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This book provides a comprehensive overview, including critical aspects of and opportunities for effective sustainability management in today's unpredictable and fragile business landscapes. Presenting the outcomes of the 26th Excellence in Services International Conference, held in Paisely, UK, on August 31–September 1, 2023, the book brings together both selected research contributions and numerous best-practice examples in sustainability management. As such, it will help managers to improve their sustainability-related decision-making processes at various levels of the business ecosystem and integrate service excellence as a new way of thinking.

This book contains 11 papers from the 8th Workshop on Global Sourcing, held in Val d'Isère, France, during March 23–26, 2014, which were carefully reviewed and selected from 42 submissions.They are based on a vast empirical base brought together by leading researchers in information systems, strategic management, and operations. This volume is intended for students, academics, and practitioners interested in research results and experiences in outsourcing and offshoring of information technology and business processes. Topics discussed in this book combine theoretical and practical insights regarding challenges that industry leaders, policy makers, and professionals face; and they predominantly focus on how sourcing relationships are governed at the national, industry, and firm level. The contributions also examine current and future trends in outsourcing, paying particular attention to cloud services and their impact on the outsourcing sector.

This book contains 13 papers from the 7th Workshop on Global Sourcing, held in Val d'Isère, France, during March 11–14, 2013, which were carefully reviewed and selected from 40 submissions. They are based on a vast empirical base brought together by leading researchers in information systems, strategic management, and operations.This volume is intended for students, academics, and practitioners interested in research results and experiences on outsourcing and offshoring of information technology and business processes. The topics discussed represent both client and supplier perspectives on sourcing of global services, combine theoretical and practical insights regarding challenges that both clients and vendors face, and include case studies from client and vendor organizations.

This book contains 13 carefully revised and selected papers from the 6th Workshop on Global Sourcing, held in Courchevel, France, during March 12-15, 2012. They have been selected from 46 submissions and represent both client and supplier perspectives on sourcing of global services. This volume is intended for use by students, academics, and practitioners interested in the outsourcing and offshoring of information technology and business processes. It offers a review of the key topics in outsourcing and offshoring, populated with practical frameworks that serve as a tool-kit for students and managers. The topics discussed combine theoretical and practical insights, and they are extensively illustrated by case studies from client and vendor organizations. Last but not least, the book examines current and future trends in outsourcing and offshoring, paying particular attention to the centrality of innovation in sourcing arragements, and how innovation can be realized in outsourcing.

This book presents a collection of research papers that explore how ICT experts, managers, and policymakers can address sustainability issues in digital transformation (DT) by considering people practices, organizational processes, and platform design issues. Each chapter offers insights into how to create sustainable digital solutions that benefit both society and the environment. The diversity of views presented makes this book particularly relevant for scholars, companies, and public sector organizations. The content is based on revised versions of selected papers (original double-blind peer-reviewed contributions) presented at the annual conference of the Italian Chapter of AIS, which took place in Catanzaro, Italy, in October 2022.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management in Mediterranean Countries, ISCRAM‐med 2015, held in Tunis, Tunisia, in October 2015. The objectives of the ISCRAM‐med conference are to provide an outstanding opportunity and an international forum for local and international researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to address and discuss new trends and challenges with respect to information systems for crisis response and disaster management. The 14 full papers and 4 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 41 submissions. They are organized in topical sections on social computing, modeling and simulation, information and knowledge management, engineering of emergency management systems, and decision support systems and collaboration.

Improvements in the performance of a freight transport system can be achieved either through technological innovation or by using advanced planning tools. This volume includes contributions on planning which cover the following topics: - analysis of current trends in developed countries, - demand analysis and forecasting, - flows simulation and prediction, - shipment and delivery problems, - regulation problems, - investment evaluation. Papers consider such applications as warehouse location, crude oil transportation, newspaper distribution, the trucking industry, rail planning and seaport systems. Transport issues in North America and Italy are described and compared. The papers in this volume are revised versions of contributions to the International Seminar on Freight Transport Planning and Logistics held in Bressanone, Italy, in July 1987.

The International Conference on Production Research has a good tradition: The fIrst Conference was held in Birmingham 1971 with 61 participants. With respect to the decision that the Conference should be held every second year, by this time the Conference has been held in the following countries: Birmingham (1971, UK), Copenhagen (1973, Denmark), Amhurst (1975, USA), Tokyo (1977, Japan), Amsterdam (1979, The Netherlands), Novi Sad (1981, Yugoslavia), Windsor (1983, Canada), Stuttgart (1985, Germany), and the next Conference will take place in Cincinnatti (1987, USA). The number of submitted abstracts and papers was continuously increas­ ing such that the Programme Committee of this actual 8th Conference on Production Research has been forced to introduce a further refereeing procedure. Each submitted abstract was presented to at least two referees. This resulted not only in a reduction of the number of presented full papers and poster contributions but, as the Programme Committee and the Editiors hope, it led also to a considerable increase in the scientifIc quality of this 8th International Conference on Production Research. The preceeding conference in Windsor, Canada, was dedicated to the topic: Production Research as a Means of Productivity Improvement. We don't believe that this statement has become untrue in the meanwhile.

