Business innovation Books

Book SynopsisCirque du Soliel CEO Daniel Lamarre shares what it takes for anyone, regardless of position or industry, to embrace the value of creative leadership.Trade Review'With a wholly unique creative spirit, Daniel Lamarre has established himself as a visionary leader by growing Cirque du Soleil into a globally beloved brand and redefining modern live entertainment in the process. Now, through this book, he's using the same singular sense of imagination that made Cirque du Soleil JOYand Agrave; such a smash hit at Vidanta Riviera Maya to illuminate the importance of bringing creativity to every aspect of your life.' * Daniel Chávez, Founder of Grupo Vidanta *'AEG's partnership with Cirque du Soleil throughout the world has grown immeasurably over the last 20 years thanks to Daniel Lamarre's vision, dedication and leadership. His global aspirations, brand commitment and creativity have fueled our mutual success and guided our relationship.' * Dan Beckerman, President & CEO, AEG Worldwide *'Cirque du Soleil has a well-deserved reputation for extraordinary creativity and the unsurpassed quality of its shows, and we are proud and excited to be partnering with them in bringing one-of-a-kind entertainment to guests of all ages.' * Bob Chapek, President & CEO, The Walt Disney Company *'Cirque du Soleil has been an inspiration for all creators in our industry. Working with Daniel Lamarre and his team, I was able to discover the business creativity behind this brand. In reading this book, it will stimulate your own creativity.' * Mark Burnett, Chairman, MGM Studios Worldwide Television Group / Creator & Producer of “Survivor” *'Hollywood could learn a lot from Cirque du Soleil about putting creativity first and foremost. It is their corporate culture, it is the air they breathe. How they make their magic can inspire us all.' * James Cameron, Academy Award-Winning Director *'The relationship between MGM Resorts and Cirque du Soleil is synonymous with Las Vegas' evolution as the Entertainment Capital of the World. From the first tent show behind The Mirage in the early 1990s to the four incredibly successful shows currently running on The Strip, we have together redefined the city's entertainment landscape and created a destination unlike any other in the world. I've been honored to work alongside Daniel Lamarre for 20 years during both good times and challenging ones for our organizations. His book is a great reminder that creativity and business should not be treated as two separate entities. When working together symbiotically, they have the ability to drive an organization to even greater heights.' * Bill Hornbuckle, President & CEO, MGM Resorts Group *

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Book SynopsisMeetings have become a pain point for millions, wasting time, money, and energy. But in reality, meetings are at the heart of effective organisations.

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Book SynopsisSteven Johnson, author of "Where Good Ideas Come From", "Emergence", "Everything Bad is Good for You", "Mind Wide Open" and "Ghost Map", and an acknowledged bestselling leader on the subject of innovation, gathers - for a foundational text on the subject of innovation - essays, interviews, and cutting-edge insights by such exciting field leaders as Peter Drucker, Richard Florida, Eric Von Hippel, Dean Keith Simonton, Arthur Koestler, John Seely Brown, and Marshall Berman. Johnson also provides new material from Marisa Mayer of Google, Twitter's Biz Stone and Jack Dorsey, and Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's former Chief Software Architect. With additional commentary by Johnson himself, this book reveals the innovation found in a wide range of fields, including science, technology, energy, transportation, education, art, and sociology, making it vital, fresh, and fascinating reading for our time, and for the future.

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Book SynopsisOrganizational change pioneer Richard Axelrod explained in the first edition of Terms of Engagement why the old mechanistic approaches to change no longer worked, and offered four essential new principles that lead to an engaged organization: I. Widen the circle of involvement; II. Connect people to each other and ideas; III. Create communities for action; and IV. Practice democratic principles.Drawing on numerous examples from such companies as Hewlett-Packard, Mercy Healthcare, First Union Bank, and others, Dick explained how the four principles of the Engagement Paradigm enabled leaders to create energy and commitment instead of apathy and resistance. Recognizing the potential for misapplication, he also showed how engagement can disengage, and identifies potential pitfalls to avoid.In this revised 2nd Edition, Dick again focuses on the four engagement principles but updates them to reflect current thinking and trends. It focuses on leadership and engagement, contains updated research findings on employee engagement and productivity, and includes more case studies and stories from a wider range of industries and organizations

