Books published by Business Expert Press

The hospitality industry is one of the world's largest and oldest industries. A Profile of the Hospitality Industry provides an inside look to the strategies of this industry. This book reviews the developments, challenges, and opportunities for the hotel, restaurant, foodservice and gaming industries. The hospitality industry is unique in many aspects which makes this book a must read for hospitality students, business students and those interested in management strategy.

Law is supposed to encourage innovation, morality, and conformity with societal expectations, yet it may provides perverse incentives causing individuals, or even the State, to act in discordant, inefficient, and even immoral ways. This book will explore the inefficiencies that are created that serve to deny individuals work and shelter in a haphazard and capricious manner. The author examines property rights, including eminent domain, that lets the State take property away with seemingly arbitrary compensation to the owner. Individuals must understand both civil law, codified by statutes, and common law, enshrined in precedential judicial decisions. This book is written for economists and non-economists and has an extensive glossary of economic, political and legal terms. Two items that are not formally treated in other economics of law textbooks are the legal organization of businesses and tax law from an economics perspective.

We may say we want to be inclusive, but what if we really don't? What if our brains are hard-wired for selfishness and similarity and not for diversity and altruism? Having a diverse workforce is no guarantee that the work environment is inclusive. Companies hire for diversity and manage for similarity. We hire people for their difference and then teach them directly and indirectly what they have to do to fit in to the corporate culture. The Illusion of Inclusion exposes a myriad of diverse reasons why people are not more fully engaged and offers you the key to unlock the "e;Geometry of Inclusion"e;. This book takes the lid off Pandora's box and explores the complexity of inclusion; where affinity bias or "e;mini-me"e; syndrome and the need to fit in are unconsciously blocking our ability to be inclusive. It offers a road map and an easy to comprehend model on how to minimize the impact of unconscious and conscious biases in order to embed an inclusive organizational culture.

Nonparametric statistics provide a scientific methodology for cases where customary statistics are not applicable. Nonparametric statistics are used when the requirements for parametric analysis fail, such as when data are not normally distributed or the sample size is too small. The method provides an alternative for such cases and is often nearly as powerful as parametric statistics. Another advantage of nonparametric statistics is that it offers analytical methods that are not available otherwise. Nonparametric methods are intuitive and simple to comprehend, which helps researchers in the social sciences understand the methods in spite of lacking mathematical rigor needed in analytical methods customarily used in science. This book is a methodology book and bypasses theoretical proofs while providing comprehensive explanations of the logic behind the methods and ample examples, which are all solved using direct computations as well as by using Stata. It is arranged into two integrated volumes. Although each volume, and for that matter each chapter, can be used separately, it is advisable to read as much of both volumes as possible; because familiarity with what is applicable for different problems will enhance capabilities.

Most decisions and plans in a firm require a forecast. Not matching supply with demand can make or break any business, and that's why forecasting is so invaluable. Forecasting can appear as a frightening topic with many arcane equations to master. For this reason, the authors start out from the very basics and provide a non-technical overview of common forecasting techniques as well as organizational aspects of creating a robust forecasting process. The book also discusses how to measure forecast accuracy to hold people accountable and guide continuous improvement. This book does not require prior knowledge of higher mathematics, statistics, or operations research. It is designed to serve as a first introduction to the non-expert, such as a manager overseeing a forecasting group, or an MBA student who needs to be familiar with the broad outlines of forecasting without specializing in it.

Real estate development accounts for one of the major economic sectors in most countries, yet during the last two decades research on this important topic has been scattered. This textbook brings together some of the most important results on this subject. The book is written in a pedagogical way and covers crucial aspects of this industry such as growth management and real options, land use regulations, mixed housing developments, taxes, externalities, housing affordability problems, land prices and uncertainty, public infrastructures, and housing supply. This book is an excellent source for an advance course in real estate development that attempts to cover important contributions in this area. The has included multiple choice questions to test students' assimilation of the material.

