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Handbook on Customer Centricity: Strategies for Building a Customer-Centric Organization (Research Handbooks in Business and Management series)
by Christine Moorman Ju-Yeon Lee Robert W. PalmatierDrawing on the expertise of leading marketing scholars, this book provides managers and researchers with insights into the fundamentals of customer centricity and how firms can develop it. Customer centricity is not just about segmentation or short-term marketing tactics. Rather, it represents an organization-wide philosophy that focuses on the systematic and continuous alignment of the firm’s internal architecture, strategy, capabilities, and offerings with external customers. This philosophy means that to be truly customer-centric, firms need to make multilevel transformations in internal architecture and organizational design, including leadership, metrics, incentives, structure, processes, and systems. These reorganizations are often accompanied by reshaped relational strategies, such as customer loyalty programs and marketing channel strategies that make customer centricity a reality. These changes also need to be backed by reconfigurations of brand and technological capabilities, as manifested in healthy customer-centric brands and in technology systems and skills that enable customer centricity at scale. The contributors to this book provide current thinking and cutting-edge research to further scholars’ understanding of this key concept in marketing. Academics teaching or researching customer centricity, consultants implementing customer centricity and managers directly implementing customer centricity in their organizations will come to rely on the Handbook on Customer Centricity. Marketing associations, industry associations and local and university libraries will find the insights within offer critical reflection on the key features of customer centricity and the detailed roadmap to achieve it.
Handbook on Diversity and Inclusion Indices: A Research Compendium (Research Handbooks in Business and Management series)
This Handbook on Diversity and Inclusion Indices critically examines many of the popular and frequently cited indices related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) benchmarking and progress tracking. The goal is to provide a better understanding of the indices' construction, strengths and weaknesses, intended applications, contribution to research and progress towards diversity and equity goals.The editors include detailed reviews of 23 DEI indices including broader, more general measures as well as those that focus on a particular aspect of diversity (e.g., gender, religion). Included are indices that measure diversity, equity, and/or inclusion at organizational, national, and regional levels. The Handbook unpacks this wide range of indices to meet the needs of researchers, public policy makers, and general consumers of information.
Handbook on Evaluation
In this Handbook, Reinhard Stockmann and other esteemed experts in the field provide a systematic and comprehensive exploration into the planning, process, implementation and utilisation of evaluations.Covering the process and individual steps of evaluation in detail, in chronological order and in terms of practical application, this Handbook identifies the characteristics and standards that distinguish a professionally and competently conducted evaluation. The first chapters define the differing concepts of monitoring and quality management before exploring the organisational implementation of evaluations and how evaluations are embedded within their social and political contexts. The Handbook then lays out which evaluation designs, quantitative and qualitative data collection, management, measurement and analysis methods can be used, and under which conditions. It concludes with a summary of the forms of reporting to ensure that evaluation results are used optimally.A thorough overview of the dynamic and evolving field of evaluation, this Handbook is beneficial to students and scholars looking to innovate their research methods and evaluation techniques across public and social policy. It will also be valuable to those who conduct evaluations themselves, as well as decision-makers who commission evaluations, clients and users of evaluations and those who are evaluated.
Handbook On Global Social Justice (PDF)
by Gary CraigSince the publication of Rawls' seminal work, A Theory of Justice, in the second half of the twentieth century, the concept has been constantly debated, with those on the political right and left advocating very different understandings. This unique global collection, written by an exceptional group of international experts, offers a wide-ranging analysis which challenges claims that the market can provide social justice for all. Comprehensive in both its geographical and thematic coverage, authors link theory to policy and practice. Sections cover how to think strategically about social justice in relation to national perspectives; equality and human rights; and applications of the concept to a range of welfare divisions and professional practices. Reflecting both historical and contemporary debates on the subject, the Handbook provides a strong political focus, as well as widening the view of social justice beyond narrow perspectives on welfare provision. This Handbook will be an excellent tool for students at a postgraduate level in the social sciences, particularly social policy, sociology, politics and philosophy. Established researchers of political and sociological theory, and practitioners and policy-makers in professional areas of welfare provision, will also find the extensive insights into current research exceptionally useful for enhancing and developing their work, and situating it within a clear political and philosophical context.
