Spiritual Perspectives on Globalization: Making Sense of Economic and Cultural Upheaval (Spiritual Perspectives)

Book Description

The economic and cultural dynamic of globalization is transforming the world at an unprecedented pace. But what exactly is it? What are its origins? What is its impact on our spiritual lives?

This lucid introduction surveys the religious landscape, explaining in clear and nonjudgmental language the beliefs that motivate spiritual leaders, activists, theologians, academics, and others involved on all sides of the issue. Included are the points-of-view of:

• Bahá'ís • Buddhists • Earth-based and tribal religions
• Hindus • Jews • Muslims • Protestants • Roman Catholics

Unlike other books on this controversial issue, this easy-to-read introduction won't tell you what to think; it gives you the information you need to reach your own conclusions.

Book Description

Recently revised for 2002, HITS on the web (HOW) is an exciting, class tested product specially designed to help students utilize the Internet for studying, conducting research, and completing assignments. HOW is approximately 80 pages of valuable teaching tools that can be bundled with any Thomson textbook at a very affordable price.

Average customer rating:

One for the shelf of consultants & business owners alike!

Smug rather than supportive

One for the shelf of consultants & business owners alike!

Brilliant. Loved it. Ordered copies for the whole company.

Please, do NOT buy this book.

Nichecraft: Using Your Specialness to Focus Your Business, Corner Your Market and Make Customers Seek You Out
Lynda C. Falkenstein
Manufacturer: Harperbusiness
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Strategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Systems & Planning | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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General | Marketing | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Niche and Grow Rich

Handbook Of Niche Marketing: Principles And Practice (Haworth Series in Segmented, Targeted, and Customized Market) (Haworth Series in Segmented, Targeted, and Customized Market)

Niche Selling: How to Find Your Customer in a Crowded Market

Crackerjack Positioning : Niche Marketing Strategy for the Entrepreneur

Marketing Your Services: A Step-by-Step Guide for Small Businesses and Professionals

ASIN: 0887308015

Amazon.com

In today's ultra-competitive commercial climate, the businesses that truly succeed are the businesses that really stand out. Nichecraft: Using Your Specialness to Focus Your Business, Corner Your Market, and Make Customers Seek You Out, is author and consultant Dr. Lynda Falkenstein's blueprint for differentiating a product or service from the competition and then parlaying its unique position into long-term success. The practical nine-step guide includes plenty of actual examples along with numerous exercises and worksheets.

Book Description

Every company and individual is aware, often painfully, of how crowded and competitive their field of business has become. It's not enough to be just the first nor even the best: no single company can own a good idea for too long because eventually someone else will find out that they, too, can make money by offering the same thing. Now everyone from one-person business-owners to heads of Fortune 500 companies are asking themselves, "How can I continue to stand out from the competition in the midst of all this change?"

In this completely updated, newest edition of her internationally acclaimed book, Nichecraft: Using Your Specialness to Focus Your Business, Corner Your Market, and Make Customers Seek You Out, Dr. Lynda C. Falkenstein has provided an answer for anyone who has something to sell. Dr. Falkenstein explains the theory and strategies of nichecrafting, and why, in a climate of razor sharp competition, the pursuit of excellence is simply not enough. The only goal worth pursuing is making yourself and your product perceived as special.

Nichecraft, however, is more than just a description of yet another theory on how to build a successful business: it is a step-by-step practical guide to putting into practice what Falkenstein preaches. Nichecraft transcends its field, just as she teaches the reader to do, by offering far more than a summary of nichecrafting and showing examples of how others have successfully put her strategy to use. She provides a simple-to-follow, nine-step blueprint for identifying and developing a niche and using it to sell your product or service. The hands-on approach is emphasized with worksheets and exercises to help readers develop their nichecrafting abilities.

While incorporating the best of her first edition, this millennium edition Nichecraft includes an entirely new chapter titled "Making Your Niche Rich on the Net." Here Dr. Falkenstein offers even more practical tips how to use the internet as a strategic tool in defining and making a lucrative niche.

