Advanced Series in Management – serie

This volume unifies central parts of organization and management theory that have thus far been fragmented and unconnected. It integrates prior research on organizational types and transitions, and also spawns a number of incipient theories about organizational transformations. The book develops the framework of a "symbolic economy" in which organizations are viewed as fundamentally concerned with symbol-processing devices. A key notion is "planning cultures" - global mental representations of an organization, or collective frames of mind expressing different levels of strategic capacity. Organizational transitions are seen as movements on a buckled or warped field between seven different planning cultures, motivated by the need to economize on "social energy". This field is shaped by various transforming factors, most notably uncertainty and pressure.

Traditional notions of stand-alone, "atomistic" organizations are giving way to new concepts about organizations and new modes of organizational interaction. Systems thinking is now becoming an essential skill for managers and management researchers who want to understand new kinds of competitive and cooperative interrelationships between organizations. This volume brings together systems and strategy thinkers to develop a number of systems perspectives and approaches that are essential in managing today's organizations. A main feature of this volume is its careful integration of systems concepts with contemporary strategic management ideas about organizational resources, capabilities, and management processes. The work explains essential systems concepts and their central role in current ideas about organizational competence. Papers in the volume apply systems concepts to: modelling practical management problems; reconceptualizing the nature of organizations and their internal processes; improving managerial sensemaking capabilities in complex environments; devising "simple rules" for reducing and managing organizational complexity. Several case studies and examples are used to illustrate key systems concepts and their application to management practice. The book also provides a solid grounding in essential systems concepts for management researchers developing new management theory for today's complex environments, as well as practical insights for managers who must manage increasing complexity in their organizations today.

Traditionally, organizations have consisted of collections of people who physically gather together in one place to carry out some kind of coordinated activity. Today, however, business is increasingly relying on "virtual" processes in which people engage in internet-mediated interactions that often span the globe. These processes create intangible "imaginary organizations" that exist largely as a concept in the minds of electronically interacting individuals. As more and more high value-added work is performed by knowledge workers interacting through electronically mediated networks, however, managers and management researchers must evolve new concepts for monitoring, interpreting, assessing, and managing activities carried out in such virtual settings. This volume presents an important multidisciplinary approach to understanding these new kinds of imaginary organizations and their processes. Close reading of the papers in this volume should reward the reader with new insights into the inner workings of the new kinds of virtual organizations and processes that are gaining increasing prominence in business.

The main contribution of this book is the living composition, the model of living organizations. It is a new and original interpretation of the theory of living, self-producing systems (autopoiesis theory). Living composition is defined here as strategic components and their relationships. A living organization is thereby a self-producing system that is composed of ten different non-physical strategic components that are continually produced by the organization itself. The components and their relationships are defined so that they enable and facilitate interconnected openness and closure, i.e. the 'sensing' (interactive openness) and 'memory' (self-referentiality) of an organization. These characteristics and related knowledge flows enable the capability to learn and co-evolve with the broader business ecosystem. This book also presents consistency/intentionality platforms and evolution models that help to evaluate the learning and renewal capability of an organization and to improve its enabling infrastructure. The living composition model has multiple implications for managers, consultants, and academics. It helps to identify the characteristics and development potential of the enabling structures of an organization, and to evaluate various development methods and activities in a larger framework. The sources of organizational learning and renewal are diverse and difficult to understand. This book shows how organizational learning and renewal can be explained by the theory of self-producing systems.

In January 1995, the first Complexity Seminar was held at the London School of Economics, in the UK. This was quite a momentous occasion as it proved to be the turning point for the series of seminars, which had started in December 1992. That seminar and those that followed it, had a profound effect on the research interests of Eve Mitleton-Kelly, the initiator and organiser of the series and editor of this volume, and thus laid the foundation for what became the LSE Complexity Research Programme, which proceeded to win several research awards for collaborative projects with companies. But the series also provided the material for this book. Earlier versions of the papers selected for this volume were first given at the LSE Complexity Seminar series. The seminar series, focussed primarily on the application of the theories of complexity to organisations - an area of study which was quite new to UK businesses and academics; it slowly helped to disseminate these ideas and today, there is a proliferation of networks and seminar series throughout the UK on complexity; a strong and active academic community studying complexity in different disciplines and a growing number of organisations, experimenting with these revolutionary ideas and putting them into practice. The 14 international authors in this volume reflect this interest in 10 chapters that range from the very practical application of the theory to more philosophical reflections on its nature and applicability. They do not all agree with each other, but since diversity and variety is at the heart of complexity they each provide a strand of an intertwined whole, which will enrich and deepen our understanding. In an environment of increasing uncertainty and ambiguity it is necessary to learn how to hold, in tension, disparate or even contradictory views, without undue stress. The world is not a simple dyadic black or white entity, but a rich multi-coloured and many-hued ensemble, each strand or perspective contributing to an intricate and inter-related n-dimensional whole.

