Making Sense of Iranian Society, Culture, and Business

$21.99

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.

Light on Peacemaking: A Guide To Appropriate Dispute Resolution and Mediating Family Conflict

$21.99

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.

A Profile of the Performing Arts Industry: Culture and Commerce

$21.99

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.

Market Sensing Today

$21.99

The concept and framework of market sensing was introduced by George Day more than 20 years ago into the strategic marketing literature – especially the philosophy of the market-driven organization. Market sensing can be considered an expression of a company’s capabilities to scan the external environment. It does this by using real time data and intelligence to understand business or uncertain changes, to meet the current and future needs of the market, increase customer value, and outperform competitors. Market sensing enables managers to resist complacency, as well as to exploit opportunities and to design appropriate competitive strategies in order to remain successful in today’s uncertain, rapidly changing, and hypercompetitive market. Market Sensing Today is essential reading in the marketing discipline, given the rapidly escalating innovative developments in market sensing techniques. This book of essays by acknowledged experts in the field fills an important knowledge gap and provides a realistic basis for strategy. It is replete with real-life examples of market sensing that illustrate actionable ideas for immediate impact that will improve organizational learning and accelerate growth.

Launching New Products: Best Marketing and Sales Practices

$21.99

So, why this book? New product launches can be more effective! What is the ultimate measure of effectiveness? Sales dollars, profit dollars and growth rates are excellent measures. But how do you know that the launch is the best it can be? There is no endorsed standard that is used to evaluate the actions leading up to the launch, and corrective actions used during the product launch. As a result, business leaders make their own judgments and never truly know how much more successful they could have been.

The goals of this book are to discuss critical topics in launching new products, and to distill successful approaches from hundreds of publications and experience from launching over 50 new products into a checklist for marketing leaders, CEOs, and board members. The function of this checklist is to force consideration and completion of tasks that drive a successful product launch.

How Strong Is Your Firm’s Competitive Advantage, Second Edition

$21.99

Perhaps the most confounding characteristic of the competitive marketplace is that everyone wants a piece of the action. If a firm successfully enters a new market, creates a new product, or designs new innovations for an existing product, it’s just a matter of time before competitors follow suit. And the influx of competition inevitably places downward pressure on both price and profitability.
Whether you’re an economics student or a manager with absolutely no background in economics, this book will help you make better decisions and learn more about the Five Forces Model, (first published in 1979 by Harvard economist Michael Porter) which identifies the characteristics that can help insulate a firm from competitive forces.
This book brings microeconomic theory into the world of the business manager rather than the other way around. The author expounds on microeconomic theory, enabling economists to take the knowledge back to the office and apply it.

The Agile Edge: Managing Projects Effectively Using Agile Scrum

$21.99

This book is intended to provide new members of an Agile Scrum team a concise, highly organized and cogent description of what Agile Scrum is and how it works. Then, it expands its scope to address key topics in Agile, that virtually all Agile participants will eventually want to deal with: how to drive to success more often, common issues in Agile utilization and recommended solutions, increasing the business value of key Agile meetings (called Ceremonies), and a path to Agile adoption will also be shared. A fundamental of business is constant change. The Agile methodology embraces change, this is why dozens of Fortune 500s are adopting Agile. Agile also has a process by which the most important work gets done first; possibly providing value to the business well before the project is completed. And, another key facet of Agile is work is shared with the paying client (called a Project Owner) regularly; meaning that the team will never be too far out of line with expectations. However, Agile teams are very tight (close-knit), this means that one needs every advantage to be accepted by the team quickly, this is why the foundations of Agile are addressed in this book, along with a personal onboarding strategy.

All Services, All the Time: How Business Services Serve Your Business

$21.99

This book takes the position that organizations, such as businesses, government agencies, etc. form a special class of living system. As such they come into being, live through lifecycle stages, and can experience organizational health and various forms of organizational illness along the way. If the latter is frequent or extended, such organizations often die an untimely death. A services perspective can go a long way to combat this outcome and assist in maintaining organizational health. Allowing this perspective to permeate an organization induces a consideration of its genuine value and leads to a greater understanding of the breadth of stakeholders who are the beneficiaries of it. Productivity and services in an organization are symbiotic—and must be so in order to achieve the balance that is key to the health of each organization. A services perspective illuminates as well the pivotal role that business-to-business service providers play in ensuring that balance is achieved and maintained. This book explores these factors from the point of view of the business leader and anyone concerned with the health of any organization.

Cents of Mission: Using Cost Management and Control to Accomplish Your Goal

$21.99

This book outlines practical advice useful to any individual, government agency, or business interested in improving its mission effectiveness. It shows how simple, but often elusive, cost management and control techniques can improve the conversion of often limited financial resources into mission accomplishment. It will help achieve success regardless of whether the mission is getting out of personal debt, improving national security, or making a profit.