market Mover, Bob looks at the headline-making events that took place while he was at the helm from the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the financial crisis of 2008, to Facebook's disastrous IPO and the Bernie Madoff scandal. He takes you exclusively behind the headlines using them as jumping off points for lessons that can be applied to any business, including jumpstarting change, working with technology, finding the best people, and adapting to globalization.

Effective leadership and management create significant impacts upon any organization in the modern business realm. To maintain competitiveness and success, those in leadership roles must develop new and dynamic initiatives to solve problems that arise. Comprehensive Problem-Solving and Skill Development for Next-Generation Leaders is a critical reference source for the latest academic research on the implementation of innovative qualities, strategies, and competencies for effective leadership and examines practices for determining solutions to business problems. Highlighting relevant coverage on facilitating organizational success, such as emotional intelligence, technology integration, and active learning, this book is ideally designed for managers, professionals, graduate students, academics, and researchers interested in research-based strategies for obtaining organizational effectiveness.

Scaling the Social Enterprise is an ideal text for courses that focus on social entrepreneurship and social innovation, at either the graduate or undergraduate level. Common themes across high growth social startups discussed in the book include: building and modifying a management team for growth creating and maintaining a dynamic stakeholder network choosing corporate form and funders moving from idea to pilot, to roll-out, and pivots along the way the importance of media magic in building a brand developing and refining one's value chain the pivotal role of technology in scaling. Featuring high profile, high growth social startups including Fair Trade USA, Revolution Foods, Sanergy, Kiva, d.light, Back to the Roots, and Grameen America, the chapter on funding social startups also profiles social funders such as Bridges Fund Management and Better Ventures, amongst others.

This textbook offers a comprehensive analysis of traditional and newly emerging challenges affecting international logistics management from practical, theoretical and policy perspectives. Principles of International Logistics provides an in-depth exploration of the role of intermodal transportation, and the policy-oriented issues of market liberalization, regulatory policies, quality of institutions and supply chain orientation. Key Features: Detailed discussion of the role of the different modes of transport including air, land and maritime transportation Evaluation of international logistics and its economic significance, giving students a strong understanding of the basic principles of logistics Practically-oriented examples and cases drawn from developed and developing countries in Asia, Europe, South America and Africa to allow students to apply their knowledge in practice Coverage of new and emerging international issues such as new technologies and their application to logistics, placing traditional logistics concepts into modern context Principles of International Logistics will be an essential text for undergraduate students of international logistics, logistics management and global supply chains, and an excellent supplementary text for those studying operations and supply chain management more broadly.

The continued growth of emerging nations depends largely on the development of their built infrastructures and communities. Roads, dams, bridges, hospitals, schools, and housing are all examples of the built environment that impacts economic improvements in the developing world. Decision Support for Construction Cost Control in Developing Countries explores how the construction industry contributes to a nation's GDP and the related cost issues and proposed cost reduction solutions for construction projects and initiatives in developing regions. Emphasizing the role of decision support systems for reducing and managing the costs associated with construction projects, this title is an essential reference source for civil engineers, business and engineering managers, project managers, researchers, and professionals in the construction industry.