Social Media and Innovation Essay Example for Free

Social Media and Innovation Essay Methodology The purpose of this literature review is to explore recorded literature and evidence relating to social media and innovation. The research method for the review consisted of by surveying a total of 20 articles; 15 journal and conference-proceeding works, and five practitioner articles centered on the topic in different contexts. A selection of trusted databases were accessed through MSU Libraries Electronic Resources in the search to find articles, include the ACM Digital Library, the IEEE IET Electronic library, Proquest and Google. All of the studied literature exists between the years of 2010 and 2012. Table 2 (p. 10) reflects the articles that were used in this review, listing the author and title of the work, the implication of the study, and any limitations of the study noted. Different combinations of keywords were used to extract literature related to the topic, for example: social media and innovation, social product innovation, and web 2.0 and innovation, and many other configurations. The executive summaries and abstracts of the articles included were briefed to ensure relevancy, and later the articles themselves were reviewed in entirety. To make the task of reviewing the bulk of literature streamlined, and manageable key points were recorded for each article. The notes contain the main takeaways for the articles: the authors’ purpose of the research or studies conducted, the main points, and claims most relevant to the general subject, the key findings, or results of the studies conducted, the challenges faced (regarding the specific research/studies themselves, and those relating to the broader topic) and lastly, the recommendations offered, if any, including those applying to future research in the area of the study, or those involving the companies and entities covered in the research. A table compiling all of this important information will be provided for quick comparison of the different contexts that social media and innovation were applied to. The research yielded a variety of perspectives regarding established literature and research in the area of social media and innovation, in addition to the real-world application of various social media and innovation models and evaluation of their performance. This literature review will explore the perspectives, claims and findings of the articles included highlighting similarities and contrasts to discuss gaps and overlaps. Recommendations for future research in the area will be provided in the conclusion. Introduction The term social media most commonly falls under the guise of the some of the most popular social networking websites to date, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Linked In. Truthfully, the phenomenon that is social media involves more than just photo sharing and status updates. Social media networks are powerful tools when used for knowledge creation and shared creativity. A more contemporary field of study, social media and innovation tends to branch off into other areas like crowdsourcing, and open innovation. These platforms enable virtual communities, or groups of people using social technologies for collaboration efforts, of all kinds to execute tasks, solve problems, express ideas, and function in a group environment. To date, collaborative thinking has been proven to aid in the innovation process. The central idea is that groups of users possess crowd-wisdom (sometimes referred to as â€Å"the wisdom of the crowd†). It is a term describing the relative expertise or p otential of knowledge available from a crowd of people as opposed to restricted internal â€Å"experts.† In, â€Å"Rising Creativity and Participation in Innovation and Knowledge Management Activities,† Gourova Toteva describe the effect that involving the â€Å"crowd† has had on product development specifically in the business sector. â€Å"The shift from vertical to a horizontal production model has brought changes in the innovation process, whereas end users and external stakeholders provide additional benefits to organizations, which are increasingly using the wisdom of the crowd.† (Gourova Toteva, 2011) With the evolution of the Internet’s landscape brought on by social networks and social technologies, comes the shift in methods of productivity. Crowd collaboration is at the heart of social media and innovation models, and according to the articles has began to cause somewhat of a stir in organizations’ creative and development areas. Holtzblatt Tierney (2011) warn that â€Å"iterating and developing ideas in isolation or with limited awareness of similar research in other parts of the organization can present missed opportunities and duplication of effort. â€Å" Collaborative innovation processes via social media networks have potential to manifest effective results when utilizing u ser-driven innovation activities. â€Å"Socially-enabling innovation processes can have positive effects on outcomes when participation is broadened, and greater dialogue around ideas is fostered. (Holtzblatt Tierney, 2011) The article â€Å"Six Key Takeaways on Social Media and Innovation from Digital Marketing Pioneer Porter Gale,† stressed the importance of the shift of one-way dialogue into real conversations, and urged firms to get to know their channels and customers, and to look beyond a numbers-only approach to measuring success. â€Å"Results are not always return-on-investment; returns may also be made by added fans/followers or with enhanced customer engagement.