Business & Personal Finance - Books

Semnale

Semnalele subtile pe care le trimitem oamenilor din jur prin limbajul corpului, mimică, cuvintele alese și tonul vocii au un impact masiv asupra modului în care suntem percepuți de ceilalți, dimpreună cu ideile noastre. Semnalele pe care le manifestăm fie ne îmbunătățesc mesajul, fie îl subminează. Dacă vrei să te faci auzit la locul de muncă, să fii promovat, să câștigi mai mulți clienți sau pur și simplu să legi mai ușor relații, consultă ghidul pe care ți-l pune la dispoziție Vanessa Van Edwards. Învață cum să le arăți celor din jur că ești un om carismatic: puternic și de încredere, dar și cald, amuzant și apreciat în orice interacțiune.

Central America: Economic Progress and Reforms

Business & Personal Finance

Central America has made substantial progress in recent years in moving economic reforms forward and deepening regional and global integration. As result of these efforts, the region has experienced higher growth, increased capital inflows, and some reductions in poverty rates. But Central America remains vulnerable to adverse shocks and continues to face widespread poverty. While today Central America is in better condition to face such shocks, the current turmoil in global financial markets and U.S. growth slowdown could put at risk the hard-won gains of recent years. Faced with these challenges, the authorities are monitoring developments closely and are taking precautionary measures, but they also need to continue implementing productivity-enhancing reforms and measures aimed at reducing income inequality and poverty.

Information Theory and Best Practices in the IT Industry

Business & Personal Finance

The importance of benchmarking in the service sector is well recognized as it helps in continuous improvement in products and work processes. Through benchmarking, companies have strived to implement best practices in order to remain competitive in the product- market in which they operate. However studies on benchmarking, particularly in the software development sector, have neglected using multiple variables and therefore have not been as comprehensive. Information Theory and Best Practices in the IT Industry fills this void by examining benchmarking in the business of software development and studying how it is affected by development process, application type, hardware platforms used, and many other variables. Information Theory and Best Practices in the IT Industry begins by examining practices of benchmarking productivity and critically appraises them. Next the book identifies different variables which affect productivity and variables that affect quality, developing useful equations that explaining their relationships. Finally these equations and findings are applied to case studies. Utilizing this book, practitioners can decide about what emphasis they should attach to different variables in their own companies, while seeking to optimize productivity and defect density.

What is digital identity?

Business & Personal Finance

The question of digital identity and e-reputation is central in today’s Internet ecosystem, both in terms of individual and collective use. This book is an accessible guide to cutting-edge research on the subject and provides an overview of the fundamental issues that individuals need to master in order to retain control over their or their organization’s online presence. This is a book for readers who wish to discover more about this rich and complex issue, as well as for businesses, organizations and public authorities seeking a methodology and good practices in this domain. It is also for all those who have asked themselves at least once whether the publication of a piece of information, a video or a Facebook status update risked causing harm to themselves one day, their friends and family, or their employer. Lastly, and above all, this is a book for people who have never asked themselves that question. This book has been produced with support from the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region.

Practical Guide to Artificial Intelligence

Business & Personal Finance

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly present in our lives, transforming the way we work, learn, and interact with the world. However, many people remain unaware of the full potential of this technology and its effective use. This book was created precisely to address this gap as it offers an accessible and practical guide to the main areas of application of Artificial Intelligence across different sectors of human activity.Purpose of the BookThe primary objective of this book is twofold: first, to introduce AI, particularly Generative AI, alongside the art of prompt creation, enabling readers to maximize the benefits of these tools; and second, to map and present the most widely used AI applications, highlighting their key features and practical applications. Beyond that, we also seek to raise awareness of AI’s potential across different sectors and to encourage reflection on its impact, particularly in terms of ethics and responsible use. By bringing this information together in a single volume, we aim to support a deeper understanding of AI and empower professionals, educators, and students to explore these technologies in a more informed and productive manner.

