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Books in Business

The Business subject area offers broad coverage of entrepreneurship, organizational behavior, innovation, and economic principles. Featuring current research, case studies, and practical frameworks, this collection supports entrepreneurs, managers, and scholars in navigating complex markets. Topics include digital transformation, global trade, and corporate responsibility, addressing real-world challenges and opportunities. These resources foster strategic thinking, sustainable growth, and competitive advantage in diverse business environments.

  • The Role of China in Global Dirty Industry Migration

    • 1st Edition
    • Haitian Lu
    • English
    The first book to comprehensively analyze the regulation of dirty industry migration - a global issue that has complex economic, environmental and social implications. The book examines the mechanisms of regulation of dirty industry migration under internal trade, investment, environment and human rights laws. Other than international law, the host and home country regulation of dirty industry migration in the context of domestic laws and policies are examined. Finally, this book critically evaluates the voluntary codes relating to corporate environmental citizenship and social responsibility which bear implications on the regulation of dirty industry migration.
  • Fundamentals of International Organizational Behaviour

    • 1st Edition
    • Simon Dolan + 1 more
    • English
    Fundamentals of International Organizational Behaviour is a product of not only the authors’ lives, work, teaching and consulting experiences across the world but particularly in teaching courses on organizational behavior to students that come from different parts of the globe. This book reviews influential theories such as Experiential Learning Theory that benefit faculty and students focus on engaging in the process of learning (both at the individual and team levels) as part of organizational behavior course. Both historical and fundamental aspects of organizational behavior are assessed so as to cater to the diversity of knowledge and related experience in the fields of psychology, sociology or business.
  • Coping with Continuous Change in the Business Environment

    Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Technology
    • 1st Edition
    • Antonie Botha + 2 more
    • English
    Aimed at knowledge management professionals and students in the field of knowledge management, information science, information systems and software engineering, the book provides answers to the ‘what-is’ and ‘why-is’ questions with regard to knowledge management. It investigates the concepts and elements, the drivers, and challenges involved in knowledge management. In the second part of the book the ‘how’ and ‘with-what’ characteristics of knowledge management are covered. Although knowledge management is primarily concerned with non-technical issues, this book concentrates on the technical issues and challenges. A new technology framework for knowledge management is proposed to position and relate the different knowledge management technologies as well as the two key applications of knowledge management, namely knowledge portals and knowledge discovery (including text mining).
  • The Economic Relations Between Asia and Europe

    Organisation, Trade and Investment
    • 1st Edition
    • Bernadette Andreosso-O'Callaghan + 3 more
    • English
    This book looks at the new configuration taken by Asia-Europe economic relations. It is set against the background of the inclusion of China in the WTO, the growth of foreign investors from emerging Asian countries, and the economic reforms in a number of crisis-hit South East Asian economies. It is written by a number of well established European and Asian scholars from the fields of economics as well as management. The different chapters in the book highlight key contemporary issues from theoretical, conceptual and empirical perspectives.
  • Encyclopedia of Archaeology

    • 1st Edition
    • Deborah M. Pearsall
    • English
    Archaeology is a subject that fascinates us. From Egyptian tombs to a frozen Alpine wayfarer, from cities buried under volcanic ash to stone arrow heads turned up by the plow, archaeology is in the news and in our backyards. It is paradoxical that a subject that so easily captures the imagination is so difficult for the serious layman to access. Superficial media treatments and picture-book atlases and site guides on the one hand, jargon-heavy scholarly books and narrowly focused articles on the other-there are few ways to learn about the real world of archaeology outside the college classroom or the dig site. The Encyclopedia of Archaeology changes this, in making all aspects of archaeology accessible to a broad audience of the general scientific community, educators, students, and avocational archaeologists. Professional archaeologists and anthropologists will also find the encyclopedia a ready source of up-to-date information on specialities outside their own expertise. The Encyclopedia of Archaeology encompasses all aspects of archaeology, including the nature and diversity of archaeology as a scientific discipline, the practice of archaeology, archaeology in the everyday world, and the future of the discipline. Featured in the Encyclopedia of Archaeology are articles by leading authors that summarize archaeological knowledge at the beginning the 21st century, highlighting important sites and issues, and tracing the development of prehistoric cultures around the globe. No existing work provides the breadth and depth of coverage as the Encyclopedia of Archaeology. Also available online via ScienceDirect (2007) – featuring extensive browsing, searching, and internal cross-referencing between articles in the work, plus dynamic linking to journal articles and abstract databases, making navigation flexible and easy. For more information, pricing options and availability visit www.info.sciencedire...
  • Mergers, Acquisitions, and Other Restructuring Activities

    • 4th Edition
    • Donald DePamphilis
    • English
    Mergers, Acquisitions, and Other Restructuring Activities, Fourth Edition, is a real-world teaching tool for finance courses on mergers, acquisitions, and other restructuring activities. The author, Dr. Donald DePamphilis, shares his academic knowledge and personal experiences with over 30 such deals. The book covers 99 case studies that span every industry, country, and region worldwide demonstrate how deals are done rather than just the theory behind them, including cross-border transactions. The book is ideal for MBA and advanced undergraduate and graduate finance students taking courses in mergers & acquisitions, corporate restructuring, and corporate strategy.
  • Business Risk Management Handbook