This book focuses on the concept and role of relational practices as a way to understand and study processes of organizing. Relational practices are conceived as an ongoing, everyday process resulting in more participative ways of organizing. Participative organizing works from and with the multiplicity of interactions inherent in processes of becoming; it reflects upon and experiments with how the diversity of participants and interactions can provide the potential for defining and redefining organizational realities. A" Through reflective essays and empirical research examples, this book illustrates that relational practices of everyday organizational life are strongly entangled with emotional, embodied, and aesthetic processes. The combination of these corollaries of participative organizing -- as an everyday, complex accomplishment, poised between intervention and invention, and between an affective and aesthetic ecology of belonging and becoming -- provides a new perspective on how the practice of organizing and the organizing of practice can be accomplished and managed in the years to come.

Organizations have increasingly been introducing web-based applications for HRM purposes, and these are frequently labeled as electronic Human Resource Management (e-HRM). Much is expected of e-HRM in terms of improving the quality of HRM, increasing its contribution to company performance and freeing staff from administrative loads. The editors of this volume have been involved in a series of research projects, academic workshops, and conferences exploring the application of information technologies to various HR practices. Along with the "Special Issues of the International Journal of HRM", "International Journal of Technology and Human Interactions", and "International Journal of Training and Development", this volume is a tangible outcome of three European e-HRM Academic Workshops (2006, 2008, 2010), and two International Workshops on Human Resource Management (2007 and 2008). "Electronic HRM in Theory and Practice" brings a greater focus to the theoretical developments within the field of e-HRM research and clarifies the need to crystallize a theoretical framework for e-HRM research, raises further questions, and supports discussions.

International Business is vital to nations, to their economies. It brings wealth, it creates jobs, it opens views, it changes mindsets, and it creates economic and social stability. International Relations is important to nations too. It establishes relationships between nations, it exchanges political views between nations, it creates stability. International Business and International Relations are intertwined empirically as politicians need to boost economies through supporting entrepreneurship, international entrepreneurs need politicians and government representatives to get access to foreign markets, to deal with legal issues across borders. Commercial diplomacy is at the heart of the intersection between International Business and International Relations. Narrowly conceived, commercial diplomacy is the work of state officials in diplomatic service who carry out activities that support International Business. This book changes the conversation by studying the International Business - government relationship at the meso (organisational) and micro (individual) level, rather than focusing on the macro (national) level. This book aims to advance studies of commercial diplomacy by combing insights from two fields of study that to date have hardly spoken to each other. It brings insights from International Relations (and in particular the sub-field diplomatic studies) about the theory and practice of commercial diplomacy and it brings insights from business studies about the theory and practice of International Business. Combining the two, the book defines the field by being more holistic, it brings together in one place a thorough review of existing analysis of the subject from both fields, it outlines the basics of a new conceptual framework, it presents new empirical work based on data collected in five different countries (from the US to Indonesia), and puts forward a new research agenda.

This volume concentrates on different forms of honesty and dishonesty in management and their consequences for managers, firms and society. Honesty can be defined as the refusal to pretend that facts of reality are other than what they are, while dishonesty - including lying, stealing, cheating, distortion, concealing of important information, failing to fulfil promises, and abruptly abandoning a business relationship - presents its opposite. Dishonesty can be blatant, massive, strong and active, or subtle, minimal, weak and passive. The volume is divided into four parts. The contributions of the first part concern the nature of (dis)honesty in management. The second part addresses (dis)honesty in public sector management and finance. The third part focuses on (dis)honesty in firm management in Europe and Africa, while the last part presents evidence on (dis)honesty in management in Asia and America. The authors conclude that the understanding of (dis)honesty and (un)ethical behavior differs in different cultural, societal and organizational contexts; moreover, it is not always easy to discover it. Dishonesty may lead to unfavorable consequences for the dishonest and, quite often, also for the honest party, but, sometimes dishonesty may pay off for the dishonest party in the short term. This volume provides new theoretical, managerial and policy insights in the field of management research and it should interest scholars, managers and policy-makers, but also others studying or discussing these issues or having to decide if they should act dishonestly or not.

