Innovation and standardization might seem polar opposites, but over many years various scholars have noted close connections between the two. This Handbook assembles a broad range of thinking on this subject, with contributions from several disciplinary perspectives by over 30 leading scholars and experienced practitioners. Collectively, they summarize and synthesize the existing body of knowledge - theory and evidence - pertaining to standards and innovation, and provide insights into how this knowledge can be useful to scholars, industrial strategists, policy-makers and standards practitioners. Drawn from leading experts in several social science disciplines, this Handbook provides new insights into innovation processes and systems using theoretical, empirical and applied approaches. By situating standards and standardization as specific factors which play distinctive roles in innovation-driven growth, it establishes that standardization (doing things the same way) is an essential component of innovation (doing things differently). The book also provides novel and practical insight into how standards are incorporated into innovation strategies and policies. Comprehensive and original, this collection will be a vital resource for all students and academics of social, natural and engineering science communities. Policy-makers and practitioners will also find a wealth of experience and knowledge within its pages.

Between 1951 and 1989, Congress held a series of hearings to investigate the antitrust aspects of professional sports leagues. Among the concerns: ownership control of players, restrictions on new franchises, territorial protection, and other cartel-like behaviors. In The Big Leagues Go to Washington, David Surdam chronicles the key issues that arose during the hearings and the ways opposing sides used economic data and theory to define what was right, what was feasible, and what was advantageous to one party or another. As Surdam shows, the hearings affected matters as fundamental to the modern game as broadcasting rights, player drafts and unions, league mergers, and the dominance of the New York Yankees. He also charts how lawmakers from the West and South pressed for the relocation of ailing franchises to their states and the ways savvy owners dodged congressional interference when they could and adapted to it when necessary.

Global Value Chains and Production Networks: Case Studies of Siemens and Huawei presents theories and frameworks that facilitate the evolution of GPN studies, from macro perspectives based on territory and industry to the use of micro (firm-level) data. The book explores these theories and frameworks through detailed case studies of two major corporations, Siemens and Huawei. With the GPN/GVC structure of Chinese firms not well known outside China, despite the growing importance of Chinese firms in the global economy, this guide plays a pivotal role in facilitating the use of data that promise to unlock economic cooperation and value.

Mike Sharman invites you to share in the hustle, in this business book The Best Dick. From the enthusiastic, entrepreneurial beginnings of a bootstrapped startup founder - a relatively inexperienced 26 year old - to a seasoned, professional, storyteller, who has built a boutique social media advertising agency that has made more brands go viral, globally, than any other studio in Africa.

Mike seamlessly and hypnotically entwines business insights and universal premises of first hires, cash flow challenges, brand building, networking and pitches, with his humorous storyselling approach to deliver a page-turner complete with armed robberies, fancy-dress competitions and partnering with some of the planet’s most coveted brands.

The Best Dick is the catalyst you’ve been waiting for, your entire life, to encourage your emancipation from the payroll hamster wheel, in order to just start your own business. And, for the existing entrepreneur to find solace in the fact that founding your own company is the best, damn decision you ever made.

Life is short. Play naked!

Entrepreneurship and innovation are the drivers of value creation in the twenty-first century. In the geography of the global economy there are 'hot spots' where new technologies germinate at an astounding rate and pools of capital, expertise, and talent foster the development of new industries, and new ways of doing business. These clusters of innovation have key attributes distinct from traditional industrial clusters that allow them to extend beyond geographic boundaries and serve as models for economic expansion in both developed and developing countries. How do these clusters emerge? What is the role of individual institutions such as governments, universities, major corporations, investors, and the individual entrepreneur? Are there systemic underpinnings, an invisible hand, that encourage these communities? The book begins with a presentation of the Clusters of Innovation Framework that identifies the salient components, behaviors, and linkages that characterize an innovation cluster, followed by an analysis of the archetypal cluster, Silicon Valley. Subsequent chapters probe how these characteristics apply in a diverse selection of economic communities in Germany, Belgium, Spain, the United Kingdom, Israel, Japan, Taiwan, China, Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil. Concluding chapters investigate the role of transregional organizations as cross-border disseminators of best practices in entrepreneurship and innovation. Students and professors of economics, business, public policy, management, entrepreneurship, and innovation will find this book a useful resource. Corporate executives, university administrators, government officials, policy makers, and entrepreneurs will also find it an insightful guide. Contributors: O. Berry, D. Chapman, J.-M. Chen, S.H. De Cleyn, I. Del Palacio, W. De Waele, J. Engel, F. Feferman, F. Forster, S. Kagami, M. Pareja-Eastaway, J.M. Pique, Q. Lang, C. Scheel, H. Schoenenberger, M. Subodh, V. Trigo, D. Wasserteil, P. Weilerstein, C.-T. Wen

