Politics and Rhetoric of Italian State Steel Privatisation
This book is the result of an investigation into the history of the privatization of the steel industry in Italy, completed between 1994 and 1995. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of business history, economics, sociology and political science.
Advances in Computational Mathematics for Industrial System Reliability and Maintainability
This book is a comprehensive exploration of computational mathematics and its impact on enhancing the reliability and maintainability of industrial systems. With its careful blend of theoretical foundations, practical applications, and future perspectives, this book is a vital reference for researchers, engineers, and professionals seeking to optimize industrial systems' performance, efficiency, and resilience.
The CareFull Supervisor
Learn real frontline leadership in The CareFull Supervisor. Acclaimed business educator Kevin Burns shatters the traditional view of supervisory roles, exposing a profound understanding: your team doesn't work for you - you work for them.The CareFull Supervisor dismantles the complexities of leadership, equipping supervisors with practical techniques and resources to lead with confidence. While many supervisors may have been promoted due to their exceptional individual achievements, transitioning from standout employee to empathetic leader demands an entirely new skill set.The CareFull Supervisor is not just another book on supervision; it's a game-changer for anyone in a leadership role. This book takes you on a transformative journey equipping you with the tools to excel as a supervisor, and the skills to create a workplace that inspires loyalty and teamwork. The CareFull Supervisor offers insights into building genuine connections with your team and creating an environment of trust and collaboration. Whether you're a seasoned supervisor or just starting out, this book will show you how to lead with confidence and care - qualities that are essential for success in today's ever-changing workplace. Take the first step towards a fulfilling path of self-improvement and become the supervisor employees want to have.
The CareFull Supervisor
Learn real frontline leadership in The CareFull Supervisor. Acclaimed business educator Kevin Burns shatters the traditional view of supervisory roles, exposing a profound understanding: your team doesn't work for you - you work for them.The CareFull Supervisor dismantles the complexities of leadership, equipping supervisors with practical techniques and resources to lead with confidence. While many supervisors may have been promoted due to their exceptional individual achievements, transitioning from standout employee to empathetic leader demands an entirely new skill set.The CareFull Supervisor is not just another book on supervision; it's a game-changer for anyone in a leadership role. This book takes you on a transformative journey equipping you with the tools to excel as a supervisor, and the skills to create a workplace that inspires loyalty and teamwork. The CareFull Supervisor offers insights into building genuine connections with your team and creating an environment of trust and collaboration. Whether you're a seasoned supervisor or just starting out, this book will show you how to lead with confidence and care - qualities that are essential for success in today's ever-changing workplace. Take the first step towards a fulfilling path of self-improvement and become the supervisor employees want to have.
Innovation, Sustainability, and Technological Megatrends in the Face of Uncertainties
This edited book focuses on the multidimensional aspects of the technological megatrends shaping our global economic system's social, economic, and geopolitical order in the face of uncertainties. With continued shocks, economic downturns, socio-political crises, climate change, and waves of pandemics that pose an existential threat, technological forces have significant effects in defining our path. In this book, by focusing on recent innovations and technological megatrends, the authors assess the sustainability of such human developments in the face of uncertainty. The book analyses the core developments, and trending tech solutions that pause challenges and bring opportunities for businesses and the economies as our global economy emerges from the devastating economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The book appeals to professionals wanting to assess how technological developments and innovation will impact their areas, but also to researchers interested in the impact on businesses, industries and economies.
Artificial intelligence and Industry 4.0
The future of artificial intelligence is a very interesting and complex topic, which generates many expectations, opportunities and challenges. AI applied to different sectors and problems, such as health, industry, education, security, environment or scientific research. AI can help improve the quality of life, efficiency, innovation and knowledge in these areas. AI and the future of work, education and leisure, raises questions about the role of humans, the skills that will be required, the opportunities and threats that will arise, and how to adapt and harness the potential of AI. AI is being applied in industry to: Automate routine and repetitive tasks, which can improve efficiency, reduce errors and free employees to focus on more important tasks. Improve the quality of products and services by analyzing large amounts of data and detecting patterns and problems that might go unnoticed by humans. Customize offerings and adapt to individual customer needs by using customer data to create tailored solutions.
Emotional pay and job satisfaction
The purpose of this research is to determine the influence that the emotional salary has on the job satisfaction of the administrative and operational personnel of the Intercultural Education District 15D01 Tena. It also seeks to identify the factors that stimulate workers within an organization to improve their quality of life and their production capacity, through the implementation of labor policies that help to promote a good working environment. In chapter one, the problem of the object of study is described and the objectives that will help to solve it are described. In chapter two, the theoretical framework is explained with a bibliographic base, which allowed understanding the necessary concepts such as salary and job satisfaction to carry out the research. Chapter three describes the methodology applied in the research, which was of a deductive-inductive type that helped to obtain the necessary information to detect the shortcomings of the problem and to be able to establish conclusions for its solution. Chapter four details the analysis, interpretation and discussion of the results obtained from the questionnaire.