Customer Reviews:

One for the shelf of consultants & business owners alike!.......2004-09-11

On the whole, this book is top-notch. It brings together a number of common-sensical ideas and concepts that are extremely useful in focusing a business on what it does best. There is room for improvement in how the material is presented though, that would help the book's readability and usability. Dr. Falkenstein has put together some great material! I look forward to more!

Smug rather than supportive.......2003-06-08

There are way too many negative examples in this book - case studies of what stupid or weak-willed people did wrong, in the author's opinion. She does have a lot of insight into how to build a niche, but she delivers her knowledge with a sharp-edged know-it-all attitude that I could not take after a while. Despite being a marketing consultant who wanted to recommend this book to clients, I could not finish reading the book, I found it so offensive in tone.

One for the shelf of consultants & business owners alike!.......2001-09-04

Brilliant. Loved it. Ordered copies for the whole company........2001-03-22

Over the years I've collected and read just about every book on marketing and building businesses that is on the market. Some have been very good. Nichecraft, however, is far and away the most insightful and innovative book of its kind I've ever run across. If I'd had this book when I started my business 15 years ago, it would have saved me a fortune in lost time and wasted efforts. One of the best things about this book is its practical step-by-step approach. Dr. Falkenstein lays out her nine-step process clearly and with great style. Her experience comes through loudly and clearly. Although I am a professional photographer and am applying Nichecraft's principles to my own specific business, I can see that it would be invaluable for any business in today's environment. It is so good, I ordered copies for everyone in my company.

Please, do NOT buy this book........2001-02-07

If you're like me, you own a business and are trying to learn more to make yourself successful. Although I have found a few worthwhile books, "Nichecraft" is not one of them. By page 21 I had encountered so many spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors, I had to turn to the front to see what publisher let this one get out. I was not surprised to learn that the book was published by the author herself. Even the cover has a spelling error.

If you can get past the poor writing, you will find it bereft of substance. The book reads like a 3AM infomercial: full of excitement, buzzwords, and promises but offering little help. The examples contain no real insight, the myriad steps are repetitious, contradictory, and are often so poorly written I cannot decipher them after three readings. Several of the graphics only serve to further confuse the text.

We are all looking for books that can help us make sense of marketing. This is not one of them. I beg you to spare yourself this waste of time. I rate this book 1 Star because it is the lowest rating available.

Book Description

The core objective of this book is to illustrate how the forces of globalization impact upon the prospects for sustainable development using Latin America, one of the major emerging regions of the world, as a case study.

The book seeks to bring together the two hitherto separate paradigms of globalization and sustainable development into one analytical framework. This, the authors hope, will increase support for furthering sustainable development in developing countries in the context of globalization.

Globalisation and Sustainable Development in Latin America includes contributions written by established and respected Latin American authors, translated into English for the first time.

Book Description

It is almost two years since the publication of Oleg Davydov's significant study Inside Out: The Radical Transformation of Russian Foreign Trade, 1992-1997, and a lot has changed since then, including the August 1998 financial and banking crisis in Russia. Nevertheless, the views Davydov expressed in that book are still relevant, and many of the recommendations he made have been implemented, to good effect. This book, Liberalization of Russian Foreign Trade, takes up where the first left off. Here, Davydov teams up with Valeriy A. Oreshkin, and they systematize and explain the issues related to the formation of Russia's foreign trade policy. The transition from centrally planned economy to market economy has been difficult. The largest problem, of course, has been integrating Russia into the world economic community and learning how to do business with foreign counterparts and competitors. Another problem, of potentially overwhelming proportions, is the issue of Russia's foreign debts, and the authors investigate how the country might modernize its infrastructure and invest in its future despite the enormous foreign-debt repayments. Part of the solution, the authors believe, will come from foreign investments, yet Russian businesspeople must continue to convince foreign investors that investing in Russia is a good risk. However, given the rise of criminal activities in the foreign-trade arena, foreign investors are understandably hesitant. In the forseeable future, the creation of internal and external conditions for a more complete integration of Russia into the world economy will remain a top priority. But the key milestones to that greater goal are already in flux. In an objective and informed way, this book provides the best explanation available of how those milestones have changed, and how such changes may affect the future development of a competitive Russian economy.

