Key Ideas in Business and Management - Böcker

The heightening impact of ecological and societal crises makes sustainability an increasingly urgent imperative, requiring a fundamental shift in how we understand and practice management and business.In this book, the authors set out the key characteristics of sustainability such as its temporal and multilevel effects and highlight the complex array of sustainability risks and opportunities for business and management. Setting business within a systems perspective, the authors outline different sustainability discourses that frame how business responds to the sustainability imperative. They call for the normative and scientific approaches to sustainability to be merged so that a new transdisciplinary approach that brings together the material and relational traditions in sustainability management is developed. Sustainability work is understood as the reframing of tools, technologies, practices and business strategies to respond to the imperative. The book concludes by highlighting dynamic features of the imperative as it is shaped by the urgent need to restore and regenerate social and ecological systems. Sustainability transitions such as the Circular Economy and Net Zero are suggested as inspiration for profound business transformation.By facing the intractable complexity associated with sustainability, this book challenges students and scholars to draw from across the sciences and social sciences to understand, reflect upon and deliver responsible business outcomes in contemporary society.

The heightening impact of ecological and societal crises makes sustainability an increasingly urgent imperative, requiring a fundamental shift in how we understand and practice management and business.In this book, the authors set out the key characteristics of sustainability such as its temporal and multilevel effects and highlight the complex array of sustainability risks and opportunities for business and management. Setting business within a systems perspective, the authors outline different sustainability discourses that frame how business responds to the sustainability imperative. They call for the normative and scientific approaches to sustainability to be merged so that a new transdisciplinary approach that brings together the material and relational traditions in sustainability management is developed. Sustainability work is understood as the reframing of tools, technologies, practices and business strategies to respond to the imperative. The book concludes by highlighting dynamic features of the imperative as it is shaped by the urgent need to restore and regenerate social and ecological systems. Sustainability transitions such as the Circular Economy and Net Zero are suggested as inspiration for profound business transformation.By facing the intractable complexity associated with sustainability, this book challenges students and scholars to draw from across the sciences and social sciences to understand, reflect upon and deliver responsible business outcomes in contemporary society.

The era of globalisation brought waves of consolidation in business ownership alongside Leviathon-like state actors. Digital disruption too can leave market power in a relatively small number of hands. In organisational and economic terms, global oligopoly is now a fundamental idea for business and society, which this book explores and analyses. This book focuses on global oligopolies, starting with an analysis of global concentration and profits in all sectors, before moving on to illuminate the geographical spread and global strategic orientation choices and performance outcomes of global oligopoly. Contemporary cooperation modes, such as cross-border M&As and strategic alliances, niche and Emerging Market champion strategies are also analysed in detail to move the reader towards understanding likely future directions for the field.Presenting empirical data on strategies and performance outcomes, the book covers a range of industries to provide practical, research-based guidance for more effective global business strategies and policy perspectives.

The era of globalisation brought waves of consolidation in business ownership alongside Leviathon-like state actors. Digital disruption too can leave market power in a relatively small number of hands. In organisational and economic terms, global oligopoly is now a fundamental idea for business and society, which this book explores and analyses. This book focuses on global oligopolies, starting with an analysis of global concentration and profits in all sectors, before moving on to illuminate the geographical spread and global strategic orientation choices and performance outcomes of global oligopoly. Contemporary cooperation modes, such as cross-border M&As and strategic alliances, niche and Emerging Market champion strategies are also analysed in detail to move the reader towards understanding likely future directions for the field.Presenting empirical data on strategies and performance outcomes, the book covers a range of industries to provide practical, research-based guidance for more effective global business strategies and policy perspectives.

