Books published by Business Expert Press

Research shows that 90 percent of a project manager's time is spent communicating with various stakeholders. This book offers strategies that enhance communication throughout the project cycle and describes innovative techniques for bridging cultural gaps, increasing understanding, and ensuring project success.

Money cannot buy happiness, but a solid, profitable business can enable you to wake up each morning looking forward to the work you have to do. If you dream of owning your own small business because you want autonomy, freedom, meaning, and purpose, this book is for you. This is a self-coaching guide and a practical workbook. At the end of each thought provoking chapter you will find tools to help you with your business analysis, techniques for greater creativity, information about your brain and how it works and powerful questions to lead you to a fuller understanding of yourself and your business. Do you feel called to be an entrepreneur but hesitate because you do not know what to do? This book will help you find your way through the small business startup maze. The self-coaching exercises in this book are designed to move you from frustrated dreamer to becoming an action-oriented and business leader. All you need to do now to create a clear, low risk vision for building a profitable business is to read this book, do the exercises, and create your plan.

This book willenable the reader to develop global strategies based on trade information and trade flows analysis.Developing global business strategies in today's competitive and disruptive environment calls for greater interaction between the business sector and government. Among the instruments available today are various market analytic tools. These tools, coupled with new business models, not only provide a competitive edge but also becomes a necessity to survive in the global ever changing trade environment.This book concerns everyone dealing with market selection, market strategies, and trade policy. The reader will be able to develop global strategies based on trade information and trade flows analysis. An analysis of the most competitive countries in world trade shows the importance of pro-business policies, access to modern infrastructures, investment in research, and increased productivity. The authors explain how to design practical strategies in a global context, greater competition and uncertainty due to the introduction of new business models.

This book bridges the gap between the accounting and the actuarial sides of Indian life insurance companies, by exploring the relationships between the embedded value calculated by actuaries and the revenue account and balance sheet prepared by the accountants.The author provides publicly available sources of information to place a value on the shares of Indian life insurance companies from an outsider's point of view. Life insurance company accounts are complex and require knowledge of specific concepts in order to analyze and appreciate them.This book will help a layperson with reasonable numerical abilities understand the calculation of the share price of a life insurance company. In particular, it will help analysts and accountants with no actuarial background understand the concepts of embedded and appraisal value. Cash flow statements of these companies are often ignored and delegated to the background or usually to a single page in their annual reports.This book examines the cash flows in detail and rearranges them to get a better picture of the financial health of the underlying companies. It also explains the relationship between the different measures of profit such as cash reserves, surplus, profit after tax, and embedded value. Often this information is only available internally or to consultants. The author uses alternative approaches based purely on public disclosures by these companies, thereby enabling professionals without access to internal information to come to informed judgments about the actual performance of the companies.

Volume II of this series discusses the technology used to implement a big data analysis capability within a service-oriented organization. It discusses the technical architecture necessary to implement a big data analysis capability, some issues and challenges in big data analysis and utilization that an organization will face, and how to capture value from it.It will help readers understand what technology is required for a basic capability and what the expected benefits are from establishing a big data capability within their organization.

Chief Kickboxing Officer shows how the fighting and business mindsets cross over in this process of discovery and, in particular, what lessons can be learned from a highly refined and scientific type of fighting system: the martial arts.Business and fighting are two sides of the same coin. Every businessperson engages everyday in small acts of negotiation and conflict; understanding what characterizes our conduct, and what are its strengths and weakness, will help us develop more effective relationships.Chief Kickboxing Officer shows how the fighting and business mindsets cross over in this process of discovery and, in particular, what lessons can be learned from a highly refined and scientific type of fighting system: the martial arts.By looking at four types of behavioral and leadership styles and mapping each of them onto a martial art, this book allows the readers to learn lessons best suited to their personality.

