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Three core imperatives are essential for modern businesses and organizations: seamless integration of customer and operational processes, agility, and the ability to change. These imperatives are relevant in view of successfully executing strategic choices, but all too often not satisfied.

Businesses and organizations are complex adaptive socio-technical systems and can be viewed from two fundamentally different perspectives: the functional (black-box) perspective and the constructional (white-box) perspective. Management and governance of businesses and organizations regard the functional, black-box perspective, which is inherently ill-suited for addressing the imperatives mentioned. It will be argued that establishing system integration, agility and change requires a focus on the system's design, hence necessitates the constructional perspective.

The concept of architecture is considered fundamental for operationalizing the constructional perspective. Next to the more familiar notion of technology architecture, the concepts of business, organizational and information architecture are formally introduced and elucidated. Various domains within these architectures will be highlighted, whereby the importance of coherence and consistency is stressed, especially in view of the ability to change. Collectively, the four architectures are labeled Enterprise Architecture. Finally, enterprise architecture will be positioned as a crucial means for linking strategy development and execution.

Flexing the Muscles of BioVentures in Japan and Beyond

Exploit Technologies – Bridging the gap from Mind to Market

Life Sciences Capital Investing and Bioentrepreneurship in China and Asia Taking Off

NCCS Oncologist Receives Prestigious Award.

Dr Michael Entzeroth Reelected as Chairman of BioSingapore.

India's Biotech Queen Wins Nikkei Asia Prize 2009.

Biodiversity Conservation is Everyone's Business.

Search for ASEAN Champions of Biodiversity is On.

Drug Companies Reduce Prices of Medicines.

SWS: Make Health A Priority, Filipinos Ask Next Leaders.

New Vein Harvesting Technology.

Mobile Health Records in Malaysia.

Faster, Accurately Targeted Radiation Cancer Patients.

SingHealth Selects IBM and SAP To Transform HR Processes.

Amplified detection of nucleic acid by G-quadruplex based hybridization chain reaction.

Dow opens Photovoltaics Films Application Lab in Shanghai.

Researchers discover molecular mechanisms of left-right asymmetric control in the sea urchin.

China mulls new rule on human genetic research.

China to phase out organ donation from executed criminals.

Charles River Laboratories to expand research models business in China.

Chinese Science Academy Chief urges seizing on new technological revolution.

BGI contributes genome sequencing and bioinformatics expertise.

Taiwan government to encourage formation of smaller biotech funds.

Journey to the East: The Growing Role of Asian Headquarters for Multinational Life Sciences Companies.

Bioentrepreneurship: What can Singapore learn from other Asia Pacific countries?

Bioentrepreneurship in Asia.

From Techno to Bio – Entrepreneurship in the Lion City.

Making the Cut.

GE Healthcare Life Sciences take part in Life-Saving, Olivier Loeillot (GM of Bioprocess Asia).

Cennerv Pharma: A Company that Fights Along with Mental Illnesses.

How Can Cord Blood be Used to Save Lives? Life-Saving Mission of SCBB: An Interview with Dr. William Hwang.

An Interview with Mr. Stephen Ooi, Senior Executive Advisor Zimmer Biomet Asia Pacific.

APACMed – Serving Unmet Healthcare Needs in Asia Pacific, Fredrik Nyberg (CEO of APACMed).

Vaccination, One of the Solutions to Prevent Dengue Infection.

MonaLisa Touch^® Advanced Laser Treatment for Better Life Quality.

Streamlining the Laboratories of Today for Success.

Bayer and NUS Enterprise Launch “Grants4Apps Singapore” to Drive Health Tech Innovations across Asia Pacific.

New Approaches for Cervical Cancer Treatment Being Studied in Singapore.

Arterial Tunnel Vision: Computer Tomography Provides a Clearer View of Blood Vessel Interiors.

Regular Use of Ibuprofen May Lower Lung Cancer Risk Among High-Risk Subgroups of Cigarette Smokers.

Free Trade & Investment Agreement Threatens Public Health.

Given the emerging nature of the knowledge management (KM) profession and the differing schools of thought on KM by academics and practitioners, designing a curriculum in KM poses substantial challenges. One of these challenges is to be able to determine the optimal mix of subjects from the various disciplines that best meets the objective of developing the requisite professional competencies of knowledge professional. A two-pronged methodology was adopted for this study comprising a survey research to gather perceptions on KM and KM education as well as an investigation of relevant web sites on the Internet for existing postgraduate programs. The latter was used to support a comparative review of the courses' objectives and curriculum, where available. The study established that the adoption of KM in Singapore was most significant in large organizations and the public sector. However, there were differing perceptions as to who in an organization should be responsible for KM and what full-time KM roles should be in-scaled. Nonetheless, the findings did suggest that there is a potential market for knowledge professionals and reinforced the fact that KM is indeed interdisciplinary and drew upon the theories and practices of a number of disciplines such as information technology, information science, communication, business, and management.

Sudden market changes have made traditional approaches on forecasting obsolete. Usually, managers put a great deal of trust into their own forecasting expertise, bypassing standard practices of forecasting. A leading company in Greek tobacco distribution market adopted successfully a new forecasting model that can produce accurate forecasts for a wide range of industrial processes, by simply including in the forecasting process a set of standard, well known but usually overlooked practices. The purpose of this paper is to introduce this simple forecasting model and to demonstrate the potential benefit from the adoption of some classic practices in the business forecasting process. The SLR model, which was initially used in the tobacco distribution company, was used as a benchmark in order to test the validity of our approach. The development of such models can provide a useful input to both marketing and operations planning in future.