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Book SynopsisWe all have a natural tendency to focus on what we donât want to happen, rather than on what we do want to happen., All this time and energy spent on worrying about avoiding pain and loss dominates far too many organizations, suppressing employee engagement and crippling growth. To escape this workplace culture-killer companies need their employees to look forward and focus intentionally on what they do want to happen. In Seeing Red Cars, expert trainer and speaker Laura Goodrich draws an enduring metaphor to show managers and their employees how to make the shift. Itâs a well-known truism that if you buy a red car, you suddenly start noticing red cars everywhere. By extension, if we make a conscious decision to focus on positive desired outcomes at work (and commit to a plan of conscious practice), we experience dramatically positive effects. The transition to affirmative thinking begins one person at a time and then grows, spreading virally through local teams and eventually the entire organization. Once a critical mass of employees has made this change, the Seeing Red Cars mentality becomes a part of the organizationâs core engine, driving growth, innovation, and bottom-line results.Seeing Red Cars provides a process that helps readers craft affirming âœI Wantâ statements and a plan for taking monthly, weekly, and daily steps in the desired direction. Animated throughout by the popular âœred carsâ metaphor, the bookâs three-stage methodology raise awareness, turn insight into action, turn action into outcomes enables readers to both shake destructive habits and achieve personal and organizational goals. Throughout, Goodrich draws on well-documented research on the brain and human behavior and provides entertaining and enlightening stories culled from her 15 years of coaching and advising hundreds of leaders and organizations through change and transition.

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Book SynopsisWe are living amidst a remarkable transformation. The linear, throwaway economy of today - in which we extract resources, create products, use them, and throw them away like a cheap plastic fork - is rapidly coming to a close. We are, simply put, running out of things to mine and places to trash. A new economy is being born, one that takes this line and turns it into a circle. Resource scarcity - the overfished ocean - is the reality virtually every company is swimming in. Those managers who deeply understand and master this shift will be able to turn the new reality into disruptive innovation and remarkable competitive advantage. Overfished Ocean Strategy offers five essential principles for developing products and services for this new reality. A business owner herself, Nadya Zhexembayeva fills the book with examples of companies that are already successfully navigating the overfished ocean. Unlike less-farsighted companies, they are not making âœgreenâ products as a sideline for a niche market but rather have made dealing with resource scarcity the central, driving force of their entire strategy. As these innovators ride ahead of the wave, new products, new business models, new markets, and new profits follow. You can join them, or you can be left standing on the shore.

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Book SynopsisMost companies, if they solicit employee ideas at all, essentially just set up a suggestion box, which employees know from experience is where ideas go to die. So nothing happens. But innovation is not an option - itâs the key to survival. And innovation needs new ideas. So where are those ideas going to come from? Using numerous examples, Robinson and Schroeder argue that the employees who interact directly with your customers, make your products, and provide your services are in the best position to see where problems exist and what improvements and new offerings would have the most impact. Robinson and Schroeder explain how leaders can build the kind of idea-driven company capable of implementing fifty to a hundred or more ideas per employee per year. Drawing on their work with companies worldwide, they show whatâs needed to put together a management team open to grassroots innovation and describe the strategies, policies, and practices that encourage - and those that discourage - employee ideas. They detail exactly how high-performing idea processes work and how to design one customized for your organization - including advice for teaching people how to come up with new ideas. The best ideas may come from the bottom, but they have to be systematically solicited from the top.