The papers in this volume were fIrst presented at a symposium on'An Expanded Public Role in Job Training? The Issue of Market Failure in the Provision of Training.'The symposium took place in May, 1989. It was sponsored by the LaFollette Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. JozefRitzen, then in Madison on leave from Erasmus University in the Netherlands, organized the symposium. Subsequently he became Minister of Education and Science for the Netherlands. He asked David Stern to fInish the work of editing the papers for publication. All the papers have been revised in light of comments by discussants at the symposium, as well as subsequent comments by the editors and outside reviewers. INTRODucrroN AND OVERVIEW Jozef M. M. Ritzen Erasmus University Rotterdam Minister of Education and Science The Netherlands David Stem School of Education University of California, Berkeley Two factors are contributing to an increased interest in the training of adult employees. First, there is the present high rate of change in the technologies embodied in products and in production processes. This enhances the negative effect of the undersupply of training on economic growth. Higher levels of training would provide a more fertile environment for technological change. The second factor is the aging of the population.

Presented here are 73 refereed papers given at the 34th MATADOR Conference held at UMIST in July 2004. The MATADOR series of conferences covers the topics of Manufacturing Automation and Systems Technology, Applications, Design, Organisation and Management, and Research. The 34th proceedings contains original papers contributed by researchers from many countries on different continents. The papers cover both the technological aspect of manufacturing processes; and the systems, business and management features of manufacturing enterprise. The papers in this volume reflect: - the importance of manufacturing to international wealth creation; - the necessity of responsiveness and agility of manufacturing companies to meet market-led requirements and international change; - the role of information technology and electronic communications in the growth of global manufacturing enterprises; - the impact of new technologies, new materials and processes, on the ability to produce goods of higher quality, more quickly, to meet markets needs at a lower cost. Some of the major generic developments which have taken place in these areas since the 33rd MATADOR conference was held in 2000 are reported in this volume.

The papers presented at the Second International Conference on Robotics and Factories of the Future held in San Diego, California, USA during July 28-31, 1987 are compiled in this volume. Over two hundred participants attended the conference, made technical presentations and discussed about various aspects of manufacturing, robotics and factories of the future. The number of papers published in this volume and the number of unpublished presentations at the conference indicates the evidance of growing interest in the areas of CAD/CAM, robotics and their role in future factories. The conference consisted of five plenary sessions, twenty three technical sessions, workshops, and exhibits from local industries and educational institutions. I wish to acknowledge with many thanks the contributions of all the authors who presented their work at the conference and submitted the manuscripts for publication. It is also my pleasure to acknowledge the role of keynote, banquet, and plenary sessions speakers whose contributions added greatly to the success of the conference. My sincere thanks to all session chairmen. I wish that the series of the International Conferences on Robotics and Factories of the Future which was initiated in 1984 in Charlotte, North Carolina will have a major impact on the use of robots and computers in the automated factories of the future.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed scientific proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Subject-Oriented Business Process Management, S-BPM ONE 2012, held in Vienna, Austria, in April 2012. The 12 papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 36 submissions and are completed by one invited keynote paper and a summary of the tutorial onsubject-oriented business process management. S-BPM as a discipline is characterized by a seamless approach toward the analysis, modeling, implementation, execution, and maintenance of business processes, with an explicit stakeholder focus. This year's contributions address all life-cycle activities, in particular analyzing business objectives, subject behavior design and integration, and automating complex work procedures.

Competition, Efficiency and Welfare contains a collection of papers in honor of Manfred Neumann. This collection was prepared as a tribute to a teacher and scholar, whose accomplishments have enriched various fields of economics. The magnitude of his interests is reflected in the breadth of topics covered in this volume: industrial economics, competition policy and related topics. However, if one unifying principle runs through Manfred Neumann's work, it is the belief in the power of competition. Born on May 16, 1933, Manfred Neumann studied economics at the University of Cologne. He graduated in 1960. In 1969 Manfred Neumann was appointed Professor of Economics at Nürnberg University. He was Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences of the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, President of the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics (EARIE) and Chairman of Industrial Organization Study Group of the Verein für Sozialpolitik. Most of his professional career has been spent at Nürnberg, where he has helped to make the Economic Institute one of the leading research centers in Industrial Organization. He has also been involved in various advisory activities. The volume contains 18 essays. The first twelve are grouped into four categories: Innovation and R&D (Part I), Cartels (Part II), Mergers and Merger Policy (Part III), and Methodological Issues in Industrial Organization (Part IV). These papers fall within the bounds of industrial economics, which has been Manfred Neumann's primary research interest throughout his career. Part V includes two papers on theories of international trade, which has been a recurring topic of interest for Manfred Neumann through the years. The last three papers look at broader policy and macroeconomic issues. Contributors to this volume include Karl Aiginger, David B. Audretsch, Paul A. Geroski, Stephen Martin and Dennis Mueller.

The advancementof the softwareindustry has hada substantialimpact notonly onproductivityandonGDPgrowthglobally,butalsoonourdailyworkandlife. Software business refers to commercial activity of the software industry, aimed at generating income from delivery of software products and software services. Although software business shares common features with other international knowledge-intensive businesses, it carries many inherent features making it an intriguing and challenging domain for research. Until now, however, software business has received little attention from the academic community. The First International Conference on Software Business (ICSOB 2010) was organized in Jyv¨ askyl¨ a during June 21–23, 2010. This inaugural conference brought together a strong Program Committee of 52 members with research disciplines from various?elds of business management and technology mana- mentaswellasinternational?avorwithmemberscomingfrom17countriesfrom South and North America to Europe, India and Australia. Wereceived35researchpapersubmissions.Thepaperswentthroughadoub- blind review process producing at least three reviews for each accepted paper. The ProgramCommittee accepted 13 submissions to be presented as full papers in the conference, equaling 37% of the submissions. In addition, ten papers were accepted as short papers. The accepted papers represent the wide variety of - searchactivityonsoftwarebusiness.Forthepurposesoftheconferenceprogram, the papers were organized under eight themes: business models, business m- agement, ecosystems, education and research, internationalization, open source software and social media, product management, and software as a service. In addition to the paper sessions, the conference program included three keynote presentationsand a Business Innovation Track containing best-practice presentations from the software industry. The conference program also included two workshops, three tutorials and an adjunct meeting of the Cloud Software Consortia.

