Building construction methods and systems : principles, requirements and application details
Presents practical information about the design and construction of building projects by addressing the principles of each method, unveiling background factors for requirements, and state-of-the-art application details, and presents general design and application principles of construction methods and technologies without diving into engineering calculations and formulas to keep the content easily understandable by all AEC practitioners and participants.
Bio-based Building Skin
This book provides a compendium of material properties, demonstrates several successful examples of bio-based materials’ application in building facades, and offers ideas for new designs and novel solutions. It features a state-of-the-art review, addresses the latest trends in material selection, assembling systems, and innovative functions of facades in detail. Selected case studies on buildings from diverse locations are subsequently presented to demonstrate the successful implementation of various biomaterial solutions, which defines unique architectural styles and building functions. The structures, morphologies and aesthetic impressions related to bio-based building facades are discussed from the perspective of art and innovation; essential factors influencing the performance of materials with respect to functionality and safety are also presented. Special emphasis is placed on assessing the performance of a given facade throughout the service life of a building, and after its end.
Assessing Environmental Risk of Oil Spills with ERA Acute : A New Methodology
This book introduces readers to a new methodology for assessing the risks to the marine environment following accidental oil spills. The methodology will soon be implemented on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and will be complemented by guidelines for its use in a regulatory framework.
Adapting the built environment for climate change : Design principles for climate emergencies
Adapting the Built Environment for Climate Change: Design Principles for Climate Emergencies analyzes several scenarios and proposes various adaptation strategies for climate emergencies (heat waves, wildfires, floods, and storms). Divided into three themes, the book offers an organized vision of a complex and multi-factor challenge. It covers climatic resilience and building refurbishment, implications for service life prediction and maintainability, and climate adaptation in the maintenance and management of buildings. Sections cover infrastructure materials, climate emergency adaptation and building adaptation to heat waves, wildfires, floods and storms.
A Generalization of Bohr-Mollerup's Theorem for Higher Order Convex Functions
This book develops a far-reaching generalization of Bohr-Mollerup's theorem to higher order convex functions, along lines initiated by Wolfgang Krull, Roger Webster, and some others but going considerably further than past work. In particular, this generalization shows using elementary techniques that a very rich spectrum of functions satisfy analogues of several classical properties of the gamma function, including Bohr-Mollerup's theorem itself, Euler's reflection formula, Gauss' multiplication theorem, Stirling's formula, and Weierstrass' canonical factorization.
Masterpieces of Swiss Entrepreneurship : Swiss SMEs Competing in Global Markets
This book focuses on Switzerland-based medium-sized companies with a longstanding export tradition and a proven dominance in global niche markets. Based upon in-depth documentation and analysis of 36 Swiss companies over their entire history, an expert team of authors presents several parallels in the pathways and success factors which allowed these firms to become dominant and operate from a high-cost location such as Switzerland.
Marketing and the Customer Value Chain : Integrating Marketing and Supply Chain Management
Offers a systemic approach to the integration of marketing and supply chain management. It examines the strategic connections and disconnections between supply chain and operations management and marketing by focusing on the factors that constitute the extended marketing mix, including product, price, promotion, people, and processes.
Market segmentation analysis : Understanding it, doing it, and making It useful
Offers something for everyone working with market segmentation: practical guidance for users of market segmentation solutions; organisational guidance on implementation issues; guidance for market researchers in charge of collecting suitable data; and guidance for data analysts with respect to the technical and statistical aspects of market segmentation analysis. Even market segmentation experts will find something new, including a vast array of useful visualisation techniques that make interpretation of market segments and selection of target segments easier. The book talks the reader through every single step, every single potential pitfall, and every single decision that needs to be made to ensure market segmentation analysis is conducted as well as possible. All calculations are accompanied not only with a detailed explanation, but also with R code that allows readers to replicate any aspect of what is being covered in the book using R, the open-source environment for statistical computing and graphics.
Market Entry Strategies in Eastern Europe in the Context of the European Union : An Empirical Research into German Firms Entering the Polish Market
The preparations for market entry in a foreign country include various aspects and are influenced by factors inside and outside the firm. Based on face to face interviews with decision makers of 16 German firms Michael Klug analyses the applied strategy and the motivation for market entry and investigates different strategy theories like Porter's market based view for their suitability to explain the firms' strategy abroad. The author discusses the operational design including forms of market presence and marketing mix to realise a chosen strategy and shows the influence of the European Union as an institutional arrangement for firms preparing a venture abroad.
Management Quality and Competitiveness : Lessons from the Industrial Excellence Award
This book showcases examples of excellent manufacturing companies who have succeeded in creating value and job growth in Western Europe. The examples show managers of industrial firms how a clearly articulated strategic position can be combined with excellent execution to achieve competitiveness in Europe, in spite of the usually cited disadvantage of high labor costs and rigidity. Not every company is alike — strategic positions differ, and the means of execution differ, but what is common is a clear plan together with mobilization of all employees to apply their abilities in supporting this common plan. The book is indispensable reading for all managers that are interested in improving competitiveness.
