The world of corporate management benefits when organizations realize the profitability, reliability, and flexibility obtained through IT standardization. Toward Corporate IT Standardization Management: Frameworks and Solutions details the IT standards conceptual model through insightful case studies that illustrate the factors affecting the performance of business processes. By offering organizations the opportunity to enhance process performance through IT standardization, this reference work demonstrates the effectiveness of IT standards, and the applicable techniques for implementation and management of such practices. This book features information useful to educators and students in the fields of Information Systems, IT-Management, Business Studies, and Economics, as well as IT practitioners and IS Managers.

A critical mass of events has been transforming the American work scene, bringing unprecedented and irreversible changes in how American corporations relate to world markets and how they interact with their workforce. These changes are bringing about New Paradigms in corporate structure, organization, and operation. For many corporations, these changes involve substantial alterations such as recasting worklife. Rebirth is often validly used as a descriptive term for corporations that successfully weathered the massive onslaught of global economic, demographic, and technological changes in the last decade and the imperatives confronting many others for years to come. Officials, executives, and students need to know how and why new policies, strategies, organization designs, and employment relationships are indicated as well as lessons learned and guidelines from which to launch new policies and employment relationships. This is necessary because: these parties must enact or guide developments; or, they are a part of the changes and need the understanding of the factors which have changed their work roles, their expectations for the future and in many cases their standard of living.

This book is written to provide understanding and sufficient examples and guidelines for planners, strategists, and senior managers so that they can start to address the specifics of their situations. It provides numerous exhibits encompassing New Paradigm features; point-by-point features of newer employment relationships (based on a new psychological contract); timely and useful reference information sorted out according to key topics. New Paradigm organizations are characterized by management credibility, mutual trust, and cooperative working relationships. Employee involvement and participative management are hallmarks of the New Paradigm companies.

This book provides a valuable resource for anyone who wishes to understand how sustainable use of energy can lead to increased efficiency of industrial supply chains and improved financial profitability. The book is organized around real examples and case studies that can be applied to real-world problems. Furthermore, insight is provided by an international panel of contributors, and the book provides comprehensive coverage of current practice and future developments in the evolution of sustainable supply chains and energy consumption. The text underlines how organizations are now looking seriously at supply chain assets in order to help their suppliers retool and focus on renewable energy. Renewable energy technology is a fast growing market with promising financial returns and substantial environmental gains; this book shows how the right management of renewable investments can have significant advantages by: * providing critical opportunities in driving costs down and making renewable energy sources more competitive with conventional energy; * making infrastructure expansion easier; * increasing employment in manufacturing and services supply chains in order to support renewable energy generation; and * mitigating the impacts of climate change. This book is intended for business professionals, researchers and students working in supply chain management or energy management.

This proceedings volume explores the socio-economic dimension of the heritage sector from a broad, interdisciplinary perspective. Featuring contributions from the 2016 ALECTOR International Conference held in Istanbul, Turkey, this book presents current theoretical and empirical research related to such topics as: R&D and ICT in tourism; heritage products and services; climate change; finance and tourism; cultural communication; anthropological cultural heritage; and heritage management. Collectively, the papers presented in this book provides methodologies, strategies and applications to measure the socio-economic dimension of the heritage sector and also good practices in the heritage sector that drive regional, cultural and economic development and sustainability. The EU Neighbourhood Info Centre (ENPI) Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) Black Sea project "Collaborative Networks of Multilevel Actors to Advance Quality Standards for Heritage Tourism at Cross Border Level", or ALECTOR, focuses on different types of heritage assets as a means to invest in human capital and tourism innovation in order to achieve socio-economic development and cooperation with social partners in the Black Sea region. Featuring collaborations from Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova Ukraine, Georgia and Turkey, the project proposes a cognitive and educational framework for using a region's assets, which would guide final beneficiaries (regions, communities, SMEs) to identify, signify, valorize and manage their natural and cultural resources, in order to use heritage potential as a vehicle for tourism. Presenting case studies of successful initiatives, the enclosed papers are divided into two parts: * Part I: Economics of Heritage features innovative research results on the heritage and tourism topics from countries such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Russia, and Romania * Part II: Best Practices features best practices, experiences, and promotion plans for cultural heritage through tourism from countries such as Bulgaria, Republic of Moldova, Turkey, Russia, and Romania

The globalised advancements of the business and technological markets in Asia continue to have an international and interdisciplinary effect on economies around the world. Business, Technology, and Knowledge Management in Asia: Trends and Innovations highlights the efforts and developments in the fields of Asian studies as well as its potential role in IT and management within the constant growing business market. This book is a comprehensive collection of research that is useful for policymakers, government officials, academicians, and students alike.

