Globalization and the Location of Firms (The Globalization of the World Economy)

Book Description

Published in cooperation with the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences and its journal Organization Science How do organizations change, develop, grow, or terminate over time? In this volume, editors George P. Huber and Andrew H. Van de Ven focus on longitudinal field research methods for studying organizational change--methods that are fundamental to understanding the dynamics of organizational life and to developing and testing theories of organizational adaptation, change, innovation, and redesign. The chapters focus on the design and conduct of longitudinal research in the field and deal with methods to analyze and interpret process patterns in longitudinal data. The authors, all renowned organizational researchers, emphasize a wide range of methodological issues involved in longitudinal field research, including ethnographic methods, longitudinal and comparative case studies, event history analysis, and real-time tracking of events. They also address various procedures that can be used to tabulate, code, and interpret both quantitative and qualitative data collected in the field. For any scholar or researcher in organization studies, Longitudinal Field Research Methods is an essential resource.

Book Description

This book is about preserving and improving the livelihood of pastoral communities in northern and north western China. The focus is on sheep and wool; on people who raise the sheep, especially minority nationalities; and on degradation of the rangelands on which the animals and ultimately the herdsmen and their families depend. Since the book is based on extensive fieldwork spanning four and a half years, it is unique in that it presents a comprehensive picture of a remote but fascinating and increasingly important part of the world.

Book Description

In Nature's Magic Peter Corning states that synergy--a vaguely familiar term to many of us--has been a wellspring of creativity in the natural world and has played a key role in the evolution of cooperation and complexity at all levels, from physics and chemistry to the latest human technologies. The 'Synergism Hypothesis' asserts that synergy is more than a class of interesting and ubiquitous effects. It has also been a major causal agency in evolution; it represents a unifying explanation for biological complexity and represents a different perspective on the evolutionary process. In contrast to gene-centered theories, or postulates of self-organization and emergent 'laws' of complexity, the Synergism Hypothesis represents, in essence, an 'economic' (or bio-economic) theory of complexity. Peter A. Corning, Ph.D., is the Director of the Institute for the Study of Complex Systems in Palo Alto, California. He has published numerous research papers and articles and three previous books, one of which was a theoretical monograph on the role of synergy in evolution, The Synergism Hypothesis: A Theory of Progressive Evolution (McGraw-Hill, 1983).

Customer Reviews:

Great, but not perfect.......2007-09-01

There are a number of books on the market that give the reader a fine overview of (complex adaptive) systems thinking in physics, chemistry, biology, sociology and economics. And this is without a doubt one of the best available. The author spends a lot of pages covering historic developments, famous (and infamous) scientists, and future trends. You read about the reductionist vs. holistic debate, the natural selection vs. self-organization debate, the gene-level vs. the group-level debate, the competition vs. cooperation debate, and much, much more. In fact, the book is so dense with information that, after a while, I felt it becoming tiresome and I started skimming some pages.

And that is one of the three problems I have with this book: I felt that the author was trying to prove to me how much he knows. When explaining something he does not give just three good examples. He gives fifty. He does not limit himself to listing the few best scientists. It seems he lists just about everyone and their family.

The second problem I have with the author is that he is downplaying some of the most brilliant and famous scientists in the world, like Richard Dawkins, Stuart Kauffman, the late Stephen Jay Gould, and several others. Corning gives them all a (minor) bashing in some way or another. Well, I have read books from each of these other scientists and I must say that Corning can hardly stand in their shadow. It feels like Corning is trying to make a name for himself with his own theory (which is all about synergy) and to do so he feels he must in some way question the validity of the tremendous work of the Great Ones.

Third, I think the "theory" that Corning presents is not much of a theory to begin with. He claims that synergy can be found in all systems on all levels, and that synergy plays a major if not critical role in the evolution of complex adaptive systems. This, I think, is self-evident. Each system, by definition, is comprised of parts. If those parts do not make up a system as a whole by forming relationships with one another then you cannot even talk of a system. So yes, synergy in complex adaptive systems is vital, just like elements, space and time. This is hardly a ground-breaking hypothesis, in my humble opinion. But maybe the scientists that made the really astounding discoveries, like Dawkins and Kauffman, will someday tell me wrong and acknowledge Corning's work, lifting him up to their own level. We'll see.

