Routledge Focus on Business and Management – serie

Artificial Intelligence in Accounting: Practical Applications was written with a simple goal: to provide accountants with a foundational understanding of AI and its many business and accounting applications. It is meant to serve as a guide for identifying opportunities to implement AI initiatives to increase productivity and profitability. This book will help you answer questions about what AI is and how it is used in the accounting profession today. Offering practical guidance that you can leverage for your organization, this book provides an overview of essential AI concepts and technologies that accountants should know, such as machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing. It also describes accounting-specific applications of robotic process automation and text mining. Illustrated with case studies and interviews with representatives from global professional services firms, this concise volume makes a significant contribution to examining the intersection of AI and the accounting profession. This innovative book also explores the challenges and ethical considerations of AI. It will be of great interest to accounting practitioners, researchers, educators, and students.

This book looks at the migration and work experiences of six women who have migrated to Australia from China; Zimbabwe; South Korea; the United Kingdom; India and the Philippines. It sets their journeys out into three distinct periods of migration, including the first period of their lives when they reflect on their experiences growing up with their immediate families and the factors that encouraged them to gravitate towards a nursing career. The second period covers time when each of these women begin to think about where their career in nursing might taken them. During this phase, these women take their first steps to leave their home country and migrate to Australia, often after several countries in between. The final section allows the reader to understand how these women initially experienced Australia when they first arrived and how they faced challenges both personally and professionally after arrival in their new place to call home. The discussions within these three sections cover both professional and personal/familial reflections, where differences in nursing identity between sending and destination country is discussed alongside the adjustments that the women needed to make to overcome loneliness and to successfully integrate into new organizational environments. Each chapter analyses migration as a life course, which considers why nurses leave their home country and find a new place to call home. Furthermore, if they find themselves thinking about returning to their country of birth; how or if they maintain transnational links, and how identity and ethnicity shape these responses. These life trajectories are underscored by an historical context setting of nursing migration to Australia in the opening chapter offering unique insights into the changing process of migration, accreditation, registration and settlement of nurses in Australia. The book will be of value to researchers, academics, and students interested in gender studies, career and migration, health and nursing, and international HRM.

In a time of flexible and mutable work arrangements, there is hardly a domain of organizing that has not been affected by liminality. Temporary workers who switch companies based on projects, consultants who operate at the boundaries between the consultant and the client companies, or ‘hybrid entrepreneurs’ who start new ventures, while still keeping their previous job, are examples of liminality in organizations. Liminality is also felt by managers who handle interorganizational relationships within customer-supplier networks or scientists who, albeit affiliated with R&D units, have strong ties with their scientific communities, acknowledging that they belong to neither setting thoroughly. Precious hints for enriching our comprehension of liminality in organizational settings can be conveyed by the reflection that has flourished in different fields. This book advances knowledge of liminality management by elaborating on a model that puts together aspects of the liminal process that have been mostly described in a separate way so far, benefiting from the input provided by experience in sociology, medicine, and education. Through the articulation of a model that accounts for the antecedents, content, and consequences of liminality in organizations, the book intends to prompt quantitative research on this topic. It will be of value to those interested in organizational behavior, organization and management, marketing, sociology of work, and sociology of organizations.

This book focuses on digitalised talent management—the use of information technologies in talent management. The book affords theoretically, methodologically and empirically informed insights that are especially salient given the need for executives and organisations to balance the role of humans and technology, while ensuring competitiveness in this interconnected and increasingly digital world. In doing so, the book will shape and contribute to academic and industry-based conversations about the role of technological innovations in enabling organizations to transition towards digital ways of organising talent, as well as the associated implications for the who, what, where, when, and why of talent management as stakeholders decide which aspects of talent management can be delegated to technology, and those that require human agency. This book adds value by assembling subject matter experts currently siloed within traditional research domains whilst also highlighting the complexity of managing talent. By synthesising content from world-leading academics who herald from various backgrounds, the book will instigate, shape and contribute to conversations about both the promises and perils of digitalised talent management and the extent to which judgments and decisions about an organisations most valuable asset—it’s talent—should be delegated to non-human agents. This book will be of interest to researchers, academics and students in the fields of talent management and organisational design, especially those interested in digital ways of working, managing and leading.