Presented here are 88 refereed papers given at the 35th MATADOR Conference held at the National University of Taiwan in Taipei, Taiwan in July 2007. The MATADOR series of conferences covers the topics of Manufacturing Automation and Systems Technology, Applications, Design, Organisation and Management, and Research. The proceedings of this conference contains original papers contributed by researchers from many countries on different continents. The papers cover the principles, techniques and applications associated with: manufacturing processes; technology; system design and integration; and computer applications and management. The papers in this volume reflect: • the importance of manufacturing in international wealth creation; • the emerging fields of micro- and nano-manufacture; • the increasing trend towards the fabrication of parts using additive processes; • the growing demand for precision engineering and part inspection techniques; • measurement techniques and equipment.

Digital technologies can have a profound impact on modern organisations, changing the way they operate, communicate, cooperate, and deliver value to stakeholders. This book gathers the selected and revised best papers presented at the annual conference of the Italian Chapter of AIS, which took place in Catanzaro in October 2022. It offers a comprehensive overview of the impacts of emerging digital technologies, such as AI, machine learning, blockchain, and Industry 4.0, on organisations and industries. In this book, these digital technologies are explored in relation to the digital transformation process for business organisations and industries. It investigates how emerging technologies influence the digital transformation of diverse business organisations, pointing out research trajectories, implications, opportunities, and challenges. Covering a wide range of topics related to digital transformation, it offers valuable insights into the latest research on the opportunities and challenges that accompany emerging digital technologies.

This book focuses on the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on organizations and society as a whole. Specifically, it examines how such technologies improve our lives and facilitate our work. A main aspect explored is how actors understand the potential of ICTs to support organizational activities and hence, how they adopt and adapt these technologies to achieve their goals. The book collects papers on various areas of organizational strategy, e.g. new business models, competitive strategies, knowledge management and more. The main areas dealt with are new technologies for a better life, innovations for e-government, and technologies enhancing enterprise modeling. In addition, the book addresses how organizations impact society through sustainable development and social responsibility, and how ICTs employ social media networks in the process of value co-creation.

“Doing business in UBER times” has become a metaphor for doing business in a digital world of algorithms, automation, artificial intelligence and non-stop disruption. Organisations everywhere are being forced to operate in a fast-changing, high-speed environment. Business models are being challenged and trusted values questioned. Worse still, operational margins are severely depressed. Never before has organisation design been so important for businesses, HR and leaders. Demographic shifts, sustained market growth globalisation and cultural and generational differences are forcing organisations to re-think the way they engage with their people. Organisation Design for Uber Times will help you: • Anticipate mega-trends and changes. • Learn how to identify your organisation's strategy, market position and where your organisation is in the business life cycle. • Unpack well-known organisation design models, frameworks and processes. • Learn how to design for Uber times. • Understand the impact of robots and artificial intelligence on your organisation. • Design jobs, as well as organisation layers, that match best practice organisation design. • Implement the remuneration principles required to support this design. • Understand what a high-performing organisation is (so you have something to aim for). Sections include: • Chapter 1: Global changes and Uber times ahead • Chapter 2: Machines, robots and artificial intelligence • Chapter 3: Organisation design versus organisation development – the link • Chapter 4: Organisation strategy and anticipating the future – it all starts here • Chapter 5: Structure follows strategy • Chapter 6: Restructure or reconfigure? • Chapter 7: Tried and tested organisation designs and frameworks • Chapter 8: The future requires a new operating model – the virtual organisation • Chapter 9: Work design – how to design the job, not too much and not too little • Chapter 10: Tall or flat structure? • Chapter 11: What is a high-performing organisation? • Chapter 12: Remuneration and reward in high-performing organisations • Chapter 13: Metrics for tracking organisation performance Organisation for Uber Times will give you the necessary ideas, insights and tools to design an optimal, agile organisation that will thrive and grow in volatile times. About the Author: Dr Mark Bussin is the Chairperson of 21st Century, a specialist reward and HR consultancy. He has reward experience with many multinational companies across all industry sectors, and is viewed as a thought leader in the HR, remuneration and performance arena. He serves on, and advises, numerous boards, remuneration and audit committees on executive remuneration, strategy and board performance. Mark holds a Doctorate of Commerce. He has published or presented over 400 articles and papers. He has appeared on television and radio, and in the press, giving expert views on remuneration. Mark is a guest lecturer at several universities and supervises masters'dissertations and doctoral theses in the reward area. He is the past President of SARA (South African Reward Association). He is also the author of Performance Management Reboot, Remuneration and Talent Management and The Remuneration Handbook for Africa.

This book contains the refereed proceedings of the First International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management in Mediterranean Countries, ISCRAM-med 2014, held in Toulouse, France, in October 2014.The aim of ISCRAM-med was to gather researchers and practitioners working in the area of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, with a special but not limited focus on Mediterranean crises. These include political crises, economic crises, natural hazards, and fatal industrial incidents.The 15 full papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 44 submissions. The contributions are organized in topical sections on supply chain and distribution; modeling and training; human interactions in the crisis field; coordination and agility; and social aspects in crisis management.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed scientific proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Subject-Oriented Business Process Management, S-BPM ONE 2014, held in Eichstätt, Germany, in April 2014.The 13 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 43 contributions. They explore the many facets of network-driven business process management, in particular issues related to correctness, interchange and transformation of business models, as well as dynamic handling of changes through agile process management.

