* Joey F. George I was honored to be asked to open the VI Conference of the Italian Chapter of the Association for Information Systems (ItAIS), held in Olbia, on the Costa Smeralda of Sardinia, Italy, in October 2009. Over 90 research papers were presented over two days, and over 120 people attended the conference. Each day, five par- lel sessions featured papers on diverse information systems topics. Session themes included Information and Knowledge Management; Organizational Change and Impact of ICT; IS Quality, Metrics and Impact; E-Justice and Ethics of Information Systems; Information Systems Development and Design Methodo- gies; E-Services in Public and Private Sectors; Innovation Transfer of IT Research Projects; the Strategic Role of Information Systems; Accounting Management and Information Systems; Human Computer Interaction; and Emerging Issues in a Globalized and Interconnected World. The majority of attendees were from Italy, which would be expected for a meeting of the Italian Chapter of AIS. However, as much as 30% of participants came from elsewhere, from other parts of Europe to be sure, but also from as far away as Nigeria, Mexico and Australia. That the conference was so decidedly international provides support for the 2009 con- rence theme, “Achieving Fusion in the Interconnected World. ” Amid lively d- cussion and intellectual exchanges, professional networks were extended well beyond the Costa Smeralda and new connections and friendships were made.

Catalytic Leadership presents a new kind of leadership that is more successful with these complex, interconnected problems. Effective public leaders act as catalysts who convene multiple stakeholder groups, facilitate and mediate agreements around tough issues, think systematically and strategically about sustainable actions. They are passionate about reaching a particular outcome yet remain flexible and inclusive on specific strategies to reach the desired results.

Managing Strategically in an Interconnected World Business is now at a new frontier as managers face an increasingly interdependent and interconnected world. Sparked by the technological revolution and globalization of business, an exceedingly complex and challenging competitive landscape has been created which has been referred to as the 'third industrial revolution'. Firms face significant uncertainty, ambiguity and an increasing number of strategic discontinuities in this hyper-competitive world. The key to survival for the modern business manager is strategic flexibility. This strategic flexibility will require innovation, speed and the use of information and knowledge. Only then can managers consistently find new methods of achieving competitive advantage. The editors have selected contributions that address two major themes of this new business environment and the means of managing strategically within it. Part I: Interconnected World: The Global Environment, Uncertainty and Knowledge Development looks at the rapid and largely unpredictable changes that occur, exemplified by the recent economic shocks in Asia and Russia and the political changes in Eastern Europe. Chapters in this section range from a focus on the central European banking system (of vital importance in the forthcoming changes in the EU to a single currency), to the executive strategic orientations in Chinese state-owned enterprises and managerial strategies of western companies in Asia. Further chapters explain the development and sharing of knowledge to build strategic flexibility. They explore how firms learn and thereby develop dynamic capabilities and core competencies. Part II: Interconnected Firms: The Role of Cooperation, Trust, Governance and Technology begins by examining how cooperative strategies have become a significant strategic tool in recent years, but why there is still a high failure rate of strategic alliances (the most common form of cooperation). The development of collaborative know-how is explored as well as the entrepreneurial opportunities that can be created by alliances to increase resources and develop new capabilities. Developing these new capabilities requires that firms have the necessary absorptive capacity and build trust with their partners. Even with trust, higher risk collaborative ventures, particularly between international partners, require governance. Trust in and governance of interorganizational partnerships within several different international contexts including Europe, Asia and North America is also explored. Thus, Managing Strategically in an Interconnected World addresses a number of critical issues to successfully navigate in the new frontier and build sustainable competitive advantages.