The changeable business environment requires a new business framework and an understanding of the global market trends and the culture that will impact on business. Globalization and Entrepreneurship in Small Countries considers important business principles and makes them accessible for entrepreneurs and small business owners. It addresses the role of managers and leaders and management techniques in the context of global strategy of companies, as well as the culture diversity that comes with globalization of organizations. To meet the constantly changing conditions and demands, business must transcend boundaries to get what it needs regardless of where it exists – geographically, organizationally, and functionally.This book draws together earlier literature on SME development and internationalization from disparate sources into a cohesive body of work, which traces the evolution of our understanding of the topic. It explores just how globalization affects the demand for business and entrepreneurship, and will therefore be of interest to researchers, academics, policymakers, and students in the fields of entrepreneurship, globalisation, organisational studies, and SMEs development in small countries.

This book explores the definition, nature and context of public relations crises; it also examines and defines the main elements of public relations crises and positions it in the context of the current communication sphere.Public Relations Crisis Communication: A New Model investigates existing group communication theories, including organizational culture, critical theory of organizations, media ecology, public rhetoric, and cross-cultural communication theory to establish their relevance in the context of the new model of public relations crisis. Key concepts from existing public relations crisis theory are also discussed and validated in order to establish prevailing thought. Through a case study of Malaysia Airlines MH370, involving a textual analyses of press communications on the Malaysia Airlines website, this book scrutinises prevailing theory and definitions. Most valuably, this book proposes a new definition and model of public relations crisis, alongside a suggested extension to existing crisis communication theory in the form of a hierarchy of publics to be addressed during crises. This will help to address divergent publics with differing priorities in public relations crisis communication.This book is of interest to students, teachers, researchers and practitioners of public relations, communication, media and marketing, as well as professionals in the aviation industry and international relations.

Despite the significant importance of the non-profit Sector, there is a relative limitation of possible modelling related to the management of the Non-Profit Institutions (NPIs). The studies and the research are concentrated in the analysis of the characteristics and the limitations related to the NPIs, rather than to the identification of possible models that can guarantee virtuous paths to these organizations. This book provides hypothetical trajectories for the construction of a theoretical model of reference for the management of NPIs—it accounts for the difficulties and the peculiarities of the non-profit sector, without however renouncing the concrete necessity and the great importance of approaches that try to avoid, or limit, the search for hybrid approaches constituted by the simple "transplant" of tools and techniques taken from the market or from the public administration context. Ultimately, it asserts that the non-profit sector is increasingly becoming the "pillar" on which modern civil society stands, to move towards a better future. The main aims of this book are to identify a link between accountability, responsibility and public trust in NPIs through a potential multidimensional managerial model in which these conceptual elements can be represented in a coordinated and systemic way. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, policymakers, and students in the fields of public and non-profit management, business management and administration, and public administration.

Management and labor have been adversaries in American and Canadian workplaces since the time of colonial settlement. Labor lacked full legal legitimacy in Canada and the United States until the mid-1930s and the passage of laws that granted collective bargaining rights and protection from dismissal due to union activity. The US National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) became the model for labor laws in both countries. Organized labor began to decline in the United States in the late 1960s due to a variety of factors including electoral politics, internal social and cultural differences, and economic change. Canadian unions fared better in comparison to their American counterparts, but still engaged in significant struggles.This analysis focuses on management and labor interaction in the United States and Canada from the 1930s to the turn of the second decade of the twenty-first century. It also includes a short overview of employer and worker interaction from the time of European colonization to the 1920s. The book addresses two overall questions: In what forms did management and labor conflict occur and how was labor-management interaction different between the two countries? It pays particular attention to key events and practices where the United States and Canada diverged when it came to labor-management conflict including labor law, electoral politics, social and economic change, and unionization patterns in the public and private sectors.This book shows that there were key points of convergence and divergence in the past between the United States and Canada that explain current differences in labor-management conflict and interaction in the two countries. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of management and labor history, employment and labor relations, and industrial relations.

