Management decision making Books

Book SynopsisThe fourth edition of Cost-Benefit Analysis is an authoritative, market-leading textbook that provides a practical introduction to cost-benefit analysis through problem solving. The text uses a consistent application of a nine-step framework for interpreting a cost-benefit analysis. This edition has been fully revised, updated and re-organized to provide the material more effectively. It presents application over abstract theory and clear discussion over mathematics to appeal to a larger, more diverse audience.

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Book SynopsisBased on unique access interviews with leading chairmen and senior executives, All Above Board examines the key functions of the ideal 21st century board, how and why badly led boards fail, and what changes can be made to improve board behavior and efficiency for best practice.Trade Review'Corporate Governance has come to the forefront as a key to corporate success or failure. In this book Ulf Lindgren summarizes the issues around the board such as the composition, its role and responsibilities as well the relationships between the chairman, CEO and the rest of the board. But most importantly he gives very good real examples of what works and what doesn't. This is a must read for anyone engaged in corporate boards or corporate governance.' - Dr. Lars Thunell, Board member of Standard Chartered Bank ltd. Former Executive Vice President and CEO of the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group 'This book is equally valuable for Owners, Board Members and CEOs. All Above Board offers concrete insights and compelling examples of models that enable these three parties to not only achieve effective synchronization and communication of their core mission and strategy, but to excel in the execution of this beyond the mere sum of their collective competence. It is highly readable and full of practical takeaways.' - Nick Kaye, Executive Director, Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship 'Ulf Lindgren clearly knows his topic well and he gives many practical examples how to improve the role of the board in creating value for the corporation. All Above the Board has many real life stories and will be a must read for any business leader. The book summarizes in an excellent way practical lessons learned on the issues any board could have.' - Kjell Spångberg, Founder of Canyon Equity and chairman of the board of HEG 'As a member of multiple Boards I highly recommend anyone interested in, or, engaged in the functioning of corporate Boards to read All Above Board. The author gives, with his vast experience, very valuable insight into the actual and real functioning of the Board and the experiences learned in some of the world's leading corporations. This book is a must for both practitioners and academics interested in good governance!' - Dr. Laurent Leksell, Executive Director and Founder of Elekta AB 'The impact of the Board of Directors on corporate values is powerful and often overshadowed. This book is a must-read tool for all companies aiming to enhance theirs and create enduring organisations.' - Ann O'Leary, Co-founder of O'Learys Bar and Restaurants and EntrepreneurTable of ContentsIntroduction The Board of the Future Enhancing the Chairman's Value Chairman and CEO - Tandem at the Top The One Team Board Challenge The Board and Innovation Boosting Peak Performance Setting Strategic Agendas Summary and Conclusions Research Methodology

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Book SynopsisResilient people are happier, healthier, and more productive. Psychologist and business writer Adrian Furnham takes a sideways and entertaining look at the challenges of being a leader, demonstrating how resilience can be honed, developed, and used as a personal life raft to keep afloat in the face of adversity.Trade Review'Adrian Furnham is the best known social psychologist in the UK. He is widely travelled, widely read, broadly educated, and has a keen eye for the gritty absurdities of organizational life. This book, a collection of wide ranging and sharp observations on how management affects the well-being of everyone is a witty, fun, engaging, provocative, and ultimately very rewarding read.' -Robert Hogan, CEO Hogan Assessments, USA 'Furnham's latest masterpiece expertly blends academic rigour, real-world relevance and pithy observations to help managers and scholars alike get to grips with issues like how to build a team for resilience, getting the best out of people and dealing with the daily grind.' -Dr Mark Batey, Manchester Business School 'The Resilient Manager is another excellent book in the series. In these turbulent times, to survive and flourish managers need to be resilient. Professor Furnham has done a masterful job in helping managers confront this challenge a must read for all managers.' -Cary L. Cooper, CBE, Pro Vice Chancellor for External Relations & Distinguished Professor of Organizational Psychology & Health Lancaster University Management School 'Resilience, almost more than any other attribute, is needed to survive in a world where you are continually bombarded with competing and often biased views on everything, and where change is always top of the agenda. Resilience is a key attribute for a manager to survive in this kind of environment. This book explains the problems of modern management, identifies resilience as a key issue and provides helpful suggestions.' -Professor Chris J. Jackson, Head of School, School of Management Australian School of BusinessTable of ContentsPreface Introduction 1. Building a Team 2. Getting the Best out of People 3. The Daily Grind 4. It's all in the Delivery – Management Behavior 5. Learning on the Job 6. Life Beyond

