Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2023 -

The expression may be trite, but the reality is that today's aging population is healthier, wealthier, and wiser than previous generations were. As both individuals and a group, it is a potent customer base that expects to enjoy the full benefits of today's travel and leisure markets. From accommodation and accessibility to world health issues, Page (Univ. of Hertfordshire, UK) and Connell (Univ. of Exeter, UK), celebrated researchers and consultants in the hospitality industry, explore the power of the rapidly expanding recreation and leisure markets for seniors. Drawing on their research and respected expertise in the tourism industry throughout the book's seven, multidisciplinary chapters, they provide comprehensive, empirically based, in-depth insight into the salient economic and social issues the global tourism industry faces as it attempts to adapt to the demands of this aging demographic and the future needs of a rapidly changing global population that will continue to impact what the authors call the "visitor economy." This book is a must for any collection with a focus on hospitality, recreation, and leisure.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty and practitioners.

This systematic approach to business ethics builds from the moral justification of market activity (jus ad mercatum) to develop just actions within the market system (jus in mercatum). Heath (philosophy, Univ. of Toronto, Canada) argues that the aim of business ethics is to distinguish inevitable moral flaws from flaws that form through institutionalization. Staged competition is necessary for this activity, and thus, "because some legitimate goals of owners or the firm are contrary to everyday morality, managers often find themselves obliged to act in ways that are contrary to everyday morality. ... [A] firm may not permit what is forbidden, but can require what is permitted" (p. 169). Managers seek "moral constraints that require economic actors to refrain from adopting strategies that would advance their interests in a way that promotes unhealthy forms of competition" (p. 99). The moral good is to prevent market failure or at least prevent private interests from benefiting from such failure. The normative logic of the market is a cooperative system that allows everyone to benefit. Thus, rules must be applied with phronesis, not mechanically. This extraordinarily well-contended, well-sourced argument is a must for courses in business ethics.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

How is AI as an innovation similar to electricity? Both took decades to catch on, had many disappointments along the way, and triggered innovation when firms designed their businesses completely around them. The authors of this book argue that managers struggle to understand how best to employ AI. They identify three levels of AI: point system (automating an existing task), application solution (designing devices around AI), and systems solution (redesigning the entire organization). The authors illustrate these differences by explaining how Henry Ford redesigned the automobile manufacturing system, but could not do so without reliable electrical motors. AI has the same potential to redesign business systems, especially in its powerful predictive and decision-making capacities. The challenge lies in industries such as health care, where simply inserting AI into the existing system will not increase doctors' incomes, for instance. A new industry system is necessary to put the right incentives in place. This book offers an excellent guide for thinking through the problems of artificial intelligence and finding ways of making it work for businesses and industries.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals.

Leonardi (technology management, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara) and Neeley (Harvard Univ.) provide an engaging roadmap for embracing digital literacy--a prerequisite to leading in today's digital age. By developing a digital mindset, readers can establish a practice for technology and data-driven decision-making and better identify opportunities to maintain competitiveness across almost every industry. The authors introduce the 30-percent rule as a marker to establish competency across the three areas of a digital mindset: collaboration, computation, and change. The first part of the book examines the intersection of how humans and machines interact. The authors urge embracing machines not as mere tools but as partners and collaborators. The book's second part clarifies the nature of data and how data can translate into information for reasoning and making decisions. The third and final part of the book examines how a digital mindset is an essential driver for understanding and promoting change in today's digital world. With great examples and case studies, this book is an excellent read for everyone--tech savvy or not--interested in challenging themselves to become better leaders, managers, and data-driven decision-makers.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.

The blockchain is the complex foundational technology for cryptocurrencies, distributed contract management, and transaction support. Strong cryptographic algorithms ensure the content's decentralization, immutability, transparency, and auditability. However, all of this has a high computational cost and also poses concerns about environmental impact. This book is both a fantastic introduction to the fundamental concepts of blockchains and a unique discussion of the business models impacted by the blockchain. Kshetri (Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro) provides an excellent sketch of the debate over using distributed ledgers to demonstrate business trustworthiness. The business cases Kshetri provides perfectly demonstrate the value offered by technology that uses strong cryptographic tools. One of the book's best and most unique contributions is in its chapter on the synergies between artificial intelligence and the blockchain. The case studies from health care and other data-intensive industries offer invaluable details on data ownership management, privacy, data lineage management, and shared governance for users of blockchain and AI technologies. Kshetri also discusses emerging disruptive technologies, like the Metaverse, Web 3.0, and the Internet of Things. This is one of the best books on the subject and an excellent guide for readers of all levels.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.