Diversity: A Key Idea for Business and Society introduces an idea that proliferates business and society, having been incorporated into mainstream theory and practice. Beyond this multidisciplinary setting, how diversity is defined, framed, managed and regulated is also exposed to considerable social, economic, political and ideological interpretation and manipulation. This volume explores definitions of diversity, its various manifestations and interdisciplinary influences that shape how diversity is researched. The text turns to workforce diversity as a particular case of diversity and explores antecedents, correlates and consequences of workforce diversity. The author considers power, inequality and intersectionality to illuminate the subject from the key manifestations, including class, gender, ethnicity, sexuality and disability. With insights from an array of fields from economics, through management to biology, the author also highlights the various cases against diversity alongside analysis of how to navigate the diversity jungle in practice. This concise, authoritative book will be essential reading for students, researchers and reflective practitioners interested in workforce diversity as well as unique supplementary reading across the social sciences.

Diversity: A Key Idea for Business and Society introduces an idea that proliferates business and society, having been incorporated into mainstream theory and practice. Beyond this multidisciplinary setting, how diversity is defined, framed, managed and regulated is also exposed to considerable social, economic, political and ideological interpretation and manipulation. This volume explores definitions of diversity, its various manifestations and interdisciplinary influences that shape how diversity is researched. The text turns to workforce diversity as a particular case of diversity and explores antecedents, correlates and consequences of workforce diversity. The author considers power, inequality and intersectionality to illuminate the subject from the key manifestations, including class, gender, ethnicity, sexuality and disability. With insights from an array of fields from economics, through management to biology, the author also highlights the various cases against diversity alongside analysis of how to navigate the diversity jungle in practice. This concise, authoritative book will be essential reading for students, researchers and reflective practitioners interested in workforce diversity as well as unique supplementary reading across the social sciences.

This book interprets insights from the complexity sciences to explore seven types of complexity better to understand the predictable unpredictability of social life. Drawing on the natural and social sciences, it describes how complexity models are helpful but insufficient for our understanding of complex reality. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the book develops a complex theory of action more consistent with our experience that our plans inevitably lead to unexpected outcomes, explains why we are both individuals and thoroughly social, and gives an account of why, no matter how clear our message, we may still be misunderstood. The book investigates what forms of knowledge are most helpful for thinking about complex experience, reflects on the way we exercise authority (leadership) and thinks through the ethical implications of trying to co-operate in a complex world. Taking complexity seriously poses a radical challenge to more orthodox theories of managing and leading, based as they are on assumptions of predictability, control and universality. The author argues that management is an improvisational practice which takes place in groups in a particular context at a particular time. Managers can influence but never control an uncontrollable world. To become more skilful in complex group dynamics involves taking into account multiple points of view and acknowledging not knowing, ambivalence and doubt.This book will be of interest to researchers, professionals, academics and students in the fields of business and management, especially those interested in how taking complexity seriously can influence the functioning of businesses and organizations and how they manage and lead.

This book interprets insights from the complexity sciences to explore seven types of complexity better to understand the predictable unpredictability of social life. Drawing on the natural and social sciences, it describes how complexity models are helpful but insufficient for our understanding of complex reality. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the book develops a complex theory of action more consistent with our experience that our plans inevitably lead to unexpected outcomes, explains why we are both individuals and thoroughly social, and gives an account of why, no matter how clear our message, we may still be misunderstood. The book investigates what forms of knowledge are most helpful for thinking about complex experience, reflects on the way we exercise authority (leadership) and thinks through the ethical implications of trying to co-operate in a complex world. Taking complexity seriously poses a radical challenge to more orthodox theories of managing and leading, based as they are on assumptions of predictability, control and universality. The author argues that management is an improvisational practice which takes place in groups in a particular context at a particular time. Managers can influence but never control an uncontrollable world. To become more skilful in complex group dynamics involves taking into account multiple points of view and acknowledging not knowing, ambivalence and doubt.This book will be of interest to researchers, professionals, academics and students in the fields of business and management, especially those interested in how taking complexity seriously can influence the functioning of businesses and organizations and how they manage and lead.