Sustainability Analytics Toolkit for Practitioners
This book solicits meaningful contributions from key experts and practitioners that have been dealing with the emerging area of sustainability analytics. In doing so, readers would understand the cost, impact and performance of their sustainability initiatives. The book covers current analytical tools (eg: frameworks, standards, ESG indexes) to measure sustainability, and how these tools embed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition to that, a part of the book is also dedicated to the application of sustainability analytics, highlighting key challenges as well as the importance of engagement and communication in shaping the future direction of sustainability assessments. This book will be extremely useful to both researchers and practitioners who are looking for best--in-class practices to create value from their sustainability initiatives.
The Quality Toolbox
This book provides tools that are less commonly used and some tools that the author, Nancy Tague, created. Inside you'll find tools for generating and organizing ideas, evaluating ideas, analyzing processes, determining root causes, planning, basic data handling, and statistics. In this third edition, six new tools were added (i.e., DFMEA and PMFEA) along with a section on Quality 4.0 and suggested quality tools that can help facilitate practitioners looking to implement Quality 4.0 concepts. The use of icons with each tool description tells the reader at a glance what kind of tool it is and where it is used within the improvement process.
Procurement Analytics
This unique textbook explicitly addresses the intersection of advanced analytics and procurement. It is motivated by one core question: How can firms generate (economic) value from procurement data? It demonstrates that procurement is one of the major functions within a firm where data analytics, artificial intelligence, and operations research can successfully be leveraged to reduce cost and risk and to achieve resilience and sustainability goals.The book provides a methods-based overview of data-driven optimization of purchasing decisions. Besides presenting key concepts and applications, it particularly focuses on implementation, so as to help (future) procurement managers and data scientists quickly evaluate the value generated by a given data-driven solution. What sets this textbook apart is its combination of rigorous, state-of-the-art methodologies from academic research and first-hand experience from various application-oriented consulting projects in a range ofindustries. Though primarily intended for graduate students with a major in procurement and supply chain management, the book will also benefit purchasing managers with and without specific knowledge of advanced analytics techniques, and data scientists with and without specific experience in procurement.
Making Universities Matter
In an era of rapid change and increasing societal demands, the role of universities as knowledge producers and catalysts for change has come under scrutiny. This open access book offers a fresh perspective on the significance of universities in society, shedding light on how their knowledge can truly matter beyond academia. Drawing upon insightful inquiries from both the Swedish and international contexts, this volume delves into the multifaceted interactions between universities and various knowledge users, emphasizing the need for scholars to reflect on how their knowledge can become useful and applicable to wider society. Organized into three compelling themes, collaboration, engagement, and impact, this book explores the concept of "mattering". Together and jointly, they point at the fluid movement of scholars and scholarly knowledge across academic, political, and public spaces, and the intentional actions of scientists to leverage their expertise for real-worldimpact. Essential reading for social science and humanities scholars, university management professionals, and individuals keen on a critical understanding of the evolving role of universities, this volume offers a comprehensive examination of how universities have mattered, continue to matter, and can shape the future.
The Digital Supply Chain Challenge 2nd Edition
The challenges facing supply chain professionals are changing rapidly. Today, far from focusing on capital expenditures and logistics such as warehousing and distribution, supply chain executives are expected to understand all aspects of the business, appreciate the constraints and expectations of upstream and downstream partners, and possess sufficient technological savvy to navigate the bewildering array of options presented by Industry 4.0 and supply chain digitalization (SCD). This book is for them.The Digital Supply Chain Challenge: Breaking Through 2nd Edtion is a distillation of the authors' 50+ years of combined supply chain experience, both at the coal face and in the classroom. Their insights and observations - captured in short articles and best-practice case studies - are brought together in one place for supply chain executives to consult at different times during their SCD voyage, to find benchmarks, relevant insights or even just to help formulate the right questions along the way. It is a sort of handbook to the essentials of digital supply chain transformation.This new edition contains additional chapters on AI, an evaluation of Industry 4.0, why the promised fourth industrial revolution hasn't happened yet and new cases studies on Tesla, Heineken, L'Oreal and Zalando.
Making Universities Matter
In an era of rapid change and increasing societal demands, the role of universities as knowledge producers and catalysts for change has come under scrutiny. This open access book offers a fresh perspective on the significance of universities in society, shedding light on how their knowledge can truly matter beyond academia. Drawing upon insightful inquiries from both the Swedish and international contexts, this volume delves into the multifaceted interactions between universities and various knowledge users, emphasizing the need for scholars to reflect on how their knowledge can become useful and applicable to wider society. Organized into three compelling themes, collaboration, engagement, and impact, this book explores the concept of "mattering". Together and jointly, they point at the fluid movement of scholars and scholarly knowledge across academic, political, and public spaces, and the intentional actions of scientists to leverage their expertise for real-worldimpact. Essential reading for social science and humanities scholars, university management professionals, and individuals keen on a critical understanding of the evolving role of universities, this volume offers a comprehensive examination of how universities have mattered, continue to matter, and can shape the future.