    A sustainable approach
    • 1st Edition
    • Linda S Spedding + 1 more
    • English
    It is now seen as essential that all businesses assess their exposure to business risk especially in relation to value creation. This book explains the practical links between risk management and the impact it has on the value of your business. It offers vital, accessible and timely tools to assist you in making an immediate difference to the core value of your business and thereby satisfy the demands of an ever increasing range of stakeholders. This book will help you: • Discover how risk exposure can have a financial impact on your business • Make your business become more sustainable financially, socially and environmentally • Learn how to apply knowledge fast with this practical guide to risk management issues The sustainable approach covered by this book spans business survival to more recent issues, such as the use of energy and natural resources. It highlights the value of a more enlightened approach throughout an organization. In doing so the book explains the practical links between risk management and the impact on value using the Sustainable and Economic Risk Management (SERM) methodology which considers: • inherent risk • management of risk • residual risk exposure. By exploring the various frameworks that organizations operate in today – whether compulsory, compliance driven, voluntary or motivated by best practice – the book offers a practical tool through the SERM model which is at the heart of the book’s approach to risk management. This model, together with its global EFR model, have established proven and practical methodologies to achieve sustainable risk management techniques that are accessible to all organizations.
  • Long-Term Commitment, Trust and the Rise of Foreign Banking in China

    • 1st Edition
    • Qing Lu
    • English
    The rapid growth of foreign banks has aroused a growing interest in the academic field and specifically as regards to the question of why foreign banks exist. This book aims to establish the relationship between trust as contextual knowledge capital built between the Chinese government and foreign banks and foreign banks. knowledge capital and the relationship between the former and foreign banks. long-term commitment. By investigating the development strategy of foreign banks and by examining and explaining the importance of foreign banks. long-term commitment to their development, this book has demonstrated that foreign banks established branches in China not only to follow their home-country customers in order to retain their knowledge capital but also to gain market access. Trust as contextual knowledge capital built between foreign banks and the Chinese government could assist their knowledge capital retention and their market access strategy. Foreign banks. long-term commitment could help them to achieve this contextual knowledge capital. This book thus has major implications for the development strategy of foreign banks in a government-oriented economy with a controlled banking sector.
  • The Nature of Asian Firms

    An Evolutionary Perspective
    • 1st Edition
    • Scott Hipsher + 2 more
    • English
    The Nature of Asian Firms provides managers and others interested in doing business in the dynamic and fast changing Asian region with an understanding of the underlying principles driving both current and future business practices of Asian firms. The book is for internationally focused individuals who realize the importance of gaining a deeper understanding of the fastest growing economic region in the world and the firms from this region.
  • Business Process Change

    A Guide for Business Managers and BPM and Six Sigma Professionals
    • 2nd Edition
    • Paul Harmon + 1 more
    • English
    Every company wants to improve the way it does business, to produce goods and services more efficiently, and to increase profits. Nonprofit organizations are also concerned with efficiency, productivity, and with achieving the goals they set for themselves. Every manager understands that achieving these goals is part of his or her job. BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT (or BPM) is what they call these activities that companies perform in order to improve and adapt processes that will help improve the way they do business. In this balanced treatment of the field of business process change, Paul Harmon offers concepts, methods, and cases for all aspects and phases of successful business process improvement. Updated and added for this edition are coverage of business process management systems, business rules, enterprise architectures and frameworks (SCOR), and more content on Six Sigma and Lean--in addition to new coverage of performance metrics.
  • Globalisation and Work in Asia

    • 1st Edition
    • John Burgess + 1 more
    • English
    This book reviews employment conditions in Asian countries. This is the hub of the strongest growth area in the world economy and while attention has focussed on job growth and industrial transformation, there has been very little attention on employment characteristics and employment conditions. In particular, the book addresses the issue of whether globalisation, taken to mean the growing international integration of economies, is a factor that leads to a convergence of employment conditions, and more importantly, an improvement in employment conditions. The book brings together contributions on many Asian economies where these core questions are considered at both the macro level and for specified industries.
  • Globalization and the Chinese Retailing Revolution

    Competing in the World’s Largest Emerging Market
    • 1st Edition
    • Yong Zhen
    • English
    Chinese retailing serves 1.3 billion consumers and is developing with high economic growth rates. This detailed reference examines the following issues: the revolution happening in Chinese retailing; the evolution of the opening-up policy of Chinese retailing; the great opportunities brought about by the dramatic change in the Chinese retail industry particularly by China's entry to the World Trade Organisation (WTO); how to succeed in the Chinese retail market; successful models and strategies for both Chinese retailers and multinational retailers in China. The book also discusses the deep impact of China's entry to the WTO on the Chinese retail industry and the strategic importance of the industry in China's transitional economy.
  • Vietnamese State Industry and the Political Economy of Commercial Renaissance

    Dragon’s Toothor Curate’s Egg?
    • 1st Edition
    • Adam Fforde
    • English
    This book is based upon extensive and repeated fieldwork, close observation and familiarity with institutional detail. It traces Vietnam’s early attempts to create in State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) a basis for a military-industrial complex, and the ways in which these attempts failed, which explains the nature of state commercialism through the 1980s and into recent years. Since the 1990 breakout to a market economy, Vietnam has shown outstanding development success, with rapid GDP growth, macroeconomic stability, swift poverty reduction, maintenance of social spending and extensive globalisation. Her SOEs have played a major role, not only in showing that performance gains in 1989-91 could compensate for loss of the large Soviet bloc aid program, but also as major players in the rapid economic change of the 1990s, during which the officially reported state share of GDP remained high. By the middle of the 2000s, however, a rising private sector was, in harness with a large presence of foreign companies, sharply increasing pressures upon SOEs. Against this background, the book concludes with an assessment of the extent to which Vietnam’s commercialised SOEs are now no longer seen as an effective compromise, but acting as a major hindrance to Vietnam’s development.
  • Introduction to Precise Numerical Methods