Social media are changing the way businesses interact in technology-mediated ways with most of their stakeholders. Strategically-minded manager s, researchers and students cannot afford to ignore the new ways in which interactions with customers, employees, shareholders, and many other important constituents are taking place as a result of the widespread availability and creative use of these new technologies. Conventional wisdom is being challenged and virtual workspaces that had never been conceptualized are opening at blistering speed. This volume in the Advanced Series in Management series bridges empirical and theoretical approaches to identifying and demystify this set of emerging, exciting new family of user-gene rated content technologies. With contributions from and about a wide diverse range of countries, from emerging to established, researchers and informed practitioners will find intriguing, diverse perspectives on how the social media revolution challenging managers and management scholars. Involving disciplines as different as management, communications, information technology, personnel, finance and others, contributions in this boo k will be cited in future research projects or used in classrooms and other training settings by those more likely stay in the leading edge of this family of innovative tools.

Social media have radically shifted the way people relate with each other and with organizations in technology-mediated ways; few areas are being impacted more strongly than Human Resources or Personnel Management. Attraction of candidates, internal communication with employees, communication with and among people; creation, design, testing and promotion of new services, new ways of organizing are appearing and changing the landscape at record speeds. This volume in the Advanced Series in Management utilizes empirical and theoretical approaches to shed light on this exciting set of emerging, stimulating new uses of technology that stretch creativity beyond conventional limits.

Organizations increasingly establish Shared Service Centers, either for transactional (administrative) or transformational (organizational change) purposes. Their popularity originates from a combination of efficiency gains and an increase in service quality, without giving up control of the organizational and technical arrangements. The belief is that shared services should maximize the advantages of centralized and decentralized delivery of business functions. The volume deals with sample questions, including: What do shared service models involve? What are the structural arrangements between shared services and the organizations? Which business processes can and/or should be shared? What are the structural differences between shared services in different business processes? This ASM volume intends to move towards more systematic research action. Five main theoretical priorities shape the content of the volume: conceptualizing shared services for different types of business processes, business strategy and shared services, shared services and performance, pluralism in organizing shared services, and governance of shared services in different types of organizations.

This volume places Social Innovation between Human Resource Management (HRM) and Technology. There is a growing acceptance of the theory that HRM is strategically important for social innovation within organizations. To meet the requirements of globalization, diversity, "war for talent", and fast technological developments, HRM should allow a greater amount of flexibility and innovation in their policies and practices. In order for this to happen, however, HRM needs to be modernised by replacing inefficient and unsustainable HR practices and forms with flexible, sound, and pioneering ones, crossing inter and intraorganizational boundaries. Built within the Social Innovation research tradition, this volume views innovation of HRM from two ends of one continuum: At one end, HR practices and policies should be designed to support innovative organizational members, the creation of new ideas, an innovative organizational climate, and enlargement of the innovation capacity of organizations. At the other end, the HRM function evolves through applying new structures and new channels for delivery of the HR practices, and through involving new agents in the management of Human Resources.

New technologies, new office concepts and new working environments are all big concepts, and we are just at the start of understanding the impact of these global trends on shaping our behaviors at work. This book describes and analyses the trends known as 'New Ways of Working' primarily addressing the behavioral side of NWW practices as many researchers and practitioners claim the success of NWW is not in IT, nor in facilities, but in behavior. We have to learn and to adapt to the new possibilities of collaboration at a distance. Our managers have to learn and to show new leadership behaviors in order to get the most out of it. And we have to learn how to build organizations that can easily absorb these new practices. Therefore, we present some new data on the use of NWW practices in the Dutch case as one of the leading countries in these global trends, concentrating on 4 HR-related themes: (1) trust, social cohesion and diversity, (2) leadership, (3) teamwork and (4) innovative work behavior. We show that NWW-practices entail much more than just home-based work or telework for a few people. It is changing everyone's work anytime, anyplace, anyhow.

