The provision of water and sanitation services (WSS) in developing countries has traditionally been the preserve of the state, but recently there has been a move towards greater private sector participation (PSP). While the potential economic benefits of PSP are well-known, the authors extensively discuss the environmental and social implications unique to the sector. The focus of the book is on the crucial role public authorities must continue to play to guarantee sustainability, levels of service and access to a variety of consumers. The authors show how these objectives are realised in very different ways - and not always successfully - in developing countries. The authors critically review the current literature and include new case studies from Manila, Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Abidjan and Mexico City. Private Firms and Public Water will be of interest to regulatory officials, economists, development professionals and scholars, as well as government, business and NGOs.

While characteristically 'Austrian' themes such as entrepreneurship, economic calculation, tacit knowledge and the temporal structure of capital are clearly relevant to the business firm, Austrian economists have said relatively little about management, organization, and strategy. This innovative book features 12 chapters that all seek to advance the understanding of these issues by drawing on Austrian ideas. Building on existing research in transaction cost economics, agency theory, evolutionary economics and the resource-based theory of the firm, the authors cover a wide range of theoretical and applied topics. These include knowledge management, authority and hierarchy, modularity, corporate restructuring, telecommunications regulation and competitive advantage. They clearly show how Austrian ideas can usefully engage, challenge and extend more mainstream perspectives on economic organization. There are many books on Austrian economics and many more on the theory of the firm, but virtually none that integrate these two bodies of literature. Scholars of Austrian economics and academics interested in strategy, organization and the theory of the firm will draw great value from this insightful book.

This book focuses on one of the most important features of the contemporary Japanese economy; cross shareholding - or mutual shareholding - between corporations. The book analyses recent trends and the reasons behind these, and discusses the implications for the entire Japanese economic system and highlights relevant public policy. Mitsuaki Okabe proposes that the dissolution of cross shareholdings has weakened the importance of long-term transactional relationships as seen in the Keiretsu (the 'main bank') practice and employment, and that as a result the character of the economy is now closer to that of the Anglo-American system. Cross Shareholdings in Japan is a timely book and will be of special interest to academics and researchers of economics, Asian studies and finance, as well as policymakers and those involved either directly or indirectly in the Japanese financial system.

The Nonprofit Sector in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia (EERCA), edited by David Horton Smith, Alisa V. Moldavanova, and Svitlana Krasynska, uniquely provides a research overview of the nonprofit sector and nonprofit organizations in eleven former Soviet republics, with each central chapter written by local experts. Such chapters, with our editorial introductions, present up-to-date versions of works previously published in EERCA native languages. With a Foreword by Susan Rose-Ackerman (Yale University), introductory and concluding chapters also explain the editors' theoretical approach, setting the whole volume in several, relevant, larger intellectual contexts, and summarize briefly the gist of the book. The many post-Soviet countries show much variety in their current situation, ranging from democratic to totalitarian regimes.

In this revised second edition, Hans Jansson develops and applies an international business and marketing strategy framework to contemporary complex global markets. This cutting-edge textbook explores the major challenges associated with doing business in complex and turbulent emerging markets, stressing the strategic importance of the natural environment. Taking a holistic perspective that integrates stakeholder and shareholder views, this textbook employs an innovative network institutional framework to achieve sustainable competitive advantages by creating economic, social and ecological values with stakeholders. This updated edition includes: The international network strategy (INS), offering a framework for connecting MNCs and multinational exporters with parties in new economic, social and natural environments, and the international matching strategy (IMS), dealing with how MNCs achieve legitimacy An overview of the historical development of the supranational environment, structured as three waves of the internationalization of firms, including the integration of foreign direct investment into the global value chain Dedicated chapters outlining the development of research on international business, strategy, marketing, networks and institutions A methodology for analysing the institutional context of foreign local markets. Insightful and enlightening, this textbook is ideal for postgraduate students of international business, strategy and marketing. This book will also offer frameworks and strategic tools for managers, consultants and practitioners confronting strategic issues in complex markets.

Entrepreneurs engaging in international business face business environments that are fundamentally different from their home countries. Despite decades of entrepreneurship research, we know little about these entrepreneurs and their strategic behaviour in establishing and managing transnational operations. This book applies an institutional perspective on transnational entrepreneurship to empirical investigations of transnational corporations (TNCs) from Hong Kong and Singapore. Henry Wai-chung Yeung argues that significant variations in institutional structures of home countries explain variations in the entrepreneurial endowments of prospective transnational business networks. This is illustrated by empirical data from two in-depth studies of over 300 TNCs from Hong Kong and Singapore and over 120 of their foreign affiliates in Asia. Entrepreneurship and the Internationalisation of Asian Firms is a timely contribution to theoretical and empirical studies in international business and will be widely read by those interested in international business, industrial economics, organisation studies, political economy, regional studies and economic geography.