Management models of digital transformation : Analysis and definition of success factors for the development of a management framework
Analyses and integrates existing approaches to managing and coordinating a digital transformation in order to identify relevant success factors of a digital transformation, serving as a basis for the development of a systematic framework for a management model of digital transformation. The analysis reveals ten success-critical focus areas of a digital transformation, which comprise numerous success factors: ‘Vision, goals, and strategies’, ‘Leadership’, ‘Communication’, ‘Digital culture and mindset’, ‘Digital platform’, ‘Partnership network’, ‘Capabilities, talents, and skills’, ‘Organization, coordination, and roles’, ‘Management methodologies’, and ‘Governance’.
Low-Cost Country Sourcing : Trends and Implications
Globalization has induced immense cost pressure in most industries. In combination with the economic downturn after the turn of the century, companies are increasingly looking for new ways of reducing costs and increasing shareholder value. From this perspective, low-cost country sourcing has proved to be an effective means to realize cost-saving targets. Although many external key success factors have been identified, relatively little is known about intra-firm factors that can influence the outcome of low-cost country sourcing initiatives.
Leadership and Performance in Public Sector Networks
Analyses two key aspects of network management in the public sector: leadership and performance. It investigates what integrative leadership is, and how it differentiates from leadership in single-agency structures. It also examines the performance of public interest networks by proposing an analytical framework that highlights which factors lead to high performance networks.
Key Account Management in Business-to-Business Markets: An Assessment of Its Economic Value
In times of fierce competition in business-to-business markets strong and economically sound business relationships with a company's customers rank among the main success factors. As a well established marketing management conception, key account management is of particular significance in this context. Interestingly enough, empirical research studies have recently proved that relationship marketing, and particularly key account management, does not achieve the economic value originally expected.
Communities of practice to actively manage best practices
Stefano Borzillo examines a large variety of CoPs by means of six success factors and identifies three basic types: innovating strategic, operational excellence, and social and productive space CoPs.
China's Energy Revolution in the Context of the Global Energy Transition
This book is an encyclopaedic analysis of the current and future energy system of the world’s most populous country and second biggest economy. What happens in China impacts the planet. In the past 40 years China has achieved one of the most remarkable economic growth rates in history. Its GDP has risen by a factor of 65, enabling 850,000 people to rise out of poverty.
Building a Cashless Society : The Swedish Route to the Future of Cash Payments
This book tells the story of how Sweden is becoming a virtually cashless society. Its goal is to improve readers’ understanding of what is driving this transition, and of the factors that are fostering and hampering it. In doing so, the book covers the role of central banks, political factors, needs for innovation, and the stakeholders involved in developing a cashless ecosystem. Adopting a historical standpoint, and drawing on a unique dataset, it presents an academic perspective on Sweden’s leading role in this global trend. The global interest in the future of cash payments makes the Swedish case particularly interesting. As a country that is close to becoming a cashless economy, it offers a role model for many other countries to learn from - whether they want to stimulate or reduce the use of cash. This highly topical book will be of interest to politicians, researchers, businesses, financial service providers and payment service providers, as well as fintech start-ups, regulators and other authorities.
Antecedents of venture firms' internationalization : A conjoint analysis of international entrepreneurship in the net economy
With the continuing dispersion of the global digital network and performance improvements of information and communication technologies, resource-poor start-ups with online business models have emerged in large numbers. These firms are able to deploy their competitive advantages across their country borders early in their life-cycle and engage in international commerce at a fast pace. An increased immediacy between the firms and the globally accessible customer is observed. Julia Christofor’s study aims to analyze the conditions of the initial internationalization decision in the Net Economy. Based on Information Systems, International Entrepreneurship, and Entrepreneurship literature, factors, which constitute the internationalization propensity, are derived. The results of this study suggest that a holistic perspective including the founder, business model and the firm level should be considered when explaining the internationalization propensity of entrepreneurs.
Agile Marketing Performance Management : 10 Success Factors for Maximizing Marketing ROI Dynamically
Helps marketing decision makers in allocating their budget to diverse communication channels and different business units in an ROI-optimal way, and to adapt it in an agile manner.
Advanced REIT Portfolio Optimization : Innovative Tools for Risk Management
This book provides an investor-friendly presentation of the premises and applications of the quantitative finance models governing investment in one asset class of publicly traded stocks, specifically real estate investment trusts (REITs). The models provide highly advanced analytics for REIT investment, including: portfolio optimization using both historic and predictive return estimation; model backtesting; a complete spectrum of risk assessment and management tools with an emphasis on early warning systems, risk budgeting, estimating tail risk, and factor analysis; derivative valuation; and incorporating ESG ratings into REIT investment.



