Why do firms die? This volume seeks to explore international and cross-disciplinary perspectives, if you like a forensic examination, autopsy or post mortem of 'how and why' companies die. This alternate perspectives flips the focus on survival, as all existing firms are in truth survivors, to consider through the metaphors of death, (with forensic analysis, autopsy, post mortems and crime scene investigations) the lessons 'dead firms' might offer. This book will contribute to the understanding of the development, antecedents, processes and consequences of corporate insolvency around the world. In general lines, insolvency is a state in which the debtor is proven unable to pay corporate debtors. We aim to explore the contemporary causes and effects of corporate cross-border insolvency (CCBI). In the realms of international business, CCBI could be mediated by events experienced during the internationalization of the firm, which may encompass a loss of capital, loss of revenue and loss of credit.

Organisations, as well as individuals and societies, continue to struggle with the complexity associated with unprecedenteddemographic changes. Workforce ageing and increasing age diversity are not transient phenomena, and their implications are compounded by the combination of several global trends like workers' increased mobility and migration, as well as increasing gender and ethnic differences. This demographic pressure compels organisations to question conventional ways of management thinking, doing and being in order to capitalize on the benefits of an age-diverse workforce.This volume bridges theoretical and empirical approaches in order to illuminate the challenges of valuing employees at any point in their professional lives, from youth to retirement. Embracing perspectives that span from the individual to the organisational levels of analysis, the book explores the two distinct but intertwined phenomena of workforce ageing and increasing workforce age diversity.The volume is divided into two parts. Contributions in the first section raise questions about the meanings of age and age diversity, as well as how and when age matters in organisations. The second part of the book examines the role andcontribution of HR practices in forging an age-inclusive workplace.

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) experienced ‘golden days’ during the 1990s and 2000s, they expanded globally and were major players in globalization. Today they have become powerful actors in the global economy. CEOs of international businesses are welcomed by heads of state as their counterparts, they are invited by governments to help solve global issues such as climate change and poverty, and they are facing dilemmas comparable to those of other international actors. However, MNEs are facing global legitimacy challenges. They are suspected of tax avoidance, using low wage countries for corporate benefits only, disrespecting privacy regulations, abusing consumer data, violating local community rights, exploiting natural resources, ignoring basic human rights, and employing too many lobbyists targeting national and international political decision-making processes for their own corporate interests. Although many of these challenges are not new, they have resurfaced and become more apparent during the past couple of years, partly due to the economic recession that many developed economies have faced and to the broader awareness of increasing global inequality and the importance of sustainability. How can international business respond? Strategic business diplomacy may be the answer. Business diplomacy involves developing strategies for long-term, positive relationship building with governments, local communities, and interest groups, aiming to establish and sustain legitimacy and to mitigate the risks arising from all non-commercial or exogenous factors in the global business environment.  Business diplomacy is different from lobbying or strategic political activity; it implies an (strategic / holistic) approach of an international business to look at itself as an actor in the international diplomatic arena. Representation, communication and negotiation are key in such an approach.One of the consequences is that MNEs are able to operate in and show respect for an international business environment that consists of multiple stakeholders. This demands a strategic perspective and vision on the sector and the business environments in which the company wants to operate, and requires a specific set of instruments, skills and competences.

Nowadays, managing and promoting diversity is of paramount importance to the future of sustainability and the political and business agenda. Despite a tremendous growth in diversity management scholarship in recent years, a strong tendency has emerged whereby existing theories focus on a single level of analysis, using a limited range of mostly Western research settings, and on a narrow range of diversity types. Diversity research has insofar focused on prioritizing visible forms of diversity, such as gender or disability, with less emphasis placed on diversity in culture and values internationally.This edited book provides new practical and strategic insights for practitioners, managers, students and policy makers; it delves into the strategic nature of policy intervention with thought-provoking contributions written by experts from around the world. Contributors aim to provide critical reflection of current debate areas on workplace equality and diversity in under-researched countries to inform and support evidence-based decision making for a wide variety of academic and practice-oriented stakeholders.