The Transformation Curve to World Class
In "The Transformation Curve," Steven Leuschel and Rodger Lewis unveil a revolutionary approach to organizational transformation. Drawing from his rich experiences at Volkswagen, Toyota Georgetown, and General Motors, Rodger introduces the Transformation Curve-a systematic framework for achieving lasting change. The book is co-authored with a consultant who has witnessed the curve's impact firsthand, Steven Leuschel.Readers gain insights into the evolution of the Transformation Curve, its adaptability to diverse industries, and its emphasis on culture, mutual trust, and respect as the bedrock of successful change. The book explores how this approach addresses North America's Lean implementation challenges.Rodger B. Lewis's life journey shapes "The Transformation Curve," a groundbreaking approach to complete organizational transformation. From his early days at Volkswagen to his transformative experiences at Toyota Georgetown and General Motors, Rodger's unique path informs his perspective on the Toyota Production System's North American application.The book outlines the journey that led to the Transformation Curve's development and its expansion across industries. Emphasizing culture as the key driver for sustainable change, it offers organizations a roadmap to shift from tool-focused approaches to comprehensive, culture-driven transformation."The Transformation Curve: A Systematic Approach to Organizational Change" challenges organizations to adopt a systematic, repeatable approach, positioning them for world-class performance across industries.
Careful Interventions
In 2015 and 2016 more than a million people sought refuge from conflict and hardships in Germany. While the response was ambivalent, across the country large networks of supporters formed, offering various kinds of assistance to the arriving persons. This book takes these developments as a starting point. It reports on an HCI project, building on the emancipatory traditions of Participatory Design and the Socio-Informatics approach, aiming to develop assistive technologies for forced migrants as well as their supporters. It focusses on the design process and reflects on the nature of intervening through participatory design in matters of migration and arrival. The work draws on feminist conceptualisations of care and outlines how care and participation interacted in this context to support the longterm maintenance of the design results, but also how care relations between the different participant groups undermined the democratic aims of participation. It draws out preliminary lessonsfor an interventionist HCI practice.
Strategic Sourcing
This book provides a methodology, grounded in prior research, for analyzing supply chain vulnerabilities and determining appropriate strategic sourcing approaches firms can adopt for managing risk and ensuring supply chain resilience. Supply chain risk affects firms in a multitude of ways. The detrimental results of failing to manage supply chain risk includes, but is not limited to, disruptions that lead to the inability of firms to meet customer requirements, increased costs due to holding excessive inventory, paying employee overtime and expediting orders, financial losses due to increases in commodity prices and unfavorable exchange rates, and tarnishing firm reputation due to poor performance. Although supply chain risk can detrimentally affect firms in many ways, there are approaches organizations can implement for identifying, assessing, and managing risk in order to foster resiliency. This work focuses on strategic sourcing approaches for identifying, assessing and managing supply chain risk. It provides readers with insight into strategic sourcing and risk management approaches for managing supply chain risk and attaining resilience and will appeal to researchers in supply chain management, sourcing, and procurement.
Reverse Social Innovation
This book presents important insights into Social Innovation and Reverse Innovation. It introduces a unique perspective by merging Social Innovation with the emerging concept of Reverse Innovation. Addressing the scarcity of Reverse Innovation knowledge, the book starts with a comprehensive literature review, establishing a solid theoretical framework.By leveraging the core contributions of both concepts, a new idea is developed: Reverse Social Innovation. This unexplored notion is rigorously examined through a novel conceptual model and validated via mixed-method research. Case studies showcase instances of Reverse Social Innovation, while content analysis refines the model. The book is valuable for practitioners, researchers, and students. Practitioners can explore the potential of Reverse Social Innovation for impactful change. Researchers delve into the uncharted territory of Reverse Innovation and its intersections. Students engage with a cutting-edge research field, opening doors for future exploration.
IT for Business
IT for Business: A Student's Guide to the Technology of Business provides readers with a comprehensive understanding of the role and application of information technology in the business world. Each chapter in the book focuses on a different aspect of IT as it relates to business. The opening chapter sets the stage by discussing the importance of developing a keen understanding of business technology to be competitive within the job market, businesses, and organizations. The following chapter introduces the basics of computer science, including a brief history of computers, how they work, and how they communicate. Additional chapters cover hardware, different types of software and operating systems, the differences between native and web-based applications, software licensing, and database basics, development, and management, including structured query language (SQL), business intelligence, and artificial intelligence. In closing chapters, students learn about organizational strategy, business processes, IT governance, cybersecurity, IT service delivery, project management, e-commerce, the human aspect of IT, and more. Developed to provide students with a holistic understanding, IT for Business is an exemplary resource for courses and programs in business, management, and computer systems technology.