    • 2nd Edition
    • Oliver Aberth
    • English
    Precise numerical analysis may be defined as the study of computer methods for solving mathematical problems either exactly or to prescribed accuracy. This book explains how precise numerical analysis is constructed. The book also provides exercises which illustrate points from the text and references for the methods presented.
  • Corporate Literacy

    Discovering the Senses of the Organisation
    • 1st Edition
    • Anne Kauhanen-Simanainen
    • English
    This book introduces a new facet for information and knowledge management: Corporate Literacy refers to the comprehensive literacy that companies and communities need in the networked, fast changing and complex environment. The views relating to organisations and information are changing along with the changes in the operating and information environment. The concept of literacy is also expanding. It cannot anymore be observed only from an individual point of view but the attention has to be transferred to communal skills. Based of these shared skills the organisation is able to build its own information architecture and to offer its information resources for use. This book will tell the reader how Corporate Literacy is created and what kind of a strategy can be used to develop it. The book includes information architecture of a literate organisation and new roles of information professionals.
  • R&D and Licensing

    Building Value Through Intellectual Assets
    • 1st Edition
    • Kieran Comerford
    • English
    This book explains the principles of research and development (R&D) management in an environment which is open to external sources of technology. Organisations no longer undertake all of their R&D in-house. Increasingly, companies innovate by using a combination of R&D and externally sourced technologies. R&D and Licensing shows how to integrate these into the product and process development programme, and provides extensive guidance on intellectual property, licensing and royalty negotiations. The book demonstrates how companies increase their value through the acquisition of intellectual assets.
  • Marketing Due Diligence

    Reconnecting Strategy to Share Price
    • 1st Edition
    • Malcolm McDonald + 2 more
    • English
    The ultimate test of marketing investment, and indeed any investment, is whether it creates value for shareholders. But few marketing investments are evaluated from this perspective. Increasingly, boards of directors and city analysts the world over are dissatisfied with this lack of accountability. Cranfield School of Management has been addressing this problem by working with a range of blue-chip companies. They have created a new framework which shows how marketing systematically contributes to shareholder value based on three key questions-• Does the promised market exist?• Will the strategy deliver the market share promised?• Will the market share create shareholder value?This groundbreaking new book explains the principles and practice behind rigorous due diligence in marketing for Marketing and Finance Directors, CEOs, Strategists and MBA students wanting to understand the key drivers of modern businessSurely, the time has come for marketing directors to take their rightful place in the boardroom by proving that what they are doing creates shareholder value added?
  • The Globalisation of Executives and Economies

    Lessons from Thailand
    • 1st Edition
    • John Walsh
    • English
    How has globalisation affected the executives and economy of Thailand, one of the most dynamically growing countries in East Asia? This book provides coverage of crucial industrial sectors in the Thai economy, comparisons between the past and the present Thai economy and a variety of studies aiming to explain the behaviour of Thai executives and consumers.
  • The Profit Impact of Business Intelligence

    • 1st Edition
    • Steve Williams + 1 more
    • English
    The Profit Impact of Business Intelligence presents an A-to-Z approach for getting the most business intelligence (BI) from a company's data assets or data warehouse. BI is not just a technology or methodology, it is a powerful new management approach that – when done right – can deliver knowledge, efficiency, better decisions, and profit to almost any organization that uses it. When BI first came on the scene, it promised a lot but often failed to deliver. The missing element was the business-centric focus explained in this book. It shows how you can achieve the promise of BI by connecting it to your organization’s strategic goals, culture, and strengths while correcting your BI weaknesses. It provides a practical, process-oriented guide to achieve the full promise of BI; shows how world-class companies used BI to become leaders in their industries; helps senior business and IT executives understand the strategic impact of BI and how they can ensure a strong payoff from their BI investments; and identifies the most common mistakes organizations make in implementing BI. The book also includes a helpful glossary of BI terms; a BI readiness assessment for your organization; and Web links and extensive references for more information.
  • The Impact of Organisational Culture On Knowledge Management

    • 1st Edition
    • Marina Du Plessis
    • English
    Aimed at knowledge management professionals and students in the field of knowledge management and information science, this book highlights issues in organisational cultures that can impact the implementation of knowledge management. Organisational culture has an extremely high impact on knowledge management, but is very difficult to identify and to address. The book indicates how people, culture, technology, strategy, leadership, operational management, process and organisational structure issues all have an impact on the implementation of knowledge management in an organisation. The book also provides a model to identify and manage areas in the organisation that impact knowledge management, which is easy and practical to apply, to enable successful knowledge management programmes.
  • Innovation and Technology of Women's Intimate Apparel