Indigenous ManagementPractices in Africa: A Guide for Educators and Practitioners is a timely response to the recent callfor management philosophies and theories that reflect the peculiarities of theAfrican continent. Western management models in Africa may not have yielded theresults required to trigger economic growth and development, yet Africa is fastbecoming the investment destination of firms operating outside the continent.This book unravels the indigenous management practices that shapethe way that organisations operate in Africa. It also addresses the differencesbetween indigenous African and western management practices, at the same time considering the implications for African business management. Insights from the book offera framework for developing African management curricula for business schools,both within and outside the continent. Practitioners aiming to expand theiroperations on the continent may also find valuable insights in this book – onesthat may support and develop future management decisions.

This volume explores and presents challenges that "traditional" organisations experience once they take off towards self-managing organisations (or Teal Organisations). The concept of Teal Organisations is not surprising nowadays, but strangely enough it remains a dream concept: the majority of modern organisations represent hierarchical managerial constructions, with little to no evidence of self-management. The main characteristics of self-management are well-known: whole tasks; organisational actors equipped with a certain skill portfolio that is required to accomplish these tasks; work organised in teams that have autonomy for decision-making and performance management. Self-management is often accompanied by greater flexibility, better use of employees' creative capacities, increased quality of work life, and decreased employee absenteeism and turnover, eventually resulting in increased job satisfaction and organizational commitment. In this volume, we suggest that self-managing teams require a new way forward in modern organisations. Particularly, we offer a new roadmap for leaders who are responsible for the implementation of self-managing teams.

Managing diversity plays a crucial part in enabling every member of the workforce to perform up to their full potential. Managers demand satisfactory performance from every member of their workforce and expect the best of their employees. But often, diversity and its management are not viewed as clear contributors to the organization’s performance and bottom-line. Managing and leveraging diversity are set aside from the rest of the organization and hence, they are often undervalued amid all the other barriers that companies face. Whilst there is no single tried-and-tested “solution” to diversity and no easy way to manage implementation barriers, this edited collection of case studies from around the globe provides new insights for practitioners, managers, students and researchers. The book seeks to shed light on existing practices disseminating the value of diversity, whilst opening the road toward a wider perspective on its definitions. The contributors provide critical reflections of the current discourse on different types of diversity in heterogenous organizations around the world.

This volume of Advanced Series in Management offers cutting-edge research from Human Resource Management professionals and academics, which engages with the potential opportunities and challenges of digitization in the workplace. Contributors introduce fresh evidence and innovative ideas on the changing work environment, to help business leaders' shift to the digital mind-set. The book suggests new ways of managing, organizing, and leading a positive social change towards a human-centered organization. For example, a collaboration between HRM and IT, adoption of design thinking, using integrated analytics, and developing new competences. The book explores this new world for HRM, developing critical insights about three main issues: HRM's new role in the 4.0 eraNew job and organization design for the smart economyNew HRM tools and practices for digital organizations. HRM 4.0 For Human-Centered Organizations provides both researchers and professionals working in Human Resources Management, Organization Design and Organizational Behaviour with practical guidelines to turn the challenging scenario of Industry 4.0 into a successful transformation for the HRM domain.

The Agri-Food industry currently faces a range of challenges, from food safety and security, demand, and supply gaps to the maintenance of product quality and issues in product traceability. Smart digital technologies have opened a complete paradigm shift, providing solutions to these challenges, and helping move towards safe, resilient, responsive, and eventually profit-driven supply chains.The use of these digital technologies by Agri-Food supply chains can bring significant changes in food supply chain management by reducing food wastage, real-time product monitoring, and reducing scalability issues. Agri-Food 4.0: Innovations, Challenges and Strategies addresses new research on digital technologies in the industry, including smart packaging, smart warehousing, effective inventory control, blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, and other Industry 4.0 concepts.Agri-Food 4.0 explores the challenges and complexities in implementing such technologies, helping policymakers in the agri-food sector with impact assessment and digital transformation towards creating a sustainable industry.

The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online.Smart industry requires better management. As industrial and production systems are future-proofed, becoming smart and interconnected through use of new manufacturing and product technologies, work is advancing on improving product needs, volume, timing, resource efficiency, and cost, optimally using supply chains.Presenting innovative, evidence-based, and cutting-edge case studies, with new conceptualizations and viewpoints on management, Smart Industry, Better Management explores concepts in product systems, use of cyber physical systems, digitization, interconnectivity, and new manufacturing and product technologies.Contributions to this volume highlight the high degree of flexibility in people management, production, including product needs, volume, timing, resource efficiency and cost in being able to finely adjust to customer needs and make full use of supply chains for value creation. Smart Industry, Better Management illustrates how industry can enabled by a more network-centric approach, making use of the value of information and the latest available proven manufacturing techniques.

