Understanding Business

Ian Marcouse and Rosemarie Stefanou: Understanding Industry, Great Britain Hoddeer & Stoufghton

Softcover Very Good 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall 0340648139 Foreword by Richard Branson. This book is an essential resource for 16-19-year-old students on a variety of courses, including A Level Business Studies, Advanced Business GNVQ and TVEI. The text can also be used to support sixth form general studies and business/education programmes. Offering a lively and contemporary view of industry and commerce, this book develops students' understanding of how companies operate and contribute to the economy - a central figure of Understanding Industry courses for which this text is a major source of information. Written in clear and accessible style, this book examines every key business function: Marketing, Design, Production, Personnel, Finance and Management, with a final chapter on Small Business. Key features: Case studies accompany every chapter and include Virgin, Marks & Spencer, Mitsubishi, Levis and The Body Shop. Activities and discussion points develop students' knowledge and understanding. Major issues are considered in real business contexts. Illustrated.

[SW: Non-Fiction/Understanding Industry]

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Richard Gibbs & Andrew Humphries: Strategic Alliances & Marketing Partnerships: Gaining competitive advantage through collaboration and partnering, Viva Books Private Limited

New The pressures to compete in a global economy force businesses to work collaboratively. While the rewards for partnering can be greater in value than those which a firm could accomplish independently, many alliances fail, which suggests a lack of the necessary knowledge and skills to establish a successful partnership. Strategic Alliances and Marketing Partnerships will help you to understand how partnerships function and how you can manage them more effectively and efficiently. Based on solid research and dealing with key topics such as supply chain management, marketing channels and relationship management, it identifies the factors that determine partnering excellence. Whatever the nature of the relationship -outsourcing, strategic alliances or co-manufacturing-there are eight distinctive relationship types identified by the authors to help managers optimize business-to-business partnerships. With case studies from prominent global organizations such as Wal-Mart, Toyota, General Motors and Dell, Strategic Alliances and Marketing Partnerships with help you to understand the problems that affect partnering and make effective decisions to improve both the relationship and productivity. According to a recent study, most companies surveyed nowadays recognize that alliances are of very high importance to the realization of their strategic objectives. However, the dramatically high failure rates of business partnering-estimated at over 50 per cent-suggests that companies often lack the skills and knowledge to determine the best strategic fit, negotiate win-win agreements, align organizational cultures and get people to work together productively. Based on ground-breaking research Strategic Alliances and Marketing Partnerships identifies the key factors that determine partnering excellence and will help you to optimize your business-to-business partnerships. It will help you to understand how partnerships function and how you can manage them more effectively and efficiently-whaterver the nature of the relationship. Using case studies it explores key topics including: ° The strategic value of partnering ° The evolution of supply chain networks, marketing channels and strategic alliances ° The obstacles and drives of successful partnerships ° Relationship marketing ° Understanding partnership and alliance dynamics ° Evaluating partnership performance Strategic Alliances and Marketing Partnerships also includes eight distinctive relationship types, defined by the authors, to help you to identify and assess the nature of you own partnerships, maximize their value and ensure their success. Contents: Introduction : Placing a value on your key commercial partnerships ° The Business of Partnering: A crisis in management ° Diminishing sources of competitive advantage ° From product-base competition to knowledge-base advantage ° Extending the boundaries of the firm ° The strategic value of partnering ° Partnering and competing supply chains ° The problems of understanding your partners ° The Evolution of Partnership-Driven Business Strategies: Introduction °The development of supply chain management ° Supply chain networks ° Strategic alliances ° Marketing channels ° Managing buy-sell relationships ° Conclusion ° The Obstacles and drivers of Successful Partnerships: Introduction ° Leveraging mutual investments ° Learning from each other ° Governance ° The influence of leadership and control mechanisms ° Understanding partnership performance ° Proactive relationship management ° Summary ° Relationship Marketing: a 'New-Old' Theory of Business Relationships: Marketing foundations ° Relationship marketing rediscovered ° Collaborate or fail ° From power management to relationship management ° The relationship business ° Modelling the marketing relationship ° Managing partnership value ° Building relationship management capabilities ° Summary ° Understanding Partnership and Alliance Dynamics: Introduction ° A 'new economic' view of partnerships ° Partnerships as spiral dynamics ° Finding the measure of partnership performance ° Conclusion ° Working Hard at the 'Soft' Factors: Introduction ° Evaluating partnership performance ° Opportunities and challenges created through ° Collaborative innovation ° Opportunities and challenges created through partnership quality ° Opportunities and challenges of creating value ° The model of partnership performance ° Summary ° The Gibbs+Humphries Partnership Types: Introduction ° Evangelists ° Stable pragmatists ° Rebellious teenagers ° Evolving pessimists ° Captive sharks ° Cherry pickers ° No can dos ° Deserters ° Summary ° Making Partnerships and Alliances Work for you: Management implications ° Determining the right partnership type ° Partnership types and market development ° Relationship management and the Gibbs-Humphries Partnership types ° The Gibbs-Humphries partnership types and marketing ° Conclusion ° Further reading ° Index ISBN - 9780749457181