Skills are frequently in the news and in the public eye in every country. Stories highlight concerns about education and literacy standards, grades, learning by rote, and university students being unprepared for work, as well as debates surrounding internships and apprenticeships, and social exclusion through skills policy. The recent financial crisis has forced education and training to take a back seat, and has caused an increase in youth unemployment. Skill and skilled work are widely considered important for promoting both prosperity and social justice. But how do we define skill? Skills and Skilled Work brings together multiple perspectives- economics, sociology, management, psychology, and political science- to present an original framework for understanding skills, skilled work, and surrounding policies. Focussing on common themes across countries, it establishes the concept and measurement of skill, and investigates the role of employers, workers, and other social actors. It considers a variety of skill problems and how a social response from the government can be understood. Based on the findings of economics, management science, and theories of social determination, it develops a rationale for social intervention beyond market failure. This book weighs up both the prospects and the limitations of what can be achieved for societies with a better emphasis on skills and skilled work, and it promotes the study of skill in modern economies as a distinct sub-field.

The theme of this book is moral leadership in action as it manifests itself implicitly and explicitly in European business organizations. We understand leadership as interplay among people at all levels within organizations and also within the economic system by which people are bound together through particular forms of interaction. The contributions collected in this volume mirror the plurality of approaches we find in the theoretical writings of academics in different European countries. The additional business cases from six different nations show how leaders actually have adopted and integrated working with values in their own organizations, i.e. how they put moral leadership into action. While the selected papers are not meant to be representative of each country, particular economic and cultural traditions are apparent in both thinking and managing moral leadership. The contributors, by presenting this emerging multicultural pattern of Europe, contribute to a better and more knowledgeable understanding of how European business leaders pursue their goals. Managers, students and teachers in business, ethics and leadership studies will find this volume an indispensable guide to the unique contributions of European leadership scholars.

Though entrepreneurship has been studied for decades, in recent years, the study of "rural entrepreneurship" has emerged as an upcoming subtopic of the area. With the growth and continual ease of utilizing digital technologies to support entrepreneurial activities, these technologies now provide unique opportunities for advancing rural entrepreneurship. Though prior research focused on challenges for IT use in rural areas that specifically investigated investment and management issues, it is important to study all challenges and opportunities involved in this developing area of research. Rural Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Digital Era is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on the utilization of digital technologies in rural business ventures. Unlike other references, this book studies the conceptualization process of rural entrepreneurship and innovation with the intention of providing guidelines and support for entrepreneurs. While highlighting topics such as microfinancing, risk management, and rural development, this publication explores innovative practices as well as the methods of IT investment and management. This book is ideally designed for business professionals, entrepreneurs, business researchers, academics, and business students.

The Dynamics of Industrial Collaboration revisits and reformulates issues previously raised by inter-firm collaboration. The latest research in collaboration, processes and evaluation of cooperation, and industrial and research networks, is presented by way of both empirical and theoretical studies. The authors use several theoretical perspectives to explain inter-firm and inter-institutional collaboration: the theory of transaction costs and contracts, evolutionary theory, and the resource-based view. The book illustrates that none of these approaches are dominant. The issue of collaboration is raised in various contexts such as the new economics, biotechnology, and the motor industry. It will be of special interest to industrial economists and scholars of evolutionary economics.

Information and communication technologies related to digital networks enable the continued rise of entrepreneurial business opportunities and inventive business models. E-Entrepreneurship and ICT Ventures: Strategy, Organization and Technology provides a unique and quintessential overview of the current state of conceptual and empirical research at the interface of e-business and entrepreneurship research. Contributing an enhanced understanding of the important interface of e-business and entrepreneurship, this reference publication brings together leading academics and practitioners from around the world, offering essential reading material for students, educators, managers, entrepreneurs, and political decision makers interested in applying and fostering e-business concepts in an entrepreneurial environment.

Since the 1970s, there have been many changes to the ways in which Japanese firms have conducted business. The editors of this volume examine the strategies of Japanese subsidiaries in the new global economy and present, in four parts, a comprehensive picture of the nature of Japanese multinational enterprises.The book addresses the overall nature of Japanese investment in international markets, and its broader implications for corporate performance. The entry mode choice and its relationship to performance is then examined, in an attempt to establish overall trends in the performance of various modes. The focus then shifts explicitly to joint ventures since nearly half of all Japanese subsidiaries take this form. Finally, the management strategies that Japanese firms have used in their foreign subsidiaries are investigated. Japanese Subsidiaries in the New Global Economy utilizes empirical analyses based on a very large, longitudinal data set, coupled with state of the art conceptual development. This volume provides a complete current picture of the international strategy of Japanese firms, which will be both useful and informative for researchers, scholars and policy makers in international business, international economics, foreign investment, joint ventures and expatriate management.

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