This authoritative guide--the only in-depth survey of dividend policy--challenges the belief that corporate executives and financial analysts should dismiss dividend policy as irrelevant to shareholder wealth. Dividend policy does matter, say the authors, as they cite many classic and contemporary examples to show how dividend policy decisions play out in the marketplace. A carefully planned and executed policy is critical to maximizing shareholder wealth. This accessible, practical book covers every aspect of sound dividend planning and implementation. It includes a brief history of the evolution of dividends, statistics on dividends relative to profits and capital investments, their importance as a component of investor total returns, the relationship of dividends to share price, how management makes dividend decisions, and the impact of different tax regulations on dividend policies. The book focuses less on mathematics and more on the intuition of share valuation as a function of dividend policy. While the authors acknowledge the irrelevance of dividend policy in a world with perfect capital markets, they stress how market imperfections such as taxes, imperfect information, and agency issues can alter the dividend irrelevance conclusion. The book devotes special chapters to international dividend policy and to share repurchases as an alternative to dividend payouts. It concludes with the authors' recommendations on how managers should incorporate market imperfections most relevant to their firms in setting dividend policy. Dividend Policy is a must-have resource for all managers, executives, and institutional investors.

This proceedings volume explores marketing opportunities and challenges that exist in the current, fast-changing landscape of the global marketplace. Current global issues such as the rising middle class in emerging markets, disruptive technological breakthroughs, big data analytics, changing consumer habits and concerns over national trade policies have renewed ethical concerns around consumer privacy and the tools companies use to operate, market to, connect and build a relationship with their customers. Featuring the full proceedings from the 2019 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference held in Vancouver, Canada, this book explores and assess the rate of change that drives companies to evaluate and adapt their marketing strategies to remain competitive. Founded in 1971, the Academy of Marketing Science is an international organization dedicated to promoting timely explorations of phenomena related to the science of marketing in theory, research, and practice. Among its services to members and the community at large, the Academy offers conferences, congresses, and symposia that attract delegates from around the world. Presentations from these events are published in this Proceedings series, which offers a comprehensive archive of volumes reflecting the evolution of the field. Volumes deliver cutting-edge research and insights, complementing the Academy's flagship journals, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS) and AMS Review (AMSR). Volumes are edited by leading scholars and practitioners across a wide range of subject areas in marketing science.

Interviewing is one of the most effective ways to identify and attract employees who will be successful enough to stay. But few managers are adept at the skill. This book helps eliminate expensive errors of judgment by presenting readers with a set of behaviorally based interviewing strategies. Written by the faculty of the prestigious University of Michigan Executive Education Center--and based on one of their most popular courses--its seven-step "Strategic Interviewing Approach" helps interviewers define the competencies candidates need to possess and make hiring decisions based on accurate predictions of the candidates' performance.

This book discusses the ways in which characteristics of innovative firms and innovative talents with core competence in Japanese, Korean, German, and American contexts are developed and nurtured, and compares innovative firms with a long history of business operations from these four countries. Firstly, the book examines innovation practices of long-lived Japanese firms and compares them with those of German, American and Korean firms. Based on extensive interviews with executives and field studies, it identifies the essential qualities of each country in which these innovative firms and innovative talents are found. It then focuses on theoretical and practical aspects, using the theoretical framework to define organizational and technological factors for long-term innovation success. Further, the book provides recommendations based on organizational practices for developing innovative talents in Japanese, German, American and Korean contexts. Intended for academics, students and practitioners in the areas of organizational theory and strategic management, this book clarifies the critical practices of long-lived innovative firms and organizational innovators.

After decades of stability, power systems are currently undergoing a rapid transition - demand patterns are evolving, while supply sources are shifting to renewable energies at an accelerated pace. This book, written by an experienced energy professional, combines the various aspects of supply and demand developments to offer a unified perspective. It highlights the key changes that the world of electric utilities and power systems will face in the coming decade, as well as the major challenges that will emerge as a result. Supplemented by a wealth of global and local data, the book describes the major patterns that affect both supply and demand, and provides a quantified analysis of their impacts on power system grids and markets. Lastly, it explores the new technologies that can enable the success of these transformations.

This book provides both a broad overview of the forecasting process, covering technological and human aspects alike, and deep insights into algorithms and platform functionalities in the IBP toolbox required to maximize forecast accuracy. Rich in technical and business explanations, it addresses short-, medium- and long-term forecasting processes using functionalities available in demand planning and demand sensing. There are also several theoretical concepts underpinning the algorithms discussed; these are explained with numerical examples to help demystify the IBP forecasting toolbox. Beyond standard procedures, the book also discusses custom approaches (e.g. new segmentation criteria, new outlier detection and correction methods) and new methods (e.g. the use of Markov chains for forecasting sporadic demands), etc. It subsequently benchmarks common practices using these innovative approaches and discusses the results. As measurement is an important precondition for improvement, an entire chapter is devoted to discussing process improvement and value using the Six Sigma methodology. In closing, the book provides several useful tips and tricks that should come in handy during project implementation.