Book Description

Japanese semiconductor firms are well known for obtaining dynamics in a short period of time and achieving even global leadership. A significant portion of their success are attributable to cooperative interfirm relations and the development of intermediate organizational structure based on long-term relationship between firms. The purpose of this book is to explain how interfirm relations contributed to their dynamics during the golden age of the semiconductor industry. Meanwhile this book clarifies the real source of dynamics in interfirm relations and how the firms have interacted. The author concludes that the competitive-cum-cooperative (CCC) interfirm interaction are observed. Quantitative and qualitative findings show that firms enjoy not only flexible cooperation based synergy effects, but also dynamics market-like effects by creating competition among partners through CCC interaction.

Customer Reviews:

Interfirm networks in Japanese semiconductor industry.......2003-04-24

Japanese manufacturers are less vertically integrated than their American or European counterparts. They tend to be smaller and more specialized. For example, Toyota outsources about 75% of components; in the US only Chrysler reaches this degree. But Japanese firms don¡¯t organize the vertical chain through arm¡¯s length transaction. Instead, they rely on a web of long-term, informal relationships between firms up and down the vertical chain. Unlike the
hostile relationships many American and European firms have with subcontractors, in Japan, these relationships involve a much higher degree of cooperation and delegation of a more sophisticated set of responsibilities to subcontractor. This kind of relationship is cited as an excellent example of the trust-based interfirm networks which substantially reduce the transaction cost involved in transactions along the value chain, and is known as the vertical keiretsu.
Such interfirm networks have persisted since the Meiji period, and were constructed in an effort to reduce the uncertainty engendered by market fluctuation. If it¡¯s not the commodified items, frequent switching of subcontractor could result in instability in the quality and quantity of it. With trust-based long-term relationship, they could expect timely delivery, quality control, and stable supply. But this trust-based long-term relationship introduced the rigidity and inflexibility to cope with the dramatic shifts in the environment. The first oil crisis posed a serious threat to the viability of Japanese firms. Cut-throat competition over shrunken international market drove the Japanese firms to enhance competitiveness in all front from cost, quality and the lead time. In doing so, they changed the dynamics of the networks. What they introduced is the subject of this book, in the words of the author, ¡®competitive-cum-cooperation governance, in short, CCC governance. The author deals with the interfirm governance in Japanese semiconductor industry, in particular. But the findings could be applied to other industries like auto, electronics.
CCC governance was developed to introduce the uncertainty in the vertical chain to create market-like effect. While maintaining cooperative links, semiconductor manufacturers imposed several competition-generating measures: strategic pricing, multiple sourcing, and altering procurement sourcing. In strategic pricing, interacting companies cooperatively developed a schedule for reducing prices. In multiple sourcing, semiconductor companies purchased the same parts and materials from multiple sources, so that competition took place among them. While awarding stable cash flows to subcontractors, semiconductor manufacturers could secure the continuous improvement of price and quality. According to data the author provides, the prices were much lower than the spot market transactions. In the words of the author, With CCC governance the Japanese semiconductor firms secured both the allocative efficiency which is the feature of market governance, and the non-allocative efficiency which is the feature of hierarchical governance.
Now you might ask ¡®Is there any reason to coin another neologism? There is already the mountain of seemingly different words which actually have one and the same reference.¡¯ Maybe. The vertical keiretsu could cover the same phenomenon. But author¡¯s intention lies in demonstrating the feature of network which has both cooperation and competition while securing the competitiveness. I think author persuasively illustrates it. And better, he does so not with case study which is hard to represent the population, but with the survey technique. This feature, however, is the weakness at the same time. The author succeeds in drawing out overall picture of the industry. But it lacks the rich depth of the usual business case studies. This makes the book somewhat dry. But I think it worth reading, if you are interested in the Japanese business.

