In Time Series Analysis and Adjustment the authors explain how the last four decades have brought dramatic changes in the way researchers analyze economic and financial data on behalf of economic and financial institutions and provide statistics to whomsoever requires them. Such analysis has long involved what is known as econometrics, but time series analysis is a different approach driven more by data than economic theory and focused on modelling. An understanding of time series and the application and understanding of related time series adjustment procedures is essential in areas such as risk management, business cycle analysis, and forecasting. Dealing with economic data involves grappling with things like varying numbers of working and trading days in different months and movable national holidays. Special attention has to be given to such things. However, the main problem in time series analysis is randomness. In real-life, data patterns are usually unclear, and the challenge is to uncover hidden patterns in the data and then to generate accurate forecasts. The case studies in this book demonstrate that time series adjustment methods can be efficaciously applied and utilized, for both analysis and forecasting, but they must be used in the context of reasoned statistical and economic judgment. The authors believe this is the first published study to really deal with this issue of context.

In the last twenty years considerable progress has been made in process risk and reliability management, particularly in regard to regulatory compliance. Many companies are now looking to go beyond mere compliance; they are expanding their process safety management (PSM) programs to improve performance not just in safety, but also in environmental compliance, quality control and overall profitability. Techniques and principles are illustrated with numerous examples from chemical plants, refineries, transportation, pipelines and offshore oil and gas. This book helps executives, managers and technical professionals achieve not only their current PSM goals, but also to make the transition to a broader operational integrity strategy. The book focuses on the energy and process industries- from refineries, to pipelines, chemical plants, transportation, energy and offshore facilities. The techniques described in the book can also be applied to a wide range of non-process industries. The book is both thorough and practical. It discusses theoretical principles in a wide variety of areas such as management of change, risk analysis and incident investigation, and then goes on to show how these principles work in practice, either in the design office or in an operating facility. The second edition has been expanded, revised and updated and many new sections have been added including: The impact of resource limitations, a review of some recent major incidents, the value of story-telling as a means of conveying process safety values and principles, and the impact of the proposed changes to the OSHA PSM standard.

The idea of using models to inform business practice seems appealing, as it suggests the abstraction and control of a large, complex subject by means of a smaller, easily manipulated mechanism. In reality, however, many models prove inadequate when translated into business methods. Monitoring Business Performance - Models, Methods and Tools elucidates how the assumptions and perceptions that guide performance assessment are often based on models that are poor interpretations and descriptions of reality. In this book, the author scrutinizes the models underlying a number of well-known business methods and tools, and sheds light on the assumptions and subjective perceptions that undermine their effectiveness. In doing so, he offers a unique criticism of accepting business models without questioning their relevance and applicability, and highlights the need to treat models as hypotheses, rather than as certainties.

This title includes a number of Open Access chapters. This book gathers together a critical body of knowledge on what enterprise architecture (EA) is and how it can be used to better organize the functions of systems across an enterprise for an effective business-IT alignment. The chapters provide a solid foundation for a cross-disciplinary professional practice.

The modern consumer is no longer attracted by single-minded, predictable and one-benefit-focused brand promises. The old-fashioned FMCG communication strategies based on television, radio and print with constant repetition have become outdated. From Great to Gone shows that what's needed are 'Lego' strategies, whereby the marketing and communication strategies are built up by many key facets (like building blocks) and delivered to the consumer through a mix of various touch points. Most importantly, you need to leave consumers to put all of that together themselves. There are major internal and external hurdles to transforming FMCGs successfully into FICGs - Fast Innovating Consumer Goods. It requires new brand strategies and flatter, more top-down than bottom-up, decision-making organisations and a 21st-century model for advertising agencies. Externally these companies need a new route to market through transformation of their old retail dependencies. Changes are also required in all communication delivery, reflecting modern consumers' connectivity and unlimited access to information. In the book the authors showcase what the winners of the 21st century have in common that has enabled them to become FICGs. New, unimagined models continue emerge, to which, with the authors' guidance producers and retailers may develop their own sustainable responses.