Tremendous technological progress in the last half century has exponentially grown productivity as well as increased automation to reduce the costs of operation for businesses. On one hand, ever-growing productivity has reduced requirements for manual labor through automation. But, on other hand, huge unemployment created from reduction of workforce due to automaAtion, has reduced the consumer purchasing power and is indirectly hurting the Return on Investments (RoI). This brings any further progress of technology to a standstill. For technology to progress both supply and demand have to grow. The supply comes from producAtivity of workforce and demand comes from their wages. Hence, free markets must ensure that wages automatically catch up with ever-growing productivity, with minimal government inAtervention. To avoid automation from destroying jobs in an economy, free markets should ensure that working hours of workforce be reduced during the waning phase of economy and increased during its waxing phase.

CBA is an attempt to fully account for all costs associated with a new proposal along with a detailed calculation of specific private and public benefits. Properly employed, CBA is simply a method for assessing a proposal prior to a collective decision by calculating net benefits relative to an alternative project or the default option of doing nothing.

The technique of regression analysis is used so often in business and economics today that an understanding of its use is necessary for almost everyone engaged in the field. This book covers essential elements of building and understanding regression models in a business/economic context in an intuitive manner. The book provides a non-theoretical treatment that is accessible to readers with even a limited statistical background. This book describes exactly how regression models are developed and evaluated. The data used in the book are the kind of data managers are faced with in the real world. The book provides instructions and screen shots for using Microsoft Excel to build business/economic regression models. Upon completion, the reader will be able to interpret the output of the regression models and evaluate the models for accuracy and shortcomings.

The airline industry is one of the most fascinating in the world, with roots going back to the earliest years of the 20th century. Not long after the Wright brothers flew successfully for the first time in 1903, interest in aviation for military and commercial purposes began. In the late teens, the U.S. government began offering potentially lucrative airmail contracts to start-up air carriers, who competed vigorously for them often with disastrous results. Despite the rocky start, the carriers persevered and, by the 1930s, were beginning to look like the companies we see today. This book will provide the reader insight into the nature of the airlines and why companies promulgate the strategies they do. First, the history of commercial air services will be examined, with an initial focus on the United States. After this background, airline operations around the world will be compared and the different types of carriers that comprise the industry will be discussed. Next, the reader will learn about important uncontrollable outside forces (fuel costs, terrorism, economic conditions, etc.) that can have dramatic and potentially devastating impacts on an airline. Finally, in the face of expected increases in the demand for the global movement of passengers and cargo, future opportunities and challenges facing the airline industry will be presented.

Devoted to the financing aspects and provides insight into the New Sources of Financing with particular reference to infrastructure and social projects and the PPP approaches relating thereto, Government Funding Policy, and the project sponsor and the issues relating to time and cost over-run of projects.

Caribbean economies have been faced with mounting challenges arising from the increasing pace of economic globalization. The Modern Caribbean Economy provides scholars and practitioners with alternative theoretical perspectives and concrete policy recommendations.

Businesses recognize the need to become more customer focused, but struggle to see how. At the same time, our logic and business models for selling digital content and services are broken. Digital relationships enable services at low cost, but we still focus on discrete transactions at prices that consumers see as exploitive. This book explains how a revolutionary approach to pricing can solve these problems. It proposes a new architecture for cooperative service relationships that is personalized and continuously adaptive. FairPay operationalizes a new logic for conducting ongoing business relationships that adaptively seek win-win value propositions in which price reflects value. At a practical level, the author explains how this can be applied to transform a range of industries -- with motivations, and guidelines for implementation in stages -- to enhance loyalty, market share, and profits. At a conceptual level, he explores how novel processes for participative co-pricing can dynamically seek agreement on win-win value propositions -- to approach optimal price discrimination over a series of transactions. FairPay applies modern behavioral economics in choice architectures that enable deep relationship marketing. An online supplement is provided.

Project management sophistication is the state of enterprise practices in which success of projects is predictable and that the definitive measure of project management success continually improves with time. Sophistication in project management will lead to efficiency in operations and better profits. Enlightened enterprises are sensitive to project management sophistication and the definitive way of measuring it and improving it. As full assessment of the organizational project management sophistication is relatively time consuming and costly, enterprises have a need and desire for instruments that would provide an estimate of the project management maturity of the organization with less effort. This book includes such instruments and attributes of a successful enterprise. Attributes of Project-Friendly Enterprises creates a structured approach and presents attributes of a healthy project environment that include key indicators of success for projects, proposals, portfolios, project teams, Project Management Office (PMO), and the enterprise.