Transport Pricing of Electricity Networks aims at providing a methodological and practical transmission tariff guide, to those who are involved in the electricity business as managers, engineers, lawyers, economists, regulators or policy-makers, but are not specialists in electricity transport, nor in tariff-setting for public utilities. It offers a synthesis of the recent economic research on the subject. The volume is divided into three major parts, each presenting a general aspect of transmission pricing: its legal and accounting background, its basic theory, and its implementation, successively. How much does it cost to transmit electricity from a nuclear plant close to Lyon in France, to a car manufacturer located in Stuttgart in Germany? What price should a system operator in Canada charge a pulp and paper mill that uses the high-voltage grid for only a few weeks per year? Where in California is it more profitable to reinforce or build a new transmission line? What is the best place to locate a power gas station in England, in order to pay the lowest transmission cost? Such questions are novel and crucial for American and European liberalised electricity markets. Transport Pricing of Electricity Networks shows how the economics toolbox can be used to answer them.

The 1980s and 1990s have seen a growing interest in research and practice in the use of methodologies within problem contexts characterised by a primary focus on technology, human issues, or power. During the last five to ten years, this has given rise to challenges regarding the ability of a single methodology to address all such contexts, and the consequent development of approaches which aim to mix methodologies within a single problem situation. This has been particularly so where the situation has called for a mix of technological (the so-called'hard') and human­ centred (so-called'soft') methods. The approach developed has been termed mixed-mode modelling. The area of mixed-mode modelling is relatively new, with the phrase being coined approximately four years ago by Brian Lehaney in a keynote paper published at the 1996 Annual Conference of the UK Operational Research Society. Mixed-mode modelling, as suggested above, is a new way of considering problem situations faced by organisations. Traditional technological approaches used in management science have suffered criticisms relating to their adequacy in the past few decades, and these hard approaches have been replaced by soft methods, which consider process more relevant than outcome. However, the sole use of human­ centred approaches to organisational problems has also proved to be inadequate. Mixed-mode modelling accepts the importance of both process and outcome, and provides enabling mechanisms for hard and soft investigation to be undertaken.

The present volume contains edited versions of the communications presented at an International Workshop on'Expert Systems in Production Engineering', held in Spa, Belgium, in 1986. Introductory papers on Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems are complemented by case studies of Expert Systems in practice, primarily, in the area of Mechanical Engineering and discussions of the possibilities and the limitations of Expert Systems.

Traditional firm structures are currently undergoing drastic change. The changes that the traditional firm is currently undergoing will permit active involvement of labor at all levels of the firm's decision-making process, offer workers substantial job security, protect workers'firm specific investment against excessive losses, guarantee workers at least market rates of return on their human capital and will allow labor a major role in shaping the firm's work rules and the production environment. These changes pose an enormous challenge to practitioners and policy-makers alike. The difficulties of appropriately modeling the new codetermined firms are also formidable. The present collection of papers furnishes building blocks for a better analysis of complex firm structures. The present effort is designed to be a workbook, a point of departure on which new research and teaching is to be built, and a work of reference on what has already been accomplished.

The advanced capitalist nations are currently undergoing an enormous economic, social, and political transformation. At the heart of this transformation is the transition between large scale, standardized production (Fordism) and new, more flexible approaches to manufacturing (flexibility), and a concomitant extension of manufacturing to include products both concrete (goods) and ephemeral (services). This volume explores the consequences of this transition from the standpoints of technology, labor relations, firm strategy, education, government programs, and geography. The book is a collection of papers by well-known scholars investigating the current global transition from mass consumption and production to flexible production for niche markets. The book is unique in that it not only discusses standard economic concerns, but also investigates the social and political implications of this transition. Each chapter is concerned with a different aspect of the same restructuring process.

The complete shop floor automation - a'lights out factory', where workers initially set up all machines, turn off the lights, lock the door and the machine churns up the parts - remains an unfulfilled dream. Yet when we look at the enormity of the process of automation and integration even for the most simply conceived part factory, we can recognize that automation has been applied and is being applied, more so when it made sense from a cost/benefit standpoint. It is our nature to be dissatisfied with near term progress, but when we realize how short a time the tools to do that automation have been available, the progress is clearly noteworthy - considering the multitudes of factors and the environment we have to deal with. Most of the automa­ tion problems we confront in today's environment are multidisciplinary in nature. They require not just the knowledge and experience in various distinct fields but good cooperation from different disci­ plined organizations to adequately comprehend and solve such problems. In Volume III we have many examples that reflect the current state of the art techniques of robotics and plant automation. The papers for Volume III have been arranged in a logical order of automation planning, automated assembly, robot programming and simula­ tion, control, motion coordination, communication and networking to factories of the future.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the industrial track of the 4th International Conference on Subject-Oriented Business Process Management, S-BPM ONE 2012, held in Vienna, Austria, in April 2012. S-BPM as a discipline is characterized by a seamless approach toward the analysis, modeling, implementation, execution, and maintenance of business processes, with an explicit stakeholder focus. The 19 papers included were selected from the practically oriented submissions, and they have gone through the same rigorous peer-review process as their scientific counterparts.

