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This important new work provides a comprehensive discussion of the customer satisfaction evaluation problem. It presents an overview of the existing methodologies as well as the development and implementation of an original multicriteria method dubbed MUSA.
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This book is designed to scrutinize the Russian business sector in transition with special attention to firm organization, business integration, corporate governance, and company management. Using a unique dataset of Russian joint-stock companies, the authors empirically analyze key issues for understanding the Russian corporate sector.
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Randall B, Lowe Piper & Marbury, L.L.R The issue of costing and pricing in the telecommunications industry has been hotly debated for the last twenty years. Indeed, we are still wrestling today over the cost of the local exchange for access by interexchange and competitive local ex change carriers, as well as for universal service funding. The U.S. telecommunications world was a simple one before the emergence of competition, comprising only AT&T and independent local exchange carriers. Costs were allocated between intrastate and interstate jurisdictions and then again, between intrastate local and toll. The Bell System then divided those costs among itself (using a process referred to as the division of revenues) and independents (using a process called settlements). Tolls subsidized local calls to keep the politi cians happy, and the firm, as a whole, covered its costs and made a fair return. State regulators, however, lacked the wherewithal to audit this process. Their con cerns centered generally on whether local rates, irrespective of costs, were at a po litically acceptable level. Although federal regulators were better able to determine the reasonableness of the process and the resulting costs, they adopted an approach of "continuous surveillance" where, like the state regulator, the appearance of rea sonableness was what mattered. With the advent of competition, this historical costing predicate had to change. The Bell System, as well as the independents, were suddenly held accountable.
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This pioneering collection seeks to understand why and how some digital enterprises in Africa progress while others firms either stagnate or regress. Using a range of detailed case studies, it addresses the challenges and barriers that are in place and how some outstanding digital firms deal with operating in a hostile business environment. While digital platforms have created equal access for small businesses, many digital entrepreneurs in Africa continue to struggle with local environments replete with corruption, and other economic inefficiencies. The contributions move the debate forward by addressing the challenges, opportunities, and prospects of digital enterprise in Africa. Placing special emphasis on how African new entrant digital firms are shaping the landscape and forging a new beginning for Africa, this book offers entrepreneurial perspectives to both researchers and policy-makers seeking to support and stimulate entrepreneurship in the new era.
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During the last decade, there has been a shift in the governance and management of fisheries to a broaderapproach that recognizes the participation of fishers, local stewardship, and shared decision-making.Through this process, fishers are empowered to become active members of the management team,balancing rights and responsibilities, and working in partnership with government. This approach iscalled co-management.This handbook describes the process of community-based co-management from its beginning, throughimplementation, to turnover to the community. It provides ideas, methods, techniques, activities, checklists,examples, questions and indicators for the planning and implementing of a process of community-basedco-management. It focuses on small-scale fisheries (freshwater, floodplain, estuarine, or marine) indeveloping countries, but is also relevant to small-scale fisheries in developed countries and to themanagement of other coastal resources (such as coral reefs, mangroves, sea grass, and wetlands). Thishandbook will be of significant interest to resource managers, practitioners, academics and students ofsmall-scale fisheries.
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The Ideal Final Result introduces the TRIZ Inventive Problem Solving Process in a way that allows readers to make immediate use of its most basic concepts. The Ideal Final Result reviews the basics of this left brained, but at the same time, very creative process for problem solving that uses a basic algorithm developed through the study of millions of patents. As opposed to psychologically based tools relying on the generation of hundreds of ideas to be sorted through to find the few of value, TRIZ rigorously defines the problem and assists the problem owner in identifying the existing inventive principles that are already known to solve that class of problems. This book reviews the most basic of the TRIZ algorithm tools and provides templates for readers to use in analyzing their difficult problems and provides a mental framework for their solution. It also describes TRIZ techniques for basic strategic planning in a business sense.
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Measuring and managing the performance of a business is one of the most genuine desires of management. Balanced scorecard, the performance prism and activity-based management are the most popular frameworks in this setting. Based on the findings of R.G. Eccles’ acclaimed "Performance Measurement Manifesto (1991)" this book introduces new contexts and themes of application and presents emerging research areas related to business performance measurement and management, e.g. SMEs and sustainability. As a result of the 1st International Summer School Piero Lunghi on "Perspectives of Business Performance Management" this book is written both for students and academics, as well as for practitioners looking for new, yet proven ways to measure and manage business performance.
