Knowledge management involves any activity related to the capture, use and sharing of knowledge by an organisation. Evidence shows that these practices are being used more and more frequently and that their impact on innovation and other aspects of corporate performance is far from negligible. Today, there is a recognition of the need to understand and to measure the activity of knowledge management so that organisations can be more efficient and governments can develop policies to promote these benefits. This book offers a synthetic view of the results of the first systematic international survey on knowledge management carried out by national statistical offices in Canada, Denmark, France and Germany.
“How are business models purposeful designed and structured? How can the models be implemented professionally and managed successfully and sustainably? In what ways can existing business models be adapted to the constantly changing conditions? In this clearly structured reference work, Bernd W. Wirtz gives an answer to all these issues and provides the reader with helpful guidance. Although, ‘Business Model Management’ is first and foremost a scientific reference book, which comprehensively addresses the theory of business models, with his book Bernd W. Wirtz also turns to practitioners. Not least, the many clearly analyzed case studies of companies in different industries contribute to this practical relevance. My conclusion: ‘Business Model Management’ is an informative and worthwhile read, both for students of business administration as a textbook as well as for experienced strategists and decision makers in the company as a fact-rich, practical compendium.” Matthias Müller, Chief Executive Officer Porsche AG (2010-2015), Chief Executive Officer (2015-2018) Volkswagen AG “In dynamic and complex markets a well thought out business model can be a critical factor for the success of a company. Bernd Wirtz vividly conveys how business models can be employed for strategic competition and success analysis. He structures and explains the major theoretical approaches in the literature and practical solutions in an easy and understandable way. Numerous examples from business practice highlight the importance of business models in the context of strategic management. The book has the potential to become a benchmark on the topic business models in the German-speaking world.” Hermann-Josef Lamberti, Member of the Board Deutsche Bank AG 1999-2012/ Member of the Board of Directors, Airbus Group “The business environment has become increasingly complex. Due to changing conditions, the executive board of a company is confronted with growing challenges and increasing uncertainty. Thus, a holistic understanding of the corporate production and performance systems is becoming more and more important. At this point, Bernd W. Wirtz introduces and presents the concept of the structured discussion of the own business model. Business models present operational service processes in aggregated form. This holistic approach channels the attention of management, supports a sound understanding of relationships and facilitates the adaption of the business to changing conditions. The management of business models is thus an integrated management concept. Through the conceptual presentation of complex issues the author makes a valuable contribution to the current literature. In particular, the referenced case studies from various industries make the book clear and very applicable to practice.” Dr. Lothar Steinebach, Member of the Board, Henkel AG 2007-2012/ Supervisory Board, ThyssenKrupp AG
How are German capitalism and German business management to be understood from the perspective of Japan? Both Germany and Japan as defeated nations in World War II received significant American leadership and support after the war. Both countries developed their enterprises, industries, and economy by deploying and adapting technology and management methods from the United States while establishing systems of industrial concentration in their own ways. By these means, both nations became major trading countries. However, current economic and business conditions differ greatly between Germany and Japan. In trade, American influence on Japanese business is still strong. Japan could not and cannot establish a complementary relationship with American industrial sectors and their products in the American market. In addition, a common market structure like the E.U. does not exist in Asia. In contrast to Japan, Germany developed independently from the American influence and became part of a well-integrated regional economy. What were the driving forces that created those differences? That question is approached from a Japanese point of view in this book, based on the assumption that the origins of distinct characteristics of German business management after World War II were developed in the 1950s and ’60s. The book analyzes the transformation of business management in Germany and explains the characteristics and structures of German management. The author describes how the development of German companies determined the current German condition— “the Europeanization of Germany”—while the world faced the globalization process. Demonstrating the basic foundation of European integration by analyzing market factors in Europe as well as the internal structural transformation of management in Germany, this book is a valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate students, educators, and researchers in the fields of business management, business history, and economic history.
