Business Systems Books

Activity-Based Costing and Activity-Based Management for Health Care by Baker

The editor and contributing authors are well qualified with rich backgrounds in finance and management. This book has 24 chapters that are both theoretical and practical. The first three chapters introduce activity-based costing and management and discuss how they work in health care. The benefits of activity based costing versus volume-based costing are identified as: "(1) more accurate costs of services delivered, (2) better discrimination between profitable and unprofitable services and service lines, (3) improved pricing and contracting strategies, (4) improved management decision-making capability, (5) greater ease of determining relevant costs, and (6) reduced nonvalue-added costs. (p. 27) The book gives a detailed step by step procedure for doing a time study. The importance of structural choices such as direct costs to be traced and indirect costs to be allocated is stressed for determining the organization's costing framework. Because ABC provides a mix-and-match menu of costs and their financial and operational interrelationships, it is important for management to determine that the ABM reporting depicts what the organization wants to measure and manage. The book relates quality measures, budgeting, standard setting, benchmarking , Pareto analysis, and clinical pathways to activity-based costing and management. Content is illustrated through case studies about family physicians, primecare, hospitals, home health agencies, skilled nursing facilities, and a school-based health center. The final chapter is about the future for ABC/ABM in health care. There is a glossary and index. This book is appropriate for graduate students interested in financial and strategic management of health care organizations

An amazingly simple ,yet comprehensive and well articulated book, which holds your hand in a seven step approach in building and designing a fairly substantial model for a fully integrated business enterprice. Not only this will provide you a fairly robust cost system but will lead you to implementable schmes that will control contain and manage costs esposing the hidden treasures.

With suitable adaptations one can find windows of opportunities in finding revnues for growth with profitabiltiy. More you reread, you will have enrichment not only for your mind but to the business as a whoole.

A comprehensive and complete compendium for cost management.

First a warning, if you are a student studying to become an actuary, then this book is not for you. I am a lecturer in actuarial studies at an Australian university who teaches students from first year up to Masters level, and most of the content of this book would be way over the heads of my students. Furthermore, I don't even think this book was designed to be used for teaching, as there are no exercises at the end of each chapter, as you would expect in such a book. However, for anyone interested in conducting research into any areas of actuarial science (particularly in general or non-life insurance), then this book is a must.

"Actuarial Modelling of Claim Counts" provides a detailed, yet easy to follow, summary of three major areas in insurance: the modelling of claim counts (including over-dispersion models); experience rating using credibility models; and bonus-malus systems. All concepts are described both using statistical theory and using practical numerical examples, and numerous references are given throughout to allow readers to pursue any of these ideas further if they so desire. If you were conducting research into one of these areas, then it probably would be necessary to look up many of the references given, since there is a limit to the amount of information that can be included in a 356 page book. Nevertheless, the information given is thorough enough so that, if you do need to do further research, then you won't be going into it blind, but armed with a high level understanding of the main points involved. I have just finished a PhD on a topic which included the modelling of claim counts and I wish that I had discovered this book sooner, since this book would have made my research a whole lot easier. I cannot recommend this book enough.

This is a great book about a new topic called "Adaptive Business Intelligence". It is basically about modern Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is used to solve tough real-life optimization and prediction problems. The authors really know what they are talking about and have many years of business and teaching experience. They are also running a software company specializing in Adaptive Business Intelligence.

I was skeptical when I picked up this book and thought to myself that they can't possibly explain all those modern AI techniques without formulas. However, the book is very easy to read and really does cover modern AI techniques without getting into a lot of nitty gritty details (i.e., no formulas). They also have a detailed real-life example that they frequently refer to. The example is very good and I quickly saw how I could use Adaptive Business Intelligence.

The authors explain everything down to earth and on top of that it was fun to read and also reads well. I also liked that they have some references to other books in case you want to dive into a particular topic.

All in all it's a great book that makes modern science easy to understand for busy people. Even non-technical managers like myself will have no problems understanding the different techniques and how they apply to their own business. I highly recommend this book. It's definitely worth reading!

PS: I borrowed the book to my sister who studies IT in California and she told me that it's a great introduction to modern AI. She actually never returned the book since she kept as a reference for one of her classes.

The book arrived promptly and in good condition. I was pleased to readily find the book at Amazon. It was very helpful in my training program.

I thought the book was good. There was sexual tension but that wasn't the main focuse. One thing I would change is at the end is exploring there new relationship a little more. None of the ladys in romance story's are weak. The one's that have to start over.

5+++++THIS BOOK IS EXACTLY WHAT I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR (AND SO MUCH MORE)!!!! I am planning on opening a tutoring/homeschooling business, but needed direction in getting started. This book stands out from other tutoring guides I have purchased because it gives clear, organized, step-by-step directions for beginning a new business. It also gives practical information on advertising, keeping organized, purchasing curriculum, how to address special needs of students, money management, progress reporting, and other business basics. There are also over a hundred templates included that are ready to use! I am now considering purchasing the package that offers CDs (with completed templates), website development, one-on-one consultation, and unlimited email support. This book has given me the confidence to not only start a business, but also sustain it!!

The development in recent years of the theory of dynamic games has resulted in discovering that the theory of dynamic games has applications in several areas outside game playing.

For instance, in zero-sum stochastic games the players do not observe the progress of the game fully, but only in bits and pieces. This is the same situation normally found in business, the military, environmental studies, and certainly in economics. The managers in any of these has to make decision based on partial knowledge, some of which may be wrong.

This book looks at game theory in the light of expanding the theory into real life situations where recent advances offer the potential of shedding light into decision making. It is an edited book, with authors from around the world that presented papers at the 10th International Symposium on Dynamic Games held in St. Petersburg, Russia. As such, this is not a book for the beginner in game theory as it presents new advances assuming that the reader has a basis of understanding in game theory.

How I wish I could down it with no charge

The twentieth-fifth volume in the Academic Press "Advances in Librarianship" series, this latest body of work showcases outstanding contributions to library science by seasoned professionals and experienced researches. The articles include Marybeth McCartin and Paula Feid's Information Literacy for Undergraduates: Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going?; Martha Smith's Information Ethics; G. E. Gorman and Ruth H. Miller's Collection Evaluation: New Measures for a New Environment; Susan L. Perry and David C. Weber's Evaluating Academic Library Quality Today; Danuta A. Niteckl's Quality Assessment Measures in Libraries; Ronald Milne's Enhancing Access and Progressing the Collaborative Agenda: The UK Research Support Libraries Programme; Jonathan B. Bengston's Reinventing the Treasure Room: The Role of Special Collections Librarianship in the 21st Century; Ole Harbo's The Development of Public Libraries in Denmark Since 1964; Thoger Kristensen's Acquisitions Reengineering; Evgeny Kuz'min's New Information Technologies in Russian Libraries. A strongly recommended addition to Library Science reference collections and reading lists.