An invaluable source of guidance for helping leaders to attain high performance with integrity. Transform your workplace with a few simple tools. Told in the parable format of The One Minute Manager , Leadership by the Book draws on the model and messages of Jesus as a source of practical lessons in effective leadership. Recounting the story of a teacher, a minister and a marketplace leader who support one another in their leadership challenges, this extraordinary book offers unexpected and exceptional answers to tough leadership issues such as: How do I best serve our customers by serving our people? How can I unify my personal beliefs and my role as a leader in a way that feels good 'deep down' and still produces the desired results? How can I get customers who enjoy the service, staff who enjoy their work, and still get financial well-being by leading with integrity? The authors offer simple strategies for bringing vision - and values - to the workplace by examining messages and examples from the Bible. Leadership by the Book also provides lessons for the day-to-day life of parents, coaches, entrepreneurs and religious and community leaders everywhere.

Blockchain is a recent technology that is promising to revolutionize the way supply chains are designed and operated. Regarding its role in securing exchanges of data, this technology has remarkably changed the manner of governing the structure of the supply chain relationships and the way that transactions are made. Blockchain technology is likely to influence future supply chain practices by performing electronic integration, supporting partners' connections, and offering real-time information flows. Thus, blockchain technologies are gaining interest among both academicians and professionals. This interest concerns the conceptual level and also the practical and concrete levels of the implementation of blockchain technology in supply chains. Perspectives on Blockchain Technology and the Digitalization of the Supply Chain presents blockchain's basic concepts and pertinent methods that contributed to meeting key supply chain management objectives. It determines the current trends and challenges in the use of blockchain to enhance supply chain management. Covering topics such as communication systems, documentation systems, and supply chain evolution, this premier reference source is an excellent resource for business leaders and managers, logistics professionals, IT managers, students and educators of higher education, librarians, researchers, and academicians.

To effectuate is to engage in a specific type of entrepreneurial action. It has special importance for situations where the future is truly unknowable or human agency is of primary importance. In this new and updated edition of the bestselling Effectuation, Saras Sarasvathy explores the theory and techniques of non-predictive control for creating new firms, markets and economic opportunities. Using empirical and theoretical work done in collaboration with Nobel Laureate Herbert A. Simon, the author employs methods from cognitive science and behavioral economics to develop the notion of entrepreneurial expertise and effectuation. Supportive empirical evidence is provided by the author's study of 27 entrepreneurs as well as other independent studies. The book then traces the consequences of effectuation for business management, economics and social philosophy. The author finds that effectuators generate constraint-satisfying solutions rather than searching for optimal ones, make rather than find opportunities, and in a deep sense, convert 'as-if' propositions into 'even-if' ones. The way they accomplish this is the central discussion of the book. Students and scholars of entrepreneurship will find this path-breaking research of great value. The book's conclusions will also be of interest to those in the fields of behavioral and evolutionary economics, cognitive science and management. Praise for the first edition: 'The concept of effectuation is as subtle as it is profound. On the one hand, it challenges long held beliefs about the nature of cause and effect in social science. On the other hand, it generates a host of new insights about social phenomena. This concept is particularly well suited to analyzing entrepreneurial behavior - behaviors undertaken in settings where the relationship between cause and effect is understood, at best, very poorly.' - Jay B. Barney, The Ohio State University, US 'Things rarely turn out as we expected or intended. Neither rational choice between well-defined prospects nor commitment to a vision, which can be realised by will power or persuasion, offers a credible representation of much human activity - even the activities of entrepreneurs. But although uncertainty (or unknowledge) is inescapable it may be productively managed. If we understand our present circumstances and some of its possibilities, build constructive relationships with others, and be ready to adjust both our objectives and the means of achieving them in order to take advantage of new contingencies, then we can at least participate in shaping our own future. By taking this perspective Saras Sarasvathy makes entrepreneurship a natural human activity, expressing the limitations and potential of human motivation and human intelligence.' - Brian J. Loasby, University of Stirling, UK 'In Effectuation Saras Sarasvathy presents a carefully researched and reasoned view of entrepreneurial behavior that both challenges and extends prevailing wisdom in the field. There is little doubt that these ideas will serve as an important foundation for anyone desirous of stimulating positive action in the world. With Effectuation we are equipped to provide a generation of students and managers with the methods to make and find opportunities that create value. . . everywhere.' - Leonard A. Schlesinger, President, Babson College, US

Exploring magic as a creative necessity in contemporary business, this book clarifies the differences between magic as an organizational resource and magic as fakery, pretence and manipulation. Using this lens, it highlights insights into the relationship between anthropology and business, and organizational studies. The Magic of Organization looks at our economy and its dependence on magic, as success depends on innovation and creativity to produce the unexpected and amazing; but perhaps also the bogus and deceitful. Exposing the unpredictability of magic, the book reveals clear links between magic and uncontrollable and non-linear ways of organizing. Chapters discuss the double-edged sword of magic: while organizations, economies and finance depend on magical thought and actions for inspiration and surprise, they also fear them; what if the magic is real? With its clarity on how the turn-to-ontology in anthropology is significant for organizational studies, this book will be an illuminating read for students of creativity and innovation.

In Our Iceberg is Melting a simple fable about penguins illustrates how to conquer change, with profound lessons for working and living in an ever-changing world. This charming story about a penguin colony in Antarctica illustrates key truths about how we deal with the issue of change: handle the challenge well and you can prosper greatly; handle it poorly and you put yourself at risk. The penguins are living happily on their iceberg as they have done for many years. Then one curious penguin discovers a potentially devastating problem threatening their home - and pretty much no one listens to him. The characters in this fable are like people we recognize, even ourselves. Their story is one of resistance to change and heroic action, confusion and insight, seemingly intractable obstacles and the most clever tactics for dealing with those obstacles. It is a story that is occuring in different forms around us today - but the penguins handle change a great deal better than most of us. Based on John Kotter's pioneering work on how to make smart change happen faster and better, the lessons you can learn from this short and easy-to-read book will serve you well in your job, in your family and in your community. And these lessons are becoming ever more important as the world around us changes faster and faster. This edition celebrates ten years since the publication of this classic business fable with new and improved illustrations and a foreword by Spencer Johnson, author of Who Moved My Cheese?

This attractive textbook with its easy-to-follow presentation provides a down-to-earth introduction to operations research for students in a wide range of fields such as engineering, business analytics, mathematics and statistics, computer science, and econometrics. It is the result of many years of teaching and collective feedback from students.The book covers the basic models in both deterministic and stochastic operations research and is a springboard to more specialized texts, either practical or theoretical. The emphasis is on useful models and interpreting the solutions in the context of concrete applications.The text is divided into several parts. The first three chapters deal exclusively with deterministic models, including linear programming with sensitivity analysis, integer programming and heuristics, and network analysis. The next three chapters primarily cover basic stochastic models and techniques, including decision trees, dynamic programming, optimal stopping, production planning, and inventory control. The final five chapters contain more advanced material, such as discrete-time and continuous-time Markov chains, Markov decision processes, queueing models, and discrete-event simulation.Each chapter contains numerous exercises, and a large selection of exercises includes solutions.

For first courses in operations research, operations management. Covers a broad range of optimization techniques, including linear programming, network flows, integer/combinational optimization, and nonlinear programming. Emphasizes the importance of modeling and problem formulation, this text teaches students how to apply algorithms to real-world problems to arrive at optimal solutions. Visit the author-maintained web site athttp: //comp.uark.edu/ rrardin/oorboo