The purpose of this book is to discuss the state of the art and future trends in the field of computerized production management systems. It is composed of a number of independent papers, each presented in a chapter. Some of the widely recognized experts in the field around the world have been asked to contribute. lowe each of them my sincere gratitude for their kind cooperation. I am also grateful to Peter Falster and Jim Browne for their kind support in helping me to review topics to be covered and to select the authors. This book is a result of the professional work done in the International Federation of Information Processing Technical Committee IFIP TC5'Com­ puter Applications in Technology'and especially in the Working Group WG5. 7'Computer-Aided Production Management'. This group was established in 1978 with the aim of promoting and encouraging the advancement of the field of computer systems for the production management of manufacturing, off­ shore, construction, electronic and similar and related industries. The scope of the work includes, but is not limited to, the following topics: 1) design and implementation of new production planning and control systems taking into account new technology and management philosophy; 2) CAPM in a CIM environment including interfaces to CAD and CAM; 3) project management and cost engineering; 4) knowledge engineering in CAPM; 5) CAPM for Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) and Flexible Assembly Systems (F AS); 6) methods and concepts in CAPM; 7) economic and social implications of CAPM.

The thirteen essays of this book deal with various aspects of production manage­ ment which have shown a growing importance in research, teaching and practice within the last years and are partly neglected in the literature. The contents range from theoretical issues to case studies. Significant relations among different essays (chapters) give rise to group them into four major parts dealing with separate themes of production management: - fundamental organizational aspects of the production process, - general problems and modern concepts of materials management, - joint production with surplus, waste and hazardous byproducts, - production aspects of cutting stock and trim loss problems. Moreover, there is a strong material connection between the contributions to this volume because they all are based on a common conceptual framework emphasizing the production theoretic foundation. The collection of papers in this book is also designed to provide a fairly comprehensive picture of scientific work in the field of production management done during the last years at the Institute of Production Economics of the Fern­ universiUit in Hagen, partly in cooperation with other scientists. Since all but two articles have not been published in English before, the reader gets quite a new view on the results of this recent research.

This book is the cuhnination of many years'research inspired by the pioneering and seminal works of Sah and Stiglitz. We gratefully acknowledge the influence of these two authors, whose ideas and contributions have brought us together on this collabo­ ration, despite our divergent scientific backgrounds (while Catalani is interested in quantitative methods, Clerico is a non-quantitative economist). We thank the Editor of the Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Economiche e Commerciali for permission to use slightly modified versions of papers published in that Review (they are the content of Chapters I and III of Part I, and of Chapter I of Part II). We heartily thank Ms. Laura McLean for carefully revising our English. The publication of this book has been made possible by a grant from the Department of Economics, University of Turin, Italy. Torino, July 1995 Mario S. Catalani Giuseppe F. CIeri co CONTENTS Introduction 1 PART I Some models of decision making structures I. How and when unanimity is a superior decision rule 15 II. Majority rules and efficiency of the decision process 31 III. Team cooperation vs. independent assessment 41 IV. Leadership and dependence 59 V. The decision making process of political organizations 75 PART II Pyramid decision structures I. Pyramidal structures: a preliminary note 91 II. Other properties of pyramids 103 III. Pyramids and dependence 117 IV. Organization, loyalty, and efficiency 133 Conclusions 151 References 163 Mario S.

The Value of IT – New Perspectives for Utilizing IT What value does IT provide for the company? This has been the key question for IT man- ers and decision-makers at board level since technologization began. From the introduction of the first automated data processing systems to integrating value chains across enterprises, the potential of IT to generate benefit and, in the final analysis, generate value for companies has grown in leaps and bounds. In the 1970s, the value of an IT investment for automating individual operations consisted of faster and cheaper handling of paper-based activities, and therefore, for example, shorter time-to-invoice and collection cycles for faster inpayments. In the 1980s, the triumphal march of the PC and the first integrated applications not only reduced business process costs, but also accelerated and optimized entire business process chains. For example, in the mid- 1980s, systems such as SAP R/2 were already offering integrated processes for everything from procurement, inventory management and distribution to accounting and controlling. Processes ran more smoothly, interfaces were optimized or eliminated, in short: huge pot- tial for reducing business process spending was created. In the 1990s, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) then made it possible to integrate business processes across the value chain.

This authoritative collection brings together contributions from well-known international scholars which demonstrate how management education as practised in the U.S. and Western Europe needs to be changed to suit the socio-economic and political systems existing in developing and transitional countries. The papers present a hands-on approach. The geographical area covered is Russia and Eastern Central Europe, China and some other developing countries. The contributors are mostly faculty members in business schools around the world with wide experience in business.

This book lays the groundwork for a relational theory of the firm as a network of stakeholder resources and interests. Drawing on the author's earlier publications on relational economics as the political economy of a global cooperative economy or stakeholder capitalism, it explores the governance and managerial implications of a relational economy for firms, while also critically revisiting the traditional and resource-based view of the firm. In turn, it explains concepts such as relational governance, relational costs, relational spaces, rent from cooperation, and shared value creation, as well as a dynamic and process-oriented relational business model. The book discusses the epistemological and methodological prerequisites of a relational theory of the firm and addresses their theoretical taxonomy. A relational theory of the firm is a work in progress; the book represents an invitation to join this theoretical and empirical undertaking.