The Economics of Electricity Markets provides a cutting-edge analysis of the critical issues involved in the design and operation of electricity markets, as well as an assessment of alternative institutional arrangements that have either been implemented or are under discussion in Europe and the US.The book illustrates how a sound market design can render electricity trading and retailing very much like that of other commodities. Social and political concerns, rather than engineering or economics, are what make electricity markets 'special'. The expert contributors address a wide set of issues that arise when competition is introduced to the electricity industry, ranging from the design of spot and real-time power markets to alternative approaches to congestion management, from competition policy in wholesale electricity markets to the benefits and costs of retail competition, and from regulatory measures to ensure generation capacity adequacy to the politicization of generation investment decisions as a way of pursuing sustainability targets. This highly informative book will appeal to academics, students and researchers in the field of advanced energy economics, and will prove essential reading for energy regulators, professionals and executives wishing to explore the theoretical foundations underpinning their day-to-day activities. Contributors: G. Cervigni, A. Commisso, A. Creti, D. Perekhodtsev, C. Poletti, P. Ranci

The contribution of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is acknowledged as an influential engine to economic growth. However, the biggest challenge faced by these SMEs is the lack of competitive service offerings for their target customers due to unstandardized products and a lack of consumer engagement and strategies. Service Marketing Strategies for Small and Medium Enterprises: Emerging Research and Opportunities is an essential reference source that provides guidelines on how SMEs can achieve sustainability through positive marketing outcomes and effective customer services. Featuring research on the assessment of SMEs' customer service expectation, listening to customers through qualitative research, service quality model and its marketing implications, integrated marketing communications for SME environments, effective service encounters, and relationship developing strategies for SMEs, this publication provides new models for managers, industry professionals, academicians, and researchers.

Discover the meaning of life and the raw truth of what is truly happening in the inner and outer worlds. Open your mind s eye to see what you might have accepted questioningly. Become deeply aware of how everything in the universe works, scientifically and beyond science, on both the conscious and subconscious levels - your brain, reality, other people, society and the rules. This book boldly and passionately explores a vast array of important aspects of life, that most people don t realize affect their personal lives. Find out what is keeping you in a poisoned state and preventing you from achieving any potential at all, let alone your greatest potential. Galvanize your drive and creativity in business. Embark on the awakening, emotional journey towards becoming truly conscious and aware so you can better yourself and the world around you.

Companies operating in countries with volatile economies face an environment subject to turbulence. It is important to understand how these companies can overcome adversity, establish competitive advantage, and achieve superior performance. The selection of competitive drivers can help to improve the ability to capture, process, and manage information that can generate knowledge and innovation in products and processes, as well as increase strategic capacity and organizational performance. Strategy and Superior Performance of Micro and Small Businesses in Volatile Economies focuses on the ways that organizations capture information and disseminate it in their work teams, transforming this knowledge into innovative products and services that establish competitive advantage. It will improve the understanding of the role of strategy, innovation, entrepreneurship, and the effort to reduce poverty levels in societies with volatile economies and which are subject to serious social disparities. Highlighting topics such as economic development, market performance, and network economy, this publication is designed for managers, entrepreneurs, business professionals, academicians, researchers, and students.

Entrepreneurship is always evolving, and while some view entrepreneurship as something one is born to do, entrepreneurs should continue their education to improve themselves professionally. Entrepreneurship does not end with the creation of a start-up or in pursuing an already consolidated economic reality; it manifests itself in everyday life. Responsible Entrepreneurship Education: Emerging Research and Opportunities provides innovative insights into educational strategies for the continued preparation of entrepreneurs. The content within this publication examines economic theory, lifelong learning, opportunistic and positive thinking, business creativity, and operations management. It is designed for entrepreneurs, students, business educators, academicians, managers, and researchers.

In this innovative book, Laura E. Huggins finds path breaking entrepreneurial solutions to difficult environmental challenges in some of the world's poorest areas.The approaches entrepreneurs are taking to these challenges involve establishing property rights and encouraging market exchange. From beehives to barbed wire, these tools are creating positive incentives and promoting both economic development and environmental improvements. The case studies are from the developing world and reveal where the biggest victories for less poverty and more conservation can be won. The pursuit begins by learning from local people solving local problems. Environmental Entrepreneurship encourages a broad audience to consider secure property rights and free markets as key ingredients to moving out of poverty and improving environmental quality at the same time. It will appeal to academics and students of environmental studies, environmental economics, environmental policy, as well as international development and business. Entrepreneurs and environmental groups such as The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, and The World Resources Institute will also find a wealth of invaluable information in this book. Contents: 1. Markets Meet the Environment in Unexpected Places 2. Saving Wildlife in Kenya and Sub-Sahran Africa with Shawn Regan and Terry Anderson 3. Fencing Fisheries in Namibia and Beyond 4. Ecosystems at Your Service in South America 5. The Thirsty Dragon 6. Un-American Indian Reservations and Resource Management with Terry Anderson Index

In a global and increasingly competitive world, companies must be aware of important drivers. Entrepreneurship and innovation are important contributions to the development of economies and creation of employment, gaining relevance in the business context due to a more complex market and needs for higher differentiation. The Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Internationalization provides key data to business managers on dealing with entrepreneurship, as well as for creating networks and complementarities for leveraging the firm's activity in order to help plan and control innovation and internationalization processes to avoid risk and increase the firm's value. The content within this publication includes topics such as family business, economics, and business education. It is designed for entrepreneurs, managers, researchers, academicians, and students.