Industrial capitalism is broken. The signs, which transcend national ideologies, are everywhere: climate change; ecological overshoot; financial exhaustion; fraying social safety nets; corporate fraud; government deceit; civic unrest; terrorism; and war. But there is hope. This book tells how transformation is taking root in the corporate world – the last place many of us would look for solutions. The book tells the stories of seven exceptional companies. Their shared secret is a new mental model of the firm that is the virtual opposite of industrial capitalism. Each company, if not already a household name, is a significant player within their industry and, crucially, has outperformed their competitors. Lessons can be learned. It works like this. Instead of modeling themselves on the assumed efficiency of machines – a thought process that emerged during the industrial age – these firms model themselves on living systems. Firms with open, ethical, inclusive traditions – where employees have a voice and a stake in what happens – have a distinct advantage over traditionally managed companies where most decisions are made at the top. Understanding that everything of value ultimately arises from life, they place a higher value on living assets (people and Nature) than they do on non-living capital assets. The energy they invest in stewarding those assets – a practice described in the book as living asset stewardship (LAS) – is transformative.

The world economy today is at an historical inflection point. The neoclassical (industrial) model of economics is self-destructing while a new life-mimicking model, based on radically different assumptions, is emerging. Although rarely acknowledged in economic journals, Nordic countries, which pioneered the life-mimicking model, have become world leaders in prosperity and productivity while those operating on the older neoclassical/industrial model are trapped in downward spirals. By approaching economies as sub-systems of life rather than super-systems that transcend life, we gain transformative insights. Such thinking led to the first circular economy experiments in Kalundborg (Denmark) during the 1970s, then quickly spread to the rest of the Nordic world. By placing a higher value on living assets (people and Nature) than on non-living capital assets, this approach generates harmony rather than exploitation and conflict. Because Nordic people feel vested in the system and responsible for its success, they are extraordinarily innovative and productive. That is why Nordic companies are regularly rated among the world’s most sustainable and profitable in their fields – even though their region holds less than half of one percent of the world’s population. Written in an accessible way for non-economists, the book is ideal for readers interested in the benefits of biomimicry and methods of guiding democratic countries along a proven path of self-renewal. Economies That Mimic Life will also provide useful background for corporate leaders in scenario planning and strategic thinking. Knowing which way the political-economic wind is blowing will become increasingly important to corporate survival.

Industrial capitalism is broken. This book tells how transformation is taking root in the corporate world. It tells the stories of seven exceptional companies that have out-performed their competitors. Instead of modeling themselves on the assumed efficiency of machines - a thought process that emerged during the industrial age - these firms model themselves on living systems.

How Indian companies have faced Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity & Ambiguity Failure in itself is not a catastrophe, but failure to learn from failure, definitely is. It is not enough to merely train leaders in core competencies, without identifying the key factors that inhibit their use. Rather, it is resilience and adaptability that are vital in order to distinguish potential leaders from mediocre managers. Authors Suhayl Abidi and Dr Manoj Joshi bring to readers The VUCA Company (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity), the first of its kind in India, on original case studies of 12 Indian corporate failures, since the time of economic liberalization. Each study has been the result of meticulous research over the years and provides insights into behavioural and systemic aspects of failures and under-performance. Through these engaging corporate stories, VUCA discusses how individuals and organizations can avoid, minimize and recover from failures. SUHAYL ABIDI is a practitioner of Organizational Learning & Knowledge Management. He has spent the last 25 years with organizations such as Penguin Publishing, The British Council, Reliance Industries, Essar and Piramal Healthcare. DR MANOJ JOSHI, PhD (Strategy), Fellow Institution of Engineers India, is a Professor – Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Amity Business School. He is the Asia Editor for the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Regional Editor, India for the Journal of Family Business Management.

This edited volume provides managers, as well as students, with the best practices in effectively leading the 21st century workforce and managing change. It applies positive principles arising from the newly emerging fields of positive psychology, positive change, and positive organizational studies to the field of leadership and change; offering managers strategies and tools to lead change effectively, in the present-day boundary-less work environment. At its most fundamental level, the uniqueness of this volume lies in its anchorage in the moral and spiritual dimension of leadership, an approach most relevant for contemporary organizations.

In this new book, Frederick Chavalit Tsao and Chris Laszlo argue that current approaches to leadership fail to produce positive outcomes for either businesses or the communities they serve. Employee disengagement and customer fickleness remain high, resulting in a lack of creativity and collaboration at all levels of entrepreneurial activity. Investor demand for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) continues to be poorly integrated into profit strategies. Drawing on extensive research, this book shows how changing a person's consciousness is the most powerful lever for unlocking his or her leadership potential to create wealth and serve humankind. A wide range of practices of connectedness provide the keys. The journey to higher consciousness changes people at a deep intuitive level, combining embodied experience with analytic-cognitive skill development. Tsao and Laszlo show how leaders who pursue this journey are more likely to flourish with significant benefits to both business and society. These include greater creativity and collaboration along with an increased capability to inspire people and produce lasting change. Readers will come away with a deep understanding of quantum leadership and the day-to-day practices that can help them achieve greater effectiveness and wellbeing at work.

Understanding Company Law is a lively introduction to the key principles of the Companies Act 2006 and modern company law. It takes a unique approach to the subject, which also encompasses the important and growing fields of securities regulation, corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. This book covers all of the key topics that a student reader will encounter in any company law course. The discussion presents the key principles simply, before guiding the reader through the more complex issues that are often the focus of examinations in this subject. It also offers pathways into further reading, while injecting enjoyment back into the topic. In Understanding Company Law, Professor Hudson provides a straightforward guide to the law, while providing context, detailed analyses of the leading cases, and no little humour. The second edition covers key recent changes and developments in company law, both case law and statutory, including: two recent Supreme Court decisions on piercing the corporate veil, VTB Capital plc v Nutritek International Corp and others and Prest v Petrodel Resources Limited & Others, and an analysis of the Conservative government’s Green Paper on Corporate Governance. Online support Visit the author’s website at www.alastairhudson.com to find podcasts of specially recorded lectures covering the basic principles and an audiobook version of this text.

Changes in the character of the political regime in Laos after 2000, a massive influx of foreign investment, and disruptions to rural life arising from improved communications and new forms of mobility within and across the borders have produced a major transformation. Alongside these changes, a group of young scholars carried out studies that document the rise of a new social, cultural and economic order. The contributions to this volume draw on original fieldwork materials and unpublished sources, and provide fresh analyses of topics ranging from the structures of power to the politics of territoriality and new forms of sociability in emerging urban spaces.