The near-ubiquitous spread of ICT offers unprecedented opportunities for social and economic agents, reshapes social and economic structures and drives the emergence of socioeconomic networks. This book contributes to the growing body of literature and present state of knowledge, offering the reader broad evidence on how new information and communication technologies impact women's economic and social empowerment and hence have an impact on overall welfare creation. More specifically, it concentrates on demonstrating how ICT may become "empowering technologies" through their implementation. The book is designed to provide deep insight into the theoretical and empirical evidence on ICT as a significant driver of women`s social and economic development. Special focus is given to examining the following broad topics: channels of ICT impact on women's development; the role of ICT in enhancing women's active participation in formal labor markets; examples of how ICT encourages education, skills development, institutions development et alia, and thus contributes to women's social and economic empowerment, as well as case-based evidence on ICT's role in fostering women's equality. The primary audience for the book will be scholars and academic professionals from a wide variety of disciplines but mainly those who are concerned with addressing the issues of economic development and growth, social development, the role of technology progress in the context of broadly defined socioeconomic progress. Chapters 1 and 3 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. They have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This book integrates theoretical advances and empirical data on Enterprise Governance in Information Technology (EGIT) with practical applications based on numerous case examples. The third revised edition of Enterprise Governance of Information Technology provides professionals and students with the most recent research advancements as well as an in-depth discussion of the recently-introduced Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT) 2019 framework which can be used to facilitate a tailored implementation of effective EGIT. Furthermore, the book features a new chapter which provides readers with hands-on examples from practice and clear insights on how these relate to theory. At the forefront of the field, the authors of this volume draw from years of research and advising corporate clients to present a comprehensive resource on EGIT. Featuring a variety of elements, including executive summaries and sidebars, extensive references, questions and activities and additional online materials, this book is a valuable updated resource for professionals, students and researchers alike.

This second edition of Research Projects for Business and Management Students provides students undertaking extended research with a foundation upon which to build their practice. The author sets out each stage of a research project systematically to allow you to follow along and build an understanding of the processes involved in carrying out in depth pieces of research, as well as the functions of commonly used research methods. Conversation boxes throughout will also help situate your learning by providing examples of commonly asked questions, challenges that may occur while you carry out your research and guidance on how to answer them. Professor Siah Hwee Ang is Professor of International Business and Strategy, inaugural Chair in Business in Asia and Director of the NZ's Southeast Asia Centre of Asia-Pacific Excellence at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

After almost twenty years of internationalization, Chinese firms have shown their growing innovation capability through benefiting from global networks and domestic efforts. However, how Chinese firm innovation is facilitated at the international and domestic levels remains to be understood. This book investigates innovation in China from three aspects. First, starting at the international level, the effects of Chinese-foreign linkages in innovation are examined from the relationship view and the foreign ownership perspective. Second, before moving to the domestic level, the moderating role of global networks (e.g., global supply chain collaboration) is examined to understand the relationship between competition of unregistered firms and innovation of registered firms. Third, at the domestic level, innovation is studied from both upstream and downstream of the value chain: consumers' decision-making in innovative products and strategic choices, and environment constraints for product innovation. Collectively, this book actively investigates innovation in China at international and domestic levels. It investigates how the global networks contribute to innovation in China and how domestic Chinese firms strengthen their innovation capability. The volume, thus, makes an important attempt to extend existing knowledge on this subject and provides new insights to scholars and practitioners. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of International Studies of Management & Organization.

Drone Law and Policy describes the drone industry and its evolution, describing the benefits and risks of its exponential growth. It outlines the current and proposed regulatory framework in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe, taking into consideration the current and evolving technological and insurance landscape. This book makes recommendations as to additional regulatory and insurance initiatives which the authors believe are necessary to achieve an effective balance between the various competing interests. The 23 chapters are written by global specialists on crucial topics, such as terrorism and security, airport and aircraft safety, maritime deployment, cyber-risks, regulatory oversight, licensing, standards and insurance. This book will provide authoritative reference and expert guidance for regulators and government agencies, legal practitioners, insurance companies and brokers globally, as well as for major organisations utilising drones in industrial applications.

This book explains how AI and Machine Learning can be applied to help businesses solve problems, support critical thinking and ultimately create customer value and increase profit. By considering business strategies, business process modeling, quality assurance, cybersecurity, governance and big data and focusing on functions, processes, and people's behaviors it helps businesses take a truly holistic approach to business optimization. It contains practical examples that make it easy to understand the concepts and apply them. It is written for practitioners (consultants, senior executives, decision-makers) dealing with real-life business problems on a daily basis, who are keen to develop systematic strategies for the application of AI/ML/BD technologies to business automation and optimization, as well as researchers who want to explore the industrial applications of AI and higher-level students.