    • 1st Edition
    • W Yu + 3 more
    • English
    The intimate apparel business is undergoing major technological change. New measurement and design techniques, combined with innovative materials and production methods, are transforming the range, quality and applications of women’s lingerie. This important book provides an authoritative review of these developmentsAfter an introductory chapter on the concept of body beauty, a first group of chapters discuss innovations in the manufacture of brassieres, including developments in breast measurement and sizing, innovations in bra design and improvements in bra pattern technology. The following sequence of chapters reviews key developments in girdles. Topics discussed include innovations in girdle design and use and research on the physiological effects of body shapers. The book concludes by assessing developments in intimate apparel with special functions such as sports bras, and innovation in knitted and seamless intimate apparel.Innovation and technology of women’s intimate apparel is a standard reference for designers and engineers working in this important area of the textile industry.
  • Research in Organizational Behavior

    An Annual Series of Analytical Essays and Critical Reviews
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 27
    • Barry Staw
    • English
    This twenty-seventh volume of Research in Organizational Behavior carries forward the tradition of high-level scholarship on a broad array of organizational topics. Like many previous volumes, this collection is truly interdisciplinary, with chapters ranging from personality and decision making in organizations, to interpersonal dynamics such as helping and group process, to organizational-level analyses of legitimization and change. Each of the essays is well-reasoned, thoughtful, and provocative-- proving, once again, that the field of organizational behavior is flourishing in both its depth and scope.
  • Being the Best You Can Be

    A Guide on Personal Development for Managers
    • 1st Edition
    • Ian Hunt
    • English
    This management book is published in association with the Institute of Management and Leadership (ILM). Everyone is so busy rushing around doing their own thing – working, parenting, fire-fighting, trying to manage themselves and others, and in many cases just surviving. Being the Best You Can Be examines how individuals can develop themselves, control different aspects of their life, become more organised, welcome change and tackle challenges face on. Chapters discuss organisation skills, how to maintain a positive attitude, managing stress and building a successful team.
  • Practical Leadership

    • 1st Edition
    • Gordon MacKay
    • English
    This management book is published in association with the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM). Drawing upon both contemporary experience and that of well known leaders, this book offers practical advice and guidance to inspire, encourage, and inform anyone facing, for the first time, the real day to day challenges of leadership. Over recent decades technology and education have led to great challenges for traditional styles of leadership. Nevertheless, the author demonstrates real prescience in ancient tales of leadership, its initiation and development and their practical value for leaders today. The book opens with the author’s account of his own initiation into leadership; of being propelled totally unexpectedly and quite unprepared into the practice and challenges of leadership. The book contains reflections on and fundamental insights into the nature and practice of leadership. Illustrated with many rich examples, metaphors, allegories and illustrations, the author exposes consistent patterns marking the practice of great leaders.
  • Leadership Scaffolding

    • 1st Edition
    • Judith Elliott
    • English
    Leadership Scaffolding discusses the practicalities for middle managers of leadership - providing readers with the framework or scaffolding to being an effective manager. It’s not theory - it’s all about what the seriously good managers actually ‘do’. When we start our careers, we learn in compartments: this course on delegation, that workshop on motivation. Of course hit and run training courses help us, as does a good role model or two, but the best managers are the ones who construct a framework of actions around the main focus of getting the job done that means it gets done more efficiently, with less stress and is ultimately more rewarding for all concerned.The good news is that although there are some common, threads this framework, or scaffolding, has different shapes - depending on your unique business or management style. This book provides readers with that framework or scaffolding.
  • Marketing Due Diligence

    Reconnecting Strategy to Share Price
    • 1st Edition
    • Malcolm McDonald + 2 more
    • English
    At the top of a company, sales do not matter, profits do not matter, even return on investment is a secondary concern. What matters is share price and what drives share price is the creation of shareholder value. Many marketing directors, obsessed with branding and other promotional tactics, miss this fundamental truth of modern business and so destroy the wealth of their company's ultimate owners. By failing to consider and manage the business risk associated with their strategies, they deliver returns below the cost of capital and neglect the firm's raison d'etre. The board needs a way of holding these marketers to account. Marketing Due Diligence is a new process which has emerged from years of research at Cranfield, one of Europe's leading business schools. It blends proven ideas from strategic and financial management with new concepts about organisational effectiveness to create a process that directly connects marketing strategy to shareholder value. CEOs and CFOs cannot afford to operate without Marketing Due Diligence. Bad marketing directors cannot afford to work with it.
  • Research in Organizational Behavior

    An Annual Series of Analytical Essays and Critical Reviews
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 26
    • Barry Staw + 1 more
    • English
    This twenty-sixth volume of Research in Organizational Behavior presents a set of well-crafted and thoughtful essays on a series of research topics. They range from efforts to redirect the study of leadership, to analyses of interpersonal relationships, to considerations of cross-cultural issues in organizing work, to discussions of institutional and environmental forces on organizational outcomes. Each of these essays includes a thorough review of the relevant literature, and more importantly, pushes that literature forward with new conceptual analysis and theory. In short, these essays continue the spirit of "rigorous eclecticism" that has exemplified the annual publication of ROB. As a collection, this year's set of essays provides a healthy advance for the field of organizational behavior. They are examples of serious scholarship that extend and challenge our current thinking about organizations and the behavior of its participants. Many of these chapters will take their place among the best presented by the Research in Organizational Behavior series. • Revisiting the Meaning of Leadership• When and How Team Leaders Matter• Normal Act of Irrational Trust: Motivated Attributions and the Trust Development Process• Gender Stereotypes and Negotiation Performance: An Examination of Theory and Research• Third-Party Reactions to Employee (Mis)treatment: A Justice Perspective• Subgroup Dynamics in Internationally Distributed Teams: Ethnocentrism or Cross-National Learning?• Protestant Relational Ideology: The Cognitive Underpinnings and Organizational Implications of an American Anomaly• Isomorphism In Reverse: Institutional Theory as an Explanation For Recent Increases in Intraindustry Heterogeneity and Managerial Discretion• The Red Queen: History-Dependent Competition Among Organizations
  • Money Laundering: business compliance