From modest beginnings in the early 1990's, a reform movement in the regulation of public procurement has mushroomed into a global imperative. Two fundamental values of international free trade policy--value for money and the deterrence of corruption--have brought intense scrutiny to bear on public procurement practices in nearly every country. Now international standards (notably those of the WTO and the EU) must be met if a trading nation is to take its place in the global markets. This collection of essays offers fifteen distinct views on the current status and trends in public procurement and its various aspects. From general discussion of setup, overcoming obstacles, ensuring transparency, and compliance with international rules to specific issues raised in economies as diverse as Kosovo, China, and the United States, "Public Procurement: The Continuing Revolution provides a great wealth of insight and information. Although the emphasis throughout is on legal issues, the contributors include not only lawyers but also economists and specialists in purchasing practice. In addition, this is the first book to note the relatively recent trend, in developed countries, toward a less prescriptive, more flexible approach to regulation in which a degree of transparency is sacrificed. The question of how this trend will affect international procurement regimes is perhaps the most viral and interesting aspect of current theory and practice in the field. "Public Procurement: The Continuing Revolution is of inestimable value not only to public procurement specialists, whatever their profession, but to a much wider audience who will recognise the decisive influence of this important economicactivity on the entire area embracing trade and even international relations. Most of these essays were originally presented as papers at an international conference hosted by the Public Procurement Research Group at the University of Nottingham in September 2001.

Strategy management has always been a crucial business aspect that a company must understand to remain successful in the business world. However, there are a number of different approaches that a company can employ in order to differentiate themselves from thecompetition. Knowledge Management for Competitive Advantage During Economic Crisis brings together the various approaches that affect the superiority of a company's organizational performance and the gains they can make over their competitors. By focusing on concepts such as organizational learning and intellectual capital, this book is an indispensable reference source for researchers, practitioners, graduate students, and business managers interested in understanding what approaches are necessary to ensure superior organizational performance.

This book provides hands-on techniques for writing engineering procedures to achieve ISO 9000 compliance. It is designed for individuals responsible for writing these procedures in any industry. Readers will find actual examples of clearly written, compliant engineering procedures, ready to adapt to your own industry and your own particular needs and use immediately. It answers virtually all your procedure writing questions. Procedure writers will gain a general understanding of engineering documentation principles and how to apply them to their own situations. Simple diagrams and other graphics illustrate key ideas, giving a bird's-eye view of what is coming next. The intent of the book is to familiarize the reader with the essential elements and concepts of engineering procedure development and management and show how to apply these concepts to their own specific applications. The author emphasizes engineering principles and tools that are common to all engineering disciplines, with examples for their use.Step-by-step procedures shown for each document format enable readers to apply each format to their own engineering documentation programs quickly and easily. The book provides a fingertip reference that covers the entire engineering procedure process, using the latest technology for engineering documentation systems.

This book discusses transport research and innovation, highlighting prospects for cooperation between different countries. To create a basis for such cooperation, the book first describes the status quo in individual countries, focusing on China, Japan and Korea, and identifies the main technological trends as well as current innovation policies in these countries, discussing their main advantages and the challenges to establishing collaborations between them. The book is a valuable resource for transport researchers, research authorities and transport organizations, not only in the three countries considered, but also in the US and the EU. By providing a revealing snapshot of current transport research and policies, it fosters exchanges and collaborations between nations.

Branding and human capital are considered a firm's most important assets, and the development of these intangible assets is a particularly challenging and important management task for human resource managers and marketers. Employee-based brand equity is a key advantage for the organization and an important part of the brand-based evaluation. To develop an effective and strong employee-based brand equity, firms need to focus on the perceptions of employees and promote positive attitudes about affiliation with the firm. Antecedents and Outcomes of Employee-Based Brand Equity explores the antecedents and consequences of employee-based brand equity from different perspectives and different artifacts of employee-based brand equity. This book highlights the importance of brand equity from a human resource management perspective. It further highlights the ways in which brand equity can be fruitful in understanding and learning different theories and concepts with the interaction of different industries and culture. Covering topics such as employee retention, psychological capital, and brand experience, this premier reference source is an indispensable resource for corporate offices, human resource managers, business leaders and managers, governmental organizations, marketing professionals, customer service professionals, libraries, students and educators of higher education, researchers, and academicians.