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Online business ownership has become incredibly popular - and even mainstream. If you want to join the ranks of successful eCommerce entrepreneurs, let Liv Montgomery, the eCommerce Gal be your guide on a fun and fabulous journey. If you want to escape a grueling rush hour and the toil of the workaday world, this comprehensive program will give you all the tips and tricks you need to get started building your online money machine. The eCommerce Gal takes you by the hand, step-by-step, through Website Development, SEO, Traffic and Conversion. Don't wait another day to reach your dreams of online business success!
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Learn from an anthology of contributing authors and experts who share, step-by-step, how to justify and manage the ROI for the BR Approach. The book covers the business's perspective and the technology perspective. Authors represent the healthcare industry, financial services experience, state and federal government experience, and senior practitioners spanning many industries. This book accomplishes the following: 1) It is for managers and decision-makers who make things happen in their organization. 2) It addresses BRs as a leverage for agility, compliance, and corporate intelligence, as a key mechanism for engineering the business itself. 3) It is not meant to be read cover-to-cover. Business people will focus on section 2. Technical people will focus on section 3. 4) Together, the sections provide a step-by-step management approach that crosses business and IT barriers. 5) Real case studies are written by real people in well-respected corporations, government agencies, consultancies, and software vendors. 6) Leading technology is highlighted. 7) Present the possibilities that BR Approach can achieve for both business and IT
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Today, about 98 percent of microprocessors are already embedded in everyday objects and devices, connected with the outside world through sensors and actuators. They are increasingly networked with one another and on the internet. The physical world and the virtual world - or cyberspace - are merging; cyber-physical systems are developing.Future cyber-physical systems will contribute to security, efficiency, comfort and the health systems as never before, and as a result, they will contribute to solving key challenges of our society, such as the aging population, limited resources, mobility, or energy transition. Germany is in the position to become a leader in international competition thanks to innovative cyber-physical systems. In this statement, acatech explains what prerequisites must be created and how Germany can overcome the technical, political and social hurdles on the way to achieving this position.
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This book brings together the state of the art and current debates in the field of formative research, and examines many of the innovative methods largely overlooked in the available literature. This book will help social marketing to move beyond surveys and focus groups. The book addresses the needs of social marketing academics and practitioners alike by providing a robust and critical academic discussion of cutting-edge research methods, while demonstrating at the same time how each respective method can help us arrive at a deeper understanding of the issues that social marketing interventions are seeking to remedy. Each chapter includes a scholarly discussion of key formative research methods, a list of relevant internet resources, and three key readings for those interested in extending their understanding of the method. Most chapters also feature a short case study demonstrating how the methods are used.
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Eugene A. Feinberg Adam Shwartz This volume deals with the theory of Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) and their applications. Each chapter was written by a leading expert in the re spective area. The papers cover major research areas and methodologies, and discuss open questions and future research directions. The papers can be read independently, with the basic notation and concepts ofSection 1.2. Most chap ters should be accessible by graduate or advanced undergraduate students in fields of operations research, electrical engineering, and computer science. 1.1 AN OVERVIEW OF MARKOV DECISION PROCESSES The theory of Markov Decision Processes-also known under several other names including sequential stochastic optimization, discrete-time stochastic control, and stochastic dynamic programming-studiessequential optimization ofdiscrete time stochastic systems. The basic object is a discrete-time stochas tic system whose transition mechanism can be controlled over time. Each control policy defines the stochastic process and values of objective functions associated with this process. The goal is to select a "good" control policy. In real life, decisions that humans and computers make on all levels usually have two types ofimpacts: (i) they cost orsavetime, money, or other resources, or they bring revenues, as well as (ii) they have an impact on the future, by influencing the dynamics. In many situations, decisions with the largest immediate profit may not be good in view offuture events. MDPs model this paradigm and provide results on the structure and existence of good policies and on methods for their calculation.