With the importance of knowledge as the basis for economic development, the issue of Research & Development (R&D) as a source of knowledge and of innovation is under discussion. One of the major activities in support of economic development includes setting a network of national support R&D programs. Supporting Innovation Through National R&D Programs: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a critical scholarly resource that examines the basic rational for national support programs and the financial, legal, and strategic aspects that are involved. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as origins of conflict, translational research, and competing trends, this book is geared towards professors, students, researchers, developers, and other industry experts.

The creation, success and long-term survival of enterprises are fundamentally linked to the effectiveness of decision-making processes and negotiation capabilities. This book provides an overview of research into how decisions permeate entrepreneurial ventures throughout their lifecycle. A multidisciplinary approach combining psychology, sociology and political science is used to investigate how entrepreneurs address and deal with decision-making. The respective contributions highlight the latest empirical, theoretical and meta-research, and bridge the gap between literature on entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial and innovative behaviours with that on decision-making and negotiation. This book is one of the first to combine these streams of research, thereby offering a new and insightful addition to the field of entrepreneurship.

This contributed volume provides new approaches, fresh ideas, valuable insights, and latest research in leadership-from strategic business (model) innovation to system design and humanity-and is a knowledge source and inspirational guide for scientists and practitioners alike.A key theme is the provision of an integrated perspective on leadership in strategy and communication which allow (senior) leaders, managing di-rectors, project managers, and individuals to (1) better link strategic busi-ness innovation and leadership and (2) shift to the new human self-lead-ership paradigm and in particularly leadership advances that consider ideas from multiple disciplines and transgenerational views. That includes a new understanding about knowledge, learning and change and how leaders re-discover and develop their human abilities, which include intui-tion/strength, balance and clarity, projection-reflection, and wisdom.This volume also makes an important contribution to the evolving aca-demic domain by providing the latest insights on trauma research, DNA healing, system (re)design, and growth & abundance mindset in the ad-vanced co-creation age.

This is the fifth volume of a sub series on Road Vehicle Automation published within the Lecture Notes in Mobility. Like in previous editions, scholars, engineers and analysts from all around the world have contributed chapters covering human factors, ethical, legal, energy and technology aspects related to automated vehicles, as well as transportation infrastructure and public planning. The book is based on the Automated Vehicles Symposium which was hosted by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) in San Francisco, California (USA) in July 2017.

Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. was, by general consensus, the pre-eminent business historian of the twentieth century. Through a prodigious body of work, Chandler made the study of the evolution of business enterprise integral to the study of the evolution of economy and society. His work combined detailed historical investigations with grand sociological syntheses. As a result, Chandler's study of the modern business enterprise invited social scientists and business academics as well as historians to contribute to our understanding of a central institution of our time.
Chandler revealed how managerial activity was central to the functioning of successful industrial corporations, and hence to the performance of the economy as a whole. This book gathers together contributions from management scholars fundamentally influenced by the work of Chandler to discuss management innovation, the ways in which people who exercise strategic control over the allocation of resources put in place organizational structures that can enable an enterprise to prosper and grow. The volume offers a range of perspectives to examine the challenges that corporate management encounters.

Since the early 2000s, state-led and innovation-focused strategies have characterized the approach to development pursued in countries around the world, such as China, India, and South Korea. Brazil, the largest and most industrialized economy in Latin America, demonstrates both the opportunities and challenges of this approach. Over the course of nearly 20 years, the Brazilian government enacted various policies and programs designed to strengthen the country's capacity to innovate. It increased spending on science and technology, encouraged greater collaboration between industry and universities, and fostered the creation of new institutions whose primary aim was to facilitate greater private research and development (R&D) spending. In this book, the editors unite a diverse array of empirical contributions around a few key themes, including public policies, institutions and innovation ecosystems, and firms and industries, that collectively make the case for a new, forward-looking innovation agenda aimed at addressing persistent challenges and exploiting emerging opportunities in Brazil. Its conclusions offer valuable lessons for other developing and emerging economies seeking to accelerate innovation and growth in the modern age. With its interdisciplinary and wide-ranging contribution to the study of innovation, as well as attention to broader policy implications, this book will appeal to scholars and professionals alike.