But, whatever you think about the synergy theory, if you like reading lots and lots of stories about complex systems in all levels of nature (and biology in particular) you should definately not skip this book!

Oh, and be advised that the book is not really 454 pages long. More than a quarter of the book consists of an almost endless list of notes and references. The actual text of the book ends at page 319.

We are the sorcerer's apprentice.......2003-09-21

In Nature's Magic, Peter Corning offers us good news and bad news.

The good news is that chance, necessity, and natural selection aren't the only factors in our evolution. There is also a very real role for purpose (or more specifically, purposiveness). And the role of purposiveness has continued to increase over time. Humans make particularly effective use of it.

The bad news is that our efforts to seek an underlying grand law or force that governs history or evolution may be fundamentally flawed. We may be more responsible for our own survival than we have so far been willing to recognize. The true teleonomy (internal goal-directedness) inherent in Corning's view gives us both a creative and destructive role that is discounted in theories that rely on grand laws of history.

Corning refers to the various quests for an inherent mathematical law of evolution as "Neo-Pythagoreans" after the mystical cult surrounding the legendary mathematician. He counts various well-known contomporary complexity theorists like John Holland and Stuart Kauffman and some physicists among them.

Corning doesn't see the world as necessarily a glorious self-maintaining Gaia, he sees it as a place where living things through their relations and interactions have come to have certain responsibility for their own fate. This becomes an awesome burden once we apply this view to humans, where we take on the role of the Sorcerer's Apprentice in Goethe's (and Disney's) tale where the apprentice knows just enough magic to get himself into serious trouble.

The starting point is Arthur Koestler's insight that "true innovation occurs when things are put together for the first time that had been separate." Peter Corning takes this insight to heart and explores its remarkable implications, applying this "astonishing capacity" to nature in general.

The essence of the argument is not that nature creates things that cannot be explained or things that cannot be understood, but that no grand laws of nature predict her fruits. In effect, evolution is grounded in nature's astonishing capacity to create beyond what we foresee at every juncture.

Corning's theory of complexity in evolution is based on synergy, by which he simply and elegantly means the myriad effects of combining things where the result doesn't resemble what we'd expect simply by adding them together: the whole is different than the sum of the parts.

Corning's "Holistic Darwinism" is a way of viewing variety and selection in nature which is at once fully consistent with the neo-Darwinian synthesis and also provides theoretical bridges with the cybernetic theory of self-regulating systems and much of the body of scientific literature in social and political sciences. Holistic Darwinism shifts the focus in natural selection from selection itself as a causal force to where the variety comes from.

Nature's Magic describes a very similar role for information in evolution as in John Maynard Smith's work "Major Transitions," and Corning also makes particular use of Maynard Smith's concept of "synergistic selection." If unrelated individuals are often locked into a shared reproductive fate with others, as Corning suggests, then it is reasonable to assume that they will evolve strategies for cooperation, not for "altruism" but in their own interest as part of a "collective survival enterprise."

This shift in perspective in seeing evolution is an ambitious task for a single book, but at least the ground floor of the case is made extremely well here. Nature's Magic persuades us that nature continually yields variety that is neither predictable nor random, but fundamentally economic in its operation. In other words, Holistic Darwinism sees nature as a great marketplace where the functional outcomes of new innovations are continually shaped by the consequences of their costs and benefits.

If combined effects in nature are really different in general than we would expect from simply putting things together, there are some unexpected implications. For one thing, it implies that history matters. If things combine in new ways to produce new features in nature that are not simply an extension of the laws governing the parts, then those new features can potentially have meaningful functional outcomes that play a role in natural selection. This is the core of Corning's argument.

Corning boldly claims that Lamarck was right after all (in a sense). Not that giraffes can create new genes by stretching their necks, but that they can create new ecological niches through their behavior that can later be reinforced by natural selection because of the successful outcomes of those new behaviors. The logic of the "Baldwin Effect" thus figures prominently in Corning's Darwinism and gives an active role to organisms in evolution.

In a nutshell: "synergy" is combined effects all around us in various forms, it plays a causal role in differential reproductive fitness in a highly context-specific way, and it provides a scientific alternative to overreaching grand laws of history.

Instead of theorizing a vague new force or seeking a new law to help explain how natural selection can lead to biological complexity, Peter Corning supplies a fresh way of looking at the whole puzzle of complexity. He does this by reversing the usual logic about cooperation in living things. Rather than living things somehow cooperating to produce new outcomes through some unexplained form of 'altruism,' Corning sees 'nature's magic' of synergies underlying cooperation.

