Research and development (R & D) leads to innovation, and innovation leads to technological change. Technological change, in turn, is the primary driver of economic growth. Public/private partnerships -- cooperative relationships among industry, government, and/or universities -- leverage the efficiency of R & D and are thus a critical aspect of a nations innovation system. This text is intende…

In the past ten years, the world of microfinance has changed dramatically. The field has moved rapidly from early innovations in providing loans to help poor entrepreneurs start businesses to a bold vision of creating entire financial systems that work for the poor. Microfinance has proven to be an effective tool for reducing poverty and helping poor people to improve their lives. And yet a div…

In the modern information era, managers must recognize the competitive opportunities represented by decision-support tools. Adaptive business intelligence systems combine prediction and optimization techniques to assist decision makers in complex, rapidly changing environments. These systems address the fundamental questions: What is likely to happen in the future? And what is the best decision…

This book demystifies the effects of advertising and describes some of the psychological mechanisms underlying them. It is written primarily for those who foot the bill for advertising and those who produce advertising. In other words, for those many organizations involved with advertising? the marketing directors, marketing managers, product managers, advertising managers, account execs, media…

If different people estimate spectra from the same finite number of stationary stochastic observations, their results will generally not be the same. The reason is that several subjective decisions or choices have to be made during the current practice of spectral analysis, which influence the final spectral estimate. This applies also to the analysis of unique historical data about the atmosph…

As products become increasingly similar, companies are turning to branding as a way to create a preference for their offerings. Branding has been the essential factor in the success of well-known consumer goods such as Coca Cola, McDonald's, Kodak, and Mercedes. In fact, these brands are worth many times more than the book value of the property used to make these brands. Now it is time for more…

Blue ocean strategy challenges companies to break out of the red ocean of bloody competition by creating uncontested market space that makes the competition irrelevant. Instead of dividing up existing? and often shrinking?demand and benchmarking competitors, blue ocean strategy is about growing demand and breaking away from the competition. This book not only challenges companies but also shows…

It turns out that the Internet was just a warm-up act. A decade ago, the Internet hype machine pitched the World Wide Web as a marketer?s dream come true?an interactive, one-to-one utopia, linking shoppers and their quarry in the electronically enabled Elysium Fields of 24-7 commerce. Of course, Google, Amazon, and eBay notwithstanding, banner ads, online ??communities of interest,?? and click-…

The field of performance measurement has evolved rapidly in the last few years with the development of new measurement frameworks and methodologies, such as the balanced scorecard, the performance prism, economic value added, economic profit, activity based costing and self-assessment techniques. This multidisciplinary, international book draws together the key themes to provide an up-to-date s…

This book contains 57 cases divided among ten parts and written with three criteria in mind. First, the writers wanted situations based on real firms, real products, real individuals and-most of all-real issues. Second, the writers wanted the cases to require the thoughtful application of financial concepts. Finally, the writers felt the cases should incorporate some of complexities that are ch…