International Finance and Latin America

Business & Personal Finance

This reissue, initially published in 1984, examines the evolution of international financial flows to Latin America since 1945, along with their implications for National Development . The book describes how, in each of the first three decades since the war, a new agency emerged (foreign investors in the 1950s, official aid agencies in the 1960s and multinational banks in the 1970s) which was willing to play a dynamic role in generating new financial flows to the region. The lack of such an agent in the 1980s, combined with a reluctance on the part of former investors to maintain their level of assistance culminated in an economic debt crisis in Latin America which this work seeks to address, asking the crucial question: what measures should be taken – both nationally and internationally – to deal with this critical issue , in a way that will both encourage Latin American Development and avoid a major international financial crisis?

Management by Missions

Business & Personal Finance

A few decades ago, management thinking started to embrace the idea of purpose. The first edition of this book marked an important step in this trajectory; it drew attention to the need for managers to relate the concepts of ‘purpose’ and ‘missions’ to strategy, culture and leadership. In the years since, purpose and missions have become business imperatives – not only in terms of remaining competitive but as core in the attempts to have a sustainable impact on the world.The second edition of Management by Missions is an Open Access book based on substantially more research carried out over fifteen years, involving more than 200 organizations around the world. All of this research supports that the practical models and ideas offered in the book have been tried and tested and actually work in practice.With case studies, anecdote and new research findings, the authors present the main tools of the MBM method (shared missions, missions scorecards, interdependency matrix, missions-based objectives and integral assessment) and the type of leadership needed to implement it. The ideas presented in this book mark a path towards a new management methodology for the XXI century and a new way of understanding the work that managers do.

Vender é humano

Business & Personal Finance

Edição revista e atualizada. Publicado anteriormente como Saber vender é da natureza humana.A SURPREENDENTE VERDADE SOBRE A ARTE DA PERSUASÃO."Pink escreveu uma versão moderna de Como fazer amigos e influenciar pessoas cheia de histórias, ciência social e surpresas." –Training and Development Magazine"Um livro excelente: radical, surpreendente e indiscutivelmente verdadeiro." – Harvard Business ReviewSomos todos vendedores. Apresentamos novas ideias aos colegas de trabalho, persuadimos os amigos a fazer um programa, tentamos convencer nossos filhos a estudar, criamos nossa imagem e reputação nas redes sociais.De uma forma ou de outra, estamos todos envolvidos em vender alguma coisa.Lançando um novo olhar sobre a arte de vender, Daniel H. Pink aborda as descobertas das ciências sociais que nos ajudam a agir e tomar decisões mais inteligentes para persuadir os outros.Ele oferece, entre vários ensinamentos, as melhores técnicas para vender uma ideia, entender a perspectiva dos outros e tornar nossa mensagem mais clara e persuasiva.Em edição revista e atualizada, com prefácio especial do autor para o Brasil, Vender é humano é um livro prático e perspicaz que mudará a maneira como enxergamos o mundo e o que fazemos no trabalho, na escola e em casa.

The Economic and Social Regulation of Public Utilities

Business & Personal Finance

Utilities have long been essential for societies, supplying basic services for nations, organizations and households alike. The proper functioning and regulation of utilities is therefore critical for the economy, society and security. History provides an invaluable insight into important issues of the economic and social regulation of utilities and offers guidance for future debates. However, the history of utility regulation – which speaks of changing, diverse and complex experiences around the world – was sidelined or marginalised when economists and policy-makers enthusiastically embraced the question of how to reform the utilities from the 1970s. This book examines in depth the complex regulation and deregulation of energy, communications, transportation and water utilities across Western Europe, the United States, Australia, Brazil, China and India. In each case, attention is drawn to the changing roles of the state, the market and firms in the regulation, organization and delivery of utility services. This book was originally published as a special issue of Business History.