Power plays a central role in business and management. But what is power exactly, and what are key elements of this concept? Defining power as relative ability, this book discusses structures of power, individual power, the exercise of power, strategy, and collective power.While discussing these key components, ideas of important thinkers about power, from Plato to Foucault, Weber to Lukes, Machiavelli to Kahneman, Sun to Kotter, and Barnard to Clegg, are discussed and interpretively categorized into a toolbox of conceptual elements – what Blumer referred to as sensitizing concepts. This toolbox of sensitizing concepts allows the selection of those elements of the concept of power that provide the most constructive and effective practical understanding in particular situations.The core message behind the discussion is that knowledge of key components of the concept of power is empowering. It is empowering to learn about aspects of structures of power, individual power, the exercise of power, strategy, and collective power. Understanding such conceptual components empowers students, researchers, practitioners, and other readers to use their understanding in interpreting, theorizing about, and dealing with the complexities of power in their particular situations – without tying them to any preconceived general theories about power.

Power plays a central role in business and management. But what is power exactly, and what are key elements of this concept? Defining power as relative ability, this book discusses structures of power, individual power, the exercise of power, strategy, and collective power.While discussing these key components, ideas of important thinkers about power, from Plato to Foucault, Weber to Lukes, Machiavelli to Kahneman, Sun to Kotter, and Barnard to Clegg, are discussed and interpretively categorized into a toolbox of conceptual elements – what Blumer referred to as sensitizing concepts. This toolbox of sensitizing concepts allows the selection of those elements of the concept of power that provide the most constructive and effective practical understanding in particular situations.The core message behind the discussion is that knowledge of key components of the concept of power is empowering. It is empowering to learn about aspects of structures of power, individual power, the exercise of power, strategy, and collective power. Understanding such conceptual components empowers students, researchers, practitioners, and other readers to use their understanding in interpreting, theorizing about, and dealing with the complexities of power in their particular situations – without tying them to any preconceived general theories about power.

Human rights is an interdisciplinary subject as well as a foundational aspect of the law. The importance of human rights at the intersection of business and society is central, yet under-analyzed. This book provides an accessible understanding of what human rights are, how business enterprises may impact human rights for better or for worse, and how such impacts can or should be managed.Human Rights: A Key Idea for Business and Society equips readers interested in the relationship between business and society with the foundational knowledge for engaging in debates and operational tasks related to the roles and responsibilities of business with regard to human rights. It covers human rights aspects relevant to common management tasks, including supply chain management, human resource management, risk management, non-financial reporting, finance, and stakeholder engagement. It covers opportunities and challenges related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate change mitigation. The book explains the foundations for human rights, social expectations, and legal requirements on businesses to respect human rights and how business enterprises should identify and manage their human rights impacts.A concise introduction to a complex topic, this book is perfect reading for students of corporate social responsibility, business ethics, and international business, as well as an illuminating guide for researchers, managers, civil society organizations, government officials, and reflective practitioners.

Human rights is an interdisciplinary subject as well as a foundational aspect of the law. The importance of human rights at the intersection of business and society is central, yet under-analyzed. This book provides an accessible understanding of what human rights are, how business enterprises may impact human rights for better or for worse, and how such impacts can or should be managed.Human Rights: A Key Idea for Business and Society equips readers interested in the relationship between business and society with the foundational knowledge for engaging in debates and operational tasks related to the roles and responsibilities of business with regard to human rights. It covers human rights aspects relevant to common management tasks, including supply chain management, human resource management, risk management, non-financial reporting, finance, and stakeholder engagement. It covers opportunities and challenges related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate change mitigation. The book explains the foundations for human rights, social expectations, and legal requirements on businesses to respect human rights and how business enterprises should identify and manage their human rights impacts.A concise introduction to a complex topic, this book is perfect reading for students of corporate social responsibility, business ethics, and international business, as well as an illuminating guide for researchers, managers, civil society organizations, government officials, and reflective practitioners.

