Sustainable Supply Chains and International Soft Landings

Dealing with the “hidden dynamics” of diplomacy, espionage, and geopolitics has been a major challenge in international business. The rise of climate change and global terrorism, however, has brought nations together to seek for collaborative solutions. Coopetition is a strategy needed for business executives and managers engaging in strategic planning and operations of their international businesses in the 21st century. In this paper, we propose a two-stage process of coopetition consisting of sustainable supply chains and international soft landings. We illustrate how the two-stage process is used to develop a “Flying High, Landing Soft” platform of wetland entrepreneurship to address the growing global problem of wetland losses. The platform allows students to participate in exploring and developing businesses to maintain a healthy wetland and have positive impact on public health.

Towards Black Box Forensic Cybercrime Investigation Model (BBFCIM)

Although internet has emerged to bridge digital divides and improve how things are done across diverse spheres of life, its explosion has also brought unexpected threats, risks and loss of valuables over a decade. Consequently, there seems to have been plethora of cybercrime investigation models but the proliferation of these models has not substantially reduced the frequency of cyber attacks globally. Given that the recent development in cyberspace seems to follow same trends of how survivable Black Box (Flight Data Recorder) emerged, this chapter proposes a Black Box Forensic Cybercrime Investigation Model (BBFCIM). BBFCIM sets a new agenda for cybercrime investigation process by focusing on survivability and reliability of existing and would-be models rather than evolving as a distinct model of itself. It adopts soft innovative skills in the development of Black Box components to shape proactive cybercrime investigation process through sequential tests on each networking layers.

Blurred Lines between Competitive Intelligence and Corporate Espionage

In today's globalized world, gathering Competitive Intelligence (CI) and using it strategically to gain a competitive edge has become a necessity. Integrating knowledge management and CI helps firms to respond quickly to changing business conditions. Organizational culture, ethics, and emotional intelligence influence knowledge sharing which enhances CI scanning. Employees, knowingly or unknowingly, can become the weakest link in a firm's efforts to protect business intelligence. There is reluctance in the organizations to address the issues of ethical and legal means to gather CI. Corporate espionage is a silent, enigmatic threat to the competitive position of firms and nations. Annual losses to corporate espionage are estimated to be US$300 Billion. A 3-step strategy of prevention, detection, and remediation helps to combat corporate espionage.

Are Shocks to Energy Consumption per capita in Turkey Permanent or Temporary?

Turkey achieved an average growth rate of five percent during 2003-2013. In the same period, annual average growth rate was four percent in primary energy consumption. This indicates the significance of energy consumption for economic growth. In this context, the energy sector is one of the most important areas in Turkey's national strategy documents. Geostrategic position of Turkey in terms of energy resources affects Turkey's energy policies and strategies. In this framework, the main purpose of the study is to analyze empirically the effects of shocks in the energy sector. In this context, the permanent or temporary effects of shocks on energy use were investigated for the period 1960-2012. According to the test results, shocks had permanent effects on the energy consumption in Turkey. Permanent effects of shocks on the energy use indicate the importance of strategic energy policies for Turkey.

The Secret to the Success of K-Pop

Today's mantra in many political and business circles is that stringent copyrights are needed for fostering cultural creativity and that piracy is the greatest obstacle toward creativity. If that were true, the success of Korean pop music or K-pop should never have occurred. This chapter seeks to explain this apparent paradox through three steps. First, today's mantra has little basis. Most of the existing world culture has been created without copyrights, and economic analysis stresses that stringent copyrights exacerbate monopolistic behavior that suffocates cultural. Second, this chapter analyzes the competitiveness of the current K-pop scene that has little relationship with stringent copyright regulations. Third, the same approach is utilized in order to demonstrate a fascinating relationship between the competitiveness gaining process and piracy suggesting that piracy actually helped the development and competitiveness of K-pop. The main lesson of this chapter is that only “well-balanced” copyright regulations are friendly to cultural creativity.

Characteristics and Activities of the US Secret Service

The United States Secret Service is one of the world's oldest and most elite security agencies protecting the most important people in the country such as the President and Vice President, among others. However, this is not the agency's only responsibility. This chapter covers the organization's other duties such as locating counterfeit money, discovering fake documents such as passports, fraud, and intelligence / counterintelligence. Furthermore, the chapter explains how the Secret Service was established, how its responsibilities have changed over the years, and major historical events which highly influenced the entire agency. Finally, the chapter examines the agency's international cooperation with the Polish security agency, Biuro Ochrony Rzadu (BOR), and domestic cooperation with the US Diplomatic Security Service (DSS).

Securitization and the Economy of Risks

In the beginning of the 21st century the society of the Second Modernity with incalculable risks marks human conditions in orientation and self-categorization on the basis of historical memory. The dichotomy “We-Other” influences strategic risk decisions. Security is becoming the umbrella topic referring to public goods, transnational markets, “the specific way of life”. In the context of different agreements and regulations co-existence (such as European Economic Area, Eurasian Economic Union, BRIC etc.) claims for personal and collective safety together with the rhetoric of memorization influences decision-making process and becomes a burden of securitization. The “Eurasian” project of integration is observed in its transformation from being based on the post-Soviet memory toward economically beneficial cooperation. Still the Eurasian Economic Union is seen as vague in its goals and instruments, relying on the approach to economic integration with the reference to the common past, memories and identity.

Competitiveness of Turkey in the Sectoral Transformation Process

The aim of this study is to measure the competitiveness of Turkey by making a comparative analysis between the Turkish agricultural, industrial, and services sectors involved in foreign trade and the corresponding sectors of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) nations. In addition to the determination of their relative competitiveness, assessments will be made about their competitiveness over time by analyzing the direction of the sectoral trends of the above-mentioned countries. In the study, after a brief theoretical overview, a summary of the literature related to the subject is provided, followed by a comparison of the competitiveness of the three sectors (agriculture, industry, and services) made by calculating the revealed comparative advantages (RCAs) of Turkey and the BRIC countries.

Intellectual Capital and Business Performance of Pharmaceutical Firms in Kenya

Intellectual capital is an investment in the organization and it is perceived to be a strategic resource and a source of competitive advantage. The purpose of this chapter is to test the relationship between intellectual capital and business performance of pharmaceutical firms in Kenya. The specific objectives are to determine whether human capital, structural capital and relational capital influence business performance of pharmaceutical firms in Kenya. The results indicate that human capital, structural capital and relational capital influence business performance of pharmaceutical firms in Kenya. Human capital and structural capital relationship strongly exist among the studied pharmaceutical firms and significantly influenced business performance positively. In addition, the study confirmed that human capital, structural capital and relational capital are dimensions of intellectual capital. The developed model confirm that the theory fitted data with fit indices above or below the required thresholds and the empirical results provided strong support for the model.

Problem Solving Using Soft-Math (SM) Methodology

There may be times when we want an organization or a community to conceive a problem in a common manner. Doing so is easier said than done. In the Western context, explanations of how to think about complex, social (soft) problems generally draw from Plato's perfect forms or Aristotle's reasoned argument. However, pragmatism refers to the linguistic concepts we have patterned from our past experiences. This chapter develops this stream of pragmatism and explains how it can be used to design a soft-math (SM) approach which will enable debate amongst concerned parties. This mathematical way of thinking, when applied in a soft manner, has the potential to lead to various social phenomena. A homeland security decision making situation is presented as a demonstration.