Digital branding is the creation and development of communications strategies specifically for brands to have a meaningful context on the web. Branding is not what you say but what you do. In this book, we will create together step by step your digital branding strategy and give your consumers an unforgettable experience.

This book addresses gaps in current project management literature. From a senior management perspective, the gap is the lack of resources explaining why and how to establish a program to improve executive sponsorship strategically across an organization. From a tactical perspective, the gap is a scarcity of actionable materials to clarify roles, responsibilities, expected behaviors, and identify support necessary for improving sponsor effectiveness. Improving Executive Sponsorship of Projects identifies key factors to consider before creating an executive sponsorship improvement program or enhancing an existing one. The authors explain why executive sponsorship is important to an organization, how an organization's culture influences the effectiveness of the sponsor role, and why project management standards are critical to success. The book explores what roles, responsibilities, and behavior should be considered and how to determine whether the person in the sponsor role is the right person and prepared to do the job. Finally, it provides a process and tools to assess an organization's readiness to implement an executive sponsorship program, develop a plan for improvement, and monitor the progress of a program once it has begun.

Accounting is an economic information system, and can be thought of as the language of business. Accounting principles cannot be discovered; they are created, developed, or decreed and are supported or justified by intuition, authority, and acceptability. Managers have alternatives in their accounting choices; the decisions are political, and trade-offs will be made. Accounting information provides individuals, both inside and outside a firm, with a starting point to understand and evaluate the key drivers of a firm, its financial position, and performance. If you are managing a firm, investing in a firm, lending to a firm, or even working for a firm, you should be able to read the firm's financial statements and ask questions based on those statements. This book explains the fundamentals of financial statements. It is designed and meant to explain the language of accounting to non-accountants (i.e., those who hire accountants). After reading this book, you should be able to pick up an annual report, read it, understand much of it, and have a solid foundation to start asking questions about the firm. This book will show you that accounting can be informative and fun!

Nearly seven decades ago, six countries in Western Europe (Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) decided to take economic cooperation to the next level. The vision of the EU founding states, epitomized by the Schuman Declaration in 1950, was to tie their economies so closely together that war would become impossible. Robert Schuman, author of the plan, believed Europe could not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It would have to be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity. The countries within the "e;European Community"e; benefited enormously from free trade and common economic policies, in particular structural funds designed to foster convergence by funding infrastructure and investments in poorer regions. This book examines how similar transitions and integration into the European Union are experienced in individual central and eastern European states through the use of country scans in the regional blocks of CEE, SEE, and CIS.

RFID (radio-frequency identification) is increasing its presence in our personal and business lives-you name it and RFID is likely to be finding its way there. RFID has many advantages over other auto-ID technologies, including its ability to read tags at the item level while the items are still in boxes and pallets and out of line of sight. In addition, RFID tags are reusable, which helps reduce the costs associated with an RFID system. RFID is a technology that can provide decision makers with real-time information to result in better and timelier decisions. It can help increase efficiency, security, and asset control. This second edition contains updated information on the technology and its uses, new and updated examples, and a new case study. This book provides readers with no prior knowledge of RFID with the basics of the technology, guidelines for considering its use, examples of how RFID is being used effectively in a variety of organizations, and guidelines for implementing an RFID system.

This book provides the quintessential information needed to understand the financial side of the retirement planning coin. Readers will begin by learning about the various plan types available to the employers to offer to their employees. The topics related to compliance testing are thoroughly discussed as well as strategies used to legally shift benefits in favor of the highly compensated employees. However, some employers do not sponsor a plan. In this instance, retirement savers will need to understand the options available in the world of individual retirement accounts. This book is not intended to provide investment advice, but rather to guide how different retirement savings vehicles function and how they can be effectively deployed. Many financial professionals find that their clients will ask questions about all aspects of their financial life. For this reason, this book also discusses non-investment-related topics, such as housing options, social security planning, Medicare planning, and a few other basic insurance-based issues faced by all retirees.