This book is the first piece of extensive research in studying employment relations in ethnic Chinese small businesses in Britain. It contributes to existing knowledge in three respects. Empirically, it examines the nature of employment relations in the ethnic Chinese restaurant sector in the UK context, a hitherto under-explored area. The study adds new knowledge to the study of employment relations in ethnic minority small firms. Theoretically, it draws out the concept of ‘ethnic twist’, which denotes how the conflict between different group members from the same ethnicity shapes patterns of shop floor behaviours, revealing the heterogeneity of people from the same ethnic origins. Methodologically, the research demonstrates the continued importance of the ethnographic approach in studying workplace relations.Additionally, we see lots of literature discussing overseas Chinese businesses in terms of cultural resources, business development, level of integration and structural constraints. Surprisingly little is published on interpretations of small firm workplace relations. This book might illuminate future studies to explore management practices and employment relationships in ethnic Chinese small businesses in different national environments and industry sectors. It will be of interest to researchers, academics and students in the fields of employment relations, human resource management and organisational behavior.

This innovative book proposes new methodologies for the measurement of entrepreneurship by applying techniques of demography, engineering, mathematics and statistics. Using the data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), statistical demographic techniques are used for the evaluation of data quality (EDQ), and a new methodology for the estimation of Specific Entrepreneurship Rates (SER) and the Global Entrepreneurship Rate (GER) is proposed. At the same time the authors present artificial intelligence techniques such as Fuzzy Time Series (FTS) to forecast data series of the entrepreneurial population. Finally, they present a case study of the implementation of Big Data in Entrepreneurship using GEM data that shows the latest technological trends for the management of data, in support of making more accurate decisions. Being a methodological book, the techniques presented can be applied to any dataset in different areas. Readers will learn new methodologies of analysis and measurement of entrepreneurship using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. They will be able to access the experience of the authors through each of the applied cases in which the reader is taken by the hand, both through the scientific method and through the methodology of construction of more accurate metrics in entrepreneurship, with less error.This book will be of value to students at an advanced level, academics and researchers in the fields of Entrepreneurship, Business Analytics and Research Methodology.

The Innovative Business School formulates a blueprint for the innovative business school of the next decade, with proposed areas of innovation which will train executives to transform the coming technological disruptions into an avenue for world economic development and prosperity.Offering a new model of business education, the book maps the way forward for business school innovators in exploring questions related to innovation and strategy needed on the part of academic and industry leaders and educators across demographic divides. The chapters cover an overall international and cross-cultural approach in examining the factors at play for business schools of the future and the challenges they face across a range of megatrends affecting today’s business environment. The authors impress the need for stakeholders to strategically engage others in the business and education ecosystems through commitment to experimentation, innovation, and sustainable business strategy. Identifying such opportunities for development of a new model for business schools is important to educators and policymakers in preparing to leverage and contribute to existing megatrends to create shared value for regional economies and in new directions.The Innovative Business School is written for business schools’ management and decision-makers, related stakeholders, universities, accreditation agencies, and postgraduate students.

Developed for busy HR practitioners and trainers, this book provides a concise guide to the theory and practice of employee training in contemporary organisations. Reflecting the importance of employee development to learning-based organisations in the knowledge economy, it clearly links employee training needs to business development and offers an accessible guide to current theories combined with research-based practical guidance in how to design effective training programmes.Covering all the current theories about training and development and the latest thinking about workplace learning interventions, this concise, practical guide will be an essential source for HR practitioners and line managers seeking to improve organisational learning and performance.

Across the spectrum of organizational operations, workplace interactions have proven to be one of the most difficult activities for leaders to manage effectively, especially during any level of change. In these circumstances, leadership strategies, especially related to change and leadership transition, consistently fail at an alarming rate. Additionally, employee engagement and team collaboration continue to be among the most elusive concepts for those in leadership to master.This book explores the influence of the informal leader on team member engagement during major change initiative in the organizational paradigm, with a special emphasis on leaders who are new to the team composite. This book examines the role of the informal leader in promoting or hindering team member engagement and organizational citizenship behaviors in change dynamics with a focus on change in the leadership structure and major initiatives. The relationship between the formal and informal leader is explored to assess impact on team interactions and capacity to effectively execute change strategies.This book provides critical information to aid in organizations achieving long-term success and will be of interest to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of leadership, organizational studies, strategy, and human resource management.