The only pocket guide to the UK building regulations on the market Succinct, portable, reliable guide to UK Building regulations Essential for anyone involved in building works or renovations in the UK

This book discusses important issues related to managing supply chain disruption risks from various perspectives. It explores the essence and principles relating to managing these risks and provides the framework and multi-goal model groups for managing such risks. The book also discusses research development of managing supply chain disruptive risks, supply chain risk conduction and loss assessment methods of supply chain disruptive events. It also includes the consideration of supply chain coordinating models in the cases of demand and supply disruption risks. It also deals on the subject of managing models of supply chain disruption risks by looking at manufacturers and responding decision methods oriented towards demand in disruption and coordination. It also summarizes the relevant findings and provides future research questions and orientations. The book will contributes significantly to the growing body of knowledge concerning the theory of managing supply chains.

Knowledge management goes beyond data and information capture in computerized health records and ordering systems; it seeks to leverage the experiences of all who interact in healthcare to enhance care delivery, teamwork, and organizational learning. Knowledge management - if envisioned thoughtfully - takes a systemic approach to implementation that includes the embodiment of a learning culture. Knowledge is then used to support that culture and the knowledge workers within it to encourage them to share what they know, thusly enabling their peers, their organizations and ultimately their patients to benefit from their experience to proactively dismantle hierarchy and encourage sharing about what works, and what doesn't to focus efforts on improvement. Knowledge Management in Healthcare draws on relevant business, clinical and health administration literature plus the analysis of discussions with a variety of clinical, administrative, leadership, patient and information experts. The result is a book that will inform thinking on knowledge access needs to mitigate potential failures, design lasting improvements and support the sharing of what is known to enable work towards attaining high reliability. It can be used as a general tool for leaders and individuals wishing to devise and implement a knowledge-sharing culture in their institution, design innovative activities supporting transparency and communication to strengthen existing programs intended to enhance knowledge sharing behaviours and contribute to high quality, safe care.

Organisations continue to struggle with their strategies; even when they have a strategy development process, their plans rarely have the impact that was intended. Too many of their people don't know about the strategy, don't understand it or can't translate it into what it means for their role. Validating Strategies addresses the taxonomy, syntax and semantics of strategies; in other words: what does the strategy say, how does it relate to other plans, what are the causalities between the strategy and successful business outcomes and how should this all be expressed in a language that everyone in the organization can understand. The model at the heart of this book - Organisations run Projects that produce Results and enable people to Use them to create Benefits (PRUB) - offers an intuitive approach that links collaborative strategic planning and validation to project and programme management so as to create, validate and implement strategies. The strategy development and validation model offered by Phil Driver addresses the struggle of organisations to realise their strategy, replacing endless projects that don't quite seem to deliver what the organization needs with an easy-to-understand, implementable methodology that can be validated with evidence.

The book takes readers though a series of security and risk discussions based on real-life experiences. While the experience story may not be technical, it will relate specifically to a value or skill critical to being a successful CISO. The core content is organized into ten major chapters, each relating to a "Rule of Information Security" developed through a career of real life experiences. The elements are selected to accelerate the development of CISO skills critical to success. Each segments clearly calls out lessons learned and skills to be developed. The last segment of the book addresses presenting security to senior execs and board members, and provides sample content and materials.

First published in 1983, this study investigates and compares three leading firms in the British iron and steel industry between 1914 and 1939, analysing their strategies, boardroom politics, and their responses to the problems posed by the Great War and by the vicissitudes of the 1920s and '30s. Jonathan Boswell illuminates certain issues that are of perennial importance for students of business: rationality and 'error' in decision-making, ethics, centralisation versus decentralisation, and the question of cyclical phases. The central theme throughout is the pursuit of three partly conflicting objectives: growth, efficiency and social action. The trade-offs between these three pursuits are used to examine significant contrasts in corporate strategies and behaviour, including towards government and public opinion. Boswell's rejection of economic determinism; his insistence that managerial influences fall into definable long-run patterns; and his theses on managerial specialisation and long-term policy biases confront fundamental issues for theories of the firm.

Retail pricing strategy is seen as one of the priorities in retail management. There exist two main pricing strategies in retailing: the Every Day Low Price (EDLP) strategy and the High-Low (Hi-Lo) pricing strategy. Despite the importance of this topic, it has been given little attention in academic research. The author fills this gap in academic literature and examines the topic both from a theoretical and an empirical perspective. Based on a comprehensive conceptual examination of pricing strategies in retailing, the author conducted two large-scale empirical studies about the impact of the retailer's pricing strategy and the price promotion activity on store performance and derives fruitful implications both for future research and for managerial action.