† (Arthur, 2012) Firms and organizations, realizing the advantageous properties of social media networks have began to use them, attempting to reap the benefits of them. Research and Development, product and software innovations, and internal employee communications to help garner virtual communities are just a few of the areas in which social technologies have been applied to help innovation. Social media and innovation is an area in which the common practices and functions of social networks are manipulated, exposing the greater potential of productivity that they withhold, and so often, not credited for. The studies included in this review feature real-world applications of social media networks in business and in development, and theoretical evidence that the models merging social technologies and the innovation process have the potential to be successful. Summary of Literature The articles chosen for this review were extracted from the different databases mentioned previously. The literature explores social media and innovation from different perspectives, and how both the internal and external innovation process can be enhanced using social media. The variance of perspectives and focuses from different authors fostered a host of different terms and models relating to social media and innovation. Below, table 2 illustrates the different keywords and key terms used in the literature, their definitions and the title and author of the work that contains those terms. Table (1) Social Media + Innovation keywords Term| Definition| Author Work| Open innovation; open innovation model| A method for capturing value form technology innovation- whether that innovation occurs within or outside the organization.| Defining Open.(Gobble, 2012)| Crowdsourcing| The act of accessing the â€Å"wise crowd† for ideas and solutions (term coined by Jeff Howe).| The Revolution Will be Shared: Social Media and Innovation(Anonymous, 2011)| Web 2.0| Technologies that enable users to communicate create content and share it with each other via communities, social networks and virtual worlds.| Social Media Use and Potential in Business-to- Business Companies’ Innovation.(Jussila et al, 2010| Social product innovation| The practice of leveraging social media technologies in the innovation process.| Kalypso: Social Media and Product Innovation Research Findings.(Anonymous, 2011)| Innovation-related collaboration| Collaboration activities utilized in the innovation process.| Social Media Use and Potential in Business-to-Business Companies’ Innovation. (Jussila, 2010)| Communities of creation| Groups of people who engage in generation of ideas for future products and services, actively discuss, further elaborate and test them.| Virtual Worlds as Collaborative Innovation and Knowledge Platform.(Fuller et al, 2012)| User-driven innovation| An approach in which users are the sources of ideas, drivers of the design, and decision makers throughout the design process.| Practical Model for User-Driven Innovation in Agile Software Development.(Koskela et. al, 2011)| Co-creation| Describes the active role of users.| Platform Model for User-Driven Innovation in Agile Software Development. (Koskela et. al, 2011)| Customer Communities| Communities of a company’s end-users. | Benefits of Social Media in Business-to-Business Customer Interface.(Jussila et al, 2011)| User-driven innovation| Describes users contributions to challenges launched by companies. | Practical Model for User-Driven Innovation Agile Software Development.(Koskela, 2011)| Lead user| Active in idea development over an extended period of time.| Getting Customers’ Ideas to Work for You: Learning from Dell How to Succeed With Online User Innovation Communities(Gangi et al, 2010)| Crowd Futurology| Refers to the â€Å"forum of the future.† Social media crowdsouced environment.| | Enterprise 2.0| Describes social networking software to support and enhance the continuously changing and emergent collaborative structures across enterprise| Governing Web 2.0(Dedene et al, 2011)| Wisdom of crowds| The characteristic of crowds to create content, solve problems and even do corporate research.| Raising Creativity and Participation in Innovation and Knowledge Management Activities. (Gourova Toteva, 2011)| Enterprise social innovation| Method that allows companies to take advantage of extensive networks, by providing open channels of communication and stimulating innovation.| Enterprise 2.0 and Semantic Technologies for Open Innovation Support(Carbone et al, 2010)| User Innovation Communities| Virtual community of customers that participate with organizations in RD.| The Next Digital Wave Using Social Media (Accenture, 2012)| Social media and innovation begins with one concept: social media technologies. Each article that was studied for this literature review, emphasized in one way or another, the revolutionary power that these technologies possess. Though different terms were used to describe the technologies, such as web 2.0, enterprise 2.0, and social technologies, the consensus between the authors is that they hold much potential (and often times untapped) to foster successful creative and productive environments. Real World Application/ Challenges The literature reflects a variance in knowledge, and evidence available in the social media and innovation area, directly affecting the rate of adoption of companies and organizations. The articles studied for this review were published in the past two years. The general trend is that the older pieces (2010-2011) reflect a lack of knowledge, resources, and statistics regarding social media and innovation. Jussila et al (2010) identified four major challenges responsible absence of innovation processes using social media technologies in business to business companies: lack of understanding possibilities of social media in innovation, difficulties of assessing financial gains from social media, difficulties in adopting new mental models and practices needed for adoption, and lack of evidence of similar using social media in innovation. (Jussila et al, 2010) The authors identify one cause being a â€Å"relatively scarce† amount of information in the area, and â€Å"fragmentedâ⠂¬  theoretical and empirical research. (Jussila et al, 2010) Similarly, Bettina Mikko (2010) agreed that â€Å"the literature is relatively scarce concerning open innovation in the specific channel on online communities. (Bettina Mikko, 2010) Despite the lack of knowledge, they acknowledge efforts to incorporate these type of â€Å"open† collaboration activities.