Focusing on nascent firms, established growing firms and established plateaued forms within the northern inland New South Wales regional locations in Australia, this book explores the manifestation of entrepreneurship. In particular, the authors examine the state and status of regional entrepreneurship in the bioregions and investigate how gender plays out in the entrepreneurial space. The authors present a detailed macro environmental framework, national and international literature syntheses and the differences between regional and urban businesses exploring the secondary data. Through interviews and primary data gathering, the authors explore the context in which the businesses operate and showcase the uniqueness of regional embeddedness, place-based initiatives, networking opportunities and communitarian values. Insightful reading for anyone interested in the facets regional entrepreneurship and gender studies, this book provides important implications for academic scholars, government officials, business practitioners, financial institutions, and other stakeholders who are involved in effective formulation of innovative business growth strategies.

What are the secrets of all great leaders-the individuals who effortlessly persuade and gain the confidence of others? This book offers actionable, practical advice, explaining ten pivotal ways for leaders to foster and engender trust. Trust in the leaders of organizations-whether large or small, for-profit or non-profit, government or private-is of critical importance. Highlighting the centrality of trust to leadership, Inspiring Trust: Strategies for Effective Leadership presents ten proven methods that will enable readers to quickly gain the trust of those they lead. Written by a management consultant who has studied a wide variety of organizations, the book presents the author's findings from observing and working with some of America's best enterprises. The author explains how effective leadership involves enrolling and enfranchising others, which only occurs as a result of trusting the leader's competence and character; and offers specific practical advice on what to do to enhance trust-as well as what not to do. The chapters outline in detail specific techniques that have proved effective for getting others "on board" with a leader's vision, mission, goals, strategies, and tactics. The text also explains the five key drivers of high performance and the five core dimensions of interpersonal effectiveness. Aimed at aspiring managers of any age, this book explains how to move potential followers from superficial compliance to genuine alignment, resulting in internalization of the executive, manager, or supervisor's vision, mission, and goals. Identifies exactly what good leaders do in order to persuade and gain the confidence of their followers Explains why effective leadership requires much more than brains and drive alone Covers which decision-making mode to use under what circumstances as well as when to rely on analysis and when to rely on intuition Supplies leadership advice for specific situations, such as how to ask for feedback that provides actionable information rather than flattery or reassurance, and ways to persuade others to make sacrifices they might not otherwise make Provides ten illuminating profiles of the characteristics of good and bad leaders

Many managers and organizations still assume that employees who devote long hours to their jobs with no family interference are "ideal workers". However, this assumption has negative consequences for employees, their families and, more interestingly, for their organizations. This book provides a wealth of empirical evidence from around the globe, as well as innovative conceptual frameworks, to help practitioners and researchers alike to go beyond the classic notion of the "ideal worker" and to rethink what companies actually need from their employees. As it demonstrates, doing so will be beneficial for countless men and women, and for society at large.

This open access book brings together perspectives from multiple disciplines including psychology, law, IS, and computer science on data privacy and trust in the cloud. Cloud technology has fueled rapid, dramatic technological change, enabling a level of connectivity that has never been seen before in human history. However, this brave new world comes with problems. Several high-profile cases over the last few years have demonstrated cloud computing's uneasy relationship with data security and trust. This volume explores the numerous technological, process and regulatory solutions presented in academic literature as mechanisms for building trust in the cloud, including GDPR in Europe. The massive acceleration of digital adoption resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic is introducing new and significant security and privacy threats and concerns. Against this backdrop, this book provides a timely reference and organising framework for considering how we will assure privacy and build trust in such a hyper-connected digitally dependent world. This book presents a framework for assurance and accountability in the cloud and reviews the literature on trust, data privacy and protection, and ethics in cloud computing.

Improve your ability to understand, interact and communicate with others using the skills of coaching and NLP. This practical book contains easy to follow models, numerous real-life examples, a unique NLP based six-session coaching model and a unique section on the use of hypnosis - an important NLP tool.

Professionals in multinational companies may face several challenges related to the multi-linguistic, multi-faceted aspects of supply chain management in developing and developed economies. Under-developed infrastructures, archaic technology and lack of knowledge of indigenous supply chain management systems have hampered the growth of markets and indigenous businesses in emerging economies. Cases on Supply Chain and Distribution Management: Issues and Principles introduces readers to a wide selection of case studies covering a multitude of supply chains in different economies of the world and examines major issues related to supply chain management. Concerned with the complete management of the flow of goods, information, and finances, the discipline of supply chain management merits an in-depth analysis. This book presents the latest knowledge on different types of supply chains that exist within the world business environment and acts as catalyst for incumbent global corporations to understand and work around inefficient supply chains, particularly in emerging economies.

