An Introduction to Supply Chain Management: A Global Supply Chain Support Perspective

$21.99

An Introduction to Supply Chain Management: A Global Supply Chain Support Perspective offers an overview of supply chain management and provides a framework for subsequent, more detailed study in various aspects of supply management. The book reviews the evolution of supply chain management concepts and discusses trends in global markets and strategic competitiveness. It then focuses on the major issues involved in managing a competitive supply chain including: forecasting, inventory management, distribution, dealing with uncertainty, reverse logistics, and customer service.An Introduction to Supply Chain Management: a Global Supply Chain Support Perspective offers an overview of supply chain management and provides a framework for subsequent, more detailed study in various aspects of supply management. The book reviews the evolution of supply chain management concepts and discusses trends in global markets and strategic competitiveness. It then focuses on the major issues involved in managing a competitive supply chain including: forecasting, inventory management, distribution, dealing with uncertainty, reverse logistics, and customer service. Coverage of the dynamic, evolving issues pertaining to supply chains that affect the global business community concludes the book. Readers of An Introduction to Supply Chain Management will be better equipped to conceptualize the management of supply chains as a collection of business processes; identify primary and secondary value chain processes; distinguish between the umbrella term, ‘supply chain management,’ and its component functions; and understand the basic tools of forecasting and the need for accurate data and forecasts on which to base supply chain management decisions.

Understanding the Dynamics of the Value Chain

$21.99

In his 1985 book, Competitive Advantage, Michael Porter introduced the concept of the value chain and described it as ‘a systematic way of examining all activities a firm performs and how they interact, (necessary) for analyzing the sources of competitive advantage,’ and introduced the idea of ‘linkages,’ which was the real breakthrough in management thinking. Thinking of a firm as a series of horizontal and vertical linkages put the spotlight on the silo mentality within which firms operated and how business schools structured curriculum.In his 1985 book, Competitive Advantage, Michael Porter introduced the concept of the value chain and described it as ‘a systematic way of examining all activities a firm performs and how they interact, (necessary) for analyzing the sources of competitive advantage,’ and introduced the idea of ‘linkages,’ which was the real breakthrough in management thinking. Thinking of a firm as a series of horizontal and vertical linkages put the spotlight on the silo mentality within which firms operated and how business schools structured curriculum. The silo mentality caused business students unable to see the firm as a holistic entity, an understanding of how all of its parts fit together to develop competitive advantage. Students graduating with a silo mentality perpetuated the silo mentality in business firms. This book draws together existing knowledge to help facilitate the shift of mind necessary to effectively manage the value chain, and introduces a new conception of the value chain, one that has been copyrighted (2006) and provides a new perspective of the value chain commensurate with the demands of the 21st-century global economy.

Launching a Business: The First 100 Days

$21.99

This book focuses on the steps a new business owner must take in the first 100 days of starting a business to establish a lasting and successful enterprise.

If you’re thinking of opening up your own business, you’ll need this book. This is a hands-on book that focuses on the tasks that you or any new business owner must complete in the first 100 days of launching a business.

Think of it this way: Imagine you’ve conceived a business idea, written a business plan, raised seed capital, and are set to launch your business on October 1. Now, what would you actually do on October 1, October 2, October 3, and so forth? How would you set your priorities? How would you know which tasks are the most urgent?

Although the answers to these questions vary depending on the business, there are a set of key activities that all businesses must accomplish to get their businesses off to a good (and legally proper) start. This book provides examples that include securing proper business licenses and permits; setting up a bookkeeping system; negotiating a lease; buying insurance; entering into contracts with vendors; recruiting and hiring employees; and making the first sale. Broader issues such as developing a business model and building a brand will also be touched upon, but the primary focus of this book is getting you focused on the practical issues that you’ll need, as a new business owner, to accomplish, and accomplish correctly, and to get your business off to a good start.

To help you prioritize and track the activities that must be completed at the onset of a business, this book will teach you how to set up a “First 100 Days Plan,” with the template (titled First 100 Days Plan) included in this book.