The Regional Economics of Technological Transformations provides a comprehensive overview of 4.0 technological transformations in Europe and their socio-economic impact, with a particular emphasis on the regional dimension of the phenomena. The authors employ extensive original data and robust quantitative methods to analyse technological change in all regions of the 27 EU countries plus the UK and shed light on this trend for Europe and beyond. Structured in four parts, the book first looks at conceptual definitions, empirical measurements and expected impacts on both the economic performance (GDP and productivity growth) and the labour market, and then moves on to analyse where 4.0 technological transformation actually takes place in Europe and the reasons for this. Next, it offers original empirical evidence on the impacts of the different transformations, and of their intertwined effects, on both the economy and the society. Finally, the book explores the policy implications of this technological transformation. This book will be valuable reading for advanced students, researchers and policymakers working across regional economics, industrial economics and innovation policy. It will be of primary interest to regional scientists interested in the field, who may enjoy the conceptual and empirical solutions to the study of a very complex, timely and still largely unexplored theme. Sociologists, engineers and political economists can benefit from the book's analysis, noting the urgency of the development of new ethical rules governing the new digital and labour markets. Finally, the book may appeal to policymakers interested in opportunities to increase regional competitiveness and sustainability goals through the advent of 4.0 technologies.

Robust university-industry partnerships are vital to achieve the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and create a better world for everyone. Developing the theory and practice of the '5th Generation University', this book shows how cross-sector collaboration and innovation are crucial to maximising the societal benefits of research, education and knowledge exchange, while also driving economic growth and productivity. The authors bring extensive experience in working at the interface between academia, industry and government to demonstrate how universities can effectively combine transdisciplinary programmatic activities and strategic corporate philanthropy. They explain how long-term alliances can be forged to have a transformational impact on the greatest challenges facing our world such as climate change.

There are few industries in today's world as dynamic and dramatically changing as the space sector, with new ventures and initiatives being announced on a daily basis. As well as emerging countries improving their launching and manufacturing capabilities, private actors are beginning to join public bodies in the space race, and participating in what is frequently being referred to as the new space era. With fantastic opportunities arising for business and economics, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the space sector, exploring recent initiatives, and the most important areas of investment in the industry, including emerging fields of activities such as asteroid mining and space tourism. It also addresses traditional and non-traditional security issues in the sector, together with discussing their legal implications. This interdisciplinary book provides insights for practitioners and researchers alike, particularly those involved in technology and innovation management, emerging markets, international relations, and security studies.

The Frugal Innovation and Bottom of the Pyramid Markets series comprises four volumes, covering theoretical perspectives, themes and various aspects of interest across four key geographical regions where BOP markets are located - South America, Asia, Africa and more engineered countries. BOP always addresses the poorest people or socioeconomic order or groups within a country, society, region or continent, thus, this series contributes a profound understanding of BOP markets across the most important geographical areas around the world and presents valuable insights on how the private sector can work together with other stakeholders to develop and operationalize economically viable business models in BOP markets, all the while contributing to sustainable development. Private actors such as multinationals, SMEs and entrepreneurs have a critical role to play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals agenda as laid down by United Nations in September 2015. Yet, BOP markets face unique challenges and the private sector alone cannot orchestrate sustainable value creation activities. Each volume presents several theoretical strands that highlight the diverse approaches and solutions to developing BOP markets further. Frugal, reverse and inclusive innovations can foster (sustainable) development and provide new business models and value streams that other countries can also benefit from. A variety of stylistic elements, such as research work, interviews and roundtable discussions, offer a wide and vivid impression of ongoing challenges and fruitful solutions.

This cross-disciplinary business book develops insight into the management of businesses operating in various economic sectors that take a proactive approach to the triple dimension of sustainability (economic, social and environmental), positioning itself as a key reference for both academics and practitioners in the wide area of business management. The concept of sustainability is today at the heart of international policies and debate, and plays a key role in deep changes to the organizational models of companies operating in a wide range of sectors of economic activity. In particular, this book aims to gain a deeper understanding of how stakeholder engagement can contribute to value co-creation both in the company and along the supply chain, and what distinguishes the differing involvement of stakeholders, in particular between public involvement and stakeholder participation. Each chapter of this book presents different modalities of stakeholder involvement and develops the concept of value co-creation from organizational and marketing perspectives. This book is recommended reading for those interested in the fields of stakeholder engagement and theory, sustainability, business studies, and sustainable development.