â€Å" Although some firms have adopted these principles, the way for users to communicate their ideas to the firms remain underutilized with a few exceptions.† (Bettina Mikko, 2010) A general lack of knowledge in the area of social media and innovation is not the only cited issue relating to real-world applications of models and policies. In the article, â€Å"Social Media and Product Innovation Research Findings,† (2011) a survey of more than 90 manufacturing and service companies revealed that 70 percent of the participating companies â€Å"are using or were planning to use social media for product innovation,† but of those respondents, less than half had an implementation and/or management strategy in place. Forty-six percent of respondents revealed a lack of knowledge regarding effective approaches. (Anonymous, 2011) The article notes one of the causes of this trend as the lack of knowledge among companies’ uncertainty of benefits (of social media innovation strategies) and leading practices. (Anonymous, 2011) Gangi et al (2010) acknowledges the potential of business models using social technologies to engage users as a competitive advantage, but also lists challenges companies face in implementation: 1) understanding users ideas posted, 2) identifying the best ideas, 3) balancing needs for transparency against disclosure (protecting user-submitted ideas for competitors, 4) sustaining the community (developing strategies for interacting with the community to sustain user participation. Koskela et al (2011) confirms the claim that â€Å"companies do not have enough knowledge of utilizing user’s input and social media-based interaction in innovation and software activities,† in the article† Practical Model for User-Driven Innovation in Agile Software Development.† A changing of perspectives occurs in the articles written between 2011-2012. Gourova Toteva (2011) argue that the rate of adoption of creative activities involving customers in the process is increasing in companies. The authors concluded the article â€Å"Rising Creativity and Participation in Innovation and Knowledge Management Activities,† by stating â€Å"Nowadays social media is increasingly supporting innovation and is behind most open innovation processes and user’s co-creation activities.† Following in line with this claim, Figge et al. (2012) reveals that â€Å"most big corporations chose to tap into the growing portion of participative consumers to refine their marketing strategy practices,† and that social media, being major sales and marketing channels, have allowed for increasing collective trends in consumption. (Figge et al., 2012) Pena (2012) concluded after a study of multi-national corporations’ use of social innovation sites and application of content found on those sites that â€Å"while multi-national firms did not formally embrace social platforms for innovation, passive or informal use of these sources were endorsed by 100% of the interviewees. (Pena, 2012) The two main barriers to use of the sources included 1) a lack of clarity around the owner of the finished idea and the potential for litigation and 2) the fact that competition becomes informed of firms’ intentions as they pursue innovation from social formats. (Pena, 2012) Business Contexts Several articles applied to or studied social media technologies and the innovation in the creation processes of firms. There were several articles analyzing and comparing the use of social media innovation processes, specifically business-to-business and business-to-consumer firms. The differences between the two in terms of categories of clientele and business practices reveal similarities and differences in innovation and collaboration methods. In Social Media Use and Potential in Business-to-Business Companies’ Innovation, Jussila et al, makes the point that the use of social media in innovation processes can reveal great potential for success in b2b companies, like in b2c companies, and was used with innovation partners (outside audience) more often than with b2c companies. (Jussila et al, 2010) Jussila et. al (2011) acknowledged the assumption that â€Å"it is much more difficult to utilize social media in business innovation and customer interface for business-to-business innovation and customer interface for business-to-business products, markets and product development.† Research exploring social media and benefits from the business-to-business customer interface perspective found potential causes for variance of social media use in different phases of innovation processes: patterns of interaction between firm and customers vary with roles, knowledge creation activities vary depending on nature of knowledge to be created and lastly, customers motivation to participate or be involved in innovation process activity rather than product support. Other articles focused on business in a broader context in order to make implications or recommendations in the field of study Fuller et al (2012) studied IBM’s use of social media use in innovation and collaboration pr ocesses using virtual worlds (second life) in the article â€Å"Virtual Worlds as Collaborative Innovation and Knowledge Platform.