Organizations of all kinds create a sense of purpose and sometimes incomparable performance that individuals cannot achieve alone. This textbook examines the developments and changes that organizations should make in order to be successful in today's complex organizational environment. The authors explain various models and concepts of organizational design, highlight the important role played by agile management and self-organization and reflect on the consequences these concepts have for practical organizational work. The necessary organizational development can only be meaningfully and successfully implemented with consideration of the existing corporate culture and knowledge of the fundamentals of knowledge management, so these are also taught in the textbook. The overarching goal of organizational design is to promote the organization's resilience to crises. After laying the foundations for this, the penultimate chapter is dedicated to the aspect of resilience, followed by an outlook for the future. The didactic structure of the textbook includes learning objectives, practical examples and case studies as well as learning comprehension questions and the opportunity to test your own knowledge with the Springer Nature Flashcards. This textbook has been recommended and developed for university courses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

​Das Herausgeberwerk beinhaltet interdisziplinäre Beiträge zur Erforschung der Beziehung zwischen Individuum und Arbeitswelt und geht dabei insbesondere auf die Rolle von Individuen in der digitalen Arbeitswelt ein. Die Autorinnen und Autoren thematisieren in ihren Beiträgen die vielfachen Facetten neuer digitaler Arbeitswelten und setzen diese Aspekte in Beziehung zu der übergeordneten Frage, wie sich Beziehungen zwischen Individuum und Organisation völlig neu gestalten. Die Beiträge klären und diskutieren zunächst arbeitswissenschaftliche Grundlagen vor dem Hintergrund der Digitalisierung und thematisieren Fragen und Herausforderungen an den Begriff der Arbeit: Wie wandelt sich der Arbeitsbegriff durch die Digitalisierung und welche Erweiterungen und Neukonzeptionen des Arbeitsbegriffs werden erforderlich? Anschließend werden ausgewählte Herausforderungen und Chancen bei der Gestaltung von Arbeitswelten vorgestellt.

Stiftungen stehen heute vor vielfältigen Herausforderungen, z.B. durch die zunehmende Digitalisierung und Globalisierung, und müssen Themen wie Nachhaltigkeit, Klimaschutz und Diversität in die eigene Arbeit integrieren. Diese und weitere interessante Aspekte diskutieren über 40 namhafte Expert:innen in den beiden Teilen des vorliegenden Herausgeberbandes. So beschäftigen sich die Autor:innen des ersten Teils mit den Rahmenbedingungen, unter denen das aktuelle und zukünftige Stiftungshandeln stattfindet, sowie mit strategisch-konzeptionellen Überlegungen und Instrumenten. Die Themen der Case Studies und Erfahrungsberichte des zweiten Teils reichen von Förderentscheidungen und Förderinstrumenten, über Softwareeinführung in Stiftungen, das Onboarding von neuen Mitarbeiter:innen bis hin zu Change-Prozessen unter erschwerten Bedingungen. Diese Themenbreite macht das Fachbuch auch zu einem wichtigen Fundus für alle, die in den entsprechenden Fach- und Themenbereichen studieren, als Wissenschaftler:innen forschen oder sich an Institutionen wie der Deutschen Stiftungsakademie weiterbilden.

In Six Memos for the Next Millennium, Italo Calvino elaborated on six concepts or memos to offer insights on the ‘shapes of things to come', which were lightness, rapidity, exactness, visibility, multiplicity and consistency. To do so, the Italian writer embraced an interdisciplinary approach to describe each concept through juxtaposition of its antonyms, heaviness, slowness, indeterminacy, invisibility, uniqueness, and inconsistency. Inspired by Calvino's intuition, this book puts forward the notion of the ‘Calvino Method'to interpret the inner dynamics of innovation processes. Drawing on literature and cases from the fields of innovation, history of technology, organisation theory and corporate strategy, the book elaborates on each of the six concepts to offer a unique angle to understand innovation as technological, organisational and cultural change that generates value across a variety of domains. The linguistic juxtapositions at the root of the CalvinoMethod forms the framework of The Grammar of Innovation and the tension between opposites, which at first seems insoluble, emerges as the catalyst of future thought. This book will be of great interest to scholars of innovation, strategy, organisation studies, philosophy of business, and all those with an interest in the works of Italo Calvino.

This book offers a new perspective on change projects in organizations. While traditional approaches of analysis, planning, and implementation can be too slow and unsatisfactory in dynamic environments, this book introduces a context-oriented, dynamic approach that seamlessly integrates technology, processes, and people into the organizational framework. Drawing from organizational theory, it prioritizes both the formal and informal aspects of an organization's structure and culture, and emphasizes the emotional side of change. It provides practical guidance on using emotion concepts to facilitate change in a positive way, and covers key supporting technologies, communication strategies, and human resource considerations. In addition to describing the approach, the book provides helpful tips on selecting the right consultants and embedding change know-how for future initiatives. It is an indispensable resource for anyone leading a change project or looking to improve their organization's ability to adapt. So why settle for a traditional approach when you can achieve meaningful change through a dynamic, context-oriented approach?

Organisationen produzieren vielfältige Bewertungen von Personen. Der Band fragt nach Funktionen und Folgen organisierter Personenbewertung und danach, wie der Organisationskontext Personenbewertung prägt. Bewertungssoziologisch geht der Band der Vermutung nach, dass sich die Bewertung von Personen systematisch von der Bewertung anderer Objekte unterscheidet: Personen sind sakrale Objekte der Moderne, deren Bewertung sich als überaus heikel erweist, aber gerade in Organisationskontexten dennoch routinemäßig stattfindet. Personen sind darüber hinaus auch Subjekte, die sich auf ihre Bewertung einstellen, auf sie reagieren, an ihr mitwirken. Vor diesem Hintergrund fragen die Beiträge des Bandes, wie sich die Besonderheiten des Bewertungsobjekts Person auf organisierte Personenbewertungen auswirken, welche Aspekte von Personalität dabei berücksichtigt werden und welche Bedeutung Personenbewertungen für Organisationen haben.

