الصفحة 2
الصفحة 2
Corporate Social Responsibility Across Europe
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become an increasingly important topic in our global society. Corporate Social Responsibility Across Europe is the first volume of its kind to bring together twenty-three national perspectives on this issue. An overview and analysis is provided for each country. Topics addressed include business and societal mindsets in the different cultural settings, national drivers for the current development of CSR, and prospects for the individual countries in the future. Furthermore it contains three comprehensive pan-European analyses. The chapters also contain practical information and references to the Internet as well as relevant literature in order to support further research and stimulate business activities in this field. The result is a rather unique collection of essays on the topic of CSR across Europe.
Cooperative Sourcing : Simulation Studies and Empirical Data on Outsourcing Coalitions in the Banking Industry
Based on the integration of relevant economic and organizational theories, Daniel Beimborn develops a formal model of cooperative sourcing. The model captures the different drivers and inhibitors like economies of scale, scope and skill, transaction costs, strategic constraints etc. and forms the basis for both game-theoretical analyses and agent-based simulations. Simulations help to handle the numerical complexity and allow for compound analyses of the causes and effects of cooperative sourcing. Empirical data from two large-scale surveys and case studies in the German credit business are used in order to feed the simulation model and to validate the results.
Market Entry Strategies of Foreign Telecom Companies in India
India’s telephone network is the second largest in the world, next to China. Over the last decade, these emerging economies have been the drivers of growth in the world economy. Therefore foreign companies have been rushing to invest in these countries more or less successfully.Kiruba Jeyaseeli Benjamin Levi highlights why the Indian telecom market is so attractive to foreign investors. She describes the rules and regulations for telecoms in India, and examines the reasons for success and failure of the foreign telecom companies in India.
Marginality : Addressing the Nexus of poverty, exclusion and ecology
In this volume economists, ecology experts, geographers, agronomists, sociologist, and business experts come together to address marginality. The inter-disciplinary research offers conceptual innovations and presents the dimensions of marginality in developing countries. Economic, political, and environmental drivers are assessed and mapped globally and in detail for countries in Africa and Asia, especially Ethiopia, India, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia. Economic growth especially in rural areas remains and farming communities is central to poverty reduction but needs to be complemented with specific actions to reach those at the margins.
Long-Run Growth Forecasting
Explores how to set up an empirical model that helps with forecasting long-term economic growth in a large number of countries. It offers a systematic approach to models of potential GDP that can also be used for forecasts of more than a decade. It is an attempt to fill the wide gap between the high demand for such models by commercial banks, international organizations, central banks and governments on the one hand and the limited supply on the other hand. Frequent forecast failures in the past (e.g. Japan 1990, Asia 1997) and the heavy economic losses they produced motivated the work. The book assesses the large number of different theories of economic growth, the drivers of economic growth, the available datasets and the empirical methods on offer. A preference is shown for evolutionary models and an augmented Kaldor model. The book uses non-stationary panel techniques to find pair-wise cointegration among GDP per capita and its main correlates such as physical capital, human capital and openness.
Logistics Outsourcing Relationships : Measurement, Antecedents, and Effects of Logistics Outsourcing Performance
In recent years, logistics outsourcing has gained increasing importance and today is used by a large number of firms across virtually all industries worldwide. Logistics service providers have developed a wide array of services that are utilized to improve logistics processes - and mainly to cut costs.This book uses state-of-the-art scientific methods to reveal that most firms currently do not realize the full potential of logistics outsourcing. It shows the complexity of outsourcing performance and that its true drivers lie in the relationship between service providers and their customers. Through the results of a large-scale empirical survey, the book also emphasizes the importance of a firm's approach towards outsourcing: solely striving for cost reductions may be a dead end, while the often overlooked increased logistics service levels are equally important for boosting logistics performance. In the light of current outsourcing practices, this indicates substantial room for improvement for most firms.