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Book SynopsisMillennials love it. Amateur investors made millions out of it, and its founders became billionaires. But professional investors steered clear, regarding it as over-valued.In a few short years, the Australian startup Afterpay has put a rocket under consumer finance and birthed a global industry. It pioneered the four-payments model that allows customers to bypass credit cards for online shopping and budgeting, with the cost borne by the retailer. Just five years after it was founded, Afterpay had changed the way a generation went shopping, how brands from big banks to fashion labels win customers, and how institutions value companies. Buy Now, Pay Later recounts the dramatic behind-the-scenes story of the founding and rise of Afterpay. It reveals the network of business and personal relationships that enabled the company to finance its speedy growth and the manoeuvring that enabled it to escape regulation for years, as well as the near-death experiences and rising concern that it is getting young people hooked on debt. Drawing on years of on-the-ground reporting and interviews with key figures involved in their rollercoaster ride, this is the Afterpay story told in full for the first time.Jonathan Shapiro and James Eyers report on banking and finance at The Australian Financial Review.'A gripping success story with a colourful Sydney cast, a story of innovation, courage, lucky breaks and above all family.' - Malcolm Turnbull, former Prime Minister of Australia 'Shapiro and Eyers tell the entertaining and illuminating story of how Afterpay emerged as a global, online-retailing power in a few short years.' - Gregory Zuckerman, The Wall Street Journal'Well written and well worth reading.' - David Gonski AC, company director 'A fascinating read of the journey behind one of the biggest Australian entrepreneurial successes of our time!' - Jane Lu, CEO and founder, ShowpoTable of ContentsPrologue 1 Rags to Riches2 Asset Strippers 3 Lay-by 4 Touch Point 5 Little King 6 Going Public 7 The Unsuspected Secret 8 Mickey Mouse and Marijuana 9 Broker Wars 10 Short on Time 11 House of Cards 12 Taking Credit 13 The Cub Club 14 Going Viral 15 Standing Down 16 Trending 17 Once in a Lifetime Epilogue Acknowledgements Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisMicroeconomic policies – in particular, industrial and innovation policies – are appraised and enforced within the framework of the rules relative to free movement and competition. This book introduces the current wave of innovative industrial policies in France. By giving a historical context to their development, the evolution of key economic concepts and theories are put into perspective. In addition, with the aim of articulating horizontal and vertical interventions, this book analyzes the difficulties for public authorities when it comes to linking these �matrix� policies.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements vii Introduction ix Chapter 1. Industrial Policy and Competition 1 1.1. The State and industrial policy 7 1.1.1. The State organizing the economy 8 1.1.2. Challenging the economic role of the State 16 1.2. Competition policy as the area of public action 19 1.2.1. Control of the market architecture 21 1.2.2. Monitoring the functioning of markets 38 1.3. Conclusion 50 Chapter 2. Competition and Innovation Policy 53 2.1. The renewal of the framework of thought 54 2.1.1. A new competitive economics 55 2.1.2. The geography of innovation 60 2.1.3. Innovation and competition policy: the Lisbon strategy 65 2.2. Innovation policy as a “new industrial policy” 69 2.2.1. Innovation and territory: competitiveness clusters 70 2.2.2. A new institutional framework for innovation 76 2.2.3. Support for innovative SMEs 78 2.3. The ambiguities of the “new industrial policy” 81 2.3.1. The logic of agglomeration 82 2.3.2. The logic of development 84 2.3.3. A new mode of governance 85 2.4. The Programme d’investissement d’avenir (PIA) 87 2.4.1. The logic of the Juppé-Rocard report 88 2.4.2. The PIA architecture 91 2.4.3. The link between the PIA and the competitiveness clusters 93 2.5. Conclusion 95 Chapter 3. Reindustrialization Through Innovation 97 3.1. The affirmation of an industrial ambition 100 3.1.1. A new concern: industry 101 3.1.2. The return of the sector concept 104 3.2. The nature of the industry 107 3.2.1. Problems in defining the industry 109 3.2.2. The question of industrial organization 115 3.3. Towards a renewal of State intervention 122 3.3.1. The new virtues of industrial policy 123 3.3.2. Rediscovering the argument for infant industry 126 3.4. Conclusion 129 Conclusion 133 References 145 Index 161