First published in 1939, Management and Labour is a study of industrial organisation in the 1930s, with special reference to personnel relations. The matters dealt with include the development of systematic methods of management; 'Scientific Management' and industrial psychology; Industrial fatigue and its reduction; Working conditions and factory environment; Labour management; Foremanship; Labour turnover; Absenteeism; Arbitration and conciliation in labour disputes; Statutory and voluntary welfare; State regulation of wages; Industrial diseases and their prevention; Industrial accidents; and the problem of economic security for employees. This book will be of interest to students of business, management, labour studies, disaster management and history.

In a period of change, consolidation and cut-backs as well as rapid technological developments, the business school library is often at the forefront of new initiatives and innovative approaches to delivering and managing information in the most responsive yet cost-effective manner possible. In this unique book a respected group of business library directors from prestigious institutions around the world come together to reflect on the key challenges facing their libraries today, from change management to technology and communications to space. They document the state of the sector during a time of fundamental change, draw on their own local contexts to explore topics and concepts and share their insights into what the future might bring. This book will be essential reading not only for librarians working in business, management or social sciences disciplines but for all professionals managing library and information services.

In Obstructive Marketing, Maitland Hyslop deals with a very negative kind of activity which embraces activities, legal or otherwise, designed to prevent or restrict the distribution of a product or service, temporarily or permanently, against the wishes of the product manufacturer, service provider or customer. When the author defined this phenomenon as Obstructive Marketing and started to research it more than a decade ago, it was seen as a valid concept that was perhaps ahead of its time. The World has moved on and in the era of globalization a study of this negative aspect of marketing is now required. Obstructive Marketing is now seen as the business equivalent of asymmetric warfare, which is increasingly understood because the rise of the South and East at the expense of the North and West has brought some Obstructive Marketing stratagems into sharp focus. Using the author's own research, this book explains what Obstructive Marketing is and why it is not called Anti-Marketing. The author explains who practises Obstructive Marketing, where, when and how; and why businesses are particularly vulnerable when entering new markets and engaging in change and innovation. Intriguing concepts such as cultural risk are illuminated along with formal links between Obstructive Marketing, asymmetric warfare and terrorism. This all leads to identification of the need for a strong Government/Business partnership to counter the effects of this darkest kind of marketing.

Although often taken for granted, safety doesn't just happen. It requires a deep understanding of the principles of safety culture that then must be applied in all of your actions. Safety Management in a Competitive Business Environment discusses the meaning of the culture of safety in all areas of industrial manufacturing, focusing on risk management preventative measures. It explores the new and emerging risks and underlines the significance of effective education methods as prerequisites for acquiring appropriate risk management skills. The book provides an integrated and systematic point of view on the field of occupational health and safety management, safety of machines and machinery, and certain complex technologies. It touches on civil safety as a part of safety culture in the sense of national culture-an area that is now becoming very topical. The author details the risk assessment methods available and the many factors that come into play such as deterioration due to ageing, construction issues, and workplace noise, to name just a few. He also covers the importance of education for risk management professionals of all levels and the integration of safety related to industrial technology and civil security into comprehensive safety and security. The culture of safety provides space for adopting principles leading to risk minimization or, in some areas, risk elimination. It creates a legal basis for obligatory application of risk management methods adjusted to particular work environment, technology, and machinery. This book demonstrates how risk management systems form component parts of comprehensive managerial systems, especially in integration with quality management systems. It gives you the tools necessary for systematic management of traditional and emerging risks in the man-machine-environment system, especially in industrial technologies.

Although there are many organizations that have implemented Lean production systems and become more profitable as a result, there can be a gap between what those organizations currently do and how they should plan for and profit from new business. Capitalizing on Lean Production Systems to Win New Business: Creating a Lean and Profitable New Product Portfolio explains how to create a Lean product portfolio to fill that gap so you can become more profitable from that new business. Providing a fundamental understanding of the Lean enterprise production system, this book can help an organization take its current Lean knowledge and translate that knowledge into a step-by-step methodology to win and launch new business. Lean topics covered include: Value Stream Mapping Plan for Every Part Process Design and Standard Work Scheduling and Material Flow Machine Changeover Quality and Continuous Improvement By developing the New Product Acquisition and Launch Portfolio presented in this book, you can dramatically improve your ability to produce the products customers desire and deliver them on time. Focusing on the concepts that are critical to the longevity of your Lean enterprise system, this book will help you understand how to deliver a product that meets the quality and delivery standards of your customer. It will also help you understand how this new product fits into your Lean enterprise system. Detailing how to achieve a successful new product launch through upfront planning, this book provides you with the tools to enhance efficiencies throughout your supply chain.