Book Description

Due to their environmental and efficiency characteristics fuel cells are promising technological solutions for many energy related applications (stationary power generation, vehicle propulsion, portable equipment). This book describes the economic dynamics of fuel cells by analyzing their diffusion perspectives as well as the strategic and organisational arrangements designed to promote their development. The costs, risks and economic stakes of fuel cell technologies require both a sustained involvement from public entities and the setting up of innovation networks with a large variety of heterogeneous actors. This context corresponds to a new space for technological competition located at the intersection between firms, networks and national/regional systems of innovation. The book presents a comprehensive analysis of this cooperation/competition phenomenon through different theoretical and empirical investigations.

Average customer rating:

Ok but not the best

TEACH YOUR COMPANY TO PREPARE, ADAPT, AND CHANGE FASTER

A R-Evolutionary Book

The best integration of complexity and management yet!!

Best of class

Open Boundaries Creating Business Innovation Through Complexity
Howard J. Sherman , and Ron Schultz
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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Leadership | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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Managing the Unknowable: Strategic Boundaries Between Order and Chaos in Organizations (Jossey Bass Business and Management Series)

ASIN: 0738201553

Book Description

Drawing from groundbreaking research at the Santa Fe Center for Emergent Strategies, new insights on applying complexity thinking in business to break out of old patterns and imagine new possibilities.

"A powerful and pragmatic set of exercises for exploring how we think, how we create the world around us, and how we can change it." -Fast Company

In Open Boundaries, Howard Sherman and Ron Schultz bring fresh insights from the field of complexity thinking (the study of dynamic, adaptive systems) to unleash creativity and innovation throughout the organization by helping readers understand-and even challenge-the underlying principles, cognitive models, and rules that govern their decisions and actions. Showcasing the pioneering efforts of such organizations as diverse as Applied Biosystems and the U.S. Marine Corps, the authors illustrate the power of complexity in action-from creating new markets to spreading emerging knowledge throughout the company.

Customer Reviews:

Ok but not the best.......2000-01-04

Read The Complexity Advantage by Susanne Kelly and Mary Ann Allison it's a better book. Or better still check out the reviews before you buy.

TEACH YOUR COMPANY TO PREPARE, ADAPT, AND CHANGE FASTER.......1999-04-01

I am a believer that organizational systems share much with biological systems. This idea struck me on the head the first time I visited the Galapagos. That trip made it clear that adaptation can occur very quickly and that more than one form of adaptation can occur in different directions at the same time, based on the environments that exist. I am also reminded of research that I recently read suggesting that we cannot accept or remember new ideas if we have not had previous experience with them. That is why it becomes so critical to prepare for change, to ask questions from many different perspectives to create ambiguity, and to present many different environments or alternate futures to create unpredictability. OPEN BOUNDARIES is a great book to read after THE LIVING COMPANY which describes how scenario planning was developed and why Shell was the only company prepared to do well during the Arab oil embargo. Complexity thinking really succeeds when you find a win-win solution - you will come out ahead no matter what happens. Another book you should look at that uses eight steps (revolving, not linear) to develop the best possible ideal practices for key activities assuming unpredictability of many things is THE 2,000 PERCENT SOLUTION. With these three, you are well on your way to removing the stalls blocking OPEN BOUNDARIES to become THE LIVING COMPANY and to reach THE 2,000 PERCENT SOLUTIONS for future success

A R-Evolutionary Book.......1999-02-11

This book clarified views which I knew were correct, but lacked structure. Their view of business, as a biological system where innovation and progress occurs through the spontaneous interactions of individuals and groups, is a tremendous asset to anyone who values dynamic processes and thinking.