Life System Modeling and Simulation; International Conference on Life System Modeling, and Simulation, LSMS 2007, Shanghai, China, September 14-17, 2007. Proceedings
The International Conference on Life System Modeling and Simulation (LSMS) was formed to bring together international researchers and practitioners in the field of life system modeling and simulation as well as life system-inspired theory and methodology. The arrival of the 21st century has been marked by a resurgence of research interest both in arriving at a systems-level und- standing of biology and in applying such knowledge in complex real-world appli- tions. Consequently, computational methods and intelligence in systems, biology, as well as bio-inspired computational intelligence, have emerged as key drivers for new computational methods. For this reason papers dealing with theory, techniques and real-world applications relating to these two themes were especially solicited.
Legitimacy Needs as Drivers of Business Exit
A diversified firm’s withdrawal from a business unit, i.e. business exit, is a significant phenomenon in management practice. Although divestitures are highly relevant in practice, the acquisition of business units attracts much more attention in strategic management research. Carolin Decker develops and empirically applies a framework in which business exits serve the purpose of re-establishing a firm’s previously harmed legitimacy. She suggests four types of legitimacy needs that are to be satisfied with the divestiture of a business unit and the simultaneous pursuit of strategic reorientation. The author tests the theoretical framework with secondary data on 213 business exits. Her findings support the idea that legitimacy needs drive the likelihood of fit-enhancing business exits in divesting firms.
Leading Pharmaceutical Innovation : Trends and Drivers for Growth in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Pharmaceutical giants have doubled their investments in drug development in the past decade only to see new drug approvals remain constant. This book investigates and highlights a set of proactive strategies aimed at generating sustainable competitive advantage based on value-generating business practices. We focus on three sources of pharmaceutical innovation: new management methods in the drug development pipeline, new technologies as enablers for cutting-edge R&D, and new forms of cooperation and internationalization, such as open innovation in the early phases of R&D. Our findings are illustrated by cases from Europe, the US, and Asia.
Land Use and Soil Resources
Land-use change is one of the main drivers of many environmental change processes. It influences the basic resources of land use, including the soil. Its impact on soil often occurs so creepingly that land managers hardly contemplate initiating ameliorative or counterbalance measures. Poor land management has degraded vast amounts of land, reduced our ability to produce enough food, and is a major threat to rural livelihoods in many developing countries. To date, there has been no single unifying volume that addresses the multifaceted impacts of land use on soils. This book has responded to this challenge by bringing together renowned academics and policy experts to analyze the patterns, driving factors and proximate causes, and the socioeconomic impacts of soil degradation. Policy measures to prevent irreversible degradation and rehabilitate degraded soils are also identified.
Knowledge for Governance
Focuses on theoretical and empirical intersections between governance, knowledge and space from an interdisciplinary perspective. The contributions elucidate how knowledge is a prerequisite as well as a driver of governance efficacy, and conversely, how governance affects the creation and use of knowledge and innovation in geographical context.
Bio-inspired computational intelligence and applications ; International conference on life system modeling, and simulation, LSMS 2007, Shanghai, China, September 14-17, 2007. Proceedings
It covers both micro and macro c- ponents ranging from cells, tissues and organs across to organisms and ecologic niches. These interact and evolve to produce an overall complex system whose beh- ior is difficult to comprehend and predict.The arrival of the 21st century has been marked by a resurgence of research interest both in arriving at a systems-level und- standing of biology and in applying such knowledge in complex real-world appli- tions. Consequently, computational methods and intelligence in systems, biology, as well as bio-inspired computational intelligence, have emerged as key drivers for new computational methods. For this reason papers dealing with theory, techniques and real-world applications relating to these two themes were especially solicited.
Benefits realisation : The change-driven approach to project success
In Benefits Realisation: The Change-Driven Approach to Project Success, renowned benefits realisation expert, speaker, and consultant Rasmus Rytter introduces a new approach to change projects where benefits realisation defines the design of the project and how it’s led. Once the project’s benefits have been defined, the key question for the project to answer is: ‘How might we help our colleagues change their behaviour? Thus, identifying behavioural change as the key driver of benefit realisation.