    • 1st Edition
    • Stuart Bazley + 1 more
    • English
    Money Laundering: Business Compliance is a timely and user-friendly manual that shows you how to comply fully and effectively with the Money Laundering Regulations 2003. In the drive to halt funding terrorist activity, control of money laundering activity has risen high on the government’s agenda. The Money Laundering Regulations 2003 expand the regulator’s already wide powers. Failure to comply with anti-money laundering provisions prevents businesses functioning properly, carries severe financial penalties and can result in serious criminal sanctions. Using flowcharts, diagrams, checklists and bullet points, this book explains how you can spot activities that must be reported. It alerts you to when and how you must report and to do so within minimum business interruption; demonstrates how to ensure compliance with the regulatory framework; gives details on correct training procedures; tells you how to avoid falling foul of the stringent rules against tipping off; and arms you with the knowledge to avoid the pitfalls. With its uniquely practical approach and hands-on guidance, the book should be the first port of call for all those wanting to understand the regulations and the guidance notes. This book is essential reading for MLROs, directors, compliance officers, risk officers, finance directors and accountants, company secretaries and all those within the regulated sector.
  • Insight in Innovation

    Managing Innovation by Understanding the Laws of Innovation
    • 1st Edition
    • Jan Verloop
    • English
    Innovation is an ancient art, may be as old as 500,000 years, but managing innovation is a relatively young management technique, only a few decades old, and has received much less attention than other aspects of innovation such as creativity, entrepreneurship or venturing. This book is not about providing a series of recipes on innovation management or a collection of case stories on how to do innovation or not. The few examples given are well known innovations from (Shell) history and all of them have been described before in the literature. However, this book does not focus on the brilliant result or failure of the innovations, but on the process of innovation in order to understand the features of a well-managed innovation effort. The book has been written around six main themes:1. Understanding innovation as a business process and how it has developed through history.2. For a manager it is essential to appreciate the fundamental difference between inside- and outside-the-box innovation; each one needs its own specific management process.3. The main roles of the innovation manager are managing the innovation funnel, executing the innovation strategy and optimising the value of the innovation portfolio.4. Entrepreneurship is the key resource in innovation and the right conditions have to be created for it to flourish in large companies.5. The value of innovation can be assessed as an option value and in creating intellectual capital for the company.6. Integrating sustainable development in the innovation process requires changes in the management process, in the assessment and valuation of innovation, and in the interaction with the stakeholders.
  • Research in Organizational Behavior

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 25
    • Roderick M Kramer + 1 more
    • English
    This volume celebrates the first quarter century of publishing Research in Organizational Behavior. From its inception, Research in Organizational Behavior has striven to provide important theoretical integrations of major literatures in the organizational sciences, as well as timely examination and provocative analyses of pressing organizational issues and problems. In keeping with this tradition, the current volume offers an eclectic mix of scholarly articles that address a variety of important questions in organizational theory and do so from a diverse range of disciplinary perspectives and theoretical orientations. A number of the chapters also directly engage contemporary events and dilemmas of considerable importance.
  • National Reforms in European Gas

    • 1st Edition
    • M. Arentsen + 1 more
    • English
    Focussing on the change and development of national gas markets in Europe, this book provides an overview, analysis and comparison of recent dynamics in several national gas markets, at a time of very rapid change within this industry. This overview provides a better understanding of current events and future evolution in the European gas business.What can be expected at the European level given the recent trends and dynamics in national gas markets in Europe? How did countries respond to the EU gas directive and why? What are the important barriers to a harmonised European gas market from the perspective of national developments? This book tackles these and related questions.Written by experts across the field of energy policy and reform, this publication will be an invaluable resource for social scientists studying the ongoing reform process in energy markets as well as industry analysts, consultants, policy makers and utility companies worldwide.
  • Dividend Policy

    Theory and Practice
    • 1st Edition
    • George Frankfurter + 2 more
    • English
    Dividend Policy provides a comprehensive study of dividend policy. It explores the puzzle presented by dividends: irrational and subject to fashion, yet popular and desirable, they remain a priority among managers, even while perceived as largely symbolic. After exploring the history of dividend payments, from the emergence of the modern corporation to current perspectives, it traces the evolution of academic models on dividend policy. Here the authors review models of symmetric and asymmetric information before analyzing academia's accomplishments in solving the dividend puzzle. Related subjects, such as valuation and wealth distribution, round out the authors' presentation about new ways to think about one of the most intriguing subjects in financial economics. The book is recommended for professors and students in departments of finance and business, corporate finance staff, and financial regulators.
  • Business Process Change