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Zeithaml, Valarie: SERVICES MARKETING - INTERACTIVE CUSTOMER FOCUS ACROSS THE FIRM, Boston McGraw-Hill Companies, The 2002
0-07-247142-5 new condition

From the Publisher Services Marketing, 4/e, by Zeithaml and Bitner provides a comprehensive review and analysis of services marketing issues, practice, and strategy. Utilizing the GAPS Model of Service Quality as an organizing framework the structure of the text offers part openers that sequentially build the model gap by gap. Each part of the book includes multiple chapters with strategies for understanding and closing the critical gaps. Customer behavior, expectations, and perceptions are discussed early in the text to form the basis for understanding services marketing strategy and the managerial content, in the rest of the text, is framed by the GAPS model. <P><B>Additionally, the authors continue to refine conceptual frameworks for developing effective services marketing strategy and have incorporated more coverage of the use of technology and business-to-business applications in this edition.. Synopsis Services Marketing, 4/e, by Zeithaml and Bitner provides a comprehensive review and analysis of services marketing issues, practice, and strategy. Utilizing the GAPS Model of Service Quality as an organizing framework the structure of the text offers part openers that sequentially build the model gap by gap. Each part of the book includes multiple chapters with strategies for understanding and closing the critical gaps. Customer behavior, expectations, and perceptions are discussed early in the text to form the basis for understanding services marketing strategy and the managerial content, in the rest of the text, is framed by the GAPS model. Additionally, the authors continue to refine conceptual frameworks for developing effective services marketing strategy and have incorporated more coverage of the use of technology and business-to-business applications in this edition. Biography Valarie Zeithaml is the Roy and Alice H. Richards Bicentennial Professor of Marketing and Associate Dean for the MBA Program at the Kenan-Flagler Business School of the University of North Carolina. Mary Bitner (Mesa, AZ) teaches at Arizona State University-Tempe. Textbook Hardcover 10.0 in x 8.0 in x 1.2 in

[SW: Service industries -- Marketing, Customer services, Marketing]

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Liswood, Laura A: The Loudest Duck: Moving Beyond Diversity While Embracing Differences to Achieve Success at Work, JOHN WILEY & SONS, November 2009 ISBN: 9780470485842

