Research Methods & Encyclopedias in Social Sciences: Service Management

The second edition of this flagship business and management reference work is divided into 12 individual subject volumes and an index and includes a brand new volume on Entrepreneurship: Comprises over 6500 specially commissioned and carefully edited entries Written and edited by international teams of over 1500 of the world's best scholars and teachers Features extended bibliographies of relevant, wider, international literature and the foremost global scholarship in each field.

The role of Corporate Social Responsibility in the business world has developed from a fig leaf marketing front into an important aspect of corporate behavior over the past several years. Sustainable strategies are valued, desired and deployed more and more by relevant players in many industries all over the world. Both research and corporate practice therefore see CSR as a guiding principle for business success. The "Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility" has been conceived to assist researchers and practitioners to align business and societal objectives.

This work is designed to serve as a core reference for anyone interested in the essentials of contemporary management theory. Drawing together a team of international scholars, it examines the global landscape of the key theories and the theorists behind them, presenting them in the context needed to understand their strengths and weaknesses to thoughtfully apply them. In addition to interpretations of long-established theories, it also offers essays on cutting-edge research as one might find in a handbook. And, like an unabridged dictionary, it provides concise, to-the-point definitions of key concepts, ideas, schools, and figures.

Features & Benefits: 150 carefully selected signed entries (each with Cross References and Further Readings) are organized in A-to-Z fashion to give students easy access to the full range of topics in new venture management. A thematic Reader's Guide in the front matter groups related entries by broad topical and thematic areas to make it easy for users to find related entries at a glance, with themes that include "Entrepreneurial Decision Making," "Corporate Entrepreneurship," "Entrepreneurial Marketing," "Leadership & Human Resources," "Financing & Development," and more.

This encyclopedia provides decision-makers in Operations Research with a comprehensive overview of the range of ideas and forces that combine in OR/MS. New topics for the third edition, include yield management, flexible queuing systems, service management, local search, tolerance sensitivity analysis, influence diagrams, knowledge management, strategy and policy making, school districting, computational biology.

Society, globally, has entered into what might be called the "service economy." Services now constitute the largest share of GDP in most countries and provide the major source of employment in both developed and developing countries. Services permeate all aspects of peoples' lives and are becoming inseparable from most aspects of economic activity. "Quality management" has been a dominating managerial practice since World War II. With quality management initially associated with manufacturing industries, one might assume the relevance of quality management might decrease with the emergence of the service economy. To the contrary, the emergence of the service economy strengthened the importance of quality issues, which no longer are associated only with manufacturing industries but are increasingly applied in all service sectors, as well.

The International Encyclopedia of Hospitality Management is the definitive reference work for any individual studying or working in the hospitality industry. It covers all of the relevant issues in the field of hospitality management from a sectoral level (lodging, restaurants/food service, time-share, clubs and events) as well as a functional one (accounting and finance, marketing, strategic management, human resources, information technology and facilities management).

The business of food and drink is for better and worse the business of our nation and our planet, and to most consumers how it works remains largely a mystery. This encyclopedia takes readers as consumers behind the scenes of the food and drink industries. The contributors come from a wide range of fields, and the scope of this encyclopedia is broad, covering from food companies and brands to the environment, health, science and technology, culture, finance, and more.

The Encyclopedia of Health and Aging presents state-of-the-art research and ready-to-use facts on health and aging. This one-volume resource captures some of the excitement of the research in the field in terms of new findings as well as conceptual developments guiding research, practice, and policy. With more than 200 entries, it covers the biological, psychological, social, and economic aspects of health and aging and impacts within the health-care system.

The topic of health care management has escalated to one of the most widely discussed and debated topics in the health care industry, MBA programs, and in the field of medicine in general. In the 1980s, the industry was relatively stable and the need for combining business acumen with medicine was less than today. However, as we enter the 21st century, the need for applying business and management skills to the health care industry is stronger than ever. This Encyclopedia covers every topic a medical professional, institutional administrator, or MBA student would need to know about the business of health care.

The Encyclopedia of Health Services Research is the first single reference source to capture the diversity and complexity of the field. With more than 400 entries, these two volumes investigate the relationship between the factors of cost, quality, and access to healthcare and their impact upon medical outcomes such as death, disability, disease, discomfort, and dissatisfaction with care.

This is the first comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and international reference work on all aspects of the social scientific study of health and illness. Represents the most authoritative resource covering concepts, theories, and substantive topics relating to the study of health in our globalized, 21st-century world.

The Encyclopedia of Ecotourism provides an expert, state-of-the-art and comprehensive knowledge base of the rapidly growing global ecotourism sector. It is divided into eight major sections, and contains 41 chapters, individually authored by international researchers and practitioners in ecotourism. Each chapter combines theory and practice in a complementary way. The scope of the encyclopedia includes definitions and other contextual material, regional perspectives, venues, impacts, planning and management considerations, and issues associated with ecotourism businesses, research and training.

This encyclopedia is the most comprehensive and updated source of reference in tourism research and practice. It covers both traditional and emerging concepts and terms and is fully international in its scope. More than 800 contributions of over 200 internationally renowned experts provide a definitive access to the knowledge in the field of tourism, hospitality, recreation and related fields.