Handbook on Green Infrastructure: Planning, Design and Implementation (PDF)
by Danielle Sinnett Nicholas Smith Sarah BurgessGreen infrastructure encompasses many features in the built environment. It is widely recognised as a valuable resource in our towns and cities and it is therefore crucial to understand, create, protect and manage this resource. This Handbook sets the context for green infrastructure as a means to make urban environments more resilient, sustainable, liveable and equitable.Including state of the art reviews that summarize the current knowledge as well as research findings, this Handbook provides current evidence for the beneficial impact of green infrastructure on health, environmental quality and the economy. It discusses the planning and design of green infrastructure as a strategic network down to the individual features in a neighbourhood; and looks at the process of green infrastructure implementation, emphasizing the importance of collaboration across multiple professions and sectors. This comprehensive volume operates at multiple spatial scales, from strategic networks at the regional level to individual features in neighbourhoods, with international case studies used throughout to illustrate key examples of good practice.This collection of expert contributions will be invaluable to students and academics in the fields of planning, urban studies and geography. Practitioners and policymakers will also find the policy discussion and examples enlightening.
Handbook on Home and Migration (Elgar Handbooks in Migration)
This dynamic Handbook unpacks the entanglements between the two notions of home and migration, which illuminate the lived experiences of (in)voluntary mobilities and the contested terrain of inclusion and belonging.Drawing on cross-disciplinary contributions from leading international scholars, the Handbook advances research on the social study of home in relation to migration, refugee, displacement, and diaspora studies. It investigates the interplay between the notions of house and home, examining the relevance of home as a category of both analysis and practice. With a global and comparative range of case studies and examples, chapters bridge disciplines in unprecedented ways, exploring the existential, epistemological, and political implications of home for those struggling for it from afar and from the margins.Synthesising and systematising state-of-the-art research on home and migration, this groundbreaking Handbook will prove an invaluable resource for students, scholars, and researchers of sociology, anthropology, geography, and architecture. Practitioners and volunteers involved in social welfare, housing, informal social support, and mobilisations, for or by migrants and refugees, will also find this book of importance.
Handbook on HR Process Research (Research Handbooks in Business and Management series)
This forward-thinking Handbook explores cutting-edge research on how employees within firms should be managed in order to increase their wellbeing and performance.Expert contributors explore an emerging stream of research in human resource management (HRM) which suggests that attention should be paid to how line managers implement HR practices and how employees perceive, understand and attribute these HR practices. Chapters consider the implications of employees‘ and leaders‘ HR attributions and their performance, HRM system strength, change, talent management and the role of line managers in the HRM process. Providing an overview of the current knowledge in the HR process research, the Handbook also discusses future avenues and directions for the field. Demonstrating the dynamics of how HR practices impact organisational and individual outcomes, this Handbook will be critical reading for scholars and students of human resource management, organisational behaviour and research methods in business and management. It will also be beneficial for HR professionals seeking to understand how they can increase the effectiveness of their HR management.
Handbook on Innovation and Project Management
Identifying the origins of innovation and project management, this unique Handbook explains why and how the two fields have grown and developed as separate disciplines, highlighting how and why they are now converging. It explores the theoretical and practical connections between the management of innovation and projects, examining the close relationship between the disciplines.Chapters introduce new research examining how organisations manage innovative projects to compete in global markets and tackle some of the immense economic, social and environmental challenges facing societies in the 21st century. Leading scholars in the field examine the management of innovative projects in various forms and across diverse contexts, including R&D, new product development, agile, collaboration, trust and ambidexterity. The Handbook outlines efforts to cross-fertilise ideas from innovation and project management, share and create new concepts, and borrow theories from other disciplines to assist empirical research and develop a more integrated research agenda, offering practical guidance on how to manage innovative projects in real-world settings.Comprehensive and invaluable, this Handbook is a critical read for innovation management and project management scholars and students. Practitioners in both fields interested in developing their professional skills and acquiring thought leadership in a converging field will also benefit greatly from reading this.