Sofort lieferbar! Mängelexemplar mit Lagerspuren. Rechnung mit MwSt. Gebunden, 164 S., 22,2cm x 15,0cm x 2,3cm, A business fable that explains why organizations need to move beyond the old-style diversity efforts to actually benefit from difference In today's modern workplaces with their many different types of people, cultural and personal differences can be challenges-whether you're a team-member or a business leader. Different cultures teach different values and we carry those values throughout adulthood and into the office environment. Understanding the cultural and gender viewpoints of our colleagues is a major key to healthy, conflict-free work environments. This fable takes its name from a Chinese children's parable about how "the loudest duck gets shot." It's a parable that contrasts with the American idiom "the squeaky wheel gets the grease." Comparing the two, it's clear that different cultures teach different views, and those views often translate into distinct ways of doing business. In today's global business world, understanding each other-where we come from and what we're taught-is more important than ever. * A business fable that points out how the old way of approaching diversity will never work, showing us how to understand and navigate the cultural and gender differences that cause conflict in the office * Perfect for managers and executives faced with leadership challenges in a heterogeneous workforce and who want to make sure their organization is a true meritocracy and a level playing field for everyone * Ideal for anyone, at any level, who wants more tools in their toolbox to get ahead in business in a global business culture Doing business today takes understanding and cultural intelligence. The Loudest Duck uses an entertaining story to share important lessons about why diversity efforts are bound to fail unless we really understand how we unconsciously respond to difference and how to move to beyond it. Praise for The Loudest Duck "Laura Liswood has both great theoretical and practical understanding of diversity--why it is important in organizations and why attempts to create it often fail to deliver. The Loudest Duck is essential reading for anyone who wants to maximize the effectiveness of organizations or just wants to understand why things are the way they are." --Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell Canada's 19th and first female Prime Minister "Diversity is a popular buzzword, but too many organizations treat it as window dressing. Laura Liswood explains how successful leaders learn to value diversity for the advantages it brings. This book is clearly written, savvy, and wise." --Joseph S. Nye Jr. University Distinguished Service Professor at Harvard University; Author of The Powers to Lead "The Loudest Duck is a must read for managers and leaders of multinational corporations and international organizations. It provides an insightful look and fresh approach to cultural and gender differences that must be better understood for a more effective workplace." --Ann M. Veneman Executive Director, UNICEF "Laura Liswood brilliantly shows us how to get to Diversity 2.0 and beyond. A workplace of people from different backgrounds can lead to tensions, but this book shows, with great insights and examples, how it can lead to real creativity instead. It's an indispensable guide for managers and leaders--and also for anyone who wants to succeed in any aspect of life." --Walter Isaacson President and Chief Executive Officer, The Aspen Institute "Laura's timing is perfect and her message is spot on. Embracing diversity creates competitive advantage. Her book should be mandatory reading for everyone in business today. In the most engaging, fun, and real way, Laura gets to the heart of the opportunity--enabling Noah's diverse floating Ark to fly to the moon and beyond." --Beth Brooke Global Vice Chair of Public Policy, Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement, Ernst & Young "Globalized businesses are increasingly aware that diversity belongs in the boardroom, not the public relations department, so The Loudest Duck is beautifully timed. Liswood is thoughtful and thought-provoking. Best of all, she's practical, helping ambitious employees from nondominant groups to prove their worth, and advising leaders how to transform diversity from rhetoric into an engine for innovation and growth." --Kevin Kelley Chief Executive Officer, Heidrick & Struggles "Iconoclastic and savvy, Laura Liswood's The Loudest Duck reminds us that not all diversities in the Ark are equal: Some in the Ark are louder and they get heard most. Combining an impressive breadth of research with colorful stories from corporate life, this book is essential reading for anyone who is serious about reaping the promise of diversity at work." --Herminia Ibarra Professor of Organizational Behavior The Cora Chaired Professor of Leadership and Learning Director, INSEAD Leadership Initiative "Brilliant! Liswood offers unique insight and fresh tools for a Diversity 2.0 world. Drawing on thinkers from Thucydides to Malcolm Gladwell, and on more than three decades of executive experience, she offers leaders ideas for building a meritocracy that will ensure corporate success." --Robin Gerber Author of Leadership the Eleanor Roosevelt Way and Barbie and Ruth "The Loudest Duck is one of the clearest and most profoundly informative analyses of why, despite decades of effort and investment, most diversity initiatives fail to produce the promised benefits to organizations or their employees. This book goes beyond analysis and provides a new language of metaphor that captures the unexamined dynamics of dominance, unearned privilege, and unconscious bias that undermine our attempts to create truly diverse and inclusive workplaces. In her introduction Laura Liswood makes clear her goal to move us beyond Diversity 1.0. She is successful. The Loudest Duck has the potential to usher in Diversity 2.0, a new conversation and approach to changing our organizations and ourselves. It is a must reading for leaders who are serious about diversity and inclusion in their organizations." --David A. Thomas H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School Author of Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America

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