Since the beginning of mankind on Earth, if the "busyness" process was successful, then some form of benefit sustained it. The fundamentals are obvious: get the right inputs (materials, labor, money, and ideas); transform them into highly demanded, quality outputs; and make it available in time to the end consumer. Illustrating how operations relate to the rest of the organization, Production and Operations Management Systems provides an understanding of the production and operations management (P/OM) functions as well as the processes of goods and service producers. The modular character of the text permits many different journeys through the materials. If you like to start with supply chain management (Chapter 9) and then move on to inventory management (Chapter 5) and then quality management (Chapter 8), you can do so in that order. However, if your focus is product line stability and quick response time to competition, you may prefer to begin with project management (Chapter 7) to reflect the continuous project mode required for fast redesign rapid response. Slides, lectures, Excel worksheets, and solutions to short and extended problem sets are available on the Downloads / Updates tabs. The project management component of P/OM is no longer an auxiliary aspect of the field. The entire system has to be viewed and understood. The book helps students develop a sense of managerial competence in making decisions in the design, planning, operation, and control of manufacturing, production, and operations systems through examples and case studies. The text uses analytical techniques when necessary to develop critical thinking and to sharpen decision-making skills. It makes production and operations management (P/OM) interesting, even exciting, to those who are embarking on a career that involves business of any kind.

Corporate Strategy for Dramatic Productivity Surge deals with the very basics of productivity and cost performance - including abridgement of time, increase in speed, enhancement of capabilities, increase in sensitivity and precision, enhancement of efficiency and effectiveness, alteration of size, reduction of costs and increase in revenue, among others.This book consists of five parts - Introduction, Case Studies of Super Effects in Management Functions, Case Studies of Global Scale Super Effects Realized, Case Studies of Super Effects in Marketing Domains, and Conclusion: The Road to Realizing the Super Effect - featuring more than fifty successful cases of productivity surge or super effects, including risk-driven ones. Productivity surge herein means a dramatic reduction of costs, at least by one-tenth, while maintaining effectiveness or discontinuous increase in effectiveness by at least 10 times, while keeping the costs the same.Cases highlighted in the book are instrumental and valuable for the organizations worldwide to evaluate processes, avoid unnecessary failure and work towards future success.

The vast majority of international trade is supported by some form of trade financing: a specialized, sometimes complex form of financing that is poorly understood even by bankers and seasoned finance and treasury experts. Financing Trade and International Supply Chains takes the mystery out of trade and supply chain finance, providing a practical, straightforward overview of a discipline that is fundamental to the successful conduct of trade: trade that contributes to the creation of economic value, poverty reduction and international development, while increasing prosperity across the globe. The book suggests that every trade or supply chain finance solution, no matter how elaborate, addresses some combination of four elements: facilitation of secure and timely payment, effective mitigation of risk, provision of financing and liquidity, and facilitation of transactional and financial information flow. The book includes observations on the effective use of traditional mechanisms such as Documentary Letters of Credit, as well as an overview of emerging supply chain finance solutions and programs, critical to the financing of strategic suppliers and other members of complex supply chain ecosystems. The important role of export credit agencies and international financial institutions is explored, and innovations such as the Bank Payment Obligation are addressed in detail. Financing Trade and International Supply Chains is a valuable resource for practitioners, business executives, entrepreneurs and others involved in international commerce and trade. This book balances concept with practical insight, and can help protect the financial interests of companies pursuing opportunity in international markets.

In the process industry, shutdown and turnaround costs are responsible for an excessive amount of maintenance expenses. Process Plants: Shutdown and Turnaround Management explores various types of shutdowns, presents recommendations for better management, and offers feasible solutions to help reduce overheads. Because turnaround management is the largest maintenance activity, plant turnaround is the focal point of this text. The book details a plan to lengthen the interval between turnarounds, and curtail costs in process production management by at least 30 percent.

This practical guidebook provides a thorough study of shutdown management, discusses different types of shutdown and managing events (emergency, unplanned, planned, and turnaround), and covers all aspects of plant turnaround management including startup, shutdown, and maintenance. It describes the five phases of shutdown management initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing. It contains specific principles and precautions for successful shutdown planning, and highlights many aspects including turnaround philosophy, planning and scheduling, estimation, contractor management, execution, safety management, managing human resources, and post shut down review.