Local, Slow and Sustainable Fashion

Business & Personal Finance

This book is a tour de force and a heart-on-sleeve exploration of how a familiar fibre can radically change the fashion and sustainability story.Professor Kate Fletcher, Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion, UK The authors of this fascinating book use wool as a lens through which to see important aspects of the contemporary world: corporate capitalism, consumerism, standardisation and their opposites: localised crafts and practices, quality of life, sustainability. Readable, enlightening and engaged, this book is fuelled by a passion for wool and expertly weaves, spins, cards and knits the small and the large scale, contributing not only to our knowledge about fabrics and sustainability, but also adds depth to our understanding of globalisation.Professor Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, NorwayThis book explores the importance of the agriculturally-based fiber and textile industry, and how local, small-scale operations and markets, coupled with a connection to soil health, can lead the way to new transformative changes. It draws on a four-year research project on Norwegian wool, as well as similar studies in Poland and Portugal. It also explores the role of women and the Indigenous perspective: in Europe this will constitute Sami and Inuit, in Northern America the Inuit and First Nations in Canada, along with Native Americans.Born out of academic interest in the slow food movement, the importance of local raw materials has been put under the spotlight in recent years. Meanwhile, the havoc wreaked by the fast fashion industry has been drawing attention to the need for a new, sustainable approach to clothing and textile manufacture. This edited collection is unique in its scope, taking the conversation beyond traditional debates around fast fashion and agriculture, and examining how textile industry is rooted in the land, and within society and community. Featuring a diverse range of authors, the book will be valuable reading for academics interested in sustainable management, the study of consumption, the study of Indigenous perspectives, and the study of agricultural practices.Ingun Grimstad Klepp is Professor of Clothing and Sustainability affiliated with Consumption Research Norway (SIFO) at Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway. Tone Skårdal Tobiasson is a seasoned journalist and editor, and founder of Nordic Initiative Clean & Ethical Fashion.

Tiny Experiments

Business & Personal Finance

A transformative guide to rethinking our approach to goals, creativity, and life itself from a neuroscientist and entrepreneur, and the creator of the popular Ness Labs newsletter"I loved this profound, practical, and generous book."—Oliver Burkeman"A thought-provoking guide to doing more trials and making fewer errors."—Adam Grant"One of the best productivity books that I've read."—Ryder Carroll"This book will change the way you design your goals and live your life."—Nir EyalLife isn’t linear, and yet we constantly try to mold it around linear goals: four-year college degrees, ten-year career plans, thirty-year mortgages. What if instead we approached life as a giant playground for experimentation? Based on ancestral philosophy and the latest scientific research, Tiny Experiments provides a desperately needed reframing: Uncertainty can be a state of expanded possibility and a space for metamorphosis.Neuroscientist and entrepreneur Anne-Laure Le Cunff reveals that all you need is an experimental mindset to turn challenges into self-discovery and doubt into opportunity. Readers will replace the old linear model of success with a circular model of growth in which goals are discovered, pursued, and adapted—not in a vacuum, but in conversation with the larger world.Throughout the book, you will ask hard questions and design simple yet meaningful experiments to find the answers. You will learn how to break free from the invisible cognitive scripts that shape your life, how to harness the power of imperfection, and how to make smarter decisions when the path forward is unclear.This is a guide to:• Discover your true ambitions through conducting tiny personal experiments• Dismantle harmful beliefs about success that have kept you stuck• Dare to make decisions true to your own aspirations• Stop trying to find your purpose and start living insteadTiny Experiments offers not just practical tools to make sure our most vital work gets done, but a guide to reawakening our curiosity and drive in a noisy, busy, disaffected world, so that we can discover and pursue our most authentic ambitions while making a meaningful contribution.

mGames

Business & Personal Finance

mGames is a manufacturer of game-based software for portable computers, PDAs and cell phones. The company's new chief executive officer has just been informed of a potential hostile takeover of the company by a major PDA manufacturer. At the same time he receives a phone call from a senior executive at a Scandinavian telecommunications company expressing interest in forming a partnership. With all of this happening, the chief executive officer faces growing pressure from the company's chairman to address ongoing performance problems. In a complex and changing environment he must make a strategic choice as to which group of customer groups (traditional handheld gaming device manufacturers, telecom manufacturers or PDA manufacturers) the company should focus on.