This book focuses on China's economic transformation at firm and institution levels. It shares insights into the growth of innovative Chinese firms in the automobile and telecom equipment sectors, both of which promoted social dialogue of policy-making and ultimately contributed to a policy paradigm shift in China's 'indigenous innovation'. The book illustrates, through case studies on firms like Geely, the Chery, the BYD, Huawei, the ZTE and the DTT, how these firms behave differently from other local actors and what social conditions had contributed to their success. The book will help those who are interested to learn more about the rise of innovative Chinese firms to better understand the dynamics of China's industrial progress.

Due to automation, nearly half of the jobs will vanish over the next two decades in the US. However, the problem is not confined to any particular country. Management educators in higher education are faced with two fundamental questions: (a) how we prepare our students for new required technology competencies when conducting international business and (b) how we work with new technologies to prepare our students. While the next generation of employees requires competencies in working with artificial intelligence relying on data analytics, the emergence of artificial intelligence and new technologies in augmenting teaching is changing the nature of higher education across the globe. Management Education and Automation explores international management education in light of exponential development of artificial intelligence, big data, demographic shifts, expansion of robotic utilization in many economic sectors, aging populations and negative population growth in developed economies, multipolar international political systems, migration patterns, and fundamental shifts in individual and social interactions via digital media. It shows the latest state of knowledge on the topic and will be of interest to researchers, academics, policymakers, and students in the fields of international business and management, globalization, management education, and management of technology and innovation.

This book focuses on the analysis of financial data and innovative results of Chinese Zhongguancun (Z-park) NEEQ Listed Firms, and objectively evaluates the growth ability of them. The book displays the overall scale, growth capacity, industry distribution, social contribution, and comparison with other regions of NEEQ Listed Firms in Zhongguancun from multiple dimensions, aiming at objectively presenting the growth characteristics and development status of them. For global investors, economic researchers, or financial analysts, this book will be an important way to understand China's scientific and technological innovation achievements and Zhongguancun's outstanding enterprises.

Due to the increasing transformation and changes in the economy, society, technology, ecology or even human health, organisations and companies are or should be continuously changing in order to survive as they are open systems. This book illustrates both how organisations can transform or change and where the most cutting-edge and innovative organisations and companies are heading. Accordingly, the book is structured in two parts. The first part explores concepts associated with change and development such as innovation, organisational resilience and learning, and describes the latest trends and related research. The second part analyses the new organisation or company we are, it is to be hoped, heading for: a more conscious, compassionate, sustainable, innovative, trustful and humane organisation. The book reviews underlying ideas related to leadership, technology, trust and compassion and presents and analyses compassionate, sustainable and conscious organisations through an in-depth examination of their organisational and managerial characteristics, with particular emphasis on their human resource management practices and employee wellbeing. This volume is principally addressed to management and business students and researchers, as it offers a pedagogical review and analysis of the topics from the latest literature and research. At the same time, it provides highly topical and interesting ways forward for executives who want to transform their companies by introducing more conscious, humane and innovative approaches.

With recent advances in IT in areas such as AI and IoT, collaboration systems such as business chat, cloud services, conferencing systems, and unified communications are rapidly becoming widely used as new IT applications in global corporations' strategic activities. Through in-depth longitudinal studies of global corporations, the book presents a new theoretical framework and implications for IT-enabled dynamic capabilities using collaboration systems from the perspective of micro strategy theory and organization theory. The content of the book is based on longitudinal analyses that employ various qualitative research methods including ethnography, participant observation, action research and in-depth case studies of global corporations in Europe, the United States and Asia that actively use collaboration systems. It presents a new concept of micro dynamism whereby dynamic "IT-enabled knowledge communities" such as "IT-enabled communities of practice" and "IT-enabled strategic communities" create "IT-enabled dynamic capabilities" through the integration of four research streams - an information systems view, micro strategy view, micro organization view and knowledge-based view. The book demonstrates that collaboration systems create, maintain and develop "IT-enabled knowledge communities" within companies and are strategic IT applications for enhancing the competitiveness of companies in the ongoing creation of new innovation and the realization of sustainable growth in a 21st century knowledge-based society. This book is primarily written for academics, researchers and graduate students, but will also offer practical implications for business leaders and managers. Its use is anticipated not only in business and management schools, graduate schools and university education environments around the world but also in the broad business environment including management and leadership development training.

