If you want to own or manage a breakout company, R. Neil Thiessen can make it happen-and he'll save you frustration, time, and money, to boot.

Proven in myriad industries, Thiessen's Diamond Solution is a powerful tool for gaining insight into your business and uncovering opportunities that you never knew existed. With this guide, you will learn to develop critical elements for business success, including clarity, focus, adaptability, flexibility, and efficiency, as well as how to:

Decide whether growth is the right option right now for your business Take stock of existing company assets and human resources Determine what's currently working and what is not Build a trustworthy staff that is engaged and involved and will deliver results Foster a culture of accountability and action Implement "Leaderment," an ideal combination of leadership and management Use Opportunity Assessment to prioritize your precious resources

With the expert tips and strategies, case studies and examples, and practical exercises in this motivating and empowering book, you will avoid pitfalls, minimize risks, and achieve extraordinary results as your business grows with limited resources and limitless imaginations.

The decision to carry out a merger or acquisition is certainly a risky one, not least because of the number of variables influencing the final outcome. It is also a decision frequently based on the wrong objectives and an incorrect evaluation process. With this in mind, this important new book offers solutions for reducing the high percentage of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) that fail. It adopts a normative approach, using theoretical analysis to show what managers could and should do to increase shareholders' value through successful M&A strategies. It also explores the conditions that are suitable for favouring a certain type of M&A (horizontal, vertical or diversified) over the others. The author presents various analytical models combined with a selection of case studies to demonstrate the relevant conditions under which each type of strategy can create value. The book analyses different types of M&As, the specific sources of synergy and the way value can be calculated. An integrated analysis of potential synergies, their evaluation and the modifications to the organizational structure necessary for implementation is also included. In conclusion, the book presents some case studies of successful M&A strategies providing a link between theory and practice. Building upon traditional theories and providing original and innovative analysis, this is an essential book for students and scholars in economics, business and strategic management, as well as managers and consultants seeking an analytical and practical understanding of M&A strategies.

For undergraduate and graduate courses in entrepreneurship and/or small business management. Discover how to successfully launch and manage a small business. Open your students' minds to the possibilities, challenges, and rewards of becoming a small business owner with Entrepreneurship and Effective Small Business Management. This text provides students with the tools they need in order to launch and manage a small business. This Eleventh Edition continues to provide students with a practical, hands-on approach to launch a business that has the greatest chance for success. This edition features ten new cases and the most recent statistics, studies, surveys, and research about entrepreneurship and small business management.

This edited volume systematically demonstrates the evolution of research in entrepreneurial ecosystems and highlights its importance to policy. Presenting two particular aspects of research in entrepreneurial ecosystems, the book begins with chapters that analyse multi-country contexts before going on to explore the digital entrepreneurial ecosystem. With state of the art research, this volume explores the economic, social, and policy approaches that characterize fruitful research on entrepreneurial ecosystems with economically meaningful implications for policy. Contributing to the rapidly expanding field of research, this is an insightful resource to students, researchers and policy makers interested in entrepreneurship.

Security metrics is the application of quantitative, statistical, and/or mathematical analyses to measuring security functional trends and workload. In other words, tracking what each function is doing in terms of level of effort (LOE), costs, and productivity. Security metrics management is the managing of an assets protection program and related security functions through the use of metrics. It can be used where managerial tasks must be supported for such purposes as supporting the security professional's position on budget matters, justifying the cost-effectiveness of decisions, determining the impact of downsizing on service and support to customers, etc.
Security Metrics Management is designed to provide basic guidance to security professionals so that they can measure the costs of their assets protection program - their security program - as well as its successes and failures. It includes a discussion of how to use the metrics to brief management, justify budget and use trend analyses to develop a more efficient and effective assets protection program.
- Over 100 checklists, flowcharts, and other illustrations depict examples of security metrics and how to use them
- Drawings, model processes, model procedures and forms enable the reader to immediately put concepts to use in a practical application
- Provides clear direction on how to meet new business demands on the Security Professional

Research on evaluation shows that low-use and non-use of evaluation is common, yet evaluation is hailed as beneficial and worthwhile. The worth of evaluation is tied to its utilisation, presenting a paradox if evaluation is both revered and underutilised. This book investigates this paradox in the under-researched context of small development non-profit organisations, which have specific resource constraints and 'bottom up' community development values that complicate their ability to do and use evaluation in line with top down directives. The book examines the utility, meaningfulness, and purpose of evaluation from small non-profit perspectives, and explores whether evaluation has value for these organisations. For development practice, it presents evaluative alternatives that reconceptualise evaluation as part of the active process of development rather than as an interval-based add-on. For evaluation theory, it highlights a historical preoccupation with improving evaluation without assessing its inherent worth, and considers alternative ways to enhance the value of evaluation for small non-profits.

This book examines how new technologies have transformed global markets, as well as global business strategy. It explores how digitalization, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and other changes in technology have led both to new opportunities but also to increased uncertainty within both business and legislature. By pulling together academics from Russia, China, France, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and other countries, this book provides a truly international perspective on the impact of new technologies across areas including smart cities, corporate governance, EU legislation and logistical enterprise. It will be valuable reading for academics interested in digitization, digital business, digital entrepreneurship and the way that technological change has informed strategy.