The Silicon Valley Model
The first edition of The Silicon Valley Model, published in 2016, addresses the need for a fundamentally new approach to managing and developing large firms with an emphasis on entrepreneurship. This second edition validates, extends, and updates these original findings. While still encompassing the observations and analysis featured in the first edition, this new edition addresses new developments in management and in the global business environment. Further, it presents Dr. Steiber's research identifying more companies in Asia, Europe, and the USA that are implementing management approaches that parallels the Silicon Valley Model, and in some respects, advanced upon it. New material, appearing mainly in the "Recent Developments" sections in each chapter, includes both real-life events and new research findings related to the management principles for entrepreneurship. In some cases, elements of innovation and development of the Silicon Valley Model have taken new forms in response to changing times or the desires of the companies involved. The Silicon Valley Model, Second Edition is beneficial to executives from the board and CEO level on down, consultants, researchers, and others who study or work with new developments in management.
Supply Chains in Reverse Logistics
To meet the needs of creating modern supply chains, the authors developed this powerful book in which they analyze and present current and future solutions that influence the development of these issues in modern reverse logistics.
Lean Productivity and Efficiency (Book 3 Beyond Success Series)
Lean Productivity and Efficiency is a collection of essays on streamliningprocesses to maximize efficiency while minimizing waste and unnecessary steps.The book includes practical advice on applying these principles in yourworkplace or home. Topics include defining the problem and identifying its rootcause, the importance of data and metrics in measuring success in Leanworkflow, considerations for analyzing the current situation, and bestpractices for maintaining improvements. The book also explores continuousimprovement and employee empowerment and engagement. Lean Productivity and Efficiency will help individuals and organizations optimizetheir productivity and efficiency by continuously honing and refining theirprocesses.
Lighting Up the Blackbox - Digital Transformation in German Lobbying
Digital transformation, alongside social media channels, influences policymaking. The aim of this research is to build knowledge of the consequences of digital transformation on lobbying at German federal level. This analysis uncovers how digital lobbying works in Germany and how it changes classic lobbying communication within the political sphere. Taking a grounded theory approach, the study addresses both communicating sides: lobbyists, on the one hand, and members of the German Bundestag and their employees, on the other. A profound understanding of, and differentiation between, lobbying and digital lobbying is gained through a first data-gathering step of 15 interviews with representatives of both the political and lobbying sides. The study extends previous analyses by supplementing the findings with ethnographic data from the researcher's experience of working as an employee of a member of the German Bundestag. Final conclusions were drawn by presenting these results in the second data-gathering step, during four (digital) focus groups with the political side and three with agency, association, and corporate lobbyists from Berlin. The analysis uncovers a power shift in lobbying communication and a novel communication direction.
Digital Transformation in South Africa
This book examines the adoption of digital technologies in different sectors in South Africa. The authors investigate how digital innovation impacts development in various areas in the public and private sectors. Chapters in the book cover digital transformation in authorities and government bodies and how this transforms governance, this includes digital transformation for good governance in the public sector, tax authorities, local government, and traditional authorities. The second set of chapters emphasizes the digital transformation of business corporations, such as digital transformation lessons for small businesses, digital transformation of finance, and the banking sector. Other chapters delve into enterprise processes such as auditing, corporate reporting, good corporate reputation, enterprise risk management, and marketing environment. The book will appeal to an audience of scholars and professionals wanting to understand more about the role of digital transformation in emerging economies and how innovation influences economic growth.
Decision-Making in Design, Maintenance, Planning, and Investment of Wind Energy
This book demonstrates how decision-making models can be applied to solve specific real-life problems, with a particular emphasis on wind energy. In a step-by-step manner, it guides the reader through decision-making, the formulation of optimization models, and the methods for solving them. After providing an overview of various models for the design of wind farms, it presents an optimization model for deciding which economy (country) to invest in and models for selecting suppliers. A dedicated chapter focuses on different models for monitoring and predictive maintenance for wind turbines (farms) due to the construction of turbine blades and vibration. It shows how combinatorial optimization models can help to make optimal decisions for one-dimensional cutting stock of blanks, their processing, and determining the optimal composition for production. Moreover, it discusses how the energy consumption balance index formed by conventional and renewable sources can be determined and presents a means of identifying the relative share of wind energy consumption among the other renewable sources. Operations research professionals, students, and decision-makers alike will find this book to be a valuable resource for tackling real-world challenges and driving sustainable advances in wind energy solutions.