The tourism industry continues to evolve as people's interests have changed. There has been a shift in the type of experiences sought when people travel. One of the reasons behind this is the desire for travelers to be more engaged as they travel and get to know a community through their culture and heritage. Tourists are craving authenticity. In an environment of chain restaurants, hotels, and stores people are seeking the differences of what communities offer. This book will be a guide to how a community can sustainably develop their cultural and tourism resources in order to attract and retain the sought-after cultural and heritage tourist.

Covers essential aspects of managing a small nonprofit (staffing, communications, charity governance, donations, corporate social responsibility, crowdfunding). With useful case studies, resources and links, it avoids jargon and intellectualizing.

Huge headlines across Africa have lamented the debilitating effects of corruption and fraud on the African economies and development. But is Africa ready for this fight? Do the antifraud practitioners possess strategies to equip Africa for this fight? This book highlights some of the major challenges facing developing and post conflict African countries with regard to, among others, (1) policy, political will, and legal framework in the prevention and deterrence of fraud and corruption; (2) strategies and coordination of institutional frameworks and institutions; (3) lack of human and infrastructural resources; and (4) the time- and energy-intensive nature of fraud detection, investigation, and resolution. The leadership and citizens of these countries are aware of the effects of fraud and corruption, but lack the strategies and sometimes the resources to prevent, deter, detect, investigate, or resolve fraud and corruption incidences. This is compounded by huge deficits in compliance because laws are either ignored or deliberately contravened, and regulations and ethical practices are circumvented. The book makes comments on some initiatives that have been tried at different levels of governance to stimulate debate in search of effective approaches to equip Africa fight fraud and corruption.

Quality is everyone's business, and there is no single professional discipline that can properly express this. Insights, knowledge, experience, best practice, tools, and techniques need to be shared across all kinds of organisational and professional boundaries.

With a series of experts considering financial services risk management in each of its key areas, this book enables the reader to appreciate a practitioners view of the challenges that are faced in practice identifying where appropriate suitable opportunities.

Financial risk management is a growing field of specialization in business. With the increased level of regulation and emphasis on financial reporting, the role of the financial risk manager has never been more prominent. This book covers the concepts, tools, and techniques of financial risk management in a comprehensive, yet easy-to-understand manner. Avoiding academic jargon wherever possible, the book has as its objective to be a rigorous, yet practical guide to financial risk management. This book is intended for senior managers, directors, risk managers, students of risk management, and all others who need to be concerned about financial risk management or who are interested in learning more about this growing career path.

Risk management is an often-used phrase that is rarely fully embedded within the business process and procedures of firms. This book looks at the challenges faced in implementing a risk management framework as well as the key elements of such a framework.

With a series of experts considering financial services risk management in each of its key areas, this book enables the reader to appreciate a practitioners view of the challenges that are faced in practice identifying where appropriate suitable opportunities.

Enterprise risk management has never been as topical. The 2008 financial crisis, ever-present cyber-security threats, market volatility, increasing regulation, climate change, stakeholder activism and changing workforce demographics are just a few of the factors creating a focus on enterprise risk management. This book lays out the basics of enterprise risk management in a common sense and highly applicable manner. This book, intended for general managers of all levels, board of directors, students of risk management and others who need to be concerned about risk management and strategy, provides a solid base for understanding best practice in risk management. It gives readers the concepts and tools to excel in the current dynamic risk management environment and make risk management a value-adding activity within their organization.

This book will bridge the knowledge gap and provide valuable insights into how sustainable HRM practices can contribute not only to organizational sustainability but also to sustainability at large. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on September 25, 2015 contains holistic, far reaching, and people-centered set of universal and transformative goals and targets. These call for strengthening capacities and providing an enabling environment for access to opportunities that are sustainable from economic, social, and environmental standpoints. Sustainability focus of the organization needs to go hand in hand with sustainable HRM systems, processes, and practices. But the reality is that sustainability is seldom a part of HR plans or strategic HR practices of most of the organizations. Human Resource Management for Organizational Sustainability offers a new paradigm by focusing on human resource systems and processes from the lens of sustainability. The book puts together the concepts, researches, and practices that advance the understanding of organizational sustainability through human resource management contributed by specialists from Austria, Germany, India, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States, with examples, cases, and review questions. Whereas environment-related aspects have been receiving increasing attention over the years, the "e;people"e; element of social responsibility has received limited attention in management education and also in the business world.

