This book demonstrates pioneering work on user-based service innovation using an analytical framework. This approach involves understanding the needs of users, the service firms collaborating with them, and recognising the fact that users are innovators and, as such, services develop whilst in use. As well as presenting case studies, the book discusses theoretically what user-based innovation means in the context of services. Three main fields are analysed: user-based innovation in knowledge-intensive business service, user-based innovation in public services, and models and methods for structuring user-based innovation. Incorporating both an academic and analytical approach, this insightful book will be a source of inspiration for researchers in innovation and services. Graduate and postgraduate students in business administration and innovation, as well as administrators in public administrations and executive managers in service firms will also find plenty of important information in this invaluable resource.

"This book explores factors which impact the viability and growth of business enterprises. In particular, the role of entrepreneurship, organizational learning, and business strategy - including licensing strategy - are considered in some detail. It presents fundamental thinking about business organization and provides the conceptual framework that scholars need to understand complex business organization, managerial processes, and competitive strategy."--Jacket.

Is Your Company EMPOWERED for Success? You know it's happening within your organization. Your people, armed with cheap, accessible technology, are connecting with customers and building innovative new solutions. But who are these creative problem-solvers? How can you be one? And just as important—how can you lead them? We call them HEROes: highly empowered and resourceful operatives. Your company needs them because in the age of Twitter, iPhones, Facebook, YouTube, and an ever-evolving torrent of Web information, your customers now step up to the counter armed with more data and access than ever before, and in many cases, your company is overmatched. In Empowered, Forrester's Josh Bernoff—coauthor of the pioneering book Groundswell—and Ted Schadler explain how to transform your company by unleashing the mighty force of these HEROes. Like John Bernier and Ben Hedrington at Best Buy, who built an army of 2,500 tweeting employees to reach out to customers online. Or Ross Inglis, who tapped into Internet computing resources to open an entirely new customer channel for Thomson Reuters. Or John Stadick, who equipped 600 sales staff with iPhones and boosted profits at his construction rental company. The truth is, one in three of your information workers already use easily accessible technologies that your company does not sanction. Empowered gives you a prescription for embracing this covert innovation. At the heart of a HERO-powered business is a new pact between these critical employees, company managers, and the IT department: HEROes build new solutions to meet customer needs, management sets clear rules while encouraging more experimentation, and IT expands its role to both support and secure these business solutions. Fueled by data from Forrester Research, Empowered is packed with the business tools and information necessary to move your organization several steps ahead of the competition: • Statistical analysis of the 16% of customers who account for 80% of the online influence • The four-step IDEA process to transform customer-facing service, marketing, and mobile applications • A tool to score HERO projects on value and effort, to offer guidance on which projects to support • The HERO index: A scorecard of the industries and departments with the most—and the fewest—HEROes • Roadmaps for collaboration systems that stimulate and support HERO innovation • The game plan for IT's new role as a key partner in technology ideas throughout the company • Dozens of case studies and examples from firms in every industry, from retail to business services Armed with an arsenal of exciting and valuable new technologies, your employees are already transforming the way you do business. You can lead them or block them—it's your choice. Empowered will help you make the right decision.

Using a combination of theoretical discussion and real-world case studies, this book analyses the use of robotics, artificial intelligence and services automation (RAISA) within the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. Divided into two sections, the book first concentrates on the theoretical aspects surrounding the use of RAISA in travel, tourism and hospitality. Themes explored include: economic fundamentals customer attitudes chatbot adoption service quality Following on from this, the second section concentrates on current and future use of RAISA technologies in specific subsectors of the tourism economy: hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, museums, and events. With an international scope of authorship and focus, the book is a useful reference source for scholars, students, and general readers interested in robotics, artificial intelligence, and automation technologies. Alongside this, the business insights and case studies examined in the book offer practitioners guidance on how these technologies can and will be incorporated into organizations, particularly those in the travel and tourism industry.

The book is about innovation and it examines the whole process, from sources of innovative ideas and technologies, the role of R & D activity, the use of patent protection and other government policies, to the effect of innovation on employment and various performance indicators such as profitability and export performance.

This examines the relationship between technological growth and outward direct investment from firms in Asia and Latin America which has become increasingly siginificant as these countries develop.

"As small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs) it is common for them to choose to only maintain what they believe to be the safety of maturity attained rather than to opt for a strategy that also includes constant reinvention and renewal. But as Bruce A. Vojak and Walter B. Herbst argue, this path of seemingly least risk and least resistance can be the most detrimental to the company in the long run. The real risk is to not innovate. No-Excuses Innovation makes the case to owners, advisors, executives, and leaders--as well as those in the trenches--of the value of innovation: why it's worthy of investment and what it can do for the health and longevity of a company. This book also details how innovation, and thus reinvention and renewal, can be most effectively and efficiently implemented. With case studies and narrative examples drawn from their time in the industry and the academy, the authors present a valuable strategy guide specific to SMMEs and one of the biggest existential dilemmas they encounter"--

Recognized as One of the Best Business Books for 2014 by CIO Magazine Based on interviews with more than 150 CIOs, IT/business executives, and academic thought leaders, The Strategic CIO: Changing the Dynamics of the Business Enterprise provides insight, success stories, and a step-by-step methodology to transform your IT organization into a strategic asset that drives customer value, increases revenues, and enhances shareholder wealth. The book details how strategic CIOs from FedEx, Procter & Gamble, McKesson, and other leading companies transformed their organizations. It illustrates the methods these CIOS used to become strategic partners that collaborate effectively within their organizations to leverage information and technology for a competitive advantage. The text will help you assess the key competencies and skills required by IT personnel to partner with your business teams to create new and enhanced products and services that create customer value, increase margin, and enhance shareholder wealth. The book includes powerful methodologies, time-saving templates, proven best practices, and helpful assessments. It also details a four-phase methodology, along with the associated activities and tools, to help your IT organization successfully transform into a strategic IT organization. Gain insight into the four domain competencies and twelve associated skills required to build effective strategic IT organizations. Build your roadmap to success using the transformation methodology described in the text and you will be on your way to making your organization a strategic IT organization. Read Philip Weinzimer's recent article that appeared on CIO.com.