Too many business owners are working in reverse where they are the fuel for their business. Their business needs to be fuel for them so they can fulfill their personal and professional aspirations and goals. This book challenges owners of mid-market and small firms to think about their business as a wealth generator rather than just a place to work. It focuses on helping entrepreneurs to thrive by having the business provide fuel for their personal lives instead of their own business consuming their personal lives.
Sustainability reporting provides nonfinancial and financial indicators of an organization’s environmental, economic, and social dimensions of its operations. The globalization of corporations and widely publicized corporate misdeeds (e.g., Nike’s child labor problems) has increased public scrutiny of corporate behavior. As pressure grows from a variety of stakeholders (e.g., investors, creditors, customers, and NGOs) for corporate transparency, sustainability reports provide vital information to meet the demand for disclosures about environmental, economic, and social impacts. In addition to addressing stakeholders’ demands, this reporting enhances internal decision-making. Managers are better able to assess risks, monitor company resources, establish competitive advantage, create employee loyalty, and engage stakeholders.
This book is intended for MBA students, executives, and managers who want to learn about the value of sustainability reporting. In this book, they will discover the internal and external benefits of sustainability reporting, the basics of existing reporting frameworks, and the reaction of the investment community. Detailed examples of sustainability metrics from numerous organizations are provided to illustrate the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. This book will enable readers to assess how reporting can add value for his or her own organization.
Information security is at the forefront of timely IT topics, due to the spectacular and well-publicized breaches of personal information stored by companies. To create a secure IT environment, many steps must be taken, but not all steps are created equal. There are technological measures that increase security, and some that do not do, but overall, the best defense is to create a culture of security in the organization.
The same principles that guide IT security in the enterprise guide smaller organizations and individuals. The individual techniques and tools may vary by size, but everyone with a computer needs to turn on a firewall and have antivirus software. Personal information should be safeguarded by individuals and by the firms entrusted with it. As organizations and people develop security plans and put the technical pieces in place, a system can emerge that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Virtual teams are an integral part of today’s global business environment. Traditional face-to-face communication is frequently being replaced with technology mediated communication methods including phone, email, fax, synchronous chat programs, and videoconferencing.
While virtual teams offer various advantages to organizations and individuals in flexibility and the ability to overcome geographic distance, they face unique challenges. Virtual teams are often made up of members of various cultures with diverse communication styles. Men and women also tend to behave differently in virtual environments. Challenges occur in the forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning phases of team development, and virtual teams must be able to cope effectively with those obstacles if they are to be successful and reach their potential. Team participants should be selected carefully for various personal characteristics that help assure success and trained in how to be effective virtual team members. Various team strategies can be implemented to improve effectiveness and satisfaction of virtual team members. This second edition features an overall updating of content, statistics, and references, especially in the sections on technology. New real-world cases provide opportunities for readers to apply principles covered in the book in developing organizational solutions.
History is an evolving inspection with new revelations continuing to be uncovered. The globalization phenomenon has roots throughout the world. It is important for all nations and people as they join the interconnected world economy to understand and appreciate the similarities shared by all in the past, continue to exist and impact the future. We are experiencing, in the words of Michael Rostovtzeff, the realization that “…the difference between the ancient economy and modern are differences of scale, not of kind.” Such common heritage is the fulcrum upon which the modern commercial dealings are based. Business principles are more universal than perhaps any other set of human standards. The exchange imperative was practiced by every society on earth and it is a shared process that continues to unite the world.
This book, based on case studies in the healthcare sector, reveals a working strategy that explores a well-kept secret of top management: that a more balanced gender distribution on the boards of healthcare organizations results in an improvement of the organization’s overall performance. Organizational success for healthcare institutions depends in part on insuring that an organization’s management team possesses and reflects key characteristics that can predict that success. By further linking these characteristics to gender, the research suggests that it is reasonable to assume that an increased if not dominant presence of females on boards will lead to improved performance. In this evolving world environment of an aging population coupled with funding constraints that are applied to healthcare organizations based on performance, healthcare organizations’ top management and researchers will find this book a must read. A new perspective emerges as a practical solution for the healthcare organization’s survival.
Iran represents a large regional economy with a strategic location in the Persian Gulf and Central Asia, a huge consumer market, tremendous natural resources, and numerous petrochemical and manufacturing industries which require heavy investment. Understanding the Iranian business environment requires a holistic approach as in Iran religion, society, culture, economy, politics, and family are intimately intertwined. In line with this view, this book aims at offering an analytical, readable, and relatively comprehensive understanding of the Iranian society, culture, and business environment. The book adopts a broad scope and relies on a wide range of academic and professional sources to bring insights into the Iranian context. The book tries to bridge theory and practice by providing a reasonable blend of scholarship and practical expertise. As such, this book can be seen as a valuable source for business managers, political analysts, policy makers, scholars, students, and all those who are concerned with the Iranian and Middle Eastern affairs.
Many books have been written about the practice of peacemaking, and few, if any, deal with the non-violent, spiritual side of this ancient science, discipline, practice and art form. This book will speak to that lack and explore the spiritual, non-violent element in peacemaking as it applies to mediating family law disputes. Universities will find the book helpful as a textbook in their peacemaking and mediation degree and certificate programs, most particularly, in those courses that stress a pragmatic, spiritual, eclectic and educated approach to non-adversarial, peaceful conflict resolution. The book is intended for the professional peacemaker, mediator, lawyer, law student, conciliator, and dispute neutral. Everyday people who wish to improve their own communication skills and strengthen their primary relationships will profit greatly from this book. These individuals, particularly those in the family law field, will find much benefit from the peacemaking processes, and family counseling psychology. Mental health family practitioners, who are often called upon to act as default, if not formal mediators and neutrals, will find useful the mediation and peacemaking experiences, techniques and literature related here. Light On Peacemaking also offers the Yoga practitioner a very practical avenue, through example in the legal field, for engaging in seva or service to humanity.
Attending a live concert or theatrical performance can be a thrilling experience. At their best, the performing arts represent the height of human creativity and expression. But the presentation on stage, whether it is Shakespeare, Beethoven, or The Lion King, depends on a business backstage.
This book provides an overview of both the product on stage and the industry that makes it possible. While the industry’s product is unique—with unique supply and demand characteristics it is still an industry, with economic inputs, business models, competitors, value chains, and a dynamic, challenging marketplace. We will examine each of the major segments (Broadway, regional theater, orchestra, opera, and dance) along these business dimensions.
This book will give lovers of the performing arts an understanding of the business realities that make live performances possible. Managers, board members, and performers will be better equipped to take on the strategic challenges their companies face. People contemplating any of these roles will have a better idea of what to expect. Business analysts and students of strategy will discover how economic frameworks apply in this unique setting where culture and commerce converge.
Traditional marketing faces challenges as never before. The way that people interact with each other and with companies is changing completely in today’s era of 24/7 connectivity. This book explores tectonic changes in buyer behavior and how businesses are responding to those changes. It describes how data is used to track and analyze customers in almost everything they do, and how marketing communications are delivered with precision to individual mobile devices. The connected customer is blurring the line between online and offline sales resulting in an entirely new purchase cycle.
The “always on” consumer has ushered in an era of customer engagement. In developed countries, online commerce offers limitless ease and variety for customers, while in developing countries e-commerce and e-finance provides access for millions of people to formal banking channels and also to empower them.
Companies are merging their online and offline business models. While data is being used to analyze and track customers, at the same time it raises a worrying question—does this constant peering into customers’ lives has limits? Will it result in a consumer utopia or a privacy nightmare?
This book helps understand how consumers and companies are changing, leading to profound changes in marketing.