The present book project on Research Design, which is planned in English, is intended to create an innovative textbook that can be used at university undergraduate and graduate levels in internationally oriented education in the German-speaking countries. This textbook shall provide comprehensive guidance for students when tackling their (applied) research papers. Instead of reiterating qualitative and quantitative methods it focuses on how to come up with an appropriate research design that allows the student to make the intended intellectual contribution. Starting from the desired (hypothetical) conclusion or statement the student will be guided through the process of finding the appropriate Research Question that will be answered by such a statement and the required Research Design consisting of data collection and data analysis, that allows for such a statement as the conclusion of the study. Common Research Designs in Business and Management, i.e. well beyond the standard Research Designs of Social Sciences and curtailed to the focus area, will be described with regard to their suitability to answer specific kinds of questions as well as the idiosyncrasies of the these Designs and their impact on the written research reports. Examples for each Research Design will be provided as well as guidance about how to write about such research.
The field of professional, academic and vocational qualifications is ever-changing. The new edition of this highly successful and practical guide provides thorough information on all developments. Fully indexed, it includes details on all university awards and over 200 career fields, their professional and accrediting bodies, levels of membership and qualifications.It acts as an one-stop guide for careers advisors, students and parents, and will also enable human resource managers to verify the qualifications of potential employees.
In this book, Mathias Weske details the complete business process lifecycle from process modeling to process enactment and process evaluation. After starting with the general foundations and abstractions in business process management, he introduces process modeling languages and process choreographies, as well as formal properties of processes and data. Eventually, he presents both traditional and advanced business process management architectures, covering, for example, workflow management systems, service-oriented architectures, and data-driven approaches. The 4th edition of his book contains significant updates, including a new section on directly follows graphs that play a crucial role in process mining. In addition, the core of declarative process modeling is introduced. The increasingly important role of data in business processes is addressed by a new section on data objects and data models in the data and decision chapter. To cover a recent trend in process automation, the enterprise systems architecture chapter now includes a section on robotic process automation. Mathias Weske argues that all communities involved need to have a common understanding of the different aspects of business process management. Hence his textbook is ideally suited for classes on business process management, information systems architecture, and workflow management alike. The accompanying website www.bpm-book.com contains further information and additional teaching material.
This research handbook provides a comprehensive, integrative, and authoritative resource on the main strategic management issues for companies within the e-business context. It covers an extensive set of topics, dealing with the major issues which articulate the e-business framework from a business perspective. The handbook is divided into the following e-business related parts: background; evolved strategic framework for the management of companies; key business processes, areas and activities; and, finally, emerging issues, trends and opportunities, with special attention to diverse Social Web-related implications. The articles are varied, timely and present high-quality research; many of these unique contributions will be especially valued and influential for business scholars and professionals interested in e-business. Many of the contributors are outstanding business scholars who are or have been editors-in-chief of top-ranked management and business journals or have made significant contributions to the development of their respective fields.
For the past three thousand years people have been thinking about the problems of management. This book shows how thinking about management has evolved and changed. It shows how changing social, political and technological forces have challenged people to think about management in new ways, and how management thinkers have responded. Sometimes their responses missed the mark and occasionally, great ideas about management failed to be picked up and were lost along the way. Sometimes, truly original and creative, even world-changing ideas appeared. Following key currents in management thought from the origins of civilization to the present day, the book begins in the ancient world, when people were wrestling with the problems of organization and leadership. It continues through the Middle Ages, east and west, as people pondered on how to manage risk and think strategically, and on the role of business in society. It shows how the Industrial Revolution led to the emergence of scientific management, and how political and social events of the twentieth century shaped management thinking right up to the present day. From the pyramids to Facebook, from military strategy to managing for sustainability, A History of Management Thought tells the fascinating story of how management thinking has changed, shifted, evolved and developed down through the centuries. Students taking classes in the history of management thought will find this text to be the perfect accompaniment to their studies and will be a captivating read for anyone else.
From its obscure beginning as a system for organizing machine shops, Scientific Management has grown into the major technocratic ideology of the twentieth century. Its development and international diffusion have influenced industrial productivity, the social fabric of industrial society, and even the nature of government. In this study of the movement's growth, Merkle compares the writings of the American, German, French, British, and Soviet vanguards of Scientific Management and finds that those who advocated efficiency engineering were considerably more than pragmatists seeking immediate technical solutions to production problems. Rather, they were visionaries who sought to reconcile class conflict, restructure government, and create a universal technocratic utopia by achieving efficient mass production and rationalized distribution. The call for a "mental revolution," which permeates their writings, found sympathizers among capitalists and socialists alike; that revolution affected not only the structure of modern industrialism but also the organization of the state itself. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1980.