† During the course of the study, IBM gathered experience by using 3D environments as communication and interaction platform within the organization. The study findings indicated potential for virtual worlds to foster creative ideas both within, and beyond the company. (Fuller et al, 2012) Similarly, Gangi et al (2010) analyzed and assessed challenges present in the first 18 months of Dell’s IdeaStorm program implementation and offered recommendations for successful management of online user innovation communities. The recommendations are relevant to any application of a user-driven innovation platform; create a user toolkit, strategically position key personnel to ensure clear, logical flow of ideas to proper internal resources, engage the lead users of the platform, promote self-governance in users to enable community to carry more of workload, respond quickly and ask questions, make user-submitted votes count and present progress clearly and openly to the community. (Gangi, e t al, 2010) Software Development The use of social media for innovation purposes is applied to the development of software in both internal and external (employees of organizations vs. user activities) contexts. In â€Å"Using Web 2.0 to Improve Software Quality.† Black Jacobs (2010) assert that the development process has been altered due to social media, now including interaction design where feedback from users is encouraged, and used as part of the ongoing development process. The study examined social media use in collaborative group work using distant teams. Organizations are encouraged to focus implementing social technologies for purposes of group work. â€Å"The use of social media presents an opportunity for an organization to build a distributed knowledge base and increase employees’ sense of connection to companies initiatives and to each other. (Black Jacobs, 2010) Koskela et, al (2011) claims that online co-creation among users and developers needs continuous facilitation; thus allowing direct user interaction to enhance the perspectives of each group and placing more importance on the use’s goals. According to â€Å"Practical Model for User-Driven Innovation in Agile Software Development,† by implementing user-driven innovation integrating users, even in a quick, agile software development process is not only possible and can be potentially beneficial to the organization. (Koskela et. al, 2011) Technological Applications Innovation and social media have technological implications, especially in the areas of enterprise 2.0 and open-innovation processes. Structuring Web 2.0 collaborative platforms and strategies is discussed in two of the articles used for this review. In the article â€Å"Enterprise 2.0 and Semantic Technologies for Open Innovation Support,† Carbone et al (2010) emphasizes the potential of enterprise 2.0 technologies by asserting that they â€Å"have the power to usher in a new era by making both the practices of knowledge work and its’ output more visible. The article proposes a new model â€Å"Semantic web† to transform human-readable content into machine-readable content. This new model controls and structures the heavy flow of user-submitted information, an aspect brought on by the â€Å"collaborative paradigm.† (Carbone et al, 2010) Dedene et al (2011) proposes four grounding principles to help organizations get the most out of their Enterprise 2.0 investments. In the many-to-many, decentralized environment present in Web 2.0 collaborative activities, structuration is emphasized as a key process and is made possible by these four principles: 1) â€Å"empowerment principle- empowers users to discover desirable uses of technology rather than draw up barriers to unwanted use, 2) processes principle- enables process workers and managers to capture value from experimenting and progressively synthesizing new ways for processing, 3) collaboration principle- lets virtual communities and teamwork emerge from a free-flow of collaboration engagements, rather than pre-assign bulk of roles, activities and access rules and finally 4) people and culture principle- invites people to participate, rather than coercing them to work in a particular way.† (Dedene et al, 2011) Findings/ Pitfalls All of the articles studied for this review acknowledged the potential of the use of social media for purposes of innovation to be successful avenues reaching end consumers and sparking creative thinking within a firm or organization. The articles, both theoretically focused, and case studies of real-world application conveyed the benefits of implementation and recognized the area as revolutionary, and the inevitable direction of the innovation process for firms and organizations. It goes without saying, that there is another side to the coin when it comes to model and strategy implementation. Gangi et. al (2010) identified one potentially damaging characteristic of social media that could negatively effect innovation efforts. â€Å"The viral aspect of all web 2.0 technologies means that an org could quickly lose control of negative content.