Doing Business in China: Getting Ready for the Asian Century

$21.99

Outstanding interview and article on Doing Business in China from The Financial Review, March 28th, 2013.
More Publicity For This News — INTHEBLACK, Australia’s most-widely circulating monthly business magazine, just posted a review.
Although this book has a specific focus on Australian firms doing business in China, the important and unique contribution this book makes will help you and anyone in an organization that is considering doing business in China. China maintains a high growth economy and is currently the second largest in the world. This book, which includes results from research interviews conducted with business executives from 40 organizations, will assist in preparing to do business in China. This book takes you through the various elements associated with doing business in China, including the opportunities that are available and the obstacles that organizations can face, supported by data from real businesses internationalizing to China. It examines key areas including the foreign direct investment and trade framework, Chinese culture, political and legal frameworks, intellectual property regulations, motivations for internationalization, market entry strategy, and human resource management issues. Although this book has a specific focus on Australian firms doing business in China, the important and unique contribution this book makes will help you and anyone in an organization that is considering doing business in China. China maintains a high growth economy and is currently the second largest in the world. This book, which includes results from research interviews conducted with business executives from 40 organizations, will assist in preparing to do business in China. This book takes you through the various elements associated with doing business in China, including the opportunities that are available and the obstacles that organizations can face, supported by data from real businesses internationalizing to China. It examines key areas including the foreign direct investment and trade framework, Chinese culture, political and legal frameworks, intellectual property regulations, motivations for internationalization, market entry strategy, and human resource management issues. Although this book has a specific focus on Australian firms doing business in China, the important and unique contribution this book makes will help you and anyone in an organization that is considering doing business in China. China maintains a high growth economy and is currently the second largest in the world. This book, which includes results from research interviews conducted with business executives from 40 organizations, will assist in preparing to do business in China. This book takes you through the various elements associated with doing business in China, including the opportunities that are available and the obstacles that organizations can face, supported by data from real businesses internationalizing to China. It examines key areas including the foreign direct investment and trade framework, Chinese culture, political and legal frameworks, intellectual property regulations, motivations for internationalization, market entry strategy, and human resource management issues.

Business Models and Strategic Management: A New Integration

$21.99

Finally, a book comes along that provides a unique yet simple and powerful approach to understand the business model and the critical role strategic management has in supporting it. Its value is in business model thinking. It brings you a combination of the best contributions of academe and industry that will help build business model-centric organizations. Inside, you’ll learn about strategy from a business model perspective. What does that mean? It means that you’ll first have to think rigorously about your value proposition; your current or future competencies; and your revenue streams and cost structure before developing, adopting, or modifying your strategies. What is the difference between a business model and a strategy? A business model is how a company operates, and a strategy is how a company competes. When the basis of competition changes because a new model disrupts the economics in the industry, it requires an adjustment in business models before any new strategy can work. This book adds a business model level to the traditional strategic management process that is more consistent with current ‘real-world’ practices in strategic thinking and analysis. It takes you deeper into the intricacies of what constitutes a business model and how current strategy derives from it, and offers 7 modules that will show you the key components to manage your business model, to help conduct business model analysis, and to assess the financial viability of a business model, just to name a few.

Strategy Making in Nonprofit Organizations: A Model and Case Studies

$21.99

The leaders of business and non-profit organizations that provide social services will find a set of principles that apply specifically to their organizations. The need for better management and social innovations is critical as the demand for essential social services is growing even as the budgets available from the government and non-profit foundations are declining. How are social enterprises different and what are the management challenges unique to them? Using case-studies and theories of management, we offer some principles that are uniquely applicable to social enterprises. Such organizations provide mission critical or essential social services under severe resource constraints. They often work with volunteers in highly political contexts. They are purpose driven organizations led by people committed to their causes. They face growing demand that typically outstrips available supply. They face competition for resources in the external environment. These organizations rely on harnessing the creativity of their people through processes that are poorly understood by outsiders. These organizations focus on delivering the triple bottom line of economic, social and environmental impact. This book articulates the management problems unique to such organization and offers a set of principles for addressing these.

Strategy and Training: Making Skills a Competitive Advantage

$21.99

This book explores corporate training in the context of deploying strategic initiatives within organisations. It goes beyond merely explaining strategy, to investigating how it relates to skills training, and how companies can leverage this to implement their initiatives. Drawing on real-life client examples and the inspirational stories of highly successful individuals, this book highlights approaches that have transformed organisations and re-invented training. It dispels myths that exist around traditional training paradigms and brings to light the effectiveness of new methods and approaches. Social learning, using technologies such as Twitter and video-blogs, is today revolutionising the way training is undertaken. At the same time, the age-old communication technique of storytelling is being reinvented as a way to roll out strategic programs to large multi-cultural groups on a global scale. The author presents key questions that are relevant at project and company level, and provide practical checklists and summaries complementing each chapter of the book. This text highlights how you can develop your team’s expertise through systematic coaching when cascading a strategy throughout your organisation, and explains the benefits of reinforcing strengths, identifying weaknesses and correcting failures to build competitive advantage. It also addresses the risk of ‘unlearning’ post-training, and issues that arise with maintaining performance evaluation and measuring tangible progress. Succinct and pragmatic, the book reveals how strategic projects can be successfully rolled out globally; using cost-effective training that will ensure a return on investment for your organisation.