Handbook on Marine Environment Protection: Science, Impacts and Sustainable Management
by Markus Salomon Till MarkusThis handbook is the first of its kind to provide a clear, accessible, and comprehensive introduction to the most important scientific and management topics in marine environmental protection. Leading experts discuss the latest perspectives and best practices in the field with a particular focus on the functioning of marine ecosystems, natural processes, and anthropogenic pressures. The book familiarizes readers with the intricacies and challenges of managing coasts and oceans more sustainably, and guides them through the maze of concepts and strategies, laws and policies, and the various actors that define our ability to manage marine activities. Providing valuable thematic insights into marine management to inspire thoughtful application and further study, it is essential reading for marine environmental scientists, policy-makers, lawyers, practitioners and anyone interested in the field.
Handbook on Migration and the Family (Elgar Handbooks in Migration)
This Handbook is a timely and critical intervention into debates on changing family dynamics in the face of globalization, population migration and uneven mobilities. By capturing the diversity of family ‘types’, ‘arrangements’ and ‘strategies’ across a global setting, the volume highlights how migration is inextricably linked to complex familial relationships, often in supportive and nurturing ways, but also violent and oppressive at other times.Featuring state-of-the-art reviews from leading scholars, the Handbook attends to cross-cutting themes such as gender relations, intergenerational relationships, social inequalities and social mobility. The chapters cover a wide range of subjects, from forced migration and displacement, to expatriatism, labour migration, transnational marriage, education, LGBTQI families, digital technology and mobility regimes.By highlighting the complexity of the migration-family nexus, this Handbook will be a valuable resource for researchers, scholars and students in the fields of human geography, sociology, anthropology and social policy. Policymakers and practitioners working on family relations and gender policy will also benefit from reading this Handbook.
Handbook on Migration and Welfare (Elgar Handbooks in Migration)
Bringing together prominent scholars in the field, this Handbook provides an interdisciplinary exploration of the complex interrelationship between migration and welfare. Chapters explore the extent to which immigration policy affects – and is affected by – welfare states, from both economic and political perspectives. This Handbook also examines the effects of emigration on sending societies, exploring issues such as the impact of remittances, diasporas, and skill deterioration as a result of human capital flight on capacity building and on economic and political development more generally. Contributors draw on both qualitative and quantitative research to illuminate the contours and patterns of this complex relationship. This includes the assumed tension-reducing role of multiculturalist and integration policies, the shaping of native beliefs about migrants by socio-economic constraints and the potential for the extension of social rights to migrants to influence and increase pro-redistributive attitudes. Investigating the drivers of welfare chauvinism and its effects on social trust between native and immigrant groups, the Handbook also provides insights into the latest theoretical and empirical findings regarding the progressive’s dilemma, one of the most formidable policy challenges leaders of modern societies face. Breaking new theoretical and empirical ground, this cutting-edge Handbook is essential reading for academics, researchers and students in political science, economics, sociology, social policy and political philosophy, particularly those focused on global migration and changing attitudes to welfare. It will also benefit policymakers looking for new data and pioneering perspectives on immigration policy and the future of welfare states in a changing world economy.
Handbook on Participatory Action Research and Community Development
This Handbook is a critical resource for carefully considering the possibilities and challenges of strategically integrating participatory action research (PAR) and community development (CD). Utilizing practical examples from diverse contexts across five continents, it looks at how communities are empowering themselves and bringing about systemic change.Chapters provide models for sustainably integrating the two practices and explore the transformative potential of decolonizing innovations and incorporating community organizing. With contributions by leading scholars and practitioners from the global south and north, the Handbook explores ways to build infrastructure to bring PAR and CD together, how to use PAR and CD to build people’s power and capacity, and how to integrate PAR and CD in relation to community and organizational capacity building. It further gives practical advice and academic analysis on youth PAR, how to use PAR and CD in crisis situations such as earthquakes and pandemics, and envisions radically alternative PAR and CD approaches.This is a timely resource for social science scholars looking to better understand PAR as an important research method. It rethinks the theories underpinning both PAR and CD, offering important lessons for community development practitioners and non-profit professionals, as well as higher education professors interested in community engagement.
Handbook on Positive Development of Minority Children and Youth
by Natasha J. Cabrera Birgit LeyendeckerThis Handbook presents current research on children and youth in ethnic minority families. It reflects the development currently taking place in the field of social sciences research to highlight the positive adaptation of minority children and youth. It offers a succinct synthesis of where the field is and where it needs to go. It brings together an international group of leading researchers, and, in view of globalization and increased migration and immigration, it addresses what aspects of children and youth growing in ethnic minority families are universal across contexts and what aspects are more context-specific. The Handbook examines the individual, family, peers, and neighborhood/policy factors that protect children and promote positive adaptation. It examines the factors that support children’s social integration, psychosocial adaptation, and external functioning. Finally, it looks at the mechanisms that explain why social adaptation occurs.