Variational Methods in Partially Ordered Spaces
This book discusses basic tools of partially ordered spaces and applies them to variational methods in Nonlinear Analysis and for optimizing problems. This book is aimed at graduate students and research mathematicians.
A Leader's Guide to Designing High Performing Quality Management Systems
The genesis of this book is over two decades of experience working with leaders who struggle with the concept of Quality Management System (QMS). Often, leaders fail to understand this concept, implement ineffective QMS models and subsequently are disrupted from their roles. More important and even more impactful are the consequences a poorly designed and executed QMS model has on organizational stakeholders including customers.The purpose of this book is to provide a simple leadership quick guide for designing high-performing Quality Management System models. This guide will focus on Quality Management System assessment, structure, process and achieving outcomes through practical real-world tools, templates, and models. The test of any model is its outcomes. This book will provide decades of insight so leaders ensure their QMS model Solves Problems, Achieves Outcomes, Sustains Wins, and Transforms Organizational Outcomes in High-Risk Environments.The intended audience for this book includes but is not limited to: top executives, governance members, leaders of any rank, thought leaders, strategists, students, performance improvement leaders, change agents, teachers, and anyone interested in quality, improvement, strategy, and leadership. Regardless of role, organization type, or industry, quality matters and is a focal point for customers. Thus, those leading the charge for excellence in this arena must have a good structure, process, and measurable outcomes sustained over time.So, why is this topic important? In today's world, change is the new normal and only constant. In many industries, such as healthcare for example, the foundations of the industries themselves are shaking greater than at any other time in history. As change grows, so does the associated risk and disruption. How will leaders and their organizations succeed in high-risk environments without a good foundation? The short answer is they won't. The starting point for success is the Quality Management System.By reading this book, readers will learn: How to construct a well-defined Quality Management System (QMS) How to identify and counter common misperceptions of QMS Techniques to engage other leaders in crucial conversations related to QMS gaps, illusions of success, perceived and real shortcomings, and measures of success How to conduct a basic and advanced assessment of Quality Management System models to determine what is working, what is not working, and high-risk areas to improve The required structural elements of high-performing QMS models A wholistic approach to the QMS process What measures constitute QMS success
Operations Management and Logistics
Operations management and logistics lies at the heart of every organization, whether manufacturing or services, large or small, public or private, multinational or SMB. It is thus essential for all managers and business school graduates to master the fundamental concepts of operations management and logistics and to be capable of choosing and applying the best methods for the situation throughout their career.This textbook aims to present the essentials of operations management and logistics and to explain them in sufficient detail for the reader to apply them. The authors have deliberately stayed away from the latest trends in OML, not only because they will soon be outmoded anyway, but also because they are all rooted in the same timeless set of principles that can be applied to a variety of different contexts. A good manager should thus be like a chef who first masters the basics of his craft and can then combine them to make any recipe.Finally, though much space is devoted to the quantitative tools essential to operational system design and logistics management, these tools are always subordinate to the management decisions they are meant to support. The central theme running through all the chapters is the need to make choices. In logistics and operations management, there is rarely a simple, clearly marked path. Every decision the manager makes involves give and take. In fact, a good subtitle for this book could have been "The Art of Compromise".
Cybersecurity Training
Organizations face increasing cybersecurity attacks that threaten their sensitive data, systems, and existence; but there are solutions. Experts recommend cybersecurity training and general awareness learning experiences as strategic necessities; however, organizations lack cybersecurity training planning, implementation, and optimization guidance. Cybersecurity Training: A Pathway to Readiness addresses the demand to provide cybersecurity training aligned with the normal flow of IT project delivery and technology operations.Cybersecurity Training combines best practices found in standards and frameworks like ITIL technology management, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, ISO risk, quality and information security management systems, and the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. Trainers will appreciate the approach that builds on the ADDIE model of instructional design, Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Thought, and Kirkpatrick's Model of Evaluation, a trilogy of training best practices.Readers learn to apply this proven project-oriented training approach to improve the probability of successful cybersecurity awareness and role-based training experiences. The reader is guided to initiate, plan, design, develop, pilot, implement and evaluate training and learning, followed by continual improvement sprints and projects.Cybersecurity Training prepares trainers, project managers, and IT security professionals to deliver and optimize cybersecurity training so that organizations and its people are ready to prevent and mitigate cybersecurity threats leading to more resilient organizations.
Cognition and Business Models
This book explores how theories of cognition inform our theoretical understanding of business models and business model innovation. A business model can either be viewed as an objective description of an activity system, or as an abstract, conceptual, and perceptual construct, that is the result of cognition. From this second point of view, the business model becomes a schematic mental model that is created, shaped, and shared over time. In other words, managers hold in their mind perceptual constructs that constitute schemas of the business model.This book examines how the underlying processes of the creation, shaping, and sharing of business (mental) models take place at individual, organizational, and even inter-organizational levels. Theories of managerial and organizational cognition are explored to inform our understanding of business modelling and business model innovation. The reader is thus provided with an overview of existing literature and reflections on future avenues of research to explore the cognitive foundations of business modelling.