In addition to dealing with the dispute between the e-commerce activities of companies and the lack of supplies, the companies had settled, by applying a highly developed cloud technology framework, the difficulties of lack of resources, workforce and necessary technology in e-commerce activities. E-commerce utilizing cloud-based financial instruments is becoming a common strategy for the rise of international growth over the years. Nevertheless, the presence of fake goods on the site endangered the advantages of all investors. Therefore, this paper suggests a Hybridized Multi-special Decision finding with the Anti-Theft Probabilistic (HMDAP) method for making the improvement of the cloud-based model, and it is trained to find fake goods. A multi-special decision finding is used to address the issues and the lack of e-commerce facilities by creating a programming environment for e-commerce provided by the cloud computing system. The Anti-Theft Probabilistic method is used to track fake goods and use the Carlo method to predict possible stolen data in e-commerce. HMDAP enables businesses to reduce expenses through the successful delivery of e-commerce activities and provides assumptions of unsafe data in e-commerce.

Entrepreneurs and everyday businessmen and women have long engaged in different kinds of civic-minded activities. This study explores ways that urban entrepreneurs and managers engage in civic activities while pursuing business growth. In this preliminary analysis of owners and managers who have participated in a technical assistance program geared for entrepreneurs who are ready to take their existing venture "to the next level", we identify a kind of entrepreneur whose business model incorporates a social mission. These are not "social entrepreneurs" who engage in business practices in order to push their social agenda. Nor are they mimicking businesses that follow a "corporate social responsibility" model because they were shamed into it or believe it will be good for their bottom line. These are people whose ventures must make a profit if their social mission is to be achieved. They run what we call a "civic enterprise". Their behavior reflects a kind of "civic-minded capitalism".

Entrepreneurial and business skills are generally considered key to microbusiness success, hence to Microfinance Institution (MFI) clients’ loan repayment as well. However, empirical evidence is largely lacking, and where present, it is inconclusive on the importance of these skills for microfinance success. The present paper uses objective MFI loan repayment data to empirically test whether loan repayment rates positively correlate with self-evaluations on entrepreneurial and business skills of loan clients. A survey was conducted among 235 loan clients of uniCredit — an MFI in Ghana. We establish that MFI clients’ self-evaluation of their entrepreneurial and business skills are not related to their loan repayment rates. However, we observe that women repay their loans better than do male microbusiness entrepreneurs, and loan repayment was also better for those entrepreneurs with more than 15 years of business experience.

This chapter examines UAE entrepreneurship and how the UAE can be claimed as one of the most innovative countries in the Gulf. The chapter gives a basic illustration of the UAE, its history, and how it functions. Then, the chapter discusses how the UAE became a financial centre in the Middle East and looks at its embrace of entrepreneurship. The chapter focuses on how the UAE Government has created strategic policies to enhance entrepreneurship. The chapter ends by looking towards the future of entrepreneurship in the UAE.

Nations where women work side by side with men are considered successful as the manpower is double than the nations where only men work. The role of women in business/workplace is always debated by mankind in all parts of the world. This chapter focusses on the role of women in business in pre-Islam and post-Islam time period. There are several misconceptions about women when it comes to Islam. Whereas in reality Islam gave women a very special place when compared with other religions. The contribution of women in early time of Islam is very crucial as this shows how the light of Islam changed the perception of females. The chapter also focusses on the wonderful exemplary first lady in Islam, that is, Hazrat Khadija. The life and business activities of Hazrat Khadija are discussed in the chapter as she is a role model for many.

Energy efficiency means using less energy while still maintaining the same service. For example, an inefficient or efficient car will get you where you need to go, but a car that can go 60 miles on a gallon of gasoline will need less fuel to get you there. In the United States, about $60–115 billion dollars is spent on energy efficient investments each year (estimates vary depending on the methodology used). This chapter discusses which types of households and businesses are most likely to make efficiency investments, and why. We start with the residential sector (homes), and then proceed to businesses. Based on our findings we conclude with 10 recommendations on ways to increase energy efficiency investments.

Azerbaijan is an oil and gas–producing country with both traditional and modern aspects. The country is a fascinating place to run a business as it was ranked 34^th globally in terms of the Doing Business index in 2020. Azerbaijan is a land of old bazaars for traditional sellers and modern markets for innovative firms. Besides oil and gas products, agriculture, tourism, construction and transportation are among the country’s major sectors. With a whale of touristic destinations in which there are different bazaars, Azerbaijan’s economy has kept these historical mechanisms to meet its people’s current demands and attract more tourists. After its independence, the country has profoundly developed in terms of socio-economic factors and entered into several innovative and emerging markets. Thus, there are plenty of business opportunities to be explored, evaluated and exploited by potential individuals or companies in this country.

The island of Cyprus was annexed by the Ottoman Empire in 1571 and in 1573 the Venetians left the island. Cyprus gained independence from 1861 to 1868 and again from 1870 until 1878 when the British and the Ottoman sultan signed the Convention of Constantinople, putting Cyprus under British control. In 1914, the island was annexed by the United Kingdom. Cyprus was granted independence in 1960 but divided by Turkish occupation in 1974. This chapter is about the section of Cyprus that was not occupied in 1974.

This chapter focuses on several important aspects of the business context of Kuwait. First is giving an overview of Kuwait’s historical, political and economic development since its inception. Second, the chapter addresses the characteristics of Kuwait’s business framework conditions and continues with Kuwait’s ranking in terms of ease of doing business, wherein details of the ecosystem dimensions are described. The chapter concludes with providing a brief outlook for the future and provides a few insights and recommendations.