Autonomous driving : Technical, legal and social aspects
This book takes a look at fully automated, autonomous vehicles and discusses many open questions: How can autonomous vehicles be integrated into the current transportation system with diverse users and human drivers? Where do automated vehicles fall under current legal frameworks? What risks are associated with automation and how will society respond to these risks? How will the marketplace react to automated vehicles and what changes may be necessary for companies?
Autonomes fahren : Technische, rechtliche und gesellschaftliche aspekte = Autonomous driving : Technical, legal and social aspects
This book provides answers to a wide range of these and other questions. Experts from Germany and the USA describe central topics related to the automation of vehicles on public roads from an engineering and social science perspective. They show which "decisions" are required of an autonomous vehicle or which "ethics" must be programmed. The authors discuss expectations and concerns that characterize the individual and societal acceptance of autonomous driving. An increased safety potential through autonomous vehicles is compared to the challenges and solution approaches that play a role in securing the safety concept. In addition, they explain what possibilities for change and opportunities arise for our mobility and the reorganization of traffic, not least for freight traffic. The book thus offers an up-to-date, comprehensive and scientifically sound examination of the topic of "autonomous driving".
Automotive Lighting and Human Vision
Visual perception is the most important of the human senses. Lack of visual perception is one of the main causes of accidents. The safety of vehicle traffic depends on how well automotive lighting supports the visual perception of the driver. This book explains the fundamentals of visual perception, like e.g. physiology of eye and brain, as well as those of automotive lighting technology, like e.g. design of headlamps and signal lights. It is an interdiciplinary approach to a fastly evolving field of science and technology, answering questions like "How does information enter our brain when driving a car?" and "What are the benefits and dangers of LED signal lighting?"
Automotive Control Systems : For Engine, Driveline, and Vehicle
Reflecting the trend to optimization through integrative approaches for engine, driveline and vehicle control, this book enables control engineers to understand engine and vehicle models necessary for controller design and also introduces mechanical engineers to vehicle-specific signal processing and automatic control. The emphasis on measurement, comparisons between performance and modelling, and realistic examples derive from the authors’ industrial experience at Bosch and interactions within IFAC and SAE. The second edition offers new or expanded topics such as diesel-engine modelling, diagnosis and anti-jerking control, and vehicle modelling and parameter estimation. The book addresses professional engineers as well as students.
Asian-Pacific coasts and their management : States of environment
The Asia-Pacific region is home to the world’s largest region of coral reefs and mangroves. It accommodates two-thirds of the world’s human population and its economic activities have the highest growth rate in the world. Ongoing degradation of the environment, resulting from coastal development, deforestation, desertification and over-harvesting, are becoming a matter of great concern, as floods and droughts occur as a result of this degradation. Threats of global environmental change, such as climate change and sea-level rise, will exacerbate such problems. Therefore, appropriate policies and measures are needed for coastal management, to address both the local and global trends. This book gives an overview of the state-of-the-art understanding on the drivers, state, and responses to coastal environmental changes in the Asia-Pacific region. It provides excellent perspectives on current and anticipated environmental changes in the region’s coastal areas, to researchers, students, policy makers, coastal managers and other stakeholders.
Anticipating and preparing for emerging skills and jobs : Key issues, concerns, and prospects
Analyzes the main drivers that are influencing the dramatic evolution of work in Asia and the Pacific and identifies the implications for education and training in the region.
Analog Circuit Design : Sensors, Actuators and Power Drivers ; Integrated Power Amplifiers from Wireline to RF ; Very High Frequency Front Ends
This book is part of the Analog Circuit Design series and contains the revised contributions of all speakers of the 16th AACD Workshop, which was organized by Jan Sevenhans of AMI Semiconductor and held in Oostende, Belgium on March 27-29, 2007. The book comprises 17 tutorial papers, divided in three chapters, each discussing a very relevant topic in present days analog design.