Breaking Free from the Chains of Role Ascriptions
This book is no standard guide on ordinary women's topics. It relentlessly reflects on what slows down women's personal development regarding relationship, family and work - with razor-sharp analyses of hidden interactions and traumas. This book enables women to become aware of existing traps and obstacles, fears, feelings of guilt and other deep-seated emotions to help them leave behind restricting role attributions while power-balancing their lives between partner, children and career.Women often consider themselves as the patriarchy's victims. Instead, the author identifies the fact that they lack awareness of their own power and the willingness to recognize it, the fact that women often neither admit nor accept their own power, as the prime reason why women remain stuck in traditional role models - for equality would require their powerful sovereignty. This book offers solutions to seemingly difficult situations, and experienced women leaders have their say. The recommendations on how to set a decisive course on the path to female empowerment leave readers with no room to retreat and hide behind familiar and often practiced counterarguments: This book encourages self-reflection as well as public discussion.The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence. A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content.
Introduction to Metaverse
This book discusses Metaverse Technology, which is one of the emerging technologies around the world, through its concepts, definitions, architectural layers, economic implications, and presents comparison points with other allied areas like Web 3.0, Digital Twin, Blockchain, Multiverse, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Everything and Hyperautomation.The book also presents several use-cases and adoption areas of Metaverse technology, along with global outlook of top companies implementing this technology through major platforms and tools. The potential use of this technology for Public Sector is also explored in this book, apart from the suggested business framework for its adoption. Potential misuse and ethical concerns have also been summarised. This introductory book on Metaverse, written with a multidisciplinary approach, will provide readers with a clear understanding of what the Metaverse is, what technologies are involved in its creation, and its current aswell as potential future applications, in a very simple manner.
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How to hack your supply chain
Dr. Elouise Epstein's new book, How to hack your supply chain: Breaking today, building tomorrow, provides insights to practitioners for navigating the ongoing volatility of the disruptive world we live in.This book's guidance couldn't arrive at a better time. Supply chain leaders are encountering technological changes, increased customer expectations, and growing security risks. Seemingly overnight, supply chain management has gone from the understudy to the leading actor.The trouble, though, is that most global enterprise supply chains were designed and built decades ago. They remain lumbering monoliths designed to maximize cost savings at the expense of efficiency, ESG, and security. More importantly, most supply chains are not digital; instead, they run on technology from the 1990s, spreadsheets, and human grit. It's time for enterprises to fundamentally redesign their supply chains and then rebuild them around digital excellence and AI fluency.In How to hack your supply chain, Dr. Epstein explains how to create intelligence from the glut of data and upskill practitioners to function in a disrupted world. She also provides advice for improving cyber and physical security and operating supply chains more effectively in an ever-evolving global environment. Written with humor and plenty of real-world examples, How to hack your supply chain is a must-read for operations practitioners, supply chain enthusiasts, and anyone else who yearns to understand and design supply chains for the future.
Data-Driven Innovation in the Creative Industries
This edited collection examines how the creative industries can be supported to make best use of opportunities in digital technology and data-driven innovation.
Industrial Organization
Revised and updated for the second edition, this textbook presents over 100 exercises on industrial organization with detailed answer keys. While most textbooks on industrial organization focus on theory and empirical findings, this textbook offers practical examples and exercises helping predict firm behavior in different industries. The book emphasizes the game-theoretic tools used in each type of exercise, so students can systematically apply them to other markets, forms of competition, or information environments where firms, consumers, and regulating agencies interact. The book begins with examples that analyze different models of firm behavior and interaction; starting with monopoly and moving through the Cournot model of simultaneous quantity competition, the Bertrand model simultaneous price competition, and sequential competition. The following chapters apply game-theoretic tools to situations of increasing complexity: regulation; R&D incentives; mergers and collusion;bundling incentives; incomplete information, signaling, and competition; networks and switching costs. In addition to providing algebraic simplifications, some chapters also offer the unique feature of worked exercises based on published journal articles by leading scholars in the field. Finally, exercises are ranked according to their difficulty, with a letter (A-C) next to the exercise number, which allows students to pace their studies and instructors to structure their classes accordingly. The second edition contains additional exercises optimized for study at the upper undergraduate level. Providing a rigorous, yet practical introduction to the field of industrial organization, this textbook is appropriate for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in economics and finance.
