The introduction of digital applications into businesses has revolutionized the way employees and managers carry out their jobs while also benefiting them socially. Smartphone and App Implementations that Improve Productivity looks at the benefits of apps in the workplace and introduces academic perspectives that link prospective advantages with practical commercial examples. The analysis is structured into chapters that include real world application while at the same time critically assess implied benefits of the new app technology and draw out the main findings and conclusions. Tahir M. Nisar brings into focus the emerging role of digital applications and big data in enterprise decision making. Readers will learn how companies can achieve more efficiency and effectiveness in their business operations through new types of organizational design strategies and mechanisms of employee mobility and work-life balance that draw on digital apps.

The growth of shareholder value has been a major change in Western economies since the 1980s. This growth has reignited debates concerning relations between investors and managers. The book argues that investors are more than passive providers of finance, on whose behalf managers seek to maximize shareholder returns. Instead, many investors directly influence management practice, through investor engagement. The book examines the role of institutional investors and private equity firms, two types of investors with overlapping but different reasons for engagement. Questions addressed include: What are the incentives, and disincentives, for investment engagement? How is investor engagement organized? What areas of management practice are of particular concern to investors? The discussion shows in detail how private equity firms play a major role in developing new companies, beyond the provision of finance, especially in the IT, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical sectors.
The discussion is primarily based on British and US research. The debate has wider international relevance, because there are strong pressures for establishing shareholder value as the international 'norm' for systems of corporate governance. Following a detailed discussion of Germany, the authors conclude that there is no inevitable trend to shareholder value: shareholder value depends upon complementary institutional arrangements in national business systems, which are far from universal. The book concludes with a critical analysis of the justifications for shareholder value and investor engagement, highlighting the weaknesses of both efficiency and equity justifications.