Local, Slow and Sustainable Fashion

Business & Personal Finance

Compassionate Organizations in BANI Times

Business & Personal Finance

This book captures the research and best practices of organizational responsibility towards employment generation and well-being issues, as well as ways to explore sustainable and responsible business solutions to address the current uncertain times. It offers a balanced blend of theory and documentation of real-life cases on these topics, with a shared vision of a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable world. The insights offered in its chapters showcase the refinement, redevelopment, and reassessment of corporate strategies and public policy to incorporate sustainability, ESG, and SDG principles alongside business agendas. The book is valuable for implementing sustainable and ethical governance among policymakers, who can use the knowledge to create future compliance and non-compliance mechanisms for businesses. It also discusses emerging areas of green innovation and technology adoption, which can be utilized by policymakers, businesses, and academia alike to drive future green innovation strategies and ventures. The book offers sector-specific insights, including agriculture, banking, renewable energy, etc., that can be used to create targeted initiatives to address specific challenges. The chapters broadly cover three categories of research. Category 1- BANI Times and the Need for Compassion and Care (BANI being brittle, anxious, non-linear, and incomprehensible); Category 2—Businesses: Frameworks, Cases, and Models; and Category 3—Communities: Frameworks, Cases, and Models. The book serves as a guide for fostering a culture of sustainability, highlighting its multi-layered and colossal role in the development agenda and overall ethical decision-making.

Espaces et territoires

Business & Personal Finance

L’espace apparaît comme une composante essentielle de la stratégie des organisations. Il est le terrain d’action dans lequel elles évoluent tout autant qu’un construit social que leurs actions participent à façonner. L’espace stratégique apparaît ainsi comme un concept multi-dimensionnel dont le présent chapitre cherche à cerner les contours. L’analyse du concept d’espace mobilisé par les différentes écoles de pensée en stratégie permet notamment de souligner l’existence de multiples formes d’organisations stratégiques de l’espace. Dépassant la distinction classique entre le local et le global, elle permet notamment de porter un regard nuancé sur les formes récentes de stratégies de spatialisation telles que les clusters ou les réseaux globaux d’innovation. Ces différentes formes d’organisation stratégiques de l’espace nourrissent et sont nourries par les principales idéologies spatiales qui imprègnent la discipline, notamment celles liées à la mondialisation. L’empreinte de ces idéologies spatiales est d’autant plus profonde qu’elles sont rarement questionnées. En conséquence, les réflexions présentées dans ce chapitre invitent chercheurs et praticiens à remettre en cause les évidences spatiales afin de penser les interactions entre stratégies et espace géographique dans une perspective résolument humaine.

