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Great companies thrive on innovation, but the day-to-day operations of corporate giants are designed to optimise the core business, drive efficiency and avoid risk. Yet these goals are the very opposite of the focus of innovation! In every big business, there are corporate entrepreneurs tasked with delivering innovation projects within this context. How can they overcome the challenges and drive successful innovation in their organisation? In this insider's guide, Dan Taylor has unique first-hand access to some of the world's most experienced and successful corporate entrepreneurs — from companies including Amazon, Barclays, British Airways, MasterCard, Philips, Procter & Gamble, Shell, Sky News, Tesco and Virgin. In more than 100 case study examples, these experts reveal the secrets that are the difference between success and failure in big business innovation. The expert accounts are presented within a framework that follows the lifecycle of an innovation project — establishing an innovation programme, delivering innovation projects and finally sustaining innovation into the future. Throughout, the focus is on key insights that will help innovators to avoid the obstacles and pitfalls that often occur in innovation projects. Important areas covered include: -- Purpose and goals -- Governance and leadership -- People, skills and culture -- Opportunity identification and selection -- Idea evolution and development -- Achieving scale -- Portfolio management This go-to guide is essential reading for anyone who wants to learn from the world's best and become a successful corporate innovator! |
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Latin America has gone through a major transformation in the past two decades. According to the United Nations, with the discovery of new oil and mineral deposits and increases in energy exports, manufacturing and tourism, Latin America's economic growth and development will only continue, foreign investment will increase, and the region's global influence will become greater and greater. This is an historic opportunity for Latin America. Yet, as Stanford economist and former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo points out in his new book, The Shared Society, social strife threatens to undermine its recent economic and political progress. The specter of unsustainable growth and greed threatens to compromise the environment. Economic growth rates could slow and democracy could deteriorate into familiar forms of authoritarian populism. In The Shared Society, Toledo, whose tenure as president of Peru helped spur its economic renaissance, develops a plan for a future Latin America in which its population is not only much better off economically than today, but in which the vast 40 percent of Latin America's poor and marginalized are incorporated into a rising middle class, democratic institutions work more effectively, and the extraordinary ecosystem of Latin America is preserved. This is Toledo's vision for a just, sustainable, and prosperous shared society. To achieve this, Toledo lays out a set of principles and concrete, implementable ideas with which Latin Americans can reinvent themselves as a leading force for change in a continuously globalizing society beset by inequalities and global problems such as climate change and shortages of clean drinkable water, food security, human rights violations and weak democratic institutions. Toledo argues that only extraordinary efforts of vision, determination, courage and inspired leadership will set Latin America on the path to inclusive development, and this book provides a visionary manifesto and blueprint for creating that ideal shared society. |
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Why is the critique of capitalism so ineffective today? In this major work, the sociologists Eve Chiapello and Luc Boltanski suggest that we should be addressing the crisis of anticapitalist critique by exploring its very roots. Via an unprecedented analysis of management texts which influenced the thinking of employers and contributed to reorganization of companies over the last decades, the authors trace the contours of a new spirit of capitalism. From the middle of the 1970s onwards, capitalism abandoned the hierarchical Fordist work structure and developed a new network-based form of organization which was founded on employee initiative and relative work autonomy, but at the cost of material and psychological security. This new spirit of capitalism triumphed thanks to a remarkable recuperation of the “artistic critique”—that which, after May 1968, attacked the alienation of everyday life by capitalism and bureaucracy. At the same time, the “social critique” was disarmed by the appearance of neocapitalism and remained fixated on the old schemas of hierarchical production. This book, remarkable for its scope and ambition, seeks to lay the basis for a revival of these two complementary critiques. |