† (Gangi, et al, 2010) The pervasiveness and instantaneous aspects of social media can be damning to an organization based on self-published material, or user-published. (Carbone et al, 2010) Managing the overwhelming amounts of information that exists, as an end-result of the decentralization of ideas may be difficult to achieve. Ideas contributed via social media networks present an issue with idea ownership due to blurred line between what is idea adoption and what could be conceived as theft of intellectual property. As mentioned by Pena (2012) this is one cause of avoidance regarding companies’ implementation of social technology strategies. Recommendations Dedene et al (2011) notes that managing the technologies for effective use requires strategy and knowledge, and that organizations have not fully mastered these concepts. â€Å"The promise of Enterprise 2.0 is enticing to many orgs; however experience and research into managing such investments to effective benefits realization has not yet reached full maturity; making people mindful about the capabilities of the technology is an absolute precondition to benefits generation from the technology.† (Dedene et al, 2011) The lack of knowledge available in the application of social media for innovation purposes, though lessening over time, is still a viable issue of concern for companies attempting to implement models. It is important for there to be an accessible collection of literature to foster field knowledge, and to increase in real-world applications. The lack of understanding due to little to no knowledge base has attributed to the skepticism among businesses and IT professi onals. (Dedene et. al, 2011) More research should be executed in this area and more literature developed. Organizations will not invest in ideas that are not fully understood. The reach of evidence of benefits of the use of social media for purposes of innovation needs to be increased. Not only should literature about implementation be increased and shared, but also firmer guidelines for successful use of social media for innovation should as well. Many of the major and minor firms and organizations venturing into this somewhat â€Å"unchartered territory† are doing so without a definitive strategy. A set of published principles, assisting first-time implementation, corrective implementation, and for use throughout operation, (management of platforms) should become accessible. This set of principles would provide some protection against simple mistakes and allow for smoother, more streamlined implementation for firms and organizations. Table (2) Table of Literature Author/ Work| Implication/ Findings| Limitation(s)/ Pitfalls| Benefits of Social Media in B2B Customer Interface in Innovation(Jussila, et. al, 2011)| Social media can be useful in all stages of B2B companies’ innovation processes. | Companies don’t understand how to be active with social media effectively.| Measuring the Effectiveness of Social Media on an Innovation Process(Holtzblatt Tierney, 2011)| Using social media, it is possible to â€Å"accelerate the transition of new technology and knowledge to customers by expanding staff and end-users direct communications.| Limitations of data: restricted to interactions that occur on-line inside the IdeaMarket (platform used in research).| Is Open Innovation Open?(Bettina Mikko, 2010)| Social media and open innovation principles remain underutilized by companies. | Most innovative firms that were studied were multinational with multiple websites, all using different content. | Platform Model for User-Driven Innovation in Agile Software Development(Koskela et al, 2011)| The model using co-creation tools and direct user-interaction can be applied to the innovation processes of other consumer-targeted products and services..| Companies do not have enough knowledge of utilizing user’s input and social media based interaction in innovation and software activities. | Raising Creativity and Participation in Innovation and Knowledge Management Activities(Gourova Toteva, 2011)| Nowadays social media is increasingly supporting innovation and is behind most open innovation processes and user’s co-creation activities.| N/a| Social Media and Product Innovation(Anonymous, 2011)| When it comes to applying social technologies to product developments and innovation, most organizations are still in the early adoption phase.| N/a| Social Media Use and Potential in B2B Companies’ Innovation(Jussila et al, 2010)| Both B2B and B2C companies’ were taking advantage of social media use in innovation processes| The gap of perceived use between t wo different business types is significant. Research should be carried out to facilitate adoptions and fill gap. | The Revolution Will Be Shared: Social Media and Innovation(Anonymous, 2011)| Social technologies used for innovation purposes are revolutionary| N/a| Using Web 2.0 to improve Software Quality(Black Jacobs)| Social media among other benefits, has changed the development process to include interaction design, where feedback from users is used.| N/a| Virtual Worlds as Collaborative Innovation and Knowledge Platforms(Fuller, et. al, 2012)| Virtual worlds can offer new ways of having access to knowledge and creative ideas within and beyond companies. | Virtual community lacked total security and some complained about poor graphics| Getting Customer’s Ideas to Work for You: Learning from Dell How to Succeed With Online User Innovation Communities.(Gangi et al, 2010)| A poorly managed user innovation community could have devastating consequences for an organization.