Search results

Business process re‐engineering is a hot topic around management and information systems areas. However, the verdict of the new idea is not clear and reports of successful cases are not numerous. Analyses the definitions and characteristics of business process re‐engineering (BPR). Reports on a literature survey on the critical failure reasons and success factors. Recognizes that the lack of clear concepts and understanding of BPR definitions creates many problems and, therefore, compares the BPR effort with other improvement programmes such as automation, downsizing, total quality management (TQM) for a better understanding of BPR. Suggests a methodology which can be used as general guidelines for management and re‐engineers in performing BPR to enhance success for BPR efforts.

1. Introduction : creativity and innovation / Janet Chan and Leon Mann -- 2. National innovation systems and creativity / Jonathan West -- 3. Innovation and creativity in industry and the service sectors / Jane Marceau -- 4. Space, place and innovation / Jane Marceau -- 5. Historical approaches to creativity and innovation / Simon Ville -- 6. Economic approaches to understanding and promoting innovation / Joshua Gans -- 7. Creativity and innovation : a legal perspective / Andrew Christie -- 8. Promoting creativity and innovation through law / Brian Fitzgerald -- 9. Towards a sociology of creativity / Janet Chan -- 10. Social psychology of creativity and innovation / Leon Mann -- 11. Creativity and innovation management : play's the thing / Mark Dodgson -- 12. Inducing and disciplining creativity in organisations under escalating complexity / Jonathan West -- 13. Creativity and innovation : an educational perspective / Erica McWilliam -- 14. The psychology of creativity and its educational consequences / John Sweller and Leon Mann -- 15. Creativity meets innovation : examining relationships and pathways / Leon Mann -- 16. Creativity and innovation : principles and policy implications / Leon Mann.

Creativity and Innovation in Business and Beyond illustrates the ways in which creativity spurs innovation - not only in the realms of business and management, where the innovation is regularly acknowledged and discussed, but throughout the social sciences. With contributions from experts in fields as far-flung as policy, history, economics, law, psychology, and education, in addition to business and management, this volume explores the manifold avenues for creativity and innovation within and across a multitude of disciplines.

Authentic Chinese internal documents matter greatly as historical records that illuminate our understanding of Chinese politics. Yet careful scrutiny shows that the Chinese book version of the Tiananmen Papers is part fiction and part documentary history based on open and semi-open sources and document collections. The alleged transcripts of top-level meetings are basically stitched together ex post facto (even by the admission of the editors) and then presented as secret documents. Furthermore, the English translation is a heavily retouched version of the Chinese with differences in claims of authenticity, translation, citation and style. There is little evidence that any real secret documents are in the hands of the Chinese author, and even if they were, the two books under consideration are really secondary sources steps removed from the originals. The editors strongly vouch for the authenticity of these two books, but their efforts are inadequate and unconvincing.

AbstractIn this investigation of civil society in China, the authors develop a new concept: "critical citizenship," defined as the propensity of citizens to discriminate in their support for the political community, the regime and the authorities. Critical citizenship is employed to indicate the presence of civil society in contemporary China. Using survey data gathered throughout China by Min Qi, the authors test hypotheses about the propensity of Chinese citizens toward critical citizenship. They conclude that the Chinese indeed discriminate in their support for the three objects of political attention, and that youth are particularly likely to manifest critical citizenship.