The aim of this book is to present quantitative and qualitative aspects of logistics operations supporting recycling and reuse. In individual chapters, the authors address various issues related to reverse network configuration and the organization of collection, transportation, warehousing and reprocessing activities. Moreover a number of best practice examples from different countries and industries are provided. This book will be a valuable resource for both academics and practitioners who want to deepen their knowledge of logistics operations and management for recycling and reuse.

This book provides a general overview of intelligence in health policy, health-care organizations and health services in the light of the current EU digital agenda, which aims to make health data and e-health tools publicly available. The first part analyses the implications of knowledge management and decision-making procedures for intelligent health policies and governance. The second part discusses in detail the concept of intelligence and illustrates why the perspective of organizational intelligence offers a solution to contemporary problems in health care, while the third part focuses on intelligent leadership models in health-care organizations. Providing a guide to new ways of understanding, developing, and reforming health policy and health services, it appeals to scholars as well as decision-makers in health governance and health-care institutions.

This book presents a study of cooperatives as a two-layer entrepreneurial model, and analyzes cooperative enterprises. Above all, it explores how inducements (from the firm) and contributions (from its members, in their respective roles) are aligned, and seeks to answer the question of what this means for managing each cooperative as a firm as well as a group. The book is divided into three parts, the first of which begins with an analysis of specific aspects of cooperative enterprises, with a focus on the added value of cooperation, the weighing of interests, and a behavioral perspective on the imminent communities and their goals. In a structured approach, the book examines the various facets of relationships in cooperatives on a transactional, financial and control level. Further, a case study on the Dutch cooperative Rabobank illustrates what happens when members fail. In turn, part two concentrates on integrating the lessons learned with the existing economic literature on cooperatives, so as to contribute to a theory of cooperative management. Finally, the book links the theoretical approach to practice: in the third part, it reports on the outcomes of using a computerized simulation game to show members of cooperatives how to manage their business and the cooperative business at the same time, enabling them to understand and actively practice two-level entrepreneurship.

This book addresses reliability, maintenance, risk, and safety issues of industrial systems with applications of the latest decision-making techniques. Thus, this book presents chapters that apply advanced tools, techniques, and computing models for optimizing the performance of industrial and manufacturing systems, along with other complex engineering equipment. Computing techniques like data analytics, failure mode and effects analysis, fuzzy set theory, petri-net, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM), and soft computing are used for solving problems of reliability, risk, and safety related issues.

Building on the foundations of the first edition, this comprehensive textbook remains a vital tool for postgraduate students seeking to understand the principles of service operations management, and for undergraduate students specializing in hospitality, tourism and public sector management. With services accounting for 70 percent of employment and growth in our economy, this textbook explains what is needed to ensure the most efficient and effective service operations are delivered. Covering not-for-profit agencies, charities, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and utilities alongside finance, healthcare and commercial companies, this guide explores the essentials of service operations management with its innovative approach to delivering customers' imperatives in services. Written in a clear and accessible manner this updated second edition: takes an increased international perspective on service operations is updated to reflect the most significant changes in service operations management, and to provide enhanced coverage of areas touched on in the first edition includes new and updated international case studies in each chapter, ideal for use in the classroom, reflecting the increased globalisation of service operations, with internationalising updates to include content suitable for a global audience covers mobile technology and presents the author's own research embracing big data analytics and neurolinguistics in building customer service systems expands coverage of process-reengineering and service flows, business process assessments, and developing economies.

This book explores the relationship between and the compatibility of lean management (LM) and value-based management (VBM) approaches at the systems level. It then develops a model to improve LM and VBM professional practice by fostering a shared understanding of the value creation process within a lean system, and in doing so helps to remove existing barriers. The results promote future fruitful alliances between a company's operational and financial communities, enhancing the benefits to the enterprise and its stakeholders. The book is of primary interest to LM and VBM professionals and researchers.

Shortlisted for the CMI Management Book of the Year 2011, Practical Manager Category

"A Leader's Guide to Influence" will show you how to step up your people skills and improve working relationships so you can get the business results you want.

Combing the hugely popular areas of influence and leadership, this book will show you how to step up your interpersonal effectiveness by learning how to work more successfully with those around you, be they people you manage, colleagues, client or business partners.

Through a combination of practical exercises, case studies and no-nonsense advice, this book shows you how to:

- Increase your confidence and impact.

- Communicate more effectively.

- Learn different tools, techniques and approaches when working with different types of people.

- Listen and question effectively.

- Develop rapport and empathy.

- Give better feedback.

- Deal with difficult situations and cope with conflict.