A capacity for learning, adapting, and changing is an important facet of organizational resilience. What is involved in generative organizational change? Is it an event, a process, or constantly ongoing? What makes organizational change "good" for the organization? Who has the power to decide what is "good" for the organization and its members? How is it decided? What if there is strong disagreement or conflict? How is that handled? What is the role of organizational members and leaders in these discussions? As these questions demonstrate, the triad of change, power and conflict are intimately linked. The purpose of this book is to explore the topics of change, power and conflict as they relate to the experiences of everyday organizational life. It will provide readers the opportunity to reflect critically on their own local experience and involvement in organizations and to glean actionable wisdom for meaningful engagement and impactful contributions to their organization(s) in the present and future.Conflict, Power, and Organizational Change will be of interest to students, researchers, academics and professional colleagues interested in the fields of business and organizational studies, especially those wanting to get acquainted with the concepts of change, power and conflict in contemporary organizational settings.

All management starts with self-management – handle fear and become an authentic leader. Often, the problem with management is not theoretical, but practical. Managers know enough about leadership, but a lot of them do not act accordingly. They know what should be done in a given situation but fear the discomfort and uncertainty that comes with it. The fear keeps many managers from stepping up to their responsibility. Therefore, the fear in leadership is playing a decisive role in the life and effectiveness of organizations. Based on research on the theoretical knowledge and the practical behavior of managers, combined with a long-time experience as consultants, the authors argue for the importance of practical judgment and emotional courage in management. This is essential in acting as an authentic leader, who does not feel paralyzed and trapped in paradoxes. Management books typically address the question of "what is good management," whereas this book is concerned with how to practice good management by exercising fearless leadership and emotional courage. It is a practical book that aims at inspiring the reader to act by providing specific tools and methods and will be of value to researchers, academics, practitioners, and students in the fields of leadership, strategic management, organizational studies and behavior, management development, and industrial and organizational psychology.

When it comes to digital innovation, much research has been done with regard to the optimization of teams, but little attention has been given to leadership structures. This book presents a comprehensive research background on innovation leadership and its evolution over the years, examining how it has been shown to reflect the thinking needed today for organizations to succeed. This timely book proposes a refreshing and contemporary perspective on leadership that aims to address many of the challenges that leaders in digital innovation are faced with every day. With insights and experiences from other digital innovation leaders, as well as an auto-ethnographical case study, it will be of value to researchers, academics, practitioners, and students with an interest in leadership, innovation management, digital innovation, organization studies, and organizational psychology.Additional Information can be found at https://www.caterinamaniscalco.com/

Persuasion: The Hidden Forces That Influence Negotiations represents the first book of its kind to package and present persuasion principles in an innovative, international, and interdisciplinary fashion. This easy-to-understand book is the culmination of seminal research findings spanning across decades and disciplines – psychology, philosophy, negotiations, decision-making, logic, law, and economics, among others – from esteemed experts around the world. Persuasion provides a series of short, simple-to-use intellectual tools to go above and beyond merely describing "what to think"– but "how to think" in a persuasion, influence, and negotiation context –across a diverse array of disciplines, sectors, and situations from boardrooms to classrooms for the twenty-first century.

Buying decision making is a complicated process, in which a consumer’s decision is under the influence of others. The buyer’s decision making is directed in such a way that they must act as a consumer in society. Media and family are key socializing agents for adolescents. Moreover, changes in the socio-cultural environment in India necessitate that adolescents’ influence in family’s buying decision making should be investigated. In comparison to Western society, Indian society is quite different when compared in terms of family composition and structure, behavior, values and norms which impact adolescents’ buying decision making.Adolescents, Family and Consumer Behaviour studies the role of consumer socialization agents for adolescents, examining socio-economic factors that influence adolescents’ buying decision making in Indian urban families. It aims to discover the influence tactics that adolescents employ and to qualitatively analyse how marketers in turn influence adolescents. It addresses the topics with regard to strategic management and marketing and will be of interest to researchers, academics, practitioners, and students in the fields of management, entrepreneurship, small business management, and human resource management.

Artificial Intelligence in Accounting: Practical Applications was written with a simple goal: to provide accountants with a foundational understanding of AI and its many business and accounting applications. It is meant to serve as a guide for identifying opportunities to implement AI initiatives to increase productivity and profitability. This book will help you answer questions about what AI is and how it is used in the accounting profession today. Offering practical guidance that you can leverage for your organization, this book provides an overview of essential AI concepts and technologies that accountants should know, such as machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing. It also describes accounting-specific applications of robotic process automation and text mining. Illustrated with case studies and interviews with representatives from global professional services firms, this concise volume makes a significant contribution to examining the intersection of AI and the accounting profession. This innovative book also explores the challenges and ethical considerations of AI. It will be of great interest to accounting practitioners, researchers, educators, and students.