Management of information technology will continue to be an essential endeavour for organisations as we experience the accelerating advancement of digital technology. Managers will need to understand how technology is changing their business operations and the emergence of digital consumers who demand more innovative, technologically driven experiences. This 29th volume in the Advanced Series in Management is built to provide theoretical insight for managers and researchers to co-create their technology values and better understand its prospects and challenges.Management and Information Technology in the Digital Era: Challenges and Perspectives explores the management and practical implications of digital information management across a broad range of technologies, sectors, and countries. Chapters from a spectrum of international authors provide a significant contribution to the growing body of work on information technology, artificial intelligence, and technology management, reflecting the diversity of current research and delving into the varying perspectives of management and information technology in the digital era. Significantly recognised are the growing prospects of Artificial intelligence and how it is revolutionising different sectors, further presenting critical challenges for managers on how to harness the prospects of this technology for their business prospects.

COVID-19 has demanded management innovations across all sectors. As urban systems are made more sustainable, and our focus shifts towards the Circular Economy, this timely book sheds new light on emerging issues.Contributions to this volume highlight developments in: smart cities and urban innovation and resilience; building and re-building cross-culturally sustainable tourism and recreation; new international business models in a digitally transforming world; how digital tools are being used to promote STEM education in the ‘new normal’ post-2020 world; food insecurity and energy policy in Latin America; the role of leadership in teleworking and job satisfaction in the Asia-Pacific region; economic and socio-cultural impacts of recreational activities affected by COVID-19; entrepreneurship in COVID-19 times; and the integration of the UN Sustainable Development Goals in higher education institutions.Presenting new, innovative conceptualizations and viewpoints on management, Sustainable Management in COVID-19 Times explores a range of concepts that give insights into our post-pandemic world.

Advanced Series in Management: Volume 31 offers cutting-edge research from an international range of academics, who engage with the potential opportunities and challenges of digitization in the workplace.Contributors introduce fresh evidence and innovative ideas on the changing work environment to help business leaders shift to the digital mind-set. The book will throw light on what manufacturers, retailers, marketer brands, and consumers can do to secure value; digitally transform and/or innovate themselves in terms of design, production, and distribution as they move towards “next normal” business practices.Technology, Management and Business: Evolving Perspectives provides researchers, academicians, policymakers and professionals working in manufacturing, retail and consumer markets with a platform to uncover their experiences as they meet these challenges in various verticals of industry around the world.

The application of technology, in smart cities, to create meaningful sustainability is set to change all our lives. The smart city of the future will be equipped with communication infrastructures to improve the comfort of all citizens, while respecting the environment, and supporting good governance. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) will play a key role, making it possible to better manage infrastructure and transport.Contributors from around the world here present modern insights for use by decision-makers to solve real-world challenges. The authors shed light on forthcoming developments and set out how to plan for increasingly rapid changes. Smart Cities for Sustainability: Approaches and Solutions provides a modern insight for researchers, students, professionals, and decision-makers on the application of digitalization in global cities to achieve their SDG goals.

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly reshaping the landscapes of education and business, driving innovation and redefining operational norms. The latest volume of the Advanced Series in Management brings together interdisciplinary perspectives to explore how AI technologies—from predictive analytics and automation, to adaptive learning systems—are enabling smarter decision-making, personalised experiences, and enhanced efficiency. At the same time, it critically examines the ethical, infrastructural, and skill-based challenges that accompany this digital shift, offering a balanced view of both promise and complexity.Bridging theory and practice, AI-Driven Transformation in Education and Business presents empirical research, real-world case studies, and policy insights that illuminate the evolving role of AI in organisational and educational contexts. It contributes to global conversations around digital transformation and sustainability, aligning with key UN Sustainable Development Goals such as Quality Education and Responsible Management. Ideal for scholars, students, and practitioners, this volume offers a comprehensive guide to navigating the AI-driven future, especially in a post-pandemic world where hybrid learning and intelligent business models are becoming the norm.