| Challenges for companies included: Understanding users ideas posted, Identifying the best ideas,Balancing needs for transparency against disclosure (protecting user-submitted ideas from competitors) and Sustaining the community (developing strategies for interacting with the community to sustain user participation. | Governing Web 2.0(Dedene, 2011)| Enterprises can use principles and lessons to avoid the fallacy of going into social media for innovation endeavor with too much of a command/control view on tech adoption| Many organizations have not effectively mastered management of social media and innovation platforms| Investigating the Increasing Role of Public Social Networks Within the Innovation Process of Large, Multi-National Corporations(Pena, 2012)| Use of strong social networking within an organization propels innovation| Firms did not embrace platforms, but all endorsed informal use.Two main barriers to use of sources by companies: lack of clarity around owner of ideas, 2) competition may become informed of intentions| Enterprise 2.0 and Semantic Technologies for Open Innovation Support(Carbone et al, 2010)| The web 2.0 environment helped in establishing an innovation culture in the firms, while the sematic technologies helped not just in fostering interaction for the creation of new ideas, but also in supporting the decision process.| N/a| Defining Open(Gobble, 2012)| Open innovation is among the new resources available for conceptualizing, creating and managing open innovations efforts at every scale.| N/a| Six Key Takeaways On Social Media And Innovation From Digital Marketing Pioneer Porter Gale(Arthur, 2012)| One-way dialogue has evolved into 24/7 real-time conversations.| N/a| Social Media for Innovation Efforts (Lindegaard, 2013)| The use of social media for innovation efforts is still new and full of opportunity.| N/a| Social Product Innovation2013 Kalypso| Social media technologies are rapidly changing the way we communicate and collaborate. A comprehensive and sustainable strategy must be developed to deliver results.| N/a| Five Emerging Innovation and Social Media Trends and Why They Matter Now(Ben-Yehuda, 2012)| Social media and a renewed emphasis on innovation and DIY is transforming how government agencies operate and how they interact with citizens.| N/a| The Next Digital Wave: Enterprise Social Innovation. 2012 Accenture| Through enterprise social innovation, companies can benefit from a greater pool of ideas, ones that are aligned more closely with the wants and needs of end-consumers.| N/a| Works Cited Jussila, J., Karkkainen, H., Meino, M. (2011). Benefits of social media in business-to-business customer inerface in innovation. 2011vACM, Holtzblatt, J., Tierney, M. L. (2011). Measuring the effectiveness of social media on an innovation process. 2011 ACM, Bettina, M., Mikko, L. (2010, Sep). Is innovation open? evidence from the most innovative firms and the most valuable brands. European conference on innovation and entrepreneurship, United kingdom. Koskela, K., Nakki, P., Pikkarainen, M. (2011). 17th international conference of concurrent enterprising, Finland. Gourova, E., Toteva, K. (2011). Raising creativity and participation in innovation and knowledge managment activities. 17th internation conference on concurrent enterprising. Anonymous. (2011). Social media and product innvoation research findings. Professional services close-up, Jussila, J., Karkkainen, H., Vaisanen, J. (2010). Social media use and potential in business-to-business companies innovation. 2010 ACM, Anonymous. (201). The revolution will be shared: social media and innovation. Research technology management, 54(1), 64-66. Black, S., Jacobs, J. (2010). Using web 2.0 to improve software quality. 2010 ACM, Fuller, J., Hautz, J., Hutter, K., Matzler, K., Muller, J. (2012). Virtual worlds as collaborative innovation and knowledge platform. 2012 IEEE, Gangi, P., Hooker, R., Wasko, M. (2010). Getting customers ideas to work for you: learning from dell how to succeed with online user innovation communities. MIS quarterly executive, 9(4), Dedene, A. G., Hertogh, S., Viaene, S. (2011). Governing web 2.0. Communications of the acm, 54(3), Pena, V. (2012). Investigating the increasing role of public social networkd within the innovation process of large, multi-national corporations. Business studies journal, 3, Carbone, F., Contreras, J., Hernandez, J. (2010). Enterprise 2.0 and semantic technologies for open innovation support. IEA/AIE 2010, part II, 18-27. Gobble, M. (2012). Defining open. Research technology management, Arthur , L. (2012, 3 6). Six key takeaways on social media and innovation from digital marketing pioneer porter gale. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaarthur/2012/03/06/six-key-take-aways-on-social-media-and-innovation-from-porter-gale-former-virgin-america-marketing-vp/ Lindegaard, S. (2013, 01 31). Free webinar: social media for innovation efforts. Retrieved from http://www.15inno.com/2013/01/31/smwebinar/ Kalypso. (2013). Social product innovation, capabilites, kalypso. Retrieved from http://kalypso.com/capabilities/services/social-product-innovation/ Ben-Yehuda, G. (2012, 11 1). Five emerging innovation and social media trends and why they matter now. Retrieved from http://www.govexec.com/excellence/promising-practices/2012/11/five-emerging-innovation-and-social-media-trends-and-why-they-matter-now/59179/ Accenture. (2012). The net digital wave: enterprise social innovation. Retrieved from http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/insight-next-digital-wave-social-media-harness-innovation-summary.aspx

Rutherfurds Estates Essay -- Character Analysis, Lady St. James, Mere