Software Project Management
Software Project Management (SPM) differs from the Traditional Project Management (PM) approaches in that Software Engineering requires multiple rounds of Software Testing, and Updating in accordance with their Testing results and their customer's feedback. Thus, SPM introduces unique life cycle processes.This book presents an introduction and a critical analysis of the main Software Project Management Frameworks, and offers the author's original approach toSPM as developed by him over years of professional and teaching experience in the Academia and the IT/Software Industry. It also provides Executive Summaries of the Project Management and Software Project Management Perspectives offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI), the IEEE-Computer Society (IEEE-CS), and the SCRUM Project Management Bodies such as the SCRUMstudy.
Managing Technology from Laboratory to Marketplace
First book to address the issue of moving technology from laboratory to marketplace in advanced materials marketsUses case studies of successes and failuresAuthors are among the most prominent names in advanced materials
Industrial Policies for Technological Upgrading in Western Balkan Countries
This book focuses on Albania, North Macedonia and Kosovo; it explores the industrial policies currently in place in these economies and compares their effects with the situation in Slovenia, which is used as a reference country. It provides a brief introduction to some new industrial policy approaches and proposes a new industrial policy framework that focuses on development of the national innovation system through technology upgrading and increased exploitation of technology to build the foundations for sustainable development. Finally, it provides an empirical analysis of the technological capabilities of the manufacturing firms operating in in Albania, North Macedonia and Kosovo.It delves into the technical-economic properties of these Western Balkans countries and identifies some strategic options for industrial policy. It emphasizes the need for a form of governance that emphasizes on industrial development and innovation capabilities, which are required for the implementation of these new industrial policies. The analysis draws on the current industrial policy literature and work on developing (catch-up) economies, technological upgrading and innovation studies, which represent current academic thinking in these fields.
Mastering Technology Transfer: From Invention to Innovation
Every innovation starts its life as an idea. It is the systematic transformation of this idea, via its manifestation as an invention, to the final innovative material, device, process, method, service, etc. that is the subject of this practical step-by-step guide. It will be very useful to anyone who has a technological idea and wishes to commercialize it. The author describes a systematic transformational process in ten distinct stages, from the birth of the idea, through its technical validation and its economic viability validation, to the final market innovation. The author correlates this process with the "Technology Readiness Levels" which form the backbone of nearly all major R&D programs. In addition, the reader is introduced to the three critical milestones where crucial go/no-go decisions are made. A number of case studies have been added in this new edition and analyzed in some detail. This guide is based on many years of experience of the author in technology transfer activities both as a mentor and a senior consultant of the European Commission. The book includes a plethora of clear definitions and clarifications as well as valuable strategic advice and insights into many key aspects of the transformational process that will be useful to any inventor wishing to take their invention to its logical conclusion, that of a valuable product or service.
Artificial Intelligence for Industries of the Future
This book provides a brief synthesis of the known implementations, opportunities and challenges at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and modern industry beyond the big-four companies that traditionally consume and produce such advanced technology: Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Google. With this information, the author also makes some reasonable claims about the role of AI in future industries. The book draws on a broad range of material, including reports from consulting firms, published surveys, academic papers and books, and expert knowledge available to the author due to numerous collaborations in academia and industry on AI. It is rigorous rather than speculative, drawing on known findings and expert summaries, where available. This provides industry leaders and other interested stakeholders with an accessible review of contemporary perspectives on AI's forward-looking role in industry as well as a clarifying guide on the major issues that companies are likely to face as they commence on this exciting path.Examines the likely role of AI in industries of the future, both known and unknownPresents use-cases of AI currently being explored across Big Tech, multi-national corporations and start-upsExplores the regulation of AI and its potential impacts on the workforce
Social Network Large-Scale Decision-Making
This book focuses on the following three key topics in social network large-scale decision-making: structure-heterogeneous information fusion, clustering analysis with multiple measurement attributes, and consensus building considering trust loss. To address the aggregation and distance measurement of structure-heterogeneous evaluation information, we propose a fusion method based on trust and behavior analysis. Then, two clustering algorithms are put forward, including trust Cop-K-means clustering algorithm and compatibility distance-oriented off-center clustering algorithm. The above clustering algorithms emphasize the similarity of opinions and social relationships as important measurement attributes of clustering. Finally, this book explores the impact of trust loss originating from social relationships on the CRP and develops two consensus-reaching models, namely the improved minimum-cost consensus model that takes into account voluntary trust loss and the punishment-driven consensus-reaching model. Some case studies, a large number of numerical experiments, and comparative analyses are provided in this book to demonstrate the characteristics and advantages of the proposed methods and models. The authors encourage researchers, students, and enterprises engaged in social network analysis, group decision-making, multi-agent collaborative decision-making, and large-scale data processing to pay attention to the proposals presented in this book. After reading this book, the authors expect readers to have a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of social network large-scale decision-making. Inorder to make it more accurate for readers to understand the methods and models presented in this book, the authors strongly recommend that potential readers have a good research foundation in fuzzy soft computing, traditional clustering algorithms, basic mathematics knowledge, and other related preliminaries.