Handbook on Pro-Environmental Behaviour Change
This timely Handbook provides a state-of-the-art overview of research on changing behaviour to become less environmentally harmful. Exploring how well-designed, contextually appropriate behaviour change interventions can work, it charts a path for future research that challenges traditional assumptions to maximise pro-environmental impact.Drawing together work from diverse perspectives and disciplines, this Handbook makes six key recommendations for anyone working towards a more sustainable society. Giving a critical perspective on existing ways of thinking about research and policy, leading global scholars examine behavioural change in the public and private sphere. Through empirical analysis and theoretical reflection, they review key success stories and identify where new ideas and approaches are needed. Chapters discuss cutting-edge issues including citizen science, effectiveness of behavioural interventions, norm nudges, public participation in climate policy, and children’s pro-environmentalism. The Handbook on Pro-Environmental Behaviour Change will be an invaluable resource for researchers and students of sustainability, social psychology, cultural and human geography, environmental governance, and natural resource management. It will also prove an essential guide for practitioners and activists seeking evidence-based strategies to induce change.
Handbook on Religion and Health: Pathways for a Turbulent Future
This revelatory Handbook explores the relationship between religion and health, emphasising the effects of organised religion and spirituality on community, population, and public health. While comprehensively summarising the current state of the field, it focusses on pursuing new pathways vital for human health in a turbulent world.Bringing together an impressive array of internationally recognised experts, the Handbook on Religion and Health outlines a number of conceptual and theoretical frameworks for the field. Chapters examine religion and health on the micro, macro, and meso levels, before analysing wider, more holistic understandings of religion and health, through ecological, de-colonial, and sociological perspectives. Chapter authors also assess religion and health from the grassroots, and the centrality of the community to experiences of disease and spirituality.Expertly traversing an interdisciplinary area which is constantly expanding, this Handbook is a fascinating resource for students and scholars of health policy, religious studies, and cultural sociology. It will also appeal to practitioners and policy makers in global organisations operating in the public health sector.
Handbook on Religion in China (Handbooks of Research on Contemporary China series)
by Stephan FeuchtwangInformative and eye-opening, the Handbook on Religion in China provides a uniquely broad insight into the contemporary Chinese variations of Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. In turn, China's own religions of Daoism, of filial piety and transmissions of rites have spread beyond China, a progression that is explored in detail across 19 chapters, written by leading experts in the field. Utilising a historical focus to emphasize developments and highlight the transformations of ritual practices, festivals, divination and traditions, this Handbook deals with the emergence of new attitudes to selfhood and the great diversity of civic and other rituals. Traditional ways of forming relationships and conducting life-cycle rituals are also considered. This comprehensive Handbook investigates the ways in which all of these changes are affected by governmental controls that have intriguing unintended consequences. Providing a solid introduction for both newcomers and informed readers, this Handbook will be a key resource for sociologists and anthropologists of ritual and religion as well as students of religious studies, contemporary Chinese studies and the sociology of religion. With extensive references to assist readers wishing to further deepen their understanding this Handbook will also be of interest to historians and individuals interested in contemporary China.
Handbook on Risk and Inequality (Elgar Handbooks on Inequality)
This unique Handbook charts shifts in the relationship between risks and inequalities over the last few decades, analysing how inequalities shape risk and how risks condition and intensify inequalities. Expert contributors examine the impacts of environmental, financial, social, urban, economic, and digital risks on inequalities, at both national and global levels.Identifying how the rise of novel risk formations is associated with changes in contemporary political economies, chapters explore new areas of research including the new urban crisis, the gendered impacts of precarious labour and social inequality in relation to agro-biotechnology. Contributing to an underdeveloped area of research, the Handbook breaks new ground to explore how tackling important issues via the prism of risk and inequality can provide novel insights, that solely focusing on only one or the other of these issues cannot.This Handbook will be critical reading for scholars and students of sociology, sociological theory, geography and political science. Its exploration of shifts in contemporary socially produced risks will also be beneficial for practitioners, economists and policy makers in these areas.