    A Manager's Guide to Improving, Redesigning, and Automating Processes
    • 1st Edition
    • Paul Harmon + 1 more
    • English
    Every company wants to improve the way it does business, to produce goods and services more efficiently, and to increase profits. Nonprofit organizations are also concerned with efficiency, productivity, and with achieving the goals they set for themselves. Every manager understands that achieving these goals is a part of his or her job.In the wake of the dot-com collapse, managers are trying to figure out how they can take advantage of email, the Internet, and the Web to improve their business process. At the same time, managers are interested in developing business process architectures and measurement systems that align business processes with corporate goals. Managers face many options in approaching these problems. Business Process Change provides an overview of the options and describes a variety of business process techniques proven by successful companies over the course of a decade.
  • Research in Organizational Behavior

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 24
    • Barry Staw + 1 more
    • English
    The chapters in this collection address a variety of concerns in organizational theory, ranging from the evolution of organizations and cross-cultural analyses of managerial behavior to the micro-sociology of knowledge brokering within organizations and the etiology of organizational messes. Swaminathan, examines resource partitioning theory, an important theoretical perspective in population ecology. The next three chapters, broadly construed, address issues of organizational innovation, learning, and adaptation in complex environments. The next contribution, by John Carroll, Jenny Rudolph, and Sachi Hatakenaka examines how high-hazard organizations learn from experience. As with all organizations, high-hazard organizations such as nuclear power plants and chemical plants attempt to learn from experience in order to improve performance and, of course, to avoid catastrophic failure. Unlike many other kinds of organizations, however, failure to learn from prior experience-especiall... with respect to learning effectively from errors and mishaps-can prove extremely costly and even fatal. Hence, these organizations must balance between learning and control, and must do so under conditions of considerable oversight and scrutiny. provocative analysis of the role disorganization plays in organizational life. The two following chapters in this volume provide important overviews of theory and research on classic phenomena within organizational theory, followed by original theoretical syntheses. Robert Baron's chapter then undertakes a fresh and useful examination of the burgeoning literature on entrepreneurship and the two final chapters in the volume examine essential issues related to our understanding of organizations and the cultural environments in which they are embedded.
  • Relationship and Resource Management in Operations

    • 1st Edition
    • David Loader
    • English
    'Relationship and Resource Management in Operations' explains in practical terms the importance of the business relationships with internal and external counterparts while demonstrating how things can go wrong and what causes the situation. The authors examine the need to instil cultures in the team focusing on client service, risk and cost effectiveness. The text covers, via practical examples, the kind of scenario managers or supervisors might face in their role and shows what decisions could and should be made. The operations function in a financial organization is crucial to the success of the business. It drives both profitability and reputation as well as contributing to business development and support. It is also a complex part of a business and one that is treated differently in different types of organizations. The complexity of operations and the diverseness of the teams and the people they interact with create a need for a high degree of relationship and resource management. For instance a bank that is involved in both retail and investment banking will have hundreds of different relationship situations, but so too will a small private client broker. Some situations may be common to all types of organizations; others common to particular types of organizations and a few will be very specific to an organization. These relationships may be very open or highly discreet and confidential. Whatever the type of relationship, whether problematic or successful, it is likely that any problems will have an impact of the business. For operations managers their role is a key one. Charged with managing resources and the numerous relationship issues, it is neither a simple task nor, because of the variety and frequency of the issues that might arise, one that is easy to find solutions for. This book, however, explores some of the situations that managers might find themselves in and puts forward some solutions. Relationships and resources are the energy source that makes operations work and managed well they will provide the means to grow and to attain success. The central aim of this book is to provide knowledge and guidance on this important and key area of operations management. Successful operations teams are built on talented resource and effective management - let this book be your guide.
  • Elsevier's Dictionary of Advertising

    In English, German, French and Russian
    • 1st Edition
    • S.G. Manoilova + 1 more
    • English
    The dynamic business of advertising is quite fascinating as it encompasses an eclectic diversity of fields and activities. Spanning from matters of budgeting, discounts and commissions to creativity, the art of words and images, it communicates to consumers a viable, marketable message. To cover such a diverse spectrum, this dictionary provides the users with terminology from the various spheres that interact to form the ever-expanding vocabulary of modern advertising: marketing and market research, creativity (graphic design, text writing and concept development, photography and film-making basics), media, prepress and typography. This dictionary will be of good use to students of advertising, advertising professionals (account executives, graphic designers, copywriters, media planners etc.), as well as to a wide range of business people.
  • Making Common Sense Common Practice

    Models for Manufacturing Excellence
    • 1st Edition
    • Ron Moore
    • English
    Make more money in the manufacturing business - but not through cost-cutting and employee layoffs. This book clearly describes how you can turn common sense into common practice to achieve superior manufacturing performance and low-cost production.Presentin... the best practices of the best manufacturing companies in the world, this book presents proven models for achieving world-class performance. Using a fictional company called Beta International, the book illustrates the success and failures of the world's premier manufacturers, illustrating a stable path of growth for almost any manufacturing company.Through the experience of Beta International, you'll see how to increase uptime, lower costs, increase market share, maximize asset utilization, apply benchmarks and best practices, and improve many other aspects that ultimately raise your company's performance to the level of world-class. 'Making Common Sense Common Practice' takes a good, hard look at plant design, procurement, parts management, installation and maintenance, training and even offers a chapter on how to implement a computerized maintenance management system.In today's tough competitive markets, 'Making Common Sense Common Practice' greatly enhances your company's chance to succeed - and profit.
  • Research in Organizational Behavior