This book serves as a concise guide for businesses seeking to enter the U.S. market from an international perspective. The book examines how the United States is positioned in the global marketplace, the potential for businesses entering the U.S. market, and marketing trends and applications, with an emphasis on small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME) market expansion. Chalked full of success stories, readers will develop an understanding of American markets and the American consumer, marketing mix considerations, brand building and activation tools and strategies, approaches to developing a strong and differentiated brand for U.S. market entry, and analytics tools and methods for assessing marketing entry performance.

Competing in the financial markets will give both the novice and inter-mediate traders alike a comprehensive understanding of how to trade in the financial markets without losing their shirts. This book is primarily aimed at the undergraduate whose ambition is to either become a trader in a financial organization or trade online through a financial brokers trading platform. It provides seasoned online traders with new insights into financial assets other than currencies. In simple-to-understand, con-cise language, enhanced by relevant graphics, all the key trading tools available for traders are explained in enough detail that novice traders should be able to understand and learn how to trade effectively in the financial markets. Chapter by chapter, this book builds a comprehensive understanding of the basic building blocks of trading assets, covering key charting and technical tools including fundamental analysis and the key economic events. The author exposes the myth that trading is an unfath-omable mystery.

This book explores the basic tenets of service excellence, opening to distinguish customer service from service excellence, and explore the driving aspects of strategy and philosophy.The brand promise to customers creates expectations; hooks targeted and segmented customers into a relationship. Service operations deliver expectations, delight, or on occasion, disappointment, and marketing responds to create loyalty, further delight, or recover the relationship.Freshness of product or service offering, the injection of a characterful sense of fun, and sensitive personalization of service combine to deliver an authentic, pleasurable and memorable service experience prompting much sought loyalty and advocacy. In turn, staff are happy, profits rise and the organization has long-term sustainability.The first volume offers some theoretical background, while the second suggests mechanisms, tools, and techniques to help embed to excellence as the foundation of value that the organization delivers. Both contain practical examples and a self-assessment diagnostic tool to identify organizational areas of strength, and aspects to improve.

Econometrics for Daily Lives helps you collect data and analyze the relationship among numerous factors facing you in your everyday activities. This first volume comprises two parts. Part I reviews basic statistics and introduces the most elementary topics in econometrics, including simple regressions and multiple regressions. Part II discusses several problems arisen in data analyses, one problem at a time, so that you can learn to deal with each problem without having to master advanced topics in econometrics. The volume is full of examples and practical guidance on how to perform data analyses using Microsoft Excel.

This volume deals with advanced topics and specific problems in applied econometrics. Part III introduces advanced topics in econometric theory and contains three chapters. Chapter 7 deals with modeling issues and some phenomena that occur when the dataset you have collected has certain problems that need special attention for your results to be reliable. Chapter 8 analyzes the concepts and models that are not linear in their forms. Chapter 9 introduces several interesting models in advanced time-series techniques when a dataset is not stationary. Part IV applies the theoretical concepts learned in the previous chapters into empirical research. This part also consists of three chapters. Chapter 10 discusses the problem of selection bias and correcting methods. Chapter 11 introduces the regression discontinuity design and differences-in-differences models. Chapter 12 presents steps to carry out an empirical research project and provides strategies to avoid pitfalls in applied econometrics.

Gallup's State of the American Workplace showed that workplaces that are actively engaged outperform workplaces that are disengaged in every measure. This volume contains eight activities that create an engaged workplace and improve results.