In Edward Rutherfurd’s London, characters from all three estates are introduced and throughout each chapter their ideals and personality traits are developed. Some characters tend to be better off than others economically, but each of these more unfortunate characters uses his intellect to get ahead. The powerful characters are divided into two categories, because some are politically powerful and others are powerful in their community by making tough decisions and having important leadership qualities. Whatever the circumstance may be, throughout the book each estate has an extensive collection of characters with very different traits. Characters in each estate have characteristics such as wealth, power, and intellect that widely vary from one another and can range from poor, simpleminded people with no power to cunning, powerful people that have more money than they need. The 1st estate, the nobility, is comprised of people who tend to be more powerful and a great deal wealthier than those of the other estates. However, in London, a few characters from the 1st estate possess quite a bit of intelligence, and use it to their advantage. Lady St. James from the chapter â€Å"Gin Lane† uses her intellect to get revenge on her abusive husband. After she is humiliated by Lord St. James, she devises a plan that she intends to carry out with the help of Jack Meredith. Her plan is very carefully thought out, and in the end is foolproof. The plan is to have Meredith claim that he is her lover so Lord St. James will challenge him to a duel. Then, when St. James comes home to prepare for the duel, she will â€Å"make amends† with him and convince him not to kill Meredith. She writes to Meredith and tells him that St. James is going to try to kill hi... ...e puts stress on characters in the 3rd estate. However, some characters like Gilbert Bull, are very wealthy. As Rutherfurd writes, â€Å"With money and family connections he soon prospered† (432). Family connections were very important to the 3rd estate, because otherwise they were simply commoners. Some became merchants, doctors, lawyers, and other occupations that paid a fairly decent salary. London does a great job of illustrating the different social and moral situations of people in assorted estates. Many of the characters got over their low social and economical standing by using their intellect. Some characters lost their respect and their power by making mistakes and terrible decisions. Every estate has characters that are poor or wealthy, intellectual or ignorant, and powerful or weak. Every character is different, just like every estate is different.

Business Essay

Many companies, especially SMEs, have a management that leaves much to say in its management, neglecting many aspects that cannot be ignored again before the commitment to ensuring a productive performance, which may lead to the expected results obtained and properly established in its objectives and mission. When you venture into them is detected organizational misbehaviour manifested in a climate that leaves a lot to say and where the internal working environment is polluted with many flaws that affect damage. Hence, the need to go into assessing what the reality of the work environment, how it works, its impact and that is being done. Management must always be vigilant in ensuring good organizational behaviour, a climate that is favourable and security to the company under its charge of its operation, achievements, successful participation in the markets in which it operates. Thus, one cannot neglect how he handles the internal working environment, be aware of the proper use of their resources, how the technology is used, the operation of production systems, quality management, performance manuals, discipline and commitment to work, ergonomics, leadership, communication to name a few aspects. Types of Organisational Misbehaviour About this reality that is much in companies in the country, in industries, where many companies have neither guarantee a good working environment, significantly affecting its functionality, operability, and forces neglected to tend to avoid negative effects. Comment, no doubt, that this situation creates a lot of stress and anxiety, and it affects not only professionally but also in other areas of our life. The ideal thing is to change as soon as possible to run out of that kind of environment. Although there are times when you prefer to lose hold that simply do not work because we can afford it (but please, get out when you can, do not have to spend at least eight hours a day as well!). If that is the case here and you really cannot leave work, and then at least try to make it more bearable. Here are some things you can do: 1. Stay away from negative people who is always complaining or criticizing, you’re calmer. Of course there are times you cannot, but try your best because these people are typical emotional vampires that leave you exhausted. 2. Creating a custom workstation and relaxing (with photos, flowers, etc). So you will feel at ease at least in that space. You can also listen to music or isolate a bit with headphones. 3. Doing good work. I’ve said before when you work thoroughly and do things the best you can feel very good. 4. Keeping busy. If we do our job we will, because if dissatisfaction joins apathy, boredom and apathy, not get very far. 5. Think if anything you can do to improve the situation. Lest we’re complaining and basically can do something about it. Maybe if we strive to meet our fellow some would be more relaxed atmosphere and friendly, for example. So if there is no solution at least make it bearable and acceptable as possible. What do you think? Conclusion It is up to everyone to watch in all matters in which we interact, determine how this affects our character, behaviour and not let anything affect us, we are able to make the right decisions to avoid being caught us in anything we atmospheres benefit, we simply do not allow the search for solutions and that suits us.