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Book SynopsisBased on the paradigms of economics and management, inspired by the history of technology and the sociology of technological change, the concepts of shared inventions and competitive innovations make it possible to analyze the industrialization of the world in a fresh and efficient way. As a new approach, shared inventions are classified in this book as a set of existing knowledge that�s often associated with the rediscovery of old techniques. Determining capitalized and collective intelligence, this knowledge and reinvention allows us to create inventions which will be shared, first in their construction, then in their use. Another new approach is that these competitive innovations are defined in World Industrialization by associations of experiences of competitively-motivated actors – actors seeking to complement existing techniques by increasing their competitive power. These shared inventions and competitive innovations will also be defined by trajectories identifying their modes of creation, enabling us to overcome the peculiarities of these actions and competitions. This book also highlights four key areas in global industrialization: the emergence of machinism with the defense of Arts and Crafts from 1698–1760; the changes the Industrial Revolution wrought in developed nations from 1760–1850; the link between technology and social relations within modern companies from 1850–1914; and, from 1914 onwards, the birth of extended machinism, its world wars and its global crises.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments xi Introduction xiii Part 1 Industrialization and its Conceptualizations 1 Introduction to Part 1 3 Chapter 1 The Notion of Industrialization and Other Related Notions 5 1.1 The notion of industrialization 5 1.1.1 The birth of the notion of industrialization 5 1.1.2 Industrialization according to economists 8 1.1.3 Industrialization according to management sciences 18 1.1.4 Sociologies of technology and knowledge 20 1.1.5 Industrialization according to technological historians 21 1.1.6 The objectives of histories of technology 23 1.1.7 The different histories of technology 28 1.1.8 The synthesis of these contributions: continuity or discontinuity? 35 1.2 The links between industrialization, technological revolutions and machinism 37 1.2.1 Industrialization and industrial revolutions 37 1.2.2 Industrialization and the various revolutions 38 1.2.3 Industrialization and machinism 38 Chapter 2 Social Dynamics, Shared Inventions and Competitive Innovations 41 2.1 Social dynamics 42 2.1.1 The glorification of arts and crafts: from guilds to arts and crafts communities 43 2.1.2 The defense and glory of nations 47 2.1.3 The links between technology, social relations and people at work 48 2.2 Evolution of the notions of technological change, invention and innovation 50 2.2.1 Technological changes and the temptation of symbols and representations 50 2.2.2 The ambiguities of the notion of invention 51 2.2.3 The enigmas of innovation 52 2.2.4 The end of the technological change/invention/innovation triangle? 53 2.3 Shared inventions 55 2.3.1 From the sharing of inventions to shared inventions 55 2.3.2 The first definitions of shared inventions 56 2.3.3 A definition of shared inventions 57 2.3.4 The trajectories of shared inventions 59 2.4 Competitive innovations 60 2.4.1 The first definitions of competitive innovations 60 2.4.2 The competition principles adopted 61 2.4.3 The trajectories of competitive innovations 62 Part 2 Historical Periods, Social Dynamics, Shared Inventions and Competitive Innovations 65 Introduction to Part 2 67 Chapter 3 1698–1760 or the Emergence of Machinism 69 3.1 The situation in 1698 69 3.1.1 Major changes in social relations, religions and manufactories 69 3.1.2 Manufactories and the organization of work in France and England 71 3.1.3 New models of manufactory organization 72 3.1.4 Performance of manufactories versus development of nations 73 3.1.5 Statement of account 74 3.2 1698–1760: industrialization and major changes 75 3.2.1 Conflicts between religions and the economy 75 3.2.2 Conflicts between nations 76 3.2.3 The willingness of governments to enact change in public affairs 76 3.3 The precursors and inventions of steam engines 77 3.3.1 The era of the Enlightenment and other imaginative inventors 77 3.3.2 The appearance of the true inventors 78 3.4 Steam engines and shared inventions 79 3.4.1 The first steam engine and its first patent 79 3.4.2 The first sharing of steam engines 81 3.5 Coke metallurgy 83 3.5.1 Reinventions 83 3.5.2 The search for substitutes 83 3.5.3 The invention of puddling 85 3.6 Sharing around the inventions of the textile industry 87 3.6.1 Weaving and the fly-shuttle 87 3.6.2 Perforated ribbons and weaving machines 87 3.7 “Printed cotton indiennes” or copies of inventions and the organization of factories 88 3.7.1 Sectoral characteristics of the shared inventions of this period 91 3.7.2 Strong tensions 93 Chapter 4 1760–1850 or the Industrial Revolution and its Competitive Innovations 95 4.1 The transition from the emergence of machinism and its shared inventions to the Industrial Revolution and its competitive innovations 95 4.2 The Industrial Revolution and competitive innovations (1760–1850) 96 4.2.1 Competitive innovations 97 4.2.2 The contradictions of the steam engine industry 98 4.2.3 The contradictions of the textile sector 100 4.2.4 The inescapable contradictions of machine tool production 103 4.3 1851: an inventory? 104 Chapter 5 1850–1914 or the New Shared Inventions and the Birth of the Modern Large Company 107 5.1 The invention of the modern large company 107 5.2 Precursors 109 5.2.1 The “ébauches” of Frédéric Japy (1771) 109 5.2.2 Oliver Evans’ “endless mill” (1784) 110 5.2.3 Honoré Blanc’s rifles and the Springfield Armory (1790, 1819) 110 5.2.4 Thomas Tassel-Grant’s “sea biscuits” (1830) 111 5.2.5 The inventions of Mr Johann Georg Bodmer (1833 onwards) 111 5.3 The Singer Manufacturing Company and the Civil War uniforms 111 5.3.1 The sewing machine, its invention and innovations 111 5.3.2 The true birth of the sewing machine can be traced from 1849 to 1850 113 5.3.3 The sewing machine and the organization of the company 114 5.4 The Chicago Yards and their integrated slaughterhouses 115 5.4.1 The actors involved in the creation of Union Stock Yards 116 5.4.2 The operating modes of the Union Stock Yards 119 5.5 The Swiss example 121 5.6 An almost totally invented inauguration and improbable analyses 122 5.7 The management of these shared inventions 125 5.7.1 The invention of the commercialization of products 125 5.7.2 The invention of marketing 126 5.7.3 Labor and employee management 127 5.7.4 The importance of the links between management tools and shared inventions 129 Chapter 6 1914 or the Birth of Extended Machinism 131 6.1 Major changes in social dynamics 131 6.1.1 World wars 131 6.1.2 The increasing number of crises 131 6.1.3 Profound changes in terms of social dynamics 132 6.2 Large shared inventions combined with competitive innovations 134 6.2.1 The irresistible growth of electricity 134 6.2.2 The extraordinary growth of gas and oil 136 6.2.3 Maritime and air transport 137 6.2.4 Metallurgy 137 6.2.5 Machine tools 139 6.2.6 Chemistry 140 6.2.7 Agriculture 140 6.2.8 Lifestyles 141 6.2.9 Computing and the reinvention of calculating machines 143 6.2.10 Automation 146 Conclusion 149 References 157 Index 171