RUIS

Business & Personal Finance

'Een monumentaal en boeiend boek.' The Times Overal waar mensen beslissingen nemen, is sprake van ruis: verschil in oordelen die identiek zouden moeten zijn. Artsen stellen verschillende diagnoses bij dezelfde patiënt, rechters geven verschillende straffen voor hetzelfde delict, twee collega's beoordelen vergelijkbare sollicitanten verschillend. Iemand neemt 's ochtends andere beslissingen dan 's middags. Zulke voorbeelden van ruis zijn overal te vinden, maar mensen en organisaties zijn zich gewoonlijk niet bewust van de rol van ruis bij hun beoordelingen en hun handelen. Met een aanstekelijk enthousiasme bespreken Nobelprijswinnaar Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony en Cass Sunstein op basis van de nieuwste bevindingen in de psychologie en gedragseconomie hoe en waarom wij zo vatbaar zijn voor ruis bij het nemen van beslissingen, en wat we eraan kunnen doen. Een baanbrekend boek dat onze denkwijze zal veranderen, van de experts in strategisch denken en auteurs van de megabestsellers Thinking, Fast and Slow (Ons feilbare denken) en Nudge 'Een hoogstandje van wetenschap en helderheid.' The New York Times 'Een goed onderzocht, overtuigend en praktisch boek (...) geschreven door een sterrenteam. Iedere wetenschapper, beleidsmaker, leidinggevende en consultant zou dit boek moeten lezen. Wie de invloed en het doorzettingsvermogen heeft die nodig zijn om de inzichten uit RUIS toe te passen, zal beslissingen nemen die menselijker en eerlijker zijn, levens redden, en voorkomen dat tijd, geld en talent verspild worden.' The Washington Post 'Ruis is een briljant onderzoek naar een ongelooflijk groot maatschappelijk probleem waar iedereen tot nu toe overheen keek.' Steven Levitt, auteur van Freakonomics 'Overtuigend. Een nederig stemmende les over onnauwkeurigheid.' Financial Times

Espoir et force dans les Balkans occidentaux

Business & Personal Finance

Les Balkans occidentaux sont depuis des siècles un point de passage entre l'Europe centrale et l'Orient.Dévastés par des conflits tragiques, des dérives nationalistes et des investis-sements négligés, les pays des Balkans occidentaux s'efforcent de trouver un nouvel équilibre. Leurs citoyens et leurs institutions ont affirmé à plusieurs reprises leur ambition de faire partie de l'Union européenne et ont consenti des efforts importants pour transformer ce rêve en réalité.Les accomplissements de la Banque européenne d'investissement (BEI) dans cette région se sont multipliés au cours des 20 dernières années. Elle a contribué à la construction de corridors paneuropéens de transport, appuyé des investissements étrangers directs, aidé à réaménager des zones urbaines, fourni une assistance technique et des financements supplémentaires afin d'améliorer et de développer les infrastructures sociales et économiques, et stimulé la croissance du secteur privé en vue de créer des emplois. Les perspectives qui s'ouvrent aux Balkans occidentaux laissent entrevoir un avenir plus radieux et plus vert.Matteo Rivellini est le chef de la division de la BEI chargée des opérations de prêt en Slovénie, en Croatie et dans les Balkans occidentaux.Il s'agit du treizième essai de la série des " Grandes idées " créée par la Banque.La BEI a invité des leaders d'opinion et des experts internationaux à écrire sur les questions les plus importantes de notre époque.

Où va l'épargne ?

Business & Personal Finance

Sous la coordination de Marie-Laure Barut-Etherington, Directrice générale adjointe à la Banque de France, et de Pierre Bollon, membre du Comité économique et social européen, Secrétaire général de l’Observatoire de l’épargne européenne et Directeur des affaires européennes de la Fédération des entreprises immobilières, ce numéro 158 de la Revue d’économie financière donne la parole à des économistes, chercheurs, acteurs du secteur financier et décideurs publics, pour éclairer les débats et proposer des pistes d’action concrètes. Il ne prétend pas clore le sujet, mais offre des clés de lecture précieuses pour mieux comprendre les enjeux d’une épargne qui, loin d’être un simple comportement individuel, est au cœur de notre avenir collectif. Pourquoi épargnons-nous ? Où va notre épargne ? Et comment mieux mobiliser cette ressource pour répondre aux grands défis économiques, sociaux et environnementaux ?Ce numéro de la Revue explore en profondeur les multiples facettes de l’épargne, à travers une approche à la fois empirique, historique et prospective. Dans un contexte où le taux d’épargne des ménages français reste structurellement élevé, bien au-dessus de la moyenne européenne, ce numéro interroge les ressorts de ce comportement : prudence face à l’incertitude, préférence pour les produits liquides et peu risqués, ou encore effets des politiques publiques. Elle met aussi en lumière les paradoxes d’une épargne à la fois populaire et concentrée, abondante mais parfois mal orientée. Réunissant 36 auteurs et autrices, et riche de 20 articles, le thème central de ce numéro se décline en 3 chapitres analysant, chacun, une facette de cette problématique : Panorama de l’épargne en France et en Europe, ses évolutions récentes, ses spécificités nationales, et les transformations des comportements depuis la crise sanitaire.Tour d’horizon des comportements d’épargne analysés selon les revenus, les cycles de vie, les préférences de risque, ou encore le statut conjugal, avec un éclairage sur les nouveaux investisseurs et les enjeux d’éducation financière.Mobiliser l’épargne au service de l’économie, à travers les défis du financement de la transition écologique, de la défense, de l’innovation, du rôle clef des sociétés de gestion, des assureurs et des banques et des propositions pour bâtir enfin une Union européenne de l’épargne et de l’investissement. Un numéro à lire absolument par quiconque s’intéresse à l’économie, à la société et aux leviers de transformation de notre modèle.