Working with Excel: Refreshing Math Skills for Management

$21.99

Managers and analysts routinely collect and examine key performance measures to better understand their operations and make good decisions. Being able to render the complexity of operations data into a coherent account of significant events requires an understanding of how to work well in the electronic environment with raw data. Managers and analysts routinely collect and examine key performance measures to better understand their operations and make good decisions. Being able to render the complexity of operations data into a coherent account of significant events requires an understanding of how to work well in the electronic environment with raw data. Although some statistical and financial techniques for analyzing data are sophisticated and require specialized expertise, there are methods that are understandable and applicable by anyone with basic algebra skills and the support of a spreadsheet package. While specialized software packages may be used in a particular business setting, Microsoft Excel is routinely available on computer desktops. Managers who have been in the field any length of time may not be sufficiently familiar with the capabilities of Excel to make optimal use of its functionalities. Prior to undertaking a program to pursue executive training, managers who are refreshed with basic algebra skills and the capabilities of Excel will be prepared to develop a richer understanding from their more advanced work. The primary foci of this text are (1) to refresh fundamental mathematical operations that broadly support statistical and financial equations and formulas, (2) to introduce work with equations and formulas in Excel spreadsheets, (3) to expand statistical and financial analysis with the programmed Excel functions readily available through the ‘Insert Function’ toolbar button and the more advanced Data Analysis Toolkit, (4) to facilitate graphic representations of data, and finally (5) to prepare data mounted in differing file formats. This text is a companion to a series of books that addresses the analysis of sample data, time series data, managerial economics, and forecasting techniques. Together these books will equip the manager and the student with a solid understanding of applied data analysis and prepare them to apply the methods themselves.

Academic Ethos Management: Building the Foundation for Integrity in Management Education

$21.99

This topical and much needed book constitutes an important part of the debate on the integrity in an academic context as a sine qua non of responsible management education. This discussion in management education occurred partly in reaction to highly publicized corporate scandals and instances of management misconduct that have eroded public faith. Concomitantly, management scholars and educators have begun to question the assumptions underlying the traditional management education, which in their view not only contributed to a recent moral crisis but has also failed to prepare students and executives for coping with the responsible leadership challenges and ethical dilemmas that face managers in contemporary corporations. The last decade, which might be called an epoch of moral catastrophes, sets for universities the stage for effectively performing their missions through conscious and consequent incorporating the core values of university into academic activities. This book discusses with stimulating examples how universities should bring alive their core values. Using case studies and examples from universities from all over the world, this book offers what few other title are able to offer: practical advice and guidance, explaining in detail how administrators and educators should discover, articulate and institutionalization (implementation, securing and controlling by creating adequate policies, procedures process etc.) university core values into academic daily activities and create a foundation for academy integrity. The universities, educators and instructors committed to socially responsible management education will find many valuable tools and pragmatic strategies to effectively spread practices of integrity based on university core values across organizational institutions. It provides as well valuable teaching case studies and should be used by course leaders at undergraduate, master’s and MBA level in all business schools.

Mastering Self-Motivation: Bringing Together the Academic and Popular Literature

$21.99

This book is designed to provide a roadmap for business students worldwide. The broad scope of academic research coupled with real-world application makes this book unique. It describes the contemporary and historical premise of motivation today. Each chapter has one or two theoretical concepts interwoven with motivational literary scholars. The heart of the book is based on the premise that many people read motivational books by non-academics such as Tony Robins and miss out on the theoretical scholarly books that are empirically grounded. While this book does not offer research or metrics on the subject of motivation, it does provide theoretical concepts that can enhance individual motivation and presents it in a comprehensive and enjoyable manner. When comparing motivational best sellers, academic books are often shelved in place of the more practical books that people feel more comfortable with and that they can relate to.
Derived from many years of consulting with business executives worldwide, the author is offering a free workbook to accompany your purchase or adoption of this book. This workbook addresses each chapter with a comprehensive application of the the content in the book. Develop your personal Vision, your personal Mission, and your Strengths to succeed as an effective leader while helping those aspiring to become leaders in your organization, your classroom, or your institution.