With the development of the integrative supply chain management approach, traditional thinking about concepts such as purchasing, materials management, distribution and logistics management has become outdated. Speculation on the reasons for dynamic growth of supply chain management in South African businesses ranges from the opening up of the domestic economy to the pressure of global competitors. The astonishing success of progressive organisations such as SA Breweries, Sasol, Iscor, Steinhoff and Sappi in the international marketplace, however, is in no small part a result of their early adoption of the supply chain philosophy (customer value creation, total cost of ownership, integration of processes and the reduction of cycle time) and they have contributed significantly to the unprecedented growth of supply chain management in South Africa. Supply chain management identifies the strategic impact and evolutionary direction of the field in a global market environment and emphasises the changes in processes and management thinking required to introduce supply chain management in South African organisations. It covers topics such as supply chain strategies, organisations, optimisation, performance improvement, customer service, quality and inventory management, total cost of ownership, green supply chain management, investment recovery, e-commerce, negotiations, transport and distribution management, the retail supply chain and global supply chain management. Supply chain management is aimed at all supply chain, logistics and transport management students.

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.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) studies have evolved as one of the mainstreams in business strategy. This book presents a comprehensive perspective on the motivations behind the studies, the effects of FDI, and how it can be utilized and extended to other areas of studies. Written with a global perspective, this book not only touches upon business strategies but also covers government policies toward promoting and attracting FDI for industrial and economic development. The author, with his vast experience in consulting and research projects for multinational companies, international organizations and governments, examines real world business practices of Eastern firms and how they relate to their Western counterparts, thus making this book a valuable and practical reference not only for students, but for practitioners, too.

This book examines the introduction of smart technologies into public administrations and the organizational issues caused by these implementations, and the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to rationalize and improve government, transform governance and organizational issues, and address economic, social, and environmental challenges. Cities are increasingly using new technologies in the delivery of public sector services and in the improvement of government transparency, business-led urban development, and urban sustainability. The book will examine specific smart projects that cities are embracing to improve transparency, efficiency, sustainability, mobility, and whether all cities are prepared to implement smart technologies and the incentives for promoting implementation. This focus on the smart technologies applied to public sector entities will be of interest to academics, researchers, policy-makers, public managers, international organizations and technical experts involved in and responsible for the governance, development and design of Smart Cities.

This book has been written for the HR Practitioner and will provide readers with tools, guidelines, ideas, and strategies for developing their role within the Human Resources function. This text focuses on current issues and future trends in both the HR profession and the workplace. Organizations will continue to be forced to function in a lean and mean manner, HR professionals are now required to manage outsourcing functions and to move through multiple internal roles quickly. This book will act as a roadmap to help them plan and implement these roles quickly and efficiently, aligned to their organizations strategy.

The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations is the first book to teach storytelling as a powerful and formal discipline for organizational change and knowledge management. The book explains how organizations can use certain types of stories ("springboard" stories) to communicate new or envisioned strategies, structures, identities, goals, and values to employees, partners and even customers. Readers will learn techniques by which they can help their organizations become more unified, responsive, and intelligent. Storytelling is a management technique championed by gurus including Peter Senge, Tom Peters and Larry Prusak. Now Stephen Denning, an innovator in the new discipline of organizational storytelling, teaches how to use stories to address challenges fundamental to success in today's information economy.

Asia is a continent of contradictions and boundaries; it offers exciting business opportunities, but is also characterized by unpredictability and conflict. While flexibility and creativity are in the DNA of many startups in China, major players like Xiaomi and Alibaba have also emerged as global giants, challenging established global competitors. The authors of this book show that these companies are crossing various boundaries - between cultures, mindsets, and perspectives. At the same time, Western companies entering Asian markets face challenges that are very different from those on their home turf. This book addresses the needs of current and future managers doing business in Asia, who need to understand the individual, social and business challenges that can arise from crossing boundaries. The respective case studies provide essential insights on how several Asian companies have made impressive strides towards becoming established players; how the revival of local brands and growing pride in local products has become a major challenge for global competition; how the need to actively practice corporate social responsibility in Asian markets is currently challenging many companies; and how the need for individual and team coaching among the members of management to support a company's development has grown tremendously, calling for new solutions.