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'This excellent volume provides an empirically robust, critically informed but also eminently readable interrogation of the politics and practice of sustainable development. Through a global governance and political economy lens it traverses the public and the private, and the local and the global and offers some carefully thought-through hope for a better way forward.' — Lorraine Elliott, Australian National University, Australia and the Academic Council on the UN System 'Inaction on climate change and sustainable development is not an option. But we also do not have the luxury of time and resources for wasted efforts and ineffective actions. This book cuts through the political wrangling and the policy morass to identify interventions that can make a real difference. It is a refreshing, deep dive into the relative merits of key policy instruments and market mechanisms for tackling our most intractable sustainability challenges. If you want to make informed — rather than conformed — decisions on sustainable development policy, this is the book for you. The UN Sustainable Development Goals may give us the Why and the What for creating a better future. This book gives us the How.' — Wayne Visser, author of Sustainable Frontiers and Director of Kaleidoscope Futures 'An in-depth and critical interrogation of the politics of sustainable development and how policies in pursuit of this often elusive ideal are formulated, implemented and financed. Timothy Cadman and colleagues have provided an incisive tour de force that pays particular attention to private sector environmental governance as an institutional form that exists beyond governments.' — David Humphreys, The Open University, UK Since the Rio 'Earth' Summit of 1992, sustainable development has become the major policy response to tackling global environmental degradation, from climate change to loss of biodiversity and deforestation. Market instruments such as emissions trading, payments for ecosystem services and timber certification have become the main mechanisms for financing the sustainable management of the earth's natural resources. Yet how effective are they — and do they help the planet and developing countries, or merely uphold the economic status quo? This book investigates these important questions. Providing a comprehensive analysis and the latest research on sustainable development, the authors compare the divergent approaches to emissions trading. Included is a detailed investigation into illegal logging and the effectiveness of policy responses, with an evaluation of different forest certification schemes. Biodiversity offsets and environmental payments are also explored. Integral to the book are interviews and opinions of the key stakeholders in the political economy of sustainable development. This uniquely comprehensive analysis of the governance quality of different sustainable development mechanisms, unprecedented in its panorama of comparative case studies, is essential reading for all those in the policy, academic and non-governmental communities. |
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«For fifty years, the first edition of The Italian Legal System has been the gold standard among English-language works on the Italian legal system. The book's original authors, Mauro Cappelletti, John Henry Merryman, and Joseph M. Perillo, provided not only an overview of Italian law, but a definition of the field, together with an important contribution to the general literature on comparative law. The book explains the unique «Italian style» in doctrine, law, and interpretation and includes an extremely well-written introduction to Italian legal history, government, the legal profession, and civil procedure and evidence. In this fully-updated and revised second edition, authors Michael A. Livingston, Pier Giuseppe Monateri, and Francesco Parisi describe the substantial changes in Italian law and society in the intervening five decades—including the creation and impact of the European Union, as well as important advances in comparative law methodology. The second edition poses timely, relevant questions of whether and to what extent the unique Italian style of law has survived the pressures of European unification, American influence, and the globalization of law and society in the intervening period. The Italian Legal System, Second Edition is an important and stimulating resource for those with specific interest in Italy and those with a more general interest in comparative law and the globalization process.» |
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'It is difficult to think of a more pressingly momentous political challenge than the topic addressed in this volume, and there could hardly be a better group of researchers to unfold key implications. In the broadest of senses referred to here, 'socio-technical systems' pervade all the great political dilemmas of the contemporary world. Across sectors spanning health, food, water, energy, environment and security, growing imperatives are recognised under diverse political perspectives for radically transformative change. What is needed is innovative interdisciplinary thinking combined with scholarly rigour and close attention to detail. And motivations are required that are more animated by enabling hope than by debilitating fear. All these qualities are evident in abundance in this timely and engaging volume. Offering the kinds of fresh ideas, intense commitment and expansive vision that are so essential to success, the authors and editors are to be congratulated on a robust and timely contribution.' — Andrew Stirling, University of Sussex, UK 'The governance of change in socio-technical and innovation systems has been a neglected topic for too long. Finally, we have a collection which brings together an interdisciplinary perspective and points towards fresh empirical and theoretical possibilities. Ambitious and challenging but well-structured, this book suggests new interconnections between political science, science and technology studies, and economics. Any social scientist seeking to understand the governance of socio-technical change should start here.' — Alan Irwin, Dean of Research at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark Why are so few electric cars in our streets today? Why is it difficult to introduce electronic patient records in our hospitals? To answer these questions we need to understand how state and non-state actors interact with the purpose of transforming socio-technical systems. Examining the 'who' (agents), 'how' (policy instruments) and 'why' (societal legitimacy) of the governance process, this book presents a conceptual framework for the governance of change in socio-technical systems. Bridging the gap between disciplinary fields, expert contributions provide innovative empirical cases of different modes of governing change. The Governance of Socio-Technical Systems offers a stepping-stone towards building a theory of governance of change and presents a new research agenda on the interaction between science, technology and society. This book will appeal to scholars in the fields of political science, economics, STS and innovation studies, who are interested in the processes of socio-technical change, their democratic legitimacy, and the governance of grand societal challenges. |