Being watched and watching others is a universal feature of all human societies. How does the phenomenon of surveillance affect, interact with, and change the world of business? This concise book unveils a key idea in the history and future of management.For centuries managers have claimed the right to monitor employees, but in the digital era, this management activity has become enhanced beyond recognition. Drawing on extensive research into organizational surveillance, the author distils and analyses existing thinking on the concept with his own empirical work.Drawing together perspectives from philosophy, cutting-edge social theory, and empirical research on workplace surveillance, Surveillance is the definitive introduction to an intriguing topic that will interest readers across the social sciences and beyond.

Being watched and watching others is a universal feature of all human societies. How does the phenomenon of surveillance affect, interact with, and change the world of business? This concise book unveils a key idea in the history and future of management.For centuries managers have claimed the right to monitor employees, but in the digital era, this management activity has become enhanced beyond recognition. Drawing on extensive research into organizational surveillance, the author distils and analyses existing thinking on the concept with his own empirical work.Drawing together perspectives from philosophy, cutting-edge social theory, and empirical research on workplace surveillance, Surveillance is the definitive introduction to an intriguing topic that will interest readers across the social sciences and beyond.

Employment: A Key Idea for Business and Society introduces a topic that many of us take for granted yet is central to how we understand business and management. Most people work for the majority of their lives and, in recent years, employment has become a topic of popular debate, particularly asking what the future of work could be. Much of this has focused on the role of technology and automation, as well as the growth of the gig economy and new forms of work.This book provides new ways to think about our own experiences of work and debates on employment. The book covers the history of employment, key changes to work, and a global perspective. The major debates in employment are introduced, providing theories for readers to develop their own perspectives. In particular, the book reappraises management theory, the role of workers’ agency in changing work, surveys the state of current research and methods, and sketches out the key changes on the horizon for employment. This book will provide students with a critical introduction to employment, equipping them with the resources to research, understand, and rethink the topic.

Employment: A Key Idea for Business and Society introduces a topic that many of us take for granted yet is central to how we understand business and management. Most people work for the majority of their lives and, in recent years, employment has become a topic of popular debate, particularly asking what the future of work could be. Much of this has focused on the role of technology and automation, as well as the growth of the gig economy and new forms of work.This book provides new ways to think about our own experiences of work and debates on employment. The book covers the history of employment, key changes to work, and a global perspective. The major debates in employment are introduced, providing theories for readers to develop their own perspectives. In particular, the book reappraises management theory, the role of workers’ agency in changing work, surveys the state of current research and methods, and sketches out the key changes on the horizon for employment. This book will provide students with a critical introduction to employment, equipping them with the resources to research, understand, and rethink the topic.

Persuasion. Philosophers have worried about it. Political and economic actors have weaponised it. Psychologists have measured it. Prose writers have required it. We’re all subjected to it. And some have even mastered it. Of them, we are often very suspicious. Why is that? Persuasion: A Key Idea for Business and Society asks the disciplines of philosophy, politics, psychology, and prose analysis – the 4 Ps of persuasion – to answer this important question.The book is written for students and teachers of business and marketing but will also guide researchers across the social sciences and humanities.

Persuasion. Philosophers have worried about it. Political and economic actors have weaponised it. Psychologists have measured it. Prose writers have required it. We’re all subjected to it. And some have even mastered it. Of them, we are often very suspicious. Why is that? Persuasion: A Key Idea for Business and Society asks the disciplines of philosophy, politics, psychology, and prose analysis – the 4 Ps of persuasion – to answer this important question.The book is written for students and teachers of business and marketing but will also guide researchers across the social sciences and humanities.

EURAM's Book of the Year in 2020, Hierarchy takes readers on a journey which traverses how this idea has evolved, is understood in various disciplines, and is applied in practice. Referring a wide range of sources, the book provides an inspirational introduction to understanding what is perhaps the key idea in business and management. As a fundamental organizational principle, hierarchy is everywhere. Perhaps because of its ubiquity, the significance of hierarchy has become under-analyzed in view of the growing strains on society imposed by organizational inequality. This book analyzes the advantages and disadvantages that hierarchy brings as a form of organization, providing an accessible overview of this fundamental idea within both business and society.This concise book provides a useful overview of existing research, for both students and scholars of business.