The best integration of complexity and management yet!!.......1998-10-31

Open Boundaries represents a successful and all too rare attempt to synthesize the lessons of complexity science with the day-to-day lives of managers. Where many authors are content to describe science metaphors and leave it to the reader to draw out life's lessons, Sherman and Schultz take the opposite tack. They begin by asking what problems their readers' face and then address those problems from a perspective of complexity science and philosophy. How and what we think shapes and effects what we do. Complexity science has much to contribute to change our units of thought. Open Boundaries will change your life as a thoughtful and reflective manager -- just let it.

Michael Lissack, Director, Organization Science Related Programs, New England Complex Systems Institute

Best of class.......1998-10-19

Among the increasing number of books purporting to connect complexity to business, this one shines. If an organization takes nothing more than an understanding of co-evolution away from this book, they will be well served. And there is a great deal more to be mined for those organizations looking for ways to make innovation a way of life. A powerful and rigorous approach in spite of its Eurocentric underpinnings. Sherman's connection to the Santa Fe Institute combine with impressive business credentials and an encyclopedic philosophical mind to create a deep resource for exploring an exciting new way to think about business.

Open Boundaries: Creating Business Innovation Through Complexity

Average customer rating:

Open Boundaries: Creating Business Innovation Through Complexity
Howard; Schultz, Ron Sherman
Manufacturer: Perseus Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000P6DGIM

Book Description

Nonconventional yeasts - all yeasts other than S. cerevisiae and S. pombe - are attracting increasing attention in basic research and biotechnological applications. Due to their exceptional metabolic pathways, they have been used in various biotechnological processes for producing foods or food additives, drugs or a variety of biochemicals. This book is the first to extensively cover nonconventional yeasts. In addition to useful background information detailed protocols are included, allowing investigation of basic and applied aspects of a wide range of nonconventional yeast species.

Book Description

Rural enterprises have played an important role in the extraordinary success of China's economy over the last two decades. They have greatly increased off-farm employment in rural areas and have brought substantially increased incomes and standards of living to many rural people. Jun Li analyzes the role of state policy, financial institutions and local government in the growth of these successful small- and medium-sized enterprises from a business finance perspective.

Financing China's Rural Enterprises is an important contribution to ongoing debates in the study of contemporary China's financial development. It will be of interest to academics studying reform and small business finance as well as economists, policy makers, and those engaged in business with China.

Book Description

Build the optimal e-busniess site for your needs. This easy-to-follow beginner's guide explains how to develop e-commerce strategies to draw traffic, generate sales, and run your Internet business efficiently. You'll also learn to secure and optimize your site, from secure access and transactions to Quality of Service.

Customer Reviews:

this is a way to succese in e-commerce.......2001-01-16

this is very good for first entrance into e-commerce. the book rated is good!

Average customer rating:
An Act to Extend the Period during Which Chapter 12 of Title 11 of the United States Code Remains in Effect, and for Other Purposes (SuDoc AE 2.110:103-65)
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Manufacturer: U.S. G.P.O.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Bankruptcy | Business | Law | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B00010H4JE

Book Description

Regulatory change has come to characterize global telecommunications in the 1990s. In this timely book, contributors of recognized distinction and knowledge provide a range of perspectives and discuss a variety of approaches to telecommunications issues, providing broad coverage of telecommunications regulatory policies. In its analysis of public policies for deregulating telecommunications services, the work emphasizes the business strategy implications entailed by each public policy. The volume argues that globalization and interdependence are forcing governments to adjust their policies; that technology often eclipses voluntary government policies; and that all multinational corporations, through their investment strategies and R&D efforts, are important actors in regulatory policy, as are national and international agencies.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from ASEAN Economic Bulletin, published by Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) on April 1, 2003. The length of the article is 1205 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Role of SMEs in National Economies in East Asia: Studies of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in East Asia, Volume II.(Book Review) (book review)
Author: Henry Sandee
Publication: ASEAN Economic Bulletin (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 2003
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS)
Volume: 20 Issue: 1 Page: 92(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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