This book focuses on the Base of the Pyramid (BOP) in Latin America and examines the role of the markets in serving low-income populations as consumers, distributors, and entrepreneurs. Deep inequalities, violence, and urbanisation characterise the region. Despite the reduction of poverty observed during the first two decades of the 21st century, Latin America is the most unequal region in the world. Outside active war zones, the region has the highest homicide rate in the world and violence and inequality are both deeply intertwined. Markets have a crucial role to play in closing this gap and offering job and income opportunities, especially to unemployed youth, paving the way for safer, more peaceful, and sustainable development. The book also offers a theoretical reflection on the role that community enterprises who manage common-pool resources can play in serving markets and creating income opportunities for the rural poor. The book is recommended for managers, policy makers, students, and scholars interested in Base of the Pyramid markets and their potential to lift people out of poverty and to promote a more equal society.

This innovative book takes seriously the ordinary activities of entrepreneurship and maps out new pathways for scholars to understand the nature, properties, and implications of studying practices for entrepreneurship studies. Entrepreneurship is neither an art nor a science, but a bundle of practices, as Peter Drucker once observed. Curiously however, academic research on entrepreneurship mostly abstracts away from practical activity. In contrast, Entrepreneurship As Practice takes ordinary activities of entrepreneurship seriously by mapping out new pathways for scholars to consider the everyday practices through which entrepreneurship occurs. Each chapter draws on contemporary theories of practice to illuminate the nature, properties, and implications of studying the practices of entrepreneurship. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Entrepreneurship & Regional Development.

This book connects political economy perspectives with scenario planning for mapping out future trajectories of digital ecosystems. The focus is purposefully on digital ecosystems as it encompasses economic, political and social contexts on a global, national and local level. The diversity of political economy approaches allows the author to explore alternative meanings of digital ecosystem development, which is particularly useful for envisioning alternative futures. Often visions about the future of digital ecosystems suffer from a lack of imagination and confirmation bias which is favorable to the extrapolation of current trends. A wide range of political economy perspectives applied through positivist theorizing in this book shows different interpretations of developments in digital ecosystems. Scenario planning teams around the world have applied a collective imagination to show how future trajectories can be radically different from the current trends. The book outlines meta-scenarios for alternative futures of the political economy of digital ecosystems by reviewing and synthesizing the work of foresight teams. These meta-scenarios served as insights for developing four scenarios for European digital ecosystems through the workshops with high-level executives and experts. The scenarios identified the nature of EU cooperation and the development of digital infrastructure as key drivers. These four scenarios developed in the workshops are further operationalized in a specific context by exploring the implications for Estonia as well as for Chinese investments in European platforms. This exercise shows how scenarios of digital ecosystems can be used for stress-testing decisions and strategies. Decision-makers, students, scholars and other stakeholders in a wide range of industries ranging from academia to ride-sharing can use the scenarios for reframing different development trajectories and future-proofing their strategies. The scenarios can be further developed and modified for specific purposes and contexts as they are not written in stone.

Industrial transformation is a research and teaching field with a focus on the phenomenon and mechanisms of industrial development and renewal. It concerns changes in economic activities caused by innovation, competition and collaboration, and has a rich heritage of evolutionary economics, institutional economics, industrial dynamics, technology history and innovation studies. It borrows concepts and models from the social sciences (sociology, history, political sciences, business/management, economics, behavioural sciences) and also from technology and engineering studies. In this book, the authors present the key theories, frameworks and concepts of industrial transformation and use empirical cases to describe and explain the causes, processes and outcomes of transformation in the context of digitalization and sustainability. They stress that industrial transformation consists both of Darwinian "survival of the fittest" selection, and of intentional pursuits of innovation, and of industrial capabilities creation. The work argues that managing the global trends of transformation is not only about new technology and innovation: existing institutional settings and dynamic interactions between technological change, organizational adaptation and economic activities also have a profound impact on future trajectories. The areas under investigation are of great relevance for strategic management decisions and industrial and technology policies, and understanding the mechanisms underlying transformation and sustainable growth.

Some companies are great for customers - not only do they care but they change whole markets to work better for the customers they serve. Think of Amazon, easyJet and Sky. They make things easier and improve what really matters - obvious, surely? They have also enjoyed huge business success, growing and making plenty of money. The Customer Copernicus answers the question that follows - if it's obvious and attractive why is it so rare? And then it answers a second question, because Tesco, O2 and Wells Fargo were like this once. Why, having mastered it, would you ever stop? Because all three did, and two ended up in court. The Customer Copernicus explains how to become and how to stay customer-led. Essential reading for leaders and teams who want their organisations to stay competitive by developing a more purposeful and innovative culture.

Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) are becoming more and more relevant both for their innovative content and as innovation boosters for manufacturing firms and, with this scenario in mind, this book first offers an in-depth analysis of what innovation in KIBS is and its performance outcomes, and then synthesizes what we know about KIBS firms' innovation models, as well as their specific peculiarities and limitations. This book examines the recent trends in innovation, service design and development in KIBS, starting from a review of the extant literature, explaining the role and specific traits of innovation in KIBS. Then, it progresses our knowledge about KIBS and about how new technologies are offering unique opportunities to use and share their knowledge, within and across boundaries. The book also includes several cases that show how, at the micro level, firms can effectively design their services and boost their innovation performance, by overcoming some of the traditional limits of innovation in services. While KIBS literature traditionally emphasizes that innovative and performing KIBS firms rely on tight client-provider interactions with service customization, recent research suggests that alternative modes of innovation are viable for performing KIBS firms: KIBS firms can develop mass customization strategies, ease interactions with clients via ICT interfaces and leverage on focused collaborations with expert clients. Particularly, the digitalization and ICT technologies are fostering platform and modular architectural designs of KIBS, as in the software and web design services. The book seeks a broader understanding of innovation in KIBS in the digital era and will be an essential guide for both academics and practitioners interested in KIBS innovation and design.

Why is there a need to 'innovate healthcare'? The basic reason stems from the sheer scale of the challenges now facing healthcare provision in the UK and across many other countries. The aim of this book is to interrogate past and current attempts to innovate in this arena and to draw-out the key lessons. Innovating Healthcare: The Role of Political, Managerial and Clinical Leadership presents the latest state of knowledge based on original data from a series of NIHR-funded research projects set in the context of a review of extensive secondary research. The book draws upon first-person verbatim accounts of change attempts made by doctors and other clinicians as well as upon research findings about the roles played by policy-makers and managers. The analysis draws upon theory and practice in leadership, innovation and institution-building. The mutually-reinforcing contributions of political, managerial and clinical leadership are at the core of the investigative narrative. This book will be of interest to students and researchers, clinicians and managers in the health and care sectors as well as policy-makers. While the focus in on healthcare, the book has wider relevance for students of management, leadership, innovation and organizational studies.

Project management disciplines have been a part of IT for many years. Why then, are so many challenges still directly associated with how a project is managed? Many projects fail for a myriad of reasons; most, however, stem from poor or inadequate project evaluation and performance appraisal, while, improved project planning and direction is considered to be one of the key factors to IT project success. Eriona Shtembari arranges evaluation methods and techniques into three groups, managerial-financial-and-development. This book explores the process of project evaluation and the purposes of evaluation, given its strong relationship to the success of the project. It examines IT project evaluation; identifies methods and techniques to be used throughout the project life cycle; examines the benefits of project evaluation and proposes a systematic approach/framework of project evaluation to serve as a tool for successful project management. Shtembari analyses the most up-to-date research relating to the process and methods/techniques of project evaluation, throughout the project life cycle. From the systematic literature review, she identifies the most usable methods and techniques in project evaluation and focuses on the adequacy of these methods and techniques in the service sector. The theoretical underpinning of the book, serves as a base to interpret the interviews in the case study and build a theory as to how the project evaluation context relates to the proposed scientific theory. The findings in this book provide solutions for practitioners to help them boost the evaluation framework and consequently improve their IT project management.

Museum Innovation encourages museums to critically reflect upon current practices and adopt new approaches to their civic responsibilities. Arguing that museums have a moral duty to perform, the book shows how social innovation can make them more equitable, relevant and impactful institutions. Including contributions from a diverse group of international scholars, practitioners and researchers, the book investigates the innovative approaches museums are taking to address contemporary social issues. The volume focuses on the concept of social innovation and individual chapters address a range of crucial issues, such as climate change; the COVID-19 pandemic; diversity and inclusion; the travel ban; and the repatriation of museum collections. Exploring the impact that organizational structures have on museums' aspirations to act as agents for social change, the book also unpacks how museums can establish sustainable relationships with minority communities. Proposing steps that museums can take to affirm their relevance as viable community partners, the book breaks down silos and connects ideas across different areas of museum work. Museum Innovation explores the role of contemporary museums in society. It is essential reading for academics, students and practitioners working in the museum and heritage studies field. The book's interdisciplinary nature makes it also an interesting read for those working in business studies, digital humanities, visual culture, arts administration and political science fields.