A Quality Engineering Techniques Approach to Supply Chain Management
This book combines, for the first time, the operations management and operations research concepts in lean and agile supply chain management (SCM) for achieving decreased uncertainty, increased productivity, and sustainability through the use of quality engineering techniques (QETs). The book serves as a beneficial supplementary read for supply chain management and logistics courses in operations management/operations research for industrial engineering or management departments as the book uses practical examples of QET applications in SCM in a variety of industries, such as manufacturing, international shipping, and services. By reading this book, a wide range of audiences from general readers to students in industrial engineering or management fields will learn practical skills that can be utilized in the application of quality engineering techniques in lean and agile SCM.
Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence Implementation
Rapidly developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems hold tremendous potential to change various domains and exert considerable influence on societies and organizations alike. More than merely a technical discipline, AI requires interaction between various professions. Based on the results of fundamental literature and empirical research, this book addresses the management's awareness of the ethical and moral aspects of AI. It seeks to fill a literature gap and offer the management guidance on tackling Trustworthy AI Implementation (TAII) while also considering ethical dependencies within the company. The TAII Framework introduced here pursues a holistic approach to identifying systemic ethical relationships within the company ecosystem and considers corporate values, business models, and common goods aspects like the Sustainable Development Goals and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Further, it provides guidance on the implementation of AI ethics in organisations without requiring a deeper background in philosophy and considers the social impacts outside of the software and data engineering setting. Depending on the respective legal context or area of application, the TAII Framework can be adapted and used with a range of regulations and ethical principles. This book can serve as a case study or self-review for c-level managers and students who are interested in this field. It also offers valuable guidelines and perspectives for policymakers looking to pursue an ethical approach to AI.
Business Management Solutions
The complexity of managing a business today has increased exponentially due to rapid technological advancement and global events. This implies that the solutions of yesterday may not be applicable today or in the near future. Some of the major problems faced by businesses today include financial management, competition, strategy, change and innovation. Business managers must therefore development a comprehensive understanding of business organisations and equip themselves with knowledge in subject areas such as Value Creation, Value Management, Organisational Transformation, Leadership, Innovation, Change Management and Strategic Thinking. This requires practical knowledge of principles and theories such as SWOT and PESTEL analysis to help them to conduct a situational analysis of their businesses when the need arises. This is what the author seeks to achieve by providing practical examples of how business problems can be solved.
Proximity
What if you could have whatever you want, produced and provided immediately and affordably no matter how customized--with minimal environmental impact? Products, services, and experiences on demand. Just-in-time anything, anywhere, anytime. This radical change is underway, as digital technologies push the production and provision of value ever closer to the moment of demand. Robert C. Wolcott and Kaihan Krippendorff provide an indispensable guide to the Proximity revolution, showing how it's transforming every industry--and our lives. Offering unparalleled foresight for leaders and innovators, they reveal how pervasive this trend will be. Proximity represents an entirely new way to serve customers, with critical implications for corporate strategy, investing, public policy, supply chain resilience, and sustainability. Incremental changes to existing business models won't suffice. Through interviews and compelling examples, Proximity shares stories of the people and companies leading the way. The book places rapidly advancing technologies--from generative AI and 3D printing to lab-grown meats, renewable energy, and virtual reality--in context and explores the factors accelerating the transformation. Proximity offers a playbook for business leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs to win this rapidly emerging game--and for each of us to consider the implications for our careers, families, communities, and lives.
Employee Reward, Commitment, Empowerment and Performance; A Mediated Moderated Approach
In the context of todays business environment and organizational dynamics employees' contribution is widely recognized as an important determinant of any organization's success. Employees form the intellectual drivers of the physical resources by determining the effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of their output. This is achieved through innovation, ingenuity and continuous improvement of business processes both in production and in the service industry. It is for this reason that organizations envisage the need to maximize the utilization of the human resource capital through tapping into the knowledge of their employees. Employee performance is therefore a key factor in predicting and determining organizational growth and success. Furthermore, companies are grappling with the difficulty of retaining their best talents in this highly competitive marketplace for labor and this has sparked debate on ways of garnering organizational commitment from employees.The book reflects the author's PhD research work in Moi University, Kenya and offers strategic recommendations that can be applied in organizations to enhance employee performance, organizational commitment, improve retention and work outcomes. Reward strategy is found to have better outcomes when it is complemented by organizational commitment and employee empowerment. It is the author's hope that the contents of this book will provide a refreshing look on our view of the concept of employee empowerment and how providing an empowered work environment can lead to a great change in inspiring the best from employees and enhancing commitment.