From the moment of their first client engagement, consultants in all fields face communication opportunities and challenges. No matter what their focus may be-professional services, accounting, technology, operations, human resources, manufacturing, or marketing-consultants drive change. That change, from its initial definition through its development and deployment, must be precisely communicated to a variety of audiences and through a variety of mediums. Most business communication books do a good job leading professional writers and presenters through the basics of audience, organization, formatting, and mechanics. But, only few focus on a specific business role, such as that of a consultant, and give guidance for communicating during all stages of a project. From the pre-engagement process, to the actual engagement, to the post-engagement follow-up, consultants are challenged by the variety of audiences whose roles continually shift throughout a project. This book guides a current or would-be consultant through the various phases of a typical engagement and gives practical advice and direction on written and oral communication throughout a project. Current and future consultants in all fields will gain specific knowledge about writing and presenting to a variety of audiences including clients, team members, managers, and executives.

A book for any organization that needs guidance on the journey toward sustainability. To be sustainable, your organization needs to consider the triple bottom line of economic, environmental, and social returns, so that it can be assured of a steady supply of inputs such as materials and labour.

Within Europe, employment law has grown as a result of regional rather than national legislation. The European Union has been at the fore of developing a comprehensive framework to protect workers from unfair practices and discrimination. In addition to the European Union, the Council of Europe also plays a role in protecting workers. The European Social Charter and the European Convention on Human Rights contain provisions relevant to the employment relationship. This publication will give the U.S. business student an overview of the key laws governing the area of employment in Europe. Here we look at the obligations and regulations surrounding the contract of employment, the laws surrounding equality and nondiscrimination, and the protection for unions and collective bargaining. Comparisons are drawn with American law and regulation at regular intervals to illustrate different practices within Europe and the United States. This book will provide the student with knowledge of the essential elements of European Employment Law in a concise and easy-to-understand manner.

If we are creating most of our competitive advantage at the strategic planning stage, why are we spending so little time on this and so much time on technology? This book is not about why you should digitally transform and become more strategic; it's about how. It lays out the steps that must be taken, the data that should be used, and the decision tree to be followed. Following the principles laid out in this book allows organizational leaders, marketers, and technologists to talk at a high strategic level without getting bogged down in the tactics and delivery that consumes most of the time, attention, and activity in the modern workplace. Use the seven principles of digital business strategy to define the direction of travel for your business in today's digital economy.

If you want to excel at any art form, you have to master the craft. Artists spend years mastering their craft and then their whole lives working on that craft. The same is true for professional athletes. If you want to practice the art of leadership, you have to master the craft of leadership. What is the craft of leadership? Leadership is the craft of working with other humans in order to motivate and inspire them to complete their tasks and reach their goals. This is a "e;how-to"e; book for learning the techniques of reflective practice in the action science and action inquiry traditions in order to develop and practice that craft. The book explains how to use various tools, such as the Ladder of Inference, the Learning Pathways Grid, and the Change Immunity Map, for offline reflection and active experimentation in order to develop and practice the craft of leadership.

Smart Marketing is designed to help organizations looking for significant growth. Offering a great product or service does not guarantee success-to win these days, a business must also excel at marketing and selling. In most instances, a big marketing team and budget also isn't necessary. To achieve big goals, focus must be put on the most important marketing and sales activities that generate the biggest impact for the business. This book outlines what those activities are and how to implement them. This book will appeal to CEOs, business owners, and independent professionals. It will also be very useful for marketers and sales managers. It is a "e;how to"e; guide to help readers cut through the hype and get straight to what really matters to this audience-growing business and revenue.

Investigates the genesis and success of innovation in the hospitality industry as detailed in over four dozen case studies. In many of the cases studies, the innovators themselves provide the insights into their innovative inspiration and the lessons learned from the way they brought their innovative ideas to life.

The book follows the story of the Big Beverage Company, a large multinational company, whose main source of profit is coffee. Their growth has stalled though in the face of increased competition from private label brands, and consumption shifts to different channels. As their growth has slowed so too the total categories, and so one afternoon their biggest retail customer, Shopmart, calls to ask for their help in getting the category growing again. This sets the Big Beverage Company and their management team on a journey from being a brand-focused business, to one that understands how a broader emphasis on the category and its shoppers can lead to greater growth for themselves and their retail partners.