The clarity and scholarship of Corning's writing are extremely impressive, and he makes his case with a massive amount of data drawn from a wide variety of fields. There is quite obviously decades worth of research behind this book and it covers a lot of ground and has links to a number of other theories in both economics and biology.

Because it is so lucid and well-written, I can recommend this fascinating book not only to academics interested in systems science, bioeconomics, and the philosophy of biology but also to those with no academic background in biology who want to keep up with what will most likely be a significant part of the future of biological science.

Impeccable, documented, ground breaking scholarship.......2003-08-09

Written by Peter Corning (Director of the Institute for the Study of Complex Systems in Palo Alto, California), Nature's Magic: Synergy In Evolution And The Fate Of Humankind presents a "Synergism Hypothesis" that combines economic theory with the complexity of biology and life science. Applying theory to the evolution of humanity from the level of apes, to the acquisition of language, science, and projections of the future, Nature's Magic is a quite profound and widely encompassing amalgamation of inductive reasoning and broad repeating patterns directly affecting society itself. A work of impeccable, documented, ground breaking scholarship, Nature's Magic is so well written as to be complete accessible to academic and non-specialist general readers alike.

Synergy replaces self-organization.......2003-07-11

This is a marvelous book, which will change your perception of reality, of how things work and act together. Corning's central claim of the book is that synergy - "the combined, or cooperative, effects produced by the relationships among various forces, particles, elements, parts, or individuals in a given context" (2) - complements our contemporary scientific worldview. Moreover, the concept of synergy is more tangible than the rather fuzzy concept of 'self-organization.' The concept of self-organization defies definition, while Corning is able to define synergy clearly, to list the most important properties of synergistic effects, and to give numerous examples of synergy in the living and non-living world.

Indeed, Corning is a scientist with a Wittgensteinian soul, as his adagium seems to be: do not explain so much as to show how it works! This makes the book down-to-earth, tangible, highly interesting, while the examples can be seen as practices in synergistic perception: they alter one's perception of reality. The enormous amount of bibliographical references are a highly valuable guide for further study.

I believe this book has the potential of becoming a classic in complexity-studies. It certainly deserves this status. Moreover, as a personal note: for me, working in religion and science, this book illustrates one of the central ideas of the Christian religion: that our reality is fundamentally relational.

Read it, and be amazed!

a magical read.......2003-07-11

This book is a great read, and it has a great message: synergy has been the key to the evolution of complex systems, including our own species. Corning shows that there are many different kinds of synergy, and he provides so many examples that I lost count. I especially liked his argument that our species invented itself. In Corning's scenario, cooperative behavioral developments, including new technologies, were a key factor in our evolution. As he says, we're still inventing ourselves. But sometimes we create "black magic" -- a nice way of putting it.

Nature's Magic. Synergy in Evolution and the Fate of Humankind [A book review from: Technological Forecasting & Social Change]

Average customer rating:

Nature's Magic. Synergy in Evolution and the Fate of Humankind [A book review from: Technological Forecasting & Social Change]
T.C. Devezas
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000RQYOBI

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from Technological Forecasting & Social Change, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:

Nature's Magic : Synergy in Evolution and the Fate of Humankind

Average customer rating:

Nature's Magic : Synergy in Evolution and the Fate of Humankind
Peter Corning
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUBPM0

Customer Reviews:

For Non-thinking.......2000-05-10

I bought this book- and what a waste. This is for people who have never taken a biology or geology or ecology course in their life and aren't particularly observant when they walk outside in the desert or forests in the first place. If I could return the book and get my money back - I would.

A New Way to Discover Attractions!.......1997-04-24

At last, a book that allows you to see what will be happening at a destination at the time of year you will will there. No more missed whale-watching opportunities (unless you are looking for gum), or wishing you had gone someplace LAST week instead. The monthly arrangement is very useful, and the index at the back is cross-referenced so you can look up places you are interested in by location as well as time of year. A welcome addition to my travel book shelf

Do your homework and take it with you when you go!.......1997-04-20

This book is one of the strongest in the series. Travel books generally have no personal warmth - not so this one. Wade takes us to wonderful places, with feeling. Her appreciation of nature is unmistakable. The abundance of factual information contained in the book is delivered in pleasant, enjoyable to read narrative. I plan, as I urge others to do, to become thoroughly familiar with this book and then travel with it to So.Cal. and Baja. I certainly will visit Santa Catalina, which I am sure has been awaitin' for me since high school, and perhaps even do a little "grunion grabbing"

Average customer rating:

Informative!