This book points out that apart from usual "e;profit- maximizing business,"e;, there are some other types of business models which that serve social causes with profit. The author discusses some such business models, namely, social business, compassionate business, microfinance-based business, cooperative business, bottom- of- the- pyramid business, and social welfare business. The common point of all these business models is that they alleviate poverty and promote social development in a self-sustaining manner. The text identifies the main principles followed by these business models and suggests principles of benevolent business. Thus gives an idea about how to design a successful benevolent business. The author argues that along with the government and the NGOs, which are presently expected to meet the social developmental needs of the people, benevolent businesses should be promoted for fulfilling the social developmental needs. Such steps will endow social development and promote efficiency in meeting social developmental goals.

Describes how some Asian business schools are incorporating ethics, social responsibility and sustainability into their curricular and extra-curricular activities. The book identifes the challenges faced in providing such education and the implications thereof. In the process, it captures the unique favor of Asian business schools.

Strategic entrepreneurial and management approaches when converged with a passion for the arts, can lead business enterprises into new and exciting frontiers. This book brings together experts and thought leaders from around the world to uncover business success strategies for art enthusiasts worldwide.

Digital disruption is accelerating. Implementing a successful digital transformation strategy requires that senior managers make trade-off decisions to reinvent a business. Equally important all decision makers must learn to ask the right questions, use data and computer support in decision making, and increase their knowledge and skills. Creating a data-centric culture and rewarding data-based decision making leads to successful digital transformation. Join the digital journey. This book is targeted at managers, especially middle-level managers who are trying to come to grips with using data-based decision making in a transforming organization. The authors explore a number of broad questions including: How can managers become data-based decision makers? How can digital transformation become part of an organi-zational strategy? What new skills do managers need to implement digital transformation? How will we know an organization has been successfully transformed?

Management Accounting in Support of Strategy explores how management accounting can support the strategic management process of analysis, formulation, implementation, evaluation, monitoring, and control. If the management accountant is to add value to the business they need to understand how the business works. The toolbox available to the management accountant does not just contain the accounting techniques, but also includes the strategy models and frameworks described in this book. Armed with this array of tools the management accountant is well placed to add significant value to the business. The reader will gain an understanding of the strategic management framework, strategic models and tools, and how management accounting can support the strategic management process. It will be beneficial for undergraduate and postgraduate course students studying strategy or management accounting. The book will also enable practicing accountants to understand how they can make a significant contribution to the success of their organization by demonstrating how management accounting can be used in support of strategy.

At the core of exceptional leadership is the ability to lead self. Some level of proficiency can be demonstrated by simply focusing on leading others. But to achieve transformational results, leading self is essential. Cultivating self-awareness and developing a life plan are key elements of leading self. And really, should not leaders demonstrate a level of self-mastery before leading others? It is time that leaders move to a deeper understanding of themselves as they operate within a world of accelerated change and increasing complexity. Although leadership performance is evidenced in outward results, decisions, and actions, the genesis of the leadership performance is an internal endeavor. Resiliency and ethical behavior are grounded by having a strong sense of purpose, established vision, and clear operating values. To the degree that the leader is consciously leading self, the quality of his or her leadership corresponds. Be it for good or evil, conscious leadership is powerful. This book makes plain the case for enhanced self-awareness, provides case studies and research support, presents the voices of several master leadership coaches, and most importantly...leads the reader through the life planning process.

When faced with financial statements of a firm, very often students and even practitioners are seen to be at a loss where to begin with analysis. Most simply compute every ratio they know and interpret them in a standalone manner. They are unable to thread them together to spin a meaningful story that can completely or at least substantially explain what might be happening at the firm. Decision making of any kind based on such a piecemeal approach will remain flawed. This book uses a logical, top-down approach to unraveling the underlying story of the firm. It can be used by students and working executives who have a rudimentary prior idea of financial statements as well as familiarity with the very basic financial ratios. It is a myth that only executives in the finance function need to understand financial statements. Every decision within a firm has implications for the financial statements, and the need for such knowledge increases as one goes up the corporate ladder. The book is intended to be free flowing, with minimum jargon so as to be understood and appreciated especially by non-finance executives and students of business and management.