Competency-based HR management focuses first on the person and then on his or her outputs or results. With all aspects of HR integrated through competencies, rather than through jobs and work activities, the organization has a competency-based HR system. Competencies are enduring while work activities and tasks are transitory, therefore, the book proposes that a person- versus job-oriented perspective makes good sense. Additionally, the authors present a strong business case for taking the competency-based approach to HRM. Driven by six macro economic, technology and business trends, the competency needs of most organizations are discussed. In response to these trends, HR practitioners must assume responsibility for leading the way in their organizations to add value; the competency-base approach is the single most useful approach to achieving this central goal. For planning and implementing a customer-driven competency-base HR management project, a nine-step model is presented. This is the first of several action-oriented models the authors have developed.

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The book conveys the author’s approach and techniques for effective coaching, starting with a model to help an observer see the big picture, followed by eleven stories to examine coaching in action, and twelve coaching tools used with success in the field. A highly useful and insightful book that brings the reader, to the extent words permit, into contact with the coaching process. Very highly recommended.

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This book provides a highly readable introduction to C++ programming for beginning business programmers. It guides readers through complete and clear descriptions of sample programs, with a wealth of exercises included along the way to help reinforce the important points of each chapter. Throughout the text, a strong emphasis is placed on business applications, rather than those in mathematics or computing. Part I (Basic C++) covers the procedural parts of C++. Part II (Object-Oriented Concepts and Programming) introduces object-oriented ideas through the built-in string class. Part III (Object-Oriented Programming) explores the essential object-oriented ideas through inheritance and polymorphism. For beginning programmers using C++ for business.

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This book is aimed primarily at professionals working in the field of information technology (IT). If you have any involvement in the definition, creation, or management of an information system, you should be able to gain something of value from this book. Analysts, responsible for capturing requirements and for specifying information systems, can find out more about producing logically complete definitions of the needs of the business. This includes understanding business models and their various constituents, knowing how to locate business rules, and determining how to express them in a form that maintains their true value. Designers and developers, with responsibility for the implementation and testing of systems, can find practical examples of how business logic, expressed in the form of rules, can be conserved and taken forward into operational software.The material in this book is aimed at providing you with the information you need to make crucial decisions in this area. I can’t tell you how to run your business, but I can provide pointers to ideas that you may be able to use to lead your industry in the application of information technology.

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All data centers are unique, but they all share the same mission: to protect your company’s valuable information. Build the Best Data Center Facility for Your Business answers your individual questions in one flexible step-by-step reference guide.

Benefit from the author’s concise and practical approach to data center design and management. The author distills this complex topic by sharing his first-hand and worldwide experience and expertise. Regardless of your experience level, you can fill your knowledge gaps on how to safeguard your company’s valuable equipment and intellectual property.

This easy-to-navigate book is divided into two parts: Part I covers data center design and physical infrastructure details, and Part II covers data center management and operations. You can also access supplementary online materials for installation instructions, which include customizable data center design templates, written cabling specifications, and sample drawings.

If you need a starting point for designing your first data center, regardless of size; if you need to prepare yourself with comprehensive strategies to retrofit or improve an existing one; or if you need proven methods to manage a data center for maximum productivity—this book is your readily accessible, comprehensive resource for answers and insights.

Invest in the best future for your business by learning how to build and manage robust and productive data centers now.

This book is part of the Networking Technology Series from Cisco Press‚ which offers networking professionals valuable information for constructing efficient networks, understanding new technologies, and building successful careers.

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The book is devoted to structural issues, algorithms, and applications of resource allocation problems in project management. Special emphasis is given to a unifying framework within which a large variety of project scheduling problems can be treated. Those problems involve general temporal constraints among project activities, different types of scarce resources, and a broad class of regular and nonregular objective functions ranging from time-based and financial to resource levelling functions. The diversity of the models proposed allows for covering many features arising in scheduling applications beyond the field of project management such as short-term production planning in the manufacturing or process industries.
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Whether your business is just a gleam in your eye, a newly launched operation, or a full-fledged firm that’s humming right along, you’ll never experience real growth without a substantial infusion of cash. Long gone are the days when venture capital groups seemed to pour millions into every “next big thing.” Now it’s clear that there is real competition for investors, and that only the most viable businesses — and carefully executed fundraising — will reap the capital necessary to drive continuous growth.