The Ultimate Guide to small game hunting.

The Ultimate Guide to Small Game and Varmint Hunting: How to Hunt Squirrels, Rabbits, Hares, Woodchucks, Coyotes, Foxes and More
H. Lea Lawrence
Manufacturer: The Lyons Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General & Anthologies | Hunting & Fishing | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Hunting | Hunting & Fishing | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
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The Coyote Hunter: A Complete Guide to Tactics, Equipment, and Techniques for Hunting North America's perfect Predator (Hunting)

ASIN: 1585745669

Book Description

This book includes detailed natural histories of every important small game species, such as squirrels, rabbits and hares, woodchucks, prairie dogs, coyotes, foxes, bobcats and more. Hunting tactics for all species are covered, including how to locate squirrels by their feeding sites, stalking rabbits with the stop-and-go method, walking abandoned railroad tracks and floating rivers for woodchucks, and calling coyotes with everything from electronic calls to hand-held mouse squeakers. The Ultimate Guide to Small Game and Varmint Hunting is a compendium that no serious hunter should be without. With field-tested advice on which guns, ammunition and optics to use for different species and conditions, as well as tips on calls and other equipment, and a special section on cleaning and cooking small game animals, The Ultimate Guide is ideal for beginner or expert, carrying practical advice that you can use to take more game, whether you hunt in Alaska or Texas, New York or Florida. Special chapters on hunting ethics and firearms safety round out this important and useful how-to book. (6 1/4 x 9 1/4, 272 pages, b&w photos)

H. Lea Lawrence has been taking photographs and writing about the outdoors for more than 30 years. With credits in most major outdoor magazines, he has written half a dozen books, including The Ultimate Guide to Bowhunting and A Hemingway Odyssey: Special Places in His Life.

Customer Reviews:

Informative!.......2007-03-09

This book is very informative. If you are just starting out, or considering trying you luck with a critter that maybe you have less experience with, then you will find this book very helpful. Chapter 12 is on firearms safety, 13 is on hunting ethics, and 14 (the last chapter) covers processing game and includes some interesting game recipes. I think there is a little something in this book for everyone that enjoys hunting and someone just beginning to take up hunting is sure to benefit the most. My teenage daughters recently expressed an interest in hunting (much to my surprise) and I bought this book hoping to find material that would cover a wide range on hunting topics. I hunt, but until this year never considered that my girls would have an interest in hunting and I neglected the opportunity of starting their hunting education earlier. I think this book is just what I was looking for and will be a great way to get them started, along with the basic hunters certification course and actual time in the field with dad. I highly recommend!

The Ultimate Guide to small game hunting........2006-03-22

An excellent read with separate chapters on different species, including their natural histories and tactics. Gives clear and helpful advice on equipment, including calls and meat preparation. A great book for 'dipping into'.

Book Description

Chock full of insiders' information, this is the first book devoted to providing complete information about the syndication business, systematically detailing how writers and cartoonists can turn dreams of having work syndicated into reality.

Tell-all text addresses every aspect of syndication: creating columns, comics, and features most likely to sell; finding a syndication agency; working with people at a syndicate-or setting up self-syndication; marketing through the Internet or direct mail; attracting international sales; pricing; and invoicing. Extensive resource lists are included, as are sample documents and a clause-by-clause review of a syndicated contract by the nation's top syndication lawyer.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book, Great Insight.......2007-08-23

This is such a great book that I hate myself for recommending it, it provides so much insight into the world of syndication that it's the best book anyone interested in getting their material, cartoons or writting, can read.

It's not a get-rich-fast kind of book, actually is totally the opposite, it shows with cruel honestly the difficulties of getting your work syndicated, but also gives you great advice on how to conduct your "syndication business", yes, the best you will get out of this book is the understanding that Syndication is not about beauty, great art, funny punch lines, metric, grammar or anything but BUSINESS!!

A NUTS AND BOLTS BOOK.......2006-07-06

A real nuts and bolts book. This engaging, well written book tells the real story of the hard work involved in syndication.