Over the past decade, the author has met with directors of R&D departments in large industrial firms, who are frustrated by the lack of coherent and consistent methodologies in R&D projects. As a direct result the author was asked to design and present a seminar to provide R&D engineers and scientists a standard methodology for conducting coherent, rigorous, comprehensible, and consistent R&D projects. The author also realized that this training should be included in engineering and science curricula in universities and colleges. To this end, he designed and presented a pilot course for his department that was received enthusiastically by students who participated. This course has now become a required course for all doctoral students in the author's department.
This book has been designed to provide professional engineers, scientists, and students with a consistent and practical framework for the rigorous conduct and communication of complex research and development projects. Although courses and training in research methods are common and generally required of social science professionals, a vast majority of physical scientists and engineers have had no formal classroom training or on-the-job mentoring on proper procedures for research methods. Getting It Right emphasizes the comprehensive analysis of project problems, requirements, and objectives; the use of standard and consistent terminology and procedures; the design of rigorous and reproducible experiments; the appropriate reduction and interpretation of project results; and the effective communication of project design, methods, results, and conclusions.
Presents a standard methodology for conducting coherent, rigorous, comprehensible, and consistent R&D projects
Thoroughly researched to appeal to the needs of R&D engineers and scientists in industry
Will also appeal to students of engineering and science

Vital tools for implementing Lean Six Sigma--what they are, how they work, and which to use--The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook is today's most complete and results-based reference to the tools and concepts needed to understand, implement, and leverage Lean Six Sigma.

The only guide that groups tools by purpose and use, this hands-on reference provides:

• Analyses of nearly 100 tools and methodologies--from DMAIC and Pull Systems to Control Charts and Pareto Charts
• Detailed explanations of each tool to help you know how, when, and why to use it for maximum efficacy
• Sections for each tool explaining how to create it, how to interpret what you find, and expert tips
• Lean Six Sigma is today's leading technique to maximize production efficiency and maintain control over each step in the managerial process

With The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook, you'll discover how to propel your organization to new levels of competitive success--one tool at a time.

This book asks fundamental questions about the extent to which India is participating in the global shift towards knowledge-based forms of competitiveness. It charts Indian performance and progress using a unique framework benchmarked against fourteen other countries. In the course of the analysis, critical areas for improvement are identified, and the book provides detailed and objective insights for policy-makers and researchers to facilitate change and institutional reform in India. Readers will derive a comprehensive understanding of India's performance and prospects as it emerges as a serious global economic player. A particular feature of the work is the development of an original knowledge footprint concept that measures the extent and impact of knowledge development and diffusion domestic and internationally.The views expressed in this book are the author's.

This contributed volume explores and reveals the new developments, dynamics and recommendations for entrepreneurship education in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Presenting papers by respected experts in the field, it shares essential insights on the status quo of entrepreneurial education and training programs, the characteristics and motivations of early stage entrepreneurs, and the regional framework conditions in MENA. The book closes with a bibliometric perspective on the trends in the entrepreneurship research and education being developed in MENA.

This book discusses the ways in which characteristics of innovative firms and innovative talents with core competence in Japanese, Korean, German, and American contexts are developed and nurtured, and compares innovative firms with a long history of business operations from these four countries. Firstly, the book examines innovation practices of long-lived Japanese firms and compares them with those of German, American and Korean firms. Based on extensive interviews with executives and field studies, it identifies the essential qualities of each country in which these innovative firms and innovative talents are found. It then focuses on theoretical and practical aspects, using the theoretical framework to define organizational and technological factors for long-term innovation success. Further, the book provides recommendations based on organizational practices for developing innovative talents in Japanese, German, American and Korean contexts. Intended for academics, students and practitioners in the areas of organizational theory and strategic management, this book clarifies the critical practices of long-lived innovative firms and organizational innovators.

This book discusses various aspects of blockchains in economic systems and investment strategies in crypto markets. It first addresses the topic from a conceptual and theoretical point of view, and then analyzes it from an assessment and investment angle. Further, it examines the opportunities and limitations of the taxation of crypto currency, as well as the political implications, such as regulation of speculation with crypto currencies. The book is intended for academicians and students in the fields of economics and finance.

After decades of stability, power systems are currently undergoing a rapid transition - demand patterns are evolving, while supply sources are shifting to renewable energies at an accelerated pace. This book, written by an experienced energy professional, combines the various aspects of supply and demand developments to offer a unified perspective. It highlights the key changes that the world of electric utilities and power systems will face in the coming decade, as well as the major challenges that will emerge as a result. Supplemented by a wealth of global and local data, the book describes the major patterns that affect both supply and demand, and provides a quantified analysis of their impacts on power system grids and markets. Lastly, it explores the new technologies that can enable the success of these transformations.

This title complements and is an extention of Inclusive education in action in South Africa and provides educators and psychologists with the specific information needed to respond to and support learner diversity within inclusive classrooms. This involves the identification and minimising of barriers to learning and development and the maximising of resources to support learning and development. The title examines current thinking about development and learning support against the background of recent policy development.