Causes Of Mass Incarceration - 1755 Words

The Road to Mass Incarceration†¦ IT has been said that ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions’. This maxim known in some form around the world has stood for a relatively simple meaning, that, regardless of the ‘intent’ behind an action, it is the result of that action that matters. Now, this can be applied directly to the problem that has plagued the United States of America since the mid-1970s, that of mass incarceration. Mass incarceration is the ‘high rate of incarceration in the United States†¦ that is markedly above the historical and comparative norm for societies this type’(Western 28). This produces a ‘systematic imprisonment of whole groups of the population’(Western 29), specifically the black and brown communities found†¦show more content†¦The late U.S. Supreme Court Justice and Civil Rights Activist, Thurgood Marshall, once said that the ‘intent is evident in the results’ to mean ‘when we intend to do good, we do, [and] when we intend to do harm, it happens†¦ our intent always comes through’. Former President Bill Clinton said that he didn’t intend to cause an increase in prison expansion, yet, under his administration ‘the incarcerated population rose from 1.3 million to more than 2 million’ (Kilgore 66). In 8 years, the Clinton administration managed to increase ‘federal, state, and local corrections expenditures†¦[to] $57 billion a year’ (Kilgore 32). His administration also implemented the Omnibus Crime Bill and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 which ‘cut the rights and opportunities for people with felony convictions’ (Kilgore 32) and ended the welfare assistance that once existed. None of these actions actually brought about the safety of U.S. citizens, because at the time of Bill Clinton’s presidency, crime rates were decreasing. Yet, despite this downward trend in priso n population rates the Clinton administration ‘enacted notoriously harsh narcotics penalties in the †¦ three-strikes legislation in the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, and more capital crimes with fewer appeals in the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994 and theShow MoreRelatedRacial Disparities Of Mass Incarceration1572 Words   |  7 PagesRacial disparities in mass incarceration Introduction Mass Incarceration in the United States has been a large topic of choice because rapid growth in the prison and jail populations, the long sentences the inmates face, and the inability for some inmates to incorporate themselves back into society. Since the 1970’s the U.S. prison population quadrupled from 158 to 635 people per 100,000, causing the U.S. to gain the title of country with the highest incarceration rate. (Massoglia, Firebaugh, Read MoreCriminals Must Be Punished For Breaking The Laws Of The Land1489 Words   |  6 Pagesthe system of incarceration. Jails have functioned in our society to protect citizens, or those who obey the constitution. For years, our jails were able to separate criminals from obedient citizens as well as punish criminals for their wrong doings. In the past, people have questioned whether this system was effective or not. Now, we have shifted our focus onto how much longer our jails will exist due to our lack of resources. The longer we wait to find a solution to mass incarceration the harder theRead MoreThe New Jim Crow Law1014 Words   |  5 PagesMass incarceration is known as a net of laws, policies, and rules that equates to the American criminal justice system. This series of principles of our legal system works as an entrance to a lifelong position of lower status, with no hope of advancement. 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That being said, I believe there are many ways in which Michelle Alexander would respond to this article in order to defend the topic of mass incarceration, and the fact that it is African-AmericansRead MoreThe Basis for Cridme Deterren ce in the United States964 Words   |  4 Pagesreaching consequences for criminal offenders and completely ignores the true goal of incarceration, to rehabilitate the offender for reintroduction into society. Mass incarceration as a means of criminal rehabilitation in the United States is extremely flawed. There are many far-reaching consequences of this practice that not only affects the incarcerated but larger society on a whole. The phrase mass incarceration, according to Oxford Encyclopedia, refers to â€Å"comparatively and historically extremeRead MorePrison Overcrowding And The United States1555 Words   |  7 Pagesshould not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.† The prisons in the United States have been overcrowded for many years and require a change in order to fix this. Some of the main causes for prison overcrowding that will be covered in this paper are mass incarceration, long sentencing, recidivism, and prisoners of drug crimes. Overcrowding of prisons in the United States is a major issue that affects not only the prisoners themselves, but taxpayers and politicians. Although