Handbook on Shrinking Cities (Research Handbooks in Urban Studies series)
Compelling and engaging, this Handbook on Shrinking Cities addresses the fundamentals of shrinkage, exploring its causal factors, the ways in which planning strategies and policies are steered, and innovative solutions for revitalising shrinking cities. It analyses the multidimensional phenomena involved in processes of shrinkage, where cities experience a dramatic decline in their economic and social bases.Offering a timely response to the endurance of decline in cities across the globe, contributions from top scholars showcase a wide range of perspectives on the ongoing challenges of shrinkage. Chapters cover topics of ‘governance’, ‘greening’ and ‘right-sizing’, and ‘regrowth’, laying the relevant groundwork for the Handbook’s proposals for dealing with shrinkage in the age of COVID-19 and beyond. Leading experts in the fields of urban and regional development contribute novel ideas pertinent to the future of shrinking cities, considering factors such as economic prosperity, liveability, social stability, and innovation, ultimately representing a paradigmatic shift from growth-centred planning to the notion of ‘shrinking sustainably’.In suggesting strategies to reverse decline and generate newer, more robust development, this prescient Handbook will prove beneficial to scholars of human geography and urban planning. The wide range of case studies will also make this a vital read for planning practitioners.
Handbook on Social Innovation and Social Policy (Elgar Handbooks in Social Policy and Welfare)
Applying a critical perspective to stimulate dialogue and mutual learning between the interconnected fields of social innovation and social policy analysis, this dynamic Handbook investigates the often-contested relationship between these two areas of enquiry and practice. Bringing together discerning contributions from a diverse team of international scholars and analysts, the Handbook explores key policy insights, practical lessons and advances in theoretical understanding which can be drawn from social innovation and social policy. Chapters examine a comprehensive range of social issues and policy areas including sustainable development, employment, immigration, financial exclusion, digital services, food provision, health and social care, and gender equality. Presenting distinctive new insights into how social innovation and social policy can address these issues, the Handbook ultimately considers how social innovation can offer solutions and ways forward in response to emerging social problems and persistent welfare needs. This expansive Handbook will be invaluable for academics, scholars, and advanced students of social policy, social innovation and enterprise, public management and administration, and politics. Locating the relationship between social innovation and social policy in historical, theoretical, and practical contexts, it will also benefit civil society organisations and public policymakers tasked with developing and implementing innovations and reforms in key policy areas.
Handbook on Social Protection and Social Development in the Global South (Elgar Handbooks in Social Policy and Welfare)
This cutting-edge Handbook argues for social protection to be situated in a wider system of social welfare and development programmes for low- and middle-income countries. Focusing on the role of citizens and communities in enhancing human development, it explores how welfare systems are unfolding in diverse contexts across the global South.Tracing the evolution and theory of social protection, the Handbook examines the nature, design, scope, goals and linkages of social protection and social development programmes. Case studies examine responses to the COVID-19 pandemic; the entrepreneurial character of modern social protection schemes; cash transfer schemes and the move towards cash-plus policies; and the fluidity between progression and regression of social protection. With global and regional reviews of social protection from in-country experts, the Handbook provides innovative solutions to key challenges.Bridging theoretical and empirical approaches, the Handbook on Social Protection and Social Development in the Global South will prove an invaluable resource for academics and graduate students of development, social policy and sociology. Its comprehensive overview of the field will also be useful for policymakers and practitioners working on social welfare and development in the global South.
Handbook on Social Protection Systems (Elgar Handbooks in Social Policy and Welfare)
This exciting and innovative Handbook provides readers with a comprehensive and globally relevant overview of the instruments, actors and design features of social protection systems, as well as their application and impacts in practice. It is the first book that centres around system building globally, a theme that has gained political importance yet has received relatively little attention in academia.Combining academic discussion with cases from the Global South and North, this Handbook offers practical recommendations on how greater harmonization across social protection policies, programmes and delivery mechanisms can be achieved. It also highlights the importance of linkages to other policy fields and issues such as taxation, humanitarian aid and livelihood approaches. Overall, the chapters argue that a systems approach is needed to respond to the individual needs of different groups in society and to face future challenges from demographic change, globalization, automation, climate change and pandemics.Targeting a broad audience, the Handbook on Social Protection Systems bridges the divide in academic debate around social protection in the Global South and North. It will be an invaluable resource for academics, students and practitioners.