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisAcquire the knowledge needed to work effectively in conversational artificial intelligence (AI)and understand the opportunities and threats it can potentially bring. This book will help you navigate from the traditional world of dialogue systems that revolve around hard coded scripts, to the world of large language models, prompt engineering,conversational AI platforms, multi-modality, and ultimately autonomous agents. In this new world, decisions are made by a system that may forever remain a black box' for most of us. This book aims to eliminate unnecessary noise and describe the fundamental components of conversational AI. Past experiences will prove invaluable in constructing seamless hybrid systems. This book will provide the most recommended solutions, recognizing that it is not always necessary to blindly pursue new tools. Written in unprecedented and turbulent times for conversational interfaces you'll see that despite previous waves of advancement in conversational technology, now conversational interfaces are gaining unparalleled popularity. Specifically, the release of ChatGPT in November 2022 by Open AI revolutionized the conversational paradigm and showed how easy and intuitive communication with a computer can be. Old professions are being disrupted, new professions are emerging, and even the most conservative corporations are changing their strategy and experimenting with large language models, allocating an unprecedented amount of budget to these projects. No one knows for sure the exact future of conversational AI, but everyone agrees that it's here to stay.What You'll LearnSee how large language models are constructed and used in conversational systems Review the risks and challenges of new technologies in conversational AI Examine techniques for prompt engineering Enable practitioners to keep abreast of recent developments in conversational AIWho This Book Is For Conversation designers, product owners, and product or project managers in conversational AI who wish to learn about new methods and challenges posed by the recent emergence in the public domain of ChatGPT. Data scientists, final year undergraduates and graduates of computer science

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