The Anticipation of Converging Industries
The Anticipation of Converging Industries

Author: Clive-Steven Curran

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-06-13

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 1447151704

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The blurring of boundaries between hitherto distinct scientific disciplines, technologies or markets is a common and powerful phenomenon. Subjects of this convergence often change consumer behaviours, favouring products and platforms with multiple functions. The Anticipation of Converging Industries provides a detailed focus on the triggers, drivers and consequences of convergence to create a more concise definition of convergence. This detailed analysis includes a specifically developed toolbox for ‘convergence foresight’, creating a forecasting method for convergence trends. With the focus on the chemical, biotechnological and pharmaceutical industries, several indicators of convergence in the areas of Nutraceuticals/Functional Foods, Cosmeceuticals and ICT are derived from samples including over 1million patents and scientific publications. By supporting this methodical approach with real world data, The Anticipation of Converging Industries is perfect for industry practitioners looking for a competitive edge in the present and for the future. Similarly, academics will find a comprehensive theoretical concept for better understanding the underlying rationale of convergence at their disposal

Digital Transformations
Digital Transformations

Author: Daim, Tugrul U.

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2022-01-18

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1789908639

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Technology is not just limited to technology companies, it impacts sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, and security. In the last few decades, countries, too, have started developing technologies or integrating technologies into their systems. As a result, all countries, regardless of size, need to understand the management of engineering and technology concepts. Digital Transformations reviews fundamentals and applications through existing and emerging technologies all around the world.

Doing Agile Right
Doing Agile Right

Author: Darrell Rigby

Publisher: Harvard Business Press

Published: 2020-05-26

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 1633698718

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Agile has the power to transform work--but only if it's implemented the right way. For decades business leaders have been painfully aware of a huge chasm: They aspire to create nimble, flexible enterprises. But their day-to-day reality is silos, sluggish processes, and stalled innovation. Today, agile is hailed as the essential bridge across this chasm, with the potential to transform a company and catapult it to the head of the pack. Not so fast. In this clear-eyed, indispensable book, Bain & Company thought leader Darrell Rigby and his colleagues Sarah Elk and Steve Berez provide a much-needed reality check. They dispel the myths and misconceptions that have accompanied agile's rise to prominence--the idea that it can reshape an organization all at once, for instance, or that it should be used in every function and for all types of work. They illustrate that agile teams can indeed be powerful, making people's jobs more rewarding and turbocharging innovation, but such results are possible only if the method is fully understood and implemented the right way. The key, they argue, is balance. Every organization must optimize and tightly control some of its operations, and at the same time innovate. Agile, done well, enables vigorous innovation without sacrificing the efficiency and reliability essential to traditional operations. The authors break down how agile really works, show what not to do, and explain the crucial importance of scaling agile properly in order to reap its full benefit. They then lay out a road map for leading the transition to a truly agile enterprise. Agile isn't a goal in itself; it's a means to becoming a high-performance operation. Doing Agile Right is a must-have guide for any company trying to make the transition--or trying to sustain high agility.

Intelligent Decision-making Models for Production and Retail Operations
Intelligent Decision-making Models for Production and Retail Operations

Author: Zhaoxia Guo

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-06-27

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 3662526816

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This book provides an overview of intelligent decision-making techniques and discusses their application in production and retail operations. Manufacturing and retail enterprises have stringent standards for using advanced and reliable techniques to improve decision-making processes, since these processes have significant effects on the performance of relevant operations and the entire supply chain. In recent years, researchers have been increasingly focusing attention on using intelligent techniques to solve various decision-making problems. The opening chapters provide an introduction to several commonly used intelligent techniques, such as genetic algorithm, harmony search, neural network and extreme learning machine. The book then explores the use of these techniques for handling various production and retail decision-making problems, such as production planning and scheduling, assembly line balancing, and sales forecasting.

The Economics of Social Innovation
The Economics of Social Innovation

Author: Judith Terstriep

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-06-23

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1000607887

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This book addresses ‘the economics of social innovation’, a widely neglected topic in regional development. The chapters in this edited volume cover distinct but complementary and related aspects concerning the existing gap between the hitherto unexploited potential of social innovation in relation to socio-economic challenges that regions across Europe and globally face. Research on social innovation has gained momentum over the last decade, spurred notably by the growing interest in social issues related to policy making, public management and entrepreneurship in response to the grand challenges societies in Europe and worldwide face. Accelerated by the normative turn in research and innovation policies towards ‘missions’, social innovation is nowadays a central element on policy agendas, from the urban and regional level to the national and subnational level of the European Commission and the OECD. However, for social innovations to unfold their full potential a better understanding of underlying mechanisms, processes and impacts is necessary. The first three chapters focus on framework conditions and characteristics of social innovation. The following two chapters emphasise the determinants of social innovation and translocal empowerment. In the last part, attention is devoted to social innovation in specific fields such as health care and greening society, and social innovations’ transformative potential. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, European Planning Studies.

Assessing Study Abroad
Assessing Study Abroad

Author: Victor Savicki

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-07-03

Total Pages: 347

ISBN-13: 1000979032

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This book is intended to guide advisors, administrators, and faculty members engaged with study abroad who are concerned with answering the question: what does study abroad achieve? It will also inform the work of study abroad organizations as well as institutions receiving study abroad students. Offering a broad-based approach to assessment, the book will appeal to those starting out. However, an array of case studies, illustrating the often untidy process of implementation, will equally appeal to those further along by offering creative – and often simple – approaches to common problems. Following an account of how, and why, assessment in the field has evolved, the first part of the book sets the stage for the reader to consider the role of mission and context in determining purpose, goals and outcomes; to identify and consult with stakeholders; determine what data and expertise may already be available on campus; match methods and tools to questions; and create realistic plans to communicate findings, and to act upon them. The second part of the book offers an overview of appropriate tools and strategies for assessing study abroad, emphasizing the importance of carefully formulating and prioritizing assessment questions and understanding the advantages and drawbacks of different instruments. It describes an array of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods, illustrating their application with examples of practice, and concludes by outlining the process of putting a plan into action.The book concludes with ten case studies that illustrate various approaches to planning, experimentation, and implementation, some revealing false starts and lessons learned, and all conveying the message that assessment is an iterative, on-going process that needs constant refinement. The cases represent a wide variety of institutional and organizational types and demonstrate how each selected methods suited to their capacities and cultures.