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Auctions play a crucial role in the allocation of resources in many industries. This selection of topics and papers should be of help to the student, researcher and economic practitioner, offering comprehensive reference material. Topics include risk aversion, correlation/affiliation and bidders. |
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This book takes as its starting point the question of whether contemporary state capitalism simply uses different tools than earlier or other variants of capitalism, or whether it is an altogether new kind of economic regime. It brings together key research and commentary which will help to define the concept of contemporary state capitalism as an economic model and present a nuanced view of state capitalism in action. The editor has selected the articles on the basis of their academic merit, but has also included articles representative of the specific academic climate of a certain time such as Marxist-based concepts. Although these may look 'out-of date' or have been dismissed as unsatisfactory, they are nevertheless important for an understanding of the development of the debate. |
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'The policy framework advocated by Minford et al. . . . is grounded in economic theory and an incisive empirical analysis of the costs of UK's membership of the EU. Their thesis that the EU is a political union practising economic protectionism in the guise of gradualism towards free trade makes sense. . . . Minford and his associates' analysis suggests that the EU's policy framework of free trade for members but restrictions on trade of non-members with the EU countries is a second best policy adopted to promote political rather than economic objectives.' — V.N. Balasubramanyam, Lancaster University, UK 'The EU got the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2012, but such an award is not forthcoming for economics. In fact, the EU faces a stern public discontent throughout Europe. For years EU leaders have been unable to agree on almost anything. The eurozone's toxic monetary embrace is a colossal failure that has provoked misery in most of the participating countries and, worst of all, suffocated the hopes of prosperity for many years to come. The EU is no longer a venture that inspires people to run on barricades to defend it. Should Britain be a part of the crumbling EU project? This book provides a timely and documented answer. It is highly recommended reading.' — Miroslav N. Jovanovi , University of Geneva, Switzerland 'Much too much of the debate about the UK's relationship with the European Union relies upon general declarations unsupported by facts and assertions and claims not substantiated by evidence. This is why we need so badly the careful quantitative analysis provided by Patrick Minford and his colleagues. The UK electorate will have a momentous decision to take when the EU referendum takes place. History and emotions will be important, but getting the facts straight is even more vital.' — John Mills, Founder and Chairman of JML and Co-Chairman of Business for Britain 'Patrick Minford and his team have performed a hugely valuable service by quantifying the costs of Britain's EU membership. In particular, they show that Britain pays too much for too high a proportion of its imports. The EU's protectionism in its trade with the rest of the world costs Britain a significant slice of its national output. Their demonstration of this vital point is thought-provoking and sophisticated, and greatly strengthens the case for the UK to leave the EU.' — Tim Congdon, CBE, International Monetary Research Ltd Placed in the context of the upcoming referendum, this second edition brings up to date a thorough review of all economic aspects of the UK's membership of the EU. It notes the intention of the EU to move to 'ever closer union' and the nature of the regulatory and general economic philosophy of its dominant members, whose position is enforced by qualified majority voting. The book highlights the UK s dilemma that, while extending free markets to its local region is attractive, this European philosophy and closer union are substantially at odds with the UK's traditions of free markets and freedom under the common law. This comprehensive examination of the economic costs and benefits of membership uses state-of-the-art modeling methods and includes estimates of its net costs as a percentage of GDP. The book explains how the decision to leave would follow from a judgement on the political economy of the EU as compared with that of the UK. It details the misconceptions involved in much of the debate about trade with the EU, and argues that the key issue is not access to markets but rather the prices at which trade takes place. Covered in careful detail is the economics of the UK's trade with the EU in the key sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, and services. |