This book discusses the connection between fast fashion brands and customer-centric sustainability. It highlights what consumers can do with fast fashion and the important aspects that need to be addressed to make fast fashion sustainable. Fast fashion is an inevitable element in today's fashion business cycle and its adverse impacts on sustainable fashion are a major issue.

This book introduces readers to essential facilitation techniques for leadership in the contexts of project and network management. It provides method-based messages, a facilitator curriculum, and a veritable arsenal of 50 carefully selected and 'reality-tested' tools for facilitation in non-hierarchical contexts. As such, readers will benefit just as much from learning by doing as from doing by learning. This book is also intended for all managers who are responsible for successful communication and co-operation in projects in and across organisations or networks of organisations, and who want to know how to share their plans effectively and improve collaboration. Though the book employs scientific principles, it is chiefly a practical guide, and draws on the authors' extensive experience in consultancy and management.

As the size and complexity of a company change in the course of its evolution it experiences predictable stages of growth. During these stages, a company discovers that what worked in the past no longer works. At such times, managers have to juggle the three variables of organizational evolution--the firM's purpose, its business and management processes, and its human resource issues--and keep them in balance as they reinvent new ways of structuring the firm. Typically, tension develops as one variable is stressed at the expense of the others. Managers need to know how to delegate decision making without abdicating overall control of the organization. The model developed here derives from the authors' understanding of how successful firms have managed these tensions.

Fletcher and Taplin deal with teamwork, leadership, and the nature of dynamic change while successfully avoiding the cliches to which many experts in those areas are prone. They discuss teamwork in the context of wider performance and process issues. They address leadership not by talking about personality traits but by examining the tensions within authority structures as senior managers attempt to reconcile organizational logics (history and past practices that have sustained the firm) and their own definition of the challenges that face the firm. The authors argue that such contradictions follow a predictable pattern. Managers can either ignore the underlying instability or confront it in ways that will ease the transition and sustain the organization's dynamic growth.

The purpose of this volume is to describe the impact of the increased demand for flexibility on employees and its impact on their individual work life trajectories and health. The volume offers concrete examples of interventions aimed to find innovative ways of sustainable work careers for today's workers. We focus on the school to work transition, job insecurity, job loss and re-employment and retirement. The interventions described offer strategies for implementing support in employment contracts, increasing preparedness of individual employees with public education programs or developing work arrangements and support systems in work organizations.

This third volume on detox fashion highlights sustainable wastewater treatment methods, as well as techniques used by and the adoption of detox strategies by different brands in the textile sector. These aspects are addressed in three central chapters: Sustainable Wastewater Treatment Technologies; Review of the Utilization of Plant-based Natural Coagulants as Alternatives to Textile Wastewater Treatment; and New Waste Management through Collaborative Business Models for Sustainable Innovation.

In the new knowledge-based economy, our most valued resource is information. Unlike hard assets, such as buildings and machines, information can be easily copied and distributed, often without the owner being aware of the situation. Organizations need to foster an awareness of the vital role people play (in addition to technology) in how information or intelligence is gathered and protected. Equally important is how intelligence is used to develop strategy. Ever-changing competitive, industry, and business environments require constant monitoring. In this compelling new book by a former diplomat, you will learn the secrets (step by step) to developing an intelligence strategy by effective information gathering and analyzing, and then to delivering credible intelligence to senior management. Along the way, you will learn how to better read people and organizations and get them to open up and share information with you- all the while behaving in an ethical, legal manner. Illustrated with real-world anecdotes and personal experiences, Corporate Intelligence Awareness brings this important topic to the attention of today's business leaders. Intelligence Awareness is more than just good intelligence gathering; understanding how intelligence is gathered and processed will keep you ahead of the game, protect your secrets, and secure your competitive edge

The Media Convergence Handbook sheds new light on the complexity of media convergence and the related business challenges. Approaching the topic from a managerial, technological as well as end-consumer perspective, it acts as a reference book and educational resource in the field. Media convergence at business level may imply transforming business models and using multiplatform content production and distribution tools. However, it is shown that the implementation of convergence strategies can only succeed when expectations and aspirations of every actor involved are taken into account. Media consumers, content producers and managers face different challenges in the process of media convergence. Volume II of the Media Convergence Handbook tackles these challenges by discussing media business models, production, and users' experience and perspectives from a technological convergence viewpoint.