Raising Capital is the definitive guide for entrepreneurs and growing companies that need to raise capital. The book covers every phase of the growth cycle, and provides tools for building business plans, preparing loan proposals, drafting offering materials, and much more. Now in its second edition, Raising Capital includes a wide variety of updates to reflect the realities of the post-dot-com bust, new trends in private equity markets, and the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a crucial piece of legislation that establishes new corporate governance requirements in the wake of high-profile accounting scandals.

The book takes you through every stage of the capital process, and provides a bevy of alternatives to evaluate in determining your company’s capital strategy. The four parts cover:

* Getting Ready to Raise Capital: capital-formation strategies, plus recent trends; understanding legal and governance structures and how they affect your ability to raise and use capital; and the role your business plan plays in securing capital

* Early-Stage Financing: start-up financing; “bootstrapping,” or doing less with more at a stage in your business where “cash is king”; private placements versus commercial lending; leasing, factoring, and government programs

* Growth Financing: strategies for obtaining venture capital; how venture capital transactions work; preparing for and executing an initial public offering (IPO)

* Alternatives to Traditional Financing: franchising, joint ventures, co-branding, licensing, and other strategic alliances; mergers and acquisitions; plus the Capital Formation Business Growth Resources Directory

Raising Capital provides a huge selection of checklists, charts, sample forms to expedite the capital formation process, and the author relates eye-opening “war stories” and perspectives from the investor’s side of the table that will help you avoid pitfalls and guide your business confidently through every growth stage. Featuring comprehensive coverage of all recognized capital strategies, this timely book will help you navigate the murky (and often rough) waters of capital formation.
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The 4th Edition of Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation by Burgelman, Christensen, and Wheelwright continues its unmatched tradition of market leadership, by using a combination of text, readings, and cases to bring to life the latest business research on these critical business challenges. New co-author Clay Christensen provides his insights on innovation management and new market entries through several new cases. Approximately 40% of the cases are entirely new to this edition. Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation takes the perspective of the general manager at the product line, business unit, and corporate levels. The book not only examines each of these levels in some detail, but also addresses the interaction between the different levels of general management - for example, the fit between product strategy and business unit strategy, and the link between business and corporate level technology strategy. Each part of the book starts with an introductory chapter laying out an overall framework and offering a brief discussion of key tools and findings from existing literature. The remainder of each part offers a selected handful of seminar readings and case studies. Almost all of the cases deal with recent events and situations, including several that are concerned with the impact of the Internet. A few “classics” have been retained, however, because they capture a timeless issue or problem in such a definitive way that the historical date of their writing is irrelevant.
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The Graham family have been involved in work-flow and work-simplification for 3 generations. This book brings together the work of Ben, his father and his grandfather, in an easy to follow text that explains both their approach to flowcharting and why it has been so successful.

Other readers, like me, may be a little unsure about the notation suggested or indeed the level of detail prescribed by Ben. However, putting such reservations to one side, the book is of great value to anyone involved in flowcharting, process modelling and especially work-flow automation.

I particularly liked the sections covering the setting up of a process team, which nicely addressed the roles and responsibilities, and the one looking at the structure and phases of a project.

The final chapter in the book is given over to detailing the experiences of practitioners in applying the technique and of the value created within their organisations as a result. This chapter alone more than justifies both the cost of the book and the time it takes to read it. We can all learn and understand more from hearing from what people have actually done.

In summary, I am not sure how viable the Graham notation is for those who have not already invested in it, but none the less the book presents an excellent case for process modelling or flowcharting and can help anyone who might be looking to justify a business case, whatever notation they finally settle on. Finally the book is a must read for anyone looking to undertake a work-flow automation project, on these projects the ideas in this small book will pay for themselves many times over.
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The book is devoted to structural issues, algorithms, and applications of resource allocation problems in project management. Special emphasis is given to a unifying framework within which a large variety of project scheduling problems can be treated. Those problems involve general temporal constraints among project activities, different types of scarce resources, and a broad class of regular and nonregular objective functions ranging from time-based and financial to resource levelling functions. The diversity of the models proposed allows for covering many features arising in scheduling applications beyond the field of project management such as short-term production planning in the manufacturing or process industries.]

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