Valuable Partnerships: Cooperation, Innovation, and the Future of Municipal Texas bridges rich scholarship and practical application to produce an important reference for local government scholars and practitioners alike by covering the dynamic approaches altering how Texas municipalities operate. Valuable Partnerships investigates the efficacy of the American fragmented municipal model comprised of 89,000 jurisdictions. Critics consistently criticize this decentralized model while arguing for a regional structure yielding greater efficiencies and scalability that also solves the twin problems of equity and service delivery inequalities. Conversely, Valuable Partnerships presents evidence that Texas local governments leverage regional cooperation and innovation to achieve these results without the political and structural upheaval. The author utilizes historic analysis, benchmark results, socioeconomic measures, and budgetary data to demonstrate how Texas governments increase service performance and reduce the burden to taxpayers. Such results support a counter thesis to the structural regionalism hypothesis by presenting findings that Texas local jurisdictions embracing regional cooperation and data analytics will experience the same benefits.

The managed flow of goods and information from raw material to final sale also known as a "supply chain" affects everythingâ€"from the U.S. gross domestic product to where you can buy your jeans. The nature of a company's supply chain has a significant effect on its success or failureâ€"as in the success of Dell Computer's make-to-order system and the failure of General Motor's vertical integration during the 1998 United Auto Workers strike. Supply Chain Integration looks at this crucial component of business at a time when product design, manufacture, and delivery are changing radically and globally. This book explores the benefits of continuously improving the relationship between the firm, its suppliers, and its customers to ensure the highest added value. This book identifies the state-of-the-art developments that contribute to the success of vertical tiers of suppliers and relates these developments to the capabilities that small and medium-sized manufacturers must have to be viable participants in this system. Strategies for attaining these capabilities through manufacturing extension centers and other technical assistance providers at the national, state, and local level are suggested. This book identifies action steps for small and medium-sized manufacturersâ€"the "seed corn" of business start-up and developmentâ€"to improve supply chain management. The book examines supply chain models from consultant firms, universities, manufacturers, and associations. Topics include the roles of suppliers and other supply chain participants, the rise of outsourcing, the importance of information management, the natural tension between buyer and seller, sources of assistance to small and medium-sized firms, and a host of other issues. Supply Chain Integration will be of interest to industry policymakers, economists, researchers, business leaders, and forward-thinking executives.

Social Value Investing presents a new way to approach some of society’s most difficult and intractable challenges. Although many of our world’s problems may seem too great and too complex to solve — inequality, climate change, affordable housing, corruption, healthcare, food insecurity — solutions to these challenges do exist, and will be found through new partnerships bringing together leaders from the public, private, and philanthropic sectors. In their new book, Howard W. Buffett and William B. Eimicke present a five-point management framework for developing and measuring the success of such partnerships. Inspired by value investing — one of history’s most successful investment paradigms — this framework provides tools to maximize collaborative efficiency and positive social impact, so that major public programs can deliver innovative, inclusive, and long-lasting solutions. It also offers practical insights for any private sector CEO, public sector administrator, or nonprofit manager hoping to build successful cross-sector collaborations. Social Value Investing tells the compelling stories of cross-sector partnerships from around the world — Central Park and the High Line in New York City, community-led economic development in Afghanistan, and improved public services in cities across Brazil. Drawing on lessons and observations from a broad selections of collaborations, this book combines real life stories with detailed analysis, resulting in a blueprint for effective, sustainable partnerships that serve the public interest. Readers also gain access to original, academic case material and professionally produced video documentaries for every major partnerships profiled — bringing to life the people and stories in a way that few other business or management books have done.

In the 21st century, businesses are increasingly faced with complex, "wicked" problems--challenges with social and environmental dimensions they cannot solve on their own. This is especially common in the frontier markets of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the former Soviet bloc. In many cases, the best solution is to create cross-sector partnerships with organizations from outside the business world--foundations, nonprofits, government agencies, and more. The resulting partnerships can generate business value as well positive social impact, thereby benefiting companies and communities alike. PARTNER WITH PURPOSE by Steve Schmida is a step-by-step guide to planning, launching, and successfully maintaining cross-sector partnerships, illustrated with vivid real-life stories from the author's work with companies around the world.

In modern-day settings where strategies change in waves and tasks emerge to serve obstacles, effective leadership often involves navigating through uncharted waters. Yet, amidst the whirlwind of contemporary management theories and business lexicon, there exists a reservoir of timeless wisdom offering profound insights into the art of leadership and organizational excellence. Welcome to "Simplifying Management Skills: Lessons from Ramayana." In this transformational journey, we venture into a timeless narrative that transcends epochs and the boundaries of much of our understanding of leadership and management, drawing inspiration from one of the world's most esteemed epics: the Ramayana. As a flagship of Indian tradition, the Ramayana is no mere tale of heroism and righteousness; it, indeed, stands as a classical text, bringing into harmony managerial doctrines that remain timeless, proving a treasure trove of lessons for managers engaged in the intricate journey of leadership in the corporate world.

Gone are the days when researchers, policymakers, and practitioners each worked in isolation. In recent years, a few interrelated issues have emphasized the need for greater collaboration among these groups: the increased emphasis on results and accountability (particularly where public funds are at stake), the need to improve services, and the growing use of technology. This book is about these all-important partnerships, specifically the relationships between those searching for evidence and those putting evidence to use, designing and implementing policy at the federal, state, or local level. Yet the science or art of how to create partnerships and how to make them work has just begun. This book offers the reader a toolkit for effective researcher/policymaker collaborations by exploring innovations underway around the country and developing an analytic framework to describe the process. It asks questions such as: What can we learn from these examples? How can and should partners communicate? Where should partners plan together, and where is it best to leave some separation to respect the differences in our roles? Through carefully chosen and organized case studies, this book demonstrates the motivations that lead to partnerships, the core elements of successful implementation, and the lessons to be learned about sustaining these relationships. It further examines the use of research once the research phase has concluded, as well as the ever-important consideration of investing in collaboration by both non-profit and public sector funders. For policymakers, this book offers a greater appreciation of the role of research in the policy process and new insights into different types of research. For researchers, the book provides insights into how best to formulate questions, how to work closely with those most affected, and how to communicate findings in ways that can be more easily understood by those who are depending on clear answers. Students of public policy, public administration, social work, and education will find much to inform future roles in research, policy or practice.