EURAM's Book of the Year in 2020, Hierarchy takes readers on a journey which traverses how this idea has evolved, is understood in various disciplines, and is applied in practice. Referring a wide range of sources, the book provides an inspirational introduction to understanding what is perhaps the key idea in business and management. As a fundamental organizational principle, hierarchy is everywhere. Perhaps because of its ubiquity, the significance of hierarchy has become under-analyzed in view of the growing strains on society imposed by organizational inequality. This book analyzes the advantages and disadvantages that hierarchy brings as a form of organization, providing an accessible overview of this fundamental idea within both business and society.This concise book provides a useful overview of existing research, for both students and scholars of business.

Shortlisted for the EGOS Book Award in 2021, this book moves beyond tired analyses of business success that bias leadership and strategy in order to focus on the critical role of good fortune.The author provides insights from economics, sociology, political science, philosophy, and psychology to create a brief intellectual history of luck. In positioning luck as a key idea in management, the book analyzes various facets of fortune such as randomness, serendipity, and opportunity. Often overlooked given psychological bias toward meritocratic explanations, this book quantifies luck to establish the idea in a more central role in understanding variations in business performance.In bringing the concept of luck in from the periphery, this concise book is a readable overview of management which will help students, scholars, and reflective practitioners see the subject in a new light.

Shortlisted for the EGOS Book Award in 2021, this book moves beyond tired analyses of business success that bias leadership and strategy in order to focus on the critical role of good fortune.The author provides insights from economics, sociology, political science, philosophy, and psychology to create a brief intellectual history of luck. In positioning luck as a key idea in management, the book analyzes various facets of fortune such as randomness, serendipity, and opportunity. Often overlooked given psychological bias toward meritocratic explanations, this book quantifies luck to establish the idea in a more central role in understanding variations in business performance.In bringing the concept of luck in from the periphery, this concise book is a readable overview of management which will help students, scholars, and reflective practitioners see the subject in a new light.

In this concise book, feminist thought is made accessible and relevant to both students and management practitioners. An empowering introduction to an often-overlooked key idea, this book illuminates how feminist thinking can liberate our understanding of work and management.Feminism: A Key Idea for Business and Society boldly challenges assumptions about both feminism and business. It offers a primer on feminism for business and explains feminist interventions including adding women’s voices, pushing for equality, and practicing feminist values to make businesses more successful and more just. It analyzes the obstacles organizations and individuals face in their efforts to address gender inequality, and demonstrates how feminist interventions have changed the terms of business conversations around topics such as defining work, centering the economy around care, how jobs work and wages are gendered, violence in the workplace, horizontal and peer-to-peer organizational structures that don’t depend on dominance, enlightened leadership models, and power. As this book demonstrates, feminism has already had a profound impact on business, with many of its key tenets incorporated into business thinking.As one of the first books to offer feminist insights and critiques of business to the practicing manager, business student, and non-academic, this book offers a fresh, positive vision that is remarkably relevant.

In this concise book, feminist thought is made accessible and relevant to both students and management practitioners. An empowering introduction to an often-overlooked key idea, this book illuminates how feminist thinking can liberate our understanding of work and management.Feminism: A Key Idea for Business and Society boldly challenges assumptions about both feminism and business. It offers a primer on feminism for business and explains feminist interventions including adding women’s voices, pushing for equality, and practicing feminist values to make businesses more successful and more just. It analyzes the obstacles organizations and individuals face in their efforts to address gender inequality, and demonstrates how feminist interventions have changed the terms of business conversations around topics such as defining work, centering the economy around care, how jobs work and wages are gendered, violence in the workplace, horizontal and peer-to-peer organizational structures that don’t depend on dominance, enlightened leadership models, and power. As this book demonstrates, feminism has already had a profound impact on business, with many of its key tenets incorporated into business thinking.As one of the first books to offer feminist insights and critiques of business to the practicing manager, business student, and non-academic, this book offers a fresh, positive vision that is remarkably relevant.