Across organisations and communities there are leaders who manage to get things done through their ability to understand how a network of individuals connect, who to talk to and how to bring people together in the right constellation of effort. These are "network leaders". Network Leadership enables readers to identify and make the most of informal social and organisational networks in order to challenge the status quo effectively and facilitate greater engagement and productivity. Not only will the research in these chapters help you become a better leader and manager of your own team or department, it will also help make you a better network leader, effecting positive change across teams, and departmental and organisational boundaries. Leaders who facilitate action do so through four key practices: they understand the social systems in which they work; they have convening power, uncovering and connecting underlying movements and giving voice to something that is worth listening to; they lead beyond their formal authority; and they possess the power of restless persuasion and a capacity to thrive in complexity and crises. This book is invaluable reading for those who have mastered the basics of leadership but wish to take the next steps. It is particularly relevant to organisations and managers dealing with the geographic separation of business units, change, innovation, matrix management, project or portfolio management and other cross-departmental projects.

50 stunning maps reveal our globalized world like never before. Explore how cities are expanding beyond the reach of their nations, uncover the ways bananas, cobalt and water bottles link the most unlikely of places, and discover how modern phenomena such as messenger apps and sharing platforms are changing not just our interactions, but how we interconnect. Globalography uncovers the myriad ways we can now connect with one another and in doing so, showcases the radical way globalization is transforming our world.

This book examines how global value chains have evolved and the policy challenges they have created.

As global business systems are becoming ever more complex and they continue to grow and expand, it is increasingly more difficult to stand out as an effective and efficient leader. Dynamic Leadership Models for Global Business: Enhancing Digitally Connected Environments describes various models on how to become an outstanding leader in today’s rapidly growing global business environments. This book seeks to provide positive instruction which illuminates a practical path to becoming a successful leader in such large and competitive markets. The approach is consistent with any existing leadership development program, or it may be undertaken as an individual initiative.

Comprehensive Handbook Demystifies 5G for Technical and Business Professionals in Mobile Telecommunication Fields Much is being said regarding the possibilities and capabilities of the emerging 5G technology, as the evolution towards 5G promises to transform entire industries and many aspects of our society. 5G for the Connected World offers a comprehensive technical overview that telecommunication professionals need to understand and take advantage of these developments. The book offers a wide-ranging coverage of the technical aspects of 5G (with special consideration of the 3GPP Release 15 content), how it enables new services and how it differs from LTE. This includes information on potential use cases, aspects of radio and core networks, spectrum considerations and the services primarily driving 5G development and deployment. The text also looks at 5G in relation to the Internet of Things, machine to machine communication and technical enablers such as LTE-M, NB-IoT and EC-GSM. Additional chapters discuss new business models for telecommunication service providers and vertical industries as a result of introducing 5G and strategies for staying ahead of the curve. Other topics include: Key features of the new 5G radio such as descriptions of new waveforms, massive MIMO and beamforming technologies as well as spectrum considerations for 5G radio regarding all possible bands Drivers, motivations and overview of the new 5G system – especially RAN architecture and technology enablers (e.g. service-based architecture, compute-storage split and network exposure) for native cloud deployments Mobile edge computing, Non-3GPP access, Fixed-Mobile Convergence Detailed overview of mobility management, session management and Quality of Service frameworks 5G security vision and architecture Ultra-low latency and high reliability use cases and enablers, challenges and requirements (e.g. remote control, industrial automation, public safety and V2X communication) An outline of the requirements and challenges imposed by massive numbers of devices connected to cellular networks While some familiarity with the basics of 3GPP networks is helpful, 5G for the Connected World is intended for a variety of readers. It will prove a useful guide for telecommunication professionals, standardization experts, network operators, application developers and business analysts (or students working in these fields) as well as infrastructure and device vendors looking to develop and integrate 5G into their products, and to deploy 5G radio and core networks.

"This book explores the social impact and influence of social media on online businesses"--

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 11th IFIP WG 6.6 International Conference on Autonomous Infrastructure, Management, and Security, AIMS 2017, held in Zurich, Switzerland, in July 2017.The 8 full papers presented together with 11 short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 24 submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: security management; management of cloud environments and services, evaluation and experimental study of rich network services; security, intrusion detection, and configuration; autonomic and self-management solutions; and methods for the protection of infrastructure. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.