The information age is reshaping current socio-economic structures and processes and this book touches upon the nature of clusters in the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0; I4.0). It focuses on the spatial perspective of digital business transformation and explores in natural context the interrelations between cluster and I4.0. It investigates the role of knowledge, business relations and policy in making cluster relevant for Industry 4.0 and uses the case study method and literature review to develop a conceptual framework outlining the functioning of Industry 4.0 cluster. This book argues that locally embedded knowledge accompanied by strong presence of industry and assisted by proper governance management facilitate the implementation of I4.0. The idiosyncrasies of Industry 4.0 impact also the functioning of cluster as they require more interdisciplinary integrative approach with the provision of industrial commons and development of related varieties. Natural processes of stretching of the cluster cannot be prevented, but should be harnessed for upgrading the core competences of cluster. This book can enrich existing literature on economic geography and regional studies by discussing the spatial aspects of digital transformation. It shows the cluster transformation as induced by the digital transformation, and will be of interest to researchers, academics, policymakers, and students who explore the regional and local development, competitiveness, or managerial aspects of fourth industrial revolution.

This book is a manifesto for responsible marketing. Taking a critical look at marketing practices of the last 50 years, it explains why they have led to an ethical stalemate and sometimes even a business impasse.Exposed to such practices, consumers have grown tired of meaningless offers coupled with the destruction of value as prices are driven down. As a result, today’s marketing professionals find themselves in the firing line of a combat focused on greater social responsibility and environmental sustainability. Thanks to new ways of understanding consumers and branding, this book suggests how such a challenge can be met. Through the presentation of experiences, studies and concrete cases, the reader gains a tangible, fresh perspective on marketing: a new global, responsible, creative and collaborative model that helps respect sustainable consumption.Implicative Marketing presents a paradigm shift, one that will be of considerable interest not just to academics and their students, but also to marketing practitioners.

For any company, defining the most efficient marketing concept to create a competitive customer experience (CX) is vital for sustained development. The focus of this research is the creation of a comprehensible practical approach to the development of client experience: the Сustomer Experience Model (CXM). The practical application of the CX model will allow companies to create value for their customers and key stakeholders, thus generating the necessary profit and building conditions for further development. Balancing academic research and real-world applications, The Customer Experience Model provides a framework that readers can understand and utilize to implement improvements in a company. In this work the readers also will learn about application in customer experience formation of such concepts as "systems thinking", "learning organization", "Lewinian Experiential learning cycle". The role of a leader in the formation of an effective customer experience will be shown as well. Also the readers will get an obvious idea of how to plan customer experience and measure its effectiveness. The Customer Experience Model shows the latest state of knowledge on the topic and will be of interest both to students of business schools and universities at an advanced level, academics and reflective practitioners in the fields of leadership, organizational studies, marketing, and strategic management and consulting.

This book asserts the emergence of the fourth era of entrepreneurship, based on a brain-driven approach to the study, instruction, and practice of entrepreneurship. This paradigm shift stems from the need to incorporate appropriate neurotechnologies into the exploration and enhancement of entrepreneurial phenomena in order to best address the field's methodological challenges. The author explains why a paradigm shift is necessary in the field of entrepreneurship and provides the foundational guidelines for those interested in implementing it. Furthermore, a model of entrepreneurial enhancement is conceptualized and signalled as the ultimate goal of this new era. Scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and students interested in advancing entrepreneurship's contribution to academia, business, and society at large will benefit from this new era's multidisciplinary perspective and unique strengths.

This book emphasizes the need for promoting innovation on the African continent. It identifies the roadblocks for entrepreneurs and discusses ways for developing an ecosystem for innovators to pave a way through the barriers and create ground-breaking products and new technologies which meet consumers’ needs in Africa. In order to stimulate innovation in African countries, there is the need for a more appropriate approach for innovation to occur in a context of international openness to knowledge. This book adopts a practical approach, demonstrating how innovation is an important driver of economic growth and competitiveness. It shows that innovation in Africa should be driven by local people, in response to local problems, and that open technology and knowledge sharing are vital to this project. It further explores key enablers such as the discovery of innovative talent, overcoming barriers, building strategic partnerships and promoting innovation across the continent. The book places emphasis on the creation of an innovation ecosystem as a value-creating tool by stakeholders for nation building and growth in Africa. This book will be of interest to researchers, students, international agencies, governments, businesses and individuals interested in the field of innovation and its potentials. It will also be relevant to investors, manufacturers and other stakeholders involved in the economic development of Africa.

