The year is 1919 is Aventine, England. The Great War is nearly over, a drought is on, and water is scarce. The perils from this conflict have had many tragic consequences, especially for Atlas Rohan, a twelve-year-old boy from the Cotswolds whose mother has died from the fever and his father, a soldier fighting in France, has gone missing. Like most war orphans of the region, he is forced to leave his home and confined to the St. Septus chapel, governed by the cruel headmaster Captain Crassus. But somehow, despite these horrible circumstances, he manages to escape her clutches and find solace under the local clockmaker's shop. From the wise old Gideon Pendulum, he learns about the many mysteries concerning the medieval village of Aventine, how nearly two thousand years ago it was inhabited by the Romans, and that underneath the entire town lies their ancient ruins, including a temple hidden deep in the Elysium cemetery where a labyrinth guards a spring and many other dark secrets.

Today, many companies operate within a complex network of firms that all depend on each other for success. In this book, authors Marco Iansiti and Roy Levien use the powerful example of biological ecosystems to show how companies can leverage these emerging business networks for long-term success. The book's title, "The Keystone Advantage", is taken directly from biology - it refers to "keystone species", which proactively maintain the healthy functioning of their entire ecosystem for a simple reason: their own survival depends on it. In the same way, say the authors, companies can protect and ensure their own success by deliberately fostering the combined health of the network they operate in.

PA Keystones contains biographical sketches of several of PA's "heroes." The true stories clearly show the student God's hand at work through His people to establish PA and the nation.

Leveraging the power of business networks for success. Whether it sells computers, clothing, or cars, your firm's fate is increasingly linked to that of many other firms, all of which must collaborate effectively in order for each to thrive. This phenomenon has changed the basis of competition from battle between firms to battles between networks of firms--and more than ever before, success depends on managing assets your company doesn't own. In The Keystone Advantage, Marco Iansiti and Roy Levien offer a new lens for understanding how these ubiquitous and complex business networks behave and explore the implications for strategy formulation, innovation, and operations management. Iansiti and Levien argue that biological ecosystems provide a powerful analogy to the functioning of business networks. Just as "keystone species" in nature play central roles in their ecosystems, companies such as Walmart, Microsoft, and Li & Fung deploy "keystone strategies" to actively shape and regulate the workings of their business ecosystems--dramatically improving their own performance in the process. Iansiti and Levien argue that the best keystones simplify the challenge of connecting a very large and distributed network of companies to their customers and provide "platforms" that other firms can leverage to increase productivity, enhance stability, and spur innovation. Drawing from more than ten years of research and practical experience across a range of industries, the authors identify three specific roles that firms play within business ecosystems: keystone, dominator, and niche. The book lays out a framework any firm can use to assess the characteristics of its own ecosystem, reevaluate its technology and operations strategy, and formulate specific tactics for gaining sustainable competitive advantage. Practical and insightful, The Keystone Advantage will help leaders, managers, and policy makers to understand, analyze, and successful execute strategy in today’s networked environments.

At the end of the 1883 baseball season, things looked rosy--attendance had skyrocketed and the National League and American Association were at peace. A year later, however, the sport was in total disarray. A third major league, the Union Association, had come on the scene and waged a bitter war that rocked the baseball world. By the dawn of the 1885 season, the UA had dissolved in a sea of red ink, the AA had dropped four teams, and the minor leagues were desperately hoping to make it through the season. Amid the chaos of 1884 were some historic moments. Iron-man pitcher Hoss Radbourn won 59 games and led the Providence Grays to victory over the New York Metropolitans in the first World Series. Fleet Walker broke baseball's first color line. There were a record eight no-hitters and a cast of fascinating figures--some famous, some lost to history--like Radbourn, Hustling Horace Phillips, Dan O'Leary, and Edward (The Only) Nolan. This book tells the story of the momentous yet overshadowed 1884 season.

Though they played in the years before Rube Foster formed the first Negro League, the St. Paul Gophers and their bitter crosstown rivals, the Minneapolis Keystones, had the talent, bench depth, and determination to rival many of those later, better known teams. (The Gophers, in fact, beat Chicago's celebrated Leland Giants in 1909, laying claim to blackball's western championship.) Focusing on these two clubs, author Peterson lays out the early history of African American baseball in the Upper Midwest. Included are new statistics and more than 50 rarely seen photographs.