This book explains how the traditional paradigm of private and public organizations is changing as a result of the multiple factors that are affecting the way in which goods and services are produced, and for whom they are produced. In view of these disruptive trends, the theory of the firm needs to be updated and to some extent rethought. Moreover, diverse challenges and opportunities such as climate change, aging populations, and new public accountability requirements are necessitating novel frameworks to ensure the long-term survival of public and private organizations. Against this backdrop, the authors contribute to the debate over the firm's primary interest by proposing a new way of viewing the nature of the firm and its relationship with stakeholders. In addition, they carefully analyze the challenges and opportunities mentioned above, evaluating their significance for various important aspects of organizations through different lenses. Global in scope, the book also takes the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals into account. Accordingly, it will be of interest to all readers seeking a better understanding of the evolving nature of firms and organizations in our changing world.

This book examines the capital structure dynamics in Indian MSMEs, offering empirical evidence to better understand the financial practices within entrepreneurial settings. Altaf and Shah in this book assess the financing pattern of Indian MSMEs, response of capital structure determinants to different macroeconomic states, links between working capital and capital structure, cash flow volatility and capital structure and also the impact of credit risk on capital structure and firm performance relationship. This book enthuses the audience looking to understand newer dynamics of capital structure and its interplay in the Indian MSMEs.

This volume highlights current research and developments on organizations and (their) performance against the background of ubiquitous complexity. It investigates some of the challenges and trends dominating the complex world of nowadays and the ways organizations are dealing with them in their continuous search for performance. The papers in the volume cover a series of hot and/or emerging topics (i.e. sustainable development, corporate social responsibility, green marketing, digital revolution, social media, global trade, intangible assets, economic intelligence and innovation). Built on an interdisciplinary perspective and a multi-level approach global (trade, power, sustainable development), regional (EU, BRICS), national (country-based systems, cultures, policies, practices), industry (airlines, pharma, luxury, retailing, banking, tourism), local (communities, destinations), and organization (entrepreneurship, MNEs, public organizations: national and local) the volume uniquely addresses issues of high interest for researchers, practitioners and policymakers.

In December of 1963, grief over the recent assassination of President Kennedy gave rise to a heightened sense of urgency to "grab the brass ring now." So it was that on a snowy day in Dallas, a legal secretary looking for a brighter future for herself and her family answered an ad placed by a new company, Mary Kay Cosmetics. In Jackie Brown's brief interview with Mary Kay, she became convinced not only of the company's quality products and the founder's values, but also of the potential in the marketing plan. Here was a company that would reward her hard work and dedication with an executive paycheck Jackie rose through the ranks of Mary Kay Cosmetics as no one else did. Jackie's successes in selling and recruiting laid the foundation for a cosmetics empire and she herself became the gold standard for new recruits. But as the company's achievements spiraled ever higher, Jackie began to see flaws from within. And these were only the first warnings of a breach of trust so great it would start a battle between the two women. This is the story the public has never heard. The real story that fills in the gaps left by other published reports. It is a story of loyalty and betrayal, joy and heartbreak, recognition and disappointment, heady success and depressing failure. Ultimately, it is also a story of tragedy, and Jackie Brown is the only one who can tell it. Author Jackie Brown spent over forty years in the cosmetic business and was president of two cosmetic companies. Now retired, she lives in a small town in Arkansas.

Business Voyages is not a business fairy tale. Much of it really happened. Don't read this book if you are looking for simple answers and magic formulas. Although the book includes some concepts and techniques anyone should know about people and business, it does not promise success. Business Voyages is problem-oriented, presenting some of the problems encountered by the author and others on their business voyages, while explaining tools and processes anyone can use for analyzing and dealing with inevitable problems that will be encountered in any business world. Business Voyages is also opportunity-oriented, showing the reader how one might embark on a business venture at the right time and place and enjoy the winnings of a successful voyage.

Economic and societal systems continually evolve as the needs and demands of society change. With the development of new technologies, research, and discoveries, various opportunities emerge for venture development and developing economies. Crowdfunding and Sustainable Urban Development in Emerging Economies provides innovative research on current issues in the rise of new platforms for digital activities, a collaborative economy, crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, and other activities that are shaping developing countries. Highlighting a range of pertinent topics, such as infrastructure finance, tertiary educational institutions, and urban sustainability, this book is an important resource for academicians, practitioners, researchers, and students.

This book discusses corporate citizenship, corporate responsibility and business ethics across Africa generally, and Botswana specifically. It begins by contextualizing Botswana within the broader context of Africa, using nine other countries - Angola, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe - to provide a comparative perspective, examining the common factor: that weak legalization makes it challenging for corporate social responsibility to be actualized.From this background, the book then discusses Botswana as a key study. Botswana has been described as 'Africa's economic miracle' due to its growing economy since independence This puts it in a unique position for the implementation and study of corporate social responsibility. The interdisciplinary team of authors employ various research methods to examine the complex relationship between business, society, corporations and social justice issues.This book will be valuable reading for any academic working on corporate social responsibility in Africa, and will present an interesting insight to an often neglected area of study. France Maphosa is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Botswana. His research interests include migration and transnationalism, the sociology of entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, urban and rural livelihoods, labour studies and alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Langtone Maunganidze is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Midlands State University in Zimbabwe. His research interests include industrial sociology, business and society, rural livelihoods and sustainable development, and entrepreneurship.

This anthology debates the idea of giving all people - no matter which profession or position they have (and whether they have a job or not) - the same pay. Some contributors argue against equal pay for all, some for increased pay equality but not for total pay equality, and some argue for equal pay for all. There is no common conclusion in the book; instead, the book aims to encourage reflection as well as further debate on something that is often taken for granted, namely differentiated pay, by offering a set of various standpoints in the debate, backed-up with various kinds of arguments. Among bases for arguments that are put forward in the book, economy, practicability and ethics belong to the most frequently occurring ones. This book is the first one to be published in the book series Palgrave Debates in Business and Management.