Process Plants: Shutdown and Turnaround Management also includes topical information that readers can successfully apply to future shutdown projects. It is suitable for industry professionals and graduate students."

The Innovation Factory takes a fresh look at the fine art of breakthrough innovation. What makes it unique is that it brings together an experienced scholar and a serial entrepreneur who share the same passion for understanding the processes and theories needed to innovate over and over again. The book marries theory with practical examples focusing on the Concept-Knowledge (C-K) Theory developed by the prestigious school Mines ParisTech. For the first time, you will discover the unknown story of the Swatch watch told by Elmar Mock, the creative engineering force behind the Swatch. In this book, he passionately tells how he helped to create this breakthrough innovation that saved the Swiss watch industry in the 1980s. Gilles Garel, a professor of management, relates this tale of epic innovation to C-K theory and both convincingly argue that organizations can channel creativity to develop breakthrough innovations that disrupt markets. Innovation is not just a case of acquiring aptitude. It is also a question of attitude: Innovators strive to remain creative and active. The book provides an overview of the characteristics and essential strengths of the successful Innovation Factory, Creaholic, based in Switzerland. The example of Creaholic helps readers grasp what breakthrough innovation is truly all about. The book's use of vibrant metaphors helps readers easily digest the ideas and concepts presented. The book concludes with thoughts about future directions for the watch industry.

Modern projects are all about one group of people delivering benefits to others, so it's no surprise that the human element is fundamental to project management. The Gower Handbook of People in Project Management is a complete guide to the human dimensions involved in projects. The book is a unique and rich compilation of over 60 chapters about project management roles and the people who sponsor, manage, deliver, work in or are otherwise important to project success. It looks at the people-issues that are specific to different sectors of organization (public, private and third sector); the organization of people in projects, both real and virtual; the relationship between people, their roles and the project environment; and the human behaviours and skills associated with working collaboratively. Thus this comprehensive and innovative handbook discusses all the important topics associated with employing, developing and managing people for successful projects. The contributors have been drawn from around the world and include experts ranging from practising managers to academics and advanced researchers. The Handbook is divided into six parts, which begin with management and project organization and progress through to more advanced and emerging practices. It benefits hugely from Lindsay Scott's expert knowledge and experience in this field and from Dennis Lock's contributions and meticulous editing to ensure that the text and illustrations are always lucid and informative.

In engineering and quality control, various situations, including process validation and design verification, require equivalence and noninferiority tests. Equivalence and Noninferiority Tests for Quality, Manufacturing and Test Engineers presents methods for using validation and verification test data to demonstrate equivalence and noninferiority in engineering and applied science. The book covers numerous tests drawn from the author's more than 30 years of work in a range of industrial settings. It provides computational formulas for the tests, methods to determine or justify sample sizes, and formulas to calculate power and operating characteristic curves. The methods are accessible using standard statistical software and do not require complicated programming. The book also includes computer code and screen shots for SAS, R, and JMP. This book provides you with a guide to performing validation and verification tests that demonstrate the adequacy of your process, system, or product. It will help you choose the best test for your application.

'Control self assessment is sweeping the management and auditing worlds by storm. At last we have in just one place the authoritative guide to its practical application. Until now CSA had been shrouded in too much mystery and would-be practitioners had been largely at the expensive mercies of consultants or their own trial and error. It is impressive that the editors of this substantial volume have persuaded so many leading practitioners from most sectors and from several countries to pool their immense practical experience of CSA in a highly accessible way.’ Andrew Chambers, Managing Director of Management Audit, Emeritus Professor City University London and former Chief Executive of City Business School ‘This book should provide a very useful reference point for anyone who is thinking about introducing CRSA, or who is in the early stages of implementing it. The sections covering experiences of implementing CRSA.…are likely to be particularly useful. They should give you help in selecting the right approach and the most appropriate techniques for your own organisation.’ Liam Fitzpatrick, Director, Oxley Fitzpatrick & Associates Ltd Control Self Assessment is ‘a formalised, documented and committed approach to the regular, fundamental and open review by managers and staff of the strength of control systems designed and operated to achieve business objectives and guard against critical risks within their sphere of influence’ (Keith Wade). This book gives practical guidance on how such techniques may be introduced in an organisation and describes the implementation of CSA in a variety of organisations both in the private and public sectors.