The work presented here is generally intended for engineers, educators at all levels, industrialists, managers, researchers and political representatives. Offering a snapshot of various types of research conducted within the field of TRIZ in France, it represents a unique resource. It has been two decades since the TRIZ theory originating in Russia spread across the world. Every continent adopted it in a different manner - sometimes by glorifying its potential and its perspectives (the American way); sometimes by viewing it with mistrust and suspicion (the European way); and sometimes by adopting it as-is, without questioning it further (the Asian way). However, none of these models of adoption truly succeeded. Today, an assessment of TRIZ practices in education, industry and research is necessary. TRIZ has expanded to many different scientific disciplines and has allowed young researchers to reexamine the state of research in their field. To this end, a call was sent out to all known francophone research laboratories producing regular research about TRIZ. Eleven of them agreed to send one or more of their postdoctoral researchers to present their work during a seminar, regardless of the maturity or completeness of their efforts. It was followed by this book project, presenting one chapter for every current thesis in order to reveal the breadth, the richness and the perspectives that research about the TRIZ theory could offer our society. The topics dealt with e.g. the development of new methods inspired by TRIZ, educational practices, and measuring team impact.

This proceedings volume presents the latest trends in innovative business development theory and practice from a global, interdisciplinary perspective. Featuring selected contributions from the 25th International Economic Conference Sibiu (IECS 2018) held in Sibiu, Romania, it explores various topics in the areas of economics, business, finance and accounting, including tourism, marketing and Islamic banking and finance. Written by researchers from different regions and sectors around the world, it offers significant insights into the emerging shifts that characterize the fields of innovative economics and global development, innovative business practices, as well as innovative finance and banking, and provides organizations, managers and policy makers with new reliable solutions and opportunities for innovative development and growth within and between organizations around the globe.

This book examines how digital technologies enable collaboration as a way for individuals, teams and businesses to connect, create value, and harness new opportunities. Digital technologies have brought the world closer together but also created new barriers and divides. While it is now possible to connect almost instantly and seamlessly across the globe, collaboration comes at a cost; it requires new skills and hidden 'collaboration work', and the need to renegotiate the fair distribution of value in multi-stakeholder network arrangements. Presenting state-of-the-art research, case studies, and leading voices in the field, the book provides academics and professionals with insights into the diverse powers of collaboration in the digital age, spanning collaboration among professionals, organisations, and consumers. It brings together contributions from scholars interested in the collaboration of teams, cooperatives, projects, and new cooperative systems, covering a range of sectors from the sharing economy, health care, large project businesses to public sector collaboration.

This monograph provides theoretical and practical perspectives on competency management as a key resource for producing competitive products. The authors develop and substantiate a law of dependence between competencies and emergence of new markets, and describe the practical aspects of developing competencies in high-tech companies. Further, they develop economic and mathematical models for managing the competitive advantages of a company based on competencies. Using these models, they present a method for evaluating and ranking core competencies, as well as for multi-criteria ratings of human potential efficiency. The book also discusses the mechanisms of competitiveness management based on a conceptual model of a competence center network.

This book focuses on the applications of optimal control theory to operations strategy and supply chain management. It emphasizes the importance of optimal control theory as a tool to analyze and understand fundamental issues in the respective fields. Delving deeper, the book also elaborates on how optimal control theory provides managerial and economic insights, enabling readers to comprehend the dynamic activities and interactions in operations. Given that optimal control theory is not a dominant approach to studying operations management in the current literature, this book fills that gap by showing its effectiveness as a tool to supplement other methodologies in operations.

The book reports on advanced topics in interactive robotics research and practice; in particular, it addresses non-technical obstacles to the broadest uptake of these technologies. It focuses on new technologies that can physically and cognitively interact with humans, including neural interfaces, soft wearable robots, and sensor and actuator technologies; further, it discusses important regulatory challenges, including but not limited to business models, standardization, education and ethical-legal-socioeconomic issues. Gathering the outcomes of the 1st INBOTS Conference (INBOTS2018), held on October 16-20, 2018 in Pisa, Italy, the book addresses the needs of a broad audience of academics and professionals working in government and industry, as well as end users. In addition to providing readers with detailed information and a source of inspiration for new projects and collaborations, it discusses representative case studies highlighting practical challenges in the implementation of interactive robots in a number of fields, as well as solutions to improve communication between different stakeholders. By merging engineering, medical, ethical and political perspectives, the book offers a multidisciplinary, timely snapshot of interactive robotics.