The book is intended to focus the engineer or technically minded individual on key aspects of their organization and how they can leverage their position to make a positive impact. The author explains why it is critical that the technically minded individual is aware of their corporate environment and how they and their organization fit within the organizational structure. Technical knowledge is just one component of success for engineers. The book provides readers with the tools to understand where they fit in with their organizations and what they can do to support corporate objectives. This book will address topics including gaining a big picture of an organization, defining what a specific organization does, understanding goals and objectives to align management strategies, budgeting, role in the supply chain, engineering career paths, and the importance of innovation.

The case studies in this Volume 2 book support the premise that organizational policies are what ensure institutionalization and sustainability of futures thinking in corporations, non-profits, and educational institutions. Futures thinking here reflects a systems approach utilized by organizational leaders to observe and interpret signals of change or disruption, identify trigger points of impact, employ foresight methodologies to build scenarios of the future and plan action, and then ultimately translate/actualize the most viable scenarios into successful business outcomes. What is new in the field of futures thinking today is not the general source of change (i.e., technology, globalization, and workforce well-being), but the tumultuous level of disruption occurring due to three phenomena—explosive use of social media, shift in great wealth, and government instability. Scholars and practitioners alike will find the case studies in this book provide nuanced insights into such disruptions, as well as discussion of best practices to ensure successful business solutions.

Dieses Buch zeigt Schritt für Schritt, wie man technische Systeme effizient und effektiv entwickelt, realisiert (Engineering) und betreibt (Administration). Dazu wird zunächst erklärt, wie komplexe reale Systeme vereinfacht, also modelliert werden, um ihre relevanten Eigenschaften sichtbar zu machen. Dies erfolgt interdisziplinär, indem neben technologischen auch soziologische und psychologische Aspekte berücksichtigt werden. Anschließend werden fünf allgemeingültige Vorgehensmodelle erläutert, die ausreichen, um Systeme in allen ihren Lebensphasen zu gestalten und zu lenken. Schließlich wird der Problemlösungszyklus im Detail erläutert. Für jede Phase einer Entwicklung wird erklärt, was wann, warum und wie getan werden sollte, um das Vorhaben erfolgreich abzuschließen. Ergänzend werden Bezüge zum Projektmanagement hergestellt. Alle erläuterten Modelle, Methoden, Verfahren und Werkzeuge haben sich in der Praxis schon vielfach bewährt. Daher eignet sich das Buch als Leitfaden für Praktiker•innen und für die akademische Lehre. Vor allem diejenigen, die nicht nur wissen wollen, was sie tun sollen, sondern auch verstehen wollen, warum das eine besser funktioniert als das andere, werden nicht nur entsprechende Erklärungen finden, sondern darüber hinaus auch zahlreiche Anregungen, die zum konstruktiv-kritischen Weiterdenken verleiten und Innovation ermöglichen.

In gruppendynamischen Trainings wird viel über das Leben in Freundeskreisen, Liebesbeziehungen, Jugendcliquen, Wohngemeinschaften, Straßengangs, Terrorgruppierungen oder Kleinfamilien, aber kaum etwas über die Dynamik in Unternehmen, Verwaltungen, Ministerien, Armeen, Polizeien, Krankenhäusern, Universitäten oder Schulen abgebildet. In diesem Buch wird gezeigt, wie gruppendynamische Trainings den Übergang von einer Gruppe zu einer Organisation unterbinden – durch den Druck zur personenbezogenen Kommunikation, durch ihre Entmutigung der Ausdifferenzierung von Rollen, durch die Verhinderung von Hierarchien und durch eine Tendenz zur Diffusität der Themen.

This book explores the intricate interplay between humility, humor, and hope in the context of Christian leadership. Drawing upon biblical foundations and contemporary leadership theories, it provides a comprehensive understanding of how these three qualities synergize to enhance the effectiveness of Christian leaders. By examining their individual significance and exploring their combined impact, this volume advances the field of organizational leadership, particularly in addressing the challenges of leadership in a manner consistent with Christian principles. The authors illuminate the crucial roles of humility, hope, and humor in Christian leadership, making this a valuable resource for researchers interested in leadership within the context of faith. This contribution will aligns with existing literature on how Christians can leverage their faith for improved leadership capabilities.

This book investigates the intersection of Christian faith and entrepreneurship in the global marketplace through empirical micro-level research on various Christian-based firms in North and Central America, Asia, Europe, and Africa. It features diverse cross-cultural cases, ranging from small family businesses to large enterprises, and covers multiple industries and regions. The book attempts to answer this research question:'How do Christian faith and entrepreneurship converge in the marketplace?'Through a comparative, cross-cultural case analysis, the work identifies thematic categories of Christian faith-based entrepreneurship, extending and integrating the two conceptual areas of faith and entrepreneurship from a Christian worldview with a Judeo-Christian heritage. The selected cases this book explored enhanced the emergent model of faith-based entrepreneurship applicable across faith-based organization types and regions. This book also provides significant empirical and theoretical contributions to faith-based entrepreneurship, offering new research areas for the future research paradigm. The cases in this book delve into topics such as faith and women entrepreneurship, religion, spirituality, and social entrepreneurship, faith and family entrepreneurship, and good practices of entrepreneurship, in line with the latest trends in the field, and will be of interest to all students and researchers in entrepreneurship.