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 23
    • Barry Staw
    • English
    This 23rd volume of Research in Organizational Behavior presents papers on a variety of topics in the field of organizational behaviour, with the twin goals of consolidating prior research and breaking new theoretical ground.
  • Shareholder Value - A Business Experience

    • 1st Edition
    • RoyE. Johnson
    • English
    Shareholder Value presents a powerful and useful toolkit of market-based perspectives, analytic approaches, valuation techniques, and specific financial metrics for use in everyday business life. The author helps a broad spectrum of professionals understand the salient points and real world implications of a 'value management' movement which has taken hold in many corporations in the United States and around the world. This movement is being supported by some of the major institutional investors who influence financial markets. The main goal of 'Shareholder Value' is to help working professionals grasp the concept of value 'creators' and 'destroyers', along with the implications. He also provides tools to measure the success (or failure) of major strategic and operational initiatives and enables corporate managers to understand how shareholder value is created, and then directs behaviour toward 'value-based' planning and action. Although mainly aimed at the professional market, 'Shareholder Value' will also be of use to students of business and finance as it is intended to provide a comprehensive foundation for important elements of business strategy and acquisition valuation, corporate financial analysis, capital investments, corporate financing and economic value based metrics.AUTHOR'S REVIEW:When developing this book, I strived to achieve the following: Provide the finance professional and student of finance with a comprehensive template of shareholder value concepts and techniques - geared toward use in a corporate setting Give the non-financial professional an understanding of the underpinnings and behavioural aspects of economic value management Outline and provide details of an effective process for implementing a value-based financial performance system within a corporation ...And, combine learning with enjoyable reading by presenting technical material through a story. The "story" and "characters" are unique features of Shareholder Value - A Business Experience. The reader can get an appreciation of the environment surrounding value-based management, along with challenges that arise when transitioning from traditional "accounting" performance (where earnings and earnings per share reign supreme) to "economic" performance (where cash flow and return on investment are emphasized). Characters occupying operating and staff roles have been created to represent people that those working inside companies (large, medium and small) may encounter and, also, to invoke some humour. Insights into how to function in different corporate roles can be gained by following the characters through the story.
  • Mergers, Acquisitions, and Other Restructuring Activities

    An Integrated Approach
    • 1st Edition
    • Donald DePamphilis
    • English
    Most books on mergers and acquisitions focus on process management, human resource management, or the financial aspects of the deal. This book brings together the essential elements of each domain, including subjects that are often overlooked or treated only superficially by other texts. These subjects include post-merger integration, business alliances, deal structuring and strategies, financial modeling and simulation, assumptions-driven planning, and valuing intellectual property. This book is unique in that M&A activity is discussed as a series of interdependent activities and in the context in which each activity actually occurs. While intended for students in mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, business strategy, industrial organization, and entrepreneurship courses at both the MBA and undergraduate level, this text has broad market appeal. The material has worked quite effectively in both executive development and training programs. The book also has substantial appeal for those who are hoping to become or who are actively pursuing careers as financial analsyts, chief financial officers, corporate treasurers, operating managers, investment bankers, business brokers, portfolio mangers, investors, as well as corporate development and strategic planning managers. Others likely to have an interest include bank lending officers, venture capitalists, business appraisers, actuaries, government regulators and policy makers, and entrepreneurs.The generous use of practical, timely, and diverse examples and contemporary (including e-commerce) business cases with solutions makes the text suitable for distance learning, self-study, as well as for large lecture focused courses. The book presumes only a basic knowledge of accounting and finance.
  • Research in Organizational Behavior

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 22
    • B.M. Staw + 1 more
    • English
    Volume 22 of Research in Organizational Behavior continues the tradition of innovation and theoretical development with eight diverse papers. Most of these papers present theory and propositions that make linkages between different levels of analysis.
  • The Repo Handbook

    • 2nd Edition
    • Moorad Choudhry
    • English
    The Repo Handbook, Second Edition presents an overview of repo vehicles and markets with sufficient depth for those seeking detailed explanations. In three parts it demonstrates how these secured loans fit into global capital markets and why they account for up to 50% of daily settlement activity in non-US government bonds worldwide. This new edition replaces old examples and introduces new developments, such as structured finance repo and associated topics such as Basel II regulatory rules. In addition, 12 of 18 chapters feature new sections and 4 have been substantially rewritten. The UK gilt and US Treasury repo markets are explored through worked examples, and there are new sections on funding arbitrage trades, risk exposures, and regulatory capital. It also places repo in context within bank asset-liability management and trading techniques, illustrating repo use across a wide range of applications in the global money markets. Rarely mentioned in the financial press because of the simple, straightforward nature of the instrument, repo was often the only funding source available to banks during the last quarter of 2008 and the first in 2009. This book, written by a trader, will draw new attention to this valuable and efficient funding and investment product.
  • Valuing Oil and Gas Companies