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Book Synopsis An exploration of how computer algorithms can be applied to our everyday lives to solve common decision-making problems and illuminate the workings of the human mind. What should we do, or leave undone, in a day or a lifetime? How much messiness should we accept? What balance of the new and familiar is the most fulfilling? These may seem like uniquely human quandaries, but they are not. Computers, like us, confront limited space and time, so computer scientists have been grappling with similar problems for decades. And the solutions they've found have much to teach us.In a dazzlingly interdisciplinary work, Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths show how algorithms developed for computers also untangle very human questions. They explain how to have better hunches and when to leave things to chance, how to deal with overwhelming choices and how best to connect with others. From finding a spouse to finding a parking spot, from organizing one's inbox to peering in

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Book SynopsisThe definitive guide to eliminating the forces that make it harder, more complicated, or downright impossible to get things done in organizations. Find out why Adam Grant says If every leader took the ideas in this book seriously, the world would be a less miserable, more productive place.Every organization is plagued by destructive friction. Yet some forms of friction are incredibly useful, and leaders who attempt to improve workplace efficiency often make things even worse. Drawing from seven years of hands-on research, The Friction Project by bestselling authors Robert I. Sutton and Huggy Rao teaches readers how to become friction fixers.Sutton and Rao kick off the book by unpacking how skilled friction fixers think and act like trustees of others' time. They provide friction forensics to help readers identify where to avert and repair bad organizational friction and where to maintain and inject good friction. Then their help pyramid shows how

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Book SynopsisTo facilitate the use of R, the authors have developed an R package called Benchmarking, which implements the main methods within both DEA and SFA.The book uses mathematical formulations of models and assumptions, but it de-emphasizes the formal proofs - in part by placing them in appendices -- or by referring to the original sources.Trade ReviewFrom the reviews:“Benchmarking with DEA, SFA, and R covers data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) … . Although more advanced readers … will gain more from reading this book, it contains something for all who are interested in the principles underlying DEA and SFA and who want to know how to use these methods … . the book is appropriate for readers who have a fairly good foundation in the methods of DEA and SFA and wish to raise their level of understanding.” (Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Interfaces, Vol. 42 (3), May-June, 2012)Table of Contents1. Introduction to Benchmarking.- 2. Efficiency Measures.- 3. Production Models and Technology.- 4. Data Envelopment Analysis DEA.- 5. Additional Topics in DEA.- 6. Statistical Analysis in DEA.- 7. Stochastic Frontier Analysis SFA.- 8. Additional Topics in SFA.- 9. Merger Analysis.- 10. Regulation and Contracting.- Appendix. Getting Started with R: A Quick Introduction.

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Book SynopsisThis book provides up-to-date analytical tools to address challenging operational problems in renewable energy production facilities, such as wind- and solar-based generation units. It includes many illustrative examples.Table of ContentsIntroduction.- Renewable Energy Sources - Modeling and Forecasting.- Clearing the Day-Ahead Market with a High Penetration of Stochastic Production.- Balancing Markets.- Managing Uncertainty with Flexibility.- Impact of Stochastic Renewable Energy Generation on Market Quantities.- Trading Stochastic Production in Electricity Pools.- Virtual Power Plants.- Facilitating Renewable Integration by Demand Response.- Random Variables and Stochastic Processes.- Basics of Optimization.- Introduction to Stochastic Programming.- Introduction to Robust Optimization.- GAMS Codes.

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Book Synopsis​This textbook on Linear and Nonlinear Optimization is intended for graduate and advanced undergraduate students in operations research and related fields.Trade Review“The historical notes in the book are interesting and well placed. … The book’s list of important references is quite complete. … this book is destined to become a classic in the field for beginning graduate students in optimization.” (S. Zlobec, Mathematical Reviews, January, 2018)Table of ContentsChapter 1. LP Models and Applications.- Chapter 2. Linear Equations and Inequalities.- Chapter 3. The Simplex Algorithm.- Chapter 4. The Simplex Algorithm Continued.- Chapter 5. Duality and the Dual Simplex Algorithm.- Chapter 6. Postoptimality Analysis.- Chapter 7. Some Computational Considerations.- Chapter 8. NLP Models and Applications.- Chapter 9. Unconstrained Optimization.- Chapter 10. Descent Methods.- Chapter 11. Optimality Conditions.- Chapter 12. Problems with Linear Constraints.- Chapter 13. Problems with Nonlinear Constraints.- Chapter 14. Interior-Point Methods.

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