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Long before Occupy, cities were the subject of much utopian thinking. They are the centers of capital accumulation as well as of revolutionary politics, where deeper currents of social and political change rise to the surface. Do the financiers and developers control access to urban resources or do the people? Who dictates the quality and organization of daily life? Rebel Cities places the city at the heart of both capital and class struggles, looking at locations ranging from Johannesburg to Mumbai, from New York City to São Paulo. Drawing on the Paris Commune as well as Occupy Wall Street and the London Riots, Harvey asks how cities might be reorganized in more socially just and ecologically sane ways—and how they can become the focus for anti-capitalist resistance. |
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How did economic 'experts' worldwide fail to predict the financial crisis of 2007-2008? Eminent economist Paul Davidson discusses how mainstream economic theory may not be applicable to the world of experience. Post Keynesian theory, on the other hand, is designed to be applicable to the real world, and this book shows how applying it to policy formulation could help practically resolve economic problems. Davidson goes on to show how many Post Keynesian economists warned of the crisis as early as 2002. Post Keynesian Theory and Policy challenges the axioms on which orthodox economic theory is based and argues against their applicability to a money-using, market-oriented economy. It explores the basis for Keynes's revolutionary general theory and seeks to dispel misconceptions often found in orthodox textbooks. This accessible and expertly constructed book explains why modern economies use money-denominated contracts to organize all market transactions for production and exchange and why the law of comparative advantage's argument for free trade is not applicable to mass production industries' exports and imports. This book is a valuable resource for professional economists as well as students and academics in economics, political Science, and history, who will appreciate its new perspective and analysis of global financial events. |
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'The NIEMO development effort is as ambitious as any in regional science. In addition to immense data handling issues faced are the numerous conceptual and theoretical hurdles these researchers have cleared so adeptly. The volume's chapters present many of the critical areas of analysis to which analytical frameworks like NIEMO can be put, and demonstrate what can be accomplished when a group of dedicated scholars focus their collective energy on the development of computational models of complex social systems.' — Randall Jackson, Director, Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University, US The United States has encountered increasing levels of terrorist activity and a number of significant natural disasters in this millennium, a pattern which has also occurred globally. There has been a degree of uncertainty over their impact on the national economy. A unique contribution towards mitigation is offered in this book, which develops a national economic impact model to estimate the effects of simulated terrorist attacks and real world natural disasters on individual US States and economic sectors. The model, NIEMO (The National Interstate Economic Model), examines interindustry relationships and interregional trade, and presents a multiregional input-output analysis of the economic impact resulting from these events. Students and researchers in regional science, planning, economics and geography will find this book offers an informative perspective. Practitioners, policy makers and general readers interested in public policy issues will appreciate the insights. |
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Intra-Industry Trade calls for us to rethink what trade most often looks like and how it shapes global institutions, fostering peace among states. Cameron G. Thies and Timothy M. Peterson argue that our understanding of trade has not kept pace with its changing nature in the 21st century; existing models, rooted in Ricardo's theories, regard trade uniformly as taking place between entities and countries that offer different commodities and operate according to the logic of comparative advantage. Though this type of exchange does take place, intra-industry trade—international trade of the same or similar commodities, in which foreign and domestic brands compete—is increasingly prevalent. The authors argue that our current academic and policymaking focus on the total volume of trade, rather than its composition, is misplaced. Trade composition matters, not just because it gives us a fuller understanding of how trade works, but also because intra-industry trade increases the likelihood of positive institutional relations and cooperation between states. To illustrate their point, the authors examine the effects that intra-industry trade has on Preferential Trade Agreement formation, its tendency to lessen World Trade Organization disputes and militarized conflict, and its ability to pave the way for new and fortified alliances. |
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This unique book highlights the contributions made by Muslim scholars to economic thought throughout history, a topic that has received relatively little attention in mainstream economics. Abdul Azim Islahi discusses various ways in which Muslim ideas reached the European West, influencing scholars and helping to form the foundations of modern economic ideas and theories. Early chapters outline the foundations of Islamic economic thought and describe three distinct phases of its development over time. The author then identifies key theories and tenets of modern economics — including value; market and pricing; production and distribution; money and interest; and the economic role of the state — and explores the influence of Muslim scholarly thought on each. The concluding chapter highlights the importance of further exploration of the topic and offers insightful recommendations for future research. This fascinating book will be of great interest to students and scholars of both the history of economic thought and Islamic economics. |
