Phua focuses on applying the best of corporate strategy and innovation tools and praxis into the policy process with the aim of devising a coherent policy strategy–innovation framework and process. Government and business strategies differ in their operating assumptions and variables, but the strategy process is more similar than is often perceived. Phua debunks the government versus business dichotomy and demonstrates the potential for cross-learning between both domains. Readers will benefit the most by reading this book in tandem with Phua’s other works on strategy also featured in this series. This book is an essential primer for academics, practitioners and learners of public policy, strategy, innovation and applied problem-solving.
Policy thought integrates the “why” of political philosophy and the “how” of public policy formulation. Lee outlines five key principles for the development of policy thought: The Principle of Policy Statism The Principle of Policy Goodness The Principle of Policy Balance The Principle of Policy Practicality The Principle of Policy Humans: Interpenetrated Policy Humans with Non-humans Each principle is derived from a combination of Confucian and other East Asian philosophies, as well as contemporary Western political philosophy. In combination they offer an innovative approach to formulating, configuring and assessing public policy, with ethics and efficacy. An essential guide to incorporating big picture philosophical questions into pragmatic policy for students, practitioners and scholars of public policy and administration.
Meadows proposes an approach to the education business that begins with needs, and proposes educational and business models, supported by new technologies. This book takes a design-thinking and disruption perspective on the future of education. Beginning with shocking statistics on cost, time, and lengthy debt repayment, it presents a clear case for disruption in the education sector. It continues by examining future skills in the age of AI, machine learning, and robotics. In this new age, businesses need a new kind of workforce, and workers need to equip themselves to survive and thrive. Drawing upon tools and techniques from disruption and design-thinking, Meadows puts forward new frameworks of education, business, and technology -- all with examples of educators (and learners) already doing it today. This book provides rigorous thinking and practical guidance for professionals in the education industry and budding education entrepreneurs, as well as homeschooling parents.
Projects have become the de facto method of implementing business strategy and operations. As such, understanding how projects relate to business strategy and managing projects strategically is increasingly important to effective and efficient business management This book is designed as a short and concise treatise on how to go about doing that. The authors start by figuring out how the project relates to the rest of the business and environment and what separates it from other projects and functions. They go on to discuss how you can use principles of strategic management to better organize and manage the various projects you may be dealing with on a daily basis so that they are strategic in nature. In essence, this book details how to approach answering the important strategic questions in project management like—“Why is the project being implemented? How does the project relate to the major strategic goals of the organization? How do we accomplish the performance goals for the project so that they help achieve the major strategic goals of the organization?”
The Thucydides trap and a US-China face-off are not structurally inevitable; US-China relations are what the US and China make of them. Phua focuses on the ability to see "US as US" and "China as China" to trigger both countries’ cultural tendencies towards pragmatism. Phua examines China’s arduous journey to fit in the Westphalian system, the deep cultural misunderstandings by the West of Sunzi’s The Art of War, and attempts to offer an inside-out cultural synthesis of classical and modern Chinese thought as a proxy of their operational code, beyond the standard clichés about Confucian and Daoist thought. He builds on Jervis’ perception and misperception as well as Alastair Johnston’s cultural realism. Readers will benefit from a culturally-Chinese, western-educated and politically neutral understanding of "China as China". An essential primer for academics, practitioners and students of international relations, diplomacy and Chinese culture.
Good Strategy/Bad Strategy clarifies the muddled thinking underlying too many strategies and provides a clear way to create and implement a powerful action-oriented strategy for the real world. Developing and implementing a strategy is the central task of a leader. A good strategy is a specific and coherent response to—and approach for—overcoming the obstacles to progress. A good strategy works by harnessing and applying power where it will have the greatest effect. Yet, Rumelt shows that there has been a growing and unfortunate tendency to equate Mom-and-apple-pie values, fluffy packages of buzzwords, motivational slogans, and financial goals with “strategy.” In Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, he debunks these elements of “bad strategy” and awakens an understanding of the power of a “good strategy.” He introduces nine sources of power—ranging from using leverage to effectively focusing on growth—that are eye-opening yet pragmatic tools that can easily be put to work on Monday morning, and uses fascinating examples from business, nonprofit, and military affairs to bring its original and pragmatic ideas to life. The detailed examples range from Apple to General Motors, from the two Iraq wars to Afghanistan, from a small local market to Wal-Mart, from Nvidia to Silicon Graphics, from the Getty Trust to the Los Angeles Unified School District, from Cisco Systems to Paccar, and from Global Crossing to the 2007–08 financial crisis. Reflecting an astonishing grasp and integration of economics, finance, technology, history, and the brilliance and foibles of the human character, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy stems from Rumelt’s decades of digging beyond the superficial to address hard questions with honesty and integrity.
Since the pioneering work of Joseph Schumpeter (1942), it has been assumed that innovations typically play a key role in firms’ competitiveness. This assumption has been applied to firms in both developed and developing countries. However, the innovative capacities and business environments of firms in developing countries are fundamentally different from those in developed countries. It stands to reason that innovation and competitiveness models based on developed countries may not apply to developing countries. In this volume, Vivienne Wang and Elias G. Carayannis apply both theoretical approaches and empirical analysis to explore the dynamics of innovation in developing countries, with a particular emphasis on R&D in manufacturing firms. In so doing, they present an alternative to Michael Porter’s Competitive Advantage Model—a Competitive Position Model that focuses on incremental and adaptive innovations that are more appropriate than radical innovations for developing countries. Their research addresses such questions as: Do innovations advance the competitive positions of manufacturing firms in developing countries? Does the pace of innovation matter, in particular, in socio-economic and socio-political contexts? To what degree can national innovation systems and policies influence development? To what extent do a firm’s innovation commitments correlate with the protection of intellectual property rights? What roles do foreign direct investment and relationships with clusters and networks play? The resulting analysis not only challenges traditional theoretical approaches to innovation, but provides suggestions for improving business practice and policymaking.
Political parties have traditionally aimed to create large memberships to sustain and advance the objectives of their political platforms. This way parties became the main vehicle for political activism and the gatekeepers for political representation. Membership was based on active participation in the activities of the party and in some cases on paying a fee to finance the party. Today, many parties still boast large traditional memberships, yet a trend of decreasing numbers is observed globally. While formal membership is decreasing, new forms of political party membership are being introduced. These new forms involve new types or levels of membership that require less commitment, or do not include any payment of fees. This Primer analyse these new forms of political party membership and presents how different parties and contexts have given birth to different ways of engaging citizens in the party’s life.
What is pragmatism? Is it a means to an end, or an end in itself? Is it antithetical to ideology or morality? Arguing that pragmatism is a skill much more than an attribute, Phua examines how viewing it in this way can help achieve better foreign policy outcomes. He examines and contrasts the ways in which the United States, China and Singapore have incorporated pragmatism into their approaches to foreign policy. In doing so he debunks dualistic myths around pragmatism and ideology and promotes the view of pragmatism as a skill that can be developed. An essential primer for students, analysts and policymakers, with a fresh and practical approach to pragmatism.