The practical approached championed in this book have led to increasing the quality on many successful products through providing a better understanding of consumer needs, current product and process performance and a desired future state. In 2009, Frank Rossi and Viktor Mirtchev brought their practical statistical thinking forward and created the course "Statistics for Food Scientists". The intent of the course was to help product and process developers increase the probability of their project's success through the incorporation of practical statistical thinking in their challenges. The course has since grown and has become the basis of this book.

These proceedings gather selected peer-reviewed papers from the 11th World Congress on Engineering Asset Management (WCEAM), which was held in Jiuzhaigou, China, on 25-28 July, 2016. These proceedings cover a wide range of topics in engineering asset management, including: * strategic asset management; * condition monitoring and diagnostics; * integrated intelligent maintenance; * sensors and devices; * information quality and management; * sustainability in asset management; * asset performance and knowledge management; * data mining and AI techni ques in asset management; * engineering standards; and * education in engineering asset management. The breadth and depth of these state-of-the-art, comprehensive proceedings make them an excellent resource for asset management practitioners, researchers and academics, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Recent statistics indicate that almost 80 percent of employees are unhappy in their current job. These alarming facts, coupled with high profile scandals and corporate takeovers of the past decade, illustrate that today's CEOs struggle with an image problem that is far worse than any other time in history. Ray Faulkenberry says that it is time for enlightened CEOs and business owners to implement new management styles and rely on personal experiences and universal principles as he takes a comprehensive look at the intricacies of how businesses are run today and how they may be better managed in the future. Faulkenberry emphasizes that businesses need to tap into the unlimited potential of its employees, and by executing a model that encourages profit even while it focuses on the human spirit, employers will gain a higher purpose as former management methods become obsolete. Modern CEOs will be both challenged and intrigued by the Eastern philosophy and organizational theory included. The Corporate Samurai reminds business leaders that the wisdom of past generations has great value to CEOs who really can live a life with honor and integrity and the supreme desire to protect and empower those they have been privileged to lead.

This volume focuses on what many see as an iminent crisis in the public sector, and particularly in the federal government-the possibility that, due to the realities of workforce demographics, poor leadership, lack of competitiveness in the labor market, and demotivating worker conditions, the public service will not maintain its capacity to manage programs, execute laws, and effectively deliver services for the American people. Larry Lane and James Wolf examine the significant human resource problems now confronting federal agencies, addressing these issues from a demographic, organizational, political, and cultural perspective. Arguing that the revitalization of the public service demands an effective, responsible, energetic, and committed workforce, they recommend concrete solutions and strategies aimed at stabilizing the current situation and contributing to a stronger and more effective public service over the long term. Following an introductory statement of major issues, Lane and Wolf explore the crucial roles of the public service in a democratic system of governance and assess the factors that now put the system at risk. They then introduce four conceptual lenses that can be used as an analytical tool to understand the problems of the public service and to develop solutions for assuring the supply, preparedness, productivity, and dedication of government employees. The authors first look at employment flow-the problem of maintaining workforce cadres over time. They examine problems of attraction and retention, inadequacies in system personnel policies, and the necessity for workforce planning. Turning to a discussion of competence in the workforce, the authors examine systemicblocks to the development of competence and offer strategies for addressing the competence issue. The next two chapters treat the concepts of energy and commitment, exploring ways to foster an organizational culture that encourages productivity, continuous improvement, and a long-term commitment to public service. The final chapter presents a detailed set of proposals, options, and initiatives for rebuilding the public service. Administrators, policy-makers, personnel officers, and students of public administration will find this work a significant contribution toward understanding and resolving the public sector's intensifying human resource problems.

This book provides fresh insights into the cutting edge of multimedia data mining, reflecting how the research focus has shifted towards networked social communities, mobile devices and sensors. The work describes how the history of multimedia data processing can be viewed as a sequence of disruptive innovations. Across the chapters, the discussion covers the practical frameworks, libraries, and open source software that enable the development of ground-breaking research into practical applications. Features: reviews how innovations in mobile, social, cognitive, cloud and organic based computing impacts upon the development of multimedia data mining; provides practical details on implementing the technology for solving real-world problems; includes chapters devoted to privacy issues in multimedia social environments and large-scale biometric data processing; covers content and concept based multimedia search and advanced algorithms for multimedia data representation, processing and visualization.