This book emphasizes the need for promoting innovation on the African continent. It identifies the roadblocks for entrepreneurs and discusses ways for developing an ecosystem for innovators to pave a way through the barriers and create ground-breaking products and new technologies which meet consumers’ needs in Africa. In order to stimulate innovation in African countries, there is the need for a more appropriate approach for innovation to occur in a context of international openness to knowledge. This book adopts a practical approach, demonstrating how innovation is an important driver of economic growth and competitiveness. It shows that innovation in Africa should be driven by local people, in response to local problems, and that open technology and knowledge sharing are vital to this project. It further explores key enablers such as the discovery of innovative talent, overcoming barriers, building strategic partnerships and promoting innovation across the continent. The book places emphasis on the creation of an innovation ecosystem as a value-creating tool by stakeholders for nation building and growth in Africa. This book will be of interest to researchers, students, international agencies, governments, businesses and individuals interested in the field of innovation and its potentials. It will also be relevant to investors, manufacturers and other stakeholders involved in the economic development of Africa.

This book is a manifesto for responsible marketing. Taking a critical look at marketing practices of the last 50 years, it explains why they have led to an ethical stalemate and sometimes even a business impasse.Exposed to such practices, consumers have grown tired of meaningless offers coupled with the destruction of value as prices are driven down. As a result, today’s marketing professionals find themselves in the firing line of a combat focused on greater social responsibility and environmental sustainability. Thanks to new ways of understanding consumers and branding, this book suggests how such a challenge can be met. Through the presentation of experiences, studies and concrete cases, the reader gains a tangible, fresh perspective on marketing: a new global, responsible, creative and collaborative model that helps respect sustainable consumption.Implicative Marketing presents a paradigm shift, one that will be of considerable interest not just to academics and their students, but also to marketing practitioners.

This book looks at the rationale behind the Belt and Road Initiative by China, and attempts to explain the motivation from economical and historical perspectives. The book also compares trade governance of China with those of the United Kingdom and United States, and analyzes the value construction and promotion process of Chinese trade governance.

Cultural proximity consists in shared language, codes ,and norms of communication and exchange between actors. It is generally considered important for organizations, enhancing communication and facilitation interaction between actors. In such situation, diversity is often seen as a source of richness and originality. However, high levels of proximity might create some risk, leading to lock-in and inertia, with a negative impact on the innovativeness of the organization.While the role of cultural proximity is subject to much debate within organizations studies, a comprehensive understanding of cultural proximity remains elusive. This book explores the organizational implications of the concept of cultural proximity, delving into the managerial challenges posed by diversities and similarities in culture within a business environment using different levels of analysis. The key messages of the present book, grounded on original empirical evidence, can be summarized as follows: cultural proximity is a key factor for managing innovation in present times; innovation requires a deliberate orchestration of the dichotomy between cultural proximity/cultural diversity; there are specific circumstances where proximity can be beneficial for managers and entrepreneurs.The book will be of value to researchers, academics, managers, and students in the fields of management science, human resource management, innovation studies, and organizational studies.

Cultural proximity consists in shared language, codes ,and norms of communication and exchange between actors. It is generally considered important for organizations, enhancing communication and facilitation interaction between actors. In such situation, diversity is often seen as a source of richness and originality. However, high levels of proximity might create some risk, leading to lock-in and inertia, with a negative impact on the innovativeness of the organization.While the role of cultural proximity is subject to much debate within organizations studies, a comprehensive understanding of cultural proximity remains elusive. This book explores the organizational implications of the concept of cultural proximity, delving into the managerial challenges posed by diversities and similarities in culture within a business environment using different levels of analysis. The key messages of the present book, grounded on original empirical evidence, can be summarized as follows: cultural proximity is a key factor for managing innovation in present times; innovation requires a deliberate orchestration of the dichotomy between cultural proximity/cultural diversity; there are specific circumstances where proximity can be beneficial for managers and entrepreneurs.The book will be of value to researchers, academics, managers, and students in the fields of management science, human resource management, innovation studies, and organizational studies.