While it lays out the challenges point blank, solutions and encouragement are there as the antidote.

I read the book in two days gaining information which I put into practice. This book is worth the money to anyone who is serious about syndicating. And for the less serious, it offers plenty of information to aid in the "syndication" decision: "Am I nuts enough to go for it, or should I bolt."

The indispensable guide to acheiving syndication........2004-07-16

If you're serious about becoming a syndicated columnist or cartoonist, this book is for you. Sedge describes the process you will have to go through to make a professional submission. There are sample contracts and practical pieces of advice from professionals in the field.

In addition, Sedge provides resources in the form of various syndicates, both large and small, which could start someone on the path to syndication.

What I liked most about this book was that Sedge did not sugar-coat what syndication is like. Rejection is the norm, there are deadlines, and you have to be dedicated and prepared to put a lot of time and effort into your work. There is also a section on self-syndication for those bold enough to go it alone.

While time constraints and obligations do not allow me to be a full time syndicated writer, this book gave me my start and a good foundation. As a result, I have been published on opinioneditorials.com, Pakistan Today, Middle East News Online and the Los Angeles Times. Dreams do come true! This book will help.

Cough! Cough!.......2002-12-17

It's hard to take advice (however well footnoted) from a hack.

Essential for anyone seeking to syndicate their work........2000-09-05

Writers and cartoonists who envision syndicating their productions will find Successful Syndication an essential guide to the process, with chapters telling how to locate and work with syndicates, how to create marketable materials and identify audiences, using the Internet to appeal, and submitting pieces for consideration. Essential for any seeking to syndicate work.

Book Description

For men whose sense of style transcends cigars and single-malts, the boutonniere represents the new epitome of luxurious masculinity. Worn by today's impeccably dressed man, the boutonniere makes a confident statement of elegance and personal flair.

This beautifully illustrated volume shows how to incorporate this ultimate style accent to the modern man's wardrobe, whether for day or night, casual or formal occasion. Specially commissioned full-color photography demonstrates the matching of colors, fabrics, and styles with a wide range of floral possibilities, from a single daisy or carnation to the orchid or lily of the valley. In addition, the book presents a fascinating history of the boutonniere and the men who have worn them, from such royals as the Duke of Windsor and Prince Charles, to Hollywood icons like Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, and Sean Connery.

From sprucing up an everyday suit to sporting the perfect boutonniere on your wedding day, this book offers the definitive word on this symbol of masculine elegance.

Customer Reviews:

Fine guide to an all-too-rare element of men's style.......2003-12-08

A boutonniere is so rarely seen these days that any man who wears one will almost automatically set himself apart from the crowd. The trick, of course, it to do it in a way that suggests timeless artistry, and not that water will come squirting out of it, or that the wearer is a refugee from the junior prom. There's a big difference between a stylish mini carnation tucked into your buttonhole and a giant mass of babies-breath and rose held on with a safety pin.

This handy little guide is all most men should need to navigate the largely unknown waters of boutonniere-wearing. Much of the book, necessarily, traces flower-wearing through history, with a focus on the British royal family and various dandies of times past. A few profiles of modern men who keep the tradition alive are also included, as well as helpful suggestions about various types of flowers to wear, what to wear with what kind of jacket, and even alternatives to the jacket lapel like vests and overcoats.

Take a stand for personal style and start wearing a flower from time to time. If you're unsure about how or whether, let this book help you get started. Once you do, you may never look back.

A Sense of Style.......2001-03-14

The Boutonniere Style in One's Lapel is a great book. It is lovely just to page through. It is interesting to read . And it looks great just laying around the apartment. There are so many great pictures of famous people, stars and royality, all wearing a boutonniere. You seldom see boutonnieres any more and that's a pity. Such a small addition to the clothes a man wears but such a great fashion plus. This book helps you appreciate the boutonniere.

A special book: informative, elegant, and well illustrated.......2000-04-22

I recently purchased this book at a local Brioni clothing dealer, and I've been pleased with its content. The book is brief, but this is such a specialized topic that it is abundant enough.

The book starts with a historic narration of flowers in men's clothing, moves on, to more recent well-dressed men that wear them, and then to examples of elegant more modern combinations that include the use of boutonnieres.

This is not a "picture book" only, it includes essays on the topics that are well written and inspire the reader to become an impeccable dresser, and this is what Brioni is all about.

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