This book brings together research that advances our ‎understanding of the fundamental relationship between board diversity and different ‎aspects of corporate governance, including corporate governance disclosures, board ‎performance, governance characteristics, and ownership structure. ‎The expertly selected chapters deal with related (but not limited) to the following topics: ‎Corporate governance models and diversity; forms of diversity and decisions in the boardroom; Board diversity, corporate disclosure, and intellectual capital disclosures; shareholder activism; differences between private and family firms; Board diversity laws; gender and ethnicity on boards, and going beyond gender aspects of diversity. This book is particularly useful for researchers and practitioner think tanks to understand the state of the art in board diversity research.

Wissen ist einer der zentralen Erfolgsfaktoren für Organisationen. Insbesondere die Digitalisierung hat den Prozess der Wissensgenerierung sowie die Weitergabe von Wissen in Unternehmen massiv verändert. Dieses Fachbuch gibt Einblick in das Management von Wissen in modernen Organisationen, die mit der Anpassung an die neue Arbeitswelt konfrontiert sind und einen bestmöglichen Einsatz von Wissen suchen. Wissenschaftler•innen und Praktiker•innen diskutieren auf Basis neuster Forschungserkenntnisse sowie eigener Praxiserfahrungen unterschiedliche Gesichtspunkte des Wissensmanagements und geben Empfehlungen, wie dieses in modernen Organisationen behandelt werden sollte. Ein Buch für Verantwortliche in Unternehmen, die Inspiration für die Gestaltung von Wissensprozessen im eigenen Unternehmen suchen. Der Inhalt•Wissen, dessen Bedeutung und Austausch in Organisationen •Verzerrungen in der Bewertung, Verarbeitung und Weitergabe von Wissen•Weitergabe und Zurückhaltung von Wissen: Treiber und Hindernisse•Vorteile, Nachteile, Motive und Lösungen für Knowledge Hiding •Die Rolle von Wissen in Kreativitäts- und Innovationsprozessen•Wissen und Antifragilität•Rolle von KI bei der Wissensvermittlung•Berichte und Impulse aus der Praxis

This book offers a current perspective on Artificial Intelligence in the context of an ever-changing and growing technological revolution in business management. It analyses how existing companies are adapting, new ones are emerging, and others are disappearing. Process re-engineering has made it possible to reshape organizational structures and create new departments and positions, all geared towards digitalization. The emergence of new business functions has led to new strategic thinking on e.g. companies'structure, size, and core business – but also to the creation of new jobs, the need to cover digital skills, and the need for innovative team management. In short, it is a question of delving deeper into HR and the impact that digitalization has had on it, as the employee is one of the key figures to protect. The book initially focuses on providing a review of the current literature on the advancement of Artificial Intelligence and its impact on business transformation and the emergence of new management models. In turn, it addresses the diverse perspectives that currently dominate the business market, as well as the corporate transformations that have taken place in the post-pandemic era. Lastly, it equips employers with new tools to incorporate into their organizations, facilitating talent retention. In connection with HR, this digital transformation is reflected in new roles for change management and cultural transformation, including the use of digital technologies to improve the employee experience. In brief, the book offers a practical guide to business transformation, technological advances, and their application in human resources departments.

Managers and leaders spend a great deal of time on communication; it binds together all the communications in the organisational system. In other words, communication is the glue that impacts on the effectiveness of communication in the entire organization, therefore the style of leadership communication has a profound impact on how the organization works. If too much ‘glue'is used, the consequence is information overload, which hampers effective communication. If there is too little glue, individuals and entire organizations may find themselves in a pathological state of disorder, with people filling the information vacuum with rumours and gossip. Leadership communication can be involving and participatory, motivating colleagues to be creative and put in as much extra effort as is necessary. Leadership communication can also be power-based and patronizing. Such a style of communication will cause tensions and conflicts within an organization. In this textbook, the author shows how information and communication are parts of a special type of interaction, namely situations in which you want to gain trust or influence people. With a plethora of case examples and practical exercises to get stuck into, this engaging book helps students gain a deeper understanding of the concepts and contexts described in each chapter, such as communication strategies, influencing techniques, communication and values, and communication and trust. The second half of the book offers six personal communication tools, and six personal coaching tools, with assignment to each of the coaching tools. In addition, the book provides 66 exercises to the six personal communication tools. Ideal reading for those taking leadership and communication courses, this textbook takes a practical approach to the key issues in organizational communication that will prepare students for their careers in business.

This guide complements traditional project management by focusing on the critical pre-project stage. It addresses a major challenge: only 12% of projects finish on time and within budget, often due to poor initial pre-project analysis. This leads to wasted resources. The content offers proven best practices for implementing ISO 56007 recommendations, enhancing project calibration, selection, and overall success rates. Liberating innovators from the constraints of traditional business plans, the guide suggests, along with ISO 56007, a'Concept/Opportunity Case'as an investor-friendly alternative. This template is rooted in the robust IpOp Decision Tree, an ISO 56007-recommended checklist of 11 fundamental questions to thoroughly address essential decision-makers'concerns. This rigorous method ensures reliable project selection and optimal resource allocation. The IpOp Model serves as a structured roadmap, enabling project managers and innovators to transform ideas into compelling projects. It provides clear guidance for making informed decisions, whether to pivot or abandon projects that aren't viable. By following ISO 56007 recommendations, the IpOp Model helps navigate uncertainties and manage critical project factors effectively. Ideal for decision-makers, project managers, executives, professionals, intrapreneurs, and entrepreneurs engaged in project management and innovation, this guide is an essential tool for any pre-project analysis and for turning innovative ideas into successful projects.