Handbook on Society and Social Policy
by Nicholas Ellison Tina HauxThis comprehensive Handbook provides a unique examination of the key issues and challenges facing society and social policy in the twenty-first century. Featuring both wide-ranging coverage of major issues and detailed analysis of social policies in different countries, the Handbook explores key concepts, policy areas and institutions, considering welfare and social policy in the context of wider socio-economic and cultural divisions. In addition to examining specific policy areas, contributors engage with the social divisions and complex infrastructures that underpin them on both local and global scales. Chapters also discuss significant challenges to contemporary social policy, including the threats to human and societal well-being posed by austerity, migration and the climate crisis, as well as the opportunities these present to reshape policy conceptually, ideologically and practically in the future in response to these issues. Scholars and students in social policy, sociology and political science looking for a comprehensive overview of the field of social policy will find this Handbook an invaluable resource. It will also prove useful to researchers and practitioners seeking in-depth analyses of particular countries or policy areas covered.
Handbook on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
This engaging Handbook critically examines the moral opportunities and challenges surrounding artificial intelligence. It provides a comprehensive overview of the most pressing problems concerning this technology by drawing on a wide range of analytical methods, traditions and approaches.Advocating for a diversification of the study of ethics and AI, this Handbook covers the foundations of the field before delving into the challenges of responsibility, justice and authority in an AI-centred landscape. Chapter authors champion typically underrepresented or marginal traditions, including continental philosophy, indigenous cosmologies, queer studies, post-colonial theories, African philosophies, disability studies, and feminist ethics. Balancing legal and moral philosophies, the Handbook surveys the transformative present of AI, while also reckoning with the ethics of an increasingly inscrutable future.The Handbook on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence is a crucial reference point for students and scholars of AI ethics, philosophy, technology and sociology. It will also appeal to legal practitioners, policy analysts, and regulators looking for a fundamental resource in AI ethics.
Handbook on the Family and Marriage in China (Handbooks of Research on Contemporary China series)
by Lucy X. Zhao Xiaowei ZangThis Handbook advances research on the family and marriage in China by providing readers with a multidisciplinary and multifaceted coverage of major issues in one single volume. It addresses the major conceptual, theoretical and methodological issues of marriage and family in China and offers critical reflections on both the history and likely progression of the field. By examining the traditional ideas of marriage and family in China against new concepts, state policy changes and market reforms, the Handbook exposes the impact these changes are having on familial structures, traditional institutions and marital ideals. The eminent contributors include established scholars and emerging stars in this area of research, ranging from Australia, China, Canada, Europe, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the UK and the US. Working as a comprehensive and convenient reference for future research, this Handbook provides an extensive overview of the key issues in the field. An excellent reference tool for researchers and students of sociology, anthropology, public policy, family studies and China studies, this Handbook provides the knowledge for further research to flourish.
Handbook on the Political Economy of Social Policy (Elgar Handbooks in Social Policy and Welfare)
Research in social policy has been greatly influenced by the emergence of modern political economy in the late 1970s. The Handbook on the Political Economy of Social Policy offers a systematic, yet comprehensive, framework for understanding how concepts, theoretical standpoints and methodological approaches stemming from political economy have been applied to the study of social policies, and models of welfare provision. The authors also signpost current developments and discuss their likely impact on future research.With contributions from leading scholars in social policy, political science and political economy, The Handbook explores the key theoretical standpoints for understanding how social policies are introduced and/or reformed. These include historical institutionalism, the role of ideas, the influence of political parties and of political attitudes and preferences. The contributors also discuss key methodological approaches for understanding how social policies are adopted and how they change – from the case-study approach to more comparative approaches. Analysis of the applications of political economy approaches within social policy covers housing, welfare, labour relations and pensions as well as examining regional cases from across the globe.Offering a comprehensive overview of the current state of scholarship on the political economy of social policy, this Handbook will be crucial reading for scholars and students of social policy, welfare state analysis, area studies, political science, political economy and sociology.