    A Guide to the Assessment and Evaluation of Assets, Performance and Prospects
    • 1st Edition
    • Nick Antill + 1 more
    • English
    Market value is set by investor behaviour ....but objective methods of valuation are vital for accurate predictions of market behaviour. What are the key issues facing the industry - and the main points the analyst needs to look for when interpreting oil industry accounts? Do the best prospects necessarily lie with the larger and better-financed companies? How best can an investment strategy be managed in the refining industry, with its conflicting pressures of environmental controls and inadequate returns?This unique and authoritative book has the answers to these and many other questions, offering a series of benchmarks and performance indicators with which to evaluate oil company shares. An updated edition of a respected and established title, it remains the only comprehensive handbook of its kind available, and will be eagerly welcomed by corporate planners as well as investors and analysts.
  • Winning Business

    How to Use Financial Analysis and Benchmarks to Outscore Your Competition
    • 1st Edition
    • RICH GILDERSLEEVE
    • English
    Today's business environment is a competition, and business managers need the right game plan if they want to win. Successful businesses do a lot of the same things well. They track inventories, expenses, growth, break-even units, margins, employee turnover, compensation plans, return on training, sales, earnings per employee, and a host of other statistics. But to win in business, managers need to do more than track these benchmarks. They need to improve results.Winning Business provides the benchmarks business managers should track. It shows managers how to calculate each benchmark, AND presents ways to improve their results. In short, this book provides a company with a blueprint for success. Each benchmark produces a value that managers can track over time to monitor the impact on their operations. To help managers evaluate their performance, it provides industry-wide benchmarks that list the results retailers, manufacturers, and even publishers should target. Winning Business provides benchmarks for:Managerial accounting Sales and marketing Employee benefits Financial performance Market indicators Inventory analysis Many others Included FREE is a full, multimedia version of Winning Business. The CD-ROM includes Winning Business MultiMedia in Adobe pdf (Portable Document Format) file format for Win 95/98/NT 3.51 or above, Mac System 7.5 or higher, UNIX, and other platforms. You'll get all 257 tips from the book complete with their workable equations. BONUS for Windows 95, 98, NT 3.51 or above users: Financial Analysis Calculator, Version 1.1.0. With this free program, you can enter your company's financial statement information and watch as the program automatically performs all of the ratio calculations for you. In an instant, you can have a vast array of critical performance characteristics mapped out for you.
  • Maximising Performance in Insurance Operations

    • 1st Edition
    • Julia Prichard + 1 more
    • English
    Maximising performance in insurance operations is a practical guide to managing successful change programmes within the insurance industry. It shows large organisations how to become leading edge business performers using case studies and examples drawn from the authors’ own unrivalled experience in the field. Key questions such as ‘How much change is required?’ are addressed and a structured programme tailored to the uniqueproblems of the insurance industry shows how organisations can move forward to maximise their potential with a minimum of risk.The book sets out the criteria for achieving operational excellence and each chapter is supported by a case study showing how various organisations have dealt with the challenges and there are useful comments and invaluableadvice from the practitioners involved.This book is essential reading for anyone involved in insurance or financial services and will be particularly useful for chief executives, operations directors and those in a line management role who have been charged with responsibility for securing the major benefits within their specific areas.
  • Management and Administration Skills for the Mental Health Professional

    • 1st Edition
    • William O'Donohue + 1 more
    • English
    Psychologists receive several years of specialized study on the brain, behavior, and mental health, but despite the fact that over half ultimately end up in administrative or managerial roles, they receive no formalized training in the skills necessary to be successful in these roles. This book is the first of its kind to target the managerial and administrative skills necessary for the mental health professional. The book discusses practical information such as how to deal with personnel issues, how to set budgets and allocate resources, and how to document progress and maintain schedules in the domains of private practice, hospitals, government agencies, and universities. Chapter authors are well-known and successful psychologists within these settings and include Raymond Fowler, past president of the American Psychological Association.
  • Loss Prevention and the Small Business

    The Security Professional's Guide to Asset Protection Strategies
    • 1st Edition
    • J. Robert Wyman
    • English
    With half of all new businesses failing in the first two years, every aspect of good business planning must be considered, but loss prevention is very often overlooked. Most small business owners grapple with the day to day challenges of sales and marketing, never realizing that the shadow of shrinkage is expanding daily, waiting to reveal itself in the annual inventory results. Ravaged by theft and paperwork losses, the already tight profit margin can shrink into oblivion. Loss Prevention and the Small Business opens the eyes of the reader to the reality of shrinkage in all its guises including shoplifting, fraud, and embezzlement. Armed with this awareness, the security specialist or owner/manager can utilize the many strategies to both inhibit losses and aggressively pursue those persons and processes that cause losses. This is a comprehensive guide to developing and maintaining a loss prevention strategy. It assists the reader in creating a dynamic proactive plan for protecting their hard-earned profits from the menace of internal and external loss.
  • CFROI Valuation

    • 1st Edition
    • Bartley Madden
    • English
    What generates shareholder value? How can it be evaluated? How can it influence investment decisions and corporate strategy? Cash Flow Return On Investment answers all these questions by detailing the pioneering financial research carried out by HOLT Value Associates, the leading consultancy in the field. Read this book if you want to find out what really drives the wealth generation in any business, allowing you to pick which equities will succeed and which strategic initiatives are destined for high returns. The CFROI model is an essential tool for professionals working in finance and corporate strategy. It clarifies how economic value is created in a firm and acts as a reliable guide to:* making investment decisions* taking key strategic decisions* understanding economic value
  • X-Ray Timing and Cosmic Gamma Ray Bursts

    • 2nd Edition
    • Volume 22
    • Jean A. Swank
    • English