Bureaucracy is a curse – it seems we can’t live with it, we can’t live without it. It is without doubt one of the fundamental ideas which underpin the business world and society at large. In this book, Tom Vine observes, analyses and critiques the concept, placing it at the heart of our understanding of organisation.The author unveils bureaucracy as an endlessly emergent phenomenon which defies binary debate – in analysing organisation, we are all bureaucrats. In building an experiential perspective, the book develops more effective ways to interact with bureaucracy in theory and practice. Empirical material take centre stage, whilst the book employs ethnographic and auto-ethnographic methods to illuminate the existential function of bureaucracy.Taking examples from art, history and culture, this book provides an entertaining alternative academic analysis of bureaucracy as a key idea in business and society which will be essential reading for students and scholars of work and organisation

Bureaucracy is a curse – it seems we can’t live with it, we can’t live without it. It is without doubt one of the fundamental ideas which underpin the business world and society at large. In this book, Tom Vine observes, analyses and critiques the concept, placing it at the heart of our understanding of organisation.The author unveils bureaucracy as an endlessly emergent phenomenon which defies binary debate – in analysing organisation, we are all bureaucrats. In building an experiential perspective, the book develops more effective ways to interact with bureaucracy in theory and practice. Empirical material take centre stage, whilst the book employs ethnographic and auto-ethnographic methods to illuminate the existential function of bureaucracy.Taking examples from art, history and culture, this book provides an entertaining alternative academic analysis of bureaucracy as a key idea in business and society which will be essential reading for students and scholars of work and organisation

Globalization: A Key Idea for Business and Society analyzes today’s process of global integration. Globalization is seen as a complex phenomenon, the drivers of which are of a technological, institutional, cultural and, not least, political nature.The book includes a historical analysis of the rise, and fall, of the “first globalization” wave which took place between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the Great War. The chapters focus on the measurement of the global integration process, on the in-depth analysis of the above mentioned “drivers”, and on some of the actors playing a relevant role in the process itself – multinational companies and governments as owners of global companies. The conclusion of the book provides a perspective on the current “globalization backlash”, its determinants and possible future alternative scenarios.This book is an ideal resource for students and practitioners interested in past, present and future globalization.

Globalization: A Key Idea for Business and Society analyzes today’s process of global integration. Globalization is seen as a complex phenomenon, the drivers of which are of a technological, institutional, cultural and, not least, political nature.The book includes a historical analysis of the rise, and fall, of the “first globalization” wave which took place between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the Great War. The chapters focus on the measurement of the global integration process, on the in-depth analysis of the above mentioned “drivers”, and on some of the actors playing a relevant role in the process itself – multinational companies and governments as owners of global companies. The conclusion of the book provides a perspective on the current “globalization backlash”, its determinants and possible future alternative scenarios.This book is an ideal resource for students and practitioners interested in past, present and future globalization.

Professions and professionalism have played an integral part in business and society. In this book, Mike Saks provides a thorough overview of this field through an analysis of a range of professions, including, amongst others, accountants, doctors and lawyers. The book offers a critical analysis of such privileged occupational groups in modern societies. Anticipating a positive if changing role for such groups in the years ahead, the book outlines conflicting theoretical perspectives on professions and discusses current developments in an accessible, multi-disciplinary style. The book documents their evolution and contemporary transformation from medieval guilds to fully-fledged professions and international professional service firms, while pointing a path towards their future in the world of work and beyond. With insights into the recent challenges provided by clients, citizens, the state and corporations in neo-liberal societies, Professions provides a concise overview that will be essential reading for students, academics and others interested in the operation of these key occupational groups in business and society.