Before Happiness

Business & Personal Finance

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “This fresh, uplifting book is filled with ideas for improving our organizations and our lives.”—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the podcast WorkLife“With his characteristic blend of academic rigor and twinkle in the eye, Shawn Achor will change your view of happiness, of reality—and of yourself.”—Susan Cain, New York Times bestselling author of Quiet and Bittersweet Why are some people able to make positive change while others remain the same? In his international bestseller, The Happiness Advantage, Harvard-trained researcher Shawn Achor described why happiness is the precursor to greater success. Before Happiness is about what comes before both. Because before we can be happy or successful, we need to first develop the ability to see that positive change is possible. Only once we learn to see the world through a more positive lens can we summon all our motivation, emotion, and intelligence to achieve our personal and professional goals.In Before Happiness, Achor reveals five actionable, proven strategies for changing our lens to positive: • The Most Valuable Reality: See a broader range of ideas and solutions by changing the details on which your brain chooses to focus • Success Mapping: Set goals oriented around the things in life that matter to you most, whether career advancement or family or making a difference in the world• The X-spot: Use success accelerants to propel you more quickly towards those goals, whether finishing a marathon, reaching a sales target, learning a language, or losing ten pounds• Noise-Canceling: Boost the signal pointing you to opportunities and possibilities that others miss• Positive Inception: Transfer these skills to your team, your employees, and everyone around you By mastering these strategies, you’ll create a renewable source of positivity, motivation, and engagement that will allow you to reach your fullest potential in everything you do.

Feminist Fight Club

Business & Personal Finance

Part manual, part manifesto, a humorous yet incisive guide to navigating subtle sexism at work—a pocketbook Lean In for the Buzzfeed generation that provides real-life career advice and humorous reinforcement for a new generation of professional women.It was a fight club—but without the fighting and without the men. Every month, the women would huddle in a friend’s apartment to share sexist job frustrations and trade tips for how best to tackle them. Once upon a time, you might have called them a consciousness-raising group. But the problems of today’s working world are more subtle, less pronounced, harder to identify—and, if Ellen Pao is any indication, harder to prove—than those of their foremothers. These women weren’t just there to vent. They needed battle tactics. And so the fight club was born.Hard-hitting and entertaining, Feminist Fight Club blends personal stories with research, statistics, infographics, and no-bullsh*t expert advice. Bennett offers a new vocabulary for the sexist workplace archetypes women encounter everyday—such as the Manterrupter who talks over female colleagues in meetings or the Himitator who appropriates their ideas—and provides practical hacks for navigating other gender landmines in today’s working world. With original illustrations, Feminist Mad Libs, a Negotiation Cheat Sheet, as well as fascinating historical research and a kit for “How to Start Your Own Club,” Feminist Fight Club tackles both the external (sexist) and internal (self-sabotaging) behaviors that plague today’s women—as well as the system that perpetuates them.

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