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'In these creative and imaginative essays, James M. Buchanan and Yong J. Yoon explore new analytical territory by explaining how democratic politics can generate economic disorder. While some of these themes are present throughout Buchanan's scholarly oeuvre, these essays break new analytical ground by examining the ability of democratic processes to promote destructive outcomes in the absence of appropriate constitutional restraints on democratic action. These articles and excerpts will repay careful study by all scholars interested in the relationship between democracy, liberty, and economic progress.' — Richard E. Wagner, George Mason University, US Inspired by F.A. Hayek's Individualism and Economic Order, this book, edited by Yong Yoon, stands in contrast to the themes of that work by emphasizing that collective action operates differently from the way the market works. The chapters comprise papers written by James M. Buchanan, both with and without Yoon's co-authorship, after the publication of his Collected Works. In this book, the authors analyze political disorder that is caused by individualism and self-interest in democracy, focusing specifically on the American political commons. Buchanan and Yoon expertly examine a variety of topics within this theme: the public choice approach to political disorder, rigorous economic models, the dysfunction of American fiscal institutions, the psychological aspects of political rules, and Fukuyama's vetocracy as a case of anti-commons. Readers will gain many new insights from Individualism and Political Disorder, and it will prove invaluable for academics and students in an array of areas, such as economics, politics, public policy and public administration, social psychology, and law and economics. |
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A sumptuous monograph tracing the life and legacy of fashion luminary Oscar de la Renta. In October 2014 one of the fashion world's champions, Oscar de la Renta, passed away, a great loss brightened by the innumerable successes of his half-century reign. The acclaimed fashion designer dressed first ladies from Kennedy to Obama, and celebrities from Beyonce to Sarah Jessica Parker. Renowned for his unique charm, impeccable taste, and original lifestyle, he married the highest standards of French couture with the ultimate motivation that women must look and feel beautiful. In this intimate volume, longtime editor and friend Andre Leon Talley recounts de la Renta's journey through nearly 70 iconic dresses, mainly made for private clients, accompanied by fascinating stories of the exquisite craftsmanship and the legendary friends that brought each gown to life. Born in the Dominican Republic in 1932, de la Renta left for Madrid at nineteen to study art, where he rose to prominence as a sketch artist for newspapers and fashion houses. From his apprenticeship under Cristobal Balenciaga to his eponymous collections, the designer's simple lines elevated with a flamenco dancer's flourish reflect his deep connection to his roots and his commitment to transcendence through beautiful garments. |
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Fashion—that means glamour, creativity, and always the expression of a certain attitude toward life. This book is devoted to the legendary world of fashion, from its origins in the nineteenth century until our own time. Which social, historical, and cultural developments coalesced to allow fashion to become what it is today? Which designers had especially significant impact on their fashion eras, and what did their creations look like? Informative chapters that introduce each era coupled with extensive portraits of the groundbreaking fashion icons and countless expressive photographs work together to form a comprehensive portrayal of the rapid development that took fashion from the liberation of women from the corset all the way to the creations of modern designers. |
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There is an increasing challenge for chemical industry and research institutions to find cost-efficient and environmentally sound methods of converting natural resources into fuels chemicals and energy. Catalysts are essential to these processes and the Catalysis Specialist Periodical Report series serves to highlight major developments in this area. This series provides systematic and detailed reviews of topics of interest to scientists and engineers in the catalysis field. The coverage includes all major areas of heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis and also specific applications of catalysis such as NOx control kinetics and experimental techniques such as microcalorimetry. Each chapter is compiled by recognised experts within their specialist fields and provides a summary of the current literature. This series will be of interest to all those in academia and industry who need an up-to-date critical analysis and summary of catalysis research and applications. Catalysis will be of interest to anyone working in academia and industry that needs an up-to-date critical analysis and summary of catalysis research and applications. Specialist Periodical Reports provide systematic and detailed review coverage in major areas of chemical research. Compiled by teams of leading experts in their specialist fields, this series is designed to help the chemistry community keep current with the latest developments in